THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, January 24, 1860. 
259 
bill was the signal for it to be opened. If the signal were not 
answered it became impatient, and tap, tap, came fast and furious, 
until ingress was obtained. Towards winter its sojourns out of 
doors became shorter, and when winter fairly set in, Dick would 
never stir out. When spring returned its wanderings re-com¬ 
menced. At this time it fell into bad habits; its visits to home 
were not so frequent as during the preceding summer; the nights 
were spent wholly out of doors. We had a suspicion that Dick 
had taken up with some young amourette; and, as it paid less 
and les3 frequent visits, our suspicions were confirmed. It would 
occasionally appear, but for a moment, as much as to say, I have 
not forgotten the ‘ Old house at home,’ and shall come again some 
day. The care of its family occupied all its time and attention. 
As the summer waned, Dick paid more frequent visits, until at 
last it finally established itself about the premises. It was very 
restless, in and out of the window incessantly. It was for somo time 
about, but suddenly we saw and heard no more of it. It will 
come again, we said. No, it never came again. Whether it went 
away spontaneously, or fell a prey to the all-devouring cat, I 
cannot tell. Poor Dick ! We mourned it many days, and with 
a genuine lamentation. 
“ I have read many anecdotes of birds ; but I have never read 
one approaching to the sagacity of Dick. Its love of home, 
too, was so remarkable. Dick, I should say, was a native of Bath, 
and the scenes in its life which I have depicted were enacted in 
the same beautiful city.”—W m. Treasure, Eoss, Herefordshire. 
NOTES ON NEW OR RARE PLANTS. 
Ceropegia Thwaitesii. HooJc. Nat. ord., Asclepiadacece. 
Native of Ceylon, and introduced int o this country in 1851 by 
Mr. Thwaites.— A rather weak-growing, twining, subherbaceous 
plant. Branches moderately numerous, round, and perfectly 
smooth. Leaves opposite, on rather long petioles, ovate-acumi¬ 
nate, thin, smooth, and entire, minutely ciliated at the margin, 
dark olive green, often tinged with led above, paler below, where 
the veins also become prominent. Inflorescence axillary, on 
peduncles about an inch in length, slightly umbellate, with few 
flowers. Calyx composed of five, subulate, greenish sepals, tinged 
with red at the tips. Corolla about two inches in length, tubular, 
globose at the base, much contracted immediately above it, then 
gradually dilated towards the apex, mottled with dark brownisli- 
red spots, which become more intense towards the apex of the 
tube. Limb composed of five, oblong, obtusely-ovate segments, 
erect, and united at the apex, and taking the figure of a cone, 
yellowish, and transversely marked above the middle with a band 
of dark purple. Column of fructification enclosed within the 
cone figure of the limb of the corolla. 
This plant, and perhaps the whole genus Ceropegia, may be 
termed more curious than beautiful; but many are handsome, 
and the present species enjoys that character largely ; and the 
curious structure of the flowers enhances its interest to those who 
are botanically disposed. The habit is excellent of its kind, being 
easily trained into any desired form : the most suitable, however, 1 
j is any low figure, such as a balloon trellis. It is a fibrous-rooted I 
species, and delights most in a light loamy soil, with a little peat ' 
or leaf mould well drained. Cuttings root freely in mild moist 
heat without a bell-glass. The intermediate-house is the best 
place to cultivate it in. 
Aealia papyrifeha. Hook. Nat. ord., Araliacece. Native 
of swampy ground in the Island of Formosa.—A small, erect, 
sparely-branching tree, destitute of spines, but having the stem 
very rough from the scars of fallen leaves. While young the 
stem, branches, and leaves, and all parts of the inflorescence, are, 
more or less, thickly covered with stellate woolly hairs, of a light 
rusty colour. Leaves alternate, very large, with very long and 
stout petioles, cordate, and cut very deeply into five or seven 
lobes, which are acute and serrated, texture soft and rather 
flaccid; the petioles aie based by two very large subulate stipules. 
Inflorescence at the apex of the stem or branches panic-led, with 
the flowers ultimately arranged in umbels, at first erect, but 
gradually assuming a horizontal or even drooping position; the 
peduncle and pedicels based by more or less large, subulate 
bracts. Calyx obsolete at the margin. Petals four, ovate, con¬ 
cave, acute, woolly only on the outer side. Stamens four, alter¬ 
nate with the petals; anthers curved inwards. Styles two, 
erect while young, but in age spreading outwards. Stigmas 
small, capitate. 
