THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY 
the plant being upwards of fourteen feet high, and as many 
in diameter. 
“ ‘ From the commencement of their ripening with us the 
seeds have been sown annually in drills or broadcast in beds 
in the open ground about the first week in March, in a light 
soil, letting them remain in the above situation until the 
spring after. I then plant them out in the nursery in rows, 
about fifteen inches from row to row, and about six inches 
from plant to plant. In two years they make fine strong 
hushes for permanent situations. 
“ ‘ Finding the plants to be free growers, nearly evergreen, 
and very strong, and raising many thousands per year, I 
began, by the desire of my employer, to plant them out for 
hedges, and they succeed particularly well either planted on 
hanks or on the bare surface. The latter I can highly re¬ 
commend for dividing allotments in cottage gardens, this 
Berberry being free from mildew; and it can be kept 
clipped with shears or shorn with a reap-hook to any width 
required. 
“ * When planted on a bank it makes a beautiful hedge by 
cutting out with a knife the very luxuriant shoots about twice 
a year to within an inch or two from where they grow, allow¬ 
ing the side and weak growth to form the hedge. I have a 
hedge at Killerton so treated, which has been planted upwards 
of twelve years, and at this time is not more than four feet 
high and about the same width; and with the same treatment 
it can be kept to the same size. 
“ ‘ I should recommend in planting hedges to keep the 
plants a foot apart, and, if the hedges are to be kept shorn, 
in a single row; but if to be kept in the more natural growth, 
plant two rows, not more than one foot apart, and the plants 
the same, but put in alternately. 
“ ‘ When strong this Berberry is proof against any cattle. 
Last spring I planted a stout bush in the deer park without 
protection. They have battled it with their horns, but they 
have not killed it. It can be planted nearer a fence where 
cattle have access than any shrub I know.’ 
“ It is indeed a most valuable plant, and hardy enough to 
defy the rigour of any frosts south of the Humber. 
“ Many varieties are to be found in gardens, but they are 
not different in important characters.”] 
TREE CARNATION BUDS NOT OPENING. 
“ * M. G.’ would feel much obliged for some instructions 
how to grow the Tree Carnation. He has eighteen plants, 
all looking healthy, with plenty of flower-buds, but they will 
not open well. They are in good soil, and in a very warm 
greenhouse. At the same time any information as to sowing 
the seed, and the management of the Portulaca, would be 
thankfully received.” 
[You would see a notice lately, by Mr. Fish, on growing 
j Tree Carnations, and in a previous volume there is a fuller 
| account. Give them plenty of air in a warm greenhouse, 
; and as they are liable to split the pod like the flower sent, 
; place a soft string round it as it begins to open, and that will 
j prevent the petals twisting. Some Pink and Carnation 
growers have small circular bands of India-rubber placed 
: over the buds as the petals begin to peep. 
The Portulacas do best when sown in sandy soil in a hot¬ 
bed at the end of March, the seedlings to be hardened off 
by degrees, pricked out into pots, and either grown in the 
greenhouse or planted out at the eud of May in a sunny, 
sheltered spot, and in poor, sandy soil. The more sun they 
have the better they will bloom.] 
MAKING A. HOTBED FOR ANNUALS.—DESTROY¬ 
ING WOODLICE. — SPACE UNDER GREEN¬ 
HOUSE SHELVES. 
“ * A Constant Subscriber ’ would thank The Cottage 
Gardener to inform her of the best time to make a hotbed 
to raise early flower seeds, and to say if a hotbed made accord¬ 
ing to the directions in the number for May 6th, 1856, would 
be improved, and prevent woodlice, by placing a layer of 
quicklime over the manure, and upon that ashes ? All her 
seeds were eaten by the woodlice last year. There have 
been inquiries made as to the using the space under the 
greenhouse plant-stand. She has had lining muslin, at 
GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION, January 27, 1857. 295 
threepence or fourpence per yard, stretched on the under 
part of the shelves, and oiled thrice. This answers un- ! 
commonly well, being waterproof, and preventing drip, and 
when the plants are newly potted, placing them there for 
three or four days prevents them flagging.” 
[You cannot do better than make your bed according to j 
the directions referred to. Make it early in March. The ; 
quicklime will be no security against woodlice. Until it : 
becomes mild the lime will protect from worms, slugs, &c. 
If the bed is made in a fresh place you will be more free 
from woodlice. If they still get in, the best security is to 
have a space a few inches wider round the sides of the bed, 
and made smooth with dry ashes ; the ashes, &c., in which 
the plants are plunged may be kept damper. Lay a little 
dry hay, moss, or any other handy stuff on the dry ashes 
round the side of the bed, and thither the enemy will retreat. 
