UMASS AMHERST 31SDbb D2fi7 5602 D ig^r«^^.;;^;;i'.";, , ■ ■/;^;,jV'\wafHpfB«?i?''^ , -: . V- (..>:>):: :::^^:^'.::'^^ ) -. ( /-% K > )VV LIBRARY OF THE MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE SOURC.XIl..W:.T^eUC.k-- n? er I \^' '^ ^°lLi ifj tU OK, AMATEUR AND COTTAGER'S GUIDE TO OUT-DOOR GAEDENING AND SPxiDE CULTIVATION. CONUrCTED BY GEORGE ¥. JOHNSON, ESO. [ OF THE " CAKDENEE's ALMANACK," " MODERN GARDESEK'S DICTIONARY," ETC. THE PRUIT-GAEDEN, hy Mr. R. Errington, Gardener to I THE FLOWER-GARDEN, by Mr. T. Appleby, Floricultural Sir. P. Egerton, Bart., Oulton Park. Manager to Mcsscrs. Henderson, Edgeware Eoad. THE KITCHEN-GARDEN, by the Editor, and Mr. J. Barnes, THE GREENHOUSE AND WINDOW GARDEN, by Mr. D. Gardener to Lady RoUc, Bicton. I Beaton. Gardener to Sir W. Sliddleton, Bart., Shrubland Park. THE APIARIAN'S CALENDAR, for the Management of Bees, by J. H. Payne, Esq., Author of " The Bee-keeper's Guide." VOLUME I. LONDON: PUBLISHED BI WM. S. ORR AND CO., W, STRAND. MDCCCXLIX. J?e.x J6£65 , TO OUR READERS. Heahtily, though briefly, will we thaiik you for the support you have bestowed upon us ; and for having thus enabled us to complete the Tirst Volume of The Cottage Gaedeker so prosperously as to leave us without any anxiety but how to render its futui'e pages still more useful. To effect tliis, no effort on our part shall be absent ; and if, to sustain tliis effort, we obtain your continued patronage, and that blessing without which the pen and the spade are pUed in vain, we shall effectively pm-sue our course through years to come, rejoicing at our success in diffusing, among even the humblest cultivators of our native islands, sound Practice, guided by Science, and not untinted by Eehgion. INDEX. Abronia umbellata, 243 Acacia arniata, 2go Achimenes picta, 62 ; culture, 1^1 Agapanthus, 226, 279, 311 Allotment gardening, 9, 124, 132, 236, 300 ; cropping, 184 Allotments, profits of, 19 Almond, double-blossomed, 240 Aloe culture, 280 Alpine plants, 45, 89 ; list of, 90 Amaryllis, 129, 31 1 ; Josephinse, 206 American blight, to cure, 42, 245, 2/3; shrubs, 56 Ammonia, sulphate of, 84 Anemones, 35, 71, 77, 159> 254 Angelica, 15 Angle-shades moth, 21 Anisoptevyx tescularia, 259 Annuals, list of hardy, 137, ^7-* ; flowers, to raise, 212 ; half-hardy, 279 Anthonymus pomorum, 145 Apple {Anglesea pippin), 10; pruning, 13, 44; select list, 32; new, 174; weevil, 145, 169 ; list of kitchen, 206 Apple-trees, choice of, 3 ; from cuttings, 113; (standard), to manage, 65 ; top-dressing old, 65 ; grafting on Siberian crab, l64; old espalier, 290 Apricots, list of, 26o ; culture, 260, 2/3 ; for Westmoreland, 200 April, calendar for, 312 Aquatic plants, list of, l6s Arenea obtextris, 252 Arnebia cchisides, 82 Artichokes, 48,299 ; Jerusalem, 300 Asclepius douglasii, 143 Ash-destroying beetle, 95 Ashes as a manure, 164, 204 Asparagus, 58, 94, 113; forcing, 92, I71 ; soot good for, 156 Aspect of fruit-garden, 22 Auckland, Lord, 198 Auriculas, 4, 5, 25, 81, 99, 159, 201, 220, 274, 296 Azalea, propagation, 114. Balm, 37 ; of Gilead, 192, 222 Balsimis, 276 ; sowing, 290 Barley, black, 308 Barred-tree, Lackcv moth, 207 ]Jean, its varieties, '6I, 189, 300; plaiUmg, 18:> Beans, earlv, 25, 80, 113; (runners), to train, 83, 138 Beautiful Lisianthus, 243 Jee-kceper's calendar, 238, 305 Bees, rules for keeping, 30; lecture on, 140; aspect for, hives for, purchasing, stand for hives, 239; their natural history, 241 ; feed- ing, 84, 136.239,306; atupifyiiig, 280; driv- ing, 279, 311; age of, 164; Queen, 190; working, igi Beet, new, 189 ; sowing, 2go ; use of, 206 Belladonna lily, 130 Bcrtonia (hairy), 82 Bilberry-leaved polygonum, 243 Bilds, to frighten, 309 ; to protect from, 242 Biston hirtnrius, 22? Blackberrv, 312 Blair, John, 199 Blight, American, 42, 245, 2/3 Blossom falling, i64, 1/4 Boiler, crust in, 84 Bone manure, 28, 62, 124 Border plants, early, 244 Borecole, 5, 49 ; best sorts, 121 ; Portugal, 104 Bower, to make, 104 Brepha partbenias, 249 Brindled Beauty moth, 227 British plants, 2l6, 309 Britton Abbot, 17 Brocoli, 49,58, 204; best sorts, 121 ; (Wilcovc), 10 Brodiiea, Califomica, 243 Browallia, Jamcsonii, 243 Brunsvigia grandiflora, 171 ; Josephinse, 206 Bruchus ater, pisi and granarius, 197 Brussels sprouts, 5, 25 Buckwheat sowing, 26S Building precautions necessary, 160 IJulljous, llowers, 34, 48, 57 Bulbs, examine, 14 ; Cape, 100 Bulbs, 2;j3 ; how to pack from abroad, I69 Burnet, 37 C, Cabbages, 5, 15,49,204,238,299,300; Thou- sand-headed, 5; best sorts, 121 ; turnip and turnip-rooted, 104 ; for seed, 80; new, 244 ; red, 183 Cacti, propagating, 289 ; iu rooms, 309 ; cul- ture, 2/8 Calceolarias culture, 4, 202, 307, 312 ; seed to sow, 213 Califomian Brodicea, 243 Calla Ethiopica, 92 Camellias, 79, 81, 114, 311 ; shifting, 226 Campanula p>Tamidalis, propagating, 25S Canary sowing, 268 Candalabra plant, 171 Canker, 154, 258 Canvass protections, 251, 290 Capsicum, culture, 277 Cardoous, 37, 195 Carnations, 5, UO, II9, 129, 159, 274, 286, 296 ; list of, 150 ; soot good for, 156 ; seed saving, 190, 189 Carrots, 5, 204, 214, 23", 300, 301 ; storing, 12 ; in old garden ground, tio ; seed thresh- ing, 62 ; sowing, 206 ; cause of forking, 62 ; best kinds, 132 ; soot good for, 156 Cattle fattening, 2l6 Cauliflowers, 5, 49, 58, 70, 204, 299; new, 1"^ ; in pots, 183 Cedars, l63 Celcrv, culture, 83, 92; ShefBeld, 136, 142; earthing up, 15, 49,310; Sheffield show, 30, 38; Seymour's, 10; soot good for, 193; new, 189 ; mode of growing, 235, 244 ; new kinds, 244 ; fly, 73 Cerastostema longijdorum, 52 Centipede, 155 Charred refuse, 17, 72, 83, 98, 104 Cherrj' culture, I77 ; in the IMauritius, 84 Cherries, list of, 178 ; for Westmoreland, 290 Chictogastra strlgosa, 188 Chimonanthus fragrans, 196 Chinese gardening, 41, 145 Chironia glutinosa, 143 Chives, 15 Cholera not brought on by vegetables, 43 Chou de Milan, 104 Christmas rose, 134 Chrysanthemums, 24, 47, 67, 79) 103, 253 , list of, 68 Cineraria culture, 79, 222 ; seed to sow, 213 ; seedlings, 290 ; list of, 308 Citrus margarita, 2l6 City window plants, 282 Clematis indivisa, 40 ; tubulosa, 52 ; layering, 280 Climbers for walls, 46, 149, 279 ; for a south- east wall, 154 Clisiocampa neustria, 207 Coal-ashes as a manure, 268 Coal-tar on fruit-trees, 174 ; paint, 280 Coccinella 7-punctata, 29I Cockscomb, 274 Cold, greatest in England, 207 Coleworts,5, 49, 102 Columbine, slender spurred, 82 Compost, 124, 154, 168; for flower-borders, 211 ; yard, 219; to prcparc,219 ; heap, 258 Conservatory, earliest, 193 Convolvulus major. 268, 288 Coping of walls, 268, 292 Coral plant, 279 Cottage architecture, 260 ; farming, 193; farming for January, 132 Cottage Gardeners' Societies, 146 Cottages, improvement of, desirable, 259 Cow-keeping, 186, 238 Creepers, for a trellis, 5' ; list of evergreen, 258 Cress, various kinds of, 276 Crocus culture, 171, 224 ; in rooms, 9 Cryptomeria japonica, 103 Crvptops, Hortensis, 155 Cucumber culture, 37, 58, 80, 132, 146,204, 214, 222, 266. 290, 299; new, 174; forcing, 171, 183 ; size, 196, 268 ; prize-fighter, 10 ; bed, to make, 26 Cuphea platyccntra culture, 268 Currant-trees as standards, 174, 206 Currant pruning, 13, 210; planting, 9" ; best, 206 ; black, 3, 97 ; planting, 42 ; standard trees, 123 Cuttings, 14, 295 Cyclamen, 9I, 114 ; seedlings, 311 Cyclobothra monophylla, 243 V. pAHLiA CULTURE, 159, 233, 263; Storing, 14 Damson pruning, ig6 Daphne odora, 2gO ; pontic, 224 December moth, 105 Deodara cedar, to support, 206 Dianthus culture, 290 j^iffieulties, success under, 73 l>igging, 219 Uiosma hirsuta, 2l6 Dotted-lcaved macleania, 213 Doucin stocks, 206 Draining, 9, 55, 88, 98, 206, 310 ; cost of, l64 Dust as a protector, 132 Dutch mode, 294 Dwarf standards, 97; trained trees, 199 Dwarfing system, 200 Karly moth, 175 ICarthing-up, 80 Kconomy of space, 54, 97 Kbn-dcstroying beetle, 95 Kndive, 37, 49, 276 Kpisema cccrula cephala, 2 INDEX. Enrthrina laurifolia, 2/9 Eseholtzia, 302 Espalier rails, )54 Everpreensforbedding-out, H4; propagating, 50 ; transplantiog, 34, y9, 193 ; for a wall, 149 Faircuild, Thomas, 21" j Femerj-, QH. 108, I'iS | Ferns in puts, 103; in glass cases, 128; list j of, 128 Figs, winter culture, 55; for a sheltered wall, I 290 I Fiprure-of-8 moth, 2 I Filberts, 3; to kt-cp, f)2 ; moving, 226 Filtering water, 2l6 Fires, management of, 78 Flat-body moth, -13 Flavour, what influences, 192 Flower beds, furnishing, 33 Flowers for exhibition, 114; succession of, 94 Flower borders, to dress, 211; compost for, 154 Flower-pots, price of, 280 ; size of, 268 Flued wall, 149 Fog accounted for, 20/ Forget-me-nots, 154 Fork for garden, 2^ Foundry loam, 104 Fowls' dung, 94 French beans, see kidney French parterre, 294 Frost, 155 Fruits to be encouraged, 3 1 Fruit trees, to preserve, 31 ; arrangemeut of, ' 22; hedge-row, 107 ; station for, 87; gar- den aspect of, 8:c., 22; borders, 22; on shallow soils, 148 ; for walls, 226 Fuchsia culture, 220, 253, 310 ; sheltering, 38; list of, 245; spectabills, 52, 220,246, 280 Fumigation, 270 Furze for hedges. 162 ; traosplanting, l62, 307 ; beetle, 197 Gamma motd, 11 Garden, always shaded, 290 Gardenine, as a scource of liveUbood, 291 : for children. 145 Gardens, laving out, 261, 273, 285, 294; plaas, 307 Garlic planting, 223 ; soot good for, 156 Gas-heating, 124 ; refuse as a manure, Qi, 105 Gastronenia sanguineum, 40 Geraniums, scarlet, 104, 222, 233, 248 Geranium culture, 256 ; in a room, 150 ; slips, 39, 311 ; yellow, 170 Germination of seed, 227 ; moisture for, 249; oxygen for, 269 ; phenomena, 291 Geometra prim,-vria, 175 Gesneria zebrina, 62 Gibbs, Thomas, 247 Gilbert, Mrs. Davis, 27 Gladiolus, 100, 256 ; spring treatment, 216, 226, 248 Gladiolus cardinalis, watering, S90 ; nata- lensis, 278 Glass best for gardening purposes, 249 ; for vinery, 154, 174; shelters, 218 Glazing, 21 6 Goat-keeping, 245 Golden triionia, 243 Gooseberry planting, 42, 97, 138; cuttings, 55; pruning, 55, 210; culture, 189, 303; list of, 196 ; weight of, 1 14 ; standard, 206 ; Lancashire, 190 ; buds to protect, 242 ; saw- fly, 261 Gossamer, 259 Grafting, different modes of, 229 ; claj and wax, 231 ; apples, 206 Grapes, new, 174 ; best of, 284 ; storing, 82 ; Reeves' Wuscadine, 30 Grass-plot, 98 ; seed for, 92 ; to renovate, 206 Grass mowing, 185 Gravel walks, 174 Green-fly, 270,272; on violets, 211 ; on roses, 211 Greenhouse heating. 174, 215 ; to build, 119; climbers, 205, 234 ; roses, 206 Gutta pcrcha, for grafting, 280 H. Hambukgu grape, red, 21 Hares, protection against, 215, 309 Haricots, use of. 206 Ileart's-easc. See pansy. Heating by hot water, 265 Heat borne by plants, 280 Hedges, 77, 89, 107, 168, 174 ; on clay, 174, 215 Hedge-row fruit-trees, 13 HeUotrope, 134 Hepaticas, 240 Herbs. 27, 37, 266 HUl, Thomas, 16 Hives, 306; sliding plate for, 31 1 Hoar-frost, 145 Hoeing. 39 HoUv, 122, 174; hedges to cut, 114 Hollyhocks, 118. 246; cuttings, 173 Honeysuckles, 93 Horse-radish, 58, 248 Hot-beds, 254, 310 House-sewage, 7, 60, 62 Hoy a, 72 Hyacinths, 69, 71, 101; mouldincss in, 279; seeds, 311; in water and moss, 69, 94 ; liquid manure for, 205 Hybridizing, 85 I. Ice, wise provision relating to, 155 Impatiens repens, 40 Ink for zinc, 2o6, 226, 27 1 Insects, destroying, 9I, 206 Irises, bulbous, 99 ; sowing, 257 iron in soil, 177 Ivy, culture, 60, 114, 115; pruning, 280 Ixias, 111 J. Jacob^a lily, 130 Jameson's browallia, 213 Jasmines, Cape, 94 Jasminuni nudiflorum. 52, l63 Jerusalem artichoke, 58, 125, 204, 23? ; soup, 126 Kale- See Borecole, 23S Kidney, French, beans, 6, 62, 121, 302; new, 174 Kitchen- garden soil, depth, 206 Kohl-rabi, 104 Labels, 179, 201 Lackev-moth, 207 Lady-bird. 291 Larkspur, 302 Laurustinus, 102 Lavander, 67 Lawns, soot for, 156 ; to make, 263, 273, 295, 311 Layering evergreens, 295 Leaf-mould, 15, 62 Leaves, should be cleaned, 90 Leeks, 5, 25"; Rouen, 199 Lemon-trees, 144 ; temperature for, 226; sweet kinds, 2)6 Leneodendron argenteum, 1/0 Lettuces, 6, 93, 257, Lice, to kill, 258, 308 Life of plants, 217 Lilies, 41 ; lancifolium, 248, 258 Lily of the valley, 23, 81, 212 Lime Hawk moth, l65 Lime Looper moth, 31 Lime, super-phosphate of, 28, 144 Lime manure, 197, 268, 280 ; water, I98 Limncanthes rosea, 243 Lind (Jenny), anecdote of, 256 Liquid manure. 114, 280, 290, 299, 312; of dung, 189; of soot, 156 Lisianthus pulcher, 243 Loam, 14 Loasa picta, 243 I^obster plant, 279 Love-apples, 6 Lupin, Barlow's, 41 Lupinus affims, 30 M. M'Nab (W.). memoir of, 165 Macleana punctata, 243 Magnolias, hardy, I96; moving, 258 Ulaidcn trees, 199 niaize, 290 Man gold- wurtrel, 103, 280, 301; leaves to keep, 42 Manures, cheap, 7 ; for flowers, 15 ; on trenched ground, 280; economy of, 287, 309 March moth, 259 iMascall (Leonard), 50 Meadow, laying down, 2l6 Mechanics, good florists, 4 Melon culture, 132, 214, 233; new, 244 Melons in the open air, 18, "2; ridged, &c., 266. 299 ; Queen Anne's, 299 Mellor (John}, 74 Mczercon, 289 Mice, 93, 192. 226, 309, 310 Mignonette, 212, 2/7, 290 Mint, 58 Mixed cropping, 133 Moles, 73 Monardella undulata, 40 Morocco plxmi, 3 flloss 303, Mottled Umbre moth, 31 Mulching trees, 89, 104, 210, 253, 262, 293 Muscle plum-stocks, 206 aiushrooms, 49, 70, 102, 174, 204 Musk plant, 279 My flowers, 29, 38, 50, 59, 71, 81, 93, 103, 122, 134, 162, 172, 186, 204, 214, 224, 240, 266, 277, 288, 302 Myrtles, soil for, 290 N. Nail-cleaning, 108 Names, to remember, 1 10 Naming plants, I78 Narcissus-fly, 85 Nastertium berries, 15; tuberous -rooted, 174 ; culture, 288 Native flowers. 154 Nectarine pruning, 116,209; in Westmore- land, 290; planting, 209; to select, 199; standard, 279 Nematus triniaculatus, 26l Nemophila maculata, 40 Netting, 251 Night-soil, 174 Night-warmth, 78 Nohl-kohi, 104 Nourishment in garden produce, 44 Nut culture, 166; varieties, 166 O. October work, 29; Oleander scale, 144, 189, 206 ; diseased, to treat, l64 ; culture, 286 ; dwarf, 298 ; not flowering, 311 One-leaved cyclobathra, 243 Onions, 6, 48; storing, 12; litt of, 172 ; soot for, 156; culture, 223, 301 Onion (potato), 48; two-bladed, 183 Onion-seed, threshing, 62 Orange Upper-^ving moth, 217 Orange Under-wing moth, 249 Orange-trees, 94, 144 ; temperature for, 226 Orchids for greenhouse, 278 Otiorhynchus tenebricosus, 269 Oxide of iron of soil, 177 Oyster- shells, 2l6 P«ONY, propagating, 289 Painted Loasa, 243 Painting, best mode of, I6I Pansv, culture, 47, 77, »44, 159, 201,254; list of,' 20 1 Paradise stocks, 2o6 Parsley, 6, 49, 214 Parsnips, storing, 12, 49; cause of forking, 62 ; culture, 237, 257, 300 ; sowing, 279 ; for pigs, 310 Fassiflora neumannii, 188 Peach, pruning, 108, II6; crimson double- blossomed, 10 ; gain de Montrcuil, ID; reine des vergers, 10; pucellc de Malines, 10 ; dressing for, 157, 251; to prune maiden, 161, 196, 209; leaves falling. 196; to select, 199; planting 209; list of, 209; root prun- ing, 258 ; for Westmoreland, 290 INDEX. vu Pears, choiceof,3; priming, 13 ; Horticultural Society's, 41 ; stocks for, 65 ; soils for, 65 ; list of, 74 ; for south-east aspect, 94 ; to cure over-luxuriance of, 104 ; for gable- ends, 12G ; arbrc courbe, 10 ; beurre Breton- neau, 10; beurre d'Esperen, 10; beurre (Jiffard, 10; bon Gustave calebasse d'ctc, 10; calebasse d'hiver, 10; cassante dc Mars, 10; catinka, 10; Due de Nemours, 10; Orphcline d'Ena:hien, 10; passe tar- dive, 10; poire favorite, 10; reinc des poircs, 10 ; triomphc de Jodoigne, 10; vau- quelin, 10; to prune maiden, l6-i ; spur- ring-, 173 ; diseased, 290 ; for Westmore- land, 290 Peas, early, 42, 70, 113; new, 174 ; soot for, 156; list of, 162; sowing, 185, 311; beetle, 197; culture, 214, 248; best early, 206 ; new, 244, 300 ; supporters, 271 ; (sweet), 278 Peat, 14; soil to cultivate, 279 ; ashes, 114 Pelargoniums, yellow, 170 Penstaraon, 13; speciosum, 194 Perennial flowers, list of, 34, 253 Petunias, 4 Phloxes, 13 Pickles, 302 Picotees, 110,274, 286, 296; pink, 5; list of , 150 Pig-keeping, 186, 238, 245 ; manure, 246 Pine apples, soot for, 156 Pink, culture, 159 Pit, warm, 104 ; cold, to make, I60, 2l6, 2-18, 263 ; to heat, 257 ; made of turf, 46 Planter's puzzle, 309 Plantain rooms not injurious, 63; dedicated to days, J 76 ; heat endurable by. 280 Planting, preparing soil for, 12'; time for, 156, 168; trees, 2, 23; to save space, 55 Plumbago lariientic, 235 Plums, 3, 136; list of, 157, 24/; for West- moreland, 290 Polmaisc heating, 9* Polyanthus, 4, 5, 25, 81, 99, 159, 201,220, 274, 296 Polygonum vaccinifoUum, 243 Pond, plant for edges of, 154 Potatoes, to preserve, 30 ; experiments with, 163; new, 17* Potato murrain, 41, 139, 154, 196, 267 ; eyes. 72 ; on clay soils, 72 ; leaving in soil, 135 ; puUing-up stems, 139; influence of wet soil on, 140 ; autumn -plan ting, 6. 7, 20, 37, 49, 58,72, 144,226, 300; planting in Ireland. 8; growing in Lancashire, 59 ; forcing, iGl, 204, 214, 235 ; soot for, 156 ; lime for, igs, 226 ; preserving for seed, 236 ; selecting, 236 ; best soil for, 280, 311 ; early, 258 Potcntilla Menziesii, 143 Pot-herb planting, 223 Pots, to prepare, 214 Potted plants, soot for, 156 Potting materials, 42 Precoce de Tours plum, 3 Privet-cuttings, 62 Produce of one-eighth of an acre, 9 Pruning, 12, 17; its principles, 123 Punipbjns, 49 ; soup, 43 Pumpkin, Hitnalayah, 64, 114 Putty, to soften, 20 Rabbits' dung, 206 to frighten, 309 Radishes. 6, 70. 102, 204, 214 Rain-water, purifying, 141; monthly fall of, 197 Ranunculuses, 35, 159, 212, 220, 225, 254; list of, 169 Raspberries, 8, 62, 97; kinds of, 196; au- tumn, 258, 272, 280; pruning, 55, 88, 104; training, 258 Red spider, 63, 270 ; on violets, 211 ; on roses, 211 Rhododendron cuttings, 268 Rhubarb, 102, 153, 309; to check seeding, 280 ; varieties, 153, 189, 312 ; planting, 290, 203 Ribston pippin, probable produce, 104 Ridging, 39 Rivers' trellises, 223 Koclcwork, 89 Ruot-pruning, 45 ; protection, 46 Rosa Rugosa, 40 Rose-culture, 56, 66, 94, 104, 138, 172, 186, 215, 226; iron in soil for, 1/7; budding, 225 Rose-cuttings, 67, 173 ; in water, 2l6 Rt)?cs for cottagers, 25; dwarf, 253; tca-scen- tcd, 253; evergreen, 268 ; greenhouse. 2(l6; hardy, 2o6, 226; forty sorts, 24; forcing, 34, 211 ; pruning, 56, 139, 144, 262,290; in pots, 99 ; manure for, 104, 144, 258, 268, 280 Rosemary, 15, 205 Rosy lake flower, 243 Rotation of crops, 51, 184 Rust on cabbages, 18 Salading, small, 70, 27G Salsafy, 37 Salt as a manure, 53, 311 Sand, 15 Sandy soil, to improve, 124. 144 Savoys, 266 Sawdust as a manure, 52 Scale on myrtles, 84 ; on oleanders, 206 School gardens, 40, 142 Scorzonera, 37 Sea-kale, forcing, 102, 171. 182, 214 Sedum Kamtschatkia, 168 Seeds for a given space, 9. 185; strange to sow, 279 ; to pack, I6g, 2/9 ; when to sow, 182; seedlings to raise, 255 Sh^lots, soot for, 156; planting, 223 Shelters, 35, 46, 76, 112, 218, 236 Shred cleaning, 108 Shrubbery, pruning, 56, 110; old, to rcnn- vate, 66 Siberian crab stock, I61 Silk-worras, 142 Silver tree, 170 SUpper\vort, 202 Slopes, 54 Slugs, to destroy, 10. I6. 58, 9-1, 222 Smcrinthus tilite, l65 Snow, its uses, 125 Snowdrop, 171 Soap-boilers' ashes, 268 Soil, deepen the, 82 Soils, fresh or maiden, 3 ; their stajile, 147 ; iron in. 1/7; required. 4 ; management of, fi; to imjtrove, 206, 226 ; for flowers. 14 Soot as a manure, 72, 104, 155, 186 ; and salt, 216, 226 ; from peat, 196 Soups, 43, 126 Sowmg, its phenomena, 281 Spade husbandry, 226 ; best tool, 289 Spinach, 214, 266 Spring flowers, list of hardy, 2l6 Stable drainage, 280 Stakes, preparing, 104 Staking, 76, 84, 210 Stock, culture, of, 212 Stocks for fruit trees, 158 Stone-crop, 188 Storing ot roots, U Stove for small greenhouse, 280 Strawberry pruning, 55, 83, 273 ; planting, 205 ; forced, 290 Strawberries, Angelique Jamise, 10; Comte dc Paris, 10; Princess Royal, 10; soot for, 156 ; the best, 205, Alpine, 2/3 Sulphur fumigation, 270 Swainaona Urt-yana, 143 Swammcrdamia antcnnaria, 243 Sweetbriar, QQ Sweet-pea, 213, 2l6 Sweet-william layering, 258 Tachy porus, golden- coloured, 125 Tank, svstem of heating, 72 Tanks, to make, 135, 242, 2/3, 283, 308, 312 Tanners' bark, 144 Tetragonia, 266. Thavving, phenomena of, l65 Thrift edging, 30 Thrips, 270 Thrush, 124 Tigridia, 181 Time for operations, 175 Tobacco fumigation, 270 Top-dressings, 293 Torenia Asiatica, 18 Tortoiseshell butterfly (small), 281 Trees, choice of, 2 ; exhausted, 98 ; plants under, 104 ; moving large, 104 ; lately grafted, moving, 114 Trellis, 47, 228 Trenching, 39, 219 ; bastard, 40 Trentbam Hall kitchen-garden, 143 Tritonia aurea, 243 Troi)a.'oIum tuberosum, 174 Tuberose, 1/4, 180; pots for, 2/9 Tulips, 5, 18, 35, 77, 201, 233, 234 ; soot for, 156 ; list of, 57 Turf-manure, 23 Turf-laying, 203, 215 Turnips. 6, 2/6 ; lime for, 198 ; Swedish, 103, 301 Turpentine for scale, 206 Umdbled abeoma, 243 V. VaNKSSA URTIC^, 281 Variegated plants, list of, 118 Vegetaiile marrow, 94, 104, 193, 226 Ventilation, greenhouse, 206 ; pit, 206 \'^cnus' looking-glass, 288 Verbenas, 4, 159, I68 ; list of, 159 Villa gardens, 232 Vines out of doors, 39, 283 Violets, to force, 23; in frames, 211; be- coming single, 290 ; tree, 48 W. Walks, to make, 200, 262 ; to roll, 210 Wallflowers, 289 Walls, aspect of, 23, 76; shrubs for, 148, 196 Wardian cases, 128 Water, ornamental, I68 Watercress, cultivated. 25, 133 \\'ater plants. Hat of, l6s Watering, 36, 39, 45, 68, 72 Watson, Robert, II9 Weekly calendar, 2, 11, 21, 31, 43, 53, 63, "3, 85, 95. 105, 115, 125,145,155. I65, 175, IQ/, 207, 217, 227, 249. 259. 269. 281. 291 Weevils, 145. 196 ; red-legged, 269 A\Tiitethorn hedges, 174 Whitewashing a wall, 2lG "Willows. 294 Window- gardening difficulties, 68, 280 ■Window plants, 36, 62, 92 ; gardens, 983 Winds, 175 Winter moth, 53 \A'istaria, moving, 258 Wood, ripening, 3 Worms not injurious, 62, 1((5, 124 Xantholruca croceago, 217 Yellow-likb Quaker-moth, 115 Yellowly's fork, 289 Zaucusnf.ria Californica, 10, 235, 295 Zinc, writing on, 2o6, 226, 27 1 Zinneas, damping otf, 290 WOODCUTS. Figurc-of-8 moth Sewage system Gamma moth Pruning Angle-Shades moth Lime Looper moth Flat-body motli Red spider Winter moth Sewage system Celery fly . Narcissus fly Ash-destroying beetle December moth Yellow-line Quaker moth Peach-tree pruning . Standard currant trees Golden-coloured tachyporus Bee-feeder Water filtcrer Apple weevil Garden centipede Lime Hawk moth Early moth Isabels PAGE 2 7 n 17 21 31 •13 63 93 61 73 85 05 105 115 117 123 125 136 141 112 115 155 lC5 175 179 Sea kale frame pots Furze beetle Ithubarb frame Lackey moth Peach pruning Orange-up])cr-wing moth Glass shelters Pruning Rose budding Brindled Beauty moth Itivcrs's trellises c; rafting fg modes) Payne's hives Oran(;c-under-wing moth I^farch moth Pit heated by hot water lled-legged weevil Pea-supporters Tortoiseshell butterfly Window'gardcna Vellowly's fork ScvLn-spottcd Lady-bird Taylor's hives Plan of garden PACS 183 183 197 203 207 209 217 218 224 236 227 228 236 239 305 219 259 263 269 271 281 283 2ug 291 306 307 THE COTTAGE GARDENER. IlfTRODUCTORY. We do not offer The Cottage Gardener to the public without having well considered the sugges- tion wliich gave it birth. That suggestion was in these words : — "All England has and loves its Out- door Gardening, but where is there a periodical that devotes attention and space to promote its advancement, even equally with that of thp otlier departments of Horticulture which, from their cost- liness, are only within the reach of the cc-_para- tively few?" In our reply, we confessed we knew of no such periodical ; and we now purpose to supply what is felt to be a very prevalent deficiency. Our pages will appear every Thursday, and will be devoted chiefly to Out-Door Gardening, — to those branches of the art in which not only all delight, but which all have the means of pursuing. Utility is our prime object; we wish to improve the gardening of the many, and we shall concentrate in our pages the information which will be acceptable and useful to every one who has space sufficient for a bed of cabbages, a row of currant-trees, and a flower- border. Whilst no gardener, we believe, will turn from our pages without receiving some ray of light, yet we shall especially trim our lamp for the amateur of moderate income, and the cottager. To them, columns devoted to the Pine Stove, and Orchidaceous house, offer little interest, and less instruction : it is giving knowledge, but knowledge that with them is inapplicable. The information we have to offer to our readers will be presented under another aspect ; we shall en- deavour to teach them how to grow the most and the best crops on the plot beneath the sway of their spades. We shall bring to their notice the varieties dis- tinguished for qualities most desirable ; we shall particularize the modes of culture found to be most successful ; we shall point out the most appropriate manures, with the modes of applying them most economically ; and we shall detail the rotation of crops which have been found advantageous on various soils. Particular attention will also be paid to the diseases of cultivated plants, and to the insects which attack them, for the purpose of pointing out the most suc- cessful modes of avoiding their ravages. It will be readily understood, tliat we especially address ourselves to those who have gardens of mo- derate extent. In the plotting or arrangement of these there is much more opportunity for the dis- play of skill and taste than most people take for granted ; and lengthened observation enables us to say confidently, that nine-tenths of our village and cottage gardens are so planned as to require much more labour than is necessary, and to be devoid of many beauties they might economically possess. To remedy these deficiencies we shall occasionally furnish plans of such gardens as we can recommend as models. To enable us to attain these objects, we have secured the aid of some of the best practical men of the day ; and to facilitate their labours we solicit assistance from all others of like acquirements, whether professional or amateurs, but, in all we examine and all we recom- mend experience shall be oiu- touchstone. No one values the services of science more highly than we do. We well know that it points out and illumines the path of the Gardener ; it aids and sus- tains him in his progress along that path — but the path itself is Practice. Upon this we shall place our foundation ; and when the first year of our labours closes, we hope it may be under the conscious feeling tliat we deserve at least as much praise as " the citizen who made two blades of grass grow where only one grew before." Swift says, that such a man is more meritorious than the most subtle of politicians ; and we shall claim praise, at all events, not more equivocal, if we know a garden in which the Cabbage has been more productive, the Apples more abundant, and the Mignonette more enduring, from information gathered in our columns. No. I., YOL. I. THE COTTAGE GARDENER. WEEKLY CALENDAR. M w U D 5 Ti. 6 F / S 1 8 Sun 9 M 10 Tu 11 1 W OCTOBER 5—11, 1818. Faith. Botanical Society of London's [Monthly Meeting. 16 Sunday after Trinity. St. Denys. Oxford and Cam. Terms begin. Old Michaelmas Day. Plants dedicated to each day. Aster-like Boltoniii Late Feverfew. Chrysanthemum. Sweet Maudlin. Milky Agaric, 'ape Aletris. Holly. Sun Rises. 9aft.f) 11 „ 13 „ l.i „ 16 „ 18 „ 20 „ Sun Sets. Moon R. ana Sets. 27aft.5 2.3 „ 23 „ ^1 „ 18 „ 16 „ 14 „ 10 35 11 34 morn. 39 1 49 3 4 4 21 Moon's Age. 1st Qr. 9 10 11 12 13 14 Clock aft. Sun 11 38 11 56 12 1> 12 30 12 46 13 2 13 17 Day of Year. 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 Phi'nomexa of TnE Season*. — Mr. Siillingfleet, in J?.i5, snys that in Norfolk, on the 1st of this monih, the berries of the holly and berbery %vere fully ripe.— 2nd. The fruit of the sloe wa< ripe. Mr. Jenyns says, tliat, on avi-rii^e of ten >ears' observatiuns marie ai Camhrid^"', the leaves of the walnut hefjin to f.ill on this day. — oth. Catkins of sallows formed iStillingfleet ;) walnuts ripe, and birch Insects. — The Figure-of-eight moth (Epi- sema ccenila-cephuia) appears e;iily tnis leaves beirin to falUJenyns.) — 6th. Leaves of aspen almost all off; of chestnut, yeilow ; of bitch, g>'Id-coloured (Siillingfleet.)— 7th. IJeech leaves be>;in to fall.— 8th. Cherrj- leaves begin to fall (Jenyns.) — 9tlt. Bcnies of spinille-tree ripe; some a^h-trees quite leafless; leaves of niarsh-etder beautifully pink (Stillingfleet.)— Ilth. Ash leaves begin to fall (Jen\ns.) IS-II. 1842. 1S43. 1844. 1845. 1846. Cloudy. I8i7. Fine. 5 Cloudy. Fine. Fine. Fine. Fine. Fine. Rain. Fine. < lo.idy. Rain. Fine. tine. Cloudy. Cl..u.1y. Fine. Rain. ■showery. Showery. Fine. Cloudy. Fine. Cloudy. showery. Fine. Ovt-rcast. Cl..ndy. Ram. Cloudy. Showery. Rnin. Bain. Rain. tine. Showery Rain. Rain. Rain. Fine. Hain. Fine. Rain. Hain. Showery. yiGURS-OT-XICHT MOTR. month. The bluish gre) upper win-is have a yellowish white spot in their centres. The spot being shaped like a double Mdnev or 8 eives the popular name to the msect. It sbou d l.e destroyed whenever observed, as its caterpillars, at the end of the foUowinR sprine Verv often destroy the young leaves ot plums and peaches. ° t""St cij wucn €[)i lltfrk'H /nut-Cnirkning. In commencing a Periodical which has for its object the dissemination of soimd t;ardening practice, adapted to all who cidtivate a garden, we have marked out a course by which we hope to render the subject readily familiar to the humblest cottager. We shall, there- fore, on all occasions, avoid the use of technical terms. In endeavouring to lead the mind to a careful con- sideration of those first principles which may be considered the key to the gardening art, we shall at the same time abstain as much as possible from the use of scientific terms : that is to say, in all cases where terms of a familiar or conversational character can be found sufficiently expressive. A plain style will, therefore, best seciu-e the end in view ; and as the day is gone by for rules based on custom only, we shall lay down a course of culture, which is the result of some forty years' practice, accom- panied by vigilant observation, and a due attention at all times to the improvements of the day. The Planting Season. — We would in all cases advise early Autumn planting of fruit-trees, with the exception of the vine and the fig, provided the soil can be prepared in a mellow state. In the case of stubborn clayey soil*, however, the business had best stand over until the spring ; but the soil may be thrown out immediately, and by lying e.xposed the whole win- ter will be much improved for planting purpo>cs. Preparations, therefore, may be made forthwith ; and in order to proceed in a businesslike way, the amateur and cottager should look over their existing stock, in order to see whether any decaying or worthless kinds should be destroyed. Another matter requires attention each succeeding autumn. However com- plete the arrangement might have been considered at the preceding planting-season, farther improvements will annually suggest themselves — not onlv as to the choice of individual trees or bushes, but as to the line of succession which the garden at large offers. All these things duly considered, stakes should be put down at the respective stations where a tree is Inquired, and a number marked on the stake referring to a list containing the selection previously made. Choice of Trees. — It frequently happens that some trees or bushes have to be purchased from the nursery -gardens ; when such is the case, we would look them out at this period, and cause them to be marked with matting, which is the ordinary practice in nurseries. By these means, very superior trees may be secured at the same price as the ordinary ones ; for in general a fixed price is charged, whether for dwarf trees or standards; and as purchasers con- tinue to select, of covu-se a very inferior sample falls to the lot of those who come last. The amateur who wants a peach, a nectarine, or an apricot-tree, should be very scrupulous in his choice. Some of those trees which look very lusty and pro- mising in the nursery, are at the same time very unfit for permanent trees. The first point in selection, we need hardly say, is general health of constitution, litis is evinced by healthy shoots, by a clear hark, and by a total absence of gum. A second is a thorough and equal union of stock and scion : if durability is required, the two should be nearly equal. If the scion overgrows the stock, the tree -ivill be fruitful betimes, but may not be expicted to endure so long. Another, and most essential aff.iir, is, that the young trees be well balanced; that is, that the number and strength of the branches on each side be nearly equal. Any great disparity in point of vigour between the two sides of a trained tree, is with difficulty overcome afterwards. It can, indeed, only be done in the growing season, by frequent stopping of the growing points • of this, however, THE COTTAGE GARDENER. more in due time. Thus far the amateur. We will now offer a few words of adnce to both amateur and cottager. Choice of Applf.-trees.- —Canker is perhaps the greatest enemy we have to encounter in the apple. A practice has prevailed in some nurseries — ^and we hope that by this time it is nearly exploded — of attempting to render cankered or diseased trees sale- able, by cutting their main shoots back. Trees thus treated will produce strong shoots for the first year, which too often tempt the inexpei'ienced. After being planted a year or two, however, they revert to their original state of disease, in nearly all cases. Such, of course, should be avoided ; and they are readily known by having very long shoots on a very thick old stern. These remarks apply chiefly to dwarf trees intended for espaliers. Another great fault in standard apple-trees is a thin and sickly stem. This is frequently the case in obscure countrj' nui-series, and arises, we conceive, merely from the mode of training. Our better sort of nurserymen make a practice of " spurring in," or shortening, the side-shoots, whilst the grafted shoot is forming the stem of the standard. Some coinitry nursery gardeners cut such side-shoots clean away at once, but spurring in, according to the other practice for a year or two, umch increases the strength and thickness of the stem. Choice of Flemish Pears. — As to form or figure, everything depends on the mode of training. If for the pyramidal mode, (having the form of the Larch,) they should of course have some length of stem ; if for a low horizontal trellis, they should have a ])air of leaders at least, to turn right arid left : care should be taken to select none with decayed points — some of the kinds are liable to this defect. Fruits which should be more encouraged. — The Morello cherry is one of the most useful of our hardy fruits, yet it is seldom found in the garden ot tlie amateur to any extent, and scarcely ever in that of the cottager. It is adapted fur either the ordinary rough espalier or for walls or fences. On a soutli wall it attains adegreeof flavour which woud astonish many persons who had been in the habit of tasting it from cold aspects. It will, moreover, if carefullv netted, hang well on the tree until the middle of October. It is one of the surest fruit-bearing trees we possess — bearing with certainty, even on a northern aspect. Trained as a rough espalier, it may be covered with a net, and be servicable for man)' weeks for making tarts. It prefers a deep and somewhat unctuous loam. Cottagers would do well to pay some attention to its cultivation, as it would succeed to admiration on any gable which would prove too cold for the apricot or the pear. Plums. — Tliere are some very old kinds of plums which are deserving of a very extended cultivation ; of such are the Morocco, and the Precoce de Tours. These are two of the surest-bearing plums ill the king- dom, and they ripen very early. We have never grown them on common standards, but we have no doubt of their ansvifering admirably, and also of their proN'ing a profitable crop for the cottager The Wash- ington also might be planted as a standard by the latter class, being very hardy, of strong growth, and a full bearer. The Black Currant.' — Where the soil is of a moist character, or even a very adhesive loam, this proves a most profitable crop to the cottager. It frequently succeeds by the side of such ditches as become tainted with the wash from the house or the pig-stye. There are boggj' nooks in some gardens of a damp character, which could scarcely be better employed than under this crop. Filberts. — We would remind the amateur, that such are worth adding to his stock of fruits, provided means are taken to dwarf them and to ensure their bearing. To accomplish this, they must be on a single stem ; the head must be formed in their earlier stages like a currant-bush, open in the centre, and all superfluous young shoots which, crossing each other, obstruct light and air, pruned away — the stronger shoots at the extremity shortened, and, above all things, suckers kept down. The white and red filbert the frizzled filbert, and the Cosfoid, are the best. Fresh or Maiden Soils. — Those whose gardens are of a sterile or exhausted character should take care to provide some fresh soil for planting new trees in — the more turf or coarse grass it contains, the better. It should be rough chopped over, and any ordinary vegetable soil, weeds, or decayed vegetables, may be blended with it. AcCELlRATING THE RiPENING OF TIIK WoOD. Those who possess vines, peaches, nectarines, and apricots, should now take every means in their power to ensure the ripening of the wood. Where trees have been neglected in their summtr pruning, a trim- ming should now be resorted to, althoujh late. All late growths, and all superfluous points of young shoots which shade the principal leaves, may be cut away. The vine — especially out of doors — will require every lateral, or side-shoot, to be pinched away ; and even those side-shoots which had been stopped to a single eye in the end of June, may now be entirely displaced, in order to throw some lig''t on the early- made leaves, and, even at this period, on the fruit. Those amateurs who have canvas or bunting at com- mand, would do well to cover their vines, about four o'clock in the afternoon, while the sun shines on them. In the event of dull days, however, it need not be applied until six o'clock. Gathering Fkui's.- — We will merely allude to the necessity of paying a constant attention at this period to this needful proceeding ; in our next we will oti'ec some farther advice, also more ordinary calendarial matter. R. Ehrington, Oiilton Park. €^t !0tEk'0 jFlumrr-cSnrknitig. The culture of flowers is one of the most delightful and healthful recreations to which man can devote the powers of his mind and body. Even those who thereby earn their daily bread, may enjoy pleasures that the mere mechanic or artisan is debarred from by the very nature of his labours. The clear light of heaven, the sweet fresh air, and the beauties of the objects of the gardener's care, are all sources of the most unalloyed pleasure ; and it is a wise dispensa- tion of the Giver of all good, that those delightful pleasures are within the reach of all. To the lady or gentleman florist, to the gardener by profession, to the amateur and the cottager, the flower-garden is, or may be, if the proper spirit is brought into action, an elevating pursuit. We who have tasted those plea- sures for nearly half a century, being desirous to in- THE COTTAGE GARDENER. crease the taste and instruct the ignorant, propose to give a weekly essay on the subject ; and if we can by j such labours make the culture of flowers more gene- ral, and the practice more easy, our object will be accomplished, and we shall think our attempt will have been a mite cast into the treasury of human happiness. The Flower-garden. — Under this head we shall class those gardSns where a gardener or gardeners are employed. At this season of the year the floral beau- ties are in a great measure departing. Our chief care ought to be, to keep everything clean and neat. Cut down all decaying flowers, tie up the remainder, and keep the lawn short and clean swept, so that on fine days the garden may present a cheerful appear- ance. In the Frame-garden the auriculas and poly- anthuses should have as much air, and be kept as dry as possible — removing all decaying leaves as fast as they appear. All stores of verbenas, petunias, calceolarias, and other things to plant out in spring, require the same treatment. Keep large numbers of those plants, so as to have an abundant supply in the spring. It is much better to have a few to spare than to have to propagate them when they are wanted. Chrysanthemums will now be in flower, and should be well tied up, or the autiminal winds will damage their beauty. Amateor's Flower-garden. — There are a large number of individuals who, loving a garden and having leisure time, devote a part of it, very wisely and properly, to the cultivation of flowers. Perhaps a still greater number would enjoy this rational recre- ation if they had the requisite information how to set about it. Supposing you have a garden of moderate size, and pretty well stocked with the usual quantity of flowers, you should resolve to do everything in its proper season, and do it well and thoroughly. If possible, have by you in a snug corner the following soils, in such quantities as you may judge necessary: somegoodloam, vegetable mould (decayed leaves), peat soil, and rotten dung, with a small heap of pure sand. E.KCepting the last, which should be kept in a shed quite dry, let the others be turned over occasionally in dry weather, and always kept free from weeds. These materials are almost indispensable. Have also all kinds of tools in readiness, kept in a shed or toolhouse, quite clean and in good order. Where this is not the case, when you come to your garden you will find your tools work badly, and will soon be tired of using them. Pay particular attention, then, to this head : keep your tools clean, and every one in its proper place. You will find this a great comfort and convenience to you in your gardening operation .. Cottage Flower-garden. — lowever humble may be the cottager's dwelling, the addition of a border or two of flowers gives it an air of comfort that to a rightly constituted mind is exceedingly pleasing. The culture of those flowers must exercise upon the cottager's mind the best effects: but we would not confine this pleasure to the labourer in the field or the dweller in the country only. Our mechanics and artizans, the workers in the busy factory, in the congregated masses of human beings of our large towns : these ought to have a flower-plot each ; to have something growing in the open air of heaven to draw their minds from sensual, besotting indulgences; — something to cultivate, watch, and care for, — to de- light in and love. The two flower-gardens are two distinct things ■ one adjoining the cottage, the other in a field let out in small lots. The dwelling- houses of the mechanic are, as is well known, in general in streets and lanes, where land is too valuable to be spai-ed for g!.rdening purposes : hence it becomes necessary to the poor man loving a garden to have one in the field, at as short a distance off' as possible j and we earnestly wish that the owners of land near large towns would be more liberal in their grants of land, for the purpose of giving the artizan so inclined an opportunity of having a small garden for flowers as well as vegetables. We know, and rejoice that there are many persons enjoying such small gardens ; but we would wish their number to be greatly increased, to meet the wants of our growing population. Having said so much about the desirableness of the cottager's flower-garden, we will now say a few words about the means of furnishing it with plants. It is not to be expected that the cottager or mechanic is able to purchase many or very choice plants ; but one man can spare a few pence to buy a root, and another can buy a different one : the two can then propagate from their respective purchases, and have the power to ex- change. This principle, carried out on a large scale, would furnish plants sufficient for a great number of gardens. Seeds of biennials (two-year-living plants) might be purchased in the same manner : one man would buy sweet-williams, another hollyhocks, ano ther wallflowers, and so on to an almost unlimited extent. Then the day of exchanging comes — and what a pleasant aff"air that would be ! how many kindly feel- ings excited — what pleasing smiles — what admiration of each other's garden and flowers ! Would that such scenes were ten thousand times more common than they are ! FLORISTS' FLOWERS. The question may naturally enough be asked, What are "Florists' Flowers?" To those who cultivate them the term appears simple and proper ; but a number of persons use it without properly understand- ing it. In their minds, to the cultivation of any kind of ornamental plants, the term "Floriculture" — or the culture of florists' flowers — would apply ; but "Florists' Flowers" are such as have been improved, either in form, colour, or size, or in all those qualities combined. It is true those gems of the earth are all beautiful, some exquisitely so, and that art cannot improve them : we might mention, as examples, the majestic, lovely, white lih', with its sweet, un- rivaled flowers of purest white ; the humble, but sweet-scented violet ; and the lily of the valley. These are familiar, and well known to all ; but, on the other hand, just glance at the wild tulip, and heart's-ease, or pansy, — the single carnation and pink, the polyanthus and auricula, — and the most prejudiced mind must allow that their beauties have been greatly improved by the florist's skill and unwearied persevei'ance. It is a remarkable fact, that the beautiful varieties now so much admired are principally raised by men in very humble life — men who earn their daily bread in the close workshop or the damp mine. It is also a curious fact, that our agricultural labourers have paid almost no attention to the raising of new varieties of florists' flowers. Of late years, indeed, the example of our shoemakers, tailors, and colliers, has been fol- lowed by men in higher ranks of life — by none iuore conspicuously than the Rev. Mr. Tyso, who has done more for the "ranunculus" than any other cultivator we know of. There are also some commer- cial men who have added to their other operations of cultivating fruit and forest trees for sale, the culture THE COTTAGE GARDENER. of "Florists' flowers;" and it is now becoming the fashion in almost every garden to attempt a little in this delightful art ; yet the meed of praise is justly due to the artizans above mentioned — they were the pioneers in the art of producing florists' flowers, and we fervently hope that the cultivators of those lovely ornaments may be increased tenfold. We are quite satisfied that thereby the happiness of man will be increased — the mind will bo weaned from more de- basing pursuits, and led to admire the goodness of the Author and Creator of all that is lovely on earth! The subjects for this part of our work may be classed as follows : — Anemone, Auricula, Carnation, Dahlia, Polyanthus, Pink, Pansy, Ranunculus, Rose, Tulip. Tulip. — At this season of the year the preparation for planting this favourite flower should be in a state of forwardness. The situation for the tulip-bed should be open to the full influence of the sun and air. If there is a hedge, or other shelter, on the north and west side of the bed, so much the better. The best soil is a light sandy loam, mixed with a small portion ■ of very rotten manure : by no means make it too rich, or the colours will run. Turn this soil, so mixed, frequently. The bed should be well drained with a layer of rubble ; and immediately over the drainage put a thin layer of littery dung, to keep the soil quite separate from the drainage ; then put in the soil, to the depth of fifteen or sixteen inches. The bed should be raised, either by an edging of boards or slate, about six inches above the walks, and, when the soil is first placed in, it should be two inches above the edging, so as to allow it to settle and be pretty nearly level to the edging by the time of planting. The best time for that operation being about the first week in November. Auricula and Polyanthus. — These should now be placed in their winter quarters, (or frame,) re- moving pi-eviously all decayed leaves, and stirring up the soil gently with a small fork or stick. No water is now required, and full exposure to sun and air on all fair days will be beneficial. Carnation. — This beautiful class of florists'-flowers require considerable attention. They should now be in pairs, in five-inch pots, and placed in frames front- ing the south. Examine .nem carefully every day, to see that no mildew or Afireworms are preying upoD them. Very little watf r is required. Pink.