280 TIIE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION, January 20, 1857. 
above the level of the kitchen, and seven feet from it, and the boiler there 
would have saved most of the expense. 
Diadematum ( Crumbs , Sydney). —It is very gratifying to know that 
there are those, as you term it, “ on the wrong side of the Atlantic,” 
who are anxious for our correctness and well-doing. No man knows better 
than Mr. Heaton that he employed bad Latin, and no one knows better 
I than he does that it is no defence to say that others, in naming flowers, 
i have done so before him. Two negatives make an affirmative sometimes, 
i but a myriad of similar mistakes will not convert the last mistake into 
! correctness. Since you wrote in December you w ill have seen all that 
i has been published in our pages on the subject. You conclude your 
j welcome letter by saying, ‘‘If any gardener is desirous of seeing ex- 
j emplified (he prosecution of horticulture under difficulties, let him 
i repair to this portion of the globe. The rigours of the climate, the 
sudden and prodigious transitions of the temperature, and the hardiness 
; of vegetation, are such as a native of the British Isles would scarcely 
I credit without personal experience. I may present you a chapter on 
I these subjects some day if you consider it would be interesting.” In 
j reply, we know of nothing more interesting than such communications, 
and you will increase the obligation by imparting to us your name, that 
: we may, if necessary, point out information which we desire to have. 
Kitchen Gardening (A New Subscriber). — Every one of our 
numbers contains more or less on the subject. If you need a guide for 
each crop’s culture, buy “ Kitchen-Gardening for the Many,” which 
is obtainable at our Office, price fourpence. 
Insects in Vinery [Inquirer). —The white insects running about 
the pots over the fermenting leaves are acari, or mites, and have no 
' relation to the aphis. They feed on decaying vegetable matter. If you put 
any definite questions relative to the culture of Figs and Boses in pots 
we will do our best to answer them. Buy the last edition of Smith’s 
“Introduction to Botany,” edited by Macgilivray. 
Cucumbers in Pots (Nemo). —With the exception of preferring 
nine or twelve inches of drainage over the tank, we have no doubt of 
your success, whether you use pots or pipes of the size you specify. If 
you had some small pipes, say one or two inches in diameter, resting on the 
slate, through which you could pour water, you could always command 
a moist heat and moisture to the roots. A hole made in your boxes half 
an inch above the slate would at once show the height of the water. 
Frame too Damp.—Coal-asiies (Frenchman).—' The only thing 
you can do with your frame pit is to raise the bottom with dry cinders 
as much as possible above the surrounding ground. Your air-giving is 
all right. In damp weather a piece of lime, or a large bottle or two, 
filled w ith warm water, will cause the air to circulate. Such things as 
fancy Geraniums cannot be kept so safe as in a place artificially heated. 
Do not use your small ashes for growing pot plants, but they will do 
good to your clay soil. 
Orange Potting (A Clodhopper) —We would repot the plant in 
March or April, As to pruning we would merely shorten any straggling 
shoots a little in the middle of February. For plants in houses see an 
article next week. 
Treatment op Mesembryantiiemums (A. 13. C.). — You will 
find something on them lately, but we will attend to your request. 
Various JJ. II ).—Few of the Acacias you speak of are worth raising 
from seed, but we will think over your letter. Are you sure the flow- 
pipe comes from the highest point of the boiler ? Your will not err, 
however, in using an ineh-and-half pipe, or even two inches, instead of 
three quarters of an inch. 
Various Fruits in one House ( Arthur Connell),—Y ou shall be 
fully answered next week. 
Stable Drainage (-).—This may be put on to Asparagus, 
Rhubarb, and Sea-kale beds, without being mixed with water; and so it 
may on to vacant ground about to be dug. It may be used mixed in the 
I proportions of one of drainage to three of water to all growing kitchen- 
| garden crops. Do not pour it over seed-beds or seedlings. House 
sewage is the mixed drainage from the sinks and water-closets of a 
house. We prefer the paint mentioned in The Cottace Gardener. 
Cesspool (A Lover of his Garden).— Do not mix quicklime with it. 
It sets free, does not destroy, the ammonia, and lets it escape into the 
* air. You may use the liquid portion precisely as we have advised in 
! our preceding answer about Stable Drainage. The sediment or solid 
j portion you may spread over any vacant ground in the spring, and dig it 
in. It will suit any of the Cabbage tribe. Do not dig at all near your 
Vine, but use a fork. We know of no Grape called Sir Joseph Paxton. 
| Heracleum giganteum Sowing ( A Subscriber). —Sow it in 
March. It thrives best in a rich, moist soil. 
Pruning Apricot-trees (T. J. Watson).— Prune ofF one-third of 
the length of the young shoots. 
; Rustic Work ( Rusticus ),—Wc wish that some one would send us 
drawings of tasteful rustic work. We cannot meet with any. 
Jargonelle Pear (J. IVilliums) ,—Your Jargonelle Pear is doing 
well; indeed, it could not do better. All you have to do is to cut the 
young wood of the leader down to half its length, which will be sufficient 
I to develope both the buds of the previous year’s wood, and also some of 
, the lower ones on the leader itself. If, during the growth of last summer, 
you had kept pinching off the points of the leader, you might have had 
the buds on the two years’ wood developed into side-shoots. Your tree 
is in excellent condition. 
