108 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION, May 19, 1857, 
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PHOTOGRAPHY FOR GARDENERS. 
“ 1. In copying with salt and nitrate of silver the pictures 
are good for a day or two, hut then brown patches come 
through the paper to its surface, which make a leaf look, as 
if it had the red spider. What is the reason ? ” 
[The photographs were not soaked long enough in the 
hyposulphate solution.] 
“ 2. Flow much ought I to give for a lens glass for a 
camera like that described?” [Two shillings.]— Spotted 
Result. 
“ Perhaps Mr. Copland will inform me whether the pro¬ 
cess adopted by the London photographers for taking their , 
one shilling likenesses could be applied to our purposes in ! 
producing representations of trees ? If so, will he favour 
us with the details ? ”— Landscape Gardener. 
[You are right. The collodion process is particularly 
suitable where rapidity of action is desired. The additional 
apparatus you will require is as follows :— 
Cost. 
Twenty-four pieces of clear, thin glass, each 2£ s. d. 
inches by 2 inches .*.. 1 0 
Glass vertical bath* and stand, inside dimen¬ 
sions 4 inches by 0 inches . 3 0 
Glass dipper . 0 0 
CHEMICALS. 
A-—I oz. iodized positive collodion. 0 9 
B.—120 grs. nitrate of silver in 4ozs. distilled 
water . 1 (i 
C-—24 grs. sulphate of iron, 40 minims glacial 
acetic acid, 2 ozs. distilled water . 0 (j 
D. —I oz. hyposulphate of soda in 1 pint common 
water . 0 4 
Clean the glass plates. If greasy, use tripoli and water, 
and finish with wash leather. 
For the succeeding manipulation the yellowed light of the 
operating room is necessary. 
Take up a plate by one of its corners, and, holding it in a 
perfectly horizontal position, pour over its surface an even 
coat of solution a, returning the surplus collodion to the 
bottle by tilting the plate. 
Pour solution b into the glass bath. 
Place the collodionized plate on the dipper, and lower 
quickly into the nitrate of silver. After half a minute lift 
it once or twice out of the bath. When a greasy appearance 
at first noticeable has gone off, remove, and place it in the 
camera frame. 
The time of exposure varies with the light, averaging 
about a minute. 
Remove the camera to your dark room, and cover the pre¬ 
pared side of the plate with solution c- 
When the picture is sufficiently intense the plate must 
be laid, face uppermost, in a flat dish containing solution d, 
when a clearing process is observable. 
The whole image having sharpened, thoroughly wash off 
the hyposulphate with common water. When dry, back with 
black velvet, silk, or liquid jet. > 
After “ Landscape Gardener ” has photographed all the 
trees in his way he can turn his camera upon the young olive 
branches of his household.—E. A. Copland. 
N.B.— India-rubber finger-stalls for lady photographers 
can be had at Squire’s Photographic Warehouse.] 
TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
Cutting Down Laurestinus ( South Devon).— Your seven-feet- 
high Laurestinuses may be cut down to five feet high now, unless they 
have grown much. If they have you had better wait until next April. 
Cut with a sharp knife wherever the branches are not too large. Where 
wo^rroiKur.^r'” 8 uae a the v <* «>« 
Plan. Keens' Seedling, sJTit pla”' 
You must reduce the strength of your house slops for everythin? eS 
Asparagus, Rhubarb, and the Cabbage tribe. One bucket of the hS 
* Squire’s, 54, King William Street, City. 
sewage to four buckets of water will be about the proportion. You may 
give it to your Strawberries twice a week now they are in bloom, and re¬ 
member when once you commence watering Strawberries you must con¬ 
tinue it daily in dry weather. You may add carbonate of ammonia to the 
hard water in the proportion we mentioned last week. Prince Albert is 
the earliest Rhubarb. 
Consuming Smoke (J . IV.).—Mr. Fish says, “I can say nothing 
definite on this subject as respects bituminous coal. I have used Witty’s 
furnace with good effect. I some time ago had the furnace doors made 
double—a space of an inch, or rather more, between, and all close 
except at the bottom, which was open. A turn round in the centre of 
the door admitted air to this cavity at pleasure ; and shortly after light¬ 
ing the fire, when a little air was thus admitted, the thick smoke was at 
once changed to a vapoury substance. The ash-pit doors were kept close. 