— Equally beautiful with the carnation, and much more hardy, is the graceful pink. At this season pinks have been planted out in thfir situation for blooming. A similar compost to that for the tulip will suit them, with the addition of a portion of leaf-mould. They require but little care ; only keep a look-out against snails and wireworms, and destroy them. T. Appleby. €\)t Wuk'B litrjjm-fnrknmg. Borecole and Brussels Sprouts. — Plant a large bed, if not done last month. The heads and sprouts will keep the table supplied throughout the spring. The Brussels sprout, above all others of the cabbage tribe, should be now cultivated, not only on account of its great excellence, but because of its very large produce. The French express this valuable quality by naming it "The Thousand-headed Cabbage." When dry weather occurs at this season, it is a plan almost indispensable for securing success to soak with water the bed in which the seedlings are growing ; to fill the hole made by the dibble with water before inserting the plant, and to have the planting-time late in the afternoon. The only objection to the Brussels sprout is that it is not quite so hardy as the Savoy, but it is more capa- ble of enduring severe frost than most kinds of bi-ocoli; and very rarely does a winter occur in southern or midland England which the Brussels sprouts cannot endure. Then it has these great merits — its sprouts grow close to the stem, so that the plants may be nearer together than Savoys ; and M. Van Mons is quite cor- rect in observing that it grows well in situations gene- rally unfavourable to the success of the cabbage tribe, — as between rows of potatoes and scarlet runners, or even among young trees. The bottom leaves of Brussels sprouts of advanced growth should be taken off to encourage the sprouting. Cabbages. — Plant the main crops of those sown in August. The produce will be for table use from May to the end of July of next year. The same precautions in planting are required as mentioned above for bore- cole. The ground should be deeply trenched, and it is very desirable that it be laid up high, in narrow beds, so as to avoid the necessity of being trampled upon ; for it remains under this crop for nearly twelve months, and the ground, even of itself, becomes more conso- lidated than is beneficial to the roots. Employ the strongest plants, and plant two feet apart each way. If strong early-sown coleworts* are at hand, plant a row between each two rows of cabbages, and a plant between each two cabbage- plants. These coleworts will be useful to pull up for early spring iise ; and the outside leaves, when potatoes are short, would be usei'ul, boiled, for a pig ; or given raw to a cow. If neither be kept, let the leaves be trenched into any spare ground as manure. Take care to fill every spare piece of ground with plants of some kind, for very possibly articles of food may be both scarce and dear next spring. Cauliflowers sown in August may be so treated as to aiFord a successional produce during June and July of next year. If some of the plants are taken up, then' roots trimmed, and, being potted, are plunged in the earth under a cold frame until the end of February, to be then turned out under hand-glasses, their heads will be fit for use early in June. Those plants which are now pricked out upon a south border and left unmoved until the end of March, and are then finally planted out, will produce heads at the end of June; whilst a third portion of plants pricked out at the end of the present month, and not moved to their final bed until mid-April, will be fit for table in the early part of July. Carrots, when ripe, may now be taken up and stored in a little dry sand, or without sand, if stored in a cellar, or tolerably dry place. Leeks. — Plant; and hoe frequently between those planted in previous months. The soil for the leek cannot well be too rich, and certainly cannot be dug too finely, for it delighis in an open soil. In trans- planting these and other plants with similarly fleshy * COLEWORT (Collet in some places) — a cabbage, previously to its heart becoming firm ; and to be eaten in that young state. THE COTTAGE GARDENER. brittle roots, the trowel is a tool far preferable to the dibble. Make the bole for the plant with the trowel, and then move the leek with the same implement, so tliat tile earth about the roots is fitted to the hole pre- viously opened. KiD.NEY Beans yet bearing may be prolonged in that state for some weeks linger by arching over the rows with sticks, and protecting them with a mat at night. Lettuces, sown in August, prick out as close as pos- silde, either under a frame, or, without that sheltei-, on a very dry border, facing the south. The best vai-ieties for tluis standing tlirough the winter are the Brown Dutch, Brown Cos, Hardy Hammersmith Green, and Green Cos. In planting out injure the roots as little as possible. Love .\pples. — Gather during dry weather. Cut off a portion of the stalks wii'i each ; tie them at short intervals along strings, and fa=^ten these by their ends to the opposite sides of a dry room, near the ceiling. O.Nioxs. — Autumn-sown onions should be kept free from weeds ; and a little dry earth or dust shook or sifted amongst them, to establish firmness and healthi- ness. Store Onions should be cleansed and turned about, and the defective picked out. Parslf.v. — Cut down, that it may produce fresh vigorous leaves before the winter stops its growth. Potatoes. — Those who have potatoes and intend planting again, sliould now set about it ; for that spring planting is worthy of little dependence must have been well tested by many, of late years. At Bicton we have had this season most abundant crops, of good qualitv, from those planted last autumn ; and for several pre- vious years the autiimn-plnnied have been the only pota- toes of good quality and abundant in produce, Radisues (TuRNir). — Sow on a warm south border, or on an asparagus bed that has had the stems cleared away and received its autumn dressing. They will grow milder, and continue longer good here than on any other soil. The white Spanish and the large purple are the best varieties for sowing at this season. Spinach. — The surface soil of the winter spinach shoidd be kept open and healthy, to prevent its canker- ing. Late-sown Turnips should be encouraged by fre- quent hoeings, and thorough cleansing established in every corner, and well maintained at all times and seasons, which is the only sure means of eradicating and preventing the ravages of vermin. James Barnes, Bicton. POTATO PLANTING. It will be seen from the statement of Mr. Barnes, that even in Devonshire, one of the most rainy counties of England, and in 1 848 — after a sunimei the wettest and most ungenial for the potato within the memory of any middle-aged man^the potatoes planted the pre- vious autumn were those which alone gave good crops ; those planted in spring having failed there as tliey have fa-led elsewhere throughout the length and breadth, not only of England, Ireland, and Scotland, but of many parts of Europe. For three years the Editor of The Cottage Gardener has adopted the same time for planting the potato, and with signal success. Wliilst his neighbours around are losing more than half their crops, and even those stored will be for the most part lost — and that chiefly from an errone- ous mode of storing — the Editor has not had one in twenty diseased; and those he has had stored, being done 80 in a mode which prevents unnatural heating and premature sprouting, will continue gcod, as they continued last year, from September untd the follow- ing June. From long ex])erience, confirmed by numerous experiments and the experience of others, the Editor urgently recommends the following rules for growing the potato— rules which, if strictly fol- lowed, will restore the constitution of the plant, and render it as safe a crop as any other that can be culti- vated by the spade : 1. Never allow your potatoes to be uncovered by the earth for a single day ; but as they are taken up, place them in alternate layers with earth, wherever you intend to keep them through the winter. The heap thus formed must be Drought narrowing to the top, like the roof of a hous' , and covered over a foot deep with earth to exclude ihe wet and frost. 2. Plant at the end of Oct( ber, or early in November, during open, dry weather. Dig only enough ground for a row, and then insert the sets with a dibble, for this keeps the ground from being hardened bv tram- pling. Eight inches is the safest depth in the midland and northern counties, but six inches is a better depth for the southern counties. If planting is deferred till the spring, six inches is the best depth everywhere; and be sure to keep the potatoes covered in single layers with earth, and earth only, until the very day of planting. There is no loss of ground bj- planting in autumn, for rows of cabbages and savoys may be planted between the rows of potatoes. 3. Plant moderate-sized whole potatoes; that is, potatoes weighing about two ounces each. 4. Plant on ground that does not require the appli- cation of manure at the time of planting, b\it that is in good condition from manure applied to the previous crops. Never grow the potato two years following on the same plot. MANAGEMENT OF SOIL. .\ SOIL would never get exhausted, if managed with skill, hut would continue to improve in depth and fer- tility in proportion to the industry bestowed upon it. The food of plants, it is true, may be exhausted from the soil by a repetition of cropping with any one family of plants, if we neglect the application of such fer- tilizers as may have been taken from the soil by that family ; but no part of the growing season is required for the soil to rest, or lay fallow, if judiciously managed by a successional varying of the crops, or supplying to them such food as may be a compensation for what has been taken off by the previous crop. The first object to be attained for securing a certain and profit- able return of produce from the soil must be thorough drainage ; — the next object is, breaking into the subsoil to the desired depth — not without first considering whether it is proper and profitable to sliift or turn up the subsoil at once to the influence of the atmosphere, or whether it is best to break into it well first, by shift- ing the surface soil, and allowing the subsoil to remain to receive — first the beneficial inliuence of the atmo- sphere, and then — at the next trenching, a portion oi the subsoil may be safely stirred up and mixed with the surface soil ; this practice continued for every suc- ceeding crop, will establish a healthy fertilizing sur- face soil to any desired depth. If repeated successional surface stirrings are adopted, according to the nature of the soil and weather, every growing crop will con- tinue in healthy luxuriance, without either suffering or receiving injury from too much moisture, drought, or frost. In addition, by constantly scarifying, hoeing, and forking the surface soil, not only obnoxious insects and their larvae are expelled, but weeds would never THE COTTAGE GARDENER. make tlieir appearance, much less have a chance of committing their accustomed robbery of the soil and crops. Besides, by such repeated stirring, the soil is always prepared, sweet and healthy, for succeeding crops; — no mean consideration, either when we observe the loss of time and produce occurring to such a ruin- ous extent in some localities, by allowing weeds to rob and choke the growing crops, and to shed their seeds, productive of a progeny similarly injurious to the crops next in rotation. The application, of manures is most essential, and may be applied most beneticially when the soil is established in a he.ilthy condition, and maintained thus by a constant attention to surface-stirring. Yet the application of manure is a secondary consideration , for though it may be very liberally applied, and with considerable expense, yet, without first insuring the healthiness of the soil, much property and labour will be sacrificed. J. B. Ttlmrtllaneniis !liifnrnintinn. CHEAP MANURES. [No. I.] Every substance which increases the fertility of the soil into which it is dug or mixed, is a manure. Even sand may be a manure, for when mingled thoroughly with a heavy, clayey soil, it improves its staple, makes it more open, helps to enable all superfluous water to escape from it, and thus keeps the earth warmer, for wet soils are cold soils; and it in other ways makes the crops upon it more productive. Sand, therefore, is a manure for heavy soils. However, we only mention this to impress upon our readers, that when we talk of manures we do not mean the dung of animals only. It is quite true that rmless a soil is kept dteply, thoroughly, and constantly stirred, either by the spade, fork, or hoe, half the benefits derivable from any manure are lost. This is no new notion, for even Cato, who lived some two thousand years ago, said, in his book (De Re Rusticd) on cultivating the soil, "What is the most important part of farming? — to plough. What is the next most important? — to plouyh. The third is to manure.' But though quite true that to stir the soil often and deei.ly, is one of the most important practices of all cultivation; yet unless we return to the soil by ma- nuring it, what our crops have taken from it by their roots, it will soon become incapable of yielding any- thing hut weeds. Every gardener is fully aware of this — and no com- plaint is more common, both with the auiateur and the cottager, than of the expense and difficulty of obtaining a sufiicient supply of manure ; and yet that difficulty arises from their own waste and neglect. If all the night soil, vegetable and animal refvise, soap- suds, etc., were as carefully preserved in Great Britain as they are in China, each household would have a store of manure nearly sufficient for fertilizing the garden ground required for supplying that household with vegetables. We shall recur to this important department of cultivation more in detail, but at pre- sent will do no more than request attention to the following very valuable and useful communication upon the subject. FILTERED HOUSE SEWAGE. EY CUTHBERT W. JOHNSON, ESQ., F.R.S., ETC. In erecting, last year, a cottage at Waldronfield, near Croydon, I took the opportunity of testing a plan for employing the sewage of the house (I use the word sewage in this Paper in its most extensive sense) for the use of the garden, which lias succeeded so well that I think it might be employed in most situations, with the required modifications, with the same measure of success. For although, in my case, I have the advan- tage of a considerable fall between the house and the kltchen-gai-den, yet that circumstance is not essential to the success of the plan : for even in the case of a perfect level, it would only be necessary to add a com- mon iron lifting pump to the second tank; or the object might be accomplished by even one tank only, if furnished with a division. My plan was to test the possibility of filtering the entire sewage of the house through a filter of sand sufficiently fine to remove almost all the mechanically suspended matters of the sewage, so as to render the filtered liquid available as a rich liquid manure, without being offensive to those who had the use of the garden. For this purpose I had two tanks, constructed of bricks and mortar, and lined with Parker's cement, of about five feet cube each. Into the first, marked No. 1. in the an- neexd plan, a!l the sewage of the house is discharged, through an iron pipe of 4J-inch bore. This tank is Section of the Sewage-system at Mr. Johnson's Coltage, on a scale of 30 feet to the inch. A. The House. B. Pipe conveying Sewage to Tank No. I. C. C. C. Ground-line, jjlanted with Shrubs. D. Plug regulating the Discharge of the Filter No. 2. E. The Filler. F. The Kitchen Garden. furnished with an iron pipe of the same diameter, which (regulated by a long-handled plug from the top of tlie tank, marked fJ) discharges the sewage as it is needed from the tank No. 1. into the tank No. 2. This lower tank is also of a cube, equal to about five Ceet in diameter. This is furnished with a filter, through which the liquid portion of the sewage finds its way, and is thence drawn off from the bottom of the tank by menus of iron pipes of |-inch bore, to con- venient places in the garden. The filter (E) is placed (resting on bricks) about eighteen inches from the bottom of the tank : the bottom of the filter is formed of perforated tiles, used by maltsters for their kiln floors ; on this is laid a layer of gravel, about two inches thick, on this about two inches of coarse sand, and on the top of the sand (to prevent disturbance by the rushing in of the sewage from the upper tank) another layer of the maltsters' tiles. Thus constructed, the sewage finds its way through the filter with suffi- cient rapidity for the copious supply of the Kitchen- garden. As thus prepared, the liquid manure passes through, so as to possess but little smell, and without leaving any obnoxious appearance on the surface of the ground. I need hardly say that the effect of this liquid is exceedingly powerful ; and we have noticed it as remarkably so in the case of some newly-planted THE COTTAGE GARDENER. bods of asparagus and rhubarb, which have been irri- gated with it ; and, in fact, there is no doubt of its value for ensuring tlie rapid growth of all kinds of newly-planted culinary vegetables. I have so arranged the pipes in my kitchen-garden, that I can irrigate to any portion of it, by merely turning a cock. This plan of fil'ering seems, in fact, to remove all the objections that can be possibly urged against the use of the house sewage ; and in tlie case of gardens, both for the ama- teur and the poor cottager, I feel convinced that by such a mode as tliis, many of the difticuliies of inces- sant cropping, and little-varied exhausting rotations, may be successfully met. The waste of fertilizing mat- ters in such sewage is, in fact, so much larger than is commonly supposed, (a loss by the ordinary mode of constructing these tanks disguised in every possible way,) that I feel assured it only needs the adoption of some such a mode as that which I have described, of rendering its use no longer distasteful to the occupants of the house, to ensure its almost universal employ- ment. The amount of sewage is much larger than is commonly understood ; and in dry weather, when the demands of the gardener are larger, it is, we find, very easy to increase its bulk, in case of need, by pumping water into the tanks through the ordinary means. It may be useful to those who are about making similar attempts for me to add, that the j-inch iron pipes (gas service pipe) cost Is. per yard, and the iron cocks of the same bore, 2s. 6(/.* RASPBERRIES. It will be interesting and useful to many, to know a simple and certain mode of producing an abundant crop of this very useful fruit in a small space. There are many varieties of various properties of this fniit, but, after practically cultivating several within these thirty years, I now confine myself to three of the most prolific — tb ^ Yellow Beehive, the True Fastolf, and the Autumn-bearing ; the latter of which I should confine myself to, were I only to cultivate one variety, as it is the most profuse bearer when managed as follows : — Select a corner, or, which is better, an outside of a quarter, next the walk or alley, to be planted as a boundary ; trench the ground well, and work in a good portion of rotten vegetable reftise — leaves, or even old tan, they are fond of Incorporate all well together by frequent forking through the winter; procure suckers, which maybe safely planted any time previous to the middle of March, to produce a good crop the same season ; plant two feet from plant to plant, and cut down close to the ground the first week in April, and mulch with half-decayed leaves or vegetable refuse. The suckers, a; soon as three inches high, should be hoed or thinned out to at least six inches apart; and a third of them should have their tops picked out when about fifteen or eighteen inches high, another third of them when a foot higher, and the others allowed to grow their natural length. This will insirre an abundant crop from the earth's surface to the topmost branches, in regular succession, from the end of July to the middle of November, and when the winters are favourable, even longer. A most essential point is, as soon as they begin to swell their fruit, to apply occasionally good soakings of liquid manure, brewed from the excrements of horses, cows, pigs, sheep, deer, or ])ouItry. Apply, also, a good portion of chimney-soot and some salt — which treatment we find swells the fiiiit not only to an immense size, but greatly im- proves the flavour. * 1 purchased mine of Messrs. Baiiey, Pegg, and Co., Bankside, London. Fifty plants thus managed will produce enough to supply a large family. The raspberry-canes should never be allowed to stand upon the same ground more than two years. A succession should be planted every season, and treated as above to maintain an abundance of fine fruit. If they are tardy in pro- ducing suckers, scrape off the mulch with a draw-hoe, by which you will cut and bruise some of the surface- roots, and thus induce buds, and consequently suckers. The mulch should be at once returned again. J. Barnes, Bicton Gardens. POTATO-PLANTING IN IRELAND. The gratifying intelligence has reached us that, in some parts of Ireland where autuiun-planting has been introduced, it has been signally successful. The following is an extract from a letter we have received from Guy P. L'Estrange, Esq., Shantonagh, near Castle Bla}Tiey : " Last year I had a short correspondence with you relating to autumn planting of potatoes. I tried it, and although it was November before my crop was put in, it succeeded well, and there were none dis- eased : all those planted in the spring have suffered more or less. I am now desirous of planting my general crop in this month, and should be very happy to learn if you still adhere to your opinion upon this subject. " I beg also to enclose you a short account of an experiment made by Sir William Bethain (Vice- President of the Royal Society.) at Dublin, by plant- ing the offsets, from which a fine crop has resulted, these I have myself seen. " With respect to the general crop in Ireland, I fear the)' are now going very fast indeed ; and I think, by Christmas we shall have a great scarcity of potatoes : the late planted never came to maturity." The following is the extract from Sir W. Betham's letter, referred to by Mr. L'Estrange : " Royal Society, Dublin, 8t!i Sept., 1848. "I called the attention of the cultivators of pota- toes, early in the year, to an experiment [ practised last year (184" ;) viz., that of taking off all the stems which arose from a cut of the potato excejit one, and transplanting them in drills, two feet apart, and one fout in the drill between each plant. The trans- planted stems produced me an excellent produce of good sound potatoes. This spring I adopted the same practice on a larger scale with perfect success, and am now digging a good crop from the transplanted drills, of red apples and cups, and have not discovered a sinj^le instance of disease in either kind ; the produce of both are clean and perfectly sound. The most important result, however, was with the ridges from which I took the offsets, leaving but one stalk to each plant; the produce has been remarkably abundant, and all large and marketable potatoes. My ridges were four feet six inches wide. I weighed the pro- duce of a perch of twenty-one feet, and found eight stone of large sound potatoes ! " Being in London in March last, I saw on the table of a friend, where I dined, some very fine mealy potatoes. I procured twelve large tubers, which I brought over in my carpet bag. I cut them in the usual manner, and planted them in drills, on a plot twenty-one feet by twelve. I dug the produce the day before yesterday, and to my astonishment I weighed them — ten stone of excellent sound potatoes without any small ones ! They were treated in the same manner as the others ; viz., only one stalk leftto each plant, and the offsets transplanted." THE COTTAGE GARDENER. COTTAGE AND ALLOTMENT GARDENING. (No. I.) BY THE EDITOR. r WELL-ORDEKED garden is a real friend) always ready to afford seasonable aid ; yet no cottagers, who are wise, will ever think of getting a living out of their gardens. The_v who might be contented to live upon nothing hut potatoes, cabbages, and similar food, fesx^iV-i^^' would soon he reduced to the present T'-V^riZ^i condition of the Irish peasantry : drag- ging on at all times a degraded exist- ence, never doing more than just escaping from actual want ; and when a failure of any particular garden crops occurred, starving or living upon charity. No right-minded English cottager will desire such a state of things as this ; but it is a totally different matter for him to have a garden that will afford profit- able occupation for his own leisure hours and for the leisure liours of his wife and family. Such a garden is one of the cottager's best helps — it does not Jill his pot every day, but every day it will yield something to put into the pot— something which willmakeits con- tents more nourishing andmoreagreeable. Nocottager should desire to have more than an eighth of an acre for his garden. A slip of ground, twenty yards wide and thirty-one yards long, will be about that size. If it be much larger, no cottager can keep it well manui-ed, well dug, and well hoed, — and if oH this be not done, and well done too, he had better have a still smaller piece ; for a less piece thoroughly well cultivated will yield him much more than a piece of ground twice the size badly cultivated. Besides, who with a spark of proper pride about him would have a weedv, ill-cultivated garden ? — such a garden bespeaks a man who does not care about his home, or its com- forts ; and from some years' experience we can say, without any reservation, that we never knew an un- worthy cottager have a well-tended garden, nor a worthy cottager have one badly tended. Be assured, the man "is not worth salt to his porridge," who does not care whether a nettle or a rose-tree grows before his cottage window ; nor whether a vine or a nettle spreails around its walls. It has been so from times long before the wisest of men wrote; for he says, " I went liy the field of the slothful, and by the vineyard of the man void of understanding; and lo! it was all grown over with thorns, and netiles had covered the face thereof, and the stone wall thereof was broken down," Piov. xxiv. 30. Now what ought a garden occupying one-eighth of an acre to yield? Why we will tell you not only what it ought to yield, but what it has been known in many instances to yield. In Essex and Hampshire we have known it to produce year after year thirty bushels of potatoes, five bushels of parsnips, five bushels of car- rots, five busliels of beet-root, five bushels of onions, three hundred cabbages, besides sprouts, with many boilings of peas and beans, as well as radishes and savory heibs. Before giving any directions for the cultivation of the particular crops, we will make a few observations upon some of the operations applicable and beneficial to them all. Draining. — We put this first, because it is least at tended to, yet scarcely a garden exists in all England that would not be very greatly benefited by bein^: drained. We know a cottage-garden that no manur- ing would make productive — it was overrun with sorrel, mercury, and other weeds in the summer, and in winter the crops were always frost-bitten. We told the tenant it would be all cured by draining; and though he laughed at us, yet, as his landlord said he would take twenty shillings from the next rent pay- able at Lady-day, if he did in the meantime drain the garden, the" cottager did drain it — he drained it well, too ; saved a fifth of his twelvemonth's rent, and his garden has been productive ever since. There was a ditch down one side of his garden, so he cui a drain, one foot wide and four feet deep, across his garden. 'This drain sloped down into the ditch; and falling into this first, or main drain, he cut other drains, nine inches wide and three and a half feet deep, and ten yards apart : he filled the bottom eighteen inches of each of the drains, with flint stones, put a little haulm over the top of these, and then returned the earth he had first dug out. Water from this drain into the ditch never ceased running, even in summer. If any cottager wants a further proof that draining will improve his garden, let him be satisfied with this other fact : Lord Hatherton had, at Tedde>ley Hay, in Staffordshire, a great many acres of land, which he let at 1 2.S. per acre ; he drained those acres thoroughly, and they now let for lully 31s. per acre. (^To be continued.) HINTS FROM OUR CONTEMPORARIES. Ckocises in Rooms ai-e usually kept too warm at first. The best treatment is to plant them not later than October, in earth or moss, only slightly damped, and to keep them in the windo-v of a room where there is no fire. In January they may be kept a little warmer, but in all places give them as much air and light as possible. — Gardeners' Chronicle. NUMBER OF SEEDS IN A GIVEN QUANTITY, A.sD THE SP.iCE THliY WILL SOW. loz. of Par.sley-seed has in it 16,200 seeds; and a quarter of it is enough for sowing a drill 60 yards long. loz. of Salmon Radish-seed contains l,f).50 seeds, and will sow, broadcast, a bed containing 10 square yards. loz. of Onion-seed contains 7,600 seeds, and, sown broadcast, will suffice for 14 square yards of ground, but, if sown in drills, will be enough for 20 diills — each 4 yards long, or for about 24 square yards of ground. 1 pint of dun-coloured Dwarf Kidney-beans con- tains 750 seeds, which are enough to sow four rows — each 7 vards long. ] pint of Scarlet Runners contains 264 seeds, and is enough for 4 rows — each 9 yards long. 1 pint of Bioad Windsor ijt-ans has 170 seeds, and is sufficient for 7 I'ows — each 4 yards long. 1 pint of Knight's Dwarf Marrow Peas contains 1720 seeds. 1 pint of Early Warwick Peas, 2160. 1 pint of Prussian Blue Peas, 1S60. 1 pint of Scimetar Peas, 1299 ; and any one of these pints will sow 8 rows — each 4 yards long, as the larger peas require to be sown wider apart in the rows than the smaller-seeded peas. loz. of Carrot-seed, or Parsnip-seed, sown broad- cast, will be sufficient for a bed containing 16 square yards — and for one containing 28 square yards, if sown in drills. loz. of any kind of Cabbage or Brocoli-seed will be enough for a bed containing 9 square yards, if sown broadcast, or for 16 square yards in drills. 10 THE COTTAGE GARDENER. HARDY PLANTS LATELY MADE KNOWN AND WORTH CULTIVATING. Crimson Double- blossomed Peach {Amygdalus Persica sanguinea plena.) — This highly ornamental shrub was brought from China by Mr. Fortune. The flowers being double, it of course does not bear fruit. It is propagated by grafting or budding upon a plum, or any ot!ip<- stock upon which the common peach will succeed. — ftorticidtural Societij's Journal, iii. 246. Californian Zmjschneria (Zaiischneria Califor- n'lca.) — This rival of the Fuchsia is a bushy perennial sent to England from Santa Cruz in California by Mr. Hartweg. It is about three feet high, and bears numerous bright scarlet flowers. It requires a light garden soil, and will probably ^o well upon rock- work. It may be propagated either from seed or cuttings. Sown in May, the seedlings will flower in September. The flowering season of established plants is from June to Octobei-. — Hort. Soc. Journal, iii 241. Peachfs. — Gam de Montreuil and Heine des Ver- gers ; both late, and cling-stnne». Pucelle de Malbies, is very rich, juicy, and melting ; it is not a cling-stoue. Ripens early in September on a south wall. Peaks. — -Arhre courbe : melting ; ripe in October ; suits a west wall. Beurre Bretonneau : melting, rich, oval; March and April. Beurre d'Esperen: large, melting, perfumed; February to May. Beurre Giffard : melting; east or west wall, or pyramidal ; July. Bon Gustave Calebasse d'Ete : half-melting; not produc- tive as a pyramidal ; August. Calebasse d' Hirer : February and March ; otherwise like preceding. Cas- sanle de Mars : crisp , either as a pyramid or on a south wall ; March and April ; does not do on a quince stock. Catinka : melling, but soon spoils ; as a py- ramidal, or on wall ; November and December. Due de Nemours : melting. Orpheline d'Engki^n : melt- ing ; November to January ; as a pyramidal, or on a south wall. Passe Tardive : crisp, keeps twelve months; on a south wall. /"o^Ve/aTOW/e ; half-melting, slightly perfumed. Heine des poires : half-melting ; pyramidal, or on a west wall; November to January. The old Reine des poires ripened earlier. Triomphe de Jodoigne : melting and perfumed ; November and December. T'aucjuelin : juicy, rich, sub-acid, and perfumed; November to March. Strawberries. — Angelique Jamin : large, sub-acid, raised from Keen's seedling. Comte de Paris : middle- sized, scarlet. Princess Royale : vinous, firm-fleshed. Cucumber. — Prize-jighter ; good bearer. Length, 16 inches. Apple. — Anglesea Pippin : verj' like a peach in appearance. Flavour excellent. Very early. Brocoli. — Wilcove closely resembles the Wa'cheren. Celery. — Seymour's White Solid and Red Solid: are large, and, being solid-stalked, not liable to that pipiness which celery usually acquires by age. It has been known to stand two yeai's without running to seed. [C. W. asks whether we shall have a corner dedicated to ' although we cannot promise a constant devotion of space reject such verses as those which he has sent to us.] I SEE it now, through bygone years, As plainly as of yore ! — • Though grief and age have worn life's page And stain'd its traces o'er. That fairy home of boyhood's time. When the world was pure and gay. Comes sweeping back o'er memory's track As fresh as yesterday. I see again the well-known scene — I tread the path anew Where lily, rose, and eglantine, Commingling fragrance threw : You cannot say I'm weak and old. Or that my locks are gray, — I 'in hale and young — I stand among The scenes of yesterday ! Thou reverend, old, and hallow'd oak, I hail thee once again ! The stately wave thy branches gave Is solemn now as then. When underneath thy charmed shade I mused the hours away. Nor thought too bright the dreams I made In sunny yesterday. 'Poetry of the Garden;" — our answer is, that for this purpose, we shall always be unwilling to Thou creeping vine, that lovest to twine Around the cottage door, And weave thy slender, netty arms My chamber lattice o'er, — I 've clnpp'd my little hands for glee, And thought no vine so gay As the vine that cluster'd fruits for me In childhood's yesterday ! Ye tinted flow'rs, of varied hue, That fringe the walks along — Ye modest plants that hide from view Amidst the blooming throng — • I 'm bounding down your garden slope With my long-forgot " Hurra ! " — I 'm shouting loud the song of Hope You taught me yesterday ! Alas ! alas ! that boyish song, For me, is hush'd and still ; The blood that danced so light along Creeps slowly now and chill ; My sight grows dim — my limbs grow old — The vision fades away : Though bright it seem, 'tis but the dream Of bygone yesterday ! Charles Wilton. TO CORRESPONDENTS. Anthont. — We consider not only Pelargoniums and other window-llowers subjects clearly entitled to consideration in our columns, but also greenhouse cultivation altogether. H. J. B. — We will endeavour to give you the information you ask for, relative to Thomas Hill, next week. Nemo will find the best mode of preserving his seedling cauliflowers from the attacks of ^lugs, is by sprinkling over the surface of the soil enough slacked lime to make it quite white. It will remain caustic for three or four days, if no rain occurs. At the end of three days give another sprinkling, and conlinue to repeat it until the seedlings are grown out of harm's way. Si> numerous are the suggestions kindly made by our Clerical Friends, that we mustiest contented to day with giving a general assurance that those suggestions shall receive our best consideratiou. THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 11 WEEKLV CALENDAR. M w OCTOBER 12 — 18, 1848 Plants dedicated to Sun Sun Moon R. Moon's Clock Day of each day. Rises. Sets. and Sets. Age. aft. Sun. Year. 12 Th. Birch leaves fall. Wavy Fleabane. 21 12 rises Full 13 32 286 13 1' Trans. King Edward Confessor. Smooth Helenium. 23 10 6 a 1 16 13 46 287 14 s Beech leaves fall. [leaves fall. Indian Fleabane. 25 7 6 38 17 14 288 15 Sun 17 Sunday aft. Trinity. Cherrj' Sweet Sultan. 26 5 7 21 18 14 13 2S9 16 M Oak leaves fall. Milfoil. 28 3 8 11 19 14 20 290 17 Tu Etheldreda. Ten-petal'd Sunfl. 30 1 9 7 20 14 38 291 IS W St. Luke. Flocculose Agaric. 32 IV 10 9 21 14 49 292 Phenomena op the Season — ISth. Elder leaves begin to fall. — 14th. Sued wild flowers as the heart's-ease, white bebn, black non- such, hawkwced, bugloss, gentian, honeysuckle, and small stitch- wort, are yet blooming in uncultivated i)laces. — 17th. Hazel leaves Insects. — Just after sunset at this peritid, and hovering round flowers, may be seen the Gamma begin to fall. The linne has lost all its leaves. This is the time of apple-harvest in Herefordshire and the other cider-counties. It is also the vintage-time or grape-harvest ol France, Italy, and Ger- many. 1841. 1842. ISIS. 1844. 1S4S. 184G. 1847. 12 Showery. Cloudv. Showery. Fine. Cloudy. Hazy. Fine. 13 Cloudy. Fine. Fine. Cloudy. Fine. Showery. Hazy. 14 Cloudy. Hazy. Fine. Rain. Fine. Ram. H.nzy. 16 Rain. Hazy. Cloudy. Rain. Fine. Rain. Showery. 10 Kaiii. Fine. Fine. Showery. Fine. Pine. Fine. 17 Cloudy. Fine. Showery. Fine. Cloudy. Cloudy. Fine. 18 Showery. Showery. Fine. Fine. Cloudy. Rain. Sho\Yery Moth (Nncfiia gamma, called also Plusia gamma by some naturalists). It is called the Gamraa Moth, because about the middle of the upper wings, but towards their inner border, there is a silvery shining mark, like the Greek letter gamraa (y).* This enables the moth to be easily known ; but we will give a further description of it, that the gardener may be certain that in every one he destroys he has removed an enemy. The outspread wings are about an inch across : the upper ones gray-coloured, marbled with brown, and shining ; the under wings pale ash, with a brown edge ; the head and throat brownish, edged with gray lines ; the belly, or abdomen, yellowish gray, tufted with brown hairs. At this season they deposit their eggs, and it would he an aid to the warfare against them to ascertain what plants they select for this purpose. The eggs hatch at various times from May to September, but chiefly dnring July. The caterpillars proceeding from them are green, beset with greenish single hairs; head brownish green ; on the back and sides three or four yellowish white lines ; feet tivelve in number, and marked with a yellow stripe. These caterjiillars coramlc great ravages, especially in the south of England, upon our peas and other garden vegetables ; the best remedy for which is hand picking. It is quite possible for the progeny of this moth to become quite a plague, as in one season a single pair can produce 80,000 eggs, and in 1735 their caterpillars actually ravaged France. On the roads they might everywhere be seen crossing in all directions. They devoured all the leaves of the peas and pot- herbs; and a vulgar prejudice beijig disseminated, that they were poisonous, all garden herbs were avoided at Paris for some weeks. * The shape of this mark has acquired to this insect another name, — the Y-Moth. GENERAL OcTOBEK is the Gardener's harvest or storing month ; his apples, pears, carrots, parsnips, and many of his seeds, all have to be gathered in during some por- tion of its days. Now, upon the gardener being successful in preserving those fruits, roots, and seeds, depends not only the future supply of his table, but much of his profit. Wien we speak of "profit," we do not confine the meaning of that word to the money for which he might sell that produce of his garden, if he be a retail gardener or a cottager selling his surplus, — but we extend it to the produce of the Amateur's garden. Profit is the absolute re- verse of loss ; and, therefore, as it would be a loss to the amateur to have his fruits and roots prematurely decay, and his seed refuse to vegetate, — so, conse- quently, to have the two first long preserved, and his seed fertile, is as muta to his advantage or profit. Yet, though all ar.; so much interested in the pre- servation of such produce, there is more carelessness and ignorance shown in this department of gardening than in any other. Let us, if we can, arouse a little more attention to this subject, and show how advan- tageously common sense may be exercised upon it. REMARKS. We will confine our observations this week to the storing of roots, and begin with the fundamental ques- tion — In storing them, what should be our great aim and object? The answer is obvious: to keep them, as long as possible, from decaying and from growing. Everything, therefore, that promotes either decay or growth ought to be excluded. Now, it so happens that the two chief circumstances that pro- mote the one equally promote the other ; viz., warmth and moisture. Roots should be so stored, therefore, as to he kept cool and dry; but especially cool— for they contain within themselves, at all times, sufficient moisture to enable them to grow, if they are exposed to a degree of warmth favourable to growth. We remember, as an illustration of this, that we were consulted as to the cause of onions growing and be- coming useless year after year, though they were most carefully dried and hung up in ropes. The cause was at once detected when we were told that the ropes were hung up in the kitchen, where, even in winter, the cook's fire kept the temperature up to the heat of summer. Next year, the ropes were hung up in the scullery, where no fire appeared all the 12 THE COTTAGE GARDENER. winter, and the onions remained without growing even until late in the following spring. Onions, though bulbs, are affected by warmth and moisture the same as carrots ; and to keep these last cool and dry, yet without drying internally so as to wither and be unfit for cooking, the best mode is to put them in a dry cellar, or in an out-house on the north side of the house, in alternate layers with dry sand. They may be thus stacked upon the floor in one corner of the cellar or out-house, or, which is more tidy and more easily managed, in old casks or boxes. A layer of this dry sand being first made about an inch thick, then a layer of carrots, and then another layer of sand, so thick as to be an inch deep, over the carrots. This being repeated until the whole are stored away, the top should be covered about six inches deep with sand. Another important consideration is the preparation of the carrots previously to thus storing them away ; and the first thing is to trim off all the small fibrous roots, and to rub off all the soil which may adhere to the carrots ; for the fibres are very liable to decay, and the soil, much more than sand, promotes that decay. The tops of the carrots must be cut ofij and not only the leaves must be so removed, but also a slice of the root or carrot itself, sufficiently thick to remove the whole of the ring or collar from whence the leaves would spring if the root began to grow. This is a most effectual check to such growth, and the carrots being buried, do not wither, owing to evaporation from the wound, nor do they at all decay — for the surface of the wound dries over. We have tried dry earth, coal ashes, sawdust, tan, and malt-dust, as storing stuff' for carrots and similar roots ; but none of them answer so perfectly as dry pit^sand. Sea-sand will not do, because the salt in it gathers moisture and promotes decay. Parsnips and beets must be treated, when stored, exactly as we have given directions for carrots. All of them should be drawn from the ground by the aid of a fork, and during dry weather ; and they should be dried for a day or two, by exposure to the air, before they are stored away. Those bruised or decayed should not be stored with those which are sound. Editor. THE WEEK'S FRUIT-GARDENING. Trained Trees. — Before addressing ourselves to the cottager, to whom, shortly, vie shall have some advice to offer, we will endeavour to furnish a few seasonable hints to the amateur as to the planting of fruit-trees on walls, or as trained espaliers ; observing, however, once for all, that although we more particularly address some of our observations to the amateur, and others to the cottager, yet that the practical directions and in- formation those observations contain are applicable alike to the gardening of both. The first consideration before planting is the soil; for unless this is of a whole- some character, clever selections of varieties will be of little avail. There are two extremes which should be at all times avoided in preparing the staple for fruit-trees: the one, when soils and subsoils are too retentive of moisture ; tlie other, when the staple of the soil is so sandy and weak, that the trees become exposed to sudden droughts. In the former case the trees become choked with mosses and lichens ; the points die prematurely, and the fruit is starved and stunted. We need scarcely urge that a premature breaking up of the constitution of the tree is tlie sure result. In the case of sandy, porous, and, of course, hungry soils, the young trees are many years old be- fore they attain any profitable size. Their growth is performed by instalments, as it were; and whether they make any at all, depends on the character of the months of April and May; for unless these be wet, the trees have little chance. The trees too speedily become hide-bound; and every summer, drought sub- jects the fruit to the chance of cracking, and of eating " dry." Those about to plant, therefore, should beware of these extremes, and endeavour to correct the soil's texture. It is well known that clays may be made more open and fertile by means of sand; and sandy soils may be made more retentive of moisture by mix- ing with them clays or marl. These various soils, however, not being always at hand, expense becomes a consideration. As correctors of sandy and hungry soils, we would suggest the following ; all of which, or any of them singly, will render such soils more fertile. The order in which they stand will indicate their beneficial quality. 