THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION, May 26, 1857. 
123 
Louise, Beurre Diel, Passe Colmar, Hacon’s Incomparable, 
Glou Morceau, Winter Nelis, Knight’s Monarch, and Easter 
Beurre. 
“ I shall not have all these, and, therefore, if you could 
inform me which will he best adapted to my soil, aspect, 
&c., I will thank you. 
“Do you approve of cultivation between the trees, as I 
shall plant thirteen feet apart, and for some time, of course, 
the trees will not be large enough to shade any crop, such 
as Potatoes and the like? ”—A. H. H. 
[Your intentions are good, and give evidence of a thorough 
knowledge of what you are about. With regard to the eligi¬ 
bility of the site, we are of opinion that it is quite adapted 
for the purpose, particularly if you follow out your intention 
of a thorough draining. Your selection of Apples is good; 
but why have you omitted the old Forge so much grown in 
your part ? You must have that. We have known cottagers 
pay their rent from the crop of one tree; it always bears. 
You must not venture on Ribston Pippin; it will never do 
any good with you. Your list of Plums is also good, but you 
have too few culinary sorts. Substitute Diamond for the 
Washington; you do not want both that and the Jefferson. 
From your list of Pears leave out Glou Morceau, Easter 
Beurre, and Williams' 1 s Bon Chretien. We do not approve of 
cultivation between the trees at a distance of thirteen feet 
apart, but you may for the first year or two grow light crops. 
One half and more of the fruit trees in the kingdom are 
spoiled by digging about the roots and driving these down 
into the subsoil, inducing canker and disease, and then 
people cry out about “ degeneration.” No, no ; if you want 
a healthy orchard, sow it down in grass after the trees are 
well established and the roots begin to spread, and top 
dress it every year, keeping the roots near the surface, but 
never dig and crop close up to your trees; you may fork the 
surface carefully, but never dig it.] 
TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
Flower-beds (Delve).— To give an opinion on the form of a single 
bed can be of no use ; if it pleases the owner it is all that is necessary. 
It is of little consequence that we think, unless the shapes can be 
accounted for from some objects lying near them, or from the nature of 
the ground, they are frightful in outline ; and we cannot form the 
smallest idea how they should or could be planted. 
Delphinium formosom ( Ruhtra ).—This is quite hardy, and will 
stand our winters. x 
Clematis Montana grandiflora (Peachy). —The colour of its 
flowers is white. It is, like most of the Clematises, rambling in its 
growth. It is quite hardy. 
Blotched Leaves of Roses (Miss Cooper).— If Roses are budded 
upon stocks which do not supply sap so fast as the growth of the 
branches and other parts requires, or if the soil is very light and dry, 
their leaves will blotch and fall. The best preventive is to excavate the 
soil down to the roots in a circle extending two feet round the stem, to 
cover them with about two or three inches in depth of well-rotted stable 
manure, and to return over this a portion of the excavated soil, but 
leaving a basin to admit a gallon of water being poured in three times a 
week in dry weather. 
Cowslip Wine (An Old Subscriber).— For each gallon of water have 
a gallon of Cowslips, the pips only, three pounds and a half of lump 
sugar, and three lemons cut in slices, peel and flesh together. Boil the 
sugar and water for half an hour, skimming the liquor well. Put the 
pips and lemons into the cask next day, and pour the cold liquor upon 
them. Ferment it with a little yeast spread upon a toast ; stir it well 
daily for a fortnight; then put in some brandy—a bottle is enough for 
twelve gallons—and bung it up. 
Removing Hives (An Old Subscriber). —Removing them only a few 
yards causes the difficulty. If you purposed removing them some mile 
or two there would be none. You cannot move them more than an inch 
daily without a certainty of great loss. The asphalt for-a pond bottom 
would impart a taste to the water, and be injurious to the plants and 
animals partaking of it; otherwise it would answer. 
Non-delivery of our Numbers (Subscriber, Wingham). —The 
failure must have been with the bookseller’s London agents ; there was 
no delay on our part. 
Names of Plants (J. W., Maidenhead).—1. The yellow is Candollea 
tetrandria. 2. The pink, Indigofera Australis. (Betty). —The plant 
I which came up among your Maltese Cinerarias is not a weed for certain. 
! Take care of it, plant it out in your flower border, and if you have any 
doubt about it when it flowers then send us a specimen. We believe it to 
be Senecio elegans. (H. B.), —Your plant found in a Derbyshire cottage 
garden is the Asarum Europceum, common Asarabacca, or Foal’s-foot, 
Hazelwort, or Wild Nard. This curious kidney-shaped-leaved plant 
' is very rare in England, of which it is a native. It should always be 
planted in a shady border, where it flourishes well. It has been found 
near Preston, in Lancashire ; near Kirby Lonsdale, Westmoreland ; by 
the roadside between Henley and Maidenhead ; plentifully in Broad- 
bottom Wood, near Mytholmroyd, six miles from Halifax ; and at West 
j Binny, near Linlithgow. 
