28 
THE COTTAGE GAREDNER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, October 12, 1858. 
surface. The resulting ashes to be dug in, together with all the drift sand, 
bricklayer’s limy rubbish, and ground bones, you can procure. 
Leaving out Scarlet Geraniums (J, P. S.).— It is not safe to leave 
them out one day longer; hut, perhaps, they may he quite safe as they are 
till Christmas, or the turn of the year. The safety depends entirely on 
the frost. The spirit of divination alone could reveal how long the frost 
will keep off, and how many degrees of it there will he when it does come. 
Clematis ( Tees Water).—' We are sorry we cannot guess which of the 
many kinds of Clematis \ ou mean. In the first place, there are above 
seventy kinds of Clematis, and some of them are quite as different in looks 
as cows are from horses. The treatments of them are more different still, 
and to tieat one of the kinds like some others of them, would just be like 
yoking pigs to a plough, or shearing horses for wool. Therefore, as the 
question stands, all we can say is, that it would not pay anyone on Tees 
Water, who is not a clever gardener, to attempt to strike any Clematis 
from cuttings, or to grow them well after being so raised. Grafting or in¬ 
arching, or layering, and by seeds, are the best and most common ways of 
increasing thorn. 
Indian Cresses (IF. Melville). — They are had travellers, and yours, 
though well packed, arrived faded. No. 10, with small leaf, a cross between 
Lobbianxm puniceum and Melville, is anexcellent crimson flower. No. 11, 
a very dwarf yellow, tinged with crimson, would be a good bedding plant, 
we think. The others were too shrivelled for us to give an opinion upon ; 
nor can wc say, from these cut flowers, what the habit of the plants 
may be. 
Salt to Peaches (F. B.). —We should syringe them with water having 
four ounces of salt in each gallon, as soon as the leaves have all fallen, and 
sow at the rate of ten bushels of salt to the acre on the borders in March. 
We believe salt is beneficial to all fruit trees. 
Glass Exposed to School Boys [Tyro).— Do not incur the expense of 
very thick glass. Have a small-meshed galvanised wire not fastened at 
about an inch distance from the glass so exposed. 
Heating a Small Greenhouse (A Subscriber). — We believe the smallest 
of Weeks’ tubular boilers costs about five pounds. Thomson’s amateur’s 
retort costs about two guineas, and a friend of great experience told us he 
had several, and liked them much A small flue, either above ground, or 
below the floor, as sometime ago described by Mr. Fish, would answer your 
purpose very well. That would hardly cost more than the cheapest boiler 
alone, and, 'with the exception of the stokehole, not more than an iron 
stove. See what is stated of heating by these stoves, at page 416, of our 
last volume. That would be the cheapest, if you could depend on the 
management. The flue would be the next cheapest, and the heating could 
be all done outside. If the flue is set above the floor, there would be no 
necessity for sinking much for a stokehole. If we are not explicit enough, 
write again. 
House for Bedding Plants and Cucumbers [P. J.). —You will want 
four ventilators in the front wall, two feet and a half long, by nine inches 
in width ; but you must also have air, either at the apex of the roof or at 
the wall plate at the top of the back wall, or you will burn your Cucumbers 
in summer. The sash-bars and glass will do very well if that is attended 
to. Your pit, to the centre above the path, should not be less than eight 
feet ; if nine feet, you will have more room for Melons and Cucumbers. 
Why not take the flue round the house on both sides of your walk, and 
enclose it in a chamber, with openings to let out the heated air, so as to 
obtain from it top heat and bottom heat at pleasure 1 We would prefer 
planting the Cucumbers over it, instead of a tan bed, the heat of which 
could not easily be renewed. 
