138 THE COTTAGE GARDENER. June 
thought, and is one of the hardiest of greenhouse plants; will stand 
several degrees of frost, requires very rich soil, a large pot, and 
abundance of water in summer. When in good health it is a very 
showy plant, and flowers from May to October. It is a good plant 
to train against a wall in summer ; to be taken in ori the approach of 
frost. A notice of it you will find at p. 82. 
Magnolia Grandiflora (Ibid). —This does not require a green¬ 
house even in Scotland. It will do with you at Thame much better \ 
against a south wall. In the southern counties it grows and flowers 
in the open shrubbery. 
Carnation Lavers (An Admirer of the C. G.). —“The top spit j 
of a very old pasture, good, and full of fibres,” which you have as 
the soil for your cucumber bed, will do at the end of the season for 
potting your carnation layers better than if used fresh from the 
pasture. 
Clay Brought to the Surface (Ibid). —You have done right 
to rake together and burn the excessive lumps of clay. If too much 
clay still remains at the surface, retrench the ground, and thus get 
it below again. 
Quicken Grass (An Amateur).—Thi# weed, which is also known 
as whicken, couch, and twitch grass, is the Triticum repens of bota¬ 
nists. There are only three ways of getting rid of it, viz., by deep 
trenching, a thick crop of late potatoes, or forking it out. The last 
is an endless job, as every fragment of its creeping roots grows. But 
there are many worse grasses in good lawns ; and, if you mow your 
lawn often, it will not disfigure the rest of the grass. 
Egg-Plum Shedding its Fruit (Frank). —The plums drop when 
nearly full grown. Perhaps the roots have descended into an un- 
genial subsoil. If so, you must, after carefully deciding this, cut 
away the portions which have descended below the true level, and 
try and introduce some impervious material beneath them. Trans¬ 
planting either, if the trees are not too old, may be resorted to in the 
ensuing autumn. 
Best Rhubarb (Ibib).-Wc are for the “Victoria.” There are 
many other good kinds, but none, we think, to excel this in general 
utility. 
Strawberries Badly Forced (-). —We should advise 
you to plant these in a rich border, and if well watered, as they did 
not bear in your forcing pit, they may bloom in September, and can 
then be taken up carefully without disturbing the roots, and put under 
glass. They will yield a late crop. You had better have some fresh 
plauts of last year for early forcing. 
Asparagus Planting (G. E. L.). — The best time for doing this 
is April, when the shoots are begining to grow. Two or three year 
old plants are best for planting. We will give directions when the 
time arrives. 
Liguid Manure (W. Mansell ).—You do not tell us how much 
horse and pigeon’s dung you put into “ten or fifteen” gallons of 
water. How, then, can we say the proportion of the liquid you should 
use? Then the vagueness of “ten or fifteen” gallons is such as to 
render our answer further difficult. We assure you, and all our readers, 
that in plant culture, as in other sciences, there can be no uniformity 
of results without precision in the means employed. Twelve gallons 
of horse droppings and three of pigeon’s dung, soaked in fifteen 
gallons of water, would require to be diluted with sixty gallons of 
water. 
Storing Potatoes (A Great Admirer). —Dry marl may he used 
for this purpose, to place in alternate layers with them, instead of 
sand or earth, as we recommended. We are glad to hear from you 
that the potatoes in your neighbourhood (Malvern) are looking so 
well. 
Bean Apnis or Dolphin (M. A. Maidstone ).—Having taken off 
the tops of the affected plants, you have done all that you can on such 
large breadths. Watering them with soap-suds and lime water, we 
fear, will have injured the blossoms without affecting the aphis. On 
small plots, after removing the tops of the plants, a very effective 
application is a dusting of Scotch snuff. We apply this with perfect 
success, also to the aphides on our choice gooseberry bushes. We 
take a bason with some of the snuff in it, and stir the ends of the 
affected bushes in it. 
Salting Asparagus Beds (A Subscriber). —Asparagus, being a 
native of the sea shore, will bear the application of moderate doses of 
salt without any injury. If you sow the salt broadcast over the plants 
on a dry day, though it touches their stems, it all falls down to the 
soil. You may apply it now with great benefit, and with no fear of 
injury. 
Creepers for North Wall (H. W. Tewkesbury). —You wish 
to know what creepers or other shrubs will thrive against a w all, the 
aspect of which is due north. We are sorry to give you so unfavour¬ 
able an answer, but there are none that will there flower satisfactorily. 
We would recommend you to try the double blossomed cherry, the 
common honeysuckle, the variegated and double bramble, and the 
common Irish ivy. These are hardy enough, and may do better than 
we anticipate. With regard to flowers for the borders, almost any 
kind will thrive on the south one; but on the other, the north one, 
very few would do well. Lily-of-the-valley must be one, and the 
Scotch double buff primrose another. You might try also some dwarf 
rhododendrons and Provence roses, with variegated periwinkles to run 
amongst them, also crocuses and snow drops. Do not expect too 
much, and you will not be disappointed. 
Honeysuckles (Naomi). —You have two honeysuckles trained 
up two trees, and so infested with green fly that they are almost 
destroyed, and you have tried tobacco water to destroy them without 
success. You have either not applied it sufficiently, or it has not 
been strong enough. Try again, or, if your honeysuckles are too far 
gone, cut them down immediately. There is a long summer yet before 
us for them to make fresh shoots, and ripen them too, before the 
autumnal frosts sets in. 
Slogs on Ranunculus Beds (Ibid). —To destroy the slugs that 
infest your ranunculuses, water the bed with clear lime water, twice, 
at an interval of two days between. Brewers’ grains are an excellent 
trap, and so are cabbage or lettuce leaves. Examine these traps every 
evening by candle-light, and very early every morning. Use these 
means in every part of your garden most perseveringly for a month, 
and you will be rid of them. Brewers’ grains are a good manure 
when in a decayed state. 
