TILE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, March 1, 1859. 
311 
TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
Propagating-house (M. It'.).—See what has been said on having such 
houses partly sunk, and entirely above ground. You have no occasion to 
have the walls higher than wifi enable you to walk comfortably in the 
centre. Suppose that walk were three feet wide, you could have a platform 
on each side three feet wide. A small boiler would be the best mode of 
heating. A tank below these platforms, or a four-inch pipe on each side, 
would give bottom heat; and a pipe of similar size would give top heat. 
Of course, if your tank were big enouvh, and arrangements, as lately 
described, you' would want no pipes. Air could be given by having half 
of the back sashes made to move : or, if fixed ventilators placed in them, 
two or three openings could also be made in the front wall. 
Cuttings of Variegated Ivy (71. II .).—They will strike at this time of 
the year ; but the autumn is a better season for the purpose. 
Honeysuckles [Caprifolium).— We shall be happy to give you all the 
information we possess, relative to any species you wish to cultivate; but 
we cannot spare the time, nor money requisite. “ to give the whole of the 
known kinds, with short descriptions,” &c. The Editors s ou name may be 
wrong; but we cannot undertake to publish corrections of their mistakes. 
Their own pages ought to find space for such corrections. 
Vines in a Greenhouse (Rebecca).- —The plan will answer very well, 
and the varieties are suitable. 
Designs for Flower-reds (A Young Gardener).—'We cannot condemn 
a work of which wo know nothing. 
A. 7?., II. S., 7r. J. A., 31, n. S., F. E. X. .S’., and 0. P. Q., will see 
their inquiries have met attention, in a communication from Mr. Fish. 
Plum exuding Gum (T Y. II. II., L. D .).—As there is a cavity through 
the stock, there is such a probability of gradual decay, that we advise you 
to plant another tree. Hoot-pruning will be of service if the tree is over- 
luxuriant. The cavity may be stopped with a plaister composed of equal 
parts of clay and cowdung, softened with water. 
Ticea Nonn.is ((7. A'.).-—There is something wrong at the roots. It does 
not require so much decomposing matter as you gave it. We should 
remove the mixture of turfy loam and decayed leaf mould, and replace it 
with two parts turfy loam,’and one part each of sand and lime rubbish. 
Is the soil well-drained ! This tree does not require syringing. It re¬ 
quires a dry air and good drainage, being a native of mountains in North 
California. 
Botanical Books (A Lady Subscriber). — Add to your library, for 
under-gardeners, Henfrey’s “ Rudiments of Botany,” “Vegetable Physi¬ 
ology of Chambers’Educational Course,” and Hogg’s “Vegetable King¬ 
dom.” 
Various (A Constant Subscriber ).—AYe do not remember an article on 
tepid water for seed soaking. It is impossible to prescribe any fixed 
quantity of sulphuric acid for fixing ammonia in liquid manure. A wine¬ 
glass full to a bucket must be usually sufficient. Put in the acid unmixed. 
It is the same as oil of vitriol. M e know of nothing cheaper. 
National Provident Society [11. L.). —We know nothing of this. He 
is wise who is contented with the Savings’ Bank. We gave the names of 
your plants last week. The delay was unavoidable. 
Slug-killing Mineral (77.).— We find the following in “Chambers’s 
Journal: ”—“ Referring to the statement in the September Month con¬ 
cerning the insecticide powder exhibited to the Academy by M. Millot- 
Brul0, we take the opportunity to mention here, that the sulphur-coal of 
which the powder is said to lie composed, exists abundantly in England, 
and is known among geologists and miners as ‘ coal brasses.’ Large quan¬ 
tities are raised near Halifax, and used in the manufacture of vitriol ami 
copperas; as also in the adjacent counties of Lacashire, Durham, and 
Northumberland. In South Wales, the coal contains pyrites of a superior 
quality, which, after a roasting to expel the sulphur, are used in the manu¬ 
facture of pig-iron. According to the returns prepared by Mr. Robert 
Hunt, and published by the School of Mines, the quantity of pyrites raised 
in the United Kingdom in 1857 amounted to 74,000, worth £03,000. In this 
the pyritous coal, or coal brasses, figures for 11,000 tons.” 
Small Flower Garden [An Amateur). —It was a happy hit to give the 
flower-borders which surround the actual flower garden. You are quite 
right, and the idea is very good. Vet, if the plan were on grass, and nothing 
round it, the planting won d need to be reversed, so as to liaTe the lowest, 
plants in 1, or in the centre. But we suppose all the plants in the flower 
garden—“the whole mass”—to be lower than the. back rows of the 
borders, which go round the garden. Therefore, the centre of the scene is 
actually the lowest, and your planting is good and judicious. 
Covering Bloom [Bessie Brown). —We disapprove altogether of every 
kind of covering which cannot be taken “off and on ” as easily as our own 
■spectacles. A covering of the finest muslin, which you suggest, will do 
just as much harm as good, to any kind of blossom, if it is not lifted up, or 
drawn aside in the daytime; and if it can be so removed, then a thick 
blanket can do no hurt. The expense of the contrivances to move the 
blanket, or the muslin, being the same, we should prefer the thicker 
covering as keeping off more cold, or frost. Stout canvass—Frigi homo, 
and Shaw’s Tiffany, are best for you. 
