118 THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN'S COMPANION, November 18, 18-10. 
E. hystrichodes. —Flowers small, shout an inch and a half 
through ; petals very narrow, rosy white, with a line down 
the middle of a colour between violet and amaranth; 
stamens very numerous, sulphur yellow; style with six 
divisions of the same colour, longer than the stamens. 
E. ensiferus. —Flowers about, an inch and a half in 
diameter ; petals numerous, much laciniated at the margins, 
of the most beautiful violet colour at the middle, hut the 
colour becomes lighter at the margin. 
E. nobilis. —Flowers magnificent, about an inch and a 
half in diameter, and similar to those of E. gibbos7is. 
E.ferox. —Flowers pure white, superb, three inches and a 
half in diameter, like the preceding, similar to those of 
, E. yibbosus. 
E. Jussieu i. —Flowers small, about an inch through; sepals 
greenish ; petals straight, lanceolate, of a dirty-brown yellow 
at the base, and slightly tinged with dirty purple at the 
extremity ; style in ten divisions, of a dull red colour, much 
j longer than the stamens, which are yellow, 
j E cachetianus , E. sclissimus, and E. treculianiis. —These 
| three varieties flower in precisely the same manner. On 
i the same plant there are flowers of a buff orange, and others 
of a citron yellow. M. Schlumberger thinks that if there is 
| any difference of character between these varieties or species 
i it is very slight, and he can discover none at all in plants of 
| from three to four years old. 
Mammillaria grandicornis. —Flowers pale rose, like M. 
| Kanvin’s Kiana. 
I M. bellatula.—~L&rge flowers, of a rose colour. 
M. Saluciana. —Flowers small, of a flesh colour, with a 
j rose middle line. 
JR. Rcematactina. —Small rose-red flowers, very abundant. 
A/. albiseta. —Flowers like those of J!/. spinosissima. 
M. Bocasiana. —Flowers clear yellow. 
A/. Cimendstiana. —Flowers like those of A/. ChiHifora. 
M. Dechalara .—Very small and bright flowers. 
A/. Linkeana. —Flowers bright carmine. 
A/. Klcnneirii .—Flowers bright rose.—P. F. Keir. 
GOURDS AND THEIR USES. 
We have this year grown several kinds of Gourds in the 
open air with success as to the size as well as the number 
j of the fruit; but I wish now particularly t.o speak of the 
j kind called the American Butler Squash, the different pre- 
| parations of which have been so much approved in my own 
j family, that I am induced to ask your aid in making known 
I its value as a food, and, therefore, recommend the following 
; receipts. 
As all your readers may not have “ Soyer’s Shilling 
j Cookery,” 1 transcribe the following receipts with slight 
| alteration :— 
Gourd Soup. —Take two pounds of Gourd peeled and cut 
| into dice about an inch square, put it into your pan, with 
| three ounces of salt butter or fat. two leaspoonsful of salt, 
1 the same of sugar, and a little pepper, and half a pint of 
j water; stew gently until it is quite soft. When in a pulp, 
stir well in two tablespoonsful of flour; their add three 
, pints of new milk, or two pints of milk and one of cream, or 
! three pints of stock, but do not mix the stock ami milk. Euil 
1 for ten minutes, and serve with fried toast cut in small 
i squares. 
| Gourd as a Vegetable. —Line a pan with thin slices of 
fat bacon, and put into it one or two pounds (according to 
the size of the dish required) of the Gourd peeled and cut 
in pieces, a little butter, pepper, and salt; stew till tender; 
then add a little milk or cream. Put into a mould, and 
turn out. 
Gourd Pudding. —Two pounds of Gourd, three ounces of 
fresh butter, one teaspoonful of salt, three tablespoonsful of 
sugar; stew till it can be reduced to a pulp; then flavour 
with lemon-peel or almonds. Serve up in a flattish dish 
| which has been lined with a light paste. About twenty 
minutes will bake it a nice brown colour. It is very good to 
be eaten cold. 