Two-LicnT Frame (Rev. C. W. L.). —A frame with two lights 
for protection purposes in winter should be 4£ ft. wide and 7 ft. long. 
This will hold a considerable number of such things as verbenas, 
petunias, geraniums, &e. At the time to force roses, strike cuttings, 
sow seeds, and various other useful operations, the plants protected 
through the winter may be put out under a hoop and mat shelter. A 
gentle hot-bed should then be made, with short well prepared litter, 
and a covering of tanner’s bark laid upon it. The cuttings, roses, and 
seeds may be placed upon that, and will answer well if due care be 
taken that the heat is moderate. 
Roses (Ibid). —The two roses (Wm. Jesse and Souvenir de Mal- 
ntaison) that you have flowered in doors may now be planted out, and 
should have the long straggling shoots pruned in to half their length. 
They will then break afresh and flower again in the autumn. Instead, 
however, of planting them out, keep them in the pots, plunged 
behind a low wall or hedge, and they will flower much stronger next 
year than plants taken up and potted in the autumn. 
Rose Stock Suckers (Ibid). —The strong rose stocks you speak 
of as breaking strongly near the ground may be budded, as soon as 
the shoots are long enough, with Wm. Jesse, Mrs. Elliot, Aubernon, 
and Louis Buonaparte. These are good roses, and will answer your 
purpose. Budding of roses may now be commenced, provided the 
buds part easily from the bark; and the bark of the stock, through 
the abundance of sap, rises readily with the budding knife. 
Aquilegia Glandulosa (Ibid). —This requires a good strong 
loam, in an open situation, to thrive and flower well. It may be pro¬ 
pagated by slips, or division of the roots, but is best increased by 
seed sown in pots, plunged in a decayed hotbed. 
Rose Suckers (A. Y. Z.).—Your rose suckers undoubtedly injure 
the old bushes, and in two ways : first, through the creeping root that 
connects them with the old plant they draw off the strength which 
ought to support the parent stock : secondly, the roots of the suckers 
impoverish the soil, thus again robbing the old plant of food. From 
those suckers of a year’s growth having roots of their own, remove 
the soil carefully where you think the connecting roots are, and, when 
you have found them, cut them clean through with a sharp knife, and 
let them exist on their own resources till the autumn, and then remove 
them to a situation where they may support themselves. All suckers 
of this year’s growth destroy as they appear. 
Greengage (Ibid). —Your greengage, which is very vigorous, 
blooms, but does not bear, is too luxuriant. Clear away the soil to 
some of the strongest roots, and cut them in two. This will cause 
your tree to produce better, because less luxuriant, shoots for bearing. 
Names of Plants (A Smatterer). —Your plant is Ruscus andro- 
gynus, It is a native of the Canary islands, and too tender to 
endure our winters, though “ trained to a south wall in a sheltered 
corner in the county of Surry.” Being an evergreen climber the best 
place for it is against the back wall of a greenhouse. (II. P. Vibert.) 
—Your shrub is a Solanum, and, be believe, Solatium angustifolium, 
but the sprig you sent was too small to judge by. If we are right, the 
flowers are dingy purple and sweet-smelling, and the leaves lances- 
late and evergreen. It is a native of Buenos Ayres, and requires a 
greenhouse. 
Pea-sticks (X X ).—String tied length and crossways between 
the poles, described at p. 110, would do instead of boughs for the 
support of peas. 
Turnips Running to Seed (George). —This must have been 
occasioned either by their being too much shaded, or not being well 
watered during the late dry weather, or by the stock being of an 
early-seeding habit. If you avoid all these errors your turnips will 
not seed prematurely. 
Sulphate of Ammonia (An Admirer, Halifax). —This salt being 
a compound of sulphuric acid and ammonia, you may form an excel¬ 
lent supply for yourself, by pouring oil of vitriol (sulphuric acid) into 
some ammoniacal liquor from the gas works, until no more bubbles 
arise from the liquor. You may obtain sulphate of ammonia, in 
crystals, of the London Manure Company, for about 18s. per cwt. 
Cucumber Blossoms (Ibid). —It is not necessary to impregnate 
these in order to obtain fruit from them. Many first-rate gardeners 
testify that they have removed the blossoms before they opened, and 
yet the fruit was perfected. If you require seed from the fruit, im¬ 
pregnation, of course, is necessary. 
Slugs (H. S. R .).—These are perfect insects, and not the larva of 
a fly or moth. There are many species. The name given to them 
by entomologists is Limax. Answers to your other questions next 
week. 
Corrections (A. R. C .).—Thanks for your kind desire that we 
should not have even “ a speck.” You are wrong in some of your 
corrections—Polmaise is right. 
Second Swarm (R. A. C., Winchelsca ).—Prevent this if you can 
by putting a small hive on the top of your stock immediately. If 
the second swarm comes forth notwithstanding, unite it to another 
second swarm, or cast, as directed at p. 104. 
Double Wall-flower (J. C. Norwood ).—Your double wall¬ 
flower is a fine dark-coloured variety of great merit, but not new. 
We have seen the same variety about Windsor twelve months ago. 
It is the richest and darkest coloured double wall-flower ever seen. 
London : Printed by Harry Wooldridge, 147, Strand, in the 
Parish of Saint Mary-lc-Strand ; and Winchester High-street, in 
the Parish of St. Mary Kalendar; and Published by William 
Somerville Orr, at the Office, 147, Strand, in the Parish of 
Saint Mary-lc-Strand, London.—June 14th, 1849. 
