Weekly Mail

RURAL NOTES. By Mr. J. Muir, Margam Abbey, Glamorganshire, ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. Ev. BERNABD DOG S ixy.- (Ports ino utii.) Jliink your dog must have been greatly frightened Alien young, but it is not too old yet to coax it out of this. You should lead it frequently into crowds, near railway statious, and wilt-rever there is a bustle. Do not, force it by roughness, but treat it with the ntmo?t kindness, and if you could let it be frequently in company of a lociable dog, this would do much towards getting it out of its shy disposition. I have known dogs that would hardly do anything or go anywhere by themselves, but when another one set them the example they soon became oil that could be desired. TRBATMKNT OF YOUNG ORANGE THEE.—" J. H.— Orange trees aro very hardy. If ilio leaves fail off in winter they will generally push into new foliage in the spring. You should re-pot your seedling plant about the end of March. The pot should be quite clean and properly drained use a turfy Boil with a little balf-.I,ecayed manure and sand mixed in it. Pot it very firmly, and afterwards give a soaking of water; then do not give much water until it is forming roola. Moisten it overhead frequently, and do not place it in cold draughts. It should be kept in the window until the foliage is formed, but it will do quite well in the porch from May onwards. Orange trees raised from pips rarely fruit without being grafted. EARLY FLOWERING CH rtYS.LNTHr,,MUXS.- (Ctimber. land.—Madam C. Desgrange is the most use- ful of all summer flowering chrysanthemums. It has a good habit of growth, and produces huge clusters of white flowers. The golden Madam Desgrango is also good, and so are the following:- Nanum Tolosanum (rose mauve), Toreador (brotize red), and Precocite (golden yellow). These chrysanthemums are excellent for flower bed decorations, and bloum from July till November. SMALL LAWN IN FRONT OF IJOCSE—" H. C. H." —You should level the surface of your little lawn and cover it all over with a layer of rich soil to a depth of 6in. Early in April buy 3:b. of lawn seed, such as is sold by seedsmen, and sow it evenly over the eurfa(-.e. Rake it weiin,and then either roll or beat it over with a spade. It any weeds appear, pull them all up by the root, and as the grass attains a height of four or five inches, mow it. There is nothing better to make a close-growing lawn than frequent mo ving. CuRD: kc., FOR FOWLS. S. R." purposes making a mixture of curds, crushed barley, meat, & for fowl feeding. Young pheasants are generally more difficult to rear than fowls. I kuo of some keepers who uSJ curds largely for them with excellent results, and it would, no doubt, be a capital ingredient for fowls and chickens. A mixture of one to ten of curd and the same of meat to the birley would be a valuable food, This would be particularly well adapted for young chickens, and the proportion of curd aid meat might be doubled as a fattening mixture. I would bo glad to receive and test « suuple when mauufact ured. Meat ia usai in the composition of sevtral poultry food9 now in the market, but I do not think that curd-, &c., is. and I am of opinion that it would take well. THS CHINESE LILY AFTSit FLOWERING, itc.—" An Interested Reader.As a rule the C'ii"e«e lily flowers best the first year after being imported. They are grown In water by many, but they do oquailv well in soil or sund, and are easier treated after flowering when in these substances, as they can be placsd in the open, and finally planted in a had or border. As yours is in water you may try to keep it growing until it matures, and then dry it off and plant it out next spring, but I fear you will not succeed very well. as transferring it from water to soil is apt to check it. Arum lilies were fully treated in a recent issue. You must have been keeping your p!ant that has not flowered for several years too much in the shade. They should be grown in the open air and fully exposed to the sun from June till October. You may pot the tuber roses at once give them a rich sandy soil and let the top of the bulb be above the soil after they are potted but you will not succeed very well with them unless you have a glasshouse and artificial heat. The rose you have planted is a very good one, and will grow and flower freely. The castor oil plant should be raised from seed annually. It is a free-growing, large-leaved plant, and very easily grown. It requires to be started under protection, but will grow all the summer in any flower bed. Countess of Aberdeen is a very white and pretty fuschia, and a few good varieties ot the fusciiia are La Majesty, Champion of the World, Rose of Castile, Fair Maid, King of the Doubl. and Earl of Beaoonsfield. GOLD FISH UNMEALTHT.—" Sam."