THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY 
place is yet kept up to the requirements of the day, and the 
plants receive a proper amount of attention and space. 
By-tke-by, the collection of Cycadacese is one of the richest 
in its multiplicity of species.— Th. von Spreckelsen. 
NEW BOOKS. 
The British Botanist’s Field-Book.* —We can heartily 
recommend this useful little book to the attention of all 
tvho are interested in British field botany. It is arranged 
according to the Natural System, and is the most clear and 
simple manual on the subject, so arranged, which has come 
under our notice. We observe, however, a few errors which 
it would be well to have corrected, as they may tend to 
mislead the inexperienced; as, for instance, at page 7 of 
.lie synoptical arrangement we find Caryopliyllacece placed 
among Diclinous Exogens; and we would also recommend 
Mr. Childs in the next edition to give an index of the Genera 
as well as of the Orders. Many who have a very respectable 
knowledge of botany aim not quite “up” in the Natural 
System, and cannot always remember the order in which 
genera occur so readily as they can in the Linnsean arrange¬ 
ment ; and it would be a great convenience to them to have 
Rich an index. Such a book was much wanted, and we are 
jlad now to see the void so well supplied. 
Index Filicum.+ —This is a book which has long been 
wanted by botanists, namely, a ladder whereby to ascend to 
:he intricate labyrinth of the Ferns. Mr. Moore is well 
qualified for furnishing this help, and the number of the 
work before us shows that he has bestowed great labour, 
3are, and judgment upon it. The ladder, however, will not 
L’each to the upper story of the labyrinth unless Mr. Moore 
publishes a companion synopsis of the species. Let all who 
love Ferns buy this book, for it is only by securing a liberal 
sale that such works can pay for publication. 
British Grasses.J —A very pirntty and very cheap serial; 
but why not render it more useful by giving a magnified 
sngraving of the parts of reproduction ? Perhaps a more 
superficial, ill-written preface was never prefixed to a work 
than to that now before us. Let one instance suffice to 
lemonstrate its quality. The Bamboo, B ambus a, has no 
petals, or, in the language of botanists, it is Apetalous. In 
Paxton’s “Botanical Dictionary” the eight species are so 
described, the contraction “ Apetal ” being affixed to each. 
Mr. Lowe, being a faithful copyist, thought this is the name 
of their native place, and so informs us, at page 4 of his 
preface, “ There are eight species found at Apetal! ” 
TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
Mowing Machine (J. B. C.). —Any of those advertised in our 
columns do their work well. 
Weeks’ One-boiler System ( Hot Water), —Write to Messrs. 
Weeks themselves, or to Mr. Sanders, gardener, Tedworth House, near 
Andover. 
Mice. —D. T. writes as follows :—“ The garden which I have under 
my charge is of considerable extent, and i3 everlastingly infested with 
three descriptions of those destructive vermin, which are ruinous to my 
crops. Firstly, a long-tailed mouse, which until lately I took to be the 
common house mouse, but which I now believe to be the long-tailed 
field mouse, or Mus sylvaticus of Linnaeus, and which I have not much 
difficulty in trapping. Secondly, a short-tailed mouse, which I believe 
to be the short-tailed field mouse ; and lastly, the common shrew mouse. 
These latter two set all my ingenuity, plans, traps, and contrivances at 
defiance, and I am afraid that this season they will entirely destroy my 
crops. My cats catch great numbers of these pests to gardeners, but, 
notwithstanding, I cannot keep them within any reasonable bounds as 
to number. If, through the medium of your paper, I could be informed 
of the best and speediest means of destroying them I should feel very 
much favoured and obliged.” 
[We shall be glad of any information on the subject. Some parties 
recommend Owls to be kept. The Kestrel Hawk is also a great destroyer 
of field mice. Both these birds might be kept iu gardens after being 
* The British Botanist’s Field-Book. A Synopsis of British Flowering 
Plants. By A. P. Childs, F.R.C.S. London: Longmans. 
t Index Filicum. A Synopsis, with Characters of the Genera, and an 
Enumeration of the Species of Ferns, with Synonymes, Iteferences, &c. 
By T. Moore, F.L.S., &c. London : W. Pamplin. 
+ A Natural History of British Grasses. By E. J. Lowe, Esq., 
F.R.A.S., &c. With coloured Illustrations. London : Groombridge & 
Sons. 
GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION, April 14, 1857. 27 
pinioned. We believe that the increase of field mice is a consequence 
of the indiscriminate slaughter of these birds of prey.] 
Rose Cuttings.—Killing Moss on Trees (.4 Lady). —It is now 
too late, as you anticipate, to put in Rose cuttings. Wait till .Tune, and 
do them in a slight hotbed, as Mr. Errington did them in 1855. To 
destroy Moss and Lichens on trees, take a house bucket or pail, a 
gallon of water in it, a lump of unslacked lime as big as a child’s head, 
and two or three handsful of soot, to make a dark grey colouring, and 
paint over the stems while the paint is yet smoking hot. Very moderate 
heat, such as 6o°, will do to stimulate Fuchsias, Petunias, Salvias, Ge¬ 
raniums, and all bedding plants at this season, to make shoots for 
cuttings, and they want no plunging, unless it is more convenient for 
yourself; neither do they want bottom heat. In the Experimental Garden 
they put Salvia roots into long, narrow boxes in light soil, and place 
the boxes wherever heat from 55° to 60°. or 65° can be had. and when 
the cuttings are three inches long they are ready for use. All Fuchsias, 
all Dahlias, all Salvias, and all Geraniums for cuttings, do better and [ 
are more convenient in these boxes than they are in pots, and it shows ! 
that no bottom heat is necessary for them, as no heat to signify goes 
through a deal board; but of course the heat in a hotbed must be 
bottom heat for all that. Have you no old Lobelia fulgens, the best of j 
the good old plants ? We divided our old roots of them last week, and 
made many plants of them, but yet we are short of 500 good sucker 
plants of them. One thousand of them, one thousand Salma patens, 
and one thousand bed Fuchsias can be kept for sixpence during a long 
winter. 
