I 
THE COTTAGE GAKDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN S COMPANION, April 28, 1857. 
they have done flowering if possible.’ How is this to he 
done when, as is the case with us, our plants begin to make 
their fresh wood immediately after flowering, almost before 
they leave the greenhouse ? ”— Maria. 
[The rest, we presume, consists in keeping the plants in 
a temperature quite as low, and a little lower if possible, 
than they were in when flowering, and consequently giving 
them quite as much air and less water. Where this can 
be managed not only the Camellia, but almost every other 
flowering plant would he the better for it. We consider 
Mr. Errington’s late “ History of a Camellia ” as a first- 
rate outline of the successful culture of that flower.] 
Destroying Mice. —I use “ Battle's Vermin Destroyer ” 
mixed with oatmeal, and folded in small packages. I drop 
these into each mouse hole that I can find. The following 
day I close the holes, so that I can see if any have come 
out. If such proves to he the case I use the same poison, 
but mix some butter or fat instead of the oatmeal, and it 
very rarely happens that the mice escape both. I like this 
mode of destroying them better than laying the poison near 
the stacks, as a cat or dog might then get it; hut by the 
plan I adopt there is no such danger, as it falls down several 
inches in the holes. My reason for not closing the holes 
as soon as I have put the poison in is, that I may allow for 
mice being out of their holes at the time I put it in.—S., 
DarUntjton. 
TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
Planting a Flower Garden (S. B. T.). —Your flower garden is a 
“ leaf” out of The Cottage Gardener, and no one can help liking 
the planting who has an eye for such things. Your centre bed is new in 
neutrals—a mass of Perilla, surrounded by Flower of the Day and 
variegated Mint, mixed with a band of a “ dark maroon ” Verbena 
round the outside: capital. We guess 4 and 5 are the nearest beds to 
the house, because of the planting ; but the situation of the house ought 
to be indicated in all these kinds of plans. Commander-in-Chief is the 
right kind for 9 . The pink Nosegay would do instead of Flower of the 
Day in the centre bed, as the Mint is master wherever it is. We are 
much pleased at seeing such rapid improvement in planting beds. 
Various ( Fillingham ). — Many questions compel brief answers. 
1. October, November, and February is the right time to spud out 
coarse grass from lawns, and that is the right way to get rid of it, but 
now it is fully six weeks too late to attempt it. After such an April we 
shall have the end of spring or the beginning of summer) so dry that 
your lawn would be ruined. 2. Nets are the only real safeguards against 
birds ; but we would shoot (on the wing) all birds which infest buds and 
seeds. 3. Entirely a matter of individual taste ; either of the ways is 
as good as the others. 4. Is answered under 2. 5. Yes, a very hard, 
durable, black walk. 6. All clean, heavy land would benefit by 
exposure to the frost, and foul, light soil should not be dug, except for 
convenience, till the end of spring. Unless the land is perfectly clean 
it should not be dug in the autumn and again in the spring; but strong 
land would be much improved by a deep stirring three or four times 
during the winter. 
Isabella Gray Rose (A. B. C.). —You had better write to Messrs. 
Low and Co.: they are nurserymen, residing at Clapton. 
White Honesty. — Mr. T. Spencer, Bradford, Wilts, would be very 
much obliged if “ Flora ” could spare him a little seed. 
Hard Water for Plants (A New Subscriber). —Hard water is very 
objectionable. Rain water preserved in tanks or ponds, which are easily 
made, is far preferable. When hard water must be used, mixing 
thoroughly a very little carbonate of ammonia with it, and letting it 
stand exposed to the sun and air for a few hours is a good plan. The 
birds disbudding your Gooseberries and Currants are either Bullfinches 
or Tomtits. The Chaffinches are innocent of , that offence. 
Cut Flowers in a Bedroom (Nemo). —All plants and flowers at 
flight give out carbonic acid, and are, consequently, injurious if in any 
quantity. Perfumes, whether from flowers or other sources, are liable 
to cause headache if inhaled for many hours together. 
Linum grandiflorum (A Subscriber) .—We have nothing to add to 
what we said last year about this plant. Fowls' dung is nearly as 
powerful as guano j use it in the same way for your garden. 
Ants in a Flower-bed (.4 Subscriber). — You must either kill the 
bed of Forget me Not in order to destroy the ants, or allow the ants 
themselves to destroy it before you despatch them. There is nothing 
more easily done than to kill ants where you can get at their “ nests.” 
On a cold night when they are all at home scald them to death with 
boiling water ; but if you do, first get up some of the plants to save the 
breed. We do not understand your term “ wild Tulips.” What kind or 
j kinds do you mean ? 
Hardy Water Plants (S., of Darlington). —A black, dirty pond we 
know of is just now as gay as a flower garden with the floating white 
Crowsfoot (liununculus aquatilis). Can you not get enough of it for the 
spring decoration of the green slime called duckweed ? It should be 
j called death’s weed. All the native ditch and water plants would live in | 
your pond or round it; but there is no demand for them, and therefore i 
! they are not on sale. You must collect them from their native places, j 
but a list of their names would not help you. There are no seeds of 
water plants to be got. Many kinds of pot plants would do in the 
summer. The best of them is Calla (Richurdiu) JEthiopica, and it would 
live out the winter under the ice. 
Names of Rhubarbs (J. Humphreys). —No one can tell with 
certainty from a young leaf. The earlier red variety is probably Buck’s 
Scarlet. The other may be the old Tartarian. 
Removing Iron Hurdles (A Clergyman’s Executor). —We have no 
doubt that you are entitled to remove them if merely stuck into the 
ground. It makes no difference their being made of iron ; and who for 
a moment would argue that wooden hurdles put to fence off a flower 
garden from a field might not be removed by the incumbent who placed 
them there, or by his executors if he dies before he has removed them ? 