A very handsome and distinct plant, forming a conspicuous 
feature in a collection of stove plants, particularly so while in 
bloom, which is of long duration. The individual flowers are 
very small, but a strong plant produces thousands of them at 
once. The stem is extremely full of pith, from which the Chinese 
manufacture their celebrated substance called “ rice paper,” over 
which they manifested so much jealousy, that the real plant 
was procured with great difficulty, and introduced into this 
country only after “ John Chinaman” had made us the dupes of 
his cunning deception. Loam and peat, the latter predominating 
largely over the former, with a free admixture of sand, are an 
excellent compost for this plant. A moist, not very warm, stove 
is the best place to grow it in. Propagates by cuttings of the 
branches, but they are usually scarce ; the roots, however, make 
plants freely if the stronger ones are selected and cut into divisions 
of an inch or so in length, and treating them in the usual way 
of cuttings of this kind. It blooms in October, November, and 
December.—S. G, W. 
A CHAPTER EOR THE COTTAGER. 
CESSPOOLS—FENCES. 
In taking a survey of a cottager’s garden there are several 
things to be borne in mind which ought all to be duly considered 
before anything rash is entered upon. If the garden is adjoin¬ 
ing the cottage, which it usually is, it not unfrequently has to 
act as a sort of back yard to the house, as well as a garden. The 
piggery is often within it, as is also the cottager’s store-wood or 
; faggot-stack ; and not unfrequently there is a sort of rustic shed 
for sheltering his tools, holding a few coals, perhaps, and the many 
et ceteras which the sweeping reformer coming from town, armed 
with sanatory powers, would be inclined to condemn; but he 
must not do so. The temporary wood-shed is a necessary part 
of the cottager’s property or holding, and its presence, if put up 
by himself, shows thrift and good management. It keeps many 
things wanted in everyday use from suffering from the summer’s 
sun or winter’s wet. We therefore let that alone, unless we can 
give advice how to improve it. 
But, somewhere in the immediate neighbourhood of the sheds 
we may find something against which our London friend will 
find scope to vent his indignation and protest—a sort of cess¬ 
pool, receiving all the slops of the house, garden refuse not 
destroyed by the pig, and other odds and ends. A lecture on 
cholera, fever, diphtheria, and the most virulent diseases likely 
to arise from such a receptacle near a dwelling, winds up by our 
scientific adviser insisting on its being removed to the north 
pole or some such place. This tirade, however, is closed by some 
quiet listener asking why he does not try to send all the refuse of 
the filthy Thames to the same place. The cottager also takes 
up the dispute, and points to his vigorous Savoy and other winter 
crops, as being entirely due to the soaking they had from that 
dirty-looking hole last September, when they were only little bits 
of things, having been planted after the Potato crop was taken up j 
and he also asserts that neither he nor his family ever took any 
harm from it, and mentions other cesspools much v r orse than his 
in his immediate neighbourhood. Our man in authority becomes 
softened down a little, and looking round him sees a place at the 
extreme corner of the garden, and close to the side of the piggery, 
where the cesspool might be made with a likelihood of doing less 
harm to the inmates of the cottage; and this suggestion, being 
assented to by all, the contents of the cesspool are spread on some 
vacant ground and immediately dug in, and a new one dug, the 
material from which tills up the old one, and the obnoxious cess¬ 
pool question is set at rest. 
I have been more than usually prolix on this subject, as I know 
by experience it is one of the difficult ones which the well-dis¬ 
posed landlord has to enforce on his cottage tenants. I have, 
also, on various occasions, in company with others, looked over a 
number of cottage gardens and premises with a view to award 
prizes to the meritorious; and last summer we awarded as 
many as thirty prizes to the cottagers on one estate for good 
order and cultivation. Our attention was especially directed 
to the condition of the back premises, the state of the cultivation, 
the fences, and the other features about a cottage ; and we con¬ 
gratulated ourselves that on the second and third years of our 
inspection there seemed a marked improvement. The cesspools 
were in most cases removed to the most distant part of the 
garden; the dung-lieaps neatly covered over with earth, as 
well to prevent evaporation as for appearance and other im¬ 
provements. 