1st. Marl; 2nd. Strong soil from headlands of fields; 3rd. Furrowings from low meadows ; 4th. Clay; 5th. Ditchings from adhesive soils ; 6th. Pond mud ; 7th. Spare turf and weeds ; 8th. Old and unctuous peat. As correctors of adhesive or clayey soils, we suggest also in a similar order : — 1st. Sand of any kind ; 2nd. Ordinary sandy soil; 3rd. Old mortar, lime-rubbish, etc. ; 4th. Cinder ashes, fine ; 5th. Ditchings from loose soils; 6th. Loose turf and weeds; 7th. Ordinary vegetable matter. There need be little trouble or expense attend mix- ing composts ; any, or all of them successively, may he scattered at intervals through the ordinary soil in the process of covering the roots at planting time. This is the most inexpensive and straightforward plan for ordinary cases ; but where a little expense is not heeded, good sound loamy turf is the best material of all others for fruit-trees in general : and we would advise the amateur to introduce portions of it about the roots of choice kinds of fruit-trees. The Cottager's Fruit-garden. — The time ap- proaches in which cottagers must begin to make pre- parations for the produce of another year. Pruning. — As a general policy, we would advise above all things the early pruning of all fruit-trees and shrubs. We suggest this for several strong reasons. In the first place, October and November find the cottager most at leisure to prosecute improvements. His summer cultivation is over ; his store roots are all secured, or soon will be ; and there is still a chance of working the soil, or of putting it under a winter's fallow. By getting the pruning done immediately the leaves are fallen, or even before they are all down, the cottager will find a little leisure occasionally to deeply dig or trench and ridge some of his spare soil ; and this done. THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 13 to be at liberty for the ordinary spring cropping. Spring, which brings a host of business peculiarly its own, should by no means be fettered by arrears of work which might have been cleared off during the past winter. Arpi.E AND Pear. — In pruning ordinary espalier apple or pear-trees, care must be taken to preserve and continue leading shoots at proper distances, and in proper situations. Apple and pear leaders may be about a foot apart, but care should be taken, in the earlier training, that very irregular and overhanging shoots are pruned away, or they will prevent anj' successful cropping beneath the ti'ees — which we shall, in due time, prove can be accomplished without sacri- fice, by adhering to a few maxims. The interior of the bush or tree must also be kept rather ope/i ; at least, the boughs should, from the first planting, be kept rather thinner here than at the outside of the ti-ee. After selecting, and looking well to these leaders, the next point is thinning out. In doing this, all cross-shoots must be removed — at least where crowded, and much of the past season growth cut away where becoming confused. In doing these things, however, the cottager need not proceed to so great an extreme as the amateur, who is aiming as much at symmetry and agreeable forms as produce. It must ever be borne in mind, that many of our apples and pears bear on the young wood ; and such, therefore, must be pruned with a light hand. After thinning out the shoots, a little shortening of them must be attended to — at least whilst the tree is young, and in the course of formation. Neverthe- less, it must be remembered what is the object in \-iew. Shortening contributes nothing to the health of the tree — nothing to its fruit-bearing properties. It is, in fact, an adjunct of a dwarfing system, being an attempt to limit the ultimate size of trees, in order to prevent them, in gardens, from attaining an orch- ard size and character, which would, in time, by overshading the ground, totally prevent success with any course of cropping. Where trees grow tolerably- strong, nearly one-half in length of the young leaders may be pruned away in the earlier stages ; this course, however, should be combined with a slight root- pruning. In pruning bush fruit, it is necessary to thin more liberally ; however, it is proper to divide them into two classes, viz., those which bear chiefly on the annual shoots, and those which bear chiefly on spurs. In the former class, or bearers on the one- year-old shoots, we may place the Gooseberry, Black Currant, and Raspberry : In the class of old wood, or bearers on spurs, the Red Currant, and White Currant. In the first section, it is merely requisite to remove so much of the young spray as that the remaining shoots may be on an average about four inches apart. In spur-pruning, that is to say, in pruning the red and white currant, leaders must be trained in a similar way as the young apple and pear trees; these will be permanent, and they will produce an annual crop of spray from their sides, which must be annually cut back, to within half an inch of its base. In the course of their growth, however, a chance of additional leaders will occasionally occur. Such, if well placed, may be allowed to remain, and receive in due comse the same treatment as those from which they sprang. Hedge-row Fruit-trees. — We would direct the attention of the cottager to the great profit which is frequently derived in many parts of the kingdom from fruit-trees in the hedge-rows. We know of several examples within ten miles of us where the cottager very frequently pays his rent from the fruit-trees in his hedges. The cases we allude to are principally damsons ; many, however, grow the more compact kinds of apples, and without any material injury to the garden crops. We shall, in due course, offer ad^ace how to carry out a system of the kind ; and endeavour to point out how it can be managed without injury to the hedge or adjacent crops. In the meantime we advise all who arc making new hedges, to introduce some trees with good stems. AMiere the trees are to be inserted, it otU be well to introduce some better soil. Any turfy matter will be useful. THE WEEK'S FLOWER-GARDENING. As the seasons roll round, every week brings its care and forethought to the prudent lover of flowers. Even at this comparatively dull season of the year the duties of the flower-gardener are almost as import- ant as at any time. Autumn reminds one forcibly of the end of a well-spent life ; we can not only look back with complacency and thankfulness, but forward with hope. So in gardening, we can remember with pleasure the beauties our skill and industry have brought to perfection : we can prepare a store of ob- jects, take care of them during the trying season of winter, and then look confidently forward to a rich and blooming reward through the months of the future spring and summer. Many are the objects that now demand our care. Perennials. — This week we shall devote our attention to perennials, or flowering plants that last several years. They are a valuable class, inasmuch as they require but little care, and .supply us with flowers all the year, or at least all the floral year. If the garden is but poorly furnished with perennials, they may be procured at a moderate charge of any respectable general nui-seryman. This is a good time to purchase them. The beautiful family of Phloxes stand pre-eminent in this class, producing their lovely blossoms nine months in the year. The routine of culture for this genus will suit nearly all hardy peren- nials. They are readily increased by division of the roots ; or where any particular species is scarce, cut- tings of the half-ripened flower-stems will strike in a cold frame in pots or under hand-glasses, with or without a little bottom heat ;* but where we can com- mand the heat, the plants are more quickly made, and consequently the use of bottom heat is preferable. As soon as the cuttings are struck, they may be potted off into pots, three inches diameter, in rich light soil, and kept through the winter in a cold frame, covered dming severe frost with mats. As soon as the wea- ther becomes more mild, the plants may be planted out into their places, and will bloom partially the first year, and strongly and finely the second. The large and almost equally beautiful genus, Penstemon, does not divide so readily as most others, and therefore must be propagated by cuttings, which may be put in about the month of May, in order to have strong * Bottom-heat— hm applied to tb» roots, as by burying to its rim the pot iu a hot-bed. THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 14 plants early in autumn. We shall return to this inte- resting subject again shortly Amateuu's Flower-garden. — Having now arranged in good order your soils and tools, the next thing to attend to is to examine your stock of flower- roots, and if you do not possess a sufficient variety, now is a good time to procure the necessary addition. Read the foregoing paragraph — it will be useful to you. If your means are limited, purchase the cheapest and showiest kinds, and increase them freely. BuLDs. — Now is especially the season to procure bulbs — such as the crocus, snowdrop, gladiolus, lilies, tulips, &c. All these, whether you have them by you or purchase them, should be examined, and the sound ones preserved and the bad ones thrown away. As soon as the frosts destroy the flowers of the season, the ground for bulbs and perennials should be pre- pared by an addition of compost or manure, to receive the bulbs : of which more anon. Dahlias will now begin to fail, and when the tops are destroyed by frost, must be cut down and the roots immediately taken up to prevent too great an effusion of sap. Many methods of storing dahlias have been recommended : we think the following the best : — Take them up on a dry day, turn the roots upwards so that the sap or moisture may drain away, then in the evening place them in a dry place in the same position, and when they are perfectly dry cover them witli some short dry hay. Once a month examine them, and remove all decaying stems, adding fresli hay if the old has become damp or mouldy. The place wliere Dahlia roots are kept should be impervious to frost. In this way we have kept dahlias very well. Where there is space and time it is a good plan to have a store of young plants in pots, a few of each good kind. These can be put away in the pots, and are almost all sure to grow and make p.trong plants in the spiing. Cottager's Flower-garden. — The cottager will at this season find some rather important things to attend to. He must think how to make his flower- beds gay next season. We shall therefore give him some instructions in propagating the following ar- ticles : — roses, honeysuckles, sweetbriars, jessamines, and cistuses. All these, except the sweetbriar, may be propagated by cuttings in the open ground. Cuttings. — Choose a shady border, next a low wall or hedge, — the latter to be close clipped with the garden-shears. Let the soil be well dug and chopped small, and the surface raked very fine ; then pour some water upon it, and let it stand a day, to become moderately dry again. Let the cuttings then be jrepared, by cutting them with a sharp knife into engths about six inches long ; with your knife take off the leaves, all except the top ones. Cut the lower end of each cutting right across, close to the lowest bud. Expose the cuttings as little as possible to the Bun and air : they may be preserved fresh by having a little damp moss or hay at hand to cover them with as soon as they are prepared. Prepare only one kind at a time. As soon as a sufficient number are ready, open a trench with a small spade at the end of the border intended for the cuttings. Chop the side of the trench furthest from you sti-aight down just a suf- ficient depth to leave the topmost bud and leaf out of the soil ; then place the cuttings against this upright bank about three inches apart. When the row is filled with cuttings, with your spade put the soil against the cuttings, and with your foot tread it firmly to the cuttings. Take great care that the soil is quite close and firm around each cutting. Then fill up level with the top of the row of cuttings another I portion of soil, until there is a bank of earth six inches distant from the first row. Chop down the outemiost edge of the soil, so as to leave another upright bank to set the second row of cuttings against, and so pro- ceed from row to row, till you have filled the space set apart for this purpose. Most of the kinds of the above shrubs may be increased this way, excepting sweetbriars ; these may be raised by the seeds con- tained by the hips; but this subject we will reserve till next week. FLORISTS' FLOWERS. At this season of the year the objects of the flonst's care require constant watching to keep the plants healthy. Every thing about them ought to be clean, sweet, and in perfect order. The success next year depends greatly upon the minute care and constant unwearying attention bestowed during the changeable later months of the year. All plants under glass frames or cold pits must have air every day by propping up the lights in wet weather ; and the lights ought to be drawn ofi' on all fine days, and the plants fully exposed to the sun. Frames. — We have spoken of frames and cold pits. Now the frames and pits necessary for florists' flowers depend entirely upon what stock is kept. A propa- gating pit is a necessary appendage, and a pit or a narrow span roofed house, with a walk down the centre, to grow roses in pots, is also a great acquisition. The best mode of heating both is by the tank system, which we need not describe, as that method is now generally known. A number of hand-lights for striking cuttings of pansies, roses, and pinks, are also indispensable. We mentionsd last week " Soils for Amateurs." Now, if the an.«iei(r must pay attention to providing the necessary soils, compost manures, &c., how much more necessary is it for the florist? He must provide this prepared food for his lovely family in large quantities of the best qualities, and take care that it is rightly mixed, to suit their several constitutions. Like the amateur, he must have loam, peat, or heath mould, leaf mould, manure, and sand. Loam. — The word loam may be defined as the pure soil of the surface of the earth, containing no excess of sand, gravel, iron, or vegetable matter ; the colour a brownish yellow, porous or open, and moderately light. The best is procured from upland pastures, that have been under grass for a number of years. About four inches of the surface is the best. Some- times very good loam may be found near the sides of rivers, but this is too often mixed with the deposits from the water, and is frequently of too close a texture. A florist, however, will soon perceive whether the loam he can easily come at is fit for his purpose. If there is the least appearance of much oxide of iron in it, he must avoid it as he would the plague.* Having selected a loam of good quality, let it be carted home, and have an open situation for it, taking care to have a rather long and shallow heap, so that by turning it over four or five times a year, every part of it may in its turn be exposed to the full influence of the sun and air. Peat, or Heath Mould. — This may be known at once from loam by its colour, being black and full of fine shining particles of pure white sand. The best is to be had from situations where the common heath grows best. Two or three inches of tlie upper surface is usually the best for floral purposes. The quantity * Oxide of Iron may be popularly descrilied as the red rust of iron. It is really iron combined with oxygen, one of the chief constituents of the air we breathe. THE COTTAGE GARDEXER. 15 required is about one-third of the loam directed to be provided. Tliis should also be kept in a situation exposed to tlie air and sun, and occasionally turned over, to bring it into a friable condition, ready for mixing. Leaf, or Vegetable Mould. — This very desirable and almost indispensable ingredient, is, in many places, more difficult to obtain than either loam or peat. In country places, leaves can be collected either in woods or even by the sides of lanes under trees in abundance. And as leaf mould is such a treasure to the florist, no pains ought to be spared during the fall of the leaves to collect as many as possible. It is almost the best of all manures for the garden generally, but for plants in pots it is invaluable. It requires nearly two years to reduce it, by frequently turning over, so as to make it fit for the florist's purposes. Manures. — A volume might be written upon the subject now before us. For floral purposes, however, two kinds are sufficient — rotten stable-dung and cow- dung. These two, properly prepared, in our opinion will grow every kind of florist's flower to great perfec- tion. We are aware some Avriters recommend night- soil, bullock's blood, pigeon's dung — nay, even sugar- baker's scum ! These are all however too hot and stimulating for the delicate plants now under con- sideration. Stable-dung. — The best preparation of this is by making it into hot-beds, which in a garden are always useful. In twelve months it will be rotten enough to mix with other materials to form the proper compost for tlie plants for which it is suitable. Cow-dung requires a rather longer time to make it fit for use, as it does not ferment so easily as horse- dung. The best and readiest way to reduce it into a decayed state is by mixing it with loam : a layer of cow-dung, three or four inches thick, and a layer of loam the same thickness; and so on till the heap is about two feet thick. Allow this heap to remain quiet for two or three months, and then turn it over, repeat- ing this operation about every three months. In eighteen months it will be in a fine state for either potting or to enrich the beds of flowers that requiie a cool, rich compost. Sand is a necessary article to open the composts. The best is the pure pit-sand, known by the name of " silver-sand;" but for most common purposes, river- sand answers very well. It requires, however, to be sifted through a fine sieve, to remove small stones and other extraneous matters. T. Appleby. THE WEEK'S KITCHEN-GARDENING. Angelica. — Sow a small quantity, if not done last month ; a quarter of an oimce of seed will be more than enough. Sow in drills a foot apart, and that quantity of seed will be sufficient for a bed five feet long by three feet wide. Any common soil in an open plot will do for the seed-bed. When the seedlings are about six inches high, let them be transplanted where they are to remain for use. The soil they then prefer is a moist one, such as the side of a ditch having a constant supply of water; but they will grow in almost any soil. Angelica is a biennial, that is, it is a plant which is raised from seed one year, and ripens its seed and dies the next year. Its stems may be blanched and eaten like celery ; its young green shoots may be gathered in May, and candied, or preserved in sugar, for which purpose they are bought by confectioners ; its seeds, leaves, and root being very aromatic and stimulating, are sometimes used in medicine. Old medical practitioners thought so highly of its virtues, that they called it the angelic herb ; and hence its name. A piece kept under the tongue, or held to the nose, was believed to preserve the user from infection ; and the water in which it was sodden for a few hours was considered as highly cordial, and a promoter of perspiration. In Norway and Sweden the leaves and stalks are eaten, either uncooked as a salad, or boiled with meat or fish. Its seeds are used in tliose coun- tries to give a flavour to spirits. Cabbages. — Plant to come into use during next spring, if not done as directed last week. Cabbages, late sown, should be pricked out from their seed-beds. Plant them in rows, on a sloping dry bank, from three to six inches apart, according to their size. Celery. — Earth up. It is the most common practice to do this about two or three inches at a time ; this, however, is a bad system, for every eartiiing-up in- creases the risk of thi soil getting into the heart of the plants, and thereby causing their decay ; but besides this danger, celery plants frequently earthed-up grow much more slowly than if allowed to attain a height of eighteen or twenty-four inches before they are earthed-up at all, and after that are again allowed to grow so high as not to require more than another earthing before they are used at table. Celery becomes white, or blanched, in four or five weeks from the time of its being earthed-up. Chives. — Plant. This small species of the onion- tribe is a native of England, and deserves to be much more cultivated ; indeed, no garden should be without it where the onion is in request. It is so hardy, that no winter destroys it in this country. The green tops may be cut and cut again throughout the year, \'ield- ing an unfailing supply of young onions. A single row of about eight yards long will be enough for a family. The edge of a bed is a good place. The soil should be rich and light. Insert six or eight of the little bulbs in a hole made with a dibble, not more than an inch deep, and the holes eiglit inches apart. They will require to be taken up at the end of two or tliree years, and a fresh plantation made in the same way. There will be many more bulbs than will be required for planting, and those not wanted may be washed and used as onions. Nasturtium Berries. — Gather as they ripen. They should be very dry and hard before storing. Some will yet be found green and sufficiently tender for pickling. Some persons prefer their flavour to those of the caper berries ; but the best of all substitutes for these are the green berries of the elder. Rosemary. — Plant. There are three varieties, the golden and the silvery-striped ; but the green is the hardiest, most aromatic, and usually cultivated. Rooted plants must be obtained, for slips or cuttings will not grow at this season. A light soil, well drained, and with some lime rubbish dug in as a manure, suits it host. (It is a very useful herb. Its flowers are employed in making Hungary-water, and its leaves in the manufacture of Eau de Cologne. Sprigs of it are a very good garnish for some dishes. Infused in water, and with the addition of a little sugar and acid to render it palatable, it is frequently used to make a drink for fevered patients. The old physicians 16 THE COTTAGE GARDENER. adopted it in various modes for many diseases of the brain, over which it was considered to have such an influence that it was called Herb-memory. Shak- spere alludes to this when he makes Ophelia give Laertes a sprig of this plant " for remembrance.") A TEMroiiAKY Pit, for pricking therein small let- tuces and cauliflower plants, may be formed in a sheltered dry open corner. It may be made of turfs, sods of earth, clay, loose bricks, or rough slabs of wood. During severe weather in the winter it may be covered over with straw or other mats, fern, or boughs of evergreens. Dead Lkaves, rake up and stove for manure as fast as the)' fall, for if left upon the ground among the crops, they afford shelter for slugs and other vermin, — destroyers of lettuce, cabbage, spinach, and other winter-standing crops. Hoe, or stir with a fork, the surface of the ground among growing crops whenever the weather is dry and favourable for the operation. The surface cannot be loosened too often at any season of the year. Vacant Ground, trench and throw up into rough ridges, to allow the air and frosts to penetrate the soil thoroughly. Slugs and Snails may now most successfully be enticed and destroyed, by placing here and there upon the beds little heaps of fresh brewer's grains. If these heaps are visited about nine in the evening, the slugs will be found thronging upon them, and may be destroyed by dusting them over with quick-lime. The heaps must be renewed for two or three successive evenings ; and if visited in the same manner, a most effectual clearance will be made. J. Barnes. MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION. OUR OLD GARDENERS. [We promised a con-espondcnt, in our last week's paper, to furnish some particulars of Thomas Hill, and we regret tliat our information is so scanty. The search for this information, however, has led us to the conclusion, that, among the works of "our old gardeners," there are scraps of information which will induce us, under this title, occasionally to give some similar notices of those ancient knights of the spade, j Thomas Hill, Hyll, or Hvlle (for :n his printed works, according to the custom of that age, there is not much uniformity in the spelling), appears to have been a native of the metropolis — or, at all events, he was here long resident; for, from the title-pages of his works during half a century, the adjunct of "Londoner" is never absent. He appears to have been a hacknied compiler of hooks, and to have written as the publisher required — on astronomy, arithmetic, bee?, dreams, physiognomy, gardening, and divinitv. I believe him to be the Dr. Hill who, finally becoming a convert to the religion of Rome, passed the last years of his life on the Continent, and is briefly noticed by Wood amongst the learned of Oxford. He died at the commencement of the seven- teenth century. The absurdities of his horticultural writings need alone be noticed here ; and first among those writings may be quoted, " A Briefe Treatyse of Garden- inge ; teaching the apt dressing, sowing, and setting of Gardens, with the remedies against such beastes, wormes, flyes, &c., that commonlye annoye Gardens : encreased by me the second tyme." This edition was printed in a small octo-decimo volume in 1563. Various editions were subsequently published, and some of these with this addition to the title-page : "To whiche is added much necessarie matter, and a number of secretes, with the phisicke helps belonging to eche herbe, &c." The edition of 1579, which is now before us, mentions nothing about gardening in its title-page, which merely sets forth that it is "A profitable instruction of the perfite ordering of Bees — To which is annexed a proper Treatise of Dearth and Plentie meete for husbandmen to know, &c." But in his preface Hill says, " I have joyned this little treatise unto my booke of Gardening, for that most men do joyne them both togither." The work is comprised in ninet)-two pages, and it is not until the seveiity-seventli that he touches upon Gardening. Of the previous seventy-six pages, I have no other observation to juake than that he says, " When the first of Januarie beginncth on the Wed- nesday, then shall the winter he warm and calme ; the spring wette. and disposed to sicknesse ; the summer hotte, and the harvest unprofitable. Yet plentie of oyle and wines." Mr. Hill's horticultural treatise begins with "The Booke of the Arte or Craft of Planting and Grafling;" and, of his genuine knowledge of his subject, a fair judgment may he formed from his stating, ihat, if the small end of the graft be inserted into tlie stock, the "fruite shal have no core;" and that, if an apple graft be inserted in a stock of elm or alder, " it shal beare red apples." These were things of certainty — the " Londoner " had no doubt about the matter! To make a pear-tree fruitful, it was to have a brisk dose of physic : " Bore a hole into its stem," says Mr. Hill, "and put in some Scammony ; " and, in grammar equal to the truth imparted, he adds, and it shall bear "muche more plentifuller." He is not altogether bad in his recommendations, for he in a degree forestalled Mr. Forsyth, by recom- mending clay plaisters to all wounds o\ trees ; but this better information does not prevail long, for he speedily proceeds to recommend planting when the moon is in Taurus; and in sowing pepins and ker- nels, that the end which was next the root be so placed as to point to the north-east ! With the ex- ception of some erroneous directions for sowing roses, the work is confined to fruit-trees, and chiefly con- cerns their grafting. The work of 1563 is altogether different, and enters move fully into the proper situation and ordering of a garden — partly, he says, from his own experience ; and he refers to a smaller and earlier edition of the work. But it is chiefly, or rather, almost entirely a compilation from the old Roman writers — Varro, Cato, and Palladius. It contains figures of mazes, to be constructed of lavender-cotton, and enumerates, as inhabitants of the kitchen-garden, " spynach, borage, endive, blete, lettis, orache or arage, betes, coolewottes, cresses, parcelye, sperage (asparagus), malowes, savery, alisander, an- nise, cummine, colyander, mustarde, ceruyl, dyll, rue, charvil, saverye, isop (hyssop), mynt, tyme, origanny, lekes, onions, coucumbers, gourdes or melons, garlicke, beanes, radyshe, maijoram, purslane, pene-royal, artichocke, and pasnepe." THE COTTAGE GARDENER. COTTAGE AND ALLOTMENT GARDENING. 17 (No. 2.) BY THE EDITOR. Manuring. — We are all accustomed to confound the words "muck" and "manure," as if there were no other manure than the dung of animals. This is a great error. One of the best of all manures is ground bones ; and every one who has lived on the sea-coast— in Essex, Devonshu-e, Cornwall, and else- where—knows that sea-weed and fish are there very extensively used as manures, and that they cause very great crops to be produced. But, more than this, every cottager knows that rotten wood— the bottom of an old wood-stack, for example,— is a capital manure ; and if he tries, he will find that leaves, weeds, the refuse and slops from the house, all kept, and added day by day as occurring, in one heap,— m a corner of the garden far away from the cottage,— wdl make, as a cottager generally calls it, " capital stuff for the o-arden " In fact, no dead animal or vegetable mat- ters, bones, soap-suds, etc., should be thrown away— for it is saved if put upon the muck-heap. It often happens, too, that a good deal of weedy, grassy clods can be pared off the banks about a garden. Ihese shouldbe collected into a heap and charred— not burnt to ashes. To effect this, pile the clods over a small bundle of dry sticks, and set these alight, leaving a small hole to admit air to the fire ; and as the ftre burns through to near the sides of the pile, heap on Ireshclods, so as to keep the fire smouldering. By this means you will have what is good manure--roasted or charred turf and earth ; but if you allow the flames to burst through, vou will have nothing but ashes, which, compared with the charred, are almost worth- less This roasted turf and earth is, indeed, a very excellent manure. Mr. Barnes, gardener to Lady RoUe, who could have any manure he might msh prefers it to any other. But although this is so. and Mr. Barnes is quite right, yet the cottager cannot get enou-'h of it. He must save every household retuse, too Tbuthe must do more— he must let his children gather the horse-droppings from the road, even it he has a pig besides, and can have its manure for his garden. You cannot have a good crop without you give it manure, and plenty of it too. Before leaving the subject of charred refuse as a manure, we will give one out of many results arising from its use— forgone fact is more minded than twenty assertions, and most men think as the gardener who once enquired of us, " Is that a has-been, or is it only a mav-be "> " Now, the use of charred rubbish is a has-been ;" it has been tried all over England, and is found to be a most excellent manure. " It is suit- able " says Air. Barnes, " for the culture of every kind of plant, whether it be grown on the farm or in the garden, in the hot-house, green-house conserva- tory! or open border,"— and here is one of his proofs ; " A piece of ground that was cropped with cole- worts last autumn (1S43) was cleared early and the refuse ti-enched in during the winter. Ninety-five feet in length, and ten feet in width, was planted with small onions on the 14 th of February, which onions had been sown the second week of September m the previous autumn. They were planted in rows one foot apart, and six inches from plant to plant,— with the intention of drawing every alternate one tor use through the summer— but the whole nine rows did not git entirely thinned. The following is the weight when ripe for storing on the 1st of August : " Five rows grown where 41bs. of bone-dust to each row had been so^vn in a drill drawn three inches deep and filled up, and the onions planted over it, produced 420 lbs. weight of onions — each row yielding from 82 to SSlbs. .c_-, " The other four rows had applied to them, of fresh dry charred refuse and ashes, made from the garden rubbish-heap, two common buckets full— weight, 141bs. They produced 366lbs. of onions, the rows weighing respectively 99, 89, 95, and 83 lbs ; the last row being injured by a row of red cabbage growing near. " Many of the foregoing onions, which were a mix- ture of the Globe, Deptford, and Reading, measured in circumference from 14 to 16i inches, and weighed as many ounces. I weighed twelve together, that turned the scale at 121b. 9oz. I can only fancy what a wonderfiU sa-sang and benefit it would be to the country, to char the refuse of old tan, chips, saw- dust, ditch scourings containing sods, weeds, rushes, and refuse. By keeping the surface of the earth well stu-red, no crops appear to suffer by drought that are manured by charrings, but continue in the most vigorous health throughout the season, never suffering materially by either drought or moisture." On spring-sown onions and on turnips, Mr. Barnes finds charred or carbonized vegetable refuse equally beneficial. Three rows, each 95 feet long, of the white globe onion, manured with bone-dust, weighed 2511bs. ; whilst three similar rows of the same variety, and grown under precisely similar circumstances, but manured with charrings, weighed 289 lbs. PRUNING. Pruning is the art of cutting the branches of a plant so as to obtain the best and greatest amount of the produce desired from it, and with the least possible injury to the plant. This is perhaps the most accurate definition that can be given ; but we are not intending to enter largely into the subject, and only give this definition that we may observe, at this pruning season, that to act up to it in pruning trees, the knife em- ployed cannot be too sharp, for to cause to them " the least possible injm-y," tlie cuts ought to be as smooth as can be, and in proportion to the smoothness of their surfaces will be the readiness with which they heal. A cut smoothly made, without any tearing of the bark, and properly near to, but not close to a bud, wiU often heal over in a few weeks. The annexed is the best example we can offer, and if the pruner keeps this in his memory he cannot have a better pattern. There is here a sufficient slope to throw off moisture from the cut surface, and away from the bud; and there is enough of bark (half an inch) above the bud to prevent the sap vessels of the bud being injured, and to enable the extra vigour, always observable in their vicinity, to be exercised in secreting matter for healing over the wound. BRITTON ABBOT; OR, WHAT CAN BE DONE. Two miles from Tadcaster, on the left hand side of the road to York, there stood in the year 1804, and, perhaps, it is standing there still, a beautiful little cottage with a garden, which unfailingly attracted the eye of the traveller. The slip of land, exactly a rood, was inclosed by a cut quick-hedge, and within it were 18 THE COTTAGE GARDENER. the cottage, fifteen apple-trees, one green-gage, three winesour plum-trees, two apricot-trees, and several bushes of the currant and gooseberry. Three hives of bees also were there. Neatness and good order strikingly characterized the whole. Now the proprietor of this well-managed plot was a labourer, named Britton Abbot, and he was then sixty-seven years' old, and Jiis wife numbered nearly the same number of years. They had been married forty-five of that number, and had reared six children, who, at the time of which we are writing, were living and thriving in the world. One was the wife of a car- penter at Yoi-k; another occupied a little farm at Sheffield ; the third married a labourer, who had built himself a cottage at Tadcaster, and wanted nothing, as Britton Abbot observed, " but a bit of ground for a garden." Britton Abbot's history offers warning as well as encouragement, for it illustrates the tnitli that a labourer should look to his plot of ground for help to live, and not for entire support. He was th.rifty from boyhood, and by the time he was twenty-two, even without the aid of a savings bank (for savings banks were then uisknown), had contrived to accumulate forty pounds. On this little capital he man-ied, and took a small farm of thirty pounds a year rental. In two years he gave it up, for he had lost upon it nearly all liis savings ; but he was not conquered, or even disheartened, and he had learned wisdom. He was still convinced of the value of a plot of ground to the labourer, but he did not seek for so much as he did before. He asked 'Squire Fairfax to let him have a little bit of ground by the road-side, telling the 'squire witli honest confidence, that if he would grant hmi the boon, " he would show him the fashions on it." Tlie 'squire complied with his request, and when he ob- served the good skill and industry tliiit Abbot bestowed npon the little inclosure, he allowed him to have it rent-free. Abbot's reply deserves to be remembered — " Niiw, sir, you have a pleasure in seeing my cottage and garden neat ; and why should not other 'squires have the same pleasure in seeing the cottages and gardens neat about them? The poor would then be happy, and would love them and the place where they lived ; but now every nook is to be let to the great farmers." Abbot was now a thriving man. He was a good workman, in constant employ, and so had his week's wages regularly ; lived rent-free ; and from his garden obtained annually forty bushels of potatoes, besides other vegetables; his fruit sold on the average for £3 or £4 ; his wife had occasional work ; spun at her leisure ; and looked after the house and garden. " To be sure," said Abbot, " I have a grand character in all this country;" and if every labourer had the same steady habits, he might have a character equally " grand," and be equally happy and equally prosper- ous ; " happy in his own industry and good manage- ment ; in the beauty and comfort of his cottage, and in the extreme fertility of his garden."* — G. IlARJJY PLANTS LATELY MADE KNOWN, AND WORTH CULTIVATING. TouENi.i AsiATicA is uot quite hardy, for, like the scarlet pelargonium (geranium), it requires to be housed diu-ing the winter ; yet, like that, it is good for planting out in the flower-borders, over the surface of • Minutes of Board of ^V^riculture. which it spreads, and its deep blue flowers are highly ornamental. Its generic name, Torenia, is in com- memoration of Olof Toreen, a Swedish traveller and naturalist; and its specific name, Asiatica, informs us that it is a native of Asia, for it is found in almost every part of southern India. It is easily propagated by cuttings planted in light soil, and placed under a hand-glass in a hot-bed. It may be increased also by dividing the roots. It is not improbable, also, that tlie branches will root in the borders if pegged down at a joint and covered with earth. The plants are benefited by being manured with a mixture of peat and leaf-mould. — (Paxton, etc.) HINTS FROM OUR CONTEMPORARIES. Tulips. — Mr. Groom, of Clapham Rise, near Lon- don, is one of the most successful, and most extensive cultivators of this flower. His tulip-bed is fifty yards long, and four feet three inches broad, containing two thousand bulbs. His pet tulip is Victoria Regina (Queen Victoria). Its form is perfect; and its ground or prevailing colour snowy white, with the feathering and flame rosy purple. It is a second-row flower, and its price five guineas. — {Midland Florist). [The featlicring of a tulip is a dark edge round the petals or flower-leaves. The flame is a dark, pointed spot, in the shape of a candle-flame, in the centre of each petal. Tulips, according to tlie height to which their flower-stems grow, are called 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and H\\-row flowers. The shortest are put next the edge of the bed, and are called, first-row flowers. The tallest, in the middle of the bed, are the fourth-row flowers]. White Rust of Cabbages. — No season has ever been more productive of disease to plants than has the last wet, cold summer. Among the diseases that have attacked them, none have been either so fatal or so general as the rust. This is a disease occasioned by the growth upon them of very small fungi (mush- rooms), and it has destroyed many crops of wheat, grapes, and cabbages. The rust of the cabbage is oc- casioned by a little fungus called Cystoptis (albugo) cnndidus (tt'liite cystopus). When a cabbage is severely attacked by it, its leaves and every other part thicken and become distorted, owing to the roots of the fungus penetrating and breaking through the sap-vessels of the cabbage. — {Hart. Society's Journal, iii. 265.) [If only one or two cabbages are thus attacked, the best remedy will be to pull them up and burn them, to prevent the fungus shedding its seeds on other cab- bages. If many are attacked, we recommend the soil about their roots to be sprinkled with salt, an ounce around each cabbage, and to dust its leaves early in the morning, whilst the dew is upon it, with quick lime.] Melons in the open Air.- — Mr. Williams of Pit- maston, has for some years past been trying to give increased hardiness to the melon ; and with this view made use every year of the seed matured in the open air during the preceding summer. The plants have, in consequence, become so hardy, that in the two last seasons they grew, and the fruit set as well as a com- mon gourd. ''The whole contrivance for presenting the plant to the solar influence in the most advan- tageous way, and at the same time giving a little warmth to the roots, does not cost more than a few shillings." He adds, " I have already cut fifteen melons, and my gardener tells me there are upwards of thirty-five THE COTTAGE GARDENER 19 that will ripen before the plants are killed by the cold." The open-air bed is raised on the ground-level, on a base 24 feet in length, and SJ feet in width. The back is of brick-work (against a south wall or paling, therefore, would do), 3 feet 3 inches high; the ends are also of brick-work, aud slope from the above height at back, to the level of the ground at the front. The bed is composed of weeds, bean-stalks, old tan, garden rubbish, and litter of any kind, made com- pact ; and finally, about 9 inches of only common garden-soil, in which the melons are planted. When finished, it presents a uniformly inclined plane, facing the south ; but Mr. Williams thinks he should prefer an aspect a little to the south-east. As the soil is raised a little higher than the back, to allow for sinking, the slope forms an angle with the ground-line of about 23°. Nine plants raised singly in pots were planted out on this slope, and, till some- what established, they require to be protected by hand-glasses ; flat tiles are then laid over the surface of the bed. The shoots or vines of the melons are neither stopped nor thinned ; in short, with the ex- ception of merely pegging them down, tliere is nothing at all done to them. Instead of tiles being employed, as above, slates were formerly used ; but these became at times so excessively heated by the sun's rays, that the plants suffered from being subjected to the conse- quent vicissitude of so great a heat in the day, alter- nately with the cold to which they were e.xposed at night. Tiles, on the contrary, do not absorb heat so rapidly, but they retain it longer. The situation of the melon-bed is not particularly sheltered ; there is a hedge on the north side, at the distance of 15 feet from the back of the melon-bed, but it is not high. Two feet behind the hedge there is, however, some tall elm-trees, and at some distance there is a row of the same kind of trees, which afford shelter from the west winds. The mode in which the plants are reared is an important point : they are raised with as little heat as possible, and are all along accustomed to plenty of air. Mr. Williams remarks that, " when melon-plants are raised for the purpose of being planted on a bed of the above description in the open air, the pots in ■which the seeds are sown should never be plunged in a warm dung or tan-bed ; for when plants so treated are removed into the com- mon ground, if the weather proves cold and wet, their leaves turn yellow, and they afterwards become sickly, and continue so a long time." — {Ibid. 273). Sound Philosophy. — At the last meeting of the " Farnley Tyas Society, for the Encouragement of Spade Husbandry," John Nowell, Esq. made these observations, deserving of circulation throughout the length and breadth of the land : — " Allow me to cau- tion the more sanguine part of the operatives not to delude themselves with the notion that the rood of land is everything, and that the industry and care required in its cultivation, is nothing. A rood of land will not support a working man — but it will help him. It will require, most assuredly, all his care and all his attention, while waiting for his usual employ, in a time of good trade, to keep up the cultivation of his garden. And should the working man neither neg- lect his handicraft employment nor his land, in favour- able seasons a most certain issue will be the result.* He cannot well starve before Christmas. Manufactures and agriculture ought to be handmaids to each other. They will flourish, or they will decay together ; and * Mr. Nowell was especially addressing the Yorkshire weavers, but the lesson is applicable to all districts, whether manufacturing or agricultural. far be it from our wish to elevate or to depress one at the expense of the other. Rather be it our desire to establish a closer bond of union between them. Let the master manufacturer surround his manufactory with rood-gardens. He will thus secure the steadiest and the best workmen, and attach them to his service; and he cannot but rejoice to see his dependents happy in the possession of their little winter store, and under his daily observation, to mark their improvement in the duties of husband, father, and subject. Give your neighbour a ' stake in the hedge,' and in defending his own slender stake against intruders, he will neces- sarily defend your larger 'stake.'" — {Labourer's Friend.) A.v Interesting Scene. Profit on Labourers' Allot- ments. — On Thursday, the 21st of May, the allotment tenants of Andrew Johnstone, Esq., of Halesworth, had their audit. There were thirty tenants holding one-quarter of an acre each, four old men one-eighth of an acre, and ten boys each occupying one rod, as a reward of atte:idance and good behaviour at the Even- ing Adult-school. The tenants assembled at seven p.m., in the Infant School-room, which was decorated with boughs, etc., and with inscriptions neatly printed by the boys, such as " God speed the spade," " Long live the kind giver," " Honour the Lord with the first fruits of your allotments," etc. The principal orna- ment of the room was a display, on a long table, of specimens of the produce, which was pronounced by the best judges to he highlj- creditable. Among them ' were excellent wheat, fine potatoes of various sorts, beans, peas, very large and straight carrots, orange beet, turnips, and cabbages, with Jerusalem artichokes, and many other vegetables. One tenant furnished some excellent fiovvers raised from seed, which he sells at a good profit. The rents were all paid ; after which Mr. Johnstone addressed some useful remarks to his tenants ; first on their moral and religious conduct, the education of their children, etc., and then on the ma- nagement of their ground; after this he called for the account of profit and loss, and to each of the four tenants who exhibited the most produce and furnished well-kept accounts, he presented a good gardening tool, to which a fifth was added by the kindness of a tradesman in the town, as a token of his approbation of the show. The following are the results of some of the accounts : (1) £ *. Produce ... 6 9 Rent and outlay 3 12 d. 1 7 (3) £ s. Produce . . . 5 13 Rent and outlay 2 3 Profit . . 3 10 (4) Produce . . . 6 14 Rent and outlay 3 d. 2 1 Profit . . 2 16 (2) Produce ...(,(> Rent and outlay 3 1 6 9 7 1 10 Profit ..352 Profit . . 3 14 10 The boys were next addressed ; and the result of their efforts proved one of the most interesting features of the evening. It appeared that ten boys had been allowed one rod of land, for which they were to pay sixpence rent. The account of the produce was as follows : 1 6 7 8 9 10 To the boys who had gained the most, and thereby 20 THE COTTAGE GARDENER. proved that they had done the best, prizes of garden tools were given, and their smiling countenances showed their satisfaction when Mr. Johnstone an- nounced that an increase would be afforded to the boys' allotments. The landlord then proceeded to read a portion of Scripture, and tlie Doxology was sung ; after which, good meat pies, smoking hot, were distri- buted to each tenant, including the boys, and all retired highly satisfied. — ( The Labourers' Friend.) AuTu.MN-PLANTiNG POTATOES. — A Writer in the Gar- dener's Chronicle relates a series of experiments in which the potatoes planted in last November, and at intervals up to February, were uniformly good, planted in an old garden ; but as uniformly diseased when planted in February, and at intervals until the end of April, upon a soil rather lieavier. THE TULIP AND THE MYRTLE. 'T WAS on the border of a stream A gaily painted Tulip stood ; And gilded by the morning beam, Survey'd her beauties in the flood. And sure, more lovely to behold Might nothing meet the wistful eye, Than crimson fading into gold In streaks of fairer symmetry. The beauteous flower, with pride elate ; Ah me ! that pride with beauty dwells ! Vainly affects superior state, And thus in empty fancy swells. " lustre of unrivall'd bloom. Fair painting of a hand Divine ! Superior far to mortal doom, The hues of Heaven alone are mine. " Away! ye worthless, formless race, Ye weeds that boast the name of flowers; No more my native bed disgrace, Unmeet for tribes so mean as yours. " Shall the bright daughter of the sun Associate with the shnibs of earth ? Ye slaves, your sovereign's presence shun, Respect her beauties and her birth ! " And thou, dull, sullen evergreen, Shalt thou my shining sphere invade ? — My noon-day beauties beam unseen, Obscured beneath thy dusky shade." " Deluded flower!" the Myrtle cries, ■' Shall we thy moment's bloom adore? The meanest shrub that you despise. The meanest flower has merit more. " That daisy, in its simple bloom. Shall last along the clianging year ; Blush on the snow of winter's gloom, .\nd bid the smiling spring appear. " The violet that, those banks beneath. Hides from thy scorn its modest head, Shall fill the air with fragrant breath. When thou art in thy dusty bed. " Even I, who boast no golden shade. Am of no shining tints possess'd When low thy lucid form is laid, Shall bloom on many a lovely breast. " And he, whose kind and fostering care To thee, to me, our beings gave, Shall near his breast my flowers wear. And walk regardless o'er thy grave. " Deluded flower ! the friendly screen That hides thee from the noontide ray. And mocks thy passion to be seen. Prolongs the transitory day. " But kindly deeds with scorn repaid, No more by virtue need be done, — I now withdraw my dusky shade. And yield thee to thy darling sun." Fierce on the flower the scorching beam With all its weight of glory, fell ; The flower exulting caught the gleam. And lent his leaves a bolder swell. Expanded by the searching fire, The curling leaves the breast disclosed ; The mantling bloom was painted higher, And every latent charm exposed. But when the sun was sliding low, And evening came, with dews so cold ; The wanton beauty ceased to blow, And sought her bending leaves to fold. Those leaves, alas ! no more would close, — Relax'd, exhausted, siekenhig, pale; They left her to a parent's woes. And fled before the rising gale. Dr. Langhoine. TO CORRESPONDENTS. H. White. — Tlie quicAest mode of softening oM putty is bypassing over it repeatedly an iron, heated ne,irly to rednes::. If the putty is so very old and hard as not to be thus softened, the softening may be effected more slowly by keeping upon it, for a few hours, rags wetted with 3 strong solution of caustic potash. W. S. — We are of opinion that there is such a variety of the grape as the Red Hamburgh, and we will state our reasons for so thinking next week. A Friend (Hackney) will perceive from our first Number, as well as the present, that we have strictly excluded all the objectionable Advertisements alluded to. THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 21 WEEKI.V CALENDAR. Im Id w D OCTOBER 19—25, 1848. Plants dedicated to each day. Sun Rises. Sun Sets. Moon R. and Sets. Moon's Age. Clock aft. Sun. Day of Year. 19 Th. Elder leaves fall. Tall Coreopsis or Tick- 33 a 6 57 a 4 11 15 C 15 293 20 F. Walnut leafless. Yellow Sultan, [seed 35 55 morn. 23 15 10 294 21 S. Sun's declination, 10'=' 51' S. Hairy Silphium. 37 53 21 24 15 20 295 22 Sun. IS SCND.IY AFTER TrINITY. 3-leaved Silphium. 39 51 1 29 25 15 28 296 |23| M Privet ben-ies ripe. Rushy Starwort. 40 49 2 35 26 15 37 297 '21 Tu. Golden Plover arrives. Wavy Starwort. 42 47 3 40 27 15 44 298 To W Crispin. Fleabane-like Stanvort. 44 45 4 44 28 15 51 299 St. CaispiiT, together Tvith St. Crispian, were adopted by shoe- makers to be their tutelary saints, because these two brothers, and martyrs of the Christian faith, had learned their handicraft to avoid the necessity of being burdensome to the early converts to whom they preached. They were beheaded at Soissons, about the year 308. The shoemakers at the principal towns of Scotland assemble annually and choose a king upon this day. Phenomena op the Season.— In the calendar above we have noticed the customary events of the week in the vegetable world. Among animals, we may observe that this is the period of migration Insects.— The Angle-shades Moth {Phlngophora meticulosa) is so called from the various shades of with many birds who are only our periodical visitors. Either during last week or the beginning of this, the swallow has departed; and, in a few days after, they make their appearance on the coast of Africa. The niffhfingale leaves us about a week earlier, and speedily after- wards is heard in the thickest woods of Lower Egypt. On the other hand, the woodcock and sjiipe now return to us from Sweden, and other northern countries, where they pass their summer life. The cross-bill also visits us occasionally, and near Oldbury, in Gloucester- shire, has sometimes come before the apples have been all gathered — in which case this bird makes sad havoc with that hope of our western orchardists. IS41. 1842. 1843. 1844. 1845. 1846. 1847. 19 Fine. Fine. Fine. Cloudy. Cloudy. Fine. Fine. •20 Fine. Fine. Cloudy. Fine. Fine. Fine. Fine. 21 Fine. Fine. Showery. Cloudy. Fine. Rain. Rain. 22 Hazy. Rain. Cloudy. Rain. Cloudy. Cloudy. Fine. 23 : Rain. Rain. Fine. Cloudy. Fine. Fine. Rain. 24 Cloudy. Rain. Cloudy. Rain. Fine. Fine. Showeiy. 