28 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION, April 14, 1857. 
less water to heat in your tank than in these pipes, but you must have a 
pood radiating covering. A flow-and-return four-inch pipe will be | 
quite sufficient for such a house; but if you do not fill the pipes they 
must be fixed pretty much on a level. As the tank is there, why not see 
if the fault is not in your gas stove or boiler ? 
Vinery Flue-hka.ted {An Under Gardener). —If the flue answers 
why do away with it ? For a late vinery two four-inch pipes, crossing 
the ends and along the front, say a yard from the front wall, would be 
sufficient. For very early forcing double that quantity of piping would 
be necessary. For a medium early house two flows and one return. 
Garden Plan {H. Vickers).— You will see an engraving of it in our 
pages to-dav. 
Names of Plants (Z. Z.).—Your Moss is Hypnum prohferum, 
Proliferous Feather Moss. (P. P.).— Yours are Mesembryanthemum 
inclaudens and Ceterach officinnrum. (A Constant Subscriber). That 
pretty Squill, Scilla pracox. {Mrs. Edwards).— The Tropaiolum tri- 
colorum lying dormant for one year is not unusual; but we think it is 
unusual for it to have laid dormant three or four years, and now to have 
grown and be blooming vigorously. (E. C.). —We think yours is a 
specimen of Diplacus puniceus, {J. Newton). —The Arbutus-flowered 
Heath, Erica baccans. {A Working Man). —Notice when the Mosses 
are in flower, and send us specimens then. We do not know them in 
their present state. 
Plants for a Border {H. T. Johnson).— In every instance where 
we are asked to recommend plants we must be informed of the 
situation and place. What will succeed in Devonshire will not always 
live in Caithness. Send full particulars. 
Water Rats. — James Rollins will be obliged by any information how 
to get rid of these pests of his garden crops. 
Sweetwater Vine {Abel Note). —The Sweetwater Vine, which is 
one of the short-jointed varieties, will take some time before it reaches 
to the height of eight or ten feet out of doors unless your soil is 
peculiarly adapted naturally to the Vine. We have seen the Sweetwater 
ripen very well out of doors; and if you are situated in the southern 
counties, and in a warm locality, you will no doubt get the fruit to 
ripen. You would not do much good in Grape growing were you to 
bring the plant inside the window of your staircase landing. If you 
have any doubt, therefore, about the Sweetwater ripening with you, put 
the Miller's Burgundy or Early July in its place, and since it is only 
just planted you will not lose much time by the exchange. 
Garden Plan {John Williams). —Your garden is very easily planted. 
The centre group is quite right; but a single row of Fuchsia globosa 
major along the front of 2, 3, 4, 5, would improve them. These Fuch¬ 
sias never look better than in sight of water. 6 and 11 very good, but 
better with a strong belt of white round the edges. The beds round 6 
and 11 would need to be planted according as they are seen from the 
house, so as to bring a yellow bed in each group “ next the eye; ” then 
a purple and scarlet Verbena on each side of the yellow beds, and a 
blue or a white something opposite the yellow. Every plan of a flower 
garden ought to show' the house, if it is seen from it; or, if not, the 
point from which it is most seen should be given. We say that to you 
because you are the first who has asked the only thing which a stranger 
can honestly answer, that is, the colour for such and such beds. 
Raising Geraniums from Leaves ( Gallicus). —“ If ‘ every leafofa 
Geranium can be made into a plant,’ providing there is a bud to it, and 
as every such leaf has but one bud, how many buds must be taken with 
a leaf to make a leaf cutting ? ”—The answer will solve| your questions. 
Never trouble your head about things turning contrary to the “ usual 
thing.” Your drawing shows you understand it quite well. It is just as 
you and Mr. Beaton represent, but you allow older notions to influence 
your better judgment. Every green part of a Geranium, and of a thou¬ 
sand other plants, will root with or without a bud on it. In a “ leaf 
cutting ” there is one bud at the top and no bud at the bottom. The bud 
at the bottom of a cutting is not left to draw nourishment, but to hinder 
too much moisture being sucked up, the stem being hardest at a joint. 
POULTRY SHOWS. 
June 3rd, 4th, and 5th. Bath and West of England. Sec., Mr. 
John Kingsbury, 10, Hammet Street, Taunton. Entries close the 1st 
of May. 
July 8th, 9th, and 10th, 1857- Leamington. Sec., Thomas Grove. 
July 9th. Prescot. Sec., J. F. Ollard. 
August 8th, 10th, 11th, and 12th. Crystal Palace. Sec., W» 
Houghton. 
September 2nd. Dewsbury. Sec., Harrison Brooke, Esq. 
October 1st and 2nd, Worcester. 
December 10th and 17th. Nottinghamshire. Entries close No¬ 
vember 18th. Hon.Sec., Mr. R. Hawksley, jun., Southwell. 
