scenery, among which is concealed from sight a little church, a sweet secluded parsonage, and a rambling hamlet, full of picturesque snatches, and cottages, in every one of which one cannot help wishing to live; while a distant line of trees which form the horizon mark the farm where Jethro Tull once lived. On the left hand, plantations of dingy Scotch fir now shut in the view, and exclude much beauty which, many years ago, added considerably to the scene; but the contrast is striking, and in the winter it heightens the effect. From this lovely home-view the eye ranges over the cool grassy hills that stretch along the valley, so high, and yet so quiet in their character, that the mind feels repose in gazing upon them. Their summit is still encircled by the very perfect remains of a Roman encampment, which arouses a long train of thought. On that calm and peaceful height was once heard the clang of trumpets and the noise of an armed multitude. Rapine and cruelty and death followed in their train, and the very fields and woods and gardens that now decorate this valley, were once trodden by the terrible legions of a warlike and despotic empire. How fearfully must the trembling occupiers of this very spot have looked up to the strong and threatening fortress that frowned from the hill, full of desperate and lawless men! and how ought we-how ought the cottage gardeners of Old England to bless God that the deep green dykes around their hills, and the crumbling walls of the old castles that beautify her scenery, are all that remain of those dark disastrous days when her sons groaned beneath their burdens, and her " children fell under the wood!" How ought we all to prize and pray for the peace and prosperity of our dear old island, the Monarch that sways the gentle sceptre, and the freedom that our laws enforce and guard! But let us remember why England is free, and happy, and prosperous; why the throne stands so firmly; why her shores are as yet preserved from the foot of the destroyer. Because England protests against "the mystery of iniquity,"-against him "who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; because she acknowledges Him "whose name is above every other name," in all she says and enacts; and because her Monarch fills the throne only" by the grace of God." For these reasons, and for these reasons only, England is what she is. Whenever, as a nation, she gives "heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils," the cup of God's wrath will quickly be placed in her hand.

Mountains and hills have been largely used in Scripture, to convey instruction to our hearts, and comfort and confidence. How many glorious and mighty works are brought to our minds when we gaze upon, or even think of themArarat, Sinai, Pisgah, Horeb, Carmel, Zion, Calvary! What speech and language there is in each and all!-how they glorify Him before whom "the everlasting mountains were scattered, the perpetual hills did bow!" How they warn us to secure a sure interest in His covenant before our "feet stumble on the dark mountains," before we "begin to say to the mountains, fall on us, and to the hills, cover us." Let us, as we stand admiring the beauty of our varied British scenery, think of these things, for they are of deep and fearful importance; and let us look to the hills from whence cometh our help,"-our only help when "earth and heaven' shall flee away.

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And now, once more, the bright beautiful tints of autumn are tipping the trees. The limes are speckled with gold the beeches are tinged with their first rich colouring; and among the copses the birch has clothed itself in yellow, and its delicate leaves are already strewing the ground.

Yet, the early morning is full of exquisite beauty: the bright sun beams slant through the trees with rich golden light; and the dew lies so thickly upon the grass, that it looks like molten silver. The last few mornings have opened with a thick wet fog, which in spite of its chilliness adds to the loveliness of the scene; for as the sun rises higher and higher, the feathery clumps of trees emerge gradually from the vapour, and every instant a new and beautiful object is brought out softly and gracefully to view. When I first open my window I see numberless little plump thrushes hopping fearlessly upon the lawn, knowing well that man is not yet gone forth to his labour; and the graceful roguish squirrels dart like lightning from the filbert-trees, where they have been robbing our future store.

There is so much deep sentiment in the closing year, and

it speaks so loudly to poor short-lived man, that we can never mark its earliest approaches without interest and solemn thought; at least, as the winter of our life comes on. To the young, indeed, every season comes blithly and cheerily, for all is bright to those who are just springing into life, and have not felt the sweep of the tempest, and the blighting winter frost. To use an expressive Scotch phrase, "the black ox has not tramped" upon them yet; and they feel just as a gay spirit spoke a few days ago, Oh! the tints of autumn are so beautiful, I never think of winter!" Yet, as years multiply, we do think of winter, and many things and persons, and sorrows too. How many eyes that kindly glanced over the pages of "THE COTTAGE GARDENER," when first it saw the light two years ago, have already closed in death! How few of us are permitted, in this unstable world, to witness the falling of the leaves without a lament for objects, dearer far, that have dropped around us!