—" Every week or two is not often enough to clean the water in glaits globes containing gold fish. It should be changed twice a week. You should keep » little clean gravel at the bottom, and this should be changed occasionally, but the whole of the water should be turned out and be ro- placed with clean as often as I suggest above. I do not like snails in with gold fish. I cannot imagine where you got that idea. They will not keep the water clean, but the reverse, neither do they feed on them. You must keep them cleaner altogether, and ffed on crumbs of biscuit and the hard boiled yolk of egg. As you have lost all your fish but one, and that, is diseased, you should destroy it and begin anew. FLOWER OF PALM.—(Upper Norwood.)—I regre! I cannot name the plant fnm the small specimen sent. Clln you send me a leaf? STARTING DAHLIA TUBERS INTO GROWTH.— W. G.—You may put your dahlia toots into the greenhouse any time during March. The end of the month wjA be soon enough, as they cannot be planted out till the end of May, find they will have made plenty of growth by that time. If you put the roots into shallow boxes they will b« aaily transferred to the open to be hardened off before planting. Several of them may be put into one box, and place some soil over the roots. If you wish to increase your plants you may divide the roots, allowing one or more tuber to each plant. Do not make the common mis- take of keeping them in a semi-dark place when the shoots begin to grow, but let them hrtve plenty of light to insure robuat growth. FEEDING SWANS. Efirmil,,ige.Svvaiis are by no means difficult to feed. There are many o them wild about here, and they never receive any artificial food whatever, but eat the roots, &c., in the ponds and ditches. Wherever they have access to a sheet of water or a river they will always find much of their own food. Where they are fed artificially, Indian corn is one of the chief foods they receive, and a handful or two of this may be given them daily. It may be varied with other kinds of grain, and where they are neir dwellir)gf, the crusts and crumbs given them by children and others make it, almost un- necessary to give them other food. I have known Iwans lilY wiien one year old, and they are certain to hy when two y"a.r old. MELONS IN PLANT-HOUSE.—"F.J." (Chinnick)— It is a pity your house face the north for melon culture. Melons depend more than any other fruit for their flavour from sun heat, and to grow them in a north aspect would not be very satisfac- tory. As you have succeeded so well with cucumbers and tomatoes I think you should adhere to these, especially as you will find that melons are not very accommodating plants, and nothing short of a house for themselves and particular treatment, at certain times will suit them. The young plants are raised in the same manner as cucumbers, and if you sow a few seeds and get the young plants ready you can grow them in frames in the summer, as will he advised shortly. Webbs' Pride of Stourbridge is a fine melon for amateurs and others to grow. BREEDING CANARIPS.-(Woolwicti).-An expert will advise you next week. LUliE FOR GRASS LAND, OATS, &C.—Jenkin Evens. -Good pasture land does not require lime, but where the surface has become mossy and un- healthy a dressing of lime will revive and improve it wonderfully. If road scrapings and other materials of a fertilising kind can be mixed with the lime so much the better, as these will all improve the surface and make the good soil there more plentiful, but lime is always beneficial either by itself or in this way, and I generally find the stock looking well on farms where lime is much used. It is sometimes applied in summer, but it is not so useful then when the grass is long as in the spring, when it at once reaches the moss. &c., and it should all be put on before the end of March. Webb's Black Tartarian Oat would suit your district well. If you prefer a wiiil e oat, sow Webb's White Challenge. Farm- yard manure is always good for oats, and any arti- ficial manure that is rich in phosphates and ammonia will grow hoavy crops of Oats. The end of March and early in April are the periods when ruts should be sown, and, if a time is selected when the soil is dry aud friable, the crop will be a greater success. DIMENSIONS OF GLASS-HOUSES.—"J. T."—The sketch shows a little house very well arranged as to width and height at the front, but I think you should make the back 8fN This will let more Light into the house and keep it much diicr, A I flat roof is always objectiouable. Cucumbers might be grown very well, indeed, in the bed in front, and the tomatoes could be trained on the back wall and at the ends. The tomatoes would be best in pots in < asomewh it poor soil, but the cucumbers may have it richer. Turf that has been taken from the surface of a field or piece of grass and kept until the grass has decayed makes excellent soil for cucumbers, tomatoes, & A few herbaceous phloxes would look well in your lii tle centre fl,)wer bed. They are perennial, and the surrounding bed might be planted with all kinds of hardy plants and bulbs. Wall-flowers would give a return shortly if planted at once. Pansies, as margin plant?, would also give a fine show and last for a considerable time. VINE WITH SMALL Fitux,r.