25 Cloudy. Rain. Cloudy. Rain. Cloudy. Cloudy. Fine. tribes, and : spots on the brown which mottle the edges of the upper wings, and form a purplish triangled mark in the centre of those wings. This is one of the handsomest of the evening mollis, and also one of the larger, for it is two inches across the expanded wings. It makes its appearance at intervals, from the end of May until the close of October. Its upper wings are wliile; tinged with pink, clouded with olive-brown, and marked and edyed as above noticed. The hinder margins of those wings are irregularly notched. The under wings, at their tips, are also a pinky white, having in their centre a gray, crescent-like mark, and also two or three slight lines of the same colour. The horns (antennae) are long and slender, and the whole body variously tufted with hairs. Its caterpillars feed upon our cabbage i few others of our culinary vegetables. They are usually green, but sometimes brownish ; they have a row of oblong white back, and a white line on each side. On more than one occasion we have heard gardeners differ in opinion as to whether there are two distinct varieties of the Hamburgh grape — the black and the red. The question has again been brought to our notice by a correspondent, who justly observes that " amateurs may be excused for doubting, since even first-rate authorities differ in their statements as to the identity or non-identity of the grape or grapes in question." In the "Catalogue of Fruits" published by the London Horticultural Society — an authority to which we are always predisposed to bow — the Black and Red Hamburgh are said to be the same variety ; and the characteristics are thus epitomised : — " Bunch, large ; colour, black ; berry, roundish ; skin, thick ; flavour, sweet ; quality, first-rate." That this is an accurate description of the black Hamburgh is beyond dispute : it is the description given long previously by Miller, Speechley, and Forsyth ; hut then all these authorities also agree in describing the Red Hamburgh, which they say was sometimes called the Gibraltar grape, as a distinct variety. In this decision they are sustained by later authorities, of whom we need quote no others than Loudon and George Lindley. Loudon (Encyclop. of Gardening, p. 753,) says the red Ham- burgh was also called Warner's, or Hampton Court grape, and that it is " reckoned the best of Ham- burghs." Mr. Lindley, in his work edited by Dr. Lindley {Guide to the Orchard), is still more explicit. He says, " The berries of tliis (the red Hamburgh) are of a dark red or purple colour, with a thin skin and a juicy, delicate flesh. The size and figure of both the bunch and the berry are very much like the black Hamburgh, except the latter being less oval, and growing more loosely on the bimches. When the berries of the red Hamburgh are imperfectly ripened, they are of a pale brown colour, which occasions it to be called the brown Hamburgh ; but, if perfectly matured, it is by many considered to be the richest and best-flavom-ed of the two. The leaves of this in the autumn become mottled with green, purple, and yellow ; those of the black Hamburgh are mottled with green and yellow only. They were both brought into this country by Mr. Warner, of Rotherhithe. The oldest vine of this kind known in England is that at Valen- tine's House, near Ilford, in Essex. Mr. Gilpin (Fo- rest Scenery, i. 153,) says it was planted a cutting in 1758, and is the parent of the well-known Hamburgh vine now growing at Hampton Court." THE COTTAGE GARDENER. We coincide with those who think the red Ham- burgh a variety distinct from the black Hamburgh, and we ground our opinion not upon that of the first importer of them both, nor upon the opinions of the excellent authorities we have quoted, but upon the experience gained by cultivating a red Hamburgh vine for two years in a greenhouse under our own exclusive care. This experience teaches us, that if the grapes are prematurely ripened — that is, ripened before they have attained to the size of which they are capable of attaining — if they are exposed to an excess of light by an over thinning-away of the leaves, then the fruit of the red Hamburgh may be made to approach nearly, but never exactly to resemble, that of the Black Hamburgh. On the other hand, if a due quantity of leaves are left, and, by an abundant ad- mission of air, the fruit is allowed gradually to attain the full size it woidd naturally attain before the ripen- ing process begins, then the red Hamburgh cannot be mistaken for the black Hamburgh. The berries are too mucli of a purplish red in colour, too thin of skin, too tender fleshed, and too far departing from complete roundness. That the grapes in the green- house we have mentioned are not ill-grown, we have the testimony of the judges at the Hampshire Horti- cultural Show in November last — for they awarded to it the first prize for " Red Hamburgh Grapes, grown without heat ; " and we hope to run a good race for the same prize in the November now approaching. Tlie decision of this question, as to the non-identity of the two varieties, is of some interest to gardeners ; for we are satisfied that a prize has often been lost because the judges have thought the grapes deficient in colour as black Hamburghs, when being, in truth, red Hamburghs, they could not have been brought to equal their competitors in depth of colour. To our next Number will be added another depart- ment — " The Week's Greenhouse and Window- Gardening." A sufficient guarantee for its excel- lence is that it will be furnished by Mr. D. Beaton, Gardener to Sir W. Middleton, Bart., at Shrubland Park. We are induced to add this department be- cause our large sale justifies our giving weekly twelve pages instead of eight, as originally intended. We have to apologise to our readers for the inser- tion of the Poetry at the end of our last Number. It was placed there for no other reason than that part of the copy intended for insertion had been mislaid during the unavoidable absence of the Editor from London. THE WEEK'S FRUIT-GAKDENING. Arrangement of Fruit-trees in the Garden of the Amateur. — Having in our last thrown out sug- gestions, founded on a very long and extensive prac- tice, for the most ready mode of correcting the staple of soils for fruit-trees, we now proceed to offer some advice about the disposal of them in the amateur's garden. We must tnus divide this portion of the matter, for the cottager will of course need special advice on this head, although he, too, may occasionally take a hint from the amateur's practice. Aspect of Garden. — In proceeding with this sub- ject, we will suppose the case of a new garden in an eligible situation. A sloping surface is always consi- dered an advantage, provided the slope is very mode- rate, and inclines to any of the points from south-east to south-west ; other inclinations or aspects are much inferior. Shelter. — The walls or other boundaries being built, the next matter is, to seek extra protection, if possible, by means of planting ; indeed, this may be accounted the first step of the two. We do not by any means advocate the planting large trees close to the garden-wall ; this is a most erroneous course of proceeding. In the first place, they prevent the training of some very useful fruits on the outside of the garden-wall ; and, in the second place, protection- trees or shrubs thus situated do serious injury to the fruit-trees in the interior of the garden, when their boughs have grown so as to overhang the wall. How- ever, the amateur is not unfrequently situated near to other buildings ; and in such cases, severe limitation of room precludes the possibility of selecting a proper site. There is no real necessity for a continuous belt ; a good group of trees at the northwestern side, and another ranging from north to east, will suffice, pro- vided the kinds are well selected. The Scotch fir, the holly, and the spruce fir, if moist soil, are particularly eligible as evergreens ; and the beech is bj' far the best deciduous tree to intermix with them. Tlie latter retains its leaves for a greater length of time than most forest trees. The beech, however, requires that some of its side-shoots he occasionally pruned in, or the consequence will be, that the beech will overgrow and ruin the other trees, its companions. In new plantations of this kind a few of the more rapid- growing poplars may be introduced, to be removed after the beech and firs get up ; they produce a more speedy eff'ect than any of the others. Planting and under Crops. — We come now to the disposal of the interior area. There are two dis- tinct modes of procedure, either of which may be observed as a guiding principle in this affair. The one, so to plan it as not to crop the fruit-borders ; the other, to include a course of such cropping. We would advise the former mode : we are, how- ever, willing to admit that it will make a week or so difference in the earliness of the peas, cauliflowers, lettuces, etc. ; which to some jiersons are an important consideration. We will now deal with the ordinary mode, that is to say, of cropping in combination with fruit culture : but in a future paper we will show how the other mode may be rendered both more econo- I mical and more certain in its results as regards fruit- culture. Borders and Walks. — A border of ten feet is amply sufficient next the wall ; next to that border a walk of at least four feet width, and adjoining this walk another border, with an alley behind it, separating it from the quarters of the earden. The border last named should be at the least six feet wide ; this, carried THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 23 all round the garden, we hold to he the most eligible mode by far where cropping must be carried out. Aspects. — ^We may now briefly advert to the dif- ferent aspects. The south wall, or rather southern aspects, should he reserved for the apricot, the peach, the nectarine, and the vine, anywhere south of the midland countries ; but north of them, the vine must be omitted ; if any attempt be made to grow it, the side of a house facing any point from south-east to south-west, provided there is a fireplace behind, will he the most eligible situation. The apricot, however, in the northern countries, is by far the most profitable crop for a warm gable of this kind. We know many cottagers who make great profits by means of an apricot thus situated. Their mode of management we will advert to in due course, under the head " Cottage Gardening." In the northern countries, some of the very superior Flemish pears, such as the Winter Nelis, will deserve a place on a southern aspect. On the eastern aspect may be placed the principal of the trained plums and pears; and on the western, pears and cherries. On the north aspects, the Morello cherry will be found a most valuahle fruit; and by providing nets of a proper mesh to exclude the smallest of the birds, this fruit may be kept with ease until the middle or end of October. Two-thirds of the north aspect may be occupied with this cherry, whilst the remainder may receive a greengage plum, an Orleans, and even the Duke cherry, which makes a fine late dessert fruit in this aspect. Ere long we will speak of the espalier-borders of the amateur. We must now advert to cottage-gardening. Cottage Fruit-gardening, — In our last we sug- gested the utility of getting forward with all work connected with planting, etc. We may now hint to the cottager the propriety of collecting turfy matters from the lanes, road-sides, or commons ; even the scourings of ditches are of much use ; for whatever the subsoil may be, the settlings are very nutritious when made into compost, not only for fruit-trees, but for garden-dressings. Turf-Manure. — The cottager should learn well that, above all other matters, turf of any kind is more valuable than people commonly imagine. Where the garden soil is hungry, chopped sod, or turf from soils of a clayey character, are the Very best manures that can be put into the holes for his fruit-trees: such furnish not only permanent nourishment during the droughts of summer, when the growth of fruit-trees on sandy or hungry soils frequently becomes stag- nated, and then of course they are doubly liable to the attack of insects ; the fruits also crack, or become encrusted with fungous matter; and hence the fre- quent complaints about fruits keeping badly. Any surplus turfy material, if more than wanted, may be piled up in a corner of the garden, as a reserve stock; and as at this period much coai-se herbage, weeds, etc., can be collected, we would advise a thorough trimming of weeds and other vege- table matters wherever they can be got ; these may be spread, layer for layer, with the turfy material. If the cottager can procure lime, we particularly advise a good sprinkling of this article between every layer, especially amongst the weeds and over the ditchings. This will tend to mellow and crumble down these raw matters by the next year. Planting. — This is the very best period in the year for planting fruit-trees ; and in our next we will offer a list of such as are truly profitable for the cottager ; in the mean time we advise him to consider about hedge-row fruits, as adverted to in our last. Gooseberries and Currants. — The hush-fruit may now be removed forthwith, if necessary. Gooseberries and red and white cun-ants like a deep and rather loose soil, containing a good deal of any rotten vege- tables. Black currants Uke a damp soil, and a liberal depth likewise. R. Errington. THE WEEK'S FLOWER-GARDENING. General Flower-garden. — The season is now fast approaching when we may expect severe weather, therefore every preparation to meet it must be dili- gently attended to, so that all the stock of plants to supply the garden with flowers next year may he in safe quarters during winter. Winter Shelters. — Verbenas, petunias, bedding out calceolarias, Oenotheras, phlox drummondii, ana- gallis, dwarf and tall lobelias, should all now be either in frames or pits, ready to be covered when the frost sets in. They are best preserved thickly set either in pots about six inches diameter, or in wide pans. They will require plenty of air in fine weather, and all decaying leaves to be carefully and constantly re- moved. As little water as possible must be given to them, indeed only just sufficient to keep them from ' actual flagging. Double Violets, to force, should now be put into their proper situation. A gentle hotbed made of leaves, and covered with a two or three-light frame, according to the wants of the family, is a good method to produce plenty of flowers during winter. The plants we suppose to have been prepared, by being planted out singly in a rather shady border during the preceding summer, and will now be nice stocky plants. Lift them up with a garden trowel with as much earth adhering to their roots as possible. The heat of the bed being moderated, and the material, whether leaves or dung, being covered with four inches of leaf-mould and loam in equal parts, place the plants upon it thickly all over the bed ; give them a gentle watering, and shut them up and shade them on sunny days for a fortnight, giving air night and day in all mild weather. As soon as the plants are fairlj- esta- blished, give them the benefit of the sun and light freely, with abundance of air. Their lovely sweet flowers will soon reward you amply for your trouble. Lily of the Valley. — The much-admired lily of the valley is also well worthy of similar pains being bestowed upon it. It may be managed easily as fol- lows : — Plant them thickly on a north or west border, and when they have run together in a mass, choose the strongest plants, and, taking these up in large patches, place them upon a similar bed as above- mentioned for the violet : they will flower freely and early with the same management. If required in pots to ornament the hall or drawing-room, they may be put into pots five inches diameter, choosing those with the strongest buds, putting five or six in a pot, and let the pots be plunged up to their rims on the bed, this being covered about eight inches deep either with light earth, old tan, or sawdust, or even coal- ashes, whichever may be most convenient. Amateur's Flower-garden. — The amateur's stock of flowering plants should have the same care as directed in the preceding paragraphs. We suppose 24 THE COTTAGE GARDENER. you to have a cold frame, a pit, and a few hand- liglits. These should now be well filled with the before- mentioned plants, viz., verbenas, etc. In your pit you might, 63- being well covered during severe frost, preserve many half-hardy plants that you will find useful in the spring. We mean such plants as scarlet geraniums, fuchsias, the more tender China and tea- scented roses, heliotropes, etc. If you have time and leisure we see no reason why you should not even have a few hyacinths, narcissuses, crocuses, and van hout tulips, under a frame, to flower, a month or two before the season out of doors. Should you determine to try a few, procure the necessary quantity imme- diately. Pot them, the hyacinth and polyanthus narcissus singly, the others four in each pot ; plimge the pots in old tan or coal-ashes, on a bed in an open part of the garden for a month or six weeks, to induce them to form roots previously to placing them in the frame. Examine them from time to time, till j'ou perceive the buds breaking through the earth in the pots. When jou find this is the case, remove them into the frames, giving air in fine weather, and protecting them by thick covering of mats and straw in severe weather. Your reward will be the having those fragrant flowers for your window much earlier than in the open air. RosEs. — This is a good season also to look over your stock of roses. If your collection is not first- rate, we would advise you to lose no time in renewing them. The principle should never be lost sight of in all branches of horticulture and floriculture, that a good kind of any thing under culture is as easily grown as an indiiferent one, besides being more pro- fitable and pleasant. Our advice then is — of roses have the best ; and in order that you may do so, below is a list of forty sorts, good and distinct, selected from the catalogues of one of the most eminent growers : ]. Summer Roses, flowering in May and June. Provence — Unique. Moss — Alice Servi, Celina, Comptesse de Noe, White Bath. Damasl- — Madame Hardy. White — Le Seduisante, Sophie de Mavoilly. French — Boule de Nanteuil, Latour d'Auvergne. Hybrid Provence — Emmerance, La Volupte, Prin- cess Clementine. Hybrids, various — ChenedoUe, Coup d'Hebe, Wil- liam Jesse. 2. Autumn Roses, flowering from July to October. Damask, perpetual — Mogadon Hybrid, perpetual — La Reine, Baronne Prevost, Duchess of Sutherland, Lady Alice Peel, Louis Buo- naparte, Madame Laffay, Mrs. Elliot, Geant des Batailles. Bourbon — Armosa, Coup d'Hebe, George Cuvier, Madame Nevard, Queen, Somnet, Souvenir de Malmaison. Noisettes — Aim6e Vibert. China — Cramoise Superieure, Madame Brecon, Mrs. Bosanquet, Compte de Paris, Eliza Sauvage. Tea-scented — Nephethos, Safranot. The old roses need not be thrown away. Take them up, trim their roots and branches, and plant them in a row in some retired part of the garden : they will make good stocks to bud with better kinds. We shall, at the proper season, describe the method of budding them. CuRvsANTHEMUMS will HOW, in the southern coun- ties, be showing flower. The only care they require will be to continue tying them safely to strong stakes, to prevent the autumn winds blowing tliera about. As they are gross feeders, watering with liquid manure will cause them to flower finely. Spreading a coat- ing of rotten manure round the stems will assist them much. Prlnikg. — At this season of the year there is not much work for the knife in the amateur garden. In the shrubbery, straggling shoots of both deciduous and evergreen slirubs may be shortened in, to make the bushes more compact. All unripe shoots of the com- mon lam-el had better be cut oflT, as the frost would onl)- destroy them. All dead flower-stems, of course, must be removed as they occur, and late flowering perennials, now chiefly of the aster tribe, be kept well tied up. The Cottager's Flower-garden. — We have a good deal of anxiety respecting this part of oiu labours. We earnestly press upon our labouring friends the neces- sity of losing no time in their flower-gardening opera- tions, even at this season of the year. Every hour's work now will in the spring be found to have been providently bestowed. Enter yom- garden with a deter- mination to excel, or at least to equal, any labourer's garden in the countrj-. We will not insult your com- mon sense by telling you every week to keep your flower-beds clear of weeds, to have your walks cleanly swept from leaves or litter at all times : these opera- tions, we trust, you need not be reminded of. Hedges, or edgings, you will at all times keep neatly clipped and in good repair. Even where the management of the crops is not so good as it might be, yet, if the garden be clean, neat, and orderly, it will show that your heart is in your garden, and you only want the proper knowledge (which we shall endeavour to give you) to make you a really good gardener, as far as your means and opportimities afford. BiEKNiALs. — Now is 3. good time to transplant bien- nial flowers (plants of two years' dm'ation), such as wallflowers, sweet-^villiams, Canterbui-y-bells, Bromp- ton and queen stocks, etc., into their final situation, where they are to flower. These, if they have been rightly managed, will be nice short bushy plants. By rightly managed, we mean that they were sown early in June, transplanted when two or three inches high, in beds six inches between each plant; and if they grew too fast, lifted out of the ground once, or even twice, to induce dwarf bushy growth. In this state of growth they are far more likely to stand our winters uninjured, than if they are long-stalked, drawn-up things, made tender by being left too thick in the seed-bed. Edgings for Beds and Walks. — ^No gardens seem finished without edgings. The best in most respects is dwarf-box : it is the easiest kept, reqiures renewing the most seldom, and, if kept low by constantly clip- ping at the proper times, is the neatest of all edging. Yet there is an objection — it harbours slugs; and to a cottager is expensive to purchase. Cuttings of this varietj' of box will grow, and we would hope any gentleman would allow his gardener to give to his industrious poor neighbour a batch of the cUppings of his box-edging. Slugs may be destroyed by frequently watering with Hme-water, which is easily made by throwing into any vessel a lump or two of unslaked lime, and, when the water is clear, watering the box- edgings, and wherever you think the slugs are secreted. Edgings of thrift are very neat, but require frequently renewing, and are, like the box-edgings, harbours for slugs. Slates, or thin boards, or even pebbles, may be used as edgings. Any of these are much better than no edgings at all. THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 23 Roses for the Cottager. — Every cottage garden should have a few roses in it. The great question is, how is the poor man to procure them ? We recom- mended last week the striking of them hy cuttings. If, however, the cottager can spare a few shillings, it will be money well laid out, as, independent of his own pleasure, he may soon make his money hy the sale of the flowers. We subjoin a small list of such kinds as will, at least some of them, flower all the year, and the prices of the sorts we recommend are moderate : Summer Moses. Provence — Unique. Moss — Common, Crimson. Damask — Leda. White— Bluih Hip. French — Adele Pre vest. Enchantress. Hybrid Provence — Globe White, Duchesse d'Orleans, Beauty of BHliand. Autumn Roses. Damask perpetual — Mogador. Hybrid perpetual— CaRio^e, Comte de Paris, Lady Fordwick, Duchess of Sutherland, Louis Buonaparte. Bourbon — Annosa. China — Crimson superieure, Mrs. Bosanquet. Tea-scented — Nina. FLORISTS' FLOWERS. All our remarks and instructions under this head are intended both for amateurs and cottage garden- ers ; therefore we trust oiu- readers, of both classes, will consider this part of our labours as much addressed to them as to our more experienced brethren. In- deed, to the regular florist we can scarcely hope that our remarks ^vill extend to more than weekly remem- brances. We ^vrite, not for those who know and understand their business, but to the forgetful and less-informed, — and to those we trust our instructions will not be altogether in vain. Auricula and Polyanthus. — This week we will pay attention more especially to the auricula and polyanthus. We trust those beauteous flowers are, as we before remarked, in their winter quarters. The best situation for them is in a cold frame or pit. Set them upon a stratum of coal ashes, two or three inches thick — or, when expense is no object, upon a stage of boards slightly raised. The plants ought to he within six inches of the glass. Careful attention is required to two points — gi^dng air, and watering ; very little, if any, is required of the latter. If the weather is dry, and a good deal of sunshine occurs, a little water win be required : this should be applied in the morn- ing, to allow the surface of the soil in the pots to become dry before night. A fine sunny morning, therefore, should be chosen to water these plants. Of air, abundance should be given. On all fine days, the lights should be drawn entirely off; but should there be the least appearance of rain, let the frames be closed instantly, gi^'ing air then either at the back, by propping up the Hght, or by propping up the lights in the centre of each side — so as to allow a full current I of air to the plants. Constant search must be made for slugs, woodlice, and other destructive insects. The auriculas are not so subject to insects inhabiting their leaves as the polyanthuses are. The latter flower is often attacked most injuriously by the red spider. The ravages of this insect are most destructive when they are numerous. To destroy them, mix two pounds of flowers of sulphur amongst soap-water, made by dissolving one pound of soap to five gallons of water, and apply it in a tepid or lukewarm state to every leaf, and especially to its under side. This mixture will not only destroy the living insect it touches, but, as long as it lasts on the leaves, will prevent the at- tacks of other red spiders. T. Appleby. THE WEEK'S KITCHEN-GARDENING. Brussels Sprouts. — We may best answer here the inquiry of our correspondent (M. A. J.) hy stating that when this vegetable is about eighteen inches high, its top should be cut for table use. By the top being thus removed, the production of sprouts along the stem is promoted. The sprouts should be cut for boiling when as compact as, and about the size of, a walnut. Beans. — For early production next spring a planta- tion of broad beans may be now inserted. A south border, deeply dug, and without any manure added, is the best situation. Marshall's early dwarf prolific is the best kind to plant for this crop ; but the early Mazagan and early Lisbon are almost as early in yielding a gathering, and they are cheaper at the seedsman's, as well as more productive. These three varieties attain a height of about four feet if left to themselves ; but as they should be topped when about three feet high, and as the rows should run north and south, the rows need not be more than two feet and a half from each other. Dig enough ground for one row, and then insert the beans two inches deep and four inches apart : by thus putting in one row at a time, the ground need not be trampled on, and the looser the soil is about the crops that have to stand through the winter, the better. Although^ we give these directions for now planting the earliest bean crops, yet we advise the planting not to be made until the commencement of the year, and then with some kind of shelter; the beans being inserted thick for the purpose of transplanting. One pint of beans wiU be enough for any number of rows not exceeding in length altogether S4 feet. Cress (Water). — No crop repays the cottager for cultivation more than this, if he has a stream running down a ditch enclosing his garden. This ditch may always be so widened, and the water regulated by a dam at the lowest end, so that the water shall he con- stantly three or four inches deep. Now is the time for planting them, and we take the following directions from the Bon Jardinier. The bottom of the ditch must be beaten quite firm and smooth by the aid of a rammer and the back of the spade. If the bottom of the ditch is not sufliciently moist, a small body of water must be allowed to enter to soften it. The cresses are then to be taken and divided into small sets or cuttings, with roots attached to them ; and these thrown over the bottom of the trench at the distance of three or four inches from each other. The cress soon attaches itself to the damp earth ; in three or four days the shoots straighten and begin to strike root. At the end of five or six days, a slight dressing of well decomposed cow-dung is to be spread over all the plants, and this pressed down by means of a heavy board, to which a long handle is obliquely fixed. The water is then to be raised to the depth of two or three inches, and never higher. The ditch must thus be replanted an- 26 THE COTTAGE GARDENER. nually, and fuinislies twelve crops during the season. In the summer the cresses may be gathered every fif- teen or twenty days, but less frequently during win- ter, care being taken that at each gathering at least a third part of. the bed is left untouched, so that neither the roots maybe exhausted, nor the succeeding gather- ing delayed. After every cutting, a little decayed cow-dung should be spread over the naked plants, and beaten down by means ol the rammer above mentioned. After the water-cresses have been thus treated for a twelvemonth, the manure forms a tolerably thick layer at the oettom of the ditch, and tends to raise its level. To restore it to its original level, all the refuse sliould be thrown out upon the borders, forming for them a very fertilizing manure. Cress-grounds should always be at a distance from frees, on account of the leaves, which otherwise drive amongst the plants, and require iiiucli time to pick out. There are two weeds which, even in the cleanest cress-grounds, can scarcely be kept under : these are the duck-weed and pond-weed {Zaii- nichellia palustrh), which both multiply so quickly, that unless carefully rooted out. they do great injury to the cresses. The pond-weed may be kept under by careful hand-weeding, and the duck-weed by raising the water, so as to make it float above the cress-plants, when it may be skimmed otf. The cultivation of this very wholesome vegetable, and which is so palatable an accompaniment to our meals, is believed to have been first attempted in 180S by Mr. Bradb\iry, a market-gardener, at Northfleet, Springhead, near Gravesend; but since then its culti- vation lias spread to Rickmansw.nth, Bayswater, Ux- bridge, and other places. From thence, and from more distant places near to a railway station, vast quantities of water-cresses are daily sent to the Lon- don market. The cultivaturs near London consider there are three varieties : — 1. The large brown-leaved, which is the best flavoured, and will grow in deeper water than the other two. 2. The small brown- leaved, which is the hardiest. 3. The green-leaved, which, as it roots the most readily, is the most easily cultivated. CucuMEEus, to produce their fruit early iu Febru- ary, may be now sown in a hot-bed ; but we must warn our readers that they require more care and attention than any other crop forced by the gardener. They will, therefore, count the cost and trouble before they begin, and balance these against the worth of the inicertain crop. We will commence by giving full directions for the preparation of the hot -bed made of st.ible-dung, of which that made by the best-fed horses is to be preferred. It should be about ten days from the stalls, and without too large a proportion of litter. After being thrown into a heap, of conic form, for five or six days, it must be so turned over, that the inner parts are brought to the outside, the clots well separated with tire fork, the heap formed conical as before, and left for an equal number of days. By this time and treatment the dung in general acquires a sufficient and steady heat ; if, however, it is very dry and fresh, it must be moderately moistened, and left for five or six days more. At the time of forming the heap, as well as at every turning, water should be applied if its substance appears at all dry, as a regular state of moisture is of first importance to the obtaining a favourable fermentation. It should remain until the straw in general assumes a dark brown colour, and then be immediately formed into the bed. Leaves or tan may be mixed with advantage, as heat is thereby generated during a greater length of time. In cold, wet. or boisterous weather, the heaps should be cov- ered to a moderate depth with litter. Place the bed entirely free from the overshadowing of trees, buildings, &c., and having an aspect rather a point eastward of the south. A reed fence, surround- ing it on all sides, prevents any reverberation of the wind ; an evil which is caused by paling or other solid inclosure. This must be ten feet high to the northward or back part, of a similar height at the sides, hut in front only six. The wicket, or gate, must be of sufiicient width to admit a loaded wheel- barrow. Fruit may be forced slightly by being trained within it on the southern aspect, for which purpose the fence on that side must be of brick or wood. To prevent unnecessary labour, this inclosure should be formed as near to the stable as possible. For the reception of tlie bed, a pit is often dug, six inches deep, if the soil be wet, or eighteen inches or more if dry. In a dry soil and climate this cannot be productive of injury ; otherwise it often chills the bed : at the same time it is to be observed, that it is unproductive of benefit, further than that the bed not being so high is easier of access, but gives much additional trouble, both at the time of founding and afterwards, when linings are to be applied. The place for the bed being determined, a stake should be driven upright at the four corners as a guide for its rectangular construction. The dun^ must be thoroughly mixed just before it is used, and as carefully separated and spread regularly with the fork, as the bed is formed with it. It is beneficially settled down in every part alike by beating with the fork as the work proceeds, rather than by treading ; for if too much compressed, a high degree of heat is raised, but is soon spent : a contrary effect is often caused if the dung is trod to a still greater excess; namely, that no heat at all is produced. The longest or littery part of the dung should be laid at the bottom of the bed, and the finer fragments of the dung upon the top. If it is not regularly and moderately moist throughout, it should be sprinkled over with water. As the surface on which the bed is founded is usually horizontal, so is the dung laid perfectly parallel with it. Mr. Knight recommends it, on the contrary, to be equally inclined with its foundation, that it may associate well with the form, which he recommends for ft-ames. The breadlh of a bed must always be five feet, and in the depth of winter four and a half feet high when firmly settled ; to form it of this size, about twelve barrow-loads of dung are required to a light. To prevent the sudden changes of temperature in the external air affecting the heat of the bed, coat the sides of the bed with sand, coal-ashes, or earth, to a thickness of two feet. As the heat declines, linings, oi-, as they might be properly called, coatings, of hot fermenting dung laid from eighteen to twenty-four inches thick, in proportion to the coldness of the season, etc., all round the bed to the whole of its height ; and if the bed is founded in a trench, one equally deep must be dug for the coating, it being of importance to renew the heat as much as pos- sible throughout its whole mass ; if, after a while, the tem- perature again declines, the old coating must be taken away, and a similar one of hot dung applied in its place. As the spring advances, the warmth of the sun will compensate for the decline of that of the bed ; but as the nights are generally yet cold, either a moderate coating, about nine or ten inches thick, is required, or the mowings of grass, or even litter, may be laid round the .sides with advantage. The depth of earth, as well as the time and manner of its application, vary considerably ; it should never be put on until four or five days after the bed is THE COTTAGE GARDENER. formed : before it is applied, tlie edges of the bed should be raised full eight inches higher than the middle, as from the additional weight of the frame they are sure to sink more and quicker, thereby often causing the earth to crack and injure the roots of the plants. The roots of plants being liable to injury (root-burn- ing) from an excessive heat in the bed, several plans have been devised to prevent this effect. If the plants in pots are plunged in the earth of the bed, they may be raised an inch or two from the bottom of the holes they are inserted in by means of a brick. But a still more effectual mode is to place them Avithin other pots, rather larger than themselves; a space filled with air being thus interposed between the roots and the source of heat, an effectual security is obtained. To prevent the same injury occurring when the plants are in the earth of the bed, a moderate layer of cow- dung laid between the eartli and the fermenting mass, is an efficient precaution, and is much preferable to a similarly-placed layer of turf, which interrupts too much the full benefit of the heat. A plan recom- mended by Bradley is well worthy of notice. A woven hm'dle, somewhat larger than the frame, being placed upon the dung, on this the woodwork of the frame can rest, and the earth is laid within it ; thus the whole can be moved together without disturbance. This would especially be of advantage when tanners' bark is em- ployed, which requires occasional stirring to renew its hear, in case of emergency, when time cannot be allowed for the bed becoming regular in its heat, before the plants are put in. Besides these precautions, vacancies should be left in the mould, and holes bored with a thick pole into the bed, which must be filled up with hay or dung when the danger is passed. For ascertaining the internal temperature of the bed, the thermometer is the only certain guide, as it also is for judging of the temperature of the air within the frame. The mode of introducing it into the body of the bed, is to have the thermometer inclosed in a wooden case, of the size and form of an ordinary dib- ble, which is to be lined with baize, and fitted with a cap of tinned iron, to exclude the exterior tempera- ture. The end which enters the earth is shod with copper full of holes. In conjunction with the thermo- meter, trying sticks may be employed for occasional observation ; these are smooth laths of wood, about two feet in length, thrust into different parts of the bed, which being drawn out and grasped quickly, afford a rough estimate of the heat of the bed. The small extent of the frame, and the rapid spoil- ing of the air within it by dung's fumes, render its frequent renewal necessary. To effect this, tlie com- mon practice is to raise the glasses in proportionate heights, according to the state of the air; and to prevent any injury arising when necessarily admitted during inclement weather, mats are hung over the opening ; but notwithstanding these precautions, the supply of air can seldom be regular ; hence, and from siidden chills, the plants are often checked, and some- times essentially injured. It may be remarked here, that raw, foggy days, if anything, are more unfavour- able than those that are frosty for the admission of air. A complete remedy for all these difficulties is afforded by a plan, which succeeds on the principle that wann air ascends, and simply consists of a pipe passed through the body of the bed, and one end communicating with the outside air, the other open- ing into the frame, at one of the top corners of which a hole must be made ; the heated air of the frame will constantly be issuing from this hole, and its place supplied by the air which rises through the pipe. A pipe of lead may be used, about two or three inches in diameter, bent nearly at a right angle and each limb being tliree feet long, one of these to be placed horizontally, as the bed is forming, with its mouth extending into the open air, that of the other end opening into the fr-ame. A cap should be fitted to the first, and by a slit on its under side, the quantity of air admitted can be regulated. — Modern Gardener's Dictionary. We must defer our directions for attending to the seedlings until next week. Herbs — plant, such as fennel, mint, pennyroyal, sage, savory, tansy, tarragon, and thyme. Two or three plants of each will be enough for a small family, and every housewife knows their great value, not only to give a relish to her cookery, but in making teas for the sick members of a household. No particular directions need he given for their cultivation, for the rooted plants, which must now be obtained, grow- very readily. We need only observe that in a light, well-dvained, and not over-rich soil, they all have the highest flavour. MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION. MRS. DAVIS GILBERT; OR, WHAT WE CAN DO FOR OTHERS. BY CUTHBERT W. JOHNSON, ESQ., r.R.S. The late Mrs. Davis Gilbert, of Eastbourne, was ever a warm and consistent friend of cottage gardens. She was well aware that on the best produce being pro- cured from its garden, much of the comforts of a cot- tage depends. As I had occasion in another place to remark {Farmer's Almanack, vol. ii. p. 239), that great object she sought to accomplish by a variety of excel- lent and successful efforts, such as the more extensive introduction of deeper digging, or forking ; by allot- monts to several hundred labouring tenants; by the introduction of self-supporting agricultural schools; by the collection, as a manm-e, of the cottage sew- age ; and by the careful collection and storing (in a tank) of rain-water. To some other of these invaluable efforts I may on future occasions endeavour to draw the attention of the readers of this valuable Journal. I recently made some observations on an easy mode of collecting and employing the sewage of the house, and in my present communication I will confine my- self to a few remarks on another of my late friend's objects — the collection of rain-v/ater.* I do this not only because I am aware of the superior value of rain- water for a variety of culinary and garden purposes, but because I feel that if the amount of rain annually falling in England was better understood, it would induce the erection of cottages in better sites, and with larger gardens, than is now convenient, where well- water is scarce. As I have remarked in another work (Rural Spelling-Book, p. 22), it is well known that some waters are called "hard," and are unfitted for the purposes of washing and brewing. This is owing to such waters holding, dissolved in them, either * My late friend died, April 26, 1S45, in her sixty-ninth j-ear; a surviving friend, who is still spared to follow her noble example, and to befriend the spade and the hoe, very truly remarked to me on that occasion. "In her the cottager and the cottage garden have indeed lost a dear friend ! " 28 THE COTTAGE GARDENER. chalk or gypsum (carbonate of lime, and sulphate of lime), either of which, by decomposing, renders more expensive the use of the soap, and materially retards the extraction of the sugary matter from malt. Rain-water, from the total absence of these two sub- stances, is the " softest " and best of all water for washing, brewing, and gardening ; and if proper care is taken in its collection and storing in tanks, no family needbewithoutanabundantsupply of it; for it has been determined, that sufficient rain falls on every house in England for the use of its inhabitants. Although the fall varies in amount in different districts, yet the average annual depth which falls in England is about 24 inches, or more than 12 gallons upon every square foot of the ronf (a gallon contains 277'274 inches) ; so that, supposing the roof to be 15 feet square only, more than 2S00 gallons of water, or about 8 gallons per day, fall upon it in rain every year. It would tend also to the general use of rain-water, if an easy plan, which I have found very useful in Surrey, was adopted, of making the rain-water pass through some white sand in its way to the tank. By this means, all the leaves, soot, and other mechanically suspended matters, are removed, and the rain-water, in consequence, keeps sweet for any length of time. COTTAGE AND ALLOTMENT GARDENING. (No. 3.) BY THE EDITOR. Bone Manuue. — " What good can there be in an old bone?" is a question that even now, occasionally, is heard from the lips of those who should have long since acquired the knowledge which would have pre- vented tlie question being put. As it is a question sometimes heard from the well-educated, we may be sure tliat our cottage friends may be readily excused for a similar inquiry. We will tell them, therefore, what good there is in an old bone. They need be no more than reminded that all their own flesh, blood, and bones, are formed out of the food they digest. Now, as chief constituent of that flesh, blood, and bones, is a peculiar substance called phosphate of lime ; and this phosphate of lime is found in all plants — indeed, plants cannot grow healthily without getting it by means of their roots from the soil. To supply the growth and the waste constantly going on of our flesh, blood, and bones, and consequently of the phosphate of lime which they contain, we eat cer- tain plants; the plants derive, among other things, their phosphate of lime from the earth in which they grow, and to keep up a supply of that phosphate of lime in the earth ready for the roots to take in, we apply manures containing that phosphate. Now " an old bone " contains about half its weight of that phos- phate, and this we think will explain why, when it is used as a manure, there is found to be a great deal of " good " in it. It is quite true that if we bury an old bone it will remain almost unaltered for years, but if we break it into small pieces it decays much sooner ; and if put round the roots of cabbages, will soon make them grow more tine and vigorously. Cabbages, how- ever, are not the only garden vegetables benefited by bone manure ; for, as we have just said, phosphate of lime is one of the most constant constituents of all plants. Of this phosphate, therefore, the soil is de- prived by every crop it bears, and to restore this phos- phate to the soil is an object with every cultivator. It waSilong since shown by chemists, that phosphate of lime is the chief ingredient in all bones, and, con- jequently, these by degrees have become one of the most extensively-used manures. In 1S21, the de- clared value of bones imported was no more than £15,898 12s. lid., but annually increasing, they had reached in 1S37 to £254,600, and the quantity now used yearly probably exceeds in value half a million of sovereigns. In tlie Gardener's Almanack for 1 845, will be found analyses of all the bones usually employed for manure, and it will be there seen that those of the sheep, ox, and horse, are rich in phosphate of lime in the fol- lowing proportions : — In every lOOlbs. of sheeps' bones there are 70 lbs. of phosphate of lime; in 100 lbs. of horses' bones, OS of that phosphate; and in the same quantity of ox bones, 55 lbs. Now, as phosphate of lime is insoluble in water, and even bone-dust is slow in decaying, it was suggested that by dissolving it in a strong acid, super-phosphate of lime, a substance soluble in water, would be formed, and also all the other constituents of tlie bone be pre- sented to the roots of the crop in a most available form. This process is said to have been first adopted by Mr. Fleming, of Borrochan, N.B., in the year 1841. He employed miunatic acid (spirit of salt) to dissolve the bones, and the result of his experiments, per acre, on turnips and potatoes, was as follows : Bones (16 tons, no acid) Bones (10 tons, with acid) . Swede Turnips. ton. cwt, 14 17 18 11 Potatoes. ton. cwt. 9 15 12 15 Subsequent experiments have demonstrated that oil of vitriol (sulphuric acid) can be used much more advantageously for dissolving bones, than the muriatic acid, and for reasons thus epitomised by Mr. W. C. Spooner, in his recently - published " Treatise on Manures." — -"Sulphuric acid is stronger, cheaper, has a greater specific gravity, and therefore is not so bulky ; and contains much less water. On mixing it with water a much higher temperatui'e is obtained, which conduces to the dissolving of the bones. But above all, we find that in the trials which have been made, bones dissolved in muriatic acid have been found somewhat less beneficial than others dissolved in sulphuric acid." Mr. Spooner's conclusions, after lengthened e.xperience, are — 1. That super-phosphate of lime is the essential manure for turnips, and particularly for Swedes. (We can add, that it is most excellent for every kind of cabbage, brocoli, and cauliflower.) That with it alone a good crop can be raised ; but without it the turnip will not thrive, however rich the maniure may other- wise be. 2. In preparing the mixture, the bones should be in as fine a state as possible. 3. That sulphuric acid, from its greater strength and cheapness, is preferable to muriatic acid. 4. That water, in the proportion of one-half the weight of the acid, should be first sprinkled over the bones. 5. The proportion of sulphuric acid most economical to employ should not be less than one-third, nor more than one-half the weight of the bones, and that pro- bably the medium between these two quantities is most advantageous. 6. That the mixture can be applied either with the addition of a considerable quantity of water, or with ashes, by means of an ordinary drill. That though THE COTTAGE GARDENER. mixed with water it may be more speedy in its effects, yet when mixed with ashes it can be more conve- niently applied, and has the advantage of admitting the addition of a large quantity of ashes. 