Fuel Expenditure (D.). —In our last volume, at page 416, appeared an 
account how small a sum heated a house by an iron stove. We would only- 
lead you into error, if we were to attempt to tell you what your house 
would cost with a common flue, unless we knew how your flue worked 
whether the stoker knew how to manage a furnace, as to its damper, &c., 
and could know the dav of the month on which you commenced, the kind 
of weather you would have, and when you wished to cut. A week or two 
in time makes much difference in coal. At an average, we suppose ten or 
twelve pounds. 
Melon Growing (IF. C .).—There have been many good articles on 
Melon growing lately, in addition to those to which you allude, in early 
volumes. We would comply, even now, with your request, but nobody 
thinks of planting Melons now; and, very likely, we would just have to 
reprint it all early in spring, and, though you would judge us favourably, 
there are others who would grumble, that there was so much repetition. 
The colour and state of the leaves, when the Melons are ripe, has not so 
much to do with getting good Melons, as some are inclined to suppose. I f 
you plant early in spring, and intend that these plants shall produce two 
or more crops, then you must pay particular attention to keeping the 
foliage green and healthy ; and this must be done by a pretty free use of 
water, even if that water should interfere with richness of flavour. If 
flavour is the great object, water must be withheld after the fruit ap¬ 
proaches maturity ; and that dryness will tell upon the leaves, and cause 
some of them to shrivel a little. Here, again, no extreme must be at¬ 
tempted ; for, if the soil is too dry, and the atmosphere too dry and hot, the 
foliage will suffer greatly, and the flavour of the fruit, too, will be de¬ 
ficient. These matters were fully alluded to not long ago. 
To Destroy Mealy Bug (Fanny).— The best thing you can do is, to get 
a close box, or frame, into your stove, and there keep all your new plants 
by themselves. Then prune back all your climbers, and wash them with 
soap water, and then with size water about 100°, and strong enough,— 
just that you may feel a slight stickiness when, after wetting your finger 
and thumb, and placing them together, you can separate them when cold. 
’Wash all small plants, or dip them all over in a tub of such liquor. 
Boraoe ( A Darlington Subscriber). —You may obtain the seed of any 
London seedsman. Sow in March, April, and July, for a succession. It is 
an excellent bee-flower. It requires an open situation and dry soil, but 
might do under fruit trees not crowded. Mclilotus leucantha , is a good 
bee-flower. You will require a larger surface of flowers to render a harvest 
of honey equal to that your bees obtain from the moors. 
Sowing Mistletoe Seed (A. S'.).— Make an incision through the bark, 
and down to the wood, on the under-side of,the branches of any Apple tree. 
Make the incision in the shape of the letter V- Raise from the wood the 
point of the hark so cut, and insert beneath it one or two seeds freshly 
squeezed from a Mistletoe berry, and press the bark tongue down on them. 
The best time for this sowing is during February. The seed will not grow 
in soil. It is a parasite. 
Illustrated Garden Book or Plants (R. Kerfoot ).—There is no such 
work. 
Saving Grapes from Wasps and Flies (J. L .).— If you cannot exclude 
the marauders by a gauze curtain, placed over the open windows and 
ventilators, cut the bunches, and hang them up in a dry, warm, dark 
closet. We have so kept them for months, and they have improved in 
sweetness, though not in appearance. The few mouldy berries which will 
occur must be removed as soon as seen. 
Growing Hyacinths and Tulips in Beds (A Country Subscriber).— 
For Hyacinths in beds, out of doors, four inches from the crown of the 
bulbs is the best way under all circumstances; but, under your plan of 
having annuals sown on the bed's, four inches deep to the top, or crown, of 
the bulb, is indispensable, because you must not put any kind of mulching 
over seeds. But your system is wrong. Your annuals ought to be sown on 
a poorer soil, and transplanted in between the bulbs next March, or April, 
according to the weather. For early Tulips, such as yours, three inches 
deep is the lust coveting, as Tulips are as different in their nature from 
Hyacinths, as crocodiles are from eagles. The old bulb of a Tulip, or all 
Tulip buds you planted this autumn, you will never see again : they will 
die next spring, like “ seed ” Potatoes," whether you cut the flower-stems 
or not. It is not the flower, but the seed pod on"the top of it which must 
he cut off, in order that the strength of the roots may not be wasted in 
nourishing seeds, instead of feeding the bulbs. Tying bed Tulips, or 
Hyacinths, to flower stakes, ought to be needless. If the “ roots ” are not 
able to hold up the bloom, as at the Crystal Palace, they are not so 
stroLg as they ought to be. 