The plan of thus admitting the air answered well; but the reckless use 
of pokers and flinging the doors back with a vengeance, as young stokers 
will do unless watched, soon broke and disarranged the whole affair. I 
have also tried with good effect admitting a small stream of air from the 
outside not far from the furnace, and thus I thought that I increased the 
heat about the boiler and lessened the smoke very much. In a private 
letter from Mr. F-lately he tells me he is making many trials for 
burning the smoke in furnaces, and if anybody will succeed I am sure 
he will; but I do not feel at liberty to refer our correspondent to him.” 
If we were in your position we should inquire among those manu¬ 
facturers in London who have been compelled to consume their smoke 
what plans they have adopted. Can any one inform us of an effectual plan 
for consuming the smoke of hothouse and greenhouse furnaces ? They' 
will oblige us by so doing. 
Manual of Greenhouse Plants {W. B. Clarke).— One of our 
“ Manuals ” will treat of these. 
Sedum Acre {E. H. K.)— This, the common Stonecrop, can be had 
anywhere. It is a variety with golden variegated tips to its shoots that 
is in request. 
Wine Making (T. Taylor). —The best instructions on this subject j 
ever published are in Nos. 97. l6l, and lfi5 of The Cottage Gardener. I 
They are by Mr. Livett, a man of science and a practical wine maker. 
A manual, “ Wine Making for the Many,” is preparing. 
Canada Free Grants ( Brian Riley). —Buy the Canada Times. It 
is published in London fortnightly. It will tell you what you wish to 
know. 
Top Dressings {An Old Subscriber). —We never use these, but if 
obliged to do so we should use a mixture of common salt, Epsom salt, 
and soot to the Potatoes, scattering it and hoeing it in between the rows. 
Guano or blood manure will do for your Asters, but must not touch their 
leaves. 
Small Greenhouse {A Subscriber). —Spend fourpence on the 
manual “ Greenhouses for the Many,” and you will find full particulars 
of a ^5 greenhouse. If you prefer a span-roof you will also see 
a plan of a very cheap and useful one as now existing at Hitchin. A 
small flue either below or above the floor would answer your case best. 
We would, even at the risk of repeating over and over again what has 
been stated lately, give definite directions if your premises were more 
definite. For a lean-to house ten feet long make it say ten feet wide, 
nine feet at back, and six feet in front, half of that to be glass, and the 
ends of even three feet glass also if convenient. The cost will be little 
with a flue. Two bricks on edge will be deep enough, and five or six 
inches wide inside. The cost will depend on how the work is done. 
We have frequently shown how cheaply Messrs. Lane and Rivers put up 
their houses. 
Fruit Trees (C. M.) —Apples and Pears grafted into a Potato will 
not grow. Have the roots of your trees got into a cold subsoil, or is 
your situation low and exposed? Ants have nothing to do with the 
failure of the fruit. If you make a horizontal line of gas tar near the 
ground on your wall, and one round the stem of your tree, you will 
prevent ants from ascending. 
Beet or Mangold Wurtzel Wine {Home-made). —From the 
quantity of sugar it contains no doubt good wine can be made from it. 
The same receipt as for Parsnips we should think would do. Can any 
of our correspondents give us some information on the subject? 
Mushrooms on Ridge Cucumber Beds {FI. F.). —You will see 
an article in to-day’s paper on the subject. All we need say here in ad¬ 
dition to what is there explained is, be sure and not injure the pro¬ 
pagation of the spawn when you remove the old worn-out Cucumber 
plants at the end of September, and, if the weather be very dry then, 
give them some water, and your success will be fully in accordance with 
your wishes. 
Mushrooms Lacking Flavour (A. S.). —Your case is so fully 
entered into in another part of this paper, that we need not repeat it 
further here than that we shall be glad to hear from you again if the 
remedies there pointed out should fail; but you must not expect 
Mushrooms in the purely artificial condition they are in when forced 
into use at a period diametrically opposite to that in which they are pro¬ 
duced naturally to be so good, but they may, doubtless, be better than 
you represent yours to be, Let us hear from you again if your next 
crop is not improved. 
Cyclamens {Miss Watkins). —We cannot undertake to guess what 
land of Cyclamen yours is that is in flower at this time ; but if it belongs 
to the greenhouse section it may be some variety of the C. Persicum ; 
but if it belongs to either of the hardy border kinds it may be some 
variety of C. Europium, or hederifolium as it is often called. 
Names of Plants {Fillingham). —The Virginian Lungwort, Pul- 
monaria Virginian. {H. W.). —Your flower and leaf are from the 
Celsia Cretica. {G. A., Glasgow).— Your Sid a pulchella is Abutilon 
pulchellum in The Cottage Gardener’s Dictionary. Bceckia is 
a greenhouse plant, but which species we cannot tell from the seed. 
The third packet of seed is of Acacia lophantha. 
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