7. That \'itriolized bones may be used either alone or with other manures, and that when the latter are at hand, it is more advantageous to use the former in combination with them. Mr. Spooner remarks that, in his experiments with superphosphate of lime applied at the time of sowing seeds, these invariably sprouted more quickly than other seeds sown without the addition of the phos- phate. It seems to have the power generally of hastening the progress of vegetation ; and the fol- lowing from Mr. R. White shows its effect upon the rose-tree. " In the autumn of 1845 I transplanted about twenty rose-trees ; and in consequence of seeing this substance mentioned as one to be used with advantage in such a case, I tried the experiment on eight out of that number, by sprinkling about a handful on and about the roots at the time of planting. Early in March of this year the difference was very perceptible ; the eight plants in question were in leaf, and quite as forward as those which had not been removed, while the remainder (with one exception) had not then started into growth. I think this may be taken as a proof tl-at superphosphate of lime has a beneficial influence in causing the more ready formation of roots." — ( Gardener's Chronicle.) Bone manure, whetlier merely ground bones, or those dissolved in sulphuric acid, is not only bene- ficial to cabbages and turnips, but to all garden crops and flowers. We have noticed very great benefits ourselves from applying it to peas, beans, asparagus, and strawberries. MY FLOWERS. (No. 1.) Works — especially periodicals — addressed solely to man, lose half their charm, and much of their useful- ness. There are ladies of the creation as well as lords, and in this our bright and happy land, enlightened by a far more glorious sun than that which shines on its material structure, woman takes her share in every department where bodily strengtli is not required, and is the delighted partner of all her husband's, or father's, or brother's tastes and intellectual enjoyments. A periodical, to be perfect, needs the delicate tinting imparted by a lady's hand, so that it may not be laid by on the dusty shelf of the husband, but take its place on the work-table of the wife ; and I will venture to say, much of its success may depend upon the appro- bation of those, whose influence upon society, though perhaps not glaringly apparent, is deeply and intensely felt. I address myself, therefore, exclusively to the wives and daughters of those gentlemen who patronize " Tlie Cottage Gardener," and through them, to the wives and daughters of their humble neighbours, whose en- joyment of flowers is usually greater than might be expected in their particular circumstances. It will give me great pleasure to impart my country feelings and floricullural experience to " my sisters ;" and should I be the means of awakening a dormant taste, or increasing the growing fancy of a single individual, I shall feel myself abundantly recompensed. A flower-garden is a great resource to a lady. We have, in our rather limited sphere, a good deal to suffer, and a good deal to make the best of, and, in each case, our minds seem healed and mollified by the sight and smell of our gay and fragrant parterres. A flower, too, is a sermon— it preaches to our hearts and minds — it speaks to us loudly and powerfully of the tender love of our and its Creator — and it declares impres- sively also, this solemn and salutary truth, " man is as a flower of the field." We are taught, too, how wise, as well as how pleasant it is, to look for all we need spiritually and temporally from our heavenly Father. — " How much more shall he clothe you, oh ye of little faith." Thus in every way our garden is a kind of benefactor — it gives us moral health and physi- cal health — pleasure and profit — recollection, and some- times a blessed forgetfulness. I can truly say, that few moments are more exhilarating than that in which I un- fold and arrange my large checked apron — plunge my hands into its ample pockets to find my knife, scissors, pack-tliread, and old gloves, all of which you are sure to lose or mislay, if you do do not keep them there ; and snatching up my basket, rake, and trowel, hurry forth into my peacefid garden. Some of my young readers may think this a strange time of year to begin a discourse upon flower-gardening, but we shall have plenty of matter to discuss during the dead months of \vinter, preparatory to the busy time of spring, and we may be pleased to find that any suggestions offered can be acted upon almost immediately, or, as soon as the year commences, instead of ha\'ing to wait till a whole season, perhaps, comes round. October is a busy month in many ways. A garden must be " packed up" for its winter sleep, and laid by in neat, lady-like order. Nothing looks more deplorable than plants left straggling on the borders, with their dead leaves and stems decayed and black ; sticks left in disorder, with the remains of sweet peas entangled round them, and roses and honey-suckles hearing the black comfortless relics of their beautiful summer bloom. Every straggling leaf and stem must be cut off, and the plant neatly trimmed. Pick off all dead buds and seed pods, that are left after the floricultiu'al harvest ; di,^ in the old plants of mig- nonette and other annuals that may yet remain, when you arrange the beds, because many strong young plants will spring from self-sown seed in autumn ; and, therefore, leave no means untried to acquire them. Loosen the earth with a light prong, or hand-fork, to enable the frost to enter, to kill in- sects, and the snow to enrich the soil. — Remember " the treasures of tlie hail." Collect all the refuse of the garden ; the dead leaves, &c. and make a heap of* them in a retired nook, where they will, in time, be- come a rich supply of leaf mould, so usefid to potted plants. It would be better even to endure the un- sightly object, than to let the contents of your wheel- barrows be thrown away. Nothing should be thrown away ; all is good in its time and place ; and even our flowers will help to support themselves, thus teaching another useful lesson upon the well-regu- lated and listening mind. These are some of our October duties, and this enchanting season, hitherto, renders our labour light. Rosa. BEES. As every one is interested in the economy of Bees ; as their honey and wax are acceptable in all house- holds; and as they are a source of great profit to the Cottager, we shall give a series of essays on their management, so soon as we can meet with a practical bee-keeper, on whom we can rely, willing to undertake the task. In the mean time we readily give insertion to the following which lias been sent to us by a cor- respondent. 30 THE COTTAGE GARDENER. "Rule 1. — Never kill your Bees. " Rule 2. — Never allow your Bees to swarm. " Place an old stock of Bees in a common straw hive on the middle of a board large enough to contain three hives, and on each side of the old stock place a wooden box, about seven inches square outside and six inches high, (or any other size you may think proper,) or straw hives with wooden tops. The boards forming the wooden boxes may be made out of old packing-cases. Each side box should have glass win- dows with shutters. •' On the top of each of the side boxes there should be a hole two inches in diameter, with a perforated plate of zinc to slide over it and a cork to fit it. These small holes are for the purpose of ventilating the side hives, thereby preventing the Queen from lajdng her eggs in them. When the Bees fill the holes of the slide, e.\changing this for another of the same kind. The side box should not be aired until the Bees have fairly taken to it. " The board on which the hives are placed should be so prepared with passages that the three hives may be united or disunited at pleasure by means of slides made of zinc. As soon as the Bees are likely to swarm, open the passage between the middle hive and one at the side, and force the Bees to pass through the latter by stopping up the mouth of the former. When tlie Bees have filled one side box with honey, let them into the other side box, and remove the first, (now fit for use) in the middle of a fine hot day, by means of a plate of sheet iron, to any convenient place in your garden. Tlie Bees will return to the parent hive, and the owners of the Bees may take possession of the deserted hive." In speaking of the profitableness of Bees we may add that the profit is not trivial, for we have known more than one cottager pay his rent from their produce. TO PRESERVE POTATOES. A FRTKND has sent us a printed handbill relative to " The Potato Disease," from which we extract the following directions for preserving potatoes in a state fit for feeding cattle, pigs, and other animals. Boil the small or other diseased potatoes, and then beat them down into a cask, strewing salt at the same until quite full. Preserve the potatoes carefnlhj from the air, by 'filling every joint and crack with lime putty, pitch, rosin, or grease. Place the cask in a dry cool situation. Potatoes will keep sweet in this way for many months. HARDY PLANTS LATELY MADE KNOWN AND WORTH CULTIVATING. Reeve's Muscadine Grape. — Imported from the Cape of Good Hope by John Reeves, Esq. Bunch large, broad-shouldered ; stalk thick ; pedicels (stalks of ben'ies) short, stiff. Berries oval ; skin yellowish white, rather thick ; pulp melting, juicy, and rich. A good grape, ripening quite as early as the Black Hamburgh under similar circumstances. — {Hort. Society's Journal, iii. 308.) LupiNus Affinis (Allied Lupine.) — Mr. Hartweg sent this to England from California, where he found it in 1847, growing in the woods near Monterey. The flowers are a bright deep blue, with a broad white spot in the middle of the largest flower leaf or standard. Height six inches. May be grown in any good garden-soil like the common lupine; blooms abundantly, and lasts long in flower. — {Ibid.) HINTS FROM OUR CONTEMPORARIES. Thrift Edging. — The close tufted evergreen foliage of Thrift makes it peculiarlj' suitable as an edging for flower borders, especially as its flowers are ornamental and are abundant during several of the summer months. There is a bright rose-coloured variety which should be preferred for this purpose. The principal objection to this plant, as an edging, is that it spreads rather too readily over the surface, so that the edging soon becomes too wide. Replanting is the only proper mode of coiTecting this excessive out- spread, for severe cutting back to a narrow width often proves very detrimental to the plants. In plant- ing Thrift as an edging, the soil should be dug and broken fine and then be trodden and beaten down finn ; a line is then stretched along just v,-here the edging is needed, and the soil is cut down by the spade even with this line, so that the top surface is smooth and horizontal, and the side face almost per- pendicular. The plants of Thrift are then pidled asunder into single heads or crowns, and these are planted along the line cut out as above described, in doing which, the tops of the plants must be kept quite level, each about two inches above the surface. The roots are to be firmly fixed in the soil, and the plants about two inches apart from each other. The part of the plant should not be shortened, as fibrous roots will be produced along the whole length of the woody portion. — Horticultural Magazine. Celery Show, held at Edward Brown's, Dun-street, Shefiield, October 2, 1848 : Growers. lb. oz. Growers. lb. oz. Thomas Smith . . 18 12 Charles Lingard . . 12 8 Wm. Grayson . . 16 4 Joseph Booth . . . . 12 John Nutt .... . 15 8 John Parkin . . . . 11 12 Henry Brown . . 14 8 Edward Brown . . . 10 8 Wra. Brown . . . 13 12 Edward Jennett . . 10 1 Samuel Bray . . . 13 8 Henry Pashley . . . 9 Henry Rogers . . 13 Sheffield T mes (Many of our readers will be surprised that a single stick of celery can be grown to such weights as the above. We shoidd like to know the names of the varieties exhibited, and what ai'e the characteristics of excellence the judges require in celery.) TO CORRESPONDENTS. T. M.(Rcigate.)— The suggestion shall not be lost sight of in our "heading "for another year. Again we must return generally thanks to our Clerical and other Fkiends for their kind wishes and aid. At present we have neither time nor space to do more. Rev. J. H.(Berks.)— Vi'ehave to thank our friend for his hint, "not to presume too much on the previous knowledge of our readers ; " and we can assure hira it is our constant eHurt to be very plain and explicit. M. Saul in our next, and we shall be glad t, the best varieties possible. In connection with these gardens, and to excite emulation, a vegetable and flower-show is instituted. This is held in the school- rooms at Nottingham, and prizes are given for the best productions in vegetables, as well as for standei of pansies, verbenas, collections of annual and per- ennial flowers and nosegays, or bouquets, as they are called by some, but we fancy our readers will like the old English name be^t. These exhibitions of youthful skill and industry are well attended." Should any of our readers wish, we can furnish them with the rules by which these school-gardens are managed. They are to be found in the above publication. — Liverpool Chronicle. Bastard-trenching is thus performed : — Open a trench two feet and a half, or a yard wide, one full spit and the shovelling deep, and wheel the soil from it to where it is intended to finish the piece ; then put in the dung and dig it in with the bottom spit in the trench ; then fill up this trench with the top spit, etc., of the second, treating it in like manner, and so on. The advantages of this plan of working the soil are, the good soil is retained at top — an important con- sideration where the subsoil is poor or bad ; the bottom soil is enriched and loosened for the penetra- tion and nourishment of the roots, and, allowing them to descend deeper, they are not so liable to suffer from droupht in summer; strong soil is rendered capable of absorbing more moisture, and yet remains drier at the surface by the water passing down more rapidly to the subsoil, and it ensures a thorough shifting of the soil. THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 41 Id all trenching, whether one, two, or more spades deep, al» ays, previous to digging, put the top of each trench two or three inches deep or more, with all weeds and other litter at the hottom of the open one, which not only makes clean digging and increases the depth of loose soil, but all weeds and their seeds are regularly buried at such a depth that the weeds them- selves will rot, and their seeds cannot vegetate. — Mo- dern Gardener's Dictiovnry. Potato Murrain. — We are glad to find that Mr. Ei-rington coincides with the opinions we have so long advocated relative to the cause and prevention of this disease. "Many pits" (of potatoes) says Mr. E., "uncovered a week or two after filling, would smoke like a smothered bonfire. Now, if this is not an abuse of the constitution of the potato, what is ? Ought not some bad results to have been expected from such a course?" Mr. Errington's recommendations for the better cultivation of the potato are to keep it free from fermentation, cool, slightly damp and dark, by storing the tubers mixed with earth ; planting early varieties, and not later than March ; and using a soil not re- cently manured. — Horlicidhiral Society'sJour.in.27S. Barlow's Lupine {De/phinium Barlowii). — This beautiful variety of the lupine was raised about nine- teen years since, by Mr. Barlow, then a Manchester weaver, and taking great delight in raising seedling varieties. — Gardener's Chronicle. Walks. — Mr. Meehan, gardener to Colonel Har- court, in the Isle of Wight, says that good, hard, per- manent walks are made by covering them three inches thick with the following mixture. To three bushels of coal-ashes, not sifted very fine, add one bushel of fine gravel. Add water to these, and mix them until they become about as soft as mortar. Spread it over the walks, the surface of which pre- viously should be slightly broken, and raked smooth. Make the mortar-like mixture even by spreading it with a piece of board. It will become hard in a few days. — Tbid. Pears from the Horticultural Society's Gar- den. — Owing to the late spring frosts, the pear crop has been partial, and the varieties stored are fewer than usual. There are some good specimens, how- ever, from the walls. One Beurre Diel weighed lib. 4oz., and measured 12^ inches in circumference. Spe- cimens of another variety. Van Mons. Leon Le Clerc, were between 5 and 6 inches long, and very hand- some. " The tree, however, seems to dislike the quince stock." — Ibid. Chinese Gardening. — Tlie Chinese are a nation of the most industrious habits, and must be con- sidered an agricultural people. They have most wisely established laws for the protection and encourage- ment of agriculture; and to such an extent is it car- ried, that the emperor does not think it derogatory to his dignity, once in every year, at the agricultural festivdf, to descend from his throne, clad as a hus- bandman, to set the laudable example to his subjects of tilling the earth. The appointed day having been pre- viously proclaimed throughout the empire, the emperor goes forth and ploughs a particular field, and every farmer throughout the empire simultaneously turns up a portion of his own farm. The produce of the field ploughed by the emperor is always most carefully preserved, being considered far superior to any other. The ancient laws of the country declare the peculiar manner in which the sovereign shall perform this cere- mony. By another ancient law, all uncultivated and neglected lands are declared forfeited to the emperor, who grants them to the farmers on condition of their being kept in a proper state of cultivation. The con- sequence of this is, that in China there is rot an un- cultivated spot to be seen. A fifth, and in some cases a fuurth part, of all produce is reserved for the em- peror, which is paid in kind to the mandarin of the prince who farms the tax. There is one great pecu- liarity in Chinese agricultm'e, which, if adopted, might prove highly advantageous to British farmers. All seeds, previous to being sown, are steeped in liquid manure until they germinate ; and to this, coupled with their system of irrigation, may be attributed the rich luxuriance and abundance of their various crops. Their ingenuity and perseverance may daily be wit- nessed in the terraces built one above the other up to the summit of a rocky mountain. They form reservoirs and dams on each platform, and the water having passed along one ten-ace, is received into the reservoir of the next below, and thus descend, step by step, in its irrigatory course. As they cuhivate the hills, so do they make the morasses subservient to the support of man. Split bamboos are placed upon the marshes, and over these layers of earth. In this artificial soil, vegetables asid potherbs are raised in the greatest per- f ction. There is no plant, in short, growing that is not made subservient to man's use. "They extract the finest oil from the kernels of apricots, and common oil from cotton and turnip-seed. A beautiful black dye is prepared from the cups of acorns, and the finest scarlet from the flowers of the cactus. The dwarf vegetation of China is peculiar to that country. I have in my possession an oak ti'ee two feet high, bearing acorns, and its trunk bearing all the external marks of an aged tree. I have also had orange and citron-trees of the same size, bearing fruit of a very fine flavour. One of these orange-trees used to produce, at the same moment, incipient buds, blossoms in full flower, fruit newly set, and of full size, both in a green state and ripe. I have seen a lu-chee tree, whose natural size is that of a full-grown mul- berry, dwarfed into one of three feet, its trunk having all the appearance of old timber, and the branches naturally tapered. The mode of dwarfing is simple : the branch of a full-grown tree is covered with mould, which is bound round with cloth or matting, and kept moist ; the fibres soon shoot into the mould. The branch is then cut from the tree, planted in the earth, and the fibres thus become the root-?, and the branch a tree, bearing blossoms and fruit. The buds at the extremity are taken off, and thus other buds and branches are formed. After a certain time syrup is applied to the stem, which attracts insects, and the bark being thus injured gives the knotted and aged appearance of old trees, pieces of bamboo being applied to give any desired form to the branches.- — Dublin University Magazine, Sept., 1848. Lilies. — Less attention than it deserves is paid by the amateur florist to the genus Lilium, although among its species are so many lovely flowers. All those which are half-hardy, as the Purple Lily, L. atrosanguineum, White beauteous Lily, L. .speciosum album, and Spotted Lily, L. punctatum, may be grown with superior ex- cellence in the following mode : Pot them in 6-inch pots early in November, drained well, and filled with one part charred turfy loam, one part leaf-mould, one part cow-dung, and one part sandy loam. Bury the bulbs only just beneath the surface — give water after two or three days — place on the front shelf of the greenhouse, and when the roots reach the bottom of the pots, remove at once to 12-incii pots to remain. When bloom-buds appear, give liquid manure once a week, besides watering as required. Shade whilst in bloom, and, as the leaves decay, gra- dually reduce the application of water. In November. 42 THE COTTAGE GARDENER. re-pot the bulbs, removing the offsets, in 6-inch pots as before. PoTTiNo Materials. — Mr. Errington has in his potting-shed twenty binns, each containing a distinct material useful for potting, though each material is not required for every plant, nor at every shift: 1. Strong tenacious loam. 2. Half-rotten leat-mould, 3. Heath soil. 4. Horse droppings. 5. Cow-dung. 6. Charcoal and wood-ashes. 7. Bone-dust. 8. Sharp sand. 9. Burnt turf of No. 1. 10. Moss, well scalded. 11. Heath-soil of No. 3, in squares. 12. Loam of No. 1, in squares. 13. One-inch mixed drainage. 14. Two-inch ditto. 1.5. Small ditto. 16. One- inch bottom crocks. 17. Two-inch ditto. 18. Three-inch ditto. 19. Charcoal, large lumps. 20. One-inch boiled bones for bottoms. — Gardeners' Chron. Duration of Varieties. — Except from a convul- sion destroying the world, a species never becomes extinct, but every variety has a limited existence. A new kind of cultivated fruit may exist for many years, and grafting on to more vigorous stocks may protract its duration for centuries, but decrepitude and death come at last. In the case of flowers, and other plants incapable of obtaining new organs of nutriment by grafting, the duration of varieties is much shorter. A variety of the Potaio lasts in vigour about 20 years; of the Anemone, about 15 ; of the Ranunculus, about 20; of the Pelargonium, about 10: but the highei-t perfection of this last flower, Captain Thurtell informs us, is from its third to its sixth ye;ir. — Gardeners' Almanac. Early Peas. — Mr. Barnes has again favoured us with the results of his experiments, and it will be seen that they are still decisively in favour of Corviack's Prince Albert. Cormack's Prince Albert. — Sown 5th Decem- ber, 1844; in bloom April 21st, 1845; gathered May Warwick. — Sown same day, same preparation, and the whole of after management the same; in bloom May 2iid ; gathered June 10th. Cormack's Prince Albert. — Sown in pans March 6th; transplanted April 3rd; in bloom May 7th; gathered June 1st, 1845. South aspect. Warwick. — Sown same day, transplanted, and after management exactly the same, the row being 100 feet in length, was planted half with each, and sheltered exactly the same; east aspect; in bloom May 15th; gathered June 10th, 1845.— /ijU TO CORRESPONDENTS. Amicus. — Thanks for the extract; we think it is from " FortuiiL-'s Three Years in China;" hut the matter is useful. R. A. (Birmingham. )-In planting gooseberries and currants, trench the pround three feet deep before planting, if such trenching has not been done to the garden tecently. Cut the gooseberry-shoots so as to leave only three or four, and shorten these so that not more than one budremains. Serve the red and white currants similarly, but leave two buds on each shoot. Sprink'c some leaves, or a little leafnu.uld, about the roots, and spread these out eveiilv in a circle of which the stem is the centre. Let the roots be as little injured as possible, and not more than six inches below the surface of the soil. Cut olfthe tap root. A. B. (George-street, Euston-square ) — If expense is no object, *' Loudon's Encyclopedia of Gardening." If a cheaper work is required "Johnson's Dictionary of Modern Gardening." W. D. P. (Canonbury.) — We cannot say whether drainage would benefit your soil unless we knew its depth, and the nature of the subsoil. The best addition to the soil would be a thick coat of clay and chalk, or clayey marl. A list of roses was in our last Number. Lists of fruits will appear from time to time. We cannot recommend nurserymen. Mangolu Wurtzel Leaves may be kept for some time if a slice of the root is cut off with them, and they are laid into the earth in rows, as cabbage-stalks are. Cutting otf a slice will not injure the roots keeping. W. (Dublin,)— Trench the whole of your piece of meadow, and turn the top, or turf-spit, to the bottom : lime will not be required. We can scarcely expect a good potato-crop from a deep clay. The potatoes we recommtnd are Julys and red-nosed kidneys. Rev. a. Foster.— a most efficient destroyer of the American Blight is coal-tar, applied to each patch of the blight with a brush. The entire trunk of a tree must not be thus tarred, or it will be injured, and perhaps killed. The tar should be applied as soon as the blight appears in the spring. Rev. J. Vincent.— It is not sufficient merely to earth up the potatoes. If not put in alternate layers with earth, and covered at least a foot deep with earth, in the form of a ridged roof, the wet and vicissitudes of temperature promote putrefaction. We are glad that you approve of autumn-planting. M. Francais (Cheltenham). — An announcement in our last Number will show that we had anticipated your wish. Mr. Beaton's first communication appears in to-day's paper. Ash-leaved Kidnets (F of Y.) — You may safely plant them during this month, but they will not be so e?.rly ai those kept out of the ground and forced to sprout by being stored in a warm room during the winter, as they do in Cheshire --ind Lancashire. The Cheshire mode, however, is the most calculated to bring on disease. For the Northern counties eight inches is the safest depth for planting the Potato in autunin. Plant whole, middle- sized Potatoes. Salt as a Manure [A. N. A.) — We will take an early opportunity of giving some facts relative to this fertilizer. Walter Tebbitt, Esq. — Very much obliged, but cannot spare the space at present. Improving Soil. {.-/ Subscriber, J. If.) Lime is too expensive for improving the staple of your soil, nor is it so much needed, as it already contaiiis bricklayer's rubbish. A thick coating of coal ashes, refuse peat, and drift sand, would lie the best of applications, but do not put on the night-^oil until the spring. The soil, after being covered wi'h the coal-ashes. &c., will be much benefited by being thrown up into ridges. We do not know the Flour Ball Potato. Chapman's Kidney is an early variety. Hybridizing. {An Amateur,) — We will give the information desired very shortly. Steeping Seeds. iCincinnatus.) — We do not know anything of the plan, but our Correspondent may rest satisfied that it Is of no value. No steepins of seed will increa-e its fertility. London : Printed by William Tvler and Charles Reed, 5, 6, and 7, Bolt-court, Fleet-street, in the Parish of Saint Dunstan's-in-the- West : and Published by William Somekville Orb, at the Office, 147, Strand, in the Parish of Saint Mary-le-Strand, London. THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 43 WEEKLV CAI,ENI>AH. M D w D NOVEMBER 2—8, 1848. Plants dedicated to eacli day. Sun Rises. Sun Sets. ^^oon R. and Sets. JVIoon's Age. Clock aft. Sun. Day of Year. 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Th. F S Sun M Tu W All Souls. Mich. Tenr. begins. Princess Sophia B. 1777. Bolanical Society's King Will. III. landed. [Month.Mek. 20 Sunday AFTER Trinity. Gun- Leonard, [powder Plot, 160.5. Linnean and Horticultural Socie- [ties' Monthly Meetings. Busliy "Winter Cherry. Common Primrose. Strawberry-tree.. Commcn Winter Cherry. Yew. Gigantic Furcrcea. Bluish-green Veltlieimia 58 a 6 VII 1 3 5 30 a 4 28 26 24 22 21 19 9 22 10 23 11 29 mora. 39 1 54 3 11 6 7 5 9 10 11 12 16 17 16 17 16 16 16 14 16 11 16 8 16 4 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 All Souls 13 a day especially set apart by tlie Roman Catholic Church to pray for the release of all souls detained in purgatory. St. Leonard was a French Christian nobleman of preat sanctity, who died about the year 559. Being remarkable for his charity to captives, he is especially prayed to by Roman Catholic prisoners. Phenomena of the Season — Mr. Jenynssays, that on an average of years, the horse-chestnut becomes leallessby the 2nd of this month, Insects.— The conmion Flat-body Moth {Dcpres- saria Ciculella) is often mistaken for the Clothes and the lilac by the 3rd. In 1S45. the apple-trees and gooseberrj'- bushes were similarly stripped by the -fth, and on the 5lh the cherry- trees were equally bare. The larch-leaves had turned yellow on the 8th, but those of the Lombardy poplar and birch were all off on that day. During the same seven days, the missel-thrush usually re- sumes its song— about the 2ntl, whilst that of the skylark is heard no more after the 5th, The hooded crow arrives about the 7tb. 1841. 1842. 1843. 1S44. 1845. 1840. 1847. 2 Fine. Fine. Rain. Cloudy. Fine. Climdy. 3 Fine. Fine. Fine. Cloudy. Fine. Fine. Rain. 4 Fine. Showery. Fine. Cloudy. Fine. Cloudy. Fine. i Fine. Sliowery. Cloudy. Cloudy. Fine. Cloudy. Cloudy. (1 Fine. Sliowery. Rain. Clouilv. Fine. Cloudy. Rain. •; . Fine. Cloudy. Kain. Showery. Fine. Cloudy. Cloudy. S 1 Fine. Cloudy. Cloudy. Cloudy. Cloudy. Cloudy. Cloudy. Bloth, occasionally being found in our rooms, and, like that, moving about with great activity to escape from tlie light. Colour, dull reddish-brown, with a satiny lustre ; eyes black and globular; upper wings brown and black, freckled, with three white spots in the centre ; under wings yellowish gray. They deposit their eggs in the flower-heads of the carrot, and the caterpillars feed upon its leaves. There are two broods every j'ear — one in August, and the other at the close of October. The caterpillars are of a pea-green colour, with a darker line of the same down each side and back. Legs, sixteen in numberj head brown; body marked with ten black spots. Our cut represents the insect when at rest and when flying. The latter is magnified. The Central Board of Health, in a paper containing many excellent recommendations for preserving those who adopt them from the attack of spasmodic cholera, have included in that paper one piece of advice which is most erroneous — for they recommend that fruit, and certain vegetables, should not be eaten. If this advice were sustained either by past experi- ence or by the opinion of the majority of medical men most deserving of confidence, we should not issue a single sentence in opposition — although we know that a general following of that advice would be the occasion of much deprivation to all cottagers, and of ruin to many market-gardeners. Such deprivation and ruin would demand our best sympathy and efforts for their relief; but we should say they must be en- dured for the avoidance of a worse evil — the agonies and the multitudinous deaths consequent upon a pre- valence of cholera. Experience and medical skill, however, coincide in recommending the use of ripe, sound fruit, and of well-cooked vegetables. It is quite certain that even those who lived exclusively upon vegetables were, during the last visit of cholera to this country, almost entirely exempted from its attacks ; and the following observations, made long since by a physician, we are well advised, will be ac- knowledged as truth by all his brethren whose opinions are now entitled to confidence : " Though animal food is more nourishing than vegetable, it is not safe to live on that alone. Expe- rience has shown that a diet consisting solely of animal food excites thirst and nausea, occasions pu- trescence in the stomach and bowels, and finally brings on violent griping pains, ivith cholera and dysentery. "With regard to the proportion of vegetable food to that of animal, great nicety is by no means required. It must vary according to circumstances. The vege- table part, however, where nothing forbids, ought certainly to preponderate — and I think in the propor- tion of at least two to one. " I am no enemy to good fruit as an article of diet. Fruit should be eaten in the early part of the day, when the stomach is not loaded with food ; and it never ought to be eaten raw till it is thoroughly ripe." In addition to the above we will only add, that, in the families of very many medical men, we know that no diminution of vegetables in their daily diet is permitted — the only precaution being that the vege- tables are not eaten unless thoroughly boiled, and no fruit unless quite ripe and sound. So far are we from wishing to see a good vegetable diet diminished, that we recommend to our readers — amateurs as well as cottagers — the following excellent piece of cookery : — Into two quarts of cold water out three pounds of 44 THE COTTAGE GARDENER. pumpkin or gourd, cut into thin slices, peeled, and with all the seeds removed ; two large onions, also peeled and sliced, with a small stick of celery cut into very small pieces. Boil these together slowly for two hours and a half; and then, after adding an ounce of dripping, two large table spoonfuls of flour, and of pepper and salt as much as pleases the taste, boil for half an hour longer : stir frequently during the whole of the boiling. This recipe, modified from one pre- viously published, we have from our own cook; and we have the testimony of our own palate that it is one of the most agreeable, and is certainly the cheap- est of soups. The pumpkins saved for seed are better for this purpose than those which are less ripe and more watery. We may as well remove fi-om such of our readers' minds as happen to entertain it, the false prejudice that no vegetable food is so nourishing as the flesh of animals. This is a very great error ; and it has been ascertained, beyond all doubt, that their strengthen- ing or nourishing qualities are in the following pro- portions : 100 lbs. of Seeds of Peas contain of nou- rishing matter . . .93 lbs. Seedsof French Haricot-bean 92 Seeds of Broad-beans . . 89 Wheaten Bread . . 80 Butchers' Meat (average) . 35 Grapes . 27 Apricots . 26 Potatoes . 25 Cherries . 25 Peaches . 20 Gooseberries . 19 Apples . 17 Pears .... . 16 Carrots . 14 Strawberries . 13 Cabbages and Turnips. . 8 Melon .... . 3 THE FRUIT-GARDEN. The late frosts have reminded us that we have now fairly turned our backs on mere autumn weather; and the sleety storm or dense atmosphere of gloomy November will begin to remind us " to put our house in order " for the approaching winter. That season will not, however, be spent in vaiu by those of indus- trious habits, without which, indeed, no cottager can ever hope to better his condition or that of his family after him. Labour is the capital of the poor man, and a capital which produces abundant interest if rightly applied. As long as a poor but industrious man is blessed with health, he may bid defiance to tlie roughest storm, especially if the possessor of a small and highly cultivated plot of ground and a good pig in his sty. Old age will approach, and sickness may come, but the provident cottager has his club to fall back on, together with, generally, some strong and well-trained children to prop his declining years. Such will in general be the ultimate condition of the cottager who has through life performed his duty to his employer, and well cultivated his own garden. In addition, a few pounds in the savings' bank will not be an unfre- quent occurrence. Pruning. — This is an affair that needs some expla- nation in detail ; and in order to commence and pursue the subject in a methodical way, we will at once begin with one family of fruits, and continue the rest in like manner as occasion offers. Our select lists of truly useful fruits will also be continued as oppor- tunities occur. The Apple. — The majority of apple-trees cultivated in the gardens of the cottager or amateur are of the kind termed amongst practical men " dwarf stand- ards." Some also call them " rough espaliers." The latter name is scarcely appropriate, as espaliers are, more properly speaking, trees trained on rails or a t'ellis. To carry out this dwarfing system, then, by which both the space overhead, as well as below, is economised, a special course of pruning becomes necessary, commencing with the very earliest stages, of the grafted plant, and only ceasing when the tree, through age, produces little young spray. In the present case we must commence with the young graft, and we will suppose that it has just been planted. Whatever length it be, or whether possessed of only one shoot or two, it is absolutely necessary to prune them back to about six or eight buds. In the second year, if successful, the tree, or rather bush, will have at least eight or nine young shoots, some well-placed, and some crossing each other. Now, pruning as an art truly commences. A selec- tion must be made. The eye should be fixed on about five or six shoots well-placed ; that is to say, forming a kind of circle, or at least so disposed as to leave a distinctly open space in the midst of the tree, when all are pruned away but these. This being done, and the eye well determined on a nice form for the future tree, the remainder may be considered waste shoots, and may be instantly cutaway, observing to leave nearly half an inch of the base of each shoot. It is well for those not experienced in this matter, to tie a bit of thread or matting on each of the shoots to be retained, for fear of error ; for be it understood, we lay much stress on this first selection being made with discretion ; on it will depend, in some degree, the neatness of form; and we need hardly remind our readers that neatness of form and economy of space are identical. The selected shoots must now be short- ened, and, as a general rule, we may say nearly one- half the length may be pruned away this season, — the object being, under a dwarfing system, to cause the lower part of the tree to develop abundance of spurs, or the rudiments of spurs. Ii the bushes are left without shortening, the sure consequence will be, that some gross shoots will soon take the lead, and some of these would, in due time, assume the orchard character, and the tree would become so unwieldy, as to do away with, or render worthless, all under- cropping : we need scarcely add that this would not be agreeable to the cottager or amateur, with whom THE COTTAGE GARDENER. the old motto, " Multum in parvo," (much in a small space,) is every thing. The second year's pruning being thus carried out, the tree in the course of the next summer will have completed its full complement of shoots; and after another selection in the next pruning-season, short- ening and thinning out will be the principal affair for the next year or two, after which it will suffice to go over ordinary kitchen or baking apples once in two or three years. General Maxims. — We may for the present con- clude the apple-pruning, as to young trees, with a few maxims necessary to be observed on all occasions. First. In selecting shoots to be retained, always prefer short-jointed and brown-looking shoots, to tliose which are pale, succulent, and long-jointed. Secondly. In shortening back the shoots that are to remain, always cut back to a bud which promises to extend the tree, rather than to contract it, unless the tree be of a very straggling habit. Thirdly. Let the shortening back he less every season after the third year's pruning, for the trees by that period will be thrown into shape, and the lower spurs being in a great measure formed, there will yearly be less tendency to produce gross or barren shoots, especially if an occasional root-pruning be given. The pruning of old trees will form another division of the subject, to which we shall return at an early ojjportunity. Root-pruning the Apple. — The apple, as also all other fniits which occasionally grow over-luxuriant, is much benefited by root-pruning; and in order to be explicit, it will be necessary to offer a few words of advice applied separately to each family. Having had some twenty-three years' experience of the im- mense advantages to be derived by occasionally resortnig to this useful practice; and having been, we believe, the first to systematize it, we are the more emboldened to speak at large on the subject. In the first place, we would impress on the amateur or cot- tager, that a judicious root-pruning wiVZ cause any kind of fruit-tree to produce blossom-buds, provided that the case is merely one of over-luxuriance, and that the tree is healthy in constitution. This we have proved to be a fact, and one worth knowing in all cases. With regard to the apple, the process should not be commenced until the plant lias been established, for at least three years ; to commence earlier, would be to rob the tree of much necessary size. Moreover, to apply it to young trees, which have never attained a considerable amount of luxuriance, is somewhat trickish, and will certainly tend to produce a prema- ture old age. It is, indeed, on the latter principle that the Chinese produce their famous miniature trees, which, possessing no real utility, can only he accounted vegetable curiosities. The amateur or cottager's apples are for the most part situate on the marginal borders of the garden ; and these borders are generally studded with goose- berry or currant-bushes. In such cases it is difficult to introduce the spade : it is, therefore, well to know in such cases that the roots need not be cut away in a continuous line; the spade may be introduced at intervals, — for wherever a root is severed, therein a corresponding check has been given. It must be understood, that any given root supplies sap to the whole tree, and does not alone infiuence any parti- cular part. Our practice, however, is, (but then we have nothing on our borders to hinder a free oper- ation,) to throw out a deep trench across the border at right angles with the walk, and to cut away every root which comes beyond that line. We then fill up the trench with fresh soil from the ground close by, which has not been exhausted by tlie apple ; we seldom go farther than four or five strides for fresh soil. It requires a little judgment to know what propor- tion of the roots to cut away ; and in order to convey as correct an idea as possible, we may suppose the trees thrown into three classes, — they would then stand thus: First, Trees of moderate luxuriance ; second. Those which may be termed robust ; third. Those of what is termed gross habit. We acknowledge that such dis- thictions appear rather arbitrary ; we have, however, no better plan of making ourselves understood. To give a further idea, we would say that the first class will make young shoots on an average a foot in length ; those of the second two feet ; and the third nearly, or quite, three feet : the latter, indeed, frequently burst into lateral or side shoots, from the young shoots of the same season. From the first class, therefore, we advise the cutting away about a sixth part of the roots ; from the second class a fourth part ; and from the third class a third part. It must be borne in mind, that the extremities of the roots alone should be cut off, for while we advo- cate this mutilation, we equally advocate the preserv- ation of the surface roots by every possible means ; nay, more than that, we recommend their encourage- ment by extra appliances ; of which more by-and-by. We will speak of some routine matters in our next. R. Errington, THE FLOWER-GARDEN. General F£ower-gabden. — In all operations that have reference to a future effect, the mind of the operator is in constant exercise. In gardening, this is more especially the case, as the subjects under the cultivator's care all require a certain preparation and constant attention. We hope, therefore, tliat our readers will constantly keep this maxim in their minds, that something or other requires doing every day. Plants in pits and frames require to be kept clear of weeds and decaying mouldy leaves ; to be very moderately watered, protected from severe weather, and plenty of air given them on every fine mild day. All those daily cares must be unremitted, and require great judgment in the application. Watering more particularly requires attention at this season of the year. Plants of every kind must not be allowed to become so dry as to destroy the roots ; and, to guard against a damp atmosphere, all water ought now to be applied in the mornings, so that the leaves and the surface of the soil may become dry before the evening. The temperature of the water is also a point to be attended to : it ought always to have the chill taken off— that is, never to be used colder than forty-five degrees of Fahrenheit's ther- mometer. Alpine Plants. — Many of the plants that grow in mountainous regions, and are known as Alpine- plants, are very beautiful, and may be successfully 46 THE COTTAGE GARDENER. cultivated in gardens, either in pots or on artificial rockwork — the latter being the least trouble, and the plants in the most natural situation. As we wish to make the amateur and cottager's gardens as interest- ing as possible, we strongly recommend our friends to attempt the cultivation of those interesting plants. Rockwork may be formed with flints and scoriBe, or, as they are commonly called, clinkers. Where it is plentiful, rough pieces of natural stone may be em- ployed, or all three may be tastefully mixed, and a few rough roots of dead trees can always be used, here and there, with good effect. First, a bank of any kind of earth must be thrown up in the intended form, which should be of irregular outline ; then place the flints and other things so as to leave vacancies between the stones : those vacancies should be partly filled up with a compost of leaf-mould, loam, and sandy peat, in equal parts. The aspect of the rockwork, if con- venient, should be to the north ; as Alpine plants are, in their native counti-ies, during the winter covered with snow — and consequently, in our artificial rockery, should have as little sun as possible in the cold months. The best time to plant them is in the spring — as then they will be well established before the winter sets in. We will shortly give a select list of Alpine plants. Amateur's Flower-garden : Winter Shelter. — The winter season being now fast approaching, every means of protecting plants should be in a state of preparation, so that when severe weather actually comes, the diff'erent articles for that purpose may be at hand. Plaited straw tents, made in the form of a beehive, are excellent protectives for small half-hardv shrubs, such as young araucai-ia imbricaia, some hybrid rhododendrons, and any other new shrub whose powers of resisting frost may be doubtful or unknown. Russian Bass Mats, for covering frames, tender trees on walls, and various other purposes, are, after all, the most handy and useful of materials for cover- ing. Two or three thicknesses of these mats will prevent any ordinary degree of frost from injuring the plants usually kept in pits or frames. In extraor- dinaiy severe frost an addition of six inches of light straw evenly, and in a thatch-like form, laid on over the mats, will prevent frost from penetrating through the glass, but it will reach the plants through the sides and ends of the frames. Side Coverings. — To prevent the cold from pene- trating by the ends or sides, pUe up against them either some litter, or short straw, or, what is better than either, fern or brakes tied up in small bundles and packed closely against the frames. Commence at the bottom with a thickness of nine inches, or a foot, gradually sloping upwards close to tlie glass, where the thickness should be about four inches. Finish it neatly, so as the glass sheets will easily slide over it. This part of the protection should be done forthwith, so that the plants may be safe whatever kind of weather may ensue. The bass mats come to this country with tlie ends untied. If used so, they will soon become ragged and loose. Let every mat be tied, by taking three or four of the Aveb and tying them in a knot over the weft ; cut ofi" the ends neatly and evenly, and put them by in a dry place till wante:! Wall-climbers. — Should the amateur have a wall covered with ornamental climbers and choice ever- green shrubs, they may in severe winters be easily protected, by lianging up mats against them, fastening them witli hooks or pieces of cloth and nails. All these precautions may appear troublesome and labo- rious, but the lover of plants will not grudge the labour and care necessary to preserve his lovely favourites from their grand enemy — frost. Root-protection. — To protect the roots of plants, whether shrubs, perennials, or bulbs, many things may be successfully used. Short stable-litter, half rotted leaves, fern, tanners' bark, moss, and short hay, whichever may be the most easily attainable, will be found useful. The grand principle is, to use all pro- tectives in time. A single night's severe frost, if unprepared against, will almost render all your after care fruitless. Cottager's Flower-garden. — We hope your gar- dens are now in neat order ; your hedges trimmed ; your dead flowers all cut down ; your borders manured and dug; and what plants you have too tender to resist the frost, all taken up and placed in some situation where the frost can be prevented from reaching them. All tliis being done, you may now turn your attention to improvements, and doing all you can to shorten the work of spring. If you do not possess a pit or frame, exert your ingenuity, and look about you to see what you can convert into a winter shelter for scarlet geraniums, fuchsias, double wall- flowers, or any other half-hardy flower you may wish to preserve. TuRF-piT. — In most country places turf may be procured. With this material you may build an ex- cellent pit. First put a stake at each corner of your intended protective pit, beat the surface where the walls will stand firmly, and then place the first layer of turf down a little broader than you will finish with. The bottom may be one foot broad, and laj- upon it turf after turf, gradually lessening the thickness of the walls till at the last layer the width will be nine inches. Your turf-pit should face the south, the front waU should be so much lower than the back as to leave a slope at the ends about the same pitch as the roof of an ordinary house. The depth inside may be at the back two feet and a half, and at the front eighteen inches. The width you will find most con- venient about four feet. AVith this width you can easily reach any plant that may require dead leaves picking off, or weeds pulling up. So far you have done well ; you must try what you can get to cover your plant-house in with. If you can afford a few shillings to purchase some ready-sawn wood, and possess a joiner's plane and a chisel, you may with a little painstaking form a window-frame ; and provided you cannot afford at present to purchase glass, even cheap as it is, you may procure sti-aw, and weave a covering for each of your frames. Nail it neatly on with a list edging, and you will then possess no bad substitute for glass. Or, which is still better, you may procure some coarse calico, and stretch it tightly over the frame-work, and then procure some cheap linseed- oil, and lay it on the calico, setting the frames up against a wall or paling to dry, and when in that state give it another coating of oil. When this last coat is dry your frame will be ready for use. If you are un- able to purchase the wood, calico, and oil, still do not give up this very useful appendage to your garden. Perhaps you can get some poles of trees that have been cut down to thin the young woods in your neigh- bourhood. These poles cut the proper length and laid over your turf-pit, will answer prettj' well to bear up your straw mats. Should the muter prove severe, procure some short straw or fern, and spread it upon the straw mats about si.