And yet, how many of us have to praise the Lord for added mercies-mercies without end! Trials and afflictions are mercies, although clothed in unlovely garb; but the love of our Father sends us showers of blessings, and adorns our path with a thousand beautiful things. Oh! let us bless Him for the continuance of the frail breath that only separates us from the land of spirits; for, perchance, some of us have an account to give that needs a strict examination before it is rendered up. Let us remember that every leaf that falls hung by a stronger thread than that which supports our lives, and that, however we may "rejoice in the days of our youth," "yet for all these things God will bring us to judgment."

Let our walks lead our minds to high and solemn thoughts. They will not embitter, but sweeten our leisure hours; they will add abundantly to our enjoyments now, and prepare us for those better things that are eternal.

THE CLAY MARL OF SUFFOLK AND NORFOLK. THE subsoil of a great part, indeed of the greater part, of the counties of Norfolk and Suffolk consists of a substance provincially called "clay." I use the word "provincially," because this substance is very different from that which is commonly called clay, viz.; the earth of which bricks and pottery are made. The clay of Norfolk and Suffolk is composed of calcareous and argillaceous earth, and I believe that most specimens contain more or less sand. It varies as to colour, consistence, and composition. The preparations of calcareous and argillaceous earth are variable; in some localities it is very stiff; in others very friable; in some it even contains so great a quantity of soft sand, that when dry it invariably falls to powder, when pressed between the finger and thumb. The colour of the upper part of the stratum is usually whitish or gray, but sometimes blue, and sometimes yellow. The yellow is, I suppose, coloured by carbonate of iron; the blue by carbon, since it turns white in the fire. I believe that at the depth of ten or fifteen feet the colour is invariably a blue, either lighter or darker. This clay seems to be the result of the destruction of a part of the chalk stratum and of some argillaceous stratum; the two earths appear to have been suspended in water, and as they subsided to have been mixed together. It is quite plain that one of the component parts is derived from the chalk; for, besides the calcareous earth which is intimately blended with the argillaceous, the clay, in most instances, contains numerous nodules of chalk, a few of which may be six or eight inches in diameter, but the greater part are much smaller, varying from the size of a small bean to that of a pin's head; many specimens are full of those small pieces of chalk. Moreover, chalk flints are irregularly dispersed in considerable numbers throughout the mass of the clay, at least through the upper part of the stratum, and in that part the larger nodules of chalk are most abundant, but smaller nodules are found, and often in great numbers, in the lower part of the stratum, which consists of blue clay, and which in sinking wells has been penetrated to the depth of seventy feet, and perhaps to a greater depth. Large pieces of septaria containing carbonate of lime in a chrystalised state also occurs, but not very abundantly. A fine fragment of rocks, whose geological position is below the chalk, are sometimes, but not very frequently, Septaria, irony marl from which Parker's Cement is made.

found imbedded in the clay. The earths which constitute the clay have plainly undergone the action of water, for the nodules of chalk show evident signs of attrition, some of them appear in the form of pebbles; but this action seems to have been neither sufficiently violent nor long-continued to produce any great change in the flints; they have much the same appearance as those which are dug out of chalkpits; they still retain a part, and sometimes apparently the whole, of their white coating, and their cavities are often filled with pieces of chalk.

I have described this clay, because in this district it is very beneficially and almost universally employed as a manure. Sixty or seventy loads per acre are usually laid upon heath, or common, or pasture land, when first broken