Cover for a Plashed Hedge [A Subscriber). —There is no climber 
but Ivy that would do ; and, in so doing, the Quick would be killed. The 
only plan which occurs to us, is to plant a row of Privet in front of the cut- 
down hedge, and as close to it as may be. Quick and Privet agree very well 
together; and the Privet being free from the Quick, it would make a green 
face all the winter. 
Cyclamens [A Constant Subscriber). —Your Cyclamen flower belongs to 
the new race of crosses between Count and Persicum , of which Atkinsii 
was the first. These have no particular names. No Cyclamen, except 
Count, can be made out from a leaf. We know of no book such as you 
ask for. 
Index [Kate ).—We shall be obliged by your favouring us with your 
address. 
Pigeons [A Lady ).—We know of no mode of keeping Pigeons from a 
garden, except by having some one to scare them or shoot them. 
Rof kerv Plants (Idem). —In o«r No. 489, you will find a very long list 
of such plants. It was published too recently to justify us in reprinting it. 
You can have the number for threepence. 
Heating a Greenhouse (7 Y. X. TY .).— One row of four-inch hot-water 
pipes round a greenhouse, which is thirteen feet broad, by sixteen l'ect 
long, and seven feet and a half high, will be sufficient. 
Names of Pears (.1 Subscriber). — No. 1 is Passe Colmar. No. 4. 
Winter .Veils, with a decided Passe Colmar flavour. Is it grafted on the 
Passe Colmar! 
THE Vmiim CHRONICLE. 
POULTRY SHOWS. 
March 15th, ICth, and 17th. Shropshire. See., T. W. Jones, Church 
Street, Wellington, Salop. 
May 25th and 2Gth. Beverley. See., Francis Calvert, Surgeon, &c. 
June 1st, 2nd, and 3rd, 1859. Bath and West of England. At Barnstaple, 
Devon. Director, S. 1 ltman, Esq. 
July 1st, 2nd, 4th, and 5th. Sheffield. Wilson Overcnd, Chairman. 
Entries close the 15th of June. 
N.B.— Secretaries trill oblige vs by sending early copies of their lists. 
DISCCJMSIVE POULTEY PAPEES. 
(Continued from page 316.) 
When first poultry was taken up as a pursuit, it was callod a 
“ mania.” Tliis was a misnomer. Poultry Shows, like many 
other things, are the result of facilities of communication arising 
from railways. IIow was a-Show possible thirty years ago, when 
a first-rate town had only a few coaches to serve it ? Those who 
run to Liverpool, spend three hours in the Show, and then get 
back to London in the day, have no idea of the difficulties of 
former times, when the place must be booked a week previous 
by the “ Umpire.” The grumbling of the guard at the quantity 
of luggage—the screaming of the fidgetty inside, when a slight 
bonnet-box fell into the recesses of the boot, followed by a heavy 
deal case—the twenty-two hours’ comfortless ride—the seemingly 
endless length of the last three stages— the drowsiness and 
broken sleep, and (lie Jit-for-not7iingnesB when you arrived. IIow 
was a Show possible ? IIow would the 1,60*0 pens and 30,000 
visitors of Birmingham have reached that great town ? Poultry, 
then, instead of a mania, is a progress. It is good for men to 
mix together, and to mix with the greatest possible variety of 
their fellows. The man who lives constantly on one spot, at 
last makes that his world, and will end by fixing the boundaries 
of it by the three or four towns in different directions lie is 
obliged sometimes to visit. Anything beyond is to him what 
paradise is to the Indian—a dreamy something, hidden by moun¬ 
tains and enveloped in clouds. 
This is another digression ; and the moral will be, perhaps, as 
satisfactory to our readers as the sponges and the umbrellas were 
to the inheritors, of whom we have before spoken. It is, that 
Poultry Shows have done, and are still doing, good in every way— 
among others by forming friendships. Many can date some of 
the pleasantest passages in their lives from intimacies that have 
sprung from a community of amateurship, and the interchange 
of a fowl, or a few eggs. 
Now to the chickens. They were doing so badly, that, teased 
or not teased, our young friend was determined to have recourse 
again to Mr. Taplin. lie never wanted asking twice, and came 
directly. 
“ Poor little things,” he said, “ I wonder if one of my Phea¬ 
sants hatched out of season, whether anybody would provide a 
nice piece of carpet ? ” 
“ That is not fair,” was the answer. “ You know they will not 
hatch out of season ; and if they did, the young would die.” 
“You are right, and I am talking at random. Nothing can 
be worse than tliis. First, a brick floor is damp and cold; it 
causes cramp in poultry. Next, the carpet makes it worse; it 
holds the damp continually. We must move them directly. 
But you have given your hen more work than she can do. By 
your own admission, these are out of season ; they are too early. 
Instead of helping them, as it would in May, the weather con¬ 
tinually checks them. The nights are twice as long as the days ; 
the earth is cold and naked, aud provides no food. They fast 
loug ; and, therefore, require more warmth. We will try to over¬ 
come some of these difficulties. First, let us seek a place for 
them. What use is made of that old shed ? ” 
“ None.” 
“ The very place we want.” 