\ inches thick. It must be a severe frost indeed that will injure the plants through this effectual protection. When the season arrives that yon can plant out your preserved favourites, the pit may be turned to many uses : you may fill it to THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 47 within a foot and a half of the roof witli dung, or any kind of rubbish, over this put six inches of good earth, and plant in it cucumbers, or sow in it early lettuces, radishes, small salading, dwarf kidney beans, etc., so that you may perceive what a useful place your pit will be — well worth all your extra laboiu-. Arched Tkellis. — If you have still some spare time, you may add a great ornament to your garden at a trifling expense. Supposing you live in the country near to woods, that are felling, or tliinning, you might for a ti-ifle get a few long rods of hazel or ash. Place a row opposite each other of the strongest, on each side of the walk, through the garden. Let them stand eight feet apart from each other. When they are all placed strongly in the ground, cut them off" even at six feet from the earth, and then bend some of the smaller ones over from side to side, so as to form arches : tie them firmly with tar-band or twine. To strengtlien the whole, place long rods, sufficient to reach the whole length of the arches, upon the highest part, and tie them firmly to each arch. If all this he well done, it will last several years, and he very neat and orna- mental, when, as it is intended to be, covered with creepers. We shall give a list of suitable plants for that purpose. FLORISTS' FLOWERS. The Pansy. — This almost universally-loved favour- ite, deserving a place in the amateur and cottager's garden, we will devote this week's part of our labour to its cultivation. Propagation. — The best plants are obtained by layering. By this term, we mean taking a branch of a plant, bringing it gently down to the earth, trim- ming off all the lower leaves close to the stem with a sharp knife ; having ready a sufiicient number of hooked pegs, about four inches long ; also, a small basket of fine compost of loam and leaf mould in equal parts, with a little sand mixed amongst it. Then, having trimmed as many branches all round the plant as you can conveniently lay down without crowding them, take one up gently in your left hand, and just below the third or fourth joint make an nicision (with a very sharp pen, or budding knife) sloping upwards nearly half an inch. Put a small splinter of wood in the incision, or cut, to keep it open. This is not absolutely necessary, but for very choice varieties we recommend it. Having made the cut and put the splinter in, bring the branch gently down to the ground ; hold it there with tlie left hand, and witli the right take one of the pegs, thrust it into the ground with tlie hooked part resting upon the branch just hard enough to keep it firm in its place. This part of the operation must be very carefully per- formed, or the layer will crack 03" at the place where the cut is made. Proceed with the next, and so on all round the plant, till all the branches intended are layered. Then take some of the fine earth, and with the hand spi-ead it evenly over each, leaving the tops ex- posed. Close the earth well to each branch thus layered, and give the whole a gentle watering with a fine rose watering-pot. The operation is then complete. Cuttings. — The other mode of increasing good kinds is by cutting, and this is most generally prac- tised. The first thing to attend to is to choose the situation for the cuttings. The north side of a low wall is the best — a wall is better than a hedge, as there is no draught of cold air through it. Stir up the soil with a tliree-pronged fork, breaking it fine. Then put a layer of four inches of light compost, like that used for layering: upon this, place a thin covering of fine sand. Press the whole gently down with a flat piece of wood ; then prepare your cuttings. Choose the weakest shoots for that purpose; the strong ones are too full of sap. Cut them across just under a joint, making them three inches long. A hand-glass will assist them materially in forming their roots. Only a part will grow without the glass, and they will take a much longer time, therefore use hand-glasses. Set the hand-glass on the soil so as to leave an im- pression, and within that impression with a small dibber, or planting stick, put the cuttings in rows at three inches apart from row to row, and from plant to plant. Then, as with the layers, give a gentle water- ing, and as soon as the tops are dry, set on the hand-glasses. In about six weeks they will be rooted. T. Appleby. WINDOW AND GREENHOUSE-GARDENING. A HoBBV-HORSE, if fresh, is almost as difficult to manage, at first, as an Arab steed fresh from grass — the restlessness at starting is much the same with both, and each requires some time and management before he can be made to take the road straight for- ward. But you will probably ask — what has that to do with gardening and pot-plants? — very little I own. The subject, however, — that is giving directions in gardening to new beginners, — is one of my hobbies, and in starting with it fresh last week, it would take any direction but the straightforward course. 1 in- tended then to give full du-ections about watering window and other plants in winter, and not only to give directions, but a reason also, for every rule — for a rule without a reason is a " rule of thumb," and goes for little. My hobby, however, was so restless that I did not get in a tithe of what I intended to say, and before I had more than broached the subject, the space alloted for me was filled up. I must therefore return to it occasionally, as the subject in hand may happen to suggest ; and now about flowers : Chrysanthemums. — The most popular flower in England at this season is the chrysanthemum, and deservedly so, for it fills a blank at this period of the year that no other plant we possess could make up. It requires very little care to get it through the win ■ ter; small slips of it planted in a pot, or in the ground, in May will make roots as freely as willow twigs; and the nurserymen sell plants of it coming into bloom cheaper than of any other flower they grow — I mean cheaper according to its merit. Besides, there are many kinds of it, and, like Joseph's coat, they are of many colours. They do not Uke to be stifled up in a close room at any time, and least of all when they are in bloom. They should be turned outside the window every mild day for a few hours. If thej' are in a greenhouse, the ordinary management of a greenhouse at this season will suit them capitally; for the doors and windows of greenhouses are now always kept open as much as possible, and that is just what chrys- anthemums like. They are also fond of rich manure- water given to their roots, and plenty of it. Those in 4S THE COTTAGE GARDENER. a window will require some water e\'ery day, and those in the greenhouse every other day, unless the weather is very damp. Although they are strong feeders, and require large doses of water, it is a bad plan to leave water in their saucers all night. To have fine large blooms of the chrysanthemum, some of the flower buds ought to be cut off: in doing this, leave the more forward buds and the latest buds, cut- ting away the intermediate ones. This will give a longer succession of flowers, besides improving the size of those left. Tree Violets. — Every one is fond of violets, and if you had room for only three pots in the window, one of them should be a double violet. For seven or eight months in the year, or say from August to April, they should be in the window, and the tree violet is the best sort for pot-culture. The French call it "The Perpetual Violet," which is perhaps the best name for it, inasmuch as that it flowers so freely and so much longer than any other violet. All violets may easily be trained so as to form little trees, as we call them, simply by bringing up a plant with one shoot only. This shoot should be tied to a neat stake, and all the side shoots be rubbed off as soon as they appear, unless you want to increase your stock of them : in that case, the side shoots may be left till they are three or four inches long, and then be taken off for cuttings. If these cuttings are planted at any time round the side of a pot in any light gai-den mould and watered, they will soon make roots. The best time, however, for increasing them by cuttings is the spring, and when they are well rooted they should be planted in the garden, and watered occasionally through the summer. They will make nice little patches, and begin to flower by the end of August ; when a few of them may be taken up in succession, and put into pots to bloom in doors all through the winter. If the tree violet is left to take its own way of growth, it will grow in patches, just like any other violet, without any attempt at forming itself into a little tree, and that is the easiest way to deal with it, and it is the way it produces the most flowers ; but trained up in the tree fashion it looks very interesting, and will live many years. By the time it gets a clear stem a foot or eighteen inches high you may allow the side shoots above that heighth to grow, and then your miniature tree will be perfect. Bulbs. — Almost any spring flowering bulbs may be potted at this season in light mould; and with only the aid of a common window, they will come into flower six weeks or two months before their usual time, and keep the windows very gay at a period when few plants can be had in flower. Pot snow- drops, crocuses, early tulips, hyacinths, narcissus, or daft'odils; in short, as many roots of these as you can procure, or have room for, and I shall give you a full account of how to manage them before they make much growth. It will suffice at present if I say that crocuses and snowdrops may be planted as thick as they will stand in the pot, and an inch under the sur- face of the soil. Tulips from three to five in a pot that is six inches wide at the top, and planted the same depth as the crocuses: hyacinths are best planted singly, and so are the daffodils, of which one called "Double Roman Narcissus" is the earliest to bloom. They are all to be had cheap enough at the seed shops, and form a large branch of business. Seeds- men are always willing to tell their customers how to manage these things. Greenbouse-plants, now housed in for the winter, may have all the air given them that the door and windows will admit, and some of the windows may be left partially open at night, unless there are signs of frost. In very damp weather it is a good plan to light a moderate fire occasionally in the daytime, to dry up the damp ; but let the fire go out before night. The plants, pots, and stages ought always to be kept clean and dry. The nasty green slime you see some- times on pots is very injurious to plants at this season. D. Beaton. THE KITCHEN-GARDEN. In tnis season ot high winds and damp cold days, we would earnestly advise the cottager to employ him- self and family more in the repair of his tools, and other indoor work, rather than to risk the establish- ment of rheumatism, or the causing of cholera, by e.\posure to the weather. One of the chief causes of fever and cholera is being exposed to sudden chills whilst in a state of perspiration. This advice to the cottager is equally applicable to the amateur and his garden assistants. Artichokes should now receive their winter dress- ing. Cut away the old leaves close to the ground, but without injuring the centre or side shoots. Fork over the bed, throwing the earth in a ridge about eight inches high, over each row ; putting it close round each plant, but being careful to keep the heart free from the crumbs of soil. After this has been done, pile round every plant some long litter or pea-haulm, three or four inches thick ; and to keep this from blow- ing away, as well as to help in preserving the roots from severe frosts, cover over the litter, or haulm, two inches deep with coal-ashes. The ashes may be turned into the soil in the spring, being a manure much liked by the artichoke. It is probable that many of our readers may believe that the name of this vegetable refers to the fibrous, almost unswallowable part of it known by the name of "the choke ;" but this is quite a mistake. The word artichoke is merely the English mode of spelling its French name, artichaut ; and this is said by old writ- ers to be a corruption of the Arabic name for it, alco- calos, which has reference to the shape of its heads being like that of the pine-apple. The Arabs prize it highly, not only for its edible heads, but its roots as a purgative, and its gummy exudations as an emetic. Onions. — Look over those stored for winter use, and remove all decayed ones as soon as seen, for no putridity is more readily communicated than is that of one onion to another. They will soon become a mass of offensive, mouldy matter, if left with one bad onion among them. The onions sown in August, to grow through the winter, should be weeded, and thinned to two inches apart. Potato, or Under-ground Onion, may be now planted, or during any fine weather until the begin- ning of December. In Devonshire they plant it on the shortest, and take it up on the longest day. Near Edinburgh it is known as Burn's Onion, having been introduced there by an officer of that name. It grows in clusters, varying in number from two to twelve, keeps well, is very hardy, and deserves to be more THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 49 cultivated. Grow them upon any light, open, rich piece of ground : dig it deep and fine, and when you have dug enough for a row, plant it ; thus avoiding any need of treading upon the dug soil. The best mode of planting is to press the root-end of each offset, or clove of the onion gently into the ground, so as to bury about a third part of it ; each offset eight inches apart from those next to it ; cover each offset with a little heap, half an inch deep, of a mixture of equal quantities of decayed dung and coal-ashes. Let the rows be eight inches apart. Parsnips. — Take up for storing. We gave full directions for doing this in our second Number. The whole crop need not be taken up, but only a portion, as these may be got at easily when those left in the ground are bound there by frost and snow. Those most exposed to frost are always the sweetest, and the lowest degree of cold does them no harm. Potatoes. — Now, and at any time when fine weather occurs during the month, is the best time for autumn- planting, and we recommend every one of our readers who has a kitchen-garden to try a few rows, adopting the directions we gave in our first Number. Three years' experience enables us to assert without any reservation that it is the best mode of growing this root. The ground need not be lying unproductive all the winter, for a row of coleworts may be grown between every two rows of potatoes, and cut for boil- ing before the potatoes appear above ground in the spring. Pumpkins. — We wish to impress upon our readers the importance of these. Tliose we have saved for seed weigh full twelve pounds each : they will make, therefore, eight quarts of the soup mentioned in our to-day's editorial — a soup tliat will not be misplaced at any gentleman's table. Let not a seed-pumpkin be wasted ; but let its flesh be thus used. 'I'he seed well-dried will keep as well in a paper bag as it would in the pumpkin itself. Celerv. — Make use of favourable opportunities of applying a good portion of earth to bleach and secure celery against the winter's frost. For doing this, choose the afternoon of a fine day ; the first thing to be done is to draw the leaves of each plant quite upright with one hand, and slightly pressing in the top earth wiih the other. By this means the lower part of the plant is excluded from air and light, and the earth is prevented from getting to its heart, which, if allowed to get amongst its leaves, would admit the wet, causing rot and deformity. Besides, by this treat- ment a shoulder is formed to the celery-bank, for the new application of soil. Celery is a wholesome vege- table, either eaten as a salad, stewed, boiled in soups, or boiled whole, and served at table with meat in the same waj' as cauliflowers and brocoli. Care should be taken even thus earh' to prepare some easily come- atable material for protecting celery against severe frost, such as fern, heath, furze, evergreen boughs, pea-haulm, bean-stalks, reed or sedge, or straw of any kind. This should be applied to the outside of the bank wlien frost sets in, for if once bleached celery gets frozen through, it is certain to rot very quickly afterwards. Besides, when frozen through it is incon- venient for taking up when required. Cauliflowers and Cape Brocoli. — All that are now showing flower, or rather just turning in, should be daily secured, by pulling up the whole plant by root, tieing them up into bunches of fire or six, ac- cording to the size of the plants, and hanging them up in sheds or cellars — thus securing abundance of those useful vegetables for table during the winter months. Young plants of cauliflower, either pricked into pots, pits -frames, or under hand-glasses, should be well attended b}- airing day and night at all times in favourable weather; the decayed leaves picked off; the surface of the earth well stirred ; the slugs well hunted ; and occasionally a little dry dust applied amongst them. This addition of dust is most valuable in the winter months, both as a protection against damping, or canker, or frost. Take care to save all the dry, dust}' soil, old mortar, or other dusty material, and we will see what useful accounts it may be turned to between this and next March, in the way of pre- serving vegetation. Borecole and Brocoli of luxuriant growth, if not already done, should be checked by either cutting the roots round at about nine inches distance from each plant with a spade, or they may be laid in where growing, or taken up and laid together in a more sheltered situation to check them. The ground from whence they are taken should be well trenched, and laid in rough tidges or sloping hanks, to receive the beneficial influence of the weather. Cabbage and Coleworts, in every stage of growth, should be kept clear from decayed leaves : the surface of the soil well stirred in diy, favourable weather, and all small plants secured for spring use bj' being thickly pricked on sloping banks or sheltered situa- tions. Endive may be secm-ed in turf or other temporarj' pits, and may be protecti'd with asphalte or light- boarded shutters, thatched wood-frames, fern, furze, or other similar materials. A portion, in succession, may be placed to bleach in a dark shed or cellar, being planted thickly together in sand or earth. Or some may be thus planted in any room or shed, or allowed to stay in a frame or pit, and bleached by being covered with light boards, slates, fern, straw, or any dry material placed on it. Thus keeping a good succession. Parsley. — A few strong roots of this herb should be placed in pnts, or in a box, to be placed in-doors, or in some sheltei'ed place, to be in readiness for use when frost and snow set in. Mushrooms, in hot-beds, look well to at this season. Allow no cold draughts or currents of cold air to be admitted. Keep them close, and with a rather humid atmosphere about them. Make suecessional beds at this season in the warmest and most sheltered situa- tions ; beds that have been some time in bearing, and are becoming exhausted, may be invigorated by appli- cation of clear liquid-manure, applied no colder than eighty degrees. Make the liquid-manure by soaking sheep or deer's dung in water. James Barnes. MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION. CUE OLD GARDENERS. Those who are acquainted only with the writings of modern authors, will scarcely believe how much non- sense was published in the days when printing was first discovered ; and as late as in the sixteenth century, tlie age when Raleigh and even Bacon lived, the publication of absurdities and falsehoods recommended for adoption in cultivating plants still continued. Few men who knew how to handle the spade could then .00 THE COTTAGE GARDENER. do more than make a cross with the pen ; and it is not surprising, therefore, that those who were learned and undertook to write of tlie art of gardening, altliough of it they knew nothing, were pleased to content themselves with mere translations from the old Roman and Greek writers. France and Holland had the start of us in obtain- ing a better knowledge of gardening, for it is well known tliat in that century our king's table had even such trivial matters as its best salads sent over by the Dutch. The monks in France were, in those days, great delighters in gardening; and as they were the best educated men of the time, those of them who wrote upon gardening were able to give some original practical information. Leonard Mascall was the first to appreciate this in England ; and it was no small merit in him to be the earliest translator of one of those French works on gardening. Leonard Mascall was farrier to King James the First, and had a country residence at Plumstead in Sussex. This sentence contains the whole of his history that has escaped to us, with the exception of the fact, that he wrote three separate works on Poultry, Cattle, and Fishing, besides that on Garden- ing, which we are about to notice. The first edition of this was printed in 157S, and seven other editions of it were published between that year and 1656. The earliest edition we have seen is that of 1592, and it has this explicit title: — "A book of the art and manner how to plant and graffe all sorts of trees; how to sst stones and sow peppins, to make wild trees to graffe on, as also remedies and medicines. With divers other new practices, by one of the abbey of S. Vincent, in France, practiced with his own hands; divided into seven chapters, as hereafter more plainly shall appear, with an addition in the end of tliis book of certain Dutch practices, set forth and Englished by Leonard Mascall." The Address to his readers is his own, and in these words : " Each wight that willing is to know The way tn jiratTand plant, May here find plenty of that skill, That erst hath been but scant. To iilant or gtaffe in other times As well as in the spring, I teach by good experience To do an easy tiling; The pleasures of this thing is great, The profit is not small, To such men as will practice it. In things mere natural." Tlie directions for budding, as well as for crown- grafting and cleft-grafting, are very particular, and for the most part correct. The drawings, to render the author's meaning more easily comprehended, are sufficiently rude and ill-executed, yet of themselves they afford satisfactory evidence that the art of graft- ing was well understood. Thus of the implements necessary for its practice, there are drawings of a gouge, pruning-knife, saw, mallet, hammer, with a file and piercer forming its handle, chisel, and scraper for removing moss from the trunk of the tree. The directions for planting fruit-trees are brief, yet generally worthy of attention. Even at the present day too many gardeners neglect this rule for shallow planting, published three centuries ago by Mascall : — " Plant so that the earth be above all the roots half a foot." AVe do not think the worse of our author for con- cluding with this recommendation : — " Whensoever ye shall plant or graffe, it shall be meet and good for you to pray to God to increase and multiply and replenish the eartli." It puts us in remembrance of an old kitchen-gardener, Paul Somers, who never put the finishing touch of his spade to any job without saying, "Paul plants, but God gives the increase." MY FLOWERS. (No. 3.) November is usually called the gloomiest month in the year, — and so it is to many persons : but to the lover of the country and the garden it is one of great interest. How often have I stood planning improve- ments among my borders and clumps during the warm dry summer months, wishing to remove some shrub, close up some awkwardly-placed bed, form another in a more striking spot, or clothe some bare- looking stem with honeysuckle cr ivy, and have said aloud, "How I wish November was come!" Gar- den lovers disregard the bleak winds and chilly rains that shut up " hot-house " plants, — they forsake the fireplace and worsted-work of their shivering friends, thinking only of the " charming weather for trans- planting," which may now be done safely and agree- ably, for the ground is soft, and the trees still suffi- ciently leafy, to allow us to judge of the effect of our alterations. With feet protected by Indian-rubber shoes, hands guarded from dirt and scratches by a pair of strong housemaid's gloves over one of old kid, I am sure a lady who loves her garden will enjoy her November labours quite as much as the effect of them in June and July. Evergreens fonn the chief beauty of a country garden at all seasons of the year ; their rich, deep green foliage in the glare of summer is refreshing to the eye and delightful to the feelings ; but in winter, when other leaves wither and fall, how pleasing is their luxuriant verdure and useful shelter, screening the gables of out-buildings, and the stems of leafless trees, making us almost forget that summer is gone once more Jilost of the common garden e\"ergreens love a strong soil : they will exist on clialky soil, but not in full beauty. The laurel, Portugal laurel, etc., should not be suffered to run up very high, which they will do if pleased with their situation, for then they become bare-stemmed and scrubby. Head them periodically, cut out long bare arms, and keep the plant close and compact. Laurel stems make very good garden-seats, and last a great while with care. Take them under shelter during the winter; neglecting this precaution is the reason why garden- chairs fall to pieces in a year or two. When boughs of trees are sawn or lopped off, the stumps should be trimmed off smooth ; if left jagged or rough, the wet enters, and kills, or injures them much. Evergreens, indeed all trees, should be taken up with as large a ball of earth round their roots as possible. Ladies frequently fail in planting shrubs, because they are apt to scoop out a hole in the hard ground, squeeze in the roots without giving them room to move, and then pressing in the earth upon them with their foot, as if the plant might jump out and run away. This should not be : let the hole be dug deeper and larger than the roots of the shrub, chop the earth at the bottom, that the fibres may pass through it, and let the roots lie as comfortably as the ornaments in your jewel-box, that none may be crushed or broken. Nothing hinders the growth and beauty of the plant so much as having its roots confined. Layers may now be made, but remove them as soon as they have rooted. Layers were made some years ago from a beautiful Portugal laurel in my garden, and forgotten : THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 51 in two or three years the shruh looked sickly, its leaves became pale and curled, and portions fairly died. On a close examination we discovered that the layers had shot up into strong plants, and the ex- haustion they had produced in the old shrub was the reason of its decay. They are removed, and I hope the parent plant will recover. The lauvestinus, the box, the ivy, and the bay-tree are beautiful shrubs. The box is very fragrant after rain, and the hay is very spicy and useful. I have seen it grow into a tall tree in a warm sheltered situ- ation ; but every house and cottage should have a plant, however small, to prevent the use of the poi- sonous laurel-leaf in puddings and custards, if not for its beauty and sweetness. I wish cottagers would plant evergreens more generally than they do : they are beautiful in them- selves, reminding us too, of God's love in pleasing our eye, as well as sheltering the little homeless birds, when their nests are cold and wet, and the wind alone is left to sing among the boughs ; and they are useful and ornamental in screening unsightly objects, such as ash-heaps and dunghills, and the shed where we almost always see the door swinging open, break- ing the hinges, and tubs, and pans, and other little things lying untidily about. Now these might all be kept out of sight by two or three evergreens, carefully placed, which would take up no room, make the cottage look snug and warm, and lead us to hope a neat, well-ordered family live within. If any hardy geraniums should still he left in the open borders, cover about their roots thickly with coal- aslies ; cut them down to within a few inches of the ground; wrap each stem thickly round with wool, and tie it firmly on: leave them quietly covered with their warm cloaks, and release tliem, when the frosts are over. Sometimes it is difficult to find windows where these beautiful plants can be kept tlirough the winter. In cottages, and small resi- dences, this is often the case. Then take them out of their pots about the end of October, or beginning of November, cut off all the leaves ; shake off the soil, and wrap them up well in moss : tie them together, and put them where frosts cannot reach them. In the spring, cut off the ends of the roots, and pot them in good mould. These little simple operations are highly interesting to a lady, who cannot command a green-house ; sometimes, not even a window with comfort to herself, or others ; and enable her to enjoy, without much difficulty, the pui'e and exquisite plea- sure afforded by the cultivation of flowers. It is almost the only pleasure, unattended by a sling. Our finger may be pricked by a thorn, it is true, but our hearts will not be pierced by a sorrow. COTTAGE AND ALLOTMENT GARDENING. (No. 5.) BY THE EDITOR. Sowing should always be in drills, for although it is a little more trouble at the time, it saves much more when the periods arrive for thinning and hoe- ing ; besides which, much less seed is required for drill-sowing than for sowing broadcast. Plants in drills also grow better than when without any orders as they are when raised from broadcast-sowing, the air and light being enabled to get to their leaves more freely. Rotation of Crops. — Never let the same kind of crop grow twice in succession on the same piece of ground. If you grow cabbages and brocolis for two or three years following on the same bed, they will become diseased, club-tooted, and unproductive. It is most important to obtain large crops, that the ground should bear one after the other crops differing as much as possible from each other. We are indebted to Mr. Errington for the following directions for crop- ping a garden thirty-one yards long and twenty yards wide. This being rather more than a rood, or eighth of an acre, it will be very easy to adapt the directions to any garden of a similar sir.f, though of a different shape, or indeed to any other sized garden. Divide the garden exactly in half, as represented in the accompanying diagram, where one half is marked A, and the other B. Thirty-one yards long. Tliese divisions are to be worked alternately ; that is to say, the plot A, wliich is to be all potatoes (two- thirds of late and one-third of early kinds) in 1849, will be occupied in 1S50 by the series of crops named for B in 1849, according to the subdivision references — thus B ne.xt year (1849) will be potatoes, two-thirds of later kinds planted in drills thirty inches apart, in order to receive green kale, Brussels sprouts, or any of the cabbages, savoys, etc. between them. These cabbages, etc., being plants from seeds sown in th» end of February for this purpose, on subdivision No. 9, which is set aside for such purposes. The other third, A, to be early kidney, or other early potato, set in the end of February at usual distances, to be dug up in the beginning of Jul)", and succeeded by transplanted Swedes, so'.vn for that purpose on sub- division No. 9, in the middle of April. The half B is to be divided into nine equal com- partments or subdivisions, as follow : Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, for horn carrots, sown in February and March, and to be taken up and succeeded, in the end of July, by common turnips. Nos. 5, 6, to be sown with parsnips in March, but they admit of no succession worth notice, for they re- main in the ground until November. No. 7, sown with beet in March, no succession worth notice. No. S. Onions to be taken up in September, and the ground planted with cabbages, savoys, etc. No. 9. Sm-plus bed for miscellaneous matters, such as seed-beds of various things — half a dozen Victoria rhubarb plants, scarlet-runners, etc. Pot-herbs gi-ow as edgings, or on one end of No. 9. Peas to be sown round the outer edges of the plot B, in a single row. Broad Beans plant round A, in a row. N.B. The two latter crops would change places annually. It was thought advisable to adopt mixed THE COTTAGE GARDENER. croppin<; in the case of the potato, the present posi- tion of which is so precarious. The greens, therefore, of wliicli kale is one of the chief, may be planted between the wide rows of potatoes in the beginning of June. If early cabbages are wanted, have one subdivision less sown with horn carrots, and plant No. 1 with those cabbages. It appears, however, to be good policy to increase the amount grown of the best keep- ing or store roots. Lettuces and spinach may be grown on part of No. 9; and Jerusalem artichokes in any nooks and corners under the hedges. A lettuce may be stuck in among other crops wherever a blank occurs. HARDY AND GREEN-HOUSE PLANTS LATELY INTRODUCED AND \VORTH CULTIVATING. Jasminum Nodiflorum (Naked-flowered Jasmine). ■ — This is a hardy trailing plant, introduced from China. Its flowers, which are yellow, continue as late as December. It prefers a rich, sandy soil, and is easily propagated by planting half-ripe cuttings of the young branches, about August. — Paxton's May. ufBotani), etc. Fuchsia Spectaeilis (Showy Fuchsia).- — This most beautiful of all the fuchsias is a native of the moun- tains of Peru. It requires the shelter of a green- house. Its flowers are large ; and are partly rich red, and partly crimson. It requires the same culture as other greenhouse fuchsias. Cerastostema Longiflorum (Long-flowered Ceras- tostema). — This half-hardy evergreen comes from the mountains of Peru. Its flowers are purple. It is easil}' propagated by cuttings, and flourishes in a sandy loam mixed with a little peat. — Gardeners' C/ironicle. Clematis Tubulosa (Piped Clematis). — This is a Jiardy herbaceous climber, from the northern provinces of China.* It is the most distinct from every other, and the most beautiful of all the clematises. Its flowers, which are blue, appear in August. It is easily propagated by cuttings, and requires a rich, light, sheltered border. — Ilort. Society's Journal. HINTS FROM OUR CONTEMPORARIES. Mr. Portal's Allotment Tenants. — On Frida)', the 13th of October, Melville Portal, Esq., accom- panied by C. Edney, Esq., met his allotment-tenants at the National School, Whitchurch, Hants, where an excellent supper was provided, consisting of roast and boiled beef, and strong beer. 114 occupiers having sat down, and done ample justice to the good things of this life, the cloth was removed, and Mr. Portal proposed the health of the Queen, which was drunk with the usual honours. He then proceeded to distribute the prizes awarded by the judges to the successful competitors, as follows : • Wfrftncmiij— All plants are called Herbaceous of which the stems die »'Dnually. For the best beans, 5s., to Charles Tanner ; 2nd ditto, 2s. 6d., Thomas Tammage ; 3rd ditto. Is. 6d., D. Radden. Best peas, 5s., to George Martell ; 2nd ditto, 2s. 6d., W. Hopgood ; 3rd ditto, Is. Gd., Charles Fox. Best cabbage, 5s., to Henry Tanner ; 2nd ditto, 2s. Gd., Charles Golding ; 3rd ditto, Is. Cd., Joseph Grace. Best onions, 5s., to James Pavey ; 2nd ditto, 2s. Gd., Joseph Palmer; 3rd ditto. Is. 6d., John Rampton. Best parsnips, 5s., to Samuel Hunt; 2nd ditto, 2s. Gd., Robert Kingsbury. Best carrots, 5s., to Charles Churchman ; 2nd ditto, 2s. Gd., David Dolton ; 3rd ditto. Is. Gd., Charles Lee. For the best culti- vated allotment, 5s., to Joseph Grace, George Shaw, and George Tolfree ; 2nd ditto, 2s. Gd., Robert Kings- burv, Charles Fox, and James Stuhbs; 3rd ditto. Is. Gd., William Hopgood. After the prizes had been distributed, Mr. Portal proposed the health of the judges, (Mr. G. Gaiger and Mr. C. Taylor) which was suitably acknowledged by those gentlemen, who suggested several instructive hints on the cultivation, cleaning, and manuringof allotments. Mr. Portal then rose and said that since last year he was happy to inform them that their friends were in- creasing, as several gentlemen had come forward and handsomely subscribed to the Prize Fund ; he there- fore beeged to propose the health of the donors, which was drunk with three cheers. Mr. Eduej', in reply, highly commended the allot- ment-tenants for the luxuriant appearance of their crops, and the superior manner in which their gardens had been cultivated. He wished them prosperity, and hoped they felt grateful to their generous Benefactor. He should now propose the health of a gentleman which he was sure they would drink with the greatest pleasure ; that gentleman was Melville Portal, Esq. The toast was succeeded by a burst of cheers, which lasted for several minutes. Mr. Portal thanked them most kindly for the hand- some manner in which they had drunk his health. He felt the greatest pleasure in meeting them on the present occasion ; he had never seen finer carrots and parsnips than those exhibited this year, and their onions were of a magnificent size; he was also pleased with the appearance of their allotments. Although he was sorry that circumstances had prevented him from giving them that attention he had done ihe preceding year, yet the interest he felt in them was not the less ; and trusted that he should soon procure more land, and double the number of allotment- tenants, as nothing would give him more pleasure than to see every cottage in the parish with a garden. It was his sincere wish that they might be comfortable, contented, and happy. The health of Mr. and Mrs. Johnson was then pro- posed, md drunk with three cheers. Mr. Johnson, in reply, thanked them for their civility, and bore testi- mony to the good feeling subsisting between them. Mr. Portal then retired, and was heartily cheered as he left the room. The meeting shortly after dispersed in an orderly manner, highly pleased with the even- ing's entertainment. — Hampshire Cliromcle. TO CORRSSPONDENTS. Roses {An Inquirer, B, of Fnglaud.) — AVe will answer your queries next week. Sawdust {A Subscriber, \Valtham Cross.)— Nevermind those who tell you that your decayed sawdust is toi> sour. It will certainly improve vouT stitrcold loam. One of the best of composts is made by thorouglily mixing a bushel of common salt and a quarter of a bushel of lime with eacli onc-horse-cart load of decayed sawdust. The most decayed parts of your sawdust would do well for your rosary. Other Cobresposdents, too late for even particular ackoowledgment, shall be answered next Thursday. LoNDOK ; Printed tiy Wi lliam Tvlkr and Charles Reed, 5, G, and 7, Bolt-court. Fleet-street, in the Parish of Saint Dunstan's-in-the- West : and Pubiished by \\ illiasi So.mervii.le Orr, at the Otlice, 147, Straud, in the Fariaii of Saint Mary-le-Strand, Loudon. THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 53 WEEKLV CALENDAR. M W D D 9 Tti 10 F 11 S 12 Sun 13 M 14 To 15 W NOVEMBER 9—15, 1848. Pr. Wales b. 1841. Lord Mayor's ] Bunting's note ceases. [Day. St. Martin. 21 Sunday after Trinity. Britius. Larch leaves fall. Apricot leafless. Machutus. Beech leafless. Plants dedicated to Sun Sun Moon R. Moon's Clock Day of each day. Rises. Sets. ana Sets. Age. aft. Sun Year. Bluish-green Velthe- 11 a7 17 a 4 4 31 13 15 58 314 Scotch Fir. [imia. 12 16 5 53 14 15 52 315 Weymouth Pine. 14 15 rises. O 15 46 316 Grape-like Tritonia. 16 1.3 5 a 57 16 15 38 317 Bay-tree. 17 12 52 17 15 29 318 Portugal Laurel, [foot 19 10 7 55 18 15 20 319 Sweet-scented Colts- 21 9 9 1 19 15 10 320 St. Martin was first a soldier and then an ecclesiastic— dying Bishop of Tours, in France, in 'he year ^97. Tiiis day, known to our forefathers as Martinmas, or Martlemas. was the time when they cured bacon and beef for winter store, and was a time devoted also to festivity. More than one old ballad refers to " dried flitches of some smoked beere, Hung on a twisted wythe since .Afartiii's Eve ; " as well as to the merry doings of those jolly days in which, •' When the daily sports be done. Round the market cross they run : 'Prentice lads and gallant blades. Dancing with their gamesome maids — Till the Beadel, stout and sour, Shakes his bell and calls the hour : Then farewell lad and farewell lass To the merry night of Martlemas." St. Bricp. fBritius) was a pupil of St. Martin, succeeding him in the Bishopric of Tours, and dying in the year 444. Insects.— The Winter Moth {Cheimatobia Bru- mata) is the cause of more destruction to our fruit St. Machutus. or St. MAf.o, was of noble British birth, hut be- came bishop of Aleth, in France, where the town of St. Malo is named after him. He died ou this day, in the year 630. Phekomena op the Season.— One of the peculiar natural events of this period of the year is the congregating together of small birds. It must be for the pleasure they derive from the society; for they neither are more capable of defence, nor warmer, nor better fed by being thus in company. Remarkable amongthese congregational birds is the Long-tailed Titmouse. " We have no bird more distin- guished than this for its family association; he is never seen alone, but continues with his offspring, which is a very numerous one, from the time of hatching till the final separation in spring. They seem the most restless of little creatures— being all the day in a course of progression from one field to another; flitting through the air like a ball of feathers, or threading the branches of a tree ot bushes of a hedge, f dlowing each other in a little stream. Their food is insects, which they find under the mosses on the branches. Their nest is like a bag, covered on the outside with moss, and so profusely lined within, that the young ones appear almost smothered in a feather bed."— T. T. 1841. 1842. 1843. 1844. 1845. 1846. 1847. 9 Cloudy. Cloudy. Frost. Pine. Fine. Fine. Fine. 10 Cloudy. Rain. Rain. Rain. Fine. Cloudy. Frost. II Fine. Rain. Fine. Rain. Rain. Cloudy. Cloudy. l;! Rain. Rain. Frost. Rain. Fine. Cloudy. Rain. IS Fine. Rain. Frost. Ra'n. Fine. Cloudy. Fine. 14 Ram. Fine. Fine. Rain. Fine. Fine. Cloudy. IS Frosty. Rain. Frost. Cloudy. Fine. Cloudy. Cloudy. and other trees than almost any other insect ; for no weather is sufficiently severe to injure either them or their eRgs; and the cater|iillars, in the early spring, will feed upon the opening buds and leaves of almost every kind of tree. The females being without wings, may he prevented ascending our standard fruit-trees by smearing round their trunks a !>,.«, Tr ''^'"^ °^ '^"^ '^ directed last week for the Lime-looper ) ■, but this must be renewed, as it MAI.B AKD FEMAie. drics, cvcry two or three days. The male moihs begin to Ovaboutjustafter sunset during November and until the end of January. Their upper wings, when opened, measure across about one inch and a quarter: but during the day they look much smaller, for they fold them so as to form a triangle, and have their feelers or hoMis (antennse) turned back over them. Tliose wings are pale gray, marked with various darker waved lines. The under wings are grayish- white, often having a notched line cross- ing their centre. The body, delicate and tapering, is yellowish-grny. The female crawls to the top of a 'ree and deposits her very small oval egtfs upon the blossom and leaf buds, as well as upon the shoots. She will lay from 200 to 300 eggs. The caterpillars and the buds come to life together: at first they are gray, and scarcely thicker than a horsehair, but they cast their skins, and finally become of a yellowish-green colour, shining, and with a blue line down the hack. On their sides are two yellowish-white lines. The ;tpple buds are tlieir favourite food; but they destroy without difficulty the leaves of the hawthorn, lime, hazel, rose, elm, wIUow, and hornbeam. Each day that a man lives, and reads his Bible, he may more and more find reason to acknowledge that everything in that book is full of truths, and that each of its sentences has within it knowledge well worth the seeking for. When Job (xxxviii. 22) talks of " the treasures of the snow," and of " the treasures of the hail," there is much more reason for that designa- tion than meets the eye in the words. Modern science has shown, that in those frozen deposits from the clouds is a superior quantity of ammonia, and that with this they most evidently benefit vegetation.