At breakfast-time have a pot of boiling water, and a small 
pot with a fine rose to it. Lift the covering carefully and 
quietly with one hand, and sprinkle the intruders with boil 
ing water with the other. Place also pieces of carrot in 
small pots filled with moss, and they will go there to feed. 
The managing of the stage is good, but do not keep your 
plants there too long.] 
TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
Excluding Cats {J. M.). —As you do not like to destroy these in¬ 
truders into your garden, and if the garden is come-at-able only through 
the quickset hedge, put galvanised wire netting, eighteen inches high, 
close into the hedge, and pegged down into the soil at bottom. It might 
be fastened by galvanised wire to the stems of the quick. 
Removing Garden Plants and Bulbs (Zero).—The moment a 
plant or bulb of any kind is inserted in the soil it belongs to the landlord, 
and cannot be taken away, or even moved, without his leave. This is the 
strict law of the case. Every in-coming tenant should have a written 
agreement with his landlord upon the subject. If the tenant is a nursery¬ 
man or market gardener the law is different. 
Garden Plan {An Amateur, Lincoln). —The centre part from 1 to 9 is 
the commonest figure in our books ; but not the worse for that. The out¬ 
line of 14 and 15 will not tell on the ground as on paper. They will look 
like circles in summer at a short distance ; but there is no positive ob¬ 
jection to the arched outline : 10 and 11 on the left, 10 and 12 and 13 on the 
right, are by far too small in proportion to 14 and 15 to stand across the 
view, and 16 and 17 ditto, therefore draw in the two ends pinchingly. 
Were 16 and 17 to be as large, or nearly so, as 1, 15, and 16 , and a little 
farther from them, they would be a better finish. If two circles were 
made on either side of 10, and 10 done away with, the same with 11 and 
with 12 and 13, they would improve the plan. 
Salvia Voltaireanum. — Pitcher Plants. — Asclkpias tu- 
berosa {Amateur). —We never heard of such a Salvia; but all Salvias 
do best from young slips or cuttings early in spring ; but the old plants 
need not be thrown away after this season, as the worst is over now, and 
they will come in somewhere no doubt; but we think the name is 
fictitious. At all events, without knowing the kind, no one can say 
whether it is best to cut the plant down, or “ merely to prune it in,” as 
that depends on the kind. Mr. Beaton did not “mean to say that 
Pitcher plants were growing in the open air,” or else he would have said 
it. Probably the Pitcher plants you allude to are “ hothouse plants ; ” 
but all Pitcher plants are not so ; for example, those that are now very 
deep under the snow in Canada. Asclepias tuberosa is one of the best of 
the good old hardy, or rather, very ticklish half-hardy plants. The 
best we ever saw of it was in the garden of Mr. Maund, at Bromsgrove, 
near Worcester, in 1834 or 1835. It was growing on rockwork under 
a west wall, if we recollect rightly. We would advise young plants 
of it to be kept in a cold frame, as it is very liable to damp off in the 
winter. 
Wilkins’s System ok Cultivation.— A Subscriber asks what is 
this “system?” It is applying liquid mauure to the roots below the 
surface by means of pipes. Our correspondent inclosed the following : — 
“ Several gentlemen from London and other parts (says the Reading 
Mercury), have visited the experimental garden in the Caversham-road, to 
inspect the various articles of agricultural produce, as grown on the new 
system advocated by Mr. Wilkins. The results of the inspection ap¬ 
peared to be perfectly satisfactory. Some Hops from cuttings of last 
spring, under the new system of culture, reached a height of eleven feet, 
and bore luxuriantly, while some by their side, under the old system, 1 
tvere very poor, only one pole having any Hops, while on some others the 
bine had not reached the pole. These will be allowed to remain during 
the winter, so that any one who feels disposed may inspect them. Some 
Celery, Carrots, and Parsnips were shown which measured respectively j 
14, 10, and 13 inches in girth, being about double the size of those 
grown on the old plan. The Potatoes grown on the new system were not 
only much larger, but less affected with the disease than the others, i 
The Wheat, Beans, and Peas were also nearly double in yield to that 
grown on the common plan. But it was upon bread and wine, the 
former made from a mixture of Mangold Wurtzel and flour, and the latter | 
from the Mangold alone, that Mr. Wilkins chiefly prided himself. The 
bread is certainly edible, and doubtless very nutritious, sweet to the 
taste, light, but possessing more moisture than that made from Wheat 
alone. The wine was only three weeks old, and could not therefore be 
considered a fair specimen ; it possesses abundant saccharine matter. 