January 9tli, lltli, 12th, and 13th, 1858. Crystal Palace. 
January 19th, 20tli, 21st, and 22nd, 1858. Nottingham Central. 
Sec., Mr. Etherington, jun., Svvinton, near Nottingham. 
N.B.— Secretaries ivilt oblige us by sending early copies of their lists. 
FONDNESS FOE ANIMALS. 
"When, after a storm at sea, the captain sees that the good 
ship is in safety, that her spars, masts, yards, and all there¬ 
unto belonging are in trim, that her hull is sound, that she 
makes no water, and when he feels that he and all on board 
have done their duty, lie draws a deep breath, and retires to 
the quiet of his cabin. The member of Parliament, after 
two months of letters, squibs, promises, canvassings, and 
doubts, finds himself returned, and, throwing himself into his 
library chair, tastes the long-expected rest. The editor, 
when he gets a holiday, and is free from correspondence, 
and the everlasting entry of the boy to ask for half a column 
more, sits down to taste the luxury of having nothing to do; 
yet, true to the contradiction of human nature, having 
nothing to do, they must all do something, but that some¬ 
thing is pleasant, because they are not obliged to do it, but 
merely kill their leisure. Just in the same way, at this 
season of the year, when there is nothing that becomes im¬ 
perative in the way of poultry news, I, one of your unwort y 
contributors, feel disposed, from sheer independence, to 
go into a discursive paper, and to treat of anything that 
comes uppermost. . . 
Everybody is fond of some live animal. This piopensity 
is not confined to age or sex. If they are not iond of the 
object, at least they like to govern it. Look at the nice 
little girl with her kitten ; how does she address it? Poor, 
poor little pussy! She loves it because it is pretty, and 
because it is alive ; but it also appeals to her sympathy ; it 
is poor little pussy; it is helpless, and even her small 
strength is a protection for it; it looks up to her. And 
the boy at school—he keeps the only live things the rules 
will allow; he has cockchafers and silkworms.. How he 
longs for the time when he will be able to have his dog, his 
pony, his pheasants, and his fowls. See the artisan; above 
all, see those who are confined by their work to one room. 
Take Spitalfields, Norwich, Nottingham, Coventry, and, in¬ 
deed, every place where men are confined to one room, 
and have not even a yard. There is a pigeon house on 
the roof, and a canary’s breeding cage in his room, or there 
is a skylark at his window. 
Look at that thin man sitting at his loom ; his pale cheeks 
tell of confinement, and the monotony of his life-long task 
is written on his features. Suddenly he stops; you have 
heard or detected nothing, but he has. His favourite bird 
has given the challenge note—the prelude to his song; and 
now he sings it. Can that be the same man we saw but a 
moment since ? There is colour in his cheek; his eye 
sparkles with animation; he has left his loom, and now 
stands upright, wrapped in admiration of his bird ; and his 
bird, when he has finished his song, leaves his perch, and 
recognising his master, ruffles his feathers, and either in e 
sort of mock anger or in some other way appeals to him 
Many times in the day that little bird is a real comforter: 
he relieves the monotony of his master’s tasks, and appeals 
to his best feelings. 
It would not, perhaps, be out of place here if I were to give 
an account of what I observed during a daily morning wall- 
some years since. Every day, between seven and eigh‘ 
o’clock in the morning, I had occasion to walk through tb( 
heart of the city of London. My way lay across one of th( 
churchyards, or rather, around it; the backs of warehouses 
and dwellings opened upon it, and I know not, but one o 
the attics I imagined to be tenanted by the porter in chargt 
of the premises. It was a large window projecting from tin 
roof, but some feet away from the gutter and parapet wall 
Here my friend (for I was quite interested in him, thougl 
I knew him not from any other of the tens of thousand; 
to be met in the streets) had made his garden. Four largi 
pots were in the gutter; two eontained Lilacs, the other twi 
Fir trees; the space between the gutter and the sill of tlr 
window was covered with boxes, all containing flowers, 
noticed the enthusiast in the first week of April; the bud 
of his Lilacs -were bursting, and at length the taper, sickl, 
stems bore leaves, and then I saw the promise of blossom 
and a pale, poor blossom appeared. Then I could see ; 
framework put up round the window, and Scarlet Runners 
Convolvuluses, and Sweet Peas growing from the boxes t 
decorate it. The sharp wind blew round a corner and dis 
turbed them, and then he put up a screen. One morning 
found he had planted some Wallflowers; there were als 
French Marigolds, Lupins, and Daisies, and the cheapest o 
all scents, the “ Old Man.” 
Although this does not read much like a garden to tlios 
who look out of their windows and view the trim beds, o 
rejoice in the skilful combination of colours, or in the pos 
session of such a catalogue of flowers that when you tak 
the list in hand it looks like a tangled ball of string, ther 
is no end of it, yet it looked green and cheerful. Ever 
morning it was watered with a bright green water-pot, wit 