* The protection from severe winds afforded to plants by a covering of snow, and the beauty of its crystal- ♦ Our Cottage friends will understand what is meant by ammonia when we teL them that it is the active part of spirit of hartshorn. line forms might be appropriately considered as a portion of its "treasures," yet not so justly as the really manuring quality it possesses. Then again, when Abimelech had destroyed the city of Shechem (Judges ix. 45), he "sowed it with salt;" and this probably to intimate that its present ruin was designed to be the occasion of future benefits, as the salt would destroy rank herbage only to be succeeded by a herbage finer and more valuable. That the fertilising powers of salt were known to the Israelites seems certain from that passage in St. Luke (xiv. 35) where injured salt is said to be " neither fit for the land nor yet for the dunghill." Modern experience, at all events, justifies the inference ; for salt, judiciously applied, is found to be a highly beneficial manure. THE COTTAGE GARDENER. whether sown alone over the soil or mixed with dung and other matters as a compost. We have used salt as a manure for the last twenty years, and believe that it may be sown over the entire garden, with advantage to every crop it may contain, whether fruit, flower, or kitchen vegetable. These general sowings should be made often, and small quantities applied at a time : six times a year, at the rate of a peck to each rood, or eighth of an acre, each time, would not be too often nor too much. If sown over the garden in the evening, it would add to its other benefits the destruction of many slugs which are then prowling about. Some crops are benefited by a much larger application of salt, and among these are asparagus, sea kale, beetroot, cabbages, and potatoes. Asparagus and sea-kale are benefited extraordinarily by having salt strewed, twice every year, so thick about them as to make the surface of the soil percep- tibly white ; namely, in April and July. Beetroot, and all the cabbage tribe, are improved by having it sown over the soil about them so soon as the young plants begin to grow vigoiously, but not in a quantity greater than at the rate of three pecks to a rood. We have thus entered upon the consideration of the value of salt as a garden manure, in answer to more than one query from correspondents ; but we must refer those who wish for fuller information to Mr. Cuth- bert John<;on'3 " Essay on the Uses of.Salt." They will there find arranged information from practical men relative to its application to most cultivated crops. It contains many letters from experienced gardeners, showing that salt is a boon not only to the market- gardener, but to the florist. Among others is a com- munication from the late Mr. Hogg, florist at Padding- on ; and from his letter we will, in conclusion, make this extract : " From the few experiments that I have tried with salt as a garden-manure, I am fully prepared to bear testimony to its usefulness. The idea that first sug- gested itself to my mind arose from contemplating the successful cultivation of hyacinths in Holland. This root, though not indigenous to the country, may be said to be completely naturalised in the neighbourhood of Haarlem, where it grows luxuriantly in a deep sandy alluvial soil ; yet one great cause of its free growth, I considered, was owing to the saline atmo- sphere. This induced me to mix salt in the compost ; and I am satisfied that no hyacinths will grow well at a distance from the sea without it. I am also of opinion, that the numerous bulbous tribe of amaryl- lises (especially those from the Cape ol Good Hope) — ixias, alliums (which include onions, garlic, and shalots), anemones, lilies, antholyza, colchicum, cri- num, cyclamen, narcissus, iris, gladiolus, ranunculus, scilla, and many others, should either have salt or sea-sand in tlie mould used for them. I invariably use salt as an ingredient in my compost for carna- tions; and I believe I might say without boasting, that few excel me in blooming that flower." We have been asked to record the deaths of garden- ers and others who have been distinguished for the practice or love of horticulture ; and we shall most readily accede to the request, if our subscribers will furnish us with a slight biography of the deceased parties. We consider such a tribute due to departed merit, and we would gladly hold up their examples for imitation. A MISTAKE having been made by substituting one wood-cut for another, at page 21, our next will be a Double Number, in which we shall give (of course without extra charge) a fresh leaf to substitute for the present pages 21 and 22. THE FRUIT-GARDEN. Economy of Space in small Gardens. — In look- ing over small gardens, a variety of plans, or modes of setting out affairs, may be perceived, most of them based, of course, on the proprietor's ideas of economy of space. This, indeed, is the true basis of tlie whole affair. In some parts of the country it is customary to throw up a sloping bank all round the garden. In others this slope is only admitted on the south, or perhaps on the east side. Slopes. — The practice of forming slopes most likely originated with the cultivation of early potatoes, which began to extend so rapidly some thirty years since. Be that as it may, the slope in cottage-gardens is at the present day a somewhat questionable mode of j)rocedure in point of economy of upace; more espe- cially since tlie ))otato-crop has become so precarious, j'or, in the first i)lace, since tlicre must be an exterior walk, why not next the hedge? Here there would be no waatc of ground ; fur as the liedge must be dubbed (trimmed), a little space is absolutely neces- sary for this operation. How often have we seen a nan'ow slope with a huge and coarse hedge at its hack. On this slope there would be three or four rows of potatoes or other crops; and one half the slope towards the hedge was comparatively worthless. Tlie roots of the liedge kept the soil exhausted for a yard in width. The dubbing had been performed when the crops were in full vigour. A gawky lad, perhaps, bad been set to clear away the dubbings ; and what between the mauling of the leaves and stems of the. crops above, and the opposition of the roots of the hedge below, one half the crop next the hedge was a failure. Besides, such slopes always require extra manure to compensate for the sucking of the hedge-roots. Planting to save space. — Now there is another view to be taken of this aftair in conjunction with the above, and tha' 's, that if apple or other fruit-trees THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 65 form tlie first crop next the hed^e, with only a walk of some four or five feet between, the ground which serves for the walk serves also for the apple roots, which will insinuate themselves beneath the walk in all directions : here then there is no ground lost. A hedge there must be, and there must be a walk; but the walk is as much occupied in maintaining the apples as though it were cultivated soil. We hold it to be good economy in small gardens to plant the gooseberrj-bushes between or beside the dwarf apple-trees. We have no space now to show why, but we will return to the question shortly, when we will dot out an arrangement of the kind. In the mean time we would merely suggest that, under a well-arranged border of the kind there would be no occasion for resorting to that worst of all practices, — digging annually between useful fruit-trees, in order to obtain a few stunted cabbages. By our plan the amount of border and walk appropriated to the apple and the best fruit would be entirely occupied by their roots, and a little patience and perseverance in the system would soon show that it could not be better occupied. We have now merely touched on one point of economy of space, and as weeks roll away we hope to pursue the subject in all its bearings. Pruning the Goosebekry. — To commence with the cuttings, we would observe that these should be as strong as possible, and about twelve or fourteen inches long. All the buds should be pruned clean away, with the exception of the topmost fimr, pre- viously to planting. The cuttings may be put in any time from November to the beginning of February, choosing a shady border for them. They should be in rows a foot apart, the cuttings about six inches apart. Nurserymen plant thicker ; the cottager, how- ever, will do well to have a little more room, for thereby his young plants will be stouter. By the next autumn there will be at least two good shoots on each cutting; two good ones will be enough, and these must be pruned down to about four eyes or buds on each shoot. Unless particularly wanted to plant in their final stations, they should, by all means, remain another season in the cutting-beds, they will then be strong bushes, and deserving a permanent place. Let their stations, then, be prepared by the middle of October, if possible, and let them be pruned shortly before they are removed. In this pruning, the first point is to select five or six of the best-placed shoots as to form, setting them out like a punch-bowl. All that interfere with this form may be cut away, and the remaining shoots shortened, this season, about half their length. In another year, with a little atten- tion in the way of watering, if necessary, in May or June, and a freedom from the depredations of insects, they will be fine bushes, and will have produced a few nice fruit. Now then comes the profit. They will now be full of fine shoots, some drooping outwards, and many crossing each other in all directions. In November they may receive their pruning, which will consist in removing all the worst cross-shoots, and in keeping tlie middle of the bush still somewhat open. Dangling shoots may have as much of their top pruned away as will prevent their touching the ground, and even upright shoots may have as much cut off as appears of a weakly character. The pruning of the following seasons will be much of the same character, still keeping the middle of the bush much more open than the outside. As a general rule as to tlie distance at which the bearing shoots may be left, we may merely observe, that in a well pruned bush no two shoots will by any means touch, but stand apart quite distinct. Badly pruned bushes are both less produc- tive and much more difficult to gather the fruit from than those which are done in a workman like manner. As the bushes get older, and show signs of wearing out, the knife mu«t be used more liberally; indeed whole limbs of old wood will require occasionally to be removed, in order to throw the powers of the bush into a closer compass. Strawberries. — If nothing has been done to the strawberry plants, let them be gone over, and all un- necessary runners removed ; a little old manure may be scattered through or around the plants. Do not, however, cut away any of the principal leaves of the plants which remain ; we have known the crowns nearly perish by this foolisli exposure. These must remain on rough as they are until the early part of February, and then they may all be cut down and cleared away. Raspberries. — These should be pruned as soon as possible. Leave about five canes, strong ones, and cut them at different lengths, — say two at four feet, two at three feet, and one or two at two feet, — this keeps the young spray divided and equalized. Figs. — Where the amateur has fig-trees, the late fruit should be stripped clear away, and some covering applied towards the end of the month. Ordinary garden-mats, clean straw, or even old newspapers, presenting a continuous facing, will suffice. Perhaps the best plan is to stick spruce-fir branches or laurel- shoots all ove- them, with the points downwards, Uke thatching. General Pruning. — It is well to prune all bush- fruit in the end of the year, also vines. But tigs, apricots, peaches, and nectarines may be reserved for spring-pruning. The same may be said of some plums and some kinds of pears, which are apt to bloom on the young wood, and the blossom-buds on which cannot be well distinguished uniil they swell in spring. Apples and Pears. — The pruning of old apple or pear-trees in orchards may be reserved for winter work. For this and every other kind of pruning we will give particular directions as space occurs. Draining. — We must beg most emphatically to point to the benefits to be derived from draining on stagnant or adhesive soils, especially at this period. We need say little about modes of carrying out such purposes; depth, however, is a consideration, and about this the agricultural world is much divided at present. For cottage-gardening we would sa)', take care to drain deep enough ; for if a fault at all, it will be one on the right side. The beneficial effects of draining are nowhere sooner manifest than amongst fruit-trees. Whenever moss abounds on their stems, stagnation is plainly pointed out, and draining can. scarcely be wrong. It is all very well to talk of scraping the moss off the bark; the surest way, how- ever, to get rid of the mushrooms, according to an old adage, is " to remove the midden." In accomplishing these matters, it is worth cons deration whether a preventive drain can be introduced ; this will fre- quently save both labour and material in the end. We will recur to this important subject on a future occasion. R, Errinoton. .')6 THE COTTAGE GARDENER. THE FLOWER-GARDEN. The Shrubbery. — A good collection of hardy ornamental evergreen and deciduous shrubs is very beautiful if well mau;iged. In general, the appear- ance of the shrubbery is far from being so interesting as it might. We see the shrubs growing in one shapeless mass, all run together, with the stronger overbearing and often destroying the weaker. Tliis ought not to be. Every shrub ought to stand quite clear of its neighbours, and should have sufficient room to show its cliaracter. Some have naturally round heads, as, for instance, the Poitugal laurel and arbutus ; others are spiry, as the Chinese aibor vit^e and ihe Swedish juniper; a third kind partake of both characters, and form pyramids, as the holly and the bay-tree ; whilst a fourth are mere spreadmg bushes, as the rliododendron, lanrustinus, aucubn, common lilac, svringa, and berberries of various sorts. In planting a shrubbery, all these characters ou>;ht to be borne in mind, and the space for each shrub allowt-d accordingly. For present effect it may be ciesirabh' to plant more than can possibly stand on the ground when the shrubs are fully grown. Too often this is done so as to render it d fficult to thin them out after- wards, to the satisfaction of good taste. We woidd, therefore, recommend the planting first all those that should be left finally to stand, and, in order that there may be no mistake about the matter, to have all their names written in a book kept for that purpose, with numbers corresponding both m the book and on tallies driven into the ground. The spaces between those ehrubs destined to remain may be tilled up, agreeably to the fancy of the proprietor and planter. A few tall standard roses, for instance, in the back ground, with half standards near the middle, and dwarfs in the front. These would be very ornamental till the shrubs fully took up their space. A few hollyhocks, dahlias, and other late-growing perennials also might be judi- ciously planted to fill up for a year or two. Roses should never be planted in a shrubbery as shrubs intended to remain permanently, the manage- ment they require being so different from all other shrubs. They will not flower well without pruning and manuring every year; — operations which cannot be well performed if they are used as permanent plants in a shrubbery. Roses, therefore, ought to be grown in a border or garden, entirely to themselves ; and such is their variety of character, time of flowering, and colour, that a rose garden is always interesting for at least seven of the best months in the year. American Shrubs.* — There is another class of shrubs which ought to he grown by themselves — we mean those usual y denominated "American." These ought to have a garden, or at least a bed or beds, devoted entirely to them. They require a peculiar soil, which is one grand reason why they should be together. Amongst them we usually grow hardy heaths and azaleas, for the same reason— they require this pecu- liar soil : that soil is sandy peat, without which those shrubs do not thrive and flower satisfactorily. The common rhododendron is, we believe, an exception to this general rule, and might be planted in the general shnibbery as a permanent inhabitant ; hut even this shrub ought to have a pretty good portion of heath mould at the first, to encourage its early growth. • jfmfrican plants. — These includp many diJTerent species, but all aKreeini: in requiring alit,'lil peaiy ^oil andm'.ch moisture. Am ng tliem are various kinds of an Iromeda, azalea, daphne, genista, hy- drangea, magnolia, rliue, robinia, rhododendron, spirEea, vaccioium, viburnum cistus, and many others. The Amateur's Flower-garden: Roses. — In the third Number we gave a small list of roses for tho amateur and cottager's garden ; we shall this week give a few hinis on their cultivation, and shall divide the subject into four heads: — l.st. Soil and situation; 2n(l. Planting; 3rd. Piuning; 4th. Propagation: Soil and Situation. — The best soil for the rose is a rather strong loam ; the deeper it is the better. It should also be dry at the bottom, and if not so naturally, should be well drained. Such land as will grow good wheat or good hops will, with proper management, giow fine roses. The soil, then, should be ot a brownish yellow colour, of an open texture, and having a dry subsoil. Next, it should be rich to grow them fine : if not already so, it ought to have thoroughly decayed dung added to it. A portion of super-phosphate of lime (bones dissolved in oil of vitriol) will be of great benelit to them — a manure that may be had of any respectable manure dealer. Tlie situation of the rose-siarden ought to open to the south and east, but sheltered from the north and north west winds. Tall beech or hornbeam hedges are the host shelter against gales blowing from those points. Roses should not be planted so near trees as to be overhung by them, as the di-ip fi om the trees will prevent them from tliriving, and injure the flowers. Planting. — The best season for planting those lovely flowers is the early part of November. They will succeed tolerably even to the middle of March, but not so Well as in tlie autumn ; for if planted then the roots immediately begin to grow, and are during all the open weather attaining power to put forth shoots more strongly in the spring If you have to procure tuem from a distant nursery, and they are some time out of the ground, make a puddle of earth and water of nearly the consistence of paint. Dip the roots in this puddle, and plant them immediately. This will be lound very beneficial to them, and will cause them to push forth roots much earlier. Should the border intended for the rose be long and narrow, we need scarcely tell you to plant the t.tllest standards in the back row, the next size in the second, and the half standards in the third, and the dwarfs in the front row, that is supposing you to have so many, and so much room as to aDow of this arrangement. Pruning. — The great objects of pruning in any kind of shrub or tree of the flower-garden, are to produce finer bloom in greater quantities, and to improve the shape of the object operated upon. These two prin- ciples must be kept in view in pruning the rose as well as any other flowering shrub or fruit-tree. Dif- ferent sorts of roses require to be pruned accordingly, and we shall be best understood by taking the differ- ent classes into wliich roses have been divided. Autumn Prmiing. — -Summer Ro^es. Provence, including the Moss Rose. — These require to be pruned to three or four eyes, according to the strength of the shoots. Damask. — Tlicse require to be pruned, according to the strength of the growth of the different varieties ; Madam Hardy, for instance, is a strong grower, and ought to be left with shouts of six eyes. White Damask. — This species should be pruned similarly to the Damask. Gallica, or French. — Some of these are very strong growers, and must be cut accordingly. Some shoots THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 67 in pood soil will grow three or four feet long. Those Bhoots are often pithy and green, and ought to be cut clean out, and the rest shortened to one foot or eigh- teen inches, according to their strength. Hybrid, Provencs, — Amongst this class there are stjne excellent roses, They grow naturally in com- pact heads and many branches, and should be pruned by thinning out about one-third of the shoots, and shortening the rest to six or eight eyes. Hybrid, C/iinese. — This is a large class of excellent roses ; and as tliere are some that grow freely and strong, there are others that grow very weakly. The strong growers, IJrennus, fur instance, must be cut to eight or nine eyes, whi st the Beauty of Billiand is a weak grr ;er, and should be cut to two or three eyes, and half the shoots eiitiri-l\ cut away. Scotch. — All that th se require is to have half of the shoots tlihined out, and those that are left cut to half their length. Climbing. — These require a different mode of pruning to all other roses. We shall describe it as the spur system. Train in young shoots during the summer ; in the autumn shorten those shoots one- fourth of their length ; that is, supposing the shoot is four feet long, cut one foot of it off, and so reduce it to three feet, and in the same proportion for longer shoots. The shoots will then, during the summer, produce side shoots — these are the spurs. In the month of March following take the shoots oft' tlie trellis walls or pillars, prune the spurs into two or three eyes, and then tie or nail them up again neatly to the supporters. Aiilumn-prumng. — Autumn Hoses, Macartney— ~'\'he Macartney rose itself requires very little pruning ; but the Maria Leonidas, a very good rose, requires pruning freely, shortening the stiong shoots to eight or nine eyes, and the weak ones to three or four. Damask Perpetnah — Are mostly weak growers, and should be cut into four or five eyes, and a third of the shoots cut clean away. Hi/brid PerpetiiaLs — Require the same mode of prun- ing as the damask pei-petuals. Bourbons and JVuiselles — These are middling grow- ers, and should be pruned moderately; strong shoots to be cut to five or six eyes, and the weak ones to three or four. China and Tca-scenfed — Most of these are rather tender, consequently the wood does not ripen to any length. They should therefore be pruned close. If they are planted against a wall they may be pruned longer, as the wood then becomes firmer and better ripened. Prune those in the open air, both standards and dwarfs, to two or three eyes, those on walls to six or seven, in proportion to their strength. We shall continue this subject in a future Number. Cottager's Flower-garden : Creeplrs for an arched walk. — We directed your attention in last Week's Number to the formation of an arched walk. On each side of this walk ought to be a border of flowers, whirh wou!d add greatly to the effect of the creepers growing over the arches. Those creepers require a rich soil to grow in. If the soil is poor, remove about a square of eighteen inches, and one f(Mt deep, close to each pillar, and fill up the hole with a compost of good loam two parts, and rotten dung, or leaf-mould, one part, with some sand mixed amongst it : it will then be ready to plant any creepers yciii can procure, and they will thrive and flower luxuriantly. We subjoin a list, and advise you to procure as many of them as you can : Clematis fammnla (Sweet-scented Clematis, Tra- veller's joy, or Virgin's bower. ) ,, monlana (Mountain Virgin's bower). ,, viticella rubia (Red Vine-bower Clematis}. Jasminum officinalis (Common white Jasmii;e). Lonicera ilulicu alb" (Early white Honeysuckle). ,, Jielyicnm (Dutch Honeysuckle). ,, serolinum (Late-flowering Honeysuckle). ,, sevipervirens (Evergreen trumpet-Honey- suckle). Wistaria sinensis (Chinese Wistaria). Climbing Hoses, several kinds. If you cannot obtain the whide of the above creepers at once, you can fill up any vacancies with sunuuer annual creepers, such as Conmlndus major (great Bindweed), Nustnrlinm majiis (larger Nasturtium, or Indian cress), Cobea scundens (climbing C'obea), sweet- peas, and scarlet-runners. 'I'hese creepers will look pretty during the time they are in flower, and the last will produce something for the table. Even if all the arches were covered with scarlet-runners, they would be highly ornamental as well as useful. Not that we recommend the mixing of vegetables and flowers, they are much better separate. Pit. — Look after the plants in the pit, and clear them of all decayed '.eaves, dead branches, and weeds. K-^ep them moderately dry, and give abundance of air ui all fine mild weather. Hardy Uulrs, etc. — Sliould you possess no cro- cuses, snowdrops, double narcissus, piimroses, and polyanthuses, all of whicli will thrive without any protection, and may be had for a trifle, now is a good time to procure the bulbs and plant them. The bulbs slundd be in patches of four or five bulbs in each. Primroses and polyanthuses ouglit to be in quantities in a cottager's garden. Even the common primrose and cowslip ai-e worth growing; they, in tlie early spring, impart a cheerfulness to the hmnblest cot. FLORISTS' FLOAVERS. AVe promised in the fourth Nuiuher a list but a press of other matter prevented us. give the promised list, divided into their colours and heights. Class I. Cherrv and Rose.— This class described as having white grounds with shades or stripes of cherry or rose-colour, should contain seven rows ; the centre one call No. 4 ; the next rows on each side of the next on each side No. 2 ; and the other outside. No. 1. of tulips, We now different may he different The bed we shall it No. 3; two rows No. No. No. 1. Dulcinea. 2. Andromache. '6, .\spasia. 1. Fleur dcs dames. 2. Catherine. 3. Sansparelle. 1. Grande Cerise. 2. Jemima. 3. Princess Victoria. 1. Monte. 2. Lord Hill. 3. Reine des Cerises. 4. Pretiosa superior. 4. Reine des fleurs. 4. Cordtlia (Slater's). 4. Walworth. Class. II. Byblomens.* — This class have while grounds with different shades of purple. 1. Bienfait incomparable. 2. Magnificent. 1. Gloria Alborum. 2. Queen of Spain. 1. Laura. 2. Supreme en Noir. 1. Ne plus ultra. 2. Trauslucens en Noir. 1 * -Byfi/omffn— A white tulip marked with black, purpW orlUHi'. .1. Black Baguet. 3. Desdemona. 3. Washington. 3. Cleopatra. THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 4. Alexander Magnus. 4. Prince Regent. 4. Captain Lampson. 4. Holmes's king. Class III. Bizards.* — This colours on yellow grounds. cla have 1 . Emperor of Russia. 1. Pont d'Arcole. 1. Superbissima. 1. Vulcan. 2. Brittaniciis. 2. Darius. 2. Franklin's Washington. 2. Grand Berger. 3. Abercrombie. 3. Cato. 3. Lustre. 3. Surpass Catafalque. 4. Emperor of Austria. 4. Nimrod. 4. Wilmer's Duke of York. 4. Platoff. The above will form a small collection of forty- eight kinds, all good, of moderate price, averaging about half-a-crown each. Of course, if more expen- sive sorts are wished for, they can be had as high as ten guineas a root ; but for a new beginner we would not advise such expensive ones. THE KITCHEN-GARDEN. Artichokes (Jerusalem) should now either be taken up and stored in the same way as potatoes, by trenching them out, leaving the ground in ridges, and planting the same ground again, by placing good, middling-sized tubers, two feet apart, between every alternate ridge of two feet in width. The rows will tluis be at four feet distance from each other. Or the tubers may be allowed to remain in the ground, the stalks being cut off to within six or eight inches of the earth's surface, and a coat of mulch, leaves, or refuse of any kind put over them. This is not to protect the artichoke tubers from frost, for no frost will injure them, but to protect the earth's surface, so that the artichokes may be taken up at any time, even when severe frost prevails. Pigs and cows are very fond of the artichoke tubers, and so are pheasants and poultry. As a substitute for the potato, they are also to some extent useful. Cauliflowers and Cape Bbocoli continue to store away, as previously directed, all now coming in that are not actually required for daily consumption ; and the young plants tor spring continue to prick out in temporary frames, or sheltered banks or borders. Observe that the sIuks do not take advantage of any lack of timely attention. A little new bran or fresh malt grains placed in small quantities about where slugs abound are the best materials we could ever dis- cover for enticing them together. By strict attention for a time in moist weather to this mode of trapping, the stock of slugs may be so reduced that by well following up surface-stirring and hoeing they may be entirely kept down from committing any serious de- predations. Cucumbers. — Those who have good varieties in houses or frames should secure young plants by striking cuttings, which is easily accomplished by taking off the short-jointed shoots with a heel to them.f Indeed, any shoots will root easily and quickly enough by placing them in small pots in a compost of open, heathy, sandy soil, having mixed with it one-third of charcoal in small lumps, if they are placed on a bi isk, kindly bottom-heat, and are covered for a few days with a bell or hand-glass. Succession of seed should be sown by those who have the convenience, and wish to produce early cucumbers. The system of heating by hot water in a tank on a good principle is the most easy and economical mode of producing abundance of good cucumbers in winter and spring months. If cucumbers, however, are grown on a common bed with frame, this system is also much simplified and economized by making a slight hot bed, composed of well-wrought materials placed on bushes, fagots, • Bixard — A yellow tulip, with marka of any other colour. t Heel — part of the bark of the main stem attached to the cutting. pruiiings, or rough wood, and keeping up the heat by linings with the same kind of sweet well-wrought stable-dung; t''pping up the linings at all times as soon as tliey are sunk a little, taking care to protect the outside and top with furze or other fagots, fern, mulchy hay, or thatched hurdles. By paying this strict attention to topping up and protection, a steady, kindly, humid heat is maintained, banishing all fear of canker, or mildew, or any other disease infecting the plants, for the heat maintained at the top acts in a similar way to the sun shining. It is the air in the frame that requires to be maintained in a warm, kindly condition. If this is so maintained, the bottom- heat is sure to be all that is required. The old system of applying excessive bottom-heat with pigeon-hole pits, extensive and high hot-beds, laying pipes through and about them, boring holes to admit a foul, excessive bottom-heat, we hope, is generally long laid by in the corner of ancient curiosities. Horseradish should now be trenched out, and re- planted again at two feet distance from row to row. In planting, trench the ground two feet deep, and place the crowns, which make the best sets, at the bottom, one foot apart, leaving the soil in ridges, to be forked over and pulverized by the action of the winter's frost, and laid down in a kindly, open state in the spring. Mint Beds should now be thoroughly cleansed, and a surface-dressing of decomposed manure-vege- table soil or rotten leaves applied, which answer as a protection against severe frost, and a stimulant to in- duce early spring growth in the plants. Asparagus Beds, dress. The best mode of doing this is to cut down the stems close to the surface ; to hoe off about an inch in depth of the earth into the alleys ; to put on a coating of pig-dung or night soil about two inches thick, and then to return over this manure the inch of earth previously taken ofli". This will make all neat, and the dressing will be completed by sprinkling over the surface of the returned earth enough conunon salt to make it perceptibly white. Potato-planting. — In answer to various queries we think it best to answer here, prominently, that we do not recommend autumn-planting for the very ear- liest variety — the walnut-leaved kidney. If planted now, it comes up so early as to be invariably cut off by the spring frosts. But for the next in succession, the ash-leaved kidney, we ourselves adopt autumn- planting; although, by so doing, we do not get so early a crop as the Lancashire growers, whose practice is detailed at page 38, as well as in the present Num- ber : but then we are quite sure we preserve our crops in better vigour. In order to obtain carliness, as well as to sustain the health of the ash-leaved kidney, the THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 59 potatoes might be put in casks or boxes in alternate layers with earih, and kept in a dry cool room, as is done by the Lancashire cottagers. Without injuring the sprouts they would make, the sets may then be planted out at the end of March. In answer to two correspondents ("W. S.O." and " Potato, Kenning- ton,") we recommend the ash-leaved kidneys to be planted in rows two feet apart, and one foot between the sets. For Julys or other larger varieties, two feet and a half between the rows, and one foot and a half between the sets, is not too much. We prefer Julys to any other variety, because it is ready for taking up, and the stems all dead, by the end of the month the name of which it bears. It keeps well, though it ripens thus early. It is commonly grown in Hamp ■ shire, and could be purcliased, we suppose, of any large Loudon seedsman. J.B.& G.W.J. MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION. POTATO-GROWING IN LANCASHIRE. The following is the Lancashire cottager's plan of obtaining their winter potatoes on the moss lands, of which there are many thousand acres in the neigli- bourhood of Garstang. The farmer's great object in letting those lands to the cottagers, is to get the soil cleared and manured for a crop of corn the following year. The farmer charges them at the rate of 6d. per rod for the land they plant, which is at the rate of £4 per acre, although the farmer only pays for it at the rate of 20s. to 30s. per acre. The farmer prepares the land into drills, carts their manure on to the drills, and the cottagers spread it, and plant their potatoes. The farmer ridges them up with the plough, there being about twenty-eight inches from centre to centre of the ridges. By this means the potatoes have the full benefit of the sun and wind, which is of the first importance for the cultivation of this root and the pre- vention of disease. The ground should be thoroughly drained. The cottagers are bound to keep the potatoes ftee from weeds, and they are earthed up by the far- mer, as soon as required, once or twice ; as it is found that the more the ground is stirred whilst the crop is growing, the greater will be the produce. By this means the cottagers obtain an abundant crop by early spring planting, and at a light expense by planting what is called the small chat potatoes, which, being each less than an ounce in weight, will, if phinted whole, suffice for about twice as much ground as large potatoes cut, though of the same weight : 30lbs. of those small ones in the present season have produced €00lbs. of the first-rate quality, large and free from the disease, and the larger weight in proportion. The (Cottager's manure is principally horse-droppings, gathered from the roads during the year, with the ashes and wash from the cottage. These potatoes are the principal food of many families five or six in number ; and as they are able to get from their crops as many as pay all the exjjenses of planting, they, in fact, get potatoes enough for their own consumption free. Would it not be well if this plan was adopted in Ireland, as there is no doubt an abundance of moss land (peat) in that country as well as in England, and by planting early, so that if by July the disease ap- .peared, the potatoes might be taken up as directed at page 37. Potatoes vegetate the first of air things, which is a sure sign that they, need not be kept planted in the ground; and as to being cut by the spring frosts, that is not of so much importance, as I have had them cut by it three times, and yet they have rallied and produced a fine crop ; but this has never been the ease with those late planted when cut with either a summer morning or autumn frost, which they are never able to get over, and which causes their tubers to be small and the crop to fail. The sun has a far greater power upon the potatoes, and even upon corn, on the moss land than on the hard. From many years' observation, I can see no advantage to be de- rived from autumn-planting, but, im the contrary, as the earth becomes set about the tubers, and excludes the sun and air from them, which appears to nie the reason why potatoes sufi'er more from the disease planted in hard and stiff land than those planted in the light, open, porous moss land, where the sun and air have their full influence, free, also, from an}' stag- nant water remaining upon them, which is not the case with those planted in hard, stifl' land. Although 1 here differ with Mr. Barnes, page 6, it is with no ill- feeling, as my object is to give an opinion, and not any offence, for we live to inform each other, or we live in vain, and as this is a subject which has, of late, ex- cited much attention, I am therefore inclined to think it may he of some interest to the readers of "The Cottage Gardener." I have put the questiim to an extensive moss-land potato grower, and his answer is, that "notwithstanding all that has been said respect- ing the failures of the last three years, it is, in my opinion, owing to the treatment and slotlifulness of the growers. As I have made at the rate of £170 per acre from spring-planting, unless you can give me a better proof than you have done in page 6, 1 cannot give up spring-planting." M. Saul, Garstang. [We need not say that we do not agree with our friends in their objections to autumn-planting, but are most willing to hear both sides of the question. — Ed.] MY FLOWERS. (No. 4.) Ladies are often disheartened in the management of their gardens by attempting too much. When unable to purchase new and expensive plants, or rear the tenderer ones, they are disposed to give every- thing up, and neglect an interesting occupation, be- cause they fancy nothing can be done without money and a good gardener. Now this is a great mistake. A lady may ett'ect much without any assistance if she will but believe that " common " flowers and plants, as they are called, are well worth looking at when tastefully arranged and carefully attended to. A " good gardener " certainly insures you a greater variety of flowers, and they are, of course, finer than those nursed by an inexperienced hand; but you liave not the same pleasure in your little kingdom when thei-e is some one who knows and does everything there better than yourself. A lady with a good gar- dener begins cheerily at first, but in a year or two it is all over. She walks round the glowing borders, hut hir interest is gone. To enjoy your garden tho- 60 THE COTTAGE GARDENER. roughly you must say with Queen Elizabeth, " I will have but one mistress here, and no master." Most ladies, however small their means, may occasionally employ a labourer to do some of the rougher work, sucli as digging or rooting-up a tree; and if they can but be satisfied with a less choice variety than their richer friends, I am sure the efTect produced may be quite as good. I have often turned away from beds full of flowers, with names unheard of before, and have said, " After all, give nie the cottage flowers, — the rose, the honeysuckle, the sweet-pea, and migno- nette, — they are sweeter and prettier than anything I see here ;" and others have said so too. These truly English home-breathing flowers, connected too with our earliest years and swestest recollections, should never be undervalued, their fragrance is unequalled, and their beauty can never be surpassed. I do not think the ivy is sufficiently considered as an ornament to the garden. Its rapid growth makes it invaluable where large buildings, or walls unfit for fruit trees, require to be covered ; but it is equally useful as an embellishment among shrubs, particularly those which shed their leaves in winter. The dead stem of a tree, with its boughs left on a foot or two in length, clothed with ivy, is a beautiful object, standing in quiet stateliness among the lighter beauties of the shrubbery, with its dark rich mass of foliage growing richer and handsomer, as its neighbours sicken and die. When I first saw an ivy-tree I was struck with its beauty and solemnity of look : it gave an appear- ance of age to the garden, which is also an advantage. Any stump or rough pieces of wood nailed strongly together will do to support this beautiful climber, which wraps tself thickly round its prop, and then hangs in waving masses, covered with its starry flowers, on every side. A lady may easilv encourage the Irisl; ivy, which is the richest and quickest-growing kind. Cuttings put in now or in the spring will take, and shoot up rapidly ; and I have known them, when ignorantly planted with their head downwards, spring up as merrily as if all was well. If you can find a rooted |)lant some feet in height, so much the better ; tie or nail it closely to its support till it has fixed itself, and the desired efi'ect is sooner, of course, obtained. Never let ivy climb round a thriving tree, it clasps so tightly, that the wood cannot expand, and disease and death will ensue. It thrives equally well on living and dead wood, needs no attention except to fix it up when luosencd by the wind or other violence, and is the most beaiuiful, gracefid, and effectual screen that a garden can possess. Rustic baskets, supported on wooden feet, look beautiful when covered with Irish ivy. During the winter they are ornamental in themselves; and when filled with geraniums and other flowers, with the tendrils running over and concealing the pots, the effect is perfect. These frames may very easily be made, as they are not intended to hold soil. A few crossed sticks nailed to a piece of board, the shape and size you wisli, is quite sufficient; the ivy will soon hide it all, and form a green and beautiful basket. Whenever you wish a shrub removed, see if you can- not make it useful in this way : head down three or four of the stems to a proper height, and fix a basket upon them ; cut away all the rest, and as the leaves spring from the standing stems, keep cutting them off, they will soon cease to trouble you. In the earlier stages of ivy-plants, a crimson or white rose blooming amongst its dark leaves has a lovely effect ; but when it be -omes thick and bushy, the rose-tiee had better be placed elsewhere. Ivy forms a beautiful kind of carpet under trees, where grass does not grow; it runs and spreads, and seems, like a joyous spirit, to revel in its own light-heartedness. By simple means, such as these, the eye and hand of taste may perform wonders, without e.-cpense, a«d with little time and trouble. The ivy flourishes every- where, — evergreens do well in almost all situations, — violets and the star-like periwinkle decorate an awk- ward-looking bank ; an unsightly hedge may be enlivened with scarlet-runners, nasturtiums, and con- volvulus, so that few gardens may not be made to smile, even under great disadvantages. Ivy will help you here ; let it creep about, and cluster where it likes : it beautifies everything it clings to. A neatly mown lawn, with an ivy basket or two, a trellised porch or verandah waving with roses, honey- suckle, and jasmine, a wall clothed with creeping plants, or a vine, or any favourite ivy, with an in- valuable Virginia creeper for " winter wear," a few beds of well-chosen annuals and perennials, neatly kept and cared for, a few judiciously-placed flowering .shrubs and evergreens, are quite enough to make the country parsonage and cottage residence gay and delighttul both to the eye and heart. Surely all ladies may accomplish this ! How much of the en- joyment of a happy domestic country house springs from its garden ! What a tale it may tell, in its silent sweetness, of all that is passing within! It "discouiscs eloquent music." Tliere are the husband's apple and pear-trees, twined by the wife's sweet clematis ; his cabbage-beds fringed with her pinks and pansies ; the tool-house wreathed with roses; his rougher labours adorned by her gayer fancy, — all speaking loudly of the happy union of their hearts and tastes. This is one of England's blessed peculiarities — one of the secrets of her peace and power. Let us foster as much as possible the love of gardening, for it involves that holy feeling, the love of home. CARROTS IN OLD GARDEN-GROUND. The culture of carrots is an object of some con- siderable interest to cottagers, in many of whose gardens they do not often succeed. The following simple plan has been for years practised in the garden of the Eail of Morton, at Dalmahoy, which for many years prior to its adoption had ceased to produce carrots. The seeds are sown in the usual manner, and at the usual time ; and, immediately after, a quantity of Scotch kale (German greens) or Savoys are planted promiscuously over the bed, about five or si.x feet apart. Those are allowed to grow through the summer, and carrots of a large size, and free from disease, is the result. Such is the fact — what is the cause t In Scotland cottagers often sow carrots amongst their onions and leeks ! those in general succeed, while carrots sown by themselves in an adjoining bed totally fail. These homely fdcts may be of use to some of the readers of the "Cottage Gaiidfinkr," with the style and objects of which I am much pleased, and wish it every success. C. Mc Intosh, Z)ott-eiles the ground should be trenched, and a little manure turned in with the bottom spit only. The root strikes down straight to this. Grass-plot (£. L. L.) — In the spring, at the end of March, as your lawn is too large for turfing, dig your ground even, rake it per- fectly level, and then sow it with the fallowing grass-seeds, passing a light roller over afrerwards. The quantities are enough for an acre, but yon can diminish them in proporti.-n, if your plot is less. Cre-ted dog's-tail. Hlbs. ; hard fescue, 20 lbs. ; fine-leaved fescue, 2 Ihs. ; wood-meadow grass, 2 lbs. ; common-meadow grass (poa trivialis), 4 lbs.; creeping white clover, 8 lbs. ; smaller yellow trefoil, 3 lbs Geskera zebrina and Achimenes picta. [Fran(;ais). — You keep them ton cold, probably. They produce under-ground tubers, from which they are readily propagated ; but they may be increased from their leaves. In the latter mode, cut off a leaf close to the stem, plant it in a pot filled with a mixture of three p^irts sand and one part peat, cover it with a glass, and plunge the pot in a hot-bfd. Wipe tlie glass dry tvery morning until tlie leaf is rooted, then give it air freely. The time for this is r-ary spring. This winter gradually cease from giving them water when done blooming, but admit air to them freely. When the stems are brown and dry, cut them oflf within an inch of the soil, and put the pots into some cupboard where neither damp nor frost can get at them. In this w-iy keep lliem through the winter. The hor^e-shoe geranium with pale flowers is not uncommon. Privet. (Rev. J. L. Cooper.) — Cuttings will succeed if planted forthwith. Use cuttings of the young shoots eiaht ur ten inches long; strip off the leaves from their lower half, and plant them that depth in a shady border. They will be rooted and ready for planting out next autumn. What evergreens do you mean? The laurel is best propagated by layering'. Peg the branches down at once. Potato Shoots. (W. W.)— The ground must be opened and the shoots removed for planting, with their roots attached to them. Dissolved Bones. (H'. JF.)— On a small scale, 6 lbs bone-dust, 3 lbs. oil of vitriol, I^Ih. water. Sprinkle the water on the bonea first, and then add the vitriol. Be careful, for it is very corrosive. Use a cask large enough to hold twice the quantity. As much ashes or water may be mixed with the dissolved bones as wiU enable you to sprinkle it over the plot of ground regularly. The above quantity of bones and vitriol would be enough for 100 square yards. Bees. {Reih C. A. A. Z/o//d.)— Thanks for your very obliging permission, of which we will take advantage. Autumn-planting Potatoes. (W^. S. 0. and Potato) — See "The Kitchen Garden" of to-day. "Worms. (Veritas.) — Worms are not generally injurious, but, on the contrary, beneficial by perforating the soil, and thus establishing a natural drainage. They certainly will not injure your bulbs. We will give some directions about hyacinths. Bone-manure (B. W7ji7//tf.)—Ctimmfjn coal-ashes are those em- ployed. We do not think that bones alone, applied annually, would be a sufficient manure. Plants would require more carbonaceous matters such as is supplied by decayed vegetables. There cannot be a better manure than your sawdust soaked with the house slops. Window- plants (T.J.) — If turned half round daily, they will not he drawn to one side. We cannot state prices, nor fairly men- tion florists. Filberts. {A Honsehnlder). — We keep our filberts in an open pan in a damp cellar, without taking off the husks ; tht-y continue good for more than twelve months. House Sewage. {.4 Suhscrtber). — The tanks in Mr. Johnson's garden cost a very few shillings. They supply sufficient liquid ma- nure for three-quarters of an acre of garden-ground. All the con- tents of the water-closets pass into tank No. I . Leaves. (Homo.) — To reduce these tothe easilj'-c rumbled mould required by florists requires that they be kept moist in a heap, and frequently turned during two years. They may be reduced to that crumbly state more rapidly by mixing a little quick-lime wiih the leaves; hut then all flowers do not require so much limy matter iu their soil. Charred Turf. (R. M.) — We do not see any reason against your commencing operations at this season of the year, but we will give you fuller information in our nevt X. Y. Z. — Thanks for your sui.jg'jstions. As to the poetry, we agree with you; as to the other points, we have contrarj- opinions Be assured we shall keep util ty co>istantlv in view as our chief object. Saving of seeds shall not be lost sight of. Chrysanthemums. (/ Salmon.)— A. list of these will appear shortly. Raspberries. {A Subscriber.) — Mr. Barnes allows the autumn- bearing raspberry-canes of tliis year's growth to remain until the spring, whether they are replanted or not. At that season the whole are cut close to the ground, where a number of plump buds may be seen, ready for producing the season's fruiiing-wood. London ; — Printed by William Tylf.r and 'harlf.s Ref.d, 5. 6, and 7, Bolt-court, Fleet-street, in the Parish of St. Dunstan's-in-th©- Webt . and Published by William Somervills Orm, at the Ofiice, 147, Strand, in the Pariah ofSoiut Mary-le-Straik^ London. THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 63 WEEKLV CALENDAR. M w Plants dedicated to Sun Sun Moon R. Moon's Clock Day o£ D D NOVEMBER 16—22, 1848 each day. Rises. Sets. and Sets. Age. aft. Sun. Year. 16 Th. Titmice draw near to houses. African Hemp. 23 a 7 7a4 10 10 20 14 59 321 17 F. Hugh, Bishop of Lincoln. Stramonium, [flower. 24 6 U 18 € 14 47 322 18 S. Red-headed '. 'ocher arrives. Saw-leaved Passion- 26 5 morn. 22 14 34 323 19 Son. 22 Sunday after Trinity. Apple-formed ditto. 28 4 26 23 14 20 324 20 M Edmund, King and Martyr. Ked Stapelia. [sorrel. 29 2 1 32 24 14 6 325 21 Tu. Princess Royal b. 1640. Linnean Soc.'s M. Large flower'd Wood- 31 1 2 36 25 13 51 326 22 W St. Cecilia. Smi's Dec. 22° 15s. [Meet. Trumpet-flower'd do 33 3 39 26 13 35 327 Hugh, Bishop of Lincoln, was a native of Burgundy, appointed to that bishopric by Henry II. He died on this day, in the year 12oO, and without having possessed any merits so superior as to deserve this annual remembrance. Edmund, king of East Anglia. is said to have been put to death by the Danes, because he remsed to renounce the Christian faith. At all events they murdered him in the year 870, and he was buried in Suffolk, at the town still known as Bury St. Edmunds. Cecilia was martyred by the Romans in the year 230, for refusing to worship tlieir pods. It was formerly fashionable to have concerts on this day — she being considered a patroness of sacred music. This custom gave birth to the celebrated " Odes to St. Cecilia" of Dryden and Pope. Phenomeka. of the Season. — Mr. Jenyns says that the teal usually reaches our coasts about the Itith of this month, and that Insects. — The Red Spider, or Plant-mite {Aca- rus Tellariut) is one of the gardener's greatest the fieldfare or felt, and the redwing, make their appearance in our uplands somewhere near the 21st. There is no doubt that this annual return to us is dictated by the temperature and food these birds require for their healthy existence. But what guides them through the pathless way to where these are to be found? Every fact connected with these migrations is full of interest and mysterj'. Bird-catchers state, that the flights of small birds take place from daybreak to twelve at noon, and sometimes from two o'clock till it is nearly dark. Birds fly apainst the wind during their passa:;e, with the exception of the chaffinch, who flies across it. The male chaf- finches are observed to fly by themselves, and shortly are followed by the females. This is also tlie case with tl:e titlark (Jesse). Tlie woodcock and the snipe arrive during moonlight nights and with an easterly wind. "Wildfowl of all kinds arrive also by night; and oc more than one occasion we have seen streams of them pass from the northward, at a vast height, between us and the moon on the coast of Essex. 1841. 1842. 1843. 1844. 184J. 1846. 1847. 16 Frosty. Rain. Fine. Fine. Rain. Cloudy. Rain. 17 Frosty. Cioudy. Cloudy. Cloudy. Fine. Cloudy. Fine. 18 Snow. Cloudy. Fine. Cloudy. Cloudy. Cloudy. Frosty. 19 Cloudy. Rain. Pine. Cloudy. Rain. Cloudy. Frosty. 20 Rain. Cloudy. Fine. Fine. Rain. Cloudy. Cloudy. 21 Rain. Fine. Cloudy. Fine. Rain. Fine. Cloudy. 