up. It is considered as indispensable to the cultivation of land when first brought under the plough, whether the soil be light or heavy. I am informed that upon light land a hundred loads per acre are sometimes used. When the land has been for some time in cultivation as arable land, it will want claying once in about twenty years; but then the quantity required is not more than forty, or, at most, fifty loads per acre. The clay is procured by sinking not shafts but open pits, whence it is drawn in carts by horses, but it is sometimes wheeled out by men in barrows. Pits are seldom opened to the depth of more than about fifteen feet, because the clay which lies near the surface is preferable to that which is found at considerable depths; since the former contains a greater proportion of calcareous earth than the latter. I suppose it is only the calcareous part of the clay that fertilizes heavy lands, though the argillaceous part has, undoubtedly, a beneficial effect upon sandy or peaty soils, by supplying an ingredient which in such soils is almost entirely wanting; but strong clay-that is, clay containing a large proportion of argillaceous earth is seldom found under sandy soils; a great deal of sand is usually mixed with it, and it sometimes passes into a kind of marl, provincially called "murgin," which seems to consist entirely of pulverised chalk, not unlike whiting; and, indeed, it is used by the poorer people for whitewashing the walls and ceilings of their houses. The quality of the surface soil is evidently determined by the quality of the subsoil.

When the clay has been drawn from the pits it is laid in heaps, and then spread upon the land. This should be done between the end of harvest and the beginning of winter, that the clay may be crumbled by the frost, and so be in a fit state for ploughing-in in the spring.

I have spoken of the use of clay in agriculture, but I believe that every one who has tried it can bear witness from experience that it is not less beneficial to the garden than to the farm. I am sure I can for one. The soil of my garden is a mixed soil-that is, neither light nor strong; it is rather gravelly, but not poor; and it has been very much improved by being clayed. But gardens, the soil of which is naturally very poor and sandy, are made, by the application of clay, to bear luxuriant crops of almost every description of garden produce. I, of course, suppose that, in addition to the clay, a proper quantity of stable-yard manure is made use of.

But I think I hear some of your readers say, "why do you encumber your pages with a notice upon the clay of Norfolk and Suffolk, when those who live in other districts cannot procure it, and every gardener and farmer, and every labourer in those counties is perfectly acquainted with the use of it, and wants no information upon the subject that your correspondent can give them?" I answer, though that particular description of earth is, I believe, peculiar to the eastern counties, yet other earths, which would be quite as useful as a manure, may undoubtedly be found in many other parts of the country. It is true that the geological position of the clay which has been here described is above the chalk, but a kind of clay, or, to speak more properly, of marl, is very frequently, perhaps very generally, found extending over a considerable breadth of country at the foot of the chalk ranges, plainly washed down, in the course of a long series of ages, from the adjacent hills. This marl would, I suppose, be as valuable a manure as the clay of the eastern counties, perhaps more valuable for most kinds of land, because it contains a greater proportion of calcareous earth. And I think it not improbable that earth, which might be used for the same purpose, may be found in the form of marl or of cal

careous gravel or sand, at the foot of hills composed of limestone much harder than chalk. In Kent pure chalk is very commonly used as a manure.

In short, the whole of this lengthy notice might, perhaps, be comprised in these few words:-Most soils will be improved by the application of calcareous earth, or any kind of limestone that will yield to the action of the frost and of the air; and those soils which are sandy or peaty, or which contain much inert vegetable matter, will be improved by the application of a mixture of calcareous and argillaceous earth. REV. E. SIMONS.

DOMESTIC MECHANISM.

BOX CHURN.-This simple and ingenious contrivance is the invention of an eminent mechanic. Get a deal box of dimensions according to fancy-longer than broad; the joints must be perfectly water-tight, and the lid must fit very close. At the upper sides, exactly in the centre, fasten firmly two iron bolts with holes smoothly bored at their upper parts. The diameter of these should be about an inch. Erect two uprights, the distance between which should be a little more than the breadth of the box; the height of these three and a half or four feet. At the upper part, stretch a smoothly turned bar, of a diameter a little less than that of the holes in the bolts of the box. Before finally fastening the two upright supports together, pass the bar through the holes of the bolts, thus suspending the box between them. The box may be easily made to swing backwards and forwards on the bar, the centre of its motion being above the box. At the ends of the box in the interior, fasten angular pieces of wood, stretching across the box; let these be rounded, as shown in the cut, in their inner side. Supposing the machine to be properly fastened and hung, fill the box with milk, and put on the close-fitting lid. To churn and agitate the fluid, all that is necessary is to move the box lengthways back and forwards. The pieces of rounded wood at the ends will throw back the milk at each swing, causing great commotion. The machine may be simply worked by levers. If necessary, in a future number we will give a sketch of a simple method. A farmer, who has used this simple contrivance, used to affirm that he could sit and read his newspaper and churn many a pound of butter.

