100 
THE COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 
June 
them, and those left undug were worse still, so that 
it was quite impossible to save any for this year’s 
planting. While those that were dug loose in the 
ground, but escaped notice, have come up amongst 
the cabbages, • which were planted immediately, in 
such a strong and healthy manner that I have tilled 
up the gaps in my this year's crop by transplanting 
them. One I measured this morning is It; inches 
high and strong in proportion, with only one stem. 
On those planted by the gardener next door, early in 
April , I counted fifteen slight stems on one root; 
most of those missed in the_ ground, as stated, were 
perfectly sound in March, and these with the spots 
on appeared to he just as they were in the autumn, 
and the remainder of the potatoes sound. I shall 
certainly next autumn, if mine are attacked, dig them 
loose from the stems without taking them up until 
wanted.—P. M. L., Stool-well. 
Striking Cuttings— I have substituted hyacinth 
glasses for phials, and white sand for mould, in 
striking cuttings of roses and fuchsias, and in my 
opinion they look infinitely better, and are more 
secure while standing on the window ledge. I cer¬ 
tainly have found it an excellent plan, and am much 
indebted for your suggestion.— An Admirer or your 
Journal. 
Shelter for Flowers. 
—I send you the accom¬ 
panying drawing of a 
simplified method of 
shading, or protecting, 
flowers from sun or rain. 
A friend of mine who is 
a grower of tulips, wish¬ 
ing to retard some of the 
forward bloom as well as 
protect them from the 
recent rains, and not 
wishing to place an awn¬ 
ing over the whole bed, was at a loss for a simple, 
yet efficient plan, until Mr. John Gale, of this place, 
gave him the above, which answers admirably. It is 
suited to any description of plant or flower, by using 
various sizes of sticks and pots, and is considered to 
be the best and most efficient mode of partial shad¬ 
ing known here.—H. K., Whitby. 
To Stop a Vine’s Bleeding. —The following de¬ 
scribed cement I have found the most effectual to 
prevent a cut or broken vine from bleeding. I keep 
it in a small glue pot to prevent it from burning, 
when heated for use:— 2 oz. of rosin, 1 oz. of bees’ 
wax, and 1 oz. of red ochre: while in a melted state 
add a little plaster of Paris. The late Mr. Knight 
recommended a mixture of quick-lime and the poorest 
cheese pounded together. I have used this, but in 
very bad cases I have not found it to answer, though 
it usually has the effect desired.— Eev. C. A. A. Lloyd, 
Whittington , near Oswestry. 
Boscorel Oak. — 1 would just mention that the 
“ Eoval Oak,” as it is called, is still growing at Bos- 
cobel. It is a rather fine looking tree, and is in¬ 
closed within iron palisades ; and though I was born 
and reared within a couple of miles of the place, I 
really could not say for certain whether I always saw 
it as it is at present. I think I may safely say it has 
been in its present state for at least twenty years.— A 
Lover of Gardening. 
Vinegar Plant. —Your correspondence must, I 
think, be the most onerous and troublesome part of 
your editorial duties, and which I am bound to say 
you most faithfully discharge. I thank you for your 
answers to my queries, yet I could not forbear smil¬ 
ing to think that L had been familiar with the 
“ vinegar plant” of your correspondents for more 
than 40 years without being aware of it. It turns 
out to be no “ plant” at all, but mere inorganic mat¬ 
ter, mucilage, an invariable product of the acetous 
fermentation, and the vinegar made with it, merely 
sugar vinegar, the cheapest as well as the best that 
can be used for pickling, of which more anon. All 
other home-made vinegars, either expend part of their 
preserving qualities on the juices of the vegetables 
employed (cowslip for instance), or, as in the case of 
gooseberries, contain another acid beside the acetic 
(vinegar), viz., the malic acid, abundant in all our 
fruits, hut which rather detracts from, than assists 
1 in, the preservation of vegetables. The “ vinegar 
plant” I have said is mucilage; it is called by the 
French and Dutch vinegar manufacturers “ mother 
of vinegar,” as it is found that a portion of it put 
, into a fresh brawst materially accelerates the acetous 
fermentation, though, from many years’ experience, I 
much-doubt a good vinegar being made in so short a 
time as “five weeks.” I am of opinion that in that 
short time the whole of the alcohol (the first product 
of fermentation), would not be decomposed, nor would 
the whole of the mucilage be separated, the latter 
condition being essential to a good vinegar for pick¬ 
ling. Indeed, the boiling of vinegar in this process 
is only intended, by coagulation, to separate any mu¬ 
cilage that may remain. In my family for six and 
thirty years we have been in the habit of making a 
nine gallon cask every year, and I do not reinember 
ever having heard complaints either of the pickles 
not keeping, or turning soft. I ought to apologise for 
being so diffuse on a subject unconnected with hor¬ 
ticulture, but having been formerly rather deeply 
engaged in chemical pursuits it is a subject on which 
I feel myself quite at home. I enclose a copy of our 
recipe for making vinegar, which you can use or de¬ 
stroy at your pleasure.*— Edward Mugridge, Ring- 
stead, Norfolk. 
[As you desire, we have omitted your postscript, 
assuring you that the subject would be most accept¬ 
able for our pages. We differ from you as to the na¬ 
ture of the “vinegar plant;” believing it to be of 
the fungi family.—E d. C. G.] 
Chamomile in Turf. —If it be true chamomile 
(Anthemis nobilis,) why should your correspondent, 
“ Beta,” (p. 1-37), get rid of it? In the soil which 
really suits this plant, a quartzoge sand, I have seen 
the very*finest turf composed of chamomile only. It 
has an elasticity which a grass turf never possesses; 
is so thick that you cannot put a needle between the 
leaves nor see the least particle of the soil; when 
trodden on emits a most grateful fragrance ; and in 
the most burning summers preserves a perpetual and 
vivid verdure, which in a sharp sandy soil, grass-turf 
will not do; of course, it must be often mown to 
keep down the blossoms. If the soil be such, to 
which the plant is native and congenial, it might be 
wiser to convert the whole turf to chamomile, than 
to root out that which intrudes there.—W. P. T. 
Quicken Grass. —I would suggest a fourth way to 
* Dissolve 10 lbs. coarse sugar in eight imperial gallons warm water, 
add a little good yeast spread on a slice of bread, at a temperature of 
85°; let it stand in an open tub in any warm place in the house for 
two or three days ; skim off the yeast that will have formed, and tun 
it. Leave it unbunged, and when the weather gets warm place it 
out-doors in the hottest aspect you can. It will be necessary so to cover 
it that the rain cannot get at it; a hollow tile we use, and cover 
the bung hole with a piece of coarse gauze to prevent the flies enter¬ 
ing. In six months it will be fit for use or bottling. May is the best 
month to make it in. Perforated zinc or lead should not be used; 
the salts and oxides of these metals are highly poisonous. 
