203 THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION, December 23, 1856. 
inches in its passage. How am I to prevent it being too hot 
to pass along upon? I propose to fill up the angle, having 
raised the walk by the fixing of wooden staves on bricks, 
inclosing air passages along each side, for the purpose of 
husbanding and managing the heat, with broken bricks. 
: Had I better leave crevices between the staves the whole or 
part of the way, or, having no staves at all, inclose with a 
| solid brick flooring? The latter would be more pleasant, 
; and capable of being kept cleaner; but shall I have heat 
j enough? My requirements are a greenhouse Vinery, making 
i the flowers give way to the fruit, and forcing moderately, 
say a month before the natural start of the Giape out of 
1 doors.— Amateur.” 
| [So far as we understand your plan we think it will 
answer well. Your compost had better be four loads of 
! sound turf, one load of manure, one of lime rubbish, and a 
barrow-load of broken bones, not bone dust. You may 
grow any of what you propose against the back wall, 
provided you give light enough, by not covering the roof of 
I glass too thickly with leaves. Your Vines on the roof ought 
| at least to be four feet apart. On the back wall the Muscat 
| should have the wannest end. We are cutting Muscats 
now in a house where there are Peaches, or rather, were in 
summer. An open-sparred wooden pathway would be as 
good as any over your flue. By making it wide enough you 
might have an opening on each side of the flue, and the 
flooring might either rest on the ground or on bricks placed 
along to receive it. We presume this is merely your return 
flue, and in that case the top of the flue might form part 
of the back path by being covered with thick tiles or bricks. 
The last would be the neatest, and the heat you put in 
must rise.] 
GROWING CARROT-SEED. 
“ R. G. C. will be obliged by information respecting the 
cultivation of Carrot-seed, when the Carrots should be 
planted, how deep, and also as to their future cultivation.” 
[Carrots for seed ought to be sown about the middle of 
July in beds. By November some take them up, and cut 
the foliage to within two inches of the crown, then store 
them away in straw-covered heaps for the winter, while 
others cover over the beds with litter during the winter to 
keep off the severe frost. Towards the end of February the 
land has been got in order; the Carrots are then brought, 
and either dibbled in, or by the spade, and by some with 
the plough. Each root is a foot apart in the row, and three 
feet row from row, planted nearly level with the surface. 
The land is kept clean. The crown or first heads of seed 
are always ripe first, and must be gathered over at least 
three times during the ripening of the seed. It is from 
time to time put into a stack; then all thrashed out 
together. Old large Carrots are never planted for seed, 
as some suppose: they would be expensive to plant, they 
would break down in the summer, &c. In a gentleman’s 
garden, or in a small way, the thing could be done; then 
the stems could be staked and tied up. We ax - e favoured 
with the above particulars by an excellent authority, who 
also observes, that even in a good season not more than 
seventy per cent, of Carrot-seeds are good, w'hilst of that 
grown this year not more than 40 per cent, will be fertile.] 
CONES OF PICEA NOBILIS. 
“ I suppose I am the person Mr. Bradley’s question in 
The Cottage Gardener refers to respecting Picca nobilis 
cones. In answer to that question, I gathered our cones 
the latter end of September, as they began to show a 
disposition to open. Northampton Flower Show was at 
hand, so I took a pair of them there, thinking they would 
attract some notice; but this did not appear to be the case, 
the Judges passing them over unnoticed. There was, 
however, a keen-eyed nurseryman who caught sight of them, 
and he, knowing the value of such things, offered me four 
pounds for the pair. Not being willing to sell them until I 
had ascertained whether they were good or bad, I opened 
them, and I inclose a portion of the seed for your inspection. 
I am afraid you will come to the same conclusion as I have, 
that they are good for nought. I would just say that our 
tree was loaded with male blossoms at the time when the 
young cones appeared. 
“ I shall be obliged to your correspondent if he will state 
how he succeeded with his cones. —Geo. Archer, Gardener 
to W. M. Dolbin, Esq., Fincdon Hall, Northamptonshire." 
[We fear that the seeds are not fertilised. We have 
opened several, but have found no cotyledon. The best 
test will be to sow them in a cold frame next March.— 
Ed. C. G.] 
EVERGREEN UNDERWOOD FOR PLANTATIONS. 
“ ‘A Practical Rector,’ in answer to ‘ A New Subscriber 
and Country Vicar,’ writes as follows :— 
“You, of course, want immediate shelter for yourself, 
regardless of prosperity, as your predecessor did. He 
planted trees that answered his purpose, regardless of 
leaving you the naked trunks. You will get no good by 
planting anything among your drawn-up trees; but they are 
of sorts that, if cut down within a foot of the ground, will 
all shoot up readily from the bottom, and make a thick 
copse in two years’ time. Cut them all down ; do not leave 
one; screw up your courage, and do not let any timid 
neighbour dissuade you. Plant among them, when cut 
down, quantities of evergreen Privet, strong plants ; do not 
spare for numbers ; put them in every available place; they 
will grow up among the trees, and form together an 
impenetrable copse. Also, stir up all the ground with the 
spade after having sown it broadcast with hips, that is, seed 
of the evergreen Brier or Dog Rose. Altogether, these 
l will form a perfect screen and impenetrable fence, and last 
for ever, being cut down about every twenty years. 
“ Even if Mr. Ferguson’s plan of Silver Firs would succeed, 
which I doubt, and have no faith at all in, or the ruinous 
advice of the Editor, they are both so expensive as to deter 
any one only having a life interest in the property. My plan 
costs nil —the trees cut down pay all expenses.’’ 
[We do not at all approve of this ; a narrow strip of copse 
by the road-side is as poor an apology for a “cover” as a 
bank of Raspberries; but the advice to plant large Privet 
and to sow the seed of Dog Roses is very good, and may 
be followed out with much better success if the trees are 
not cut down; and if the trees, or any of them, are cut down, 
let it be quite close to the surface of the ground. You 
would ruin them in ten years by cutting them so high as a 
foot from the ground. With that exception the mode is 
very good for converting a plantation into a copse, and after 
that a tolerable plantation of trees could be got up from the 
stools; but what would be the gain, seeing there are more 
than enough of trees already? Copse may pay better than 
many Gees in some situations, but a narrow slip of copse is 
the worst of ideas for giving a good effect to the entrance to 
either a cottage or a castle.] 
TIME FOR MOVING HARDY HEATHS. 
“ I have a bed of Heaths ; they are in bad soil, and I -want 
to lift them and renew the bed with better soil. When 
will be the best time to do it?— The Doctor’s Boy.” 
[Hardy Heaths are like “ American plants,” or like Rho¬ 
dodendrons, and such kinds; their roots are so numerous, 
and they get such a hold on the soil, that you cannot get 
them up without a large mass or ball to each plant. Now, 
all plants with that habit may be taken up quite safely at any 
time of the year; but spring and autumn are the best 
seasons. As your Heaths are not very prosperous, shake off 
as much of the soil from their roots as you can, and plant 
them rather deeper than they were before.] 
CERASTIUM TOMENTOSUM AS AN EDGING. 
“ One of your correspondents recommends Cerastium 
tomentosa as a valuable edging plant. Can you tell me its 
familiar name, and whether it comes from seed? Also, 
what treatment is needful in winter for the Ozothamnus l 
Should it be cut down? I have two plants of Andromeda 
Jloribunda that have not flowered for the last two seasons. 
What is the cause? They appear very healthy.—A Sub¬ 
scriber of Five Years." 