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TABLE COOKING STEW PAN.-The simple and effective contrivance shown in the annexed wood cut, has been used in many families not only with economy as regards time and money, but also on account of its cooking small dishes so delightfully. We have heard it get several names; of these we like the 'conjurer" best. We have ate many a pound of good steak cooked by it, and invariably found it improved "most magically." From the spedey nature of the opera tion and the closeness and lightness of the pan, meat, how- ¡ ever tough, is rendered "beautifully tender." We have no doubt that many of our readers have seen it; others, we dare say more numerous, have not. For the benefit of these we give the sketch. A description is almost unnecessary. It consists of a circular pan some six or seven inches diameter, and three or four deep, provided with a tripod stand and a shelf beneath it. On this shelf is placed a small open dish, some one and a half or two inches diameter, containing spirits of wine (or good whisky does famously). The meat, with its "garnishing," is put into the pan, and covered in with a very close-fitting lid. The spirits of wine are lighted and placed on the shelf beneath. You may place the whole apparatus on the table before you; you will not have to wait long for your meal. On taking off the lid, "the grateful odour" arising will greet your nostrils, and readily convince you that the apparatus is indeed a conjurer.

B.

TO CORRESPONDENTS.

We request that no one will write to the departmental writers of THE COTTAGE GARDENER. It gives them unjustifiable trouble and expense. All communications should be addressed "To the Editor of The Cottage Gardener, 2, Amen Corner, Paternoster Row, London." PANSIES (J. H. K.).-Your four pansies are all of good form and substance; and, as far as we could judge from the flattened, injured specimens, Nos. 1 and 4, are the most novel in colouring.

TAYLOR'S BEE-BOX (A Newly-Married Yeoman).—The top of this is made in all respects as was directed in the appendix of the third edition of his Bee-Keeper's Manual. The brass-headed nails used are the same as those employed by upholsterers about old-fashioned hair-bottomed chairs.

SALTING ASPAragus Beds (Rev. E. S.).—Salt is best applied in the spring and summer whilst the plants are growing. We usually apply it three times, about March, May, and July. You may sprinkle it over the surface so as to make this perceptibly white; eight pounds to each thirty square yards is not too much. We shall be glad of a description of the mode clay is employed for building.

WHITE SCALE (L. C.).—This insect on the stems and leaves of the

Acacias and Oleanders in your greenhouse is the Aspidiotus Nerii, or Oleander Scale. The best remedy is to dip the plants into water heated to 114°, keeping them under water for two or three minutes. This repeated once or twice, if necessary, at intervals of two days, will remove the pest. To keep them away, let the air of your greenhouse be more moist. Keep a strict look out for their reappearance, and dip a plant as soon as one is observed upon it, for they are difficult to exterminate and increase rapidly.

RAMPION (C. B. C.).—This is the Campanula rapunculus of botanists, and it thrives best in a light, yet moist shady border. We agree with you in thinking it "worthy of a place in every kitchen garden," but it will not thrive with you if your soil is dry or clayey. The roots are good boiled whilst young and served up like asparagus. Sow three times-in March, April, and May, in drills eight inches apart. Dig the soil for them two spades deep, and turn in a little well-decayed stable manure with the bottom spit. Thin the plants to eight inches apart. Give frequent and plentiful waterings throughout the growth of the plants, or their roots will be dry and woody.

NAMES OF INSECTS (J. L.).-The grub you complain of as "most destructive to all young plants, biting their stems in two just beneath the surface," is the larva of some moth, probably the Brown Heart-and-Club (Agrotis segetum). Unfortunately they cannot be discovered except by their ravages. (Eliza, Richmond Bank).-Your children are right in thinking that it gives us pleasure "to tell them all about the insects" they caught. The moth (not butterfly) is a male of the Vapourer (Orgyia antiqua); the peculiarly hairy and tufted caterpillar of which is fully described at page 316 of our second volume. The female is a downy ashcoloured insect, without wings. The beautiful fly you sent us, and which seems a fitting inhabitant of fairy land, is the Golden-eyed lace-winged Fly (Hemerobius perla of Linnæus, and Chrysopa perla of modern entomologists). It is really gratifying to know that such a beautiful creature is the friend of man, for its larva feeds on Plant Lice.

