385 
THE COTTAGE GARDENEE AKD COUNTS Y GENTLEMAN, September 14, 1858. 
batus, P. burbatus albus, P. gentian oicles, P. intermedius, P. 
Shepherdii, P. Buckii, P. Yerplanckii, P. McEwenii, P. 
agreste, P. cordifolius, P. Mackayanus ; Digitalis lutea; 
Linaria italica, L. purpurea; Tliunbergia alata; Phygelius 
Capensis. 
Labiate. —Stacliys lavandulmfolia, S.angustifolia; Pliysos- 
tegia Yirginica, P. liniifolia ; Salvia Graliamii, S. Grahamii 
coccinea, S. prunelloides, S. gigantea, S. fruticosa. 
PLUMBAGiNACEiE. —Statice arborea, S. limonium, S. lati- 
folium; Yalloradia plumbaginoides. 
AsPHODELEiE.—Kniphoffia uvaria. 
TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
Dioscorea Battatas (G. M f Call). —You will find full particulars 
relative to taking up, storing, and cooking this tuber, in our No. 477. 
Mr. M'Call says Iris “ are all in flower.” We never saw them bloom. 
Momordica balsaminia (H. A. D.). — Momordica, or Charantia, 
balsaminia, the Monkey Gourd, is now infruit atKew. ButinLondon, 
and south of it, this most beautiful of all the Gourd tribe could be 
grown out of doors, and trained to stakes like the Scarlet Runner. 
Ice House ( Vigilante ).—Our correspondent will be obliged, and so 
shall we, by directions how to construct “a cheap, effectual, and 
durable ice house.” 
PerileaNankinensis (An Amateur). —This is a recent introduction; 
you will find directions for its culture in our No. 424. Perilla ocy- 
moides, on which the genus was founded, has been called Ocymum 
frutescens, Melissa maxima , and Mentha perilloides. 
Herbaceous Calceolarias in Pots ( D. M. K.). —There is little 
chance of saving herbaceous Calceolarias in the pots in which they 
have grown. Better to plant them out in a cool border, and raise some 
light, nice, fresh soil close to, and among the leaves of the young 
shoots. These will root, and may be kept and potted in small pots 
during the winter. Cuttings may also be made of the best. It re¬ 
quires great experience to keep an old plant, and, after all, the young 
ones will beat it in May. Sow seed also in August and September, and 
treat as frequently advised. 
Building a Small Greenhouse (A Subscriber) .—You do not tell 
us what sort of a house j t ou would like. In answer to a correspondent 
to-day, we have described how a house may be built moderately cheap 
and good. Cheapest and best are rarely synonymous terms. A very 
cheap house, span-roofed, may thus be formed :—Posts and wood 
sides all round, three feet and a half or four feet in height, span roof 
of glass to ten feet in centre, roof fixed, glass fifteen inches by twelve 
inches on strong sash-bars, openings there for small sashes to swing, 
luffer boards in the sides for a similar purpose. If such boards are 
covered with felt, there need be no particularity in having the joints 
very close. The felt should be tarred and sanded, or gravelled, every 
other year. The wood for the sides, and also for sash-bars, may be 
brought straight from the saw-mill, and, when up for a tv T elvemontli, 
painted inside with anti-corrosive. For a general collection, 45° would 
be a good average at night, in winter. A small flue w T ould be the 
cheapest heating medium, unless you could manage a brick Arnott’s 
stove. 
Name of Grape (F. W., Manchester). —It is the Black Muscadel, 
a characteristic of which is, that some of the berries are very large 
and others diminutive. The cause w r e believe to be, that it is a bad 
setter, and the small berries are without seeds. If the blossom was 
fertilised artificially, and the bunches thinned much more severely 
than the bunch you sent, we believe that the berries would be all large. 
Caterpillars on Turnips (A Constant Reader). —They are the 
“niggers,” being the larvae of a Saw Fly, Athalia centifolice. Employ 
children to pick them off. 
^ Lardizabala biternata (A Subscriber). — The Lardizabala is a 
Peruvian plant, of a climbing habit, and, so far as we have yet seen, 
requiring a warmish greenhouse to grow freely. When potted, or 
planted, give it fibry peat or loam. The foliage is the chief recom¬ 
mendation. 
Repotting Orange Trees (67. C.). — The best time to repot Orange 
trees, is just when the trees are beginning to grow 7 freely. Any 
decayed roots should be removed, but we prefer getting rid of part of 
the soil, instead of cutting away good roots. The next best time of 
potting, is when the shoots have nearly stopped growing. 
Crystal Palace Beds ( Y. I'.).—You have been anticipated in the 
August monthly part, which you had not seen, when you w T rote, re¬ 
minding us of our annual custom since the Palace began. 
Yellow Dens Canis. —A correspondent who describes himself as a 
successful cultivator of Yellow Bens Canis, will oblige Mr. W. B. 
Page, of Southampton, by sending him his address. 