-Il J. P. S."—The fruit was no doubt small owing to not being thinned, and, probably, the vine was not pruned sufficiently. It should be pruned at once, Cut all the side growths on the main stems into two buds from where they originate. If the main stems are closer than 2ift. to each other, cut the weakest oat and 2 tie in the strong ones to about that distance. When the shoots are about 2in. long, remove all but the strongest in each cluster, and take the point out of these at two leaves beyond where the bunch is shown. As soon as the fruit is the size of peas, begin to thin them out, and do not let them form a closely-packed cluster any more. You will find green-house plants generally grow very well with tho vines. CANARIES BALD ON HEAD.-U W. G.Your birds, I think, mu&t have been bred from two crested birds. If so, they will always get btild behind the crest before the moulting season begin, and sometimes very e >rly in the season. It is one of the evils arising fiom breeding from two crested birds. But sometimes the cock bird will pull all the feathers from the back of the hen's head. Rub a little vaseline on the place with the point of the finget, two or three times, and that will ramove the scurf from the skin. If the feathers have come off from the effects of parasites under the skin they would not grow again. Do not give any hemp seed, as that would cause a heat in the blood, and the feathers would come off much earlier. PREPARING FOR A BEAUTIFUL LAWN IN SUMMER. Nothing adds so much to the enjoyment of a garden than a beautiful lawn in summer. If smooth, clean. and green it is a set off to everything, and the labour to secure it is always time and money well invested. It is now, when grass is short and deficienoies can be readily noticed, that it can best be put in order. If the surface is uneven the turf on such parts should be taken off to a depth of Sin. Put it to one side and place suffi- cient rich soil down to bring it up to the surrounding level. Ham the soil very firm before putting the turf back, and in doing this put it into the position it occupied before it was taken up. If there are bare patches without turf, evidently the soil is unsuitable, and should be removed for several inches down. Replace this with good material, and try and get as much turf as will cover it. Where the lawn is full of weeds sow a quantity of Watson's lawn sand over the sur- face, At the same time dig out some of the largest of the intrudes. If moss is plentiful it will not form a good surface in the summer, and a quantity of fine- powdered, hot lime should be scattered over it. If the grass is thin and the soil shows a good deal through it, mix up a quantity of fine soil and short manure, and spread a layer of this, about lin. in thickness, all over the surface. This will cause the root of the grass to spread, and the grass will grow up through the soil. If the turf is deficient generally, add 2in. of soil on the top, and early in April rake a quantity of lawn seed through it. In all such cases the surface must be raked quite smooth and the roller run over it fre- quently. 'I his should be done soon after sowing and at various times afterwards. Where the lawns are in good order sweep them quite clean with a birch broom, remove all the sweepings, and roll firmly several times before the grass begins to grow. Do not on any account neglect to cut the grass as soon as it is about two inches high, and keep it down close all the summer. Frequent mowing will give a surface unequalled by any carpet. OLD PARSLEY PLANTS. Although old parsley plants have few leaves on them at present, they will soon begin to grow anew, and it is these that will give a supply during April or May, or until the plants produced from seed sown now are yield- ing. The old plants should, therefore, reoeive all attention. Sprinkle some soot or guano over the plants and around them, stir or hoe the surface of the soil lightly. Should the weather be dry, water freely with liquid manure, and should it come severe weather, try and protect it a little. DRINK FOR CHICKENS. Not the least important part of rearing chickens successfully is that of supplying them with drink. Some advocate not giving them anything to drink until a month or six weeks old. I have tried this, and it is surprising how well it suits them. I would rather keep them without anything to drink than allow them unclean water, as this is a fertile source of sickness with them but, looked at fyom a reasonable point of view, it is un- doubtedly right to give them something to drink, but carelessness in giving this is as bad for them as wrong feeding. Those who will not take the trouble to give their chickens pure water when there is rain water to be had in holes on the surface of the ground and elsewhere need not expect to have healthy chickens. Many farmyard chickens die and are unhealthy from being allowed to drink the manure water in the yards. Often they have no choice, but it is best to remove them from it altogether. Clean water is always a healthy