SOAP-SUDS (T. P. L.).—It is much too comprehensive a question when you ask, "will it hurt flowers to water them with soap-suds now and then?" What flowers do you mean? Geraniums, fuchsias, and such hardy plants, when growing, are benefited by soap-suds applied once or twice a week.

ANTS INVADING A HIVE (A Beginner).-To prevent this, paint a broad band of coal-tar round the leg or legs of your bee stand, and repaint it when the tar becomes dry, which will not be for a long time.

CABBAGES CLUB-ROOTED (J. A. B.).—We think that your plants must have been pierced by the insect which causes the club-root, or ambury, before they were planted. If a cabbage or brocoli plant has a knob near the roots, this should be removed before replanting, because in that knob is either the egg or the grub which causes all the mischief. Make your ground as rich as you can before planting your cabbage-worts in future; and as you cannot get ammoniacal liquor, give the ground a dressing of soot and salt just before digging it.

PEAT (A. B. C.).-You ask us to give you "some idea of the nature of peat ;" and we will endeavour to do so; but any description will be less effectual than your asking any florist in your neighbourhood to show you some, for each and all florists have it for potting purposes. The best peat is a mass of vegetable fibres, mostly black, mixed with sharp white sand. The fibres are chiefly the dead roots of heath. The best peat for gardening purposes is found just below the surface, on Bagshot Heath, Delamere Forest, and elsewhere; and a specimen of this has been found to contain-fine siliceous sand, 156 parts; vegetable fibres and decomposing vegetable matter, 114; coarse silica (flint), 102; alumina (clay), 16; oxide of iron, 4; soluble vegetable and saline matter, partly muriate of lime, 8.

VERBENAS (Ibid).—Twelve good varieties which will do well for you to exhibit are-Wonder of Scarlets; Mountain of Snow, white; Speciosissima, red; Mrs. Mills, blue; Gladiator, orange scarlet; Excelsa, pink; Apollon, violet purple; Beauty Supreme, carmine; Ramona,

maroon crimson; Haidee, lavender; Rubens, rosy crimson; and Woodsii, dark maroon.

WORMS (P. M. H.).-Worms benefit a soil by piercing and loosening the texture. Your subsoil cannot be "sandy or clayey "-they are totally opposite. We must have a more accurate description of both the soil and subsoil before we can venture to recommend any manures to mix with them.

HEAVY SOIL (Eyre, Brixton Hill).-Have it drained with one-inch drain pipes-the drains twelve feet apart, and two feet and a half deep. It is quite impossible to be more specific unless we knew the place.

DISEASE IN CHICKENS (W. Barnard).-Your chickens with swollen crops, drooping wings, and disordered bowels, are attacked with the Cheep, or Chip. The name is applied to the disease on account of the peculiar note they utter whilst suffering from it. It arises from exposure to cold and damp. Confine them until they are a month old to a dry, warm place; feed them on groats, with occasionally an egg boiled hard, with a little onion chopped up with it, and you will probably avoid the tionary until completed you will find all the practical directions you loss of which you complain. If you take The Cottage Gardeners' Dic

covet.

NEW GARDEN (Popplewell).-The only things you can plant now are cabbages. In November you may plant potatoes and broad beans. Put in some cabbages on the ground out of which you are taking potatoes. The trainer you mention will suit the Tropaeolum tricolorum; but it is too much to ask us to incur the expense of having a drawing engraved for you.

NAMES OF PLANTS (Clericus, Beds).-Your annual is Eutoca viscida. (C. G. R.). The small leaf is of Melia Azederach, but the other we cannot recognise. Let us have a flower if it blooms, and we shall be able to assist you. (T. P. L.).-Your miserable specimen seems to be a piece of Aubrietia deltoidea-a useful rock plant. Calystegia pubescens can be obtained of any respectable florist. Bulbs of crocuses and snowdrops may be put in now.

