September 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
315 
that of the first nobleman in the land. Now, I am 
afraid, I have shocked some of my readers. 
The China aster is an invaluable annual. It has 
such a variety of colour that it ornaments the garden 
more than any other plant, and goes blooming on so 
steadily and perseveringly that it should be sown in 
every lied and border. Even in my garden it does 
tolerably well, and though not very large looks bright 
and gay. This is also a Chinese plant; it is valued 
and highly cultivated in its native land, and is a 
larger and finer flower than with us. I have seen a 
small collection of Chinese flowers painted on rice 
paper, and brought direct from that country; the 
colouring was bright and the form of the flowers 
seemed pretty. We shall probably now receive many 
beautiful new plants from that hitherto unexplored 
region, and thereby have renewed cause to admire 
and adore the wonders aud beauties of God’s hand. 
The daisy now blooming at my feet is a wonder and 
a beauty, yet we need perpetual reminding, and a 
new and splendid specimen sometimes awakens a 
feeling that the simple daily beauties around us fail 
to excite. 
I have seen China asters extremely fine in a cottage 
garden facing the south, the soil of which is light 
and dry. They are not usually raised by cottagers, 
but they greatly heighten the beauty of their simple 
gardens. There is always a fertility in cottage soil; 
flowers seem to do well there, in spite of trees, and 
shade, and damp, and everything that injures them 
in higher stations. They always bloom earlier and 
later, seem sweeter, and glow more brightly than in 
some more cultivated grounds, and appear to suffer 
less from blight and frost. There is a blessing on the 
labouring poor, if they would but feel it. “ The poor 
and the stranger” were tenderly guarded by the sta¬ 
tutes of God, and He guards them tenderly still. What¬ 
ever may be his rank and station, “ He that dwell- 
dth in the secret place of the most high” is “ covered” 
with “ the feathers” and “ the wings” of God, and 
fenced round with mercy. At this particular time of 
trial let us all remember that such a man shall not 
fear “ for the pestilence that walketh in darkness, 
nor for the destruction that wasteth at noon-day.” 
TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
*** Many letters must remain unanswered until next week. 
Bitter Cucumbers ( Hester S.). —You will see the cause of this 
and the remedy explained at p. 291 . 
Peas Soaked in Aloes (A. A., Clericus ).—Pour a quart of boil¬ 
ing water upon an ounce of aloes ; stir till this is dissolved ; let the 
liquor get cold, and soak the peas in it for 12 hours. Your other 
questions are answered at page 304. 
Turf on Chalky Soil (A. Blade). —There is no mode of keep¬ 
ing this green in the droughts of summer except by watering it plen¬ 
tifully, and at least once a week with liquid manure. The chalk 
downs, though clothed with the herbage most suitable to them, be¬ 
come brown in summer. You say you have constantly mowed and 
rolled your lawn, which is laid with turf from a down. You had the 
turf, therefore, most suitable to your soil, and the rolling was right, 
but if you mow much during the droughts of July and August you 
only increase the brownness. We should try giving liquid-manure 
liberally, even the ammoniacal liquor from gas-works much diluted. 
The richer the surface soil the better it resists drought. We suggest 
this to save you from the expense of relaying the turf. 
Rose Leaves Turned Brown (T. I. Cross). —Dry weather and 
the want of moisture at the roots have done this. You had better 
leave them alone now, but next summer put mulch over the roots, and 
give water occasionally. 
Dahlia Cuttings (Ibid). —Cuttings of the shoots had better be 
planted several together in one large pot. Insert them round the 
side of the pot. Hollyhocks are not annuals but biennials, and are 
best sown in June, the seedlings to be transplanted as soon as large 
enough to where they are to remain. For information relative to 
fuchsia and geranium cuttings see p. 14 of vol. i. and p. 147 of the 
present. Pray look to our indexes. Your water-butt on the level of 
the ground in your garden may have a half-inch gutta percha tube 
fixed to it for the purpose of supplying your watering-pots. You 
will find it very awkward to water directly from the tube, and there 
is not fall from it sufficient to throw the water any distance. 
Gladiolus (A Curate). —We could make nothing of your flower. 
Flowers are not examinable if put fresh in a letter and stamped by 
the post; to be of use they must reach us as fresh and full as when 
gathered, and this can only be done by enclosing them in tin cases, 
surrounded with tissue paper slightly damped. The four stamens in 
j a gladioli is a sport of nature. We are not aware of any other names 
than Natalensis and Psittacinus being applied to this gladiolus. 
Young Geranium Cuttings (Ibid). —These now rooting cannot 
be kept in a cold, dark room over a kitchen through the winter, but 
try them; and also save the old plants in case you fail with the 
| young ones. 
Zauchsneria Californica (Ibid). — This is quite hardy, and 
when done flowering plant it out of doors; the young shoots may 
die down from being tenderly treated, but the roots will push up 
young branches. 