Forming a small Lawn.—Winter Treatment op Greenhouse 
Plants (Stephen R. Rogers). —For all the space you have to cover your 
cheapest plan would be, in the long run, to turf instead of seeding the 
lawn, and if you can get the turf from a dry common the grass will be 
: finer than from a meadow. If we were sure of the turf we would put it 
I off till the beginning of April; then dig the present grass over, but not 
deep, say the breadth of four feet crossways ; tread over it, and then rake 
it down level; turf that, and then dig another space, and so cn. The 
price of turf varies exceedingly. Any of the nurserymen near vi 
(Bristol) would tell you the usual charge there, and the custom of mi 
suring it.—Your plants are doing pretty fair. The Tom Thumbs are ov 
getting paler leaves, not white ones ; they always do in the spring, atm 
a good sign. Go over them as often as you can, and cut off or cut o 
every morsel which damps, blackens, or quite shrivels. _ Stir the surfa 
and if you have time, get rid of the first quarter of an inch from the t> 
of all your pots early in January, and fill up again with fresh, d. 
rough-sifted soil. It would do a wonderful deal of good to the plant 
but, before doing so, if you could get a tub of water close to the fram 
and a scrubbing-brush, and clean all your pots first, and after they v < 
dry to surface them, you never saw such a change as it would make. r J 
plan is very old, all but the cleaning of the pots, but not the worse i 
that. We had all our pots of that kind of stock served just in the san 
way since the turn of the new year, and you cannot think how well t . 
look, and what little trouble there is with them now. Not a drop 
water must touch the soil in the pots during this cleaning. If t; 
soil seems too wet in any of the pots we call it “ soddened,” ai 
we remove as much of it as we can without hurting the roots, and 
look to see if the drainage is good. When wc find a pot very dry 
take it out of the frame, and water it two or three times to make sure 
a regular moist ball, then let it drain till the last thing in the evenb 
before we put it into the frame. Green slime on a pot is the very wot 
thing in the world for a nice plant. 
Names of Plants ( J . R - , Yorkshire ).—Your Fern is Lash: 
dilatata, and your Orchid a Maxillaria, but we cannot make out . 
species from your dried specimens. There is something wrong at . 
roots of your Camellias and Epacrises, but it is impossible for ui 
discern the cause. We are not clairvoyants. 
POULTRY SHOWS. 
Crewe. February 3rd and 4th, 1857. Secs. S. Sheppard and . 
Margelts, Esqs. Entries close January 15th. 
Kendal. At Kendal, February 6th and 7th, 1857. Sec. Mr 
Atkinson. 
Liverpool. January 28th, 29 th, and 30th, 1857. Secs. Gilbert ' i 
Moss, Esq., and William C. Worrall, Esq., 6, Lower Castle-str:. i 
Entries close on the 10th of January. 
Preston and North Lancashire. January 21st and 22nd, IP. 
Sec., Ralph Leigh, Esq., 125, Church Street, Preston. Entries etc 
December 13 th. 
South East Hants. At Fareham, January 26th and 27th, 1857- 
Mr. James James. Entries close January 14th. 
N.B .—Secretariesviilloblige us by sending early copies of their lis. 
CRYSTAL PALACE POULTRY SHOW. 
“ Oil diable la volaille ira-t-ellc se nicker ? ”—Paraphrase. 
“This is the finest thing lever saw,” said a good stalv i l 
specimen of a north countryman. “ This is the place 
my birds ; they are as comfortable as I am.” 
“ Nasty creatures,” said an old lady, with a thing betwm 
a hat and a bonnet on her head ; “ I will not conic near i 
place while this crowing lasts.” 
“ This is the real Metropolitan Show,” said a shred- 
looking cockney; “I will buy some fowls on purpos. i 
show next time.” 
“The first Poultry Show I ever saw,” said a City mi. 
“ I will never miss another.” 
“You see,” said a gentlemanly man, pressing the an : f i 
another with whom lie was walking, “ this is the sorof j 
tiling we want. Whatever makes people acquainted \\ii 
the place is a positive advantage to it.” 
“ To be sure,” was the answer; “ and we Directors she 1 
look to it.” 
“Astonishing!” said a stout gentleman, one of the I 
school, very old school, for he had a huge gold chain j 
a bunch of heavy seals dangling at the end of it; “ 
tonisliing! Three fowls sold for fifteen guineas! ( 
believe it.” 
“ Not the less true,” said a bystander. “ There are n :y 
sold at the price, and hundreds of pounds have been t 
for fowls in two days.” 
“ Then, Sir,” said the old gentleman, “ I give my adhn- ’i 
to the movement. The public taste is, in the main, a const 
one; and nlthough one or two birds may, as articles of ft ■ 
make a ridiculous price, yet when many realise sums wkh 
some may consider preposterous, it shows there is a lc ti- 
mate demand, and the birds only make their value, he 
principle is, therefore, sound, and I shall now take an 
terest in it.” 
Such wero many of the remarks to he heard on all sj-s, 
and all were laudatory of the undertaking. 
Although it is considered the poultry movement < 