CYCLAMEN PERSICUM (T. T. G.).—These which have been plunged in your border all the summer repot immediately, but disturb the roots as little as possible. Merely rub off gently a little of the old soil, and return them into the same pots, adding a little fresh soil to replace what has been removed.

MULBERRIES PRESERVING (S. S. J.). These may be made into jam the same as any other fruit, and the preserve is delicious. Allow rather more than half a pound of loaf sugar to every pound of mulberries. Let the fruit boil up slowly and gradually, then add the sugar, and boil for three quarters of an hour longer, stirring it the whole time. Mulberry syrup, for this fruit is too juicy to make into jelly, is very good, allowing the same quantity of sugar to every pint of juice. We have tasted some that was made into syrup last year, and added this, to some fresh black currant jelly, in the proportions of one-third mulberry, to two of currant, and the mixture is firm and excellent. We have never seen mulberries bottled, nor preserved whole in any way.

BEE-KEEPING (J. E. W.).—Your being absent from home from eight until six, is no insuperable objection to your becoming a bee-keeper, if you have any one to watch the hives during the swarming season, and who can hive a swarm if it comes forth.

NIGHT-SOIL FUMES (W.).-You can mitigate these by sprinkling a little powdered Gypsum over the soil every evening, and doing the same with a little Chloride of Lime every morning.

FUCHSIA BROCKMANNII (L. A. C.).-As you have no greenhouse, leave this in the border all the winter, covering over its roots all round to the distance of a foot from the stem, and up its stem a foot deep with coal ashes.

CALICO COVERING FOR FRAMES (Ibid).-For fifty square feet of calico, one pint and a half of pale boiled linseed oil, half an ounce of sugar of lead, and two ounces of white resin, are required. Grind the sugar of lead in a little of the oil, before adding the remainder and the resin; mix them together, and simmer them gently in a large iron pot over a gentle fire. Apply the mixture to the calico with a large brush whilst hot. The calico should be damped before being tacked on to the frame, and when again quite dry the mixture applied as above directed. Plant out your Hollyhock seedlings at once where you wish them to remain. For Cal. ceolaria seedlings, you will find very full directions at page 63 of our third volume.

AMMONIACAL LIQUOR (H. G. L.).—Where did we ever recommend this "in its concentrated state," to be applied to Strawberries? No wonder it has killed yours. We recommended it in its concentrated state to be applied to vacant ground before it is dug for cabbage planting. It is then turned down into the soil, kills surface vermin, and comes gradually to the roots. For watering between the rows of cabbages, when they are rooted and growing freely, but not before, ammoniacal liquor in the proportion of one gallon to five gallons of water, may be used with great benefit. Do not even then pour it into the holes round the stems of the plants, but into a trench drawn between the rows.

SEEDS OF ANNUALS (E. S. P.).-Apply to any of the seedsmen or florists who advertize in our columns; we cannot recommend any particularly.

CHINA-ASTERS (G. H. P.).-They are only reared from seeds sown in

the spring like most of our annuals; but next week you shall see all

about them.

REPOTTING GERANIUMS (F. H.).—As your geraniums will not be ready for potting till the first week in October, you had better not put them in their flowering pots till the beginning of February, and the interval will no more than compensate for "Aunt Harriett's" six weeks of autumn weather. At all events do not put them into large pots in October, unless you are a first-rate grower of them.

ROSES (Ibid). The directions given to cure a dreadful malady on the vine, were altogether inapplicable for your roses. You washed all the salt down to the roots, and probably killed or injured them too much. We cannot too often repeat that salts are as dangerous in the hands of some people as gunpowder. How would you like to fire off a cannon without any one near you, or fire a train for a blast in a quarry. Easy processes to those who understand them, but otherwise as dangerous as salts?

HABROTHAMNUS FASCICULATUS (J. French).-The plant you allude to is protected by Mr. Beaton in winter by a moveable covering of glass, and the wall is heated by hot-water pipes passing along the middle of it at the ground line, the centre of the wall being in open cells. You had better take up your plant of Habrothamnus this winter, as you propose, and do not trust it to thatching until the shoots are old enough to look as dry as walking sticks, then with dry thatch it is easy enough to keep them

out all the winter.

