THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION, March 3, 1857. 
383 
from hfm this morning will show that we must have a leaf 
out of his book all the way up from Suffolk; but I am not 
sure that I ought to publish to the world what he might 
only have intended for my eye ; however, we must settle all 
that:—‘'You will wonder what I have been doing,” he says, 
“ since I last wrote to you. You always accused me of 
being itching after something fresh, and so it has been with 
me ever since. I have been doing a great deal, which, 
perhaps, you will not think much of when I tell you. First, 
about my forcing with flues. I have now a flue which heats 
a Cucumber pit eighteen feet long, and then goes through 
a Melon pit of the same length ; after that it heats a range 
of pits, forty feet long, for preserving plants, and it answers 
very well. The Cucumber and Melon pits are large 
enough to walk in, and I have Cucumber plants now 
(17th of February) large enough to train on the trellis: I 
could give you the outline of their management if you 
require it. The next thing worth your notice is for 
removing plants, as trees and shrubs, which I think is very 
good. I have a purchase (lever) which will lift a ball of 
earth a ton weight with two men. The ball can be packed 
without disturbing the roots, whether the plant be in sand 
or clay. Some Portugal Laurels I thus removed were 
fifteen feet high, and fifteen yards round them, and they 
never lost a leaf. They are-growing better than before. 
The third is a pump of my own make for liquid manure ; a 
simple pump, but will pump twenty-four gallons per minute. 
It can be moved from tank to tank, of which I have five, 
and some of them very long; and the last is a plan for 
taking up wall trees in winter to clean the walls; letting the 
trees stand till they are in dower; then putting them to the 
wall again {hear, hear), which keeps them clean all the next 
summer.”— Thomas Wells, Tatiingstone Rectory. 
I need hardly say how valuable would be a full and 
particular account of all these things, from the due to the 
wall trees. —D. Beaton. 
CULTURE OF THE CITROUILLE. 
In the middle of April make a hole in the ground, and 
fill it with three or four spadesful of manure. Replace the 
soil, and sow the seed sideways about two inches deep. 
Protect the young plants from frost by covering them with a 
mat or bell-glass. Water in dry weather. Of course it 
can be sown earlier on a hotbed under glass, and afterwards 
hardened gradually before planting out. The habit of the 
plant is to send out roots rrnder almost every leaf, which 
secures the shoots in the way they are trained, and prevents 
their being blown about in exposed situations. .This 
superb fruit is ripe in September, and keeps good all the 
winter. It may be eaten like Turnips, and is superior to 
Carrots for thickening and enriching soup. The pulp well 
drained, and flavoured with lemon juice, makes excellent 
tarts, pies, &c. The young shoots are equal to the best 
Asparagus, and the roasted seeds are a nice addition to the 
dessert. 
[This has been sent to us by an anonymous correspondent, 
and there is nothing new in the directions for cultivation; 
but we insert the communication for the purpose of again 
recommending to our- readers the culture of the Pumpkin. 
Some varieties are far more palatable than others. The 
French sometimes call the common Pumpkin Citrouille .] 
QUERIES AND ANSWERS. 
PTERIS TREMULA.—GENTIANA CILIATA. 
“ ‘ Caroline * would be greatly obliged if in some future 
number of The Cottage Gardener she could be informed 
what is the name of the inclosed Fern. It grows as large 
as the Pteris aquilina, and remains green during the winter, 
making a beautiful object if placed in the centre of one of 
the large modern windows, and requires very little attention. 
“ Could she also be told where to obtain the lovely little 
Gentiana Buvarica, which grows wild on the mountains in 
Switzerland, and would, she thinks, form a great ornament 
to a small garden ?” 
[Your Fern is Pteris tremula, a native of New Holland. 
What you call Gentiana Buvarica is now known as G. ciliata, 
and has been named by some botanists as G. serrata. 
It might be met with in the florists’ collections about 
London.] 
VARIEGATED GERANIUMS FOR BEDDING. 
“ Can you inform 4 H. C. K.’ as to the merits of the Varie¬ 
gated Geranium Alma for bedding purqioses ? Has it as 
good a white in the leaf as Mountain of Light , and a better j 
truss ? ” 
[We have not yet quite convinced ourselves which is the 
best Variegated Scarlet Geranium. The palm is claimed 
both by the Countess of Warwick (Kinghorn’s), and Turner’s 
Alma. Of this we are quite satisfied ; but those who admire 
the Nosegay style will prefer Jackson’s Variegated Nosegay 
for a bedder, as it grows quite as freely as Fothergillii, the 
original Nosegay, and is, therefore, the best grower of all 
the Variegated Geraniums. Alma is the best scarlet flower, 
and Countess of Warwick has the best truss.] 
TUBEROSE CULTURE. 
44 I have had a few bulbs of the Double Tuberose sent me. 
Will you kindly, through your valuable journal, give me their 
treatment, as I have referred to your past numbers for some 
two or three years, and cannot find anything respecting 
them ? I have a small greenhouse, and to-morrow my gar¬ 
dener makes the first Cucumber bed, so that I have both 
these appliances within my reach.”— An Amateur. 
[The nearest idea we can give of the culture of the 
Double Tuberose, without repeating our former treatises on 
it, is this:—Pot the bulbs early in March in No. 48 pots, or 
in a pot in sandy loam with a little leaf mould, but not so 
much as is meant by a rich compost. As the bulbs do not 
flower a second time with us, all that is wanted is a 
44 holding soil,” that is, to be loamy, so as to hold water 
well, and to be strong enough to carry out one bloom without 
stimulating the leaves too freely ; then the very same kind 
of treatment in every particular as one would give to a 
Hyacinth in a pot. Hyacinths will stand enormous heat for 
early forcing, and so will the Tuberose. Hyacinths will 
“ come ” without a particle of artificial heat, and so will a 
Tuberose ; but it is better to encourage it a little in a close 
pit till the flower is half grown, or above a foot long ; after 
that the summer heat in a greenhouse is enough for it. 
We have seen very strong bulbs strongly forced so as to be 
i?i bloom by the latter part of June, and when on the point 
of llowering hardened off, and planted out in flower-beds, 
where they looked grand with the old scarlet Lobelias.] 
IN WHAT MONTHS ARE YOUNG BEES 
HATCHED? 
“ I havemany works on bees—Nutt, Wood, Payne, Lardner, 
and though last, not least, 4 Bee-Keeping for the Many’—and 
yet I have not been able to ascertain in what particular 
month the young bees are formed. Will you be good enough 
to say when ? I fancy the young progeny are now shortly 
about to make their appearance, and this I judge to be the 
case from the degree of heat in my hive. On the 30th of 
January last the thermometer marked 71°. Is not this at 
such a season unusually high? Since that the quicksilver 
has been often 60° ; to-day, with a cold, easterly wind, it is 
52°. Does not this degree of warmth betoken a healthy 
state of affairs in the internal department of the hive ? ”— 
Rusticus Expectatus. 
[In Mr. Taylor’s 44 Bee-Keeper’s Manual,” fifth edition, 
the subject of your inquiry is fully discussed. No doubt ! 
your stock is in a strong, healthy state, as shown by the | 
temperature ; but care is still necessary, for cold winds may i 
yet be expected, and a bive which in February has shown 
every sign of strength has often been known to fail later in 
the season. Attention to warmth and sufficient food are 
essentials at this critical period.] 