Names of Fruits (R. D.).— No. 1, Beurre Bose ; 2, Tondante d'Au- 
tomne ; 3, Vicar of Winhfield; 4, Finnish Beauty; 5, Gloat Morcean; 
6, Urbanist e / 7 and 8, Monarch; 9, Ne Plus Means; 10, Passe Colmar 
and Winter JVelis; 11, Van Mans Leon Ic Clerc; 12, Winter Metis. 
Others not known. ( C. P. C.). —Certainly not the Golden Pippin. It is the 
Golden Knob. 
Names of Plants (A Constant Reader ).—Your plants arc as follows : 
—No. 1, Catalpa syringafolia; 2, Cupressas torulosa; 3, Gynerium 
argenteum, the Pampas Grass. 
POULTRY SHOWS. 
October 13tli and 14tli. Crewe. Sec., D. Margetts, Crewe. Entries 
close 30th September. 
November 29th and 30th, December 1st and 2nd. Birmingham. Sec., 
Mr. J. Morgan. Entries close November 1st. 
December 17th and 18th. Halifax Fancy Pigeon Snow. See., Mr. 
H. Holdsworth, 57, Woolshops, Halifax. Entries close the 20th of 
November. 
January 3rd, 1859. Kirkcalby Poultry and Fancy Bird Show. 
January 8th, 10th, 11th, and 12th, 1859. Crystal Palace (Winter 
Show). Sec., W. Houghton. 
January 20th and 21st, 1859. Liverpool. 
February 3rd and 4th, 1859. Preston and North Lancashire. 
Secs. K. Teebay, and H. Oakey. 
February 9th and 10th, 1S59. Ulverstone. Sec., Thos. Robinson. 
February 16th and 17th, 1859. Poulton-le-Fylde. (Sec., J. Butler. 
N.B.— Secretaries will oblige us by sending early copies of their lists. 
PARTRIDGE SHOOTING. 
(Continued from page 15.) 
How did I feel ? My readers may conceive, but I cannot 
describe it. I was furious that my dog bad so misconducted 
himself,—I was disappointed that the place where birds abounded 
should be so effectually cleared,—and was only saved from an attack 
of violent ill-temper by a cheerful laugh from my brother-in-law, 
as he jokingly congratulated me on the possession of such an 
energetic dog. I fried to laugh also, and remarked that, “ At uL 
events, the birds were now well scattered.” “ Yes,” said my 
brother-in-law, “ but they are driven out of our manor. This 
field is the boundary, and I wanted to keep them before us.” 
“ Do you think,” said I, “ we gave Tippoo the advantage of the 
wind P ” The only answer was another laugh, and we agreed to 
take him up. He was standing, breathless, at a small distance 
from us, and all tried to coax him to our feet. I had concealed my 
whip in my sleeve, and, having learned that the way to flog a 
dog, so that ho cannot turn upon you, is to take him by the hind 
leg, and hold him up by it with one hand and lay on with the 
other, I had made up my mind to show I was not the novice 
they were pleased to consider me,—but he would not be caught. As 
my brother-in-law remarked that it would be useless to endeavour 
to get any shooting while he was at liberty, we all did our best to 
entice him. But he would not be caught; and we were just in the 
position given in the illustration of “ Oliver Twist,” when Mr. 
William Sykes wishes to catch his dog, and drown it, and when, 
for that purpose, that estimable character coaxingly holds out one 
hand, while the other conceals a rope behind his back. So we 
