21 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, April 12, 1359. 
WALTONIAN CASES. 
People who have not the convenience of gas find the oil-lamp, 
which heats this apparatus, uncertain in its action, requiring a 
good deal of experience to manage, and, in any case, attended with 
a vast deal more dirt than ordinary patience can bear with. I 
can make the lamp burn twenty hours. There are many who 
cannot make it burn at all, except in a way which causes the 
formation of an inconvenient quantity of soot. But, whether you 
get the mastery of the lamp or no, an occasional absence from home 
will cause you to sigh for some source of heat which requires no 
experience whatever; so that, at the proper hour, a servant-maid, 
a stable-boy, or the “ missus,” may replenish the flame, and t o 
sustain the bottom heat. Sigh no more, put the lamp away, and 
forget the vexation of spilling the oil and blacking your fingers, 
and use the twelve-hour candle, made expressly for the purpose 
by Price’s Pateut Candle Company, at the suggestion of— 
Shirley Hibbeed. 
VARIEGATED-LEAVED GREENHOUSE 
PLANTS. 
In reply to your invitation (page 405, vol. xxi.), I intend to 
adhere strictly to greenhouse kinds ; though there are several very 
nice things among the hardy ones that are quite suitable for 
growing under glass during the winter months. But, as you 
promise such a list shortly, I will not forestall you by giving more 
than the above heading signifies.—C. 
Agapanthus umbellatus, var. 
Agave, var., 2 or 3 sorts 
Ageratum ccelestinum, var. 
Aruudo donax, var. 
Azalea Indica, var,, 2 sorts 
Citrus Japonicus, var. 
Coronilla glauca, var. 
Daphne Indica, var. 
Fuchsias, 3 or 4 kinds 
Geraniums,many sorts of Scarlet 
Do. Ivy-leaved, do. Scented vara. 
Habrothamnus elegans, var. 
Heliotropium aucubfefolium 
Hoya carnosa variegata 
Hydrangeas, 3 or 4 sorts 
Jasminum Azoricum, var. 
Myrtles, 2 or 3 kinds 
Nerium oleander, var. 
Petunias, 2 sorts 
Pittosporum Tobira, var. 
Salvia fulgens, var. 
Senecio Jacoboea, var. 
Solanum pseudo-capsicum, var. 
Verbena Defiance, var. 
Veronica Andersonii, var. 
Yucca, 3 or 4 kinds 
CULTURE OE THE FILBERT. 
As the Filbert is not in such general cultivation as it ought to 
be, or, where it is grown, is usually so very much neglected ; and, 
as it will grow in almost any kind of situation, not being like 
many others which are here to-day and gone again, I shall jot 
down a few words on the treatment the bushes have received, and 
then the mode practised to preserve the nuts. 
The different modes of propagating the Filbert are easy and 
well known to everyone; blit, still, I must say my favourite way 
is from suckers, which can be had from any old bushes without 
much trouble. 
The common Filbert does exceedingly well here on a heavy 
soil with a clay bottom. There is another sort, known here as 
the Lambert Filbert; which is a very large, long, late nut—some 
of them growing considerably more than an inch in length. 
This is a tremendous bearer, and not in a fit state to gather until 
fully three weeks after the common Filbert. Its colour then, in 
the most exposed and sunny situations, is but of a very light 
brown. It does well here planted on the same kind of soil as the 
common Filbert; but it does equally well on a light soil with a 
dry subsoil. The Red-kernelled Filbert is not considered of 
sufficient merit to be grown in any quantity. The great Cob-nut 
does very well here. but a sort known as the Frizzled Cob 
succeeds very much better. It seems to make but very little 
difference on what kind of soil this is planted; for I have found 
it bears equally well on a light soil as on a heavy soil—but the 
bush does not hold out so long on the light as it does on the 
heavy ; neither do the fruit of any of the kinds keep so long from 
the light as they do from the heavy soils. 
Filberts and Cob-nuts are fond of plenty of good manure, 
which helps them not a little; but a great number of them here 
are planted in a situation to which it is very difficult to convey 
manure. In fact, if any at all is put to them, it must be carried 
a very long distance on men’s shoulders, or in liandbarrows, 
which would occupy too long a time: therefore, a very great 
number of them are obliged to do without it. 