drink for chickens, and it should be renewed daily. The drinking dishes should also be washed clean at least once a week. In warm weather the water should always stand in a cool shady place. In wet, cold weather they should not be allowed much drink, and on some days of the kind they will be better if it is withheld altogether. Chickens that are sickly are often disposed to drink very freely, or so much that it is very injurious to them, and all such should only be allowed to drink a little and then remove it. Sweet milk is a excellent drink for chickens, and they will thrive wonderfully on it. When a little further advanced in growth, beer is also very nourishing, and may be given occasionally. EARLY RADISH IN SHELTERED SPOTS. Radish are the quickest of all salad plants to gain maturity, and as few have now any supply* of salad, early radish will be very acceptable as soon as they can be secured. Fork over a little strip of soil at the bottom of a south wall or in any very sheltered spot. Sow a pinch of French breakfast or Wood's early frame radish thinly. Cover the seed with some light soil to the depth of half an inch, and beat it down firmly. See the birds do not pick up the seed, and in April there will be plenty of radish for use. A little seed should be sewn every fortnight afterwards. SOWING SECOND EARLY PEAS. When it is remembered that peas require from fourteen to sixteen weeks to become ready for use, it will be understood that those sown now will not be ready until July, and as the earliest ought to be ready in June it is now time to sow the second early crops. These may be of the gam0 varieties as the first, or they may be more of the wrinkled or marrow fat types. If the latter were sown in January or February many of them would perish in the cold, wet soil, as they are not so hardy as the round seeded sorts. The weather in July may be hot and dry, and to be prepared for this in sowing peas now dig the ground deeply underneath where the row will be. Plenty of short manure should also be worked in deeply, so as to induce the roots to penetrate deeply and be away from the influence of drought. In sowing peas from now onwajds the drills nuv bg opened the width of a spade and the seed sown all over this, as the plants are more robust when grown a little way apart or thinly than when crowded in a narrow drill. STARTING TUBEROUS BEGONIAS INTO GROWTH, Tuberous begonias are annually beooming more popular. They are now the most com- monly grown of all tuberous plants. As is well known, they produce exceedingly showy flowers, and bloom from June to November. They make a fine show in the open borders, and as greenhouse or window plants they are equally attractive. The best way to keep them through the winter is in a dry condition, but the time has now arrived when they should be started into growth. If they have been kept in the pots in which they were grown last year, give them a good soaking of water, and place them in a heat of 60 degrees, or as near that as possible. Do not allow them to become dry again, and when the growths are about 2in. high turn them out of the pots. Remove all the loose soil from the roots, and re-pot into smaller pots. The soil used in potting should not be very rich, but somewhat sandy. Place them back in their growing quarters, and when the small pots are becoming full of roots give them a larger pot. Those that were stored in sand, which all the bulbs grown in the open ground would be, should be put into shallow boxes and started into growth, and as soon as the shoots are visible pot them like the preceding. A hot bed is a good place to start tuberous begonias in, as the gentle warmth suits them. Owing, I suppose, to the great demand for these begonias, the price of the bulbs is always high. Good bulbs will cost 12s. a dozen, and few or none can be bought at less than 6s. a dozen, but large bulbs may be divided into two by cutting them through the middle after growth has begun and allowing some growth in each part. A USEFUL BUT NEGLECTED SHRUB— ESCALONIA MOCHANTHA, C. B. (Barnsley) writes:- May I suggest that you call attention to what appears to be an undeservedly neglected shrub, Escalonia Mochantha. Tho sweet scent of the leaves and the delicate flowers entitle it to mere attention than it gets." What C. B." says is quite true. The Esca- I Ionia is one of the most richly foliaged of all evergreens, and its bright, pink flowers are, extremely attractive. They develop at the end of every shoot, and remain a long time in perfection. It is a plant that grows exceedingly well near the sea. Not far from Swansea I have seen the most luxurious hedges of the Escalonia, and they are more pleasing than any hedge plant I ever saw. I have also been told that it is a favourite hedge plant in Cornwall, where it is m-ich exposed to the sea gales. It may either be grown as a bush or as a climber, as it forms a good wall or pillar plant. It agrees best with a somewhat light, sandy soil at the root, and it will soon attain a considerable size,