Vines on a Wall Five Feet and a half high (A Beginner ).— 
j The Thomery system succeeds perfectly here. Do not you know the 
l Vine bears fruit on the young wood of the current year? You need 
not, therefore, be afraid of starting “the fruit-buds of next year” by 
stopping the growing shoots of this season. 
Veronica Syriaca.— Delphinium formosum (L. M.). —The 
Veronica Syriaca is only “ homing out” this season, and, without 
venturing on the spirit of prophesy, no one can say what it is fit for 
more than what the advertisements affirm respecting it. Every one 
who can ought to buy it, however, for there is no doubt it is a good 
thing while it lasts. The Delphinium formosum is the finest Larkspur 
in the world, and grows from eighteen to thirty inches high. 
Books (A Young Gardener). —If you wish to acquire a thorough 
knowledge of plants you must study them first in their great divisions, 
then in their families, and afterwards in their genera and species. You 
cannot have a better book for such a purpose than Hogg’s Vegetable 
Kingdom and its Products, which not only gives you the characters of 
all the families of plants, but enumerates all the genera of every family, 
with their synonymes. The price is only 2d. a week, and it is crammed 
with engravings. The best book to explain the meaning of botanical 
terms is Henslow’s Dictio?iary, published by Groombridge. 
POULTRY SHOWS. 
June 3rd, 4th, and 5th. Bath and West of England. Sec., Mr. 
John Kingsbury, 10 , Hammet Street, Taunton. Entries close the 1 st 
of May. 
June 26 th. Exeter. Sec., T. W. Gray, Esq., Queen Street, Exeter. 
July 8 th, 9 th', and 10 th, 1857. Leamington. Sec., Thomas Grove. 
July 9 th. Prescot. Sec., J. F. Ollard. 
July 28th, 29 th, and 30th. Sheffield, South Yorkshire, and 
North Derbyshire. Sec., William Henry Dawson, Fig Tree 
Lane, Sheffield. 
August 8 th, 10 th, 11 th, and 12 th. Crystal Palace. Sec., W. 
Houghton. 
August 19 . Bridlington. Sec., Mr. Thomas Cape. 
September 2 nd. Dewsbury. See., Harrison Brooke, Esq. 
September 7 th, 8 th, 9 th, 10 th. Gloucester. Sec., Mr. H. Churchill, 
King’s Head Hotel. 
October 1st and 2nd. Worcester. 
November 30th, and December 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. Birmingham. 
Sec., John Morgan. Entries close the 2 nd of November. 
December 16 th and 17 th. Nottinghamshire. Entries close No¬ 
vember 18th. Hon. Sec., Mr. R. Hawksley, jun., Southwell. 
December 30th and 3lst. Burnley and East Lancashire. 
Entries close December 1st. Secs., Angus Sutherland and Ralph 
Landless. 
January 9 th, 11 th, 12 th, and 13th, 1858. Crystal Palace. 
January 19 th, 20 th, 21st, and 22 nd, 1858. Nottingham Central. 
Sec., Mr. Etherington, jun., Notintone Place, Sneinton, near Notting¬ 
ham. 
N.B.— Secretaries will oblige us by sending early copies of their lists. 
A REVIEW OF OUR NUMBER 449. 
Among other “ approaching Poultry Shows,” we have now 
to notice that advertised for Gloucester. The prizes amount 
to above £500. To enable the Committee to do this they 
require one thousand entries. Like the Worcester Com¬ 
mittee, they also undertake to return the money in full if 
they do not receive sufficient support to justify them in 
carrying out their arduous undertaking. Exhibitors have 
the option of pieces .of plate or cash, and first prizes of £20 
will, we think, be a strong inducement. There are 114 
prizes. These, to one thousand entries, will give one prize 
to nine pens. Add to this tempting bait the probabilities of 
sale, and we think the Gloucester Show will appear a safe 
investment. 
“ Chanticleer ” will, we are afraid, think we are putting 
“Fancy” in rather a mercenary light, but it is an additional 
inducement to follow it if it can be made self-supporting or 
something more. Cattle Shows were the precursors, and, 
in reality, the founders of Poultry Shows. Breeders of 
cattle were not so thin-skinned as some of /our poultry- 
breeders, and even the most noble among the successful at 
the Agricultural Meetings do not hesitate to make, we had 
almost said, a trade of it. A strain of unusual excellence 
is made by judicious crossing, and regular sales of the pro¬ 
duce take place annually. The animals are also let on hire 
for breeding purposes. Wealthy men of high standing in 
the northern counties derive incomes from animals let out 
in this way, and every one has smiled at the pedigrees of 
Shorthorns. Let “ Master Butterfly” and many others take 
revenge for the smile by showing the prices, from £700 to 
£1200 each, that they have realised. Those who have im¬ 
proved the breed of cattle are looked upon as benefactors, 
and we would award the same meed to breeders of poultry. 
As it often happens those most skilled in this process are 
not the most wealthy, success at exhibitions may help their 
efforts, and we think they should be encouraged in every 
honourable way to persevere. 
We have often advised Secretaries, and we do so again, to 