Roots of Water Lilies (Die Vernon). —The roots of the w T hite 
and yellow Water Lilies, both native and foreign, and of the crimson 
l and blue Water Lilies, as one sees them at the Crystal Palace, are best 
■ removed or retubbed, or repotted, or divided, for increase at the end 
of February, and early in March, just as they are on the point of 
starting into fresh growth for the season. One week or ten days later 
from that point is better than so much earlier, w T ith the exotic Lilies ; 
but we have seen the native Lilies removed, when it was convenient, 
any time during the winter. We have known ducks and drakes, 
geese and goslings, to have used a large pond at pleasure, for ten 
years, w r here the white and yellow Water Lilies were just established, 
and no more. The Lilies anil the birds did remarkably well, and the 
! ice from that pond was above 200 loads, on the average of years, and 
Gunter never could have cleaner, or clearer ice. 
Name of a Plant long inquired for (Kate, in No. 512. C. R. 
Manning, in No. 501. TV. Wright, in No. 489. W. Gater, in No. 482). 
The plant that we first had a small specimen of from W. Gater, 
Teignmouth, Devon, proves to be Mikania scandins, the climbing 
Mikania of Loudon, and the Cottage Gardeners’ Dictionary. It is not 
new, but rather a rare plant; nor is it distinguished for beauty, but 
only for its smooth, deep gieen, peculiar-shaped leaves, which are 
cordate, sagitate at the base, repand, toothed, acuminate, wuth spread- 
ing, unequal lobes. Its flowers are produced in a sort of corymbose 
bunch, nothing superior to that of the common weed Groundsel. It 
requires the protection of a greenhouse. 
POULTRY SHOWS. 
September 14th and 15th. Sparkenhoe (at Tamwoith). 
September 21st and 22nd. Bridgnorth. Sec., Mr, Richard Taylor, 
Bridgnorth. Entries close the 15th of September. 
September 21st and 22nd. Lichfield. 
September 26th. Paisley. Entries close Sept. 18. Sec., Mr. Wm. 
Houston, 14, Barr Street. 
October 7th and 8tli. Worcestershire. Sec., Mr. G. Griffiths, 7, 
St. Swithin’s Lane, Worcester. Entries close September 23. . 
October 13th and 14th. 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 Show. Sec., Mr. 
H. Holdsworth, 57, Woolshops, Halifax. Entries close the 20th of 
November. 
January 8th, 10th, lltli, and 12th, 1859. Crystal Palace (Winter 
Show). See., W. Houghton. 
January 20th and 21st, 1859. Liverpool. 
February 3rd and 4th, 1859. Preston and North Lancashire. 
Secs. R. Teebay, and II. Oakey. 
February 9th and 10tli, 1859. Ulverstone. Sec., Thos. Robinson. 
N.B. —Secretaries tvill oblige us by senditig early copies of their lists. 
PAETEIDGE SHOOTING. 
Every newspaper, whatever its bent or politics, touches on 
Partridge shooting on the 1st of September. It is in every¬ 
body’s mind. Papers devoted to sporting are thought in¬ 
complete if they do not say something about poultry. Last 
week we were asked to contribute knowledge of Grouse and 
Quails, and now we feel disposed to say a few words on sport¬ 
ing. We and our style are by this time known to the 
thousands who are our weekly subscribers. Those who like 
not the subject need not read it; those who do may, perhaps, 
find amusement in it. Mr. Kingsley, in “ Two Years Ago,” 
refers to “Mr. Sponge’s Sporting Tour” as to a book that 
most people have read. He recommends shooting as a 
“tonic,”—a plague on all others, say we. His description of 
an Otter hunt gives proof that he has assisted at one, and, 
therefore, we will take our readers Partridge shooting with us. 
We hardly know whether we pity or envy those whose lot 
it is to be cast in the midst of it,—who can enjoy it every day 
in the season a if they like,—w r ho are never excited by it,— 
and who, above all, seldom miss a shot. Those who know 
not the pain of failure are strangers to the pleasure of success. 
We write of that which Londoners, or, at least, those who , 
from early boyhood have left the country, feel on these occa¬ 
sions. While very young, we were sent to London, and our 
early days were spent in a back office. It was rather an airy 
spot than otherwise. The windows looked on to one of the 
small square graveyards of the City Churches. There were i 
four trees in it. It gave us this advantage, that when “ bored” ! 
—excuse the term—with bills of lading, invoices, dues, and 
sometimes, in seasons of great occupation, with corre¬ 
spondences, beginning with “ Esteemed friend and cor¬ 
respondent, your favour of, &c.,” and ending with the curt 
“Sir, you will please to, &c.,”—when bored, we say, with 
this, we could look upwards, and see a small space of the 
glorious blue sky. We could watch the small, white, fleecy ! 
clouds as they passed over, and we always thought of home i 
then,—not the decent and respectable house of Mrs. Martin 
in the City Eoad, but the home we had left. Our office was 
a large one, and three desks afforded accommodation for six 
clerks. That against the window belonged from time im¬ 
memorial to the juniors. Yet, when we had accomplished a 
part of our time, and were promoted, we asked as a favour 