As soon as any of them decline being fruitful, or appear at all 
yellow, they are, when the leaf is on, marked with a piece of tape, 
and in the autumn cut down close to the ground, and all suckers 
grubbed up ; so that, when they shoot in the following spring, 
they may form a bush as round as possible. 
The second spring, slip oil' what branches are not wanted, so as 
to keep them clear of each other—always remembering that this 
is the time to choose whether fine fruit is to be obtained or a lot 
of trash. This plan, in my opinion, beats the one-leg system ; 
for, if you lose two or three seasons, it is very soon made up 
after, having what the boys around here call “such whopping 
clusters,” with another advantage, also,—which is, always having 
young bushes. With Filberts and Cobs grown in this way, 
during the last three years I have taken as many as fourteen 
prizes— eleveu of them being firsts. 
The way to preserve these nuts is very simple. In the first 
place, see they are thoroughly ripe before they are gathered ; and 
then perfectly dry before they are stored away. After they are 
gathered, they are put into a heap, or into large hampers, to let 
them sweat, for about a week ; and after that, exposed to sun 
and air for another week, when they are in a fit state to store. 
They are then put into large pitcher-shaped jars, which hold from 
a bushel to two bushels each, without mixture of any kind ; but 
they are not covered down until a fortnight afterwards. They 
must be examined, to see they do not sweat again, and then get 
dry in the jar of their own accord—or the consequence is, they all 
get fusty together, which entirely spoils them. 
There are grown on this estate from fifteen to twenty hundred¬ 
weight yearly : and in a few years there will be a great many 
more, there being several thousand more young bushes planted. 
In the cellar, at this present time, there are some that were 
grown in the year 1854, and so on of each year after up to this 
last year ; and, 1 believe, a few that were grown in 1852. I have 
exhibited them after being kept seven years. The Lambert nut 
will retain its husk for four years, and some of the clusters are 
then as perfect as when gathered; although, in that time, the 
husks get very tender. Those kinds that the husks remain on are 
superior in flavour to the slipped ones, and everyone can judge 
for himself in which state they look best when placed on the 
table. 
The Lambert nut is the best of all to keep; for the longer it is 
kept (in reason), the sweeter and better-flavoured it becomes. 
This kind has not that peculiar flavour that the others have when 
gathered, although it acquires it by keeping. Next to it is the 
Frizzled Cob, which is an excellently-flavoured nut when gathered, 
and, what is more, does not lose its good quality by keeping, 
—the only drawback belonging to the nuts being the impossibility 
of keeping them in their husks. Neither the Large Cob nor the 
Common Filbert will keep so long as the two sorts above noticed. 
Should any of the readers of The Cottage Gaedenee pay a 
visit to the Bath Horticultural Society’s fete, which is to be 
holden on the lltli of May next, I have not the least doubt but 
that the owner of them will show a dish of each of the last four 
years’ Filberts.—J. Ashman. 
YEGETABLE CULTURE AND COOKERY". 
(Continued from Vol. XXI., page 388.) 
Cucumbers, to Pickle. —Put the Cucumbers into salt and 
water for three days, then scald them with weak vinegar, and let 
them remain three days longer. Scald some strong pickling 
vinegar with a few onions, black pepper, allspice, cloves, ginger- 
root, and horseradish ; pour the whole over the Cucumbers, and 
keep them in jars for use. Gerkins, which are small Cucumbers, 
are pickled in the same way. 
Cucohbees, Preserved. —Pare thinly the Cucumbers ; cut 
them in two, lengthwise, and take out the seeds ; lay them in 
cold salt and water for twenty-four hours ; then wash them and 
lay them in alum water for twenty-four hours longer, when they 
are to be taken out and drained. To each pound of Cucumbers 
take a pound of sugar, of which make a syrup, by putting a tea¬ 
cupful of water to each pound of sugar. Skim it well, put in the 
Cucumbers, and boil slowly till they are quite clear; take them 
out, lay them on a dish, and continue to boil the syrup till it is 
thick, adding the juice of two lemons and two races of ginger. 
Put the Cucumbers into jars, and pour the syrup over them. Let 
the jars be kept air-tight. 
Cucumbers like Preserved Gingeb.— Divide the Cucum¬ 
bers in halves, lengthwise, and take out the seeds. Soak them for 