PYRUS JAPONICA (Ibid).—This is not a pear but a quince, and is properly Cydonia Japonica. It is propagated by layers made in the spring, and by cuttings of the roots, from four to six inches long.

REMOVING BULBS (Scrutator).—Without knowing more of your stock than that it consists of "bulbs," it is not in our power to tell you whether the plants can be removed next March or not. Hundreds of bulbs can be removed in March, but many more could not then be disturbed without putting them back from flowering; some for one season, and some for two seasons, and a few for five years at least; but all bulbs, save a few Irids, may be removed at any time, without endangering the life of the bulbs itself, if the work is done properly-that is, not to pull them up, but to take all their roots with them if possible, and those that are in growth should be laid at full length in a basket on damp moss, covered with the same if they can be replanted the same week, if not, the leaves must not be longer kept in the dark, but the bulbs and roots must be kept dark and moist, and also the leaves supplied with water. Dahlias are not bulbs but tubers. Take them up and store them as directed at page 409 of last number.

and

TOM THUMB AND FANCY GERANIUM SEEDLINGS (A Constant Reader).-The latter should be kept growing slowly; they will not stand the starving system much. The first may also be grown if you have convenience, as Scarlet Geraniums are very bending, submitting to almost any treatment, in reason. If your plant was large, grow it little until spring. If small, the warmest place in the greenhouse, or an airy spot even in the stove or forcing-house, would suit it. Sce an article on preserving plants during the winter.

FUCHSIAS (Ibid).-These in a greenhouse during winter should not be kept dry, but if placed beneath the stage they will require much less water than when placed upon it, and they are no ornament there until they have broken into fresh leaf.

YUCCAS (Ibid).—These, showing their large roots above the tops of the pots, may either be repotted now, or as the autumn is getting on, in the spring of the year. The large roots should not be broken, as you will injure the plants.

ARAUCARIA EXCELSA AND CUNNINGHAMI (Ibid).-These are too tender to bear our winter in common circumstances, whether standing in pots or planted in the ground.

CEPHALOTUS, OR PITCHER PLANT (W. B.).-Though there is something of a pitcher-like appearance among the leaves, yet this pretty little curious plant is not usually designated the Pitcher plant. It flourishes best in boggy soil, or in a mixture of peat and chopped sphagnum, kept well supplied with water, placed in the lightest and warmest end of the greenhouse, and a bell-glass placed over it. Though thus frequently kept in the greenhouse, it likes a cool stove best in winter. In propagating it from divisions, a similar method must be adopted, with the difference of giving it a higher temperature, to encourage it to root freely. What is properly termed the Pitcher plant, Nepanthes distillatoria, requires the warmest and moistest part of a plant stove. If first potted in a suitable sized pot, in a mixture of peat earth and sphagnum moss, well drained, and then this pot packed in a stout basket or open box of moss, so as to retain moisture, and this basket be fixed over a cistern or an evaporating pan, through which a hot-water pipe passes, then the plant would be placed in a situation to enjoy itself.

ROSES (A Subscriber).—Your enquiries will be answered fully soon. BULBS (S. H. R.).-The sooner you pot these intended for blooming in the greenhouse the better. Use rich light soil, a little rotten dung, leaf-mould, sand, and what you have discarded at times from the pot plants, and accumulates beneath most potting benches, will answer well. Do not place your bulbs deep, nor yet press the soil much. Three Van Thol tulips may be put in a six-inch pot, and one of the large narcissus. For an early display we generally prefer four-inch pots for single bulbs of hyacinths. When all potted, set them down on a piece of ground, made

firm, and having a layer of ashes and a little salt, to prevent worms getting up, and then cover them all over several inches thick with the ashes, or old tan, or even with earth or leaves. To keep away mice, it is advisable to cut a quantity of prickly furze and strew over the pots, before covering them. When full of roots, and the tops pushing, you may place some of the forwardest in a hotbed, to bring them into bloom about the new year, and others will follow in succession. When done flowering, you must encourage the foliage as long as possible, if you expect them to be useful in the future; but you must not expect to pot them until a second season. See Mr. Beaton's method of planting

them out.