Botany ( Garden Boy). —A work will be begun publishing in numbers 
on the 1st of May which will suit you as to the Natural System. It will 
be duly advertised in our pages. For the Linnsean System there is no 
work better than Smith’s Introduction, which you have. It is quite im¬ 
possible for us to instruct you iu pronunciation if you do not under¬ 
stand the difference between the grave and the acute accent. In the 
Cottage Gardener’s Dictionary that syllable only is marked on 
which the emphasis is to he laid. 
Advertisements {Kate). —We avoid inserting them in the body of 
the work as much as possible. If you consult other gardening periodi¬ 
cals you will find them in the middle of the pages. 
Name of Daphne (H. A. D.). —It is the Daphne Dauphinii. 
Potato Seed ( A Subscriber). —Wash the seed out of the crabs or 
berries, and sow it thinly in drills during the present month. Any un¬ 
shaded, fresh, light soil will be suitable. 
Cankered Apple Grafts ( Pomicolus ).—Your safest plan is not to 
graft from the diseased growths. This is where you erred in the first in¬ 
stance, as diseased old trees almost invariably furnish scions in which 
the disease has become seated. Your best course will be to cut down 
the stocks, and have them entirely regrafted with scions taken from 
vigorous and heallhy trees. 
Uniting two Hives of Bees (A. Ferguson). —The experiment of 
uniting your two weak stocks of bees at this season would probably end 
in disappointment, if not in the destruction of both. No doubt each 
contains a portion of brood, which must be sacrificed, as the combs could 
not be removed into one hive. One queen must also be got rid of, in¬ 
volving difficulty and the risk of many lives. The matter is not im¬ 
proved by storifying boxes, as the withdrawal of the slides would lead to 
nothing but a battle between the two families, each retaining possession 
of its own domicile. You should have made the union in the autumn 
by driving or fumigation. As matters now are, we rather recommend 
copious feeding as giving the best chance of preservation, keeping the 
hives warm to promote breeding. 
Various {Cinch na Cuten).— In the first place you ought to be made 
to pay a fine for mis-spelling your assumed name. Clach na Cuden (tub- 
stone) is the badge of Inverness, a stone on which the auld wives used 
to rest their tubs when drawing water frae the river. In the second 
place you must alter the shape of the two beds before planting them. 
The side of a bed next a straight walk, or wall, or any straight line, 
must be straight also to correspond. You made the shape horribly ugly. 
Surely Clach na Cuden is not yet worn into that shape. The side of the 
twelve-feet beds should be three feet from the walk. They would look 
better in plain circles. No one could make colours tell in such shapes. 
The centre will do very well with Fuchsias, then the tallest scarlet Gera¬ 
nium. Mangles’ is too low to he next the Fuchsias, then Tom Thumbs, 
then Judy, and then eighteen inches of Mangles’ next the grass. Lo¬ 
belia is too low for such a large bed as twelve feet across, and Saponaria 
is not a good edge plant. The Linum grandiflorum will come easily 
from cuttings. The ground, six feet across, or three feet from the stems 
of the Deodaras and Araucarias, should be six inches higher than the rest 
of the lawn round them, and no turf should come nearer than that foj- 
the first five or six years, only a bare bed, as one might say, the surface 
to be stirred often ; but a row of Wallflowers round the circle in winter, 
and some tall annual—as Clarkia first and China Asters later—may be 
used to hide the nakedness of the bed, and if you put in one-half fresli 
soil for these flowers they will not hurt the roots. It will not do to mix 
fresh dung with an old Mushroom bed. There is not the least harm in 
planting old Dahlia roots six inches deep. Our next-door neighbour 
puts them in that depth, and always plants in March. 
Lachenalia (E. B.)— Yours is the Lachenalia tricolor, var. macu- 
lata. By some botanists it is called L. luteola. Mr. Beaton will be 
much obliged by a supply of the bulbs at the proper season of taking up. 
Of your Cineraria seedlings that which is bright blue, with a white circle 
round the disc, or centre, is very good. 
Heating a Greenhouse- (S. A.). —What is your wooden tank 
covered with ? Of course wood will give out little heat. If the tank 
gets hot enough, and is covered with slate, or any radiating conducting 
material, the tank ought to be large enough to heat the house. We | 
suspect you do not get enough heat into it from your gas stove. If 
your thermometer got no lower than 34° your Cinerarias ought not to 
have been killed. We do not see that two or four four-inch iron pipes 
would assist you a bit if you could not raise the water in them above 80° 
or 90 °, which is little warmer than your own blood ; and if you cannot 
heat the water in your tank to lfi0° or 170°, even if that water is not 
above two or three inches deep, we fear you would be equally unsuccess¬ 
ful with iron pipes, though they would radiate from their whole sur¬ 
face. We think, if your little boiler is properly heated, you would have 