Gourd Entremet.— Cut slices of the peeled Gourd, put 
upon each a little pepper, salt, and a few drops of essence 
of anchovy; fry on both sides to a nice brown, and serve ud 
hot.—M. P. 1 
THE WOOD-LOUSE. 
The wood-louse, sow-bug, slater, cheese-bug, pea-bug, or 
by whatever name it goes under in the various counties, is 
to a gardener one of the most troublesome, as, also, one of 
the most destructive of insects to fruits and vegetables; it 
matters not what sort—nothing comes amiss to these vermin. 
The strongest poisons have no effect upon them. I have tried 
every trap and every poison, as well as toads and bantams, 
till, by mere chance, two years ago, I wondered if hot water 
would settle them. I tried it; it killed them instantaneously: 
worms, slugs, wire-worms, all insect life is destroyed hy 
boiling water the moment it touches them. This discovery 
happened in early spring, just before the Cucumber roots 
had grown to the back and front of the pits. The copper 
was immediately heated, the boiling water was poured down 
in the crevices and cracks between the mould and the brick¬ 
work, where the wood-lice sleep all day; for it is in the 
night they feed. My plan is now simply this;:—As soon as I 
fill in my twelve lights in the spring, the mould and all 
round the brickwork is well saturated with boiling water. 
After the plants are planted out, then I use boiling water, 
perhaps two or three times more,' round the cracks or 
crevices, or between the mould and the brickwork, where 
these bugs are sure to be in the day-time. The time of 
doing it is two or three hours after the mats have been taken 
off. When I told a learned Doctor of this, somewhere in 
Regent Street, he only laughed, and, in reply, asked me how 
I could throw suit on a sparrow’s tail? 
The way I kill these insects in the Mushroom-house is 
exactly the same. Should the Mushroom-bed be covered 
over with hay or straw, let the bed be uncovered for an 
hour or two before using the boiling water; the insects are 
then to be found between the mould and the walls, never in 
the centre ; the water is carefully poured round ; there are 
few that escape even with the first dose. Mind, the water must 
be boiling. Had I discovered this plan fifteen years ago 
it would have been worth many a pound to me, as the 
Cucumbers and Mushrooms were fetching large prices. 
The boiliug water can he used in every place and in every 
glass house, and for poor people, where they would not care 
much for ceilings, boiling water kills a house-bug and 
its eggs in a moment. 
You will see, in my pamphlet on the Vine Disease, that I 
have also recommended boiling water to he used upon old 
walls during the winter; also, for the destruction of moss 
upon orchard-trees, &c. 
In conclusion, I beg to say that, although I have been 
living, like most of us, in hot water all my life, I am sur¬ 
prised that I did not discover long since the idea of put¬ 
ting insects into hot water as well as myself. Two years’ 
practice has thoroughly proved to me that I can kill the 
wood-lice amongst one hundred lights of Cucumbers and 
other places at pleasure.— James Cuthill, Camberwell. 
QUERIES AND ANSWERS. 
TACSONIA MOLLISSIMA NOT BLOOMING. 
“ I have a Tacsonia moUissima in my greenhouse which 
has not bloomed, though it looks very healthy, and has 
grown very rapidly. Would it do better if I were to put the 
roots into a Vine-border, and bring it into the house through 
a hole in the wall ?—A Constant Reader.” 
[Get the Tacsonia to the highest point of the roof of the 
house; prune back to a few buds in winter; and, when the 
main stem is two or four years old, the young shoots that 
come from the buds will be fruitful in flowers, though they 
may grow three or four feet or more before the flower-buds 
appear. Do not try the scheme you propose with the roots. 
If you take them up at all, place them in a large pot, for 
curbing, instead of promoting, luxuriance.] 
A VINERY IN TROUBLE. 
“ We have a Vinery with an inside border 10 feet, and 
outside border 8 feet wide. What should be done to the out¬ 
side border from this time through the winter ? The Vines 
in the early house will bo taken out of it as soon as the 
leaves are off, and taken in again and commenced forcing 
