THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, April 20, 1858. 
November and December; and a third and last sowing, 
in the early part of May, to supply a reserve for 
spring—not to be used until the middle of February. 
They delight in a generous or rich soil, and should be 
sown in drills thinly. The plant grows perfectly up¬ 
right, and a distance of eighteen inches between the 
drills, and fifteen between the plants, is amply sufficient. 
In gathering them, it is well to leave the crown as 
a protector until the spring, as it forms a complete 
canopy, and both protects and coaxes the buttons on 
the sides of the stems. 
I Green Kale is next in order; and certainly one of 
the most generally cultivated winter greens, in country 
places, that we possess : this may be called peculiarly 
the poor man’s green. It will succeed on almost any 
soil, with a little manure; and two sowings are suffi¬ 
cient for any garden, be the demand what it may. One 
i sowing may be made in the third week of March, and 
a second in the middle of April. The plants may be 
finally planted at two feet between the rows, and six¬ 
teen inches between the plants. 
The Savoy. —This is a highly esteemed green, and 
may be obtained either with firm heads like Cabbages, 
or in the form termed Savoy Coleworts ; the latter 
signifying heads only half formed and of smaller size : 
these are more esteemed by our gentry, or their cooks, 
than those with hard heads and larger, as making a 
neater dish. There are two or three kinds, indeed 
several varieties; but, for simplicity’s sake, I would 
point to the large, or Drumhead, and the dwarf Savoys, 
the latter divided into Green and Yellow. The UIm 
Savoy is an excellent dwarf kind, for small families. 
Savoys may be obtained in perfection from September 
until May ; they are, however, much more tender after 
a little frosty weather than before. To produce Savoys 
from September to November, sow in the second week 
in March; and to produce a succession through the 
winter, sow in the second week in April. Savoys for 
Coleworts, as they are termed, should be of the very 
dwarfish kinds, and should not be sown before the be¬ 
ginning of May. I have had abundance of neat little 
Savoy Coleworts all the winter, by taking the mere 
refuse of the seed-beds of the April sowing, and plant¬ 
ing them out in the early part of August; topping their 
loose foliage half off, and planting them in drills, nine 
inches apart in the drills. Savoys should be sown very 
thinly in drills, as their foliage is large; and, if too 
thick, they become long legged, and this spoils their 
whole character. Savoys for full crops require to be 
in drills quite two feet apart, and the plants nearly 
eighteen inches distant in the row. 
I have now gone through the principal families of 
Cabbageworts in British gardens, and must beg to offer 
a few remarks, of a general character, in conclusion. 
All these tribes are much improved by what is called 
pricking them out; that is, transplanting them when 
little plants. They all produce finer heads with shorter 
stems, and are less liable to be torn about with storms ; 
besides being more productive, and better economising 
space. Nearly all of them are, under certain circum¬ 
stances, liable to club ; and it is advisable, in old gar¬ 
dens, to select the poorest soil to raise the plants in, 
and to dig deep, bringing up fresh soil. All kinds of 
j charred materials, from the rubbish-yard, are of much 
| benefit to them, whether in the seed-bed or when 
planted out; in the latter case, if club is dreaded, 
boring holes, and filling them with charred materials 
and fresh maiden soil, and inserting the plant in the 
midst. 
It is pretty well known, that all Cabbageworts are 
liable to attacks of caterpillars, and that the latter are 
the produce of the eggs of butterflies. I would advise 
all to destroy as many butterflies as possible, when they 
are in their laying season ; at that period (about the 
4i l 
middle of August), they maybe seen constantly hover¬ 
ing over rows of the various Cabbageworts. 
R. Ebrington. i 
QUERIES AND ANSWERS. 
AUSTRALIAN SEEDS—CLIANTHUS PUNICEUS. 
“In The Cottage Gardener of March 30th, under the 
head ‘To Correspondents,’ you say, respecting Australian 
seeds, that they are about worthless. A brother returning 
from there, some eighteen months since, brought a lot home, 
several of which I have now growing very nicely. 
“ I have several plants of the Sarsaparilla now in bloom, 
also Acacias and Mimosas , &c. The Sarsaparilla seeds re- | 
quire to be soaked in boiling water, to make them grow. This 
should be generally known, as several of the Australian seeds 
will not germinate without such treatment. I have several 
of the Gloria Pea , grown from seed from Tasmania last year. 
Can you give me their treatment to make them bloom well ? ” 
—H. L. E. 
[Some of the very best of our greenhouse plants come from 
Australia, and some of the very worst of our greenhouse 
plants come from the same region also. You do not know 
the names of the Australian seeds which we said were not 
worth their pots, and, therefore, can be no judge of whether 
we were right or wrong. But what is the Sarsaparilla of 
Australia ? The drug called sarsaparilla is the produce of 
seven or eight or more kinds of one plant from different parts 
of the world, and called Smilax : Smilax medico, produces the 
Sarsaparilla of Yera Cruz; Smilax syphilitica, the Brazilian 
Sarsaparilla ; Smilax officinalis gives the best sarsaparilla in 
the English market, from the West Indies ; and there is a 
Smilax called “ Sweet Tea,” in New Holland, the Smilax 
glyciphylla , from which sarsaparilla of excellent quality has 
been sent home. But not one of these plants is worth a pot, 
as a garden object, or worth the trouble of raising from seeds 
in this country. Probably your Australian Sarsaparilla is 
quite a different thing, with the settler’s name, which name is 
of no use here. 
The Gloria Pea we take to be the Parrot Beak flower of 
New Zealand, Clianthus puniceus , and, if so, it requires the J 
very same treatment as the Myrtle. Good holding soil, plenty ! 
of room at the roots, out of doors from May to October, and 
to be merely secured from frost. All the Acacias, Mimosas, 
and, indeed, all the Pea-flowering plants from most parts of i 
the world, will stand a touch of boiling water, and many of j 
them will hardly vegetate without a dip in boiling water, a 
fact which is as common to gardeners as their pruning knives, 
but not the less interesting nevertheless.] 
GERANIUMS, CALCEOLARIAS, AND CINERARIAS, [ 
TO BLOOM IN JUNE. 
“ I wish to have some Geraniums, Cinerarias, and Calceola¬ 
rias in bloom the first day of June ; some are now showing 
flower. May I stop them all back, and until when ? ”—E. C. 
[Stop the Geraniums, and give them another shift; but you 
must not stop the Cinerarias, nor the Calceolarias ; if you turn 
out both kinds to a cold place, or north side of a house or 
wall, and take care of them at night from the frost, you will 
make sure of the Calceolarias, and stand a chance for the Cine¬ 
rarias. But you must judge for yourself by the middle of May 
whether the plants want help, so as to be in full bloom by the 
required day. All depends on the weather. If it is very hot, 
you will be about right; and if it is very much the contrary, 
the plants may want the stimulus of a close greenhouse, or 
cold pit, for the last ten days of May.] 
DAHLIA TRAINING AND CULTURE. 
“ 1. Is it possible to peg down any sort of Dahlia in a bed, 
as was done last year in the Crystal Palace ? If not, could 
you inform me as to what sorts are suitable for that purpose ? 
“ 2. Does too much manure, or too little, cause Dahlias 
to run to stalk (though in an open situation), and to have 
