THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, January 4, 1859. 
219 
milder in flavour. For succession crops, a sowing should be 
made every month or six weeks. 
Cress Satjce. —Pick a large handful of Cress leaves, and wash 
them very clean. Put a tea-spoonful of salt into half a pint of 
boiling water ; boil the Cress in this about ten minutes. Drain 
it on a sieve, mince it quite fine, and then bruise it to a pulp. 
Put it into a sauce-boat, and mix with it, by degrees, about half 
a pint of good melted butter, into which there has not been too 
much flour put, as the Cress will add to its thickness. Serve in 
a boat. This is a delicate and elegant relish. 
Cress Vinegar. —Dry and pound half an ounce of Cress seed, 
pour it upon a quart of the best vinegar, and let it steep ten days, 
shaking it every day. Strain the vinegar from the seeds, and 
bottle it. This is an excellent flavourer for salads and cold meat, 
and is always at hand. 
CRESS, AMERICAN. 
This —also called Belleisle Cress and Winter Cress —is used in 
salads, and in the same way as Water Cress ; but it is much more 
pungent, though similar to it in flavour. It may be sown in 
April or May, either broadcast or in rows, and thinned out, 
when the plants have attained three inches high, to six inches 
distance from each other. To stand the winter, and furnish a 
winter salad, it should be sown in September, and thinned suffi¬ 
ciently for the lower leaves to develop themselves ; but during 
the season it will require a slight protection.— Roger Ashpole. 
TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
Roses ox Timm own Roots (A Subscriber for some Years). —There can 
be no reasonable or practical objection to haring every kind of Rose in cul¬ 
tivation on its own roots. All the most tender in constitution, and the 
most delicate in growth and strength, we grow' most successfully on their 
own roots; but in some bad soils certain wild Roses, and half-civilised 
Roses, as it were, grow better than the full cultivated kinds. Therefore, 
on these soils, all moderate-growing Roses do better on the roots of the 
wildings. A yellow perpetual Rose has been asked for a thousand times, 
and such a Rose would bring a fortune to a Rose breeder. Yet no breeder 
has yet found out how r to breed a perpetual yellow Rose. But there are 
yellow Noisettes, Chinas, or Teas, and with them w« must be content till 
some one finds out bow to breed yellow pcrpctuals. A deep crimson ever¬ 
green perpetual Rose is much needed. 
- Variegated I’ i.ants (M. }'.). —We have filed your letter about va¬ 
riegated plants, along with others on that subject; and when we have tiled 
all that is required to be known about them, we shall give a bumper con¬ 
cerning them. But how variegated plants can “be evergreens to enliven 
the greenhouse in winter,” is move than we shall engage to explain. 
Belladonnas {31. F.) .—June is the right time to remove these beautiful 
bulbs. But unless one is quite superior to the general run of fair, good 
gardeners, in practice, he will do no good with Belladonnas in pots. Perhaps 
there are not five gardeners in Ireland and Scotland who could grow them 
in pots woi til looking at, and we are all but certain there are not. ten 
gardeners in England who can grow them better. Mr. Mallison, of Clare¬ 
mont, is the best grower of them in England, .most certainly, but he only 
draws in his shoulders when one asks him about them in pots. No. 32, 
upright, is the best sized pot fur one Belladonna ; and pure, unadulterated 
loam, rather strong than sandy, is the best soil for them. 
Cloth of Gold Rose {M. I '.).—A plant of this, four feet long, and 
destined to cover the front of a bouse, ought to be cut back to the four last 
buds about the end of March ; and if tile four eyes will start, the shoots 
from them should be stopped at the end of June, so as to give twelve 
shoots in the whole. 
Post-office Orders (P. Iticaut ).—Make them payable to Robert Hogg, 
Esq., General Post-office, London. 
Stages at Messrs. Lows’ [A Subscriber from the First ).-—Mr. Beaton 
says he saw no raised stages at the Clapton Nursery, and never wrote a 
word on that subject, as far as he recollects. 
Club Root (An Old Subscriber). —We have no experience as to the effect 
of gas lime in preventing this disease, and shall be obliged by information 
on the subject. Merely trenching was not likely to prevent the disease. 
The staple of your soil, probably, requires to be improved. 
Sutton’s Catalogue. —When we spoke of the plants in this Catalogue, 
we should have said kitchen garden plants. 
Work on Ferns (IT. F.). —We do not know of any book of a reasonable 
price giving a description of each species of stove, greenhouse, and hardy 
Ferns, except Swartz’s “ Synopsis Filicum.” It is in Latin. If a 
synopsis, with the characters of the genera, and an enumeration of the 
species, synenymes, &c„ will suffice, we oan recommend to you Mr. Moore’s 
“ Index Filicum,” now publishing in one shilling Parts. Six Parts are 
published. It is in English. 
Names of Plants ( If. Outer). —Your Ferns, we believe, arc as follows : 
—1. Gymnogramma tartarea. 2, 3, and 4. Appear to us to be varied 
forms of the Gymnogramma ochracea , sometimes called G. Alassoni. 