Gladiolus in Moss (Ibid). —You say this promises well. We 
never saw a gladiolus growing in moss, but Mr. Beaton tells us that 
all bulbs which lose their roots and dry annually may be flowered in 
moss easier than any other way, and with less injury to the bulbs. 
Standard Geraniums (Ibid). —These have often been made, and 
if properly managed they look well. 
Planting Fruit Trees (G. W. P.). —All letters are destroyed 
as soon as answered. If we have not replied to any query, please to 
put it again ; but we cannot advise as to arrangement of grounds ; 
such advice can only be given after a personal acquaintance with 
them, and for this we have no time. 
Vines in Pots (T. W.). —An essay on these, probably, will appear 
in our pages very soon. 
Standard Currants (Rev. C. W. L.). —You will find directions 
for pruning these, with illustrations, at p. 123 of our first volume. 
Late potatoes may be safely stored under cover in burnt earth, in 
alternate layers. It is a very excellent material for the purpose. 
Liguid Manure (E. J. H .).—As your tank receives all your house 
sewage, which we presume includes soapsuds and other weak watery 
mixtures, as well as the drainage from your stable and farm-yard, it 
cannot be very strong, unless your horses, &c., are numerous. If 
our assumptions are correct, one gallon of the mixture will be suffi¬ 
ciently diluted by mixture with two gallons of water; but remember 
liquid manure had better be a little weaker than it might be, rather 
than in the slightest degree stronger than plants will bear. 
Grapes Small and Bad (Civis). —We hardly know how your 
bunches and berries are so small, unless owing to the circumstance 
of the vines being so young, and, perhaps, the wood not being tho¬ 
roughly ripened last autumn. As you say that the wood looks beau¬ 
tiful and short-jointed, you have no reason to be alarmed, as the scanty 
crop this season will be all in your favour for a better crop in succeed¬ 
ing years. Many good vines are ruined from taking a heavy crop 
from them at too early an age. Even next season you had better be 
moderate in the quantity you allow to remain. The chief thing now 
is to get the wood well ripened, and for effecting that object a small 
fire, with air, now will be more effectual than a large fire a month 
hence. There is nothing wrong in the kind of grapes you mention 
(Chasselas Musque, West St. Peter’s, Royal Muscadine, and Black 
Prince), but Macready’s early white we are not acquainted with. 
Chasselas Musque is a fine grape, a little apt to crack. West St. 
Peter’s ripens late, hangs well during winter ; but as your house acts 
as a repository during winter for a collection of plants, an earlier 
grape, such as the Hamburgh, would suit you better, though if you 
force a little you may have them all cut before the plants are intro¬ 
duced. As you wish an increase to your list, we should advise a plant 
of the White Dutch Sweetwater to be placed at the warmest end of 
the house, as in such circumstances you will cut from it three weeks 
sooner than from any other ; a couple of Black Hamburghs, and 
a Muscat of Alexandria. The latter sets well in such a house as 
yours, where forcing does not commence until March or April, and 
the grapes will hang along with the West St. Peter’s even after you 
introduce a part of your winter plants. 
Moving Plants ( T. Thomas).- —The general principle that plants 
should be moved when dormant applies more to out-door than to in¬ 
door cultivation, though even there breaking through the supposed 
principle is frequently more advantageous than otherwise. Mr. Fish 
grounds his recommendation of starting the Catharanthus, and then 
shifting (p. 214), upon a rule binding as a principle, namely, never to 
check the top and the roots of a plant at the same time, when you 
can attain your object by performing the operations alternately. The 
geranium grower knows well how to apply this important rule. He 
does not shift his plants when he cuts them down; he allows the 
strength remaining in the old roots to push out fresh growth, and 
then he removes the old soil and part of the roots with it, knowing 
that in the circumstances in which he will place the plant the young 
growth will sooner cause a protrusion of fresh roots, and thus re-es¬ 
tablish a relative and correlative action between the different parts, 
just as roots are sooner formed from a cutting where the leaves are 
maintained in a green healthy state than in a kindred cutting 
without leaves, or where from careless management they have been 
allowed to decay. 
Berberis dulcis Shedding its Fruit (Ibid). —Try a shadier 
place for the Berberis dulcis (Sweet Barberry.) We have not had the 
pleasure of tasting its fruit, which is black, about the size of a black¬ 
berry, and must, as well as the flowers, look very pretty from its long 
footstalks or peduncle. We recollect seeing some small bushes of it 
some years ago at the Horticultural Gardens, but there was no fruit. 
We have heard there is also a deciduous variety. There is a variety 
of the B. vulgaris (common Barberry), called dulce, with red berries, 
but we never discovered anything sweet about them. 
Brianzolo Fig (Ibid). —We do not know the Brianzolo fig ; itis 
peculiar to the Milanese territory, and also known there as the Fico 
Passin. The Nerii fig is pale greenish-yellow in its skin, small in 
size, less than the Marseilles, delicious in flavour, and thrives best in 
a low temperature under glass. 
Smell of Urine (Z. Z.). —Mixing sulphuric acid with it from 