We know of no decision upon the point, and we believe, for the best of 
reasons, no reasonable successor to an incumbent has ever refused either 
to pay for such hurdles or to allow them to be removed. 
Bird Organ ( Mesabelle ).—We cannot give you any information. 
Uneven Lawns (J. G.). —The unevenness of the lawn can be very 
easily remedied by lifting up the turf, and filling up the hollow spots with 
suitable material to the proper level. The rushy Grass and Lichen you 
sent show that the soil is poor, or may be wet and sour, or overshadowed 
by Oak or other trees. If wet and sour draining would be the best 
remedy. The only way to clear the turf of these weeds, if they are 
objectionable, is to weed them out, and sow Dutch Cdover and other 
proper Grass seeds in the spots. The little rush-like Grass is the 
Luzula campestris, or small, hairy Wood Grass, which is generally found 
on poor, barren soils. We cannot be certain as to the species of this 
leatlier-like Lichen, but believe it to be Lichen caninus, called also 
Peltidea canina, or the ash-coloured ground Liverwort. 
Dytisus in an Aquarium (A. S. P.).— It is not advisable to place 
Dytisii in the aquarium with gold and other fish. They are very vora¬ 
cious insects. Sticklebacks are also very savage creatures.—W. 
Seedling Variegated Ivy ( G. Archer). —There seems, at present, 
no difference between this seedling and the young shoots of the common 
variegated Ivy; but keep it to see how it turns out after another year or 
two’s growth. We find that the best way to have fine growth and 
luxuriance in the variegated Ivy is to inarch it on the young or last 
summer’s growth of the Irish Ivy. We had the two kinds against the 
house, and inarched them three years since, and now we could pass 
off the variegated as a new thing : this is worth looking to. 
Sowing Seeds of Ixias and other Bulbous Plants (Amateur), 
—The seeds of all the Ixias and their allies should be sown (in October) 
thinly enough to remain undisturbed during the first season of 
their growth. As yours were only sown this year, no matter how thickly 
they are, they must remain so for two months longer, and then they 
will cease to require more room—they will be on their way to rest. 
Sparaxis tricolor, Ixias, Tritonia aurea, Babiana, Geissorhiza Hookeri, 
Trichonema speciosum, and Cummingia trimaculata will be at rest 
soon after, if not before Midsummer, and the coolest frame culture 
is be3t for them from this day. Anomatheca cruenta will keep green till 
October, and should now be colonised; that is, take the ball, and 
break it gently through the centre ; then break each half into two 
parts, and after that divide each part into two or three bits, and 
each bit is a colony of little seedlings, looking very much like young 
barley. Put each colony in a fiO-pot in sandy peat; keep them in a 
cold pit till June ; then plant them out of doors in some warm place, as 
under a south wall, and they will bloom in September—the prettiest 
pinkish purple flowers you ever saw, which will seed like Poppies. 
Amaryllis vittata would do best plunged with young Pine Apples in a 
10-inch pot till October, and to be wintered in a dry stove ; but first of all 
transplant them now, three plants into a 48-pot in sandy loam, and 
another shift into 32’s in July. In these pots they will flower in two 
years if all goes well, and some may bloom in one year. 
Variegated Alyssum ((?.).—There are more variegated Alyssums 
than one, and you appear to have two kinds. The one we mention so 
often seems to be the same as the one which your gardener calls “ varie¬ 
gated Candytuft.” The variegated Alyssum is a sport from the old 
annual sweet Alyssum of our childhood; but some people have called it 
Koniga, a name which the best botanists in Europe cancelled. The 
sweet Alyssum is Alyssum maritimum ; the yellow one of which you 
speak is A. saxatile variegata, a hardy perennial, suffruticose plant, and 
blooms in April. The annual blooms till the frost comes, and the varie¬ 
gated form must be kept by cuttings. 
Various (A Cottage Gardener). —You put too many questions at 
once. 1. All fly insects are destroyed by tobacco smoke or tobacco juice. 
You must apply it as soon as the fly begins. The “grub” is kept down by 
hand picking two or three times a week. 2. Linum grandiflorum will grow 
in pots and in beds. 3. The best stage of growth to transplant annuals is 
as various as are the annuals themselves. Some, as Stocks, must be done 
when they have four leaves ; and others, as Asters, at any stage, from 
the seed-leaf to the flowers opening. 4. Ammoniacal liquor is good for 
all plants, but use it carefully. />. We cannot recommend plants as you 
ask. 6. The ‘‘Cypress Vine” is the Ipomcea quumoclit, a most delicate 
stove climber, with crimson, small, trumpet-shaped flowers ; a most 
beautiful plant to be got up with Sensitive plants, Cockscombs, and 
Melons, and to be trained on sticks like Tropceolum tricolor, or, better 
still, up the rafters of a moist, hot Orchid house. It will not thrive in a 
dry greenhouse. The best time to sow the I. quamoclit is at the begin- 
fiing of August, and to flower it the following season. One of our 
seasons is too short to do it justice, even if it were sown early in January. 
Names of Plants (An Old Subscriber, Burnley). —Your plant is the 
Lunaria biennis, and is frequently called Honesty or Moonwort. It is 
a native of Germany, and not indigenous to England. It is a very 
desirable and ornamental plant in the flower garden during the month of 
May. The seeds may be sown now in some by-place in the kitchen 
garden, so as to have a supply of plants for transplanting into the flower 
garden early in the ensuing spring.—(0. V .).—Yours is the dwarf 
Almond, Amygdalus nuna. 