We cannot discern any specific difference in them from the specimens sent. 
5. Appears to be a small specimen of the Gymnogramma calotnelanos, 
sometimes called (!■ Peruviana, also by some called Gymnogramma 
onychiphylla. 0. Adiantum capittus Veneris. 7. Platyloma rotundi- 
'folia. 8. Potystichum acuUatum. 9. Is a varied form of Last ran filix- 
■mas. 10. Is a true form of the same, L. fiiix-mas. The small-leaved 
plant we believe to be the little Artillery Plant, Pi lea muscosa. 
Name of Apple ( Westbury Manor).—The Apple came by post, and was 
smashed by the post-office stamping. 
THE POULTRY CHR0SWLE. 
POULTRY SHOWS. 
January 8th, 10th, 11th, and 12th, 1859. Crystal Palace (Winter 
Snow). See., W. Houghton. Entries close December lltli. 
January 18th, 19th, and 20th. Chesterfield and Scarsdai.e. Secs., 
W. M. Hewitt, and J. Charleswortli. Entries close January 4th. 
Januauy 20th and 21st, 1859. Liverpool. 
January 28th and 29th. Boi.ton Poultry, Pigeon and Canary Snow. 
Secs. Win. Chester and Robert Greenhalgli, Bolton. Entries close 
January 15th. 
February 3rd and 4th, 1859. Preston and North Lancashire. 
Secs. R. Teebay, and H. Oakey. 
February 9tk and 10th, 1859. Ulverstonk. Sec., Thos. Robinson. 
February 10th and 17th, 1859. Poulton-le-Fyldk. Sec., J. Butler. 
June 1st, 2nd, and 3rd, 1859. Batii and West of England. At Barnstaple, 
Devon. Director, S. Pitman, Esq. 
N.B.— Secretaries will oblige us by sending early copies of their lists. 
THE YEAR PAST AND PRESENT. 
This is our first Number in (lie year 1859. There is a feeling 
of buoyancy and freshness which belongs to a new year alone. 
The trials of the departed are over; its ordeals are passed ; its 
disappointments bid fair to be forgotten; and, with the wis¬ 
dom gleaned from them, we start afresh, promising to avoid the 
shoals and quicksands which have tlmeatened often, and some¬ 
times put us in danger. But the past has not been alone a 
period of trial,—it has been fraught with blessings also ; and 
among them, one of the principal is, that we, who have been often 
permitted to do it, now again wish those who have been similarly 
favoured “A happy New Year! ” In our position as writer,we 
wish it heartily to our friends, readers, and subscribers ; and, while 
we gratefully record that the past period has been both prosperous 
and pleasant to us, we look forward with confidence to the future, 
believing we are justified in assuming that a continuance in the 
lino of conduct we have hitherto pursued will ensure us that 
support which is at once our pleasure and reward. 
It is always an unpleasant thing to speak of self, and, joyfully 
dismissing the subject, we now begin our poultry review of the 
past year. 
Some old Shows have died—some new ones have sprung into 
existence. The north and north-western parts of England are 
full of vitality ; the south and south-western are at a low ebb. 
We, however, hear of preparations for re-opening the campaign 
in those parts. That’which has caused the greatest sensation has 
been the abandonment of poidtry by the Royal Agricultural 
Society of England. No one can tell why it is done. No one 
seeks to deny that it paid well. Hundreds were rejoiced when it 
was first made part of the Exhibition : the same grieved when it 
was withdrawn. Some were bold enough to ask why it was given 
up. We have never heard the answer. Perhaps there was none. 
It was an innovation, and as bad as railways, the electric tele¬ 
graph, and all those new-fangled notions. Comfortable thing 
a good four-inside post coach, eight miles an hour, and time for 
a cosy oup of tea while they changed horses 1 
Our ancient friend in Bingley Hall, the good old Birming¬ 
ham, has held another successful Exhibition, with such a display 
as has never before been witnessed. The energy and the good 
management of the Council of this Society deserves all the success 
it meets with. The Crystal Palace is becoming more popular 
after each Show, and, feeling its strength, has modelled the list, 
to be competed for next week, after that of the Midland Coun¬ 
ties, with trifling exceptions. Liverpool remains the exclusive 
small Show—the gathering of the elite. The novelty introduced 
last year, of a sweepstakes for 100 cocks, at £1 each, was very 
successful; and the intrinsically valuable pieces of plate given as 
the prizes were really works of art. Preston remains a great 
and successful Show. We are happy to say many others do the 
same. A great improvement has taken place in allowing prize- 
takers to select any articles of plate to the value of their winnings. 
Many were formerly tired of cups; and this new arrangement 
addresses itself more particularly to the ladies, who can now 
choose at will. This will ensure us their good word. Most of 
the Committees who have worked during the past year have 
either been composed of old members, or have had experienced 
men among them, who knew the routine and duties of the office ; 