As

GLADIOLUS (Ibid). This, still green, we should allow to remain as long as the weather is mild, or even until it received a little frost. you know not what it is, we would advise you to take part of it up then, and lay it in pans in the greenhouse until the stems withered; and the other part cover up with leaves, and let them take their chance in the open ground.

PASTING-DOWN PRESERVES.-Mr. Aloes informs us it is done as follows:-Cut a piece of stout writing paper (foolscap) about an inch larger than the mouth of the jar to be covered; paste one side all over with a small brush; then stretch the paper over the jar's mouth, with the pasted side next the preserve, and while the latter is hot, smoothing the edges down closely, and then the work is done. The preserve being, at least, a quarter of an inch from the top of the jar, the paper will not touch it, and the comparative absence of air from that space, I think, is the grand secret of success.

DISSOLVING INDIAN RUBBER (H. G.).-Naptha dissolves Indian rubber, but it requires to be heated, and the heat applied for some time. Oil of turpentine also dissolves it under the same circumstances. Both are used in preparing Mackintosh's and other waterproof fabrics.

DESTROYING NETTLES (Urtica).-If you pour the diluted sulphuric acid over this it will be killed. Your only mode of destroying the nettles in your grass field, is to pare off the turf where they are, to fork out their roots, water the place with sulphuric acid, diluted at the rate of one pound to a gallon of water, and then to return the turf; watching for the reappearance of any nettle in the spring, and then to take off the turf and fork that nettle out also.

OUR CALENDARS (J. R. Wood).-These are calculated for all parts of England, because there are very few operations in gardening that will not succeed if done a week earlier or a week later even in the medium latitude for which those calendars are prepared. Those of our readers who live far north, may be safest by performing any operation directed a little in advance of the time specified, but if a week later they need not despair of success.

DIBBLE (W. X. W.).—If you require a dibble that delivers the seed, we know of none so good as Dr. Newington's.

WILD FLOWERS (J. P.).-Hooker's British Flora, with coloured plates, comes nearest to your wishes. The price is a guinea.

POTATOES NOT DISEASED UNDER AN ASH (Ibid).-We know of no virtue in the ash to keep away the murrain, though we believe our forefathers thought driving cattle with an ashen goad kept them from being bewitched. Potatoes under the shade of trees usually are much diseased, because such situations are most wet and shaded. The ash-roots running near the surface are well known to keep it poor and dry; these circumstances may account for the fact you mention; because wetness and richness in the soil are the greatest promoters of the disease.

SOLFATARE ROSE (Rev. E. C. H.).—We know your parish in Worcestershire perfectly well, and we can say from our own experience in that quarter that the Solfatare rose, if you have the true one (a hybrid of the Tea-scented), shall not flower with you as a standard two seasons out of ten; besides, if the stock is very good, you ought to let the shoots grow at least twenty feet in three years; in other words, this rose is not suited for standards at all in England. It is a first-rate sort in Paris, but with us only a third rate. We keep it under glass in winter, and a south aspected wall all the year round. It flowers with us in May and in October, but after all it is not worth much in colour or form. Very pale buff and as ragged as a colt.

PYRUS JAPONICA FRUIT (Ibid).—This is now called Cydonia japonica, being a quince; a recipe for preserving the fruit is given at page 288 of our second volume.

GLADIOLUS PLANTING (Minnie).-There are gladioli that must be planted now, and others not till the spring. Consult the indexes for their names, &c. &c. Those you plant now may have any of the low annuals transplanted amongst them as soon as the gladioli tops are above ground; Nemophila insignis for instance; but we dislike altogether to recommend particular plants for particular beds. The best friends in the world disagree on such topics, and we very much dislike to disagree with any one if we can help it. The Guernsey people would not send you spring gladioli, with directions to plant them now.

LONDON: Printed by HARRY WOOLDRIDGE, Winchester High-street, in the Parish of Saint Mary Kalendar; and Published by WILLIAM SOMERVILLE ORR, at the Office, No. 2, Amen Corner, in the Parish of Christ Church, City of London.-October 3rd, 1850.