22 Rain. Rain. Rain. Cloudy. Fine. Fine. Cloudy. ■^ V^UBr ^v fly pests, though so small as to be scarcply visible to the naked eye. The arcnnipanying engraving represents it magnified. It has eight legs, and its colour is sometimes yellow- ish, at others brown, but oftener a dull red. On each side of iis back is a blackish spot (Kollar). At this time of the year it may be found under the hark of the lime-tree; but at all times it is to he found in green-houses and hot-houses that have been kept too hot and dry. In the summer time it may be found, occasionally in myriads, upon the under sides of the leaves of kidney-beans and limes. The injury they occasion by sucking tlie sap, and by their webs embarrassing the breathing of the plant through the pores of its leaves, is told by the brown colour which these assume. To destroy these insects in the green-house or hot-house, or cucumber-frame — for they attack this plant also — there is no plan so effectual as heating the hot-water pipes of the houses, or hot-water plates placed in the frame, by filling them with boiling water, sprinkling upoa them flowers of sulphur, and then shutting up the houses or frames. The vapour of sulphur is fatal to the insect where the air'is thoroughly impregnated with it, and the work of destroying these insects is completed by syringing the infested plants with water. Tl^is last is the only practical remedy to plants in our borders, unless they can be covered over so ihat the fumes may be confined, whilst the sulphur is volatUised overa hot-water plate. Potted plants may be submitted to the vapour of sulphur in a similar way. The vapour of spirit of turpentine is said to be as efiectual as sulphur. NATOB&L SIZE AS1> MAGNIFIED. Among numerous letters now before us is this brief note : — " I have a few plants in pots, principally geraniums and fuchsias, in number not more than a dozen, which, for the want of better convenience, I intended to have kept in my bedroom during the winter, but have been strongly recommended other- wise, on the ground that it is very unhealthy to have them ill the house, but particularly in a bedroom. I cling to a different opinion, and seek from you satis- faction on the point — " And, as they are not fragrant flowers, we rejoice to think that we can give that satisfaction in every sense of the word ; for it would have vexed us if we had been obliged to have coin- cided with those who have said that our correspondent must part from her twelve companions. So far are they from injuring the air of her chamber during the day, that they really purify and improve it. Let our correspondent bend down one of the branches of her plants and plunge its leaves under the clear water contained in a drinking-glass ; let her show the bright bubbles emitted by those leaves, in the daylight, to the friends who would exile her plants — and let her ask those friends whether they are ignorant of the fact, that every one of those bubbles is full of vital air (oxygen), which, if taken from the atmosphere they are all breathing at the time, would cause their in- stant death. If they require a proof of this, let them put a mouse under another drinking-glass, turned down, with its mouth beneath water, to shut out the air of the room : in a few minutes that mouse will die of suffocation, having by its breathing consumed all the vital air within the glas s. Let a sprig of mint be now passed under the water and into the glass, without bringing its mouth above the surface of the water. After remaining there for an hour or two, let another mouse be passed under the water and G4 THE COTTAGE GARDENER. into the glass. This mouse will live as long as the first mouse ; for the sprig of ni.iit has again sup- plied the contents of the glass with vital air. It mat- ters not how often the experiment is repeated — the result will always be the same. Now what that mouse did under the glass, every living person is doing in a room ; namely, consuming the vital air in it. Plants, on the contrary, are continually pouring vital air out from their leaves during the day ; and to show this more strikingly, if a sprig of mint sufficiently large is kept under the glass with the mouse, they will live on together until the evening — for the mint will pro- duce vital air as fast as the mouse consumes it. At night, however, quite another series of circum- stances occur ; for in the dark, the leaves of plants give out unbreathable air (carbonic acid gas) and take in vital air. In a word, they render the air worse than if they were not there ; and if our correspondent is in delicate health, we recommend her to have her plants moved into an unoccupied room, or even into the passage, so soon as the twilight is gone. If, how- ever, she is in good health, if the plants are near the window, and there is a fireplace with an open chinmey in her room, then we do not think she need remove her plants even at night, for there will he such good ventilation, such a constant supply of fresh air, that the plants, not being highly scented, cannot occasion the slightest injury. Strongly smelling cut-flowers, on the other hand, are very injurious at night ; for not only their fra- grance, but the unbreathable air they give out, and the still more no.vious fumes from their slowly decay- ing leaves, all unite to vitiate and render the air of the room unwholesome. It is very common for per- sons to enjoy the perfume of flowers in the open air, and yet to faint and sicken if shut up in a room with the same flowers. Captain Lowth, of the East India Company's service, brought some seeds of the Himalayah pumpkin with Mm to England last year, and we have succeeded in raising from them a small quantity of seed.* We could easily have saved more, for our plants were most prolific, but we were not aware that the pro])or- tion of seed to the flesh of this pumpkin was so smidl. This is one of its excellences ; but another good quality is, that, for boiling as a vegetable, to be eaten like the vegetable marrow, it is much better, both as to firmness of flesh and flavour when of a large size, than when boiled during its earlier period of growth. When full-grown it is fifteen inches long and eight inches across, with rounded ends. For boiling, we cut it when about half that size. It is smooth-skinned, not at all ribbed, and is marbled with green and straw-colours. As might be expected from its being a native of the snowy range of the Himalayah Mountains, this pump- kin is quite hardy- We sowed it at the beginning of June, on a richly-manured piece of ground, without any hotbed, but giving it at night the shelter of glass. Two plants were within a two-light frame, but they speedily outgrew this place of confinement, sending forth numerous shoots, some of which, despite con- tinued stopping (pinching oft' their heads), persisted in throwing out laterals (side-shoots) until they ex- tended more than twelve feet from the stem. The plants were most prolific, notwithstanding the wetness and coldness of the summer, each plant producing more than twenty fruit of various sizes — the last being cut in October. We ripened one for seed on each plant ; and these, when cut, weighed full twelve pounds each. It was from their flesh the excellent soup was made for which we gave the recipe in our fifth Number. , We are sorry to hear that Mr. Foksyth, the talented Gardener lately employed by the Earl of Shrewsbury, h;is left his situation, and is now a guard on the North Staflbrdshire Railway. " It is truly a pity," adds our informant, "that such abilities should be idle." We are compelled to defer our Double Number until next week. THE FRUIT-GARDEN. PEABgFOR THE AmATEUR AND CoTTAGEK. In foimcr times few persons thought of planting pears in small gardens, uidess against the gable of a building. It was supposed impossible to grow them as dwarf sland- I ards, or mere bushes; and as for the ordinary standard I orchard pears, why, if ever they were introduced, they I in time snjothered a very large portion of the little garden. The notoriously long period, too, that most of them grow befure arriving at a bearing-state, gave rise to the expressive old distich : "He who plants pears, Plains for his heirs." Now, however, the case is altered; it is no uncom- mon thing in these days to find whole rows of dwarf pears in the gardens of our nobility, bearing as freely as the old orchard pear-tree, and yet occupying no more ground than a full-sized gooseberry-bush. We have had nuich experience in the dwarfing of pears, having directed our eftorts unceasingly to this end lor the last twenty years, and having met with an amount of success second to no person, we there- fore proceed to offer advice with boldness. As the subject is necessarily one of considerable extent, we cannot hope to give complete directions (for these we intend to be very explicit) in a single calendar, we * It is a variely so excellent that we wish it to be generally known. Any one enclosing two p(ist;it'e-siam|»s, dirt-cted " To the Editor, Cottage Gahdenek Ollice, 147, Strar.d. London," shall have two or three seeds enclosed by post, accordingly as our seed may equal the demand. THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 60 must, therefore, divide the subject under the followmg lieads : 1. Stocks, soils, etc. 2. Modes of rearing, training, pruning, etc., in the young state. 3. Modes of pruning and training when in a bearing state. 4. Root pruning. These divisicins of the subject we hope to deal with successively as occasion serves : 1st. Stocks, Soil, etc. — Pears are grown on two kinds of stocks — the ordinary pear-stock, otherwise called a free-stock, and on the quince. The pear-stock produces a stronger and longer enduring tree ; much longer, also, in coming to a bearing state ; it will also grow and thrive on soils on which the quince will scarcely exist. This, therefore, is the most proper stock for ordinary orchard pears. A quince stock is notorious for causing the tree to assume a dwarf and bushy character ; this is a mere consequence of a much less vigorous root-action. For this very reason the trees come much sooner into bearing, but ihey require a much more generous soil. It so happens that some kinds of pears are of deli- cate growth, or they are such very fine bearers, that it becomes advisable, even under a dwarfing system, to graft them on the free or pear-stock, in order to meet the heavy demands on the tree, or to induce a more vigorous growth. These we will particularize in our select list of pears. Almost any ordinary soil, if not too sandy, will grow the pear on the free stock. We have known them succeed to admiration on both sandy and clayey loams, on soils of a calcareous (chalky) character, and on shingly or gravelly soils, provided there was some degree of adhesiveness in their constitution. The quince stock, on the contrary, will never answer on hot or sandy soils ; and where the quince plant (un- grafted) will not succeed, it is vain to think of planting it when grafted. This fact we would particularly impress on the mind of both the amateur and the cottager ; for through a comparative disregard of such practical facts, the quince stock has most frequently been praised beyond its merits on the one hand, or by far too lightly esteemed on the other. The soil in which, above all others, the quince will both luxuriate and continue in permanency, is a soil which possesses the features of alluvium.* We do not mean that it must be alluvial soil, but that the well-known te.xture of that material must at least be imitated. That this is possible in an artificial way we have long since proved ; for we have a Beurr^e d'Aremberg pear-tree on a quince stock, and growing as an ordinary dwarf standard, within a hundred yards of where we are writing. Now we have taken fruit from this tree for years, superior to that from the same kind on a south wall, and that in a northern district, in which it is generally understood that such kinds as the d'Arem- berg cannot be grown as an ordinary standard with success. The mixture in which this tree was planted was composed of equal parts of strong adhesive loam, black vegetable matter, or humus, (such as is found at the bottom of old wood stacks,) and fine gray sand; in this the quince seems quite at home. Permanency of moisture is one of the main requisites for the quince ; indeed, without this no compost can be ex- pected to answer. When it is taken into consideration how small a quantity of soil will maintain a dwarf pear on a quince • Attuvium is fine fertile soil, such as is found in valleys, waslied down during tbe course of many years from the higher-lying lands. Stock, it will readily appear that it is quite prac- ticable so to improve the soil in any small garden, as to adapt it to the quince stock. A compost of this kind may be readily got together. The furrowings of low or clay soils might form the principle staple ; in addition to which, abundance of old rotten vegetables, tree-leaves, or even old and spent tan might be added, and a good sprinkling of any fine sand. These mate- rials, collected a few months previously, and turned a couple of times, would doubtless form a proper compost for the quince. We have even seen ditch-scourinos in the neighbourhood of trees, which had lain on the bank to mellow for some time, which would alone have been complete, or nearly so, for the cultivation of the quince. A little very old manure would be a benefit, as it is not easy to overexcite the quince. As to quantity, we should say that six wheelbarrows full of this mixed soil would be amply sufficient for a treu on the dwarfing system. The holes should not be made deep, by any means; half a yard in depth of soil will suffice for either the quince or the pear stock, and this should rest, if possible, on impervious mate- rials, such as stones, bricks, or hard-rammed cinder- ashes. We shall say more about modes of plantino-, when offering advice under the head " Stations for Fruit-trees." Pruning and Management of Standard Apples. — As the pruning, etc., of large or orchard apples, differs somewhat from that of the dwarf standard, we deem it necessary to offer a little special advice on that head. This work is mostly reserved for frosty weather, and very properly so, for it may be carried out when other matters, especially spade operations, become stationary. Large orchard trees, when in their prime, require very little pruning; once in three years may then suffice to regulate them. Their pruning will simply consist of a slight thinning-out of exhausted or cross boughs, which, situated in the interior of the tree, cannot bring fruit to perfection, and in bearing, rob the superior parts of the tree. When, however, the trees become somewhat aged, they require more attention; for when it is found that they cannot bring all the fruit which may " set " to perfection, it becomes necessary to sacrifice some por- tion, in order to throw strength into the remainder. As long as the tree continues to bear at all, the best fruit will ever be at the extremities of the boughs : nature, therefore, must be followed, or rather, in this case, anticipated. Once in a couple of years the trees should be gone over, and much of their interior wood cut away. The wearing-out wood may be readily distinguished by its mossy or stunted character, and frequently by its dead points, which are an almost certain sign of the breaking up of the constitution of the tree. There is no occasion to prune the extreme points, the re- moval of the larger decaying branches will suffice. It often happens, nevertheless, that a good deal of young annual spray grows out of the old branches ; such, occasionally, should be trimmed away, or it will decoy the sap from the more important portions of the tree. Top-DREssiNG Old Apple-trees. — ^ How much manure is misapplied in planting joung apple-trees, wiiich would be of the utmost benefit to the wearing- out or heavy-bearing trees. Yet we generally see valuable trees of this kind star%'ing by inches: few think of manuring them. The consequence is not only premature decay in the tree, but a continual sacrifice in produce ; for the apples are seldom what is termed " well fed;" and i*" there be a full crop, they either crack, or become corroded with a rusty fungus, under which circumstances they will lose in a great 60 THE COITAGE GARDENER. degree their keeping properties. The best way to deal with such cases, is to strip away at the end of October six inches of the surface-soil, and to apply a coating; of the very slutch of the manure-yard, three or four inches in thickness ; after which the turf or some soil may be strewed over, to prevent the loss of its fertile properties. This, once in three years, accompanied by a rather severe thinning or pruning, will be found to renew the constitution of the tree in a very consider- able degree ; the fruit also will regain their size, their clear skin, and, of course, their keeping properties. The Cottager's Vegetable-ground.- — In our last Number we hinted at the propriety of seizing on this period of the year to carry out thorough drainage where necessary. We again beg to urge that the foundation of permanent success must be looked for in drainage alone on soils liable to become water- logged. Soils of this description, when laid tolerably dry. are frequently more productive after this opera- tion than soils which are naturally mellow, especially if there be a good depth. In addition, we would strongly recommend another practice, which causes the soil to dig down with ease in the succeeding spring. We mean ridging the soil in November, piling it up in lines as high as possible. No time should be lost in this matter, as the longer the period in which frost has to act upon it the more mcdow it becomes. Trtnching is a most important matter also, espe- cially at this time: some useful observations on these branches of culture may be found at page 30 of this work. In our next we intend giving a select list of pears, adapted both to the amateur and the cottager; and as our experience in this way results from at least twenty- five years' close practice and observation, we may without presumption beg to direct the attention of both amateurs and cottagers to that list, in which we shall piirticularize very fully their habits, times of ripening, and their keeping and bearing properties. R. Errington. THE FLOWER-GARDEN. General Flower-garden. — In last week's Cottage Gardener was a short paper in which we endeavoured to show the principles of arranging, and the method of planting a new shrubbery. This week we intend to give a few ideas how to renovate an old neglected one — a task we conceive much more difficidt than the former. It is comparatively easy to have a plan, and to plant in accordance with it ; but to thin out and prune injudiciously an overgrown plantation, requires considerable resolution and skill. In cutting down, perhaps, old favourites, and pruning those that are to remain, so as to form hereafter handsome well-formed shrubs, there must be no flinching, no useless regn-ts. If a handsome holly and a nice-looking arbutus grow close together, down with one of them, and lop and prune the other most resolutely, so as to bring it into shape, and then new branches will be produced un- doubtedly in a shorter time than might be anticipated. We remember the saying, " I never knew an oft- removed tree, nor yet an oft-removed family, that throve so well as those that settled be." Hence an old settled shrub, well cut in, will much sooner attain a handsome form than if we remove a large shrub into its place. We are, of course, supposing there is an old neglected shrubbery, and it is determined to improve it. The same plan should be followed in working out the improvement that we recommend for the new plantation. A certain and sufficient number of shrubs should be marked to stand. Then let all the rest be removed or grubbed up. The grotmd between those that are left should be well trenched, picking out roots and stones and any roots of bad weeds that may be there, such as nettles, thistles, and docks. All these together, with the small spray, should be charred, and then spread on the surface, which ought to be left as rough as possible, that it tnav have the benefit of the winter's frost. In the spring, spread over it a coating of rotten dung or rotten leaves. Dig it rather shallow, and you may then fill i:p the vacancies with such things as we men- tioned for the newly-planted shrubbery, viz., stand- ard and dwarf roses, hollyocks, tall showy perennials, dahlias, and primroses, all of which will be pleasing and agreeable to the eye while the shrubs are reco- vering this somewhat severe but necessary treatment. If, however, the shrtibs are so old and imsightly that, with all the skill and care bestowed upon them, they are not likely to be brought into any thing like satis- factory shape or form, the best way will be, in that case, to grub them all up, drain and trench the ground, and procure good new plants at once, pro- ceeding upon the same plan as we described in our last Number. Whatever way yon choose to adopt, now is the best time for such operations. Lose not a day, therefore, but set to work at once, and, if pos- sible, get it done before Christmas. Amateur's Flower-gakden : Summer-pruning of Roses. — This queen of flowers will be very much benefited by a judicious pruning during summer. It often happens, where the roses are growing in good ground, that some of them produce branches that grow so strong and fast as to rob the rest of their due support. These branches are what the French call gonrmamh, which may be Englished gluttons ; cut them clean off as soon as they make their appearance. They may be easily known by their free strong growth. When the rose-trees throw out a great number of shoots equally strong, and they appear to be crowded, prune away about one-third of them, but do not shorten any of the others, as that will cause them to send out a quantity of small weak shoots, which will injure the flowers the following season. Propagation. — Most kinds of roses can be propa- gated by cuttings. By this method, it is true, we can only obtain dwarfs ; yet as many sorts do best on their own roots, the china and tea-scented for instance, we must adopt the increasing of them by cuttings. They may be struck in various ways, — in pots, in frames, under hand-glasses, and in the open ground. Cuttings in Pots. — The most convenient-sized pots are those that measure five inches across ; fill them with moderately rich light earth nearly to the brim, press it firmly down with the hand, then fill the pots quite up to the rim with silver sand, or if that is not to be had, with finely sifted river sand ; give a gentle watering from a fine-rosed watering-pot,* then proceed to prepare the cuttings ; cut them into lengths of * The rose of a watering-pot is that part punched full of small holes. THE COTTAGE GARDENER. C7 about four inches, remove all the leaves except those belonging to the top buds, make the cut very smooth across, just under the lowest bud ; the cutting is then ready to be planted. Have a small stick about as thick as a quill, and thrust it into the soil just the depth of the cutting, so as to leave the top bud out: close the earth firmly to the bottom of the cutting with the stick ; place the cuttings close to the edge of the pots, with the leaves of all pointing inwards, then close up the holes with a little of the sand, and give a gentle watering. The best situation to place the pots of cuttings in is a pit, with hand-glasses over them. If you have not that convenience, plunge the pots in coal-ashes on a shady border, covering them with hand-glasses ; they will put forth roots in about six weeks, if the weather continues mild. Should it be frosty, cover the glasses with mats. They should remain in the pots till spring, when they may be potted singly into small pots, to be shifted into larger pots as they require. By the middle of summer you will have beautiful plants. There is a material ad- vantage in propagating roses by cuttings in pots ; they can be turned out of the pots, and carefully divided from each other without breaking or mate- rially injuring the roots. Cuttings in the open Ground. — In the second Number of the Cottage Gardener we gave some instructions to the cottager how to strike cuttings of hardy shrubs in general. By the same method roses may be propagated, hut the wood should be firmer and better ripened than is necessary if the cuttings are to be under glass, for they will be more exposed to the weather. We would recommend you to try all the sorts you may possess or can procure. If some kinds fail, it is only a httle labour lost: in the spring you will soon perceive which will grow, by the fresh- ness of the buds. Examine a few of them, and if they are rooted, lift them carefully with a trowel or small spade, and either pot them or plant them out in rows in a more open situation. By the autumn following they will be nice plants, and may be planted in the situation where they are to grow and flower for several years. Cottager's Flower-garden. — As the culture of flowers may be considered by some of our cottage friends a very secondary consideration, we trust they will excuse us pressing upon them the fact that flowers, though perhaps not apparently and imme- diately profitable as far as pounds shillings and pence are concerned, yet if the cottager has a family, and he can implant the love of flowers in his children, and through those flowers teach them how good and bountiful the Creator of all things is to provide such pleasant objects to gratify our senses, he is, as it were, sowing the seeds of gratitude and love in their young hearts; which pleasant passion will, as they grow up, make them a blessing to their parents, and better sons and daughters, better brothers and sisters, and better citizens when they come to manhood. All these good qualities may be fostered and brought to maturity by the judicious instilling into their minds in early youth a love of the beautiful and lovely, as exemplified amongst the floral gems of the cottager's flower- garden. But, independent of the above considerations, the effect of cultivating flowers will be beneficial even to the cottagers themselves. We ti-ust the cottager's wife will love and care for the flowers, and we are sure if she does that her husband's love and esteem for her will be heightened and strengthened, and we will pre- dict, without fear of failing, that the culture of flowers will be the cause of much happiness and pleasure to the cotter's family, whether large or small. In order to give his children a love of flowers, let each of them have a small plot of ground as their own ; give them from time to time a root or two, as a reward for any good act, a display of good temper, or a well-said lesson, and good behaviour at church or school. A prudent father and mother, by bestowing or withhold- ing these rewards, will possess a power to induce good conduct far stronger and better than a threat of the dark-hole or the birch rod. Another advantage of cultivating flowers is, that they furnish honey for bees ; and as we hope those interesting and profitable insects will soon be in most amateur's and cottage-gardens, the growing of the materials from which they extiact their sweet store ia a consideration of some moment. Besides, the cot- tager might turn his flowers to a good account, by selling occasionally nosegays to his neighbours. Lavender. — This delightfully fragrant shrub ought to be cvdtivated by our cottage friends to some extent. The flowers will always be in request to put into clothes-presses or drawers. It may be grown as a division-fence between the flowers and vegetables. It may be propagated by slips or layers. Cuttings of the shoots may be put in about October, in lengths of about six inches, placed in a row, where they are to remain, and to be protected the first season from frost by a covering of coal-ashes, one inch thick, on each side of the row. To propagate it by layers, take the outer branches, and bring them down to the soil, place upon them some light soil, leaving the tops out. Do this in the spring, and in autumn the layers will be rooted, and may be taken ott' and planted in the row, to divide the flower-garden from the other. FLORISTS' FLOWERS. Chrysanthemums. — Some inquiries having been made by coiTespondents concerning chrysanthemums, we purpose devoting this division to their culture. As they can be grown in the open air, it comes under our part of this work. They may be increased by cuttings and layers. Cuttings should be put in at two seasons : one early in May, the other late in August. The first, to pro- duce strong-flowering plants — the other, dwarf ones. The best situation for the cutlings is a close frame ; put them in four-inch pots, four in a pot : in about three weeks they will be rooted ; as soon as that is perceived, pot them into the smaller pots, one in each ; shade for a few days, until they have taken fresh hold ; nip the tops occasionall)', lo make them dwarf and bushy. As they root and grow very fast, they will require frequent re-pottings. By the end of June they may be planted out where they are to flower ; or, if they are intended to flower in pots, let them be plunged up to the rims of the pots after the last re- moval. Give them abundance of water, and water them overhead with a syringe or rose-pot every even- ing. By this treatment they will grow bushy, strong plants, and will flower abundantly. Layers. — Plant out early in spring one of each kind you wish to increase. Give each plant as much room as will allow the branches to spread all round. When the shoots have grown to about eighteen inches, bring them down to the ground, and with a peg fasten them into pots six inches wide, filled with rich earth, placed there, and buried in the bed up to their rims. Cover the part of the branch in the pots with an inch of the same soil, giving water freely. By this method you obtain very dwarf plants, which, for pot-flowering, are til THE COTTAGE GARDENER. vtrv useful to place in front of tlie taller ones. Dwarf plants may also be obtained by taking off the tops after they have shown the first bud : this will be to- wards the end of August. Put these cuttings, six inches long, singly into three-inch pots; plunge the pots into a gentle hot-bed, and cover tliem with hand-glasses and closely shade them. They will quickly root at tliat warm season of the year, and may be gradually hardened by giving air in the evening and removing the shades on all dull days until they are able to stand the full light. They will then re- quire potting into pots, five inches in diameter ; and in those pi>ts, by giving mantn-e-water occasionally, will flower uncommonly dwarf and fine. The follow- ing is a list of thirty good sorts, and are ni)t ox- pensive : If'/iites. — Defiance, Exquisite, Fleur-de- Marie, For mo*um, Lucidum, Vesta, .Mirahile. Purples. — Campestroni, De Crequi, General Macao, Sangiiineum, Acbmet Bey, Due de Canigliam, Pilot. Yellows. — Annie Salter, David, Changable Yellow, Adventurer, Guuvain St. Cyr, Etoile Polaire, Queen of Yellows, Satyr. Two-coloured. — Aristides (orange and brown), Bijiiu (white and pink), Phidias (rosy-red). nose-coloured. — Sphynx (maroon), Fleschier, Prin- cess Marie, Reine de Prusse, Queen. T. Appleby. WINDOW AND GREENHOUSE-GARDENING. I Difficulties of AVindow-gardexing. — The dry 1 heat of a comfortable parlour in winter, and the full I blaze of the sun during the summer months, are ex- tremes verj' injurious to the roots of plants confined to the narrow comp.iss of a flower-pot. In summer, one can lessen the effects of the sun on the pots by placing them in more shady places than can now be done with safety. The large doses of water necessary for keeping the soil in good order under a full sun is not so much felt by the plants in summer, as they are then in active growth, and consume a large quantity of moisture ; but in winter they require comparatively but a small portion for their own use of the quantity that must be given to the pots to keep the soil from becoming too dry. The material of which flower-pots are made is so porous, that the pots themselves assist the bad effects of a dry atmosphere, by parting so readily with moisture. This is the reason why plants in a parlour require so much more water than those in a greenhouse, where the air is moist and cool round the pot«. In November, and in the early part of winter, the air of a greenhouse is often so loaded with the natural dampness of the season, that fires ate necessary to dry the air and counteract the effects of too damp an atmosphere on the plants. No wonder, then, that they require so little water. Water. — Many persons imagine, because their plants, or rather their flower-pots, get dry so often in the window, tliat the plants themselves require, or consume, the quantity given to keep them when in health and growth ; but the truth is, plants would be much benefited if by any means the daily waterings could be lessened. Many contrivances have from time to time been tried to effect this, such as placing the pots in china vases, fancy jars, and the like; and capital things for the purpose these are, if one has them at hand, or is able to buy them, for they shade the sides of the flower-pots and keep them cool, so that the dryness of a room does not affect them nearly so niuch as when exposed in the usual way. Besides, these fancv articles may be beautiful in themselves, and so help to make a room look smart, and also heighten the beauty of the plants they aid in protecting. Flowers, like children, will bear to be a little over-dressed, and they always look best when everything about them is clean and tidy. If there is any rule that we should be guided by moi-e than ano- ther in selecting our plants and other fancy articles for the decoration of our rooms, it is that we should never prefer expensive things beyond our means, as some silly persons do, with a view uf making others believe that they are richer than tluy really are, and that they can afford to purchase costly articles of dress and ornaments. Such attempts always fail, for per- sons of common sense only laugh at such follies. On the other hand, few can fail to appreciate a simple, cheap, and effectual contrivance for any kind of use, but more especially when to heighten the beauty of our plants is the object in view. The simplest and most effectual means that have hitherto been adopted to protect flower-pots from the effects of either dry warm rooms or hot sunny weather, is to double pot them : that is, by placing the flower-pot in which a plant is growing inside another pot, one size larger. Double potting is still more effectual if two kinds of pots are used, the common tapering pot and the up- right or bulb-pot. The latter is more deep according to the width than the tapering sort, and should be used as the guard or outside pot, as being deeper. The tapering pot will hang inside by its rim, and be an inch or two from the bottom of the guard-pot, thus giving a greater facility for drainage than if the inside pot rested on the bottom of the other. But the greatest advantage of using two kinds of pots is, that the guard-pot may be placed permanently in a saucer of water. The bottom of the flower-pot will stand above the level of the water, so that the soil or drain- age cannot be injured by it. In hot weather and in warm rooms the heat will cause the water in the saucer to rise in vapour between the two pots; part of this vapour will find its way into the roots through the drainage-hole, and help to nourish the plants, whose most active roots are always at the bottom of the pot. The vapour between the two pots will keep the inside one cool and damp, so that the roots inside it can stick to it comfortably, and feed on it as an ivy would feed on a damp north wall. I have seen thirsty plants flourish exceedingly when treated ex- actly as here desci'ibed, though in a very warm room, and they did not require to have water given them more than once a week, and some of the plants not so often. If a layer of green moss be placed on the top of the pots, the whole would be very complete and no one could see that two pots were used Moss is an excellent thing on the top of pots in a window, as it lessens the evaporation from the soil, and being kept moist, the roots will work up to the surface, and thus occupy the whole ball, instead of crowding as they always do at the bottom of the pot. When plants in flower are placed on a tray or basket, to stand on a table in a sitting-room, if moss could be obtained the pots should be packed in it, and a layer of it placed all over them, so that the pi'ts would be entirely hid. In that case double potting would not THE COTTAGE GARDENER. G9 be necessary, as the moss would answer the purpose just as well. There are some soft-wooded plants — such as, for instance, cinerarias, Chinese primrose, etc., — which can hardly be brought from a cool damp greenhouse at this season into a dry warm room without sustain- ing some injury from the change of temperature; therefore, whenever it is convenient, such plants should be inured to the change by degrees — as by having them first removed to a cool room for two or three days, and then to water them, and secure their pots as above, before they are placed in the sitting-room. Plants purchased from hawkers in large towns, are often ruined in a few days for want of this precaution. Methinks I hear the reader exclaim., " You are dwelling too long on such simple matters." Not so, however ; let us first creep before we attempt to walk. The whole secret of good gardening lies in simple facts derived from natural laws. The simplest rule in gardening is all Greek to those who never have paid attention to such subjects; and it is only by minute details that we can hope to benefit this class, who have yet to learn the very alphabet of plant-culture. Hyacinth. — This is a good time to finish off pot- ting hyacinths ; but with ordinary care they may be safely potted for the next three weeks. Few plants pay for a little extra attention better than the hyacinth ; but under bad management it soon gets out of con- dition, and is very difficult to bring round again ; I shall, therefore, treat of the different modes of growing it with some minuteness. Although hyacinths will grow in almost any kind of soil, and even for a season without any soil at all, as we shall see presently, yet it is of the greatest importance to choose fresh light soil moderately rich for them, — say two-thirds fresh loam, or good garden mould, and one-third leaf-mould and sand, in equal proportion. In the absence of leaf-mould, the next jest substitute for it is the refuse from under a wood- stack passed through a coarse sieve. In large towns, proper soils for pot-plants is so difficult to procure, that it is safer to buy it from a nurseryman, especially for a favourite tribe like the hyacinth. Bulb-pots, mentioned above, should always be used for hyacinths. Those about six inches deep, and from five to six inches at the mouth, are the proper size for a single bulb. Drain the pots by putting in an inch deep of potsherds and bits of charcoal, lay an inch of the coarse siftings from the leaf-mould over the drainage, then fill with the compost to within half an inch of the top, leaving the point of the bulb just level with the surface ; then give a slight watering through the rose of a watering-pot, and the work is finished. Some people never bury their hyacinths in the mould, as above, but merely press them on the surface, leaving full two-thirds of the bulb exposed : and this answers very well for nurserymen's shop-windows, or indeed any cool situation. When they are intended for a sitting-room, however, it is much better to bury the whole bulb, as the heat and dryness of a room will assuredly injure it when left exposed on the surface, by extracting from it the moisture which should go to feed the leaves and flowers. In their natural state hyacinths are never seen on the surface, like so many turnips in a field ; and the onlj- reason in defence of so unnatural a practice is, that the roots will have more space to feed in when the bulb is on the surface ; but this is " a penny wise and pound foolish " argu- ment, for every atom of nourishment the roots gain by the practice, the bulbs, in a dry room, lose twenty in the way I have described. Another very essential point to be attended to is, never to -water them with cold water ; every dose of cold water chills the roots and retards their action, and the leaves, in conse- quence, draw their nourishment from the bulb faster than the roots can supply it, owing to their chilled slow circulation, and before the flowers appear the bulbs will have lost half the nourishment destined to produce large handsome flowers. This is worse thau leaving the bulbs exposed on the top of the pot, as the leaves will exhaust them much faster than tlie heat of the room. Lukewarm water, on the other hand, will keep the roots in active work, enabling them to supply the necessary food as fast as it is required by the plants. After watering, place the pots in some dark out-of-the-way place, but not in a cold situation, till the leaves are an inch out of the ground ; then turn out the ball of one or two, and if you see the roots coming through the soil, all is right, and you may bring them to the window ; if no roots are to be seen, they have been kept in a place too hot for this stage of their management, which has caused the leaves to grow faster than the roots, whereas the roots ought to be in advance of the leaves, and that is the reason lor setting them in the dark, as leaves are not so readily put in action as roots in the absence of light. The leaves of bulbs are fed, in the first instance, from the substance of the parent bulbs, and if that bulb has no roots, or only feeble ones, to supply itself in like manner, it will soon shrivel up, or get so exhausted as to be able to flower but weakly, if at all. A familiar instance of the case in point will be found in a sprouted onion in the store-room. Growing Hyacinths in Water-glasses. — The safest way to proceed with bulbs of any sort intended to flower in glasses full of water, is to plant them first in loose sandy soil till they make roots at least three inches long; these should also be in the dark dur- ing the first stage of growth ; they may then have the soil or sand washed off them, and their roots in- troduced carefully into a glass containing luke-warm water, the water being only high enough to stand clear of the bottom of the bulb : every four or five days the water must be renewed, and always in a luke-warm state. Dark-coloured glasses are said to be better than light ones, and the reason why they are so is feasible enough, the roots growing stronger the darker they are kept : but I think this is all fancy, for I could never perceive any difference, whatever kind of glass was used. But why not have different coloured glasses as well as different coloured flowers? At any rate, the experiment is worth trying fairly ; but gar- deners have too much business on hand to do the thing properly ; and if it is to be proved at all it must be done by an amateur. Growing Hyacinths in Moss. — The hyacinth will grow in flower-pots filled with fresh moss as well as in a compost of good mould. The bulbs will be as little exhausted the one way as the other, and they are less liable to injury in moss than in soil, but in water they are always much weakened and difficult to restore afterwards. Indeed, unless they are very carefully attended to in glasses of water, they seldom recover at all. One great advantage of growing them in moss would be, that several bulbs might be planted together in a wide-mouthed jar, or any ornamental vessel, and, owing to the lightness of the moss, they might be carried to any part of the house or room at pleasure. Their colours might thus be finely con- trasted or arranged in any fanciful device, and make quite a flower-bed on the centre of a table. Early Tulips, Narcissus, and Crocuses, may be treated in the same way, but they are not so particular 70 THE COTTAGE GARDENER. about soil as tlie hyacinth. The crocus will not stand even .so much heat, at the first stage of its growth, as the hyacinth, and should be turned outside the win- dow every fine day for a few hours. If its leaves grow two inches long without the appearance of flower- buds, the place is too hot for it, and unless it is put into a cooler place, flowers will hardly appear at all. This often happens to many plants by their bein<» exposed to too much heat at first. D. Beaton. THE KITCHEN-GARDEN. Cauliflowebs. — Young plants should be kept close to the glass, if in frames ; the decayed leaves con- stantly removed, and the earth's surface kept open by frequent stirrinf(s, which will enable the plants to maintain a he;iithy sturdy growth. Keep them un- covered at all favourable times, and when the weather is not favourable, tilt the lights front and back, and sift amongst them on fine days dry dust. Old, dry mortar, loam, and charcoal dust are most excellent articles for such a purpose, mixed in equal poi'- tions, or even separately. It keeps the plants free from damping and cankering, or getting black- legged — diseases so prevalent in the short dark days of winter. Peas. — The first full crop of early peas should be got in forthwith, and those now up should also have a little dry dust, as above directed, sown amongst them, and the earth's surface, of course, at all favourable oppiirtimities should be stirred. Radishes. — Those who have a spare frame, a turf- pit and protection, or even a warm corner, should now sow a few short-topped radishes. Those already up should be timely attended to in the way of thinning, surface-stirring, and the application of dry dust, sifted carefully amongst them, to maintain their healthiness and sturdiness They must, of course, be well aired : our custom is to drill, at all times and seasons, radishes as well as everything else; and all through the winter season to drill between the radishes early carrots, either if sown in-doors or out. The drills are quickly and evenly formed with a narrow piece of board, with its edge cut in the form of the letter V ; this edge pressed into the surface forms the drill ; each drill at this season at 3-inch intervals. This brings both radishes and carrots to six inches distance from their own family connection, — the radishes proving very good nurses for the carrots, if, as I have stated, they get thinned in due season, and otherwise treated as directed, and occasionally a little weak, tepid manure- water is applied, every radish will become fit for table, and will be cleared quickly oft', and in due season for the free growth of the carrots. Drilling has many advantages besides the convenience of hoeing and surface-stirring; for soon after the appearance of the seedling plants, weak manure may be applied, at the desired spot, to encourage part, or the whole of your crops, as may be convenient, without causing any un- necessary waste. Besides, what an advantage it is for putting out, in due season, succeeding crops, plants of some kinds of vegetables, which you may have in con- dition for planting, when the season and weather are favourable. These may be planted between a crop that is drilled, even before the whole of that crop is cleared, and the soil afterwards forked up between the rows, and dressed with either solid or liquid manure. This kind of practice is making the most of the soil, by keeping up an uninterrupted succession of vegetables of various kinds throughout the season ; and the soil requires no rest if our directions are fully can-ied out. Even if the crops are not re- quired for use when come to maturity, it will pay thus to grow them, if merely to dig or trench them in for manure. Small Saladinc, sow in succession. These whole- some plants (mustard and cress) may be grown in any warm room or window, in pans, .shsillow boxes, etc. If cold weather, they may be placed near a fire-place of a night, which forwards them much. Manure. — Collect all kinds of refuse, to decompose for manure ; and that which is not likely to easily de- compose store up fur charring in the spring j which will be turning it to a valuable account. Mushroom-beds. — In answer to various inquiries, we reply that a mushroom-bed is usually constructed of stable dung, prepared, as already directed, for cucumbers. It is made in the form of the roof of a house, or the letter /^ inverted, four or five feet wide at the base, narrowing to the top, which should be rather rounded, three or four feet high, and the length from ten to fifty feet ; the dung being laid in alter- nate rows, with clayey loam, from which the largest stones have been sorted ; each layer of dung to be a foot thick, and of loam four inches, so that three layers of each will be sufficient to complete the requisite height. The dung must be well separated and mixed, and beat, but not trod down. When completed, the bed must be covered with litter or other light cover- ing, to keep out the wet, as well as to prevent its dry- ing ; clean dry straw will do, but sweet hay, or matting, is to be preferred. Situation. — The bed should be made in a dry shel- tered situation, and on the level ground, in preference to foundhig it in a trench, which prevents the spawn- ing being performed completely at the bottom, and guards against the settling of water, which may chill it. If the site is not dry, it must be covered with stones, clinkers, etc., to act as a drain ; for nothing destroys mushrooms sooner than excessive moisture, except an extreme heat or cold. To obviate the oc- currence of these unfavourable circumstances, it is far more preferable to construct the bed under a shed. If it is constructed in a shed, it may be built against one side, sloping downwards from it. To proceed with greater certainty during the winter, a fire- flue may pass beneath the bed; but it is by no means absolutely necessary, for by the due regulation of covering it may always be kept of sufficient tem- perature. Management. — The spawn must not be inserted before the temperature has become moderate. Temperature. — The mininmm is 50°, and the maxi- mum 65°. Insert the spawn as soon as the violence of the heat has abated, which it will in two or three weeks, though sometimes it will subside in eight or ten days. J. B. & G. W. J. THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 71 MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION. MY FLOWERS. (No. 5.) Before the severity of winter begins, many pleasing operations should be effected in the garden. This is the best time for renewing the soil, and making any alteration you may wish in the beds and borders. Round and diamond-shaped beds, I think, display flowers to the best advantage, but of course the shape and size must depend upon that of the garden. Plants taken up with a good ball of earth, will, at this season, remain safely out of the ground for some time, till your alterations are completed. Bulbous roots should now be planted, perennials divided and replaced, suckers removed from shrubs, evergreens, roses, etc., and everything arranged for good effect ne.xt year. Flowers should not be stuck into the ground anyhow, and anywhere. They are, indeed, always beautiful ; but a little care and judg- ment is necessary to display that beauty fully. Large rambling plants frequently smother the smaller ones, and by that means we lose the benefit of many sweet varieties. In large borders, large plants do well ; the iris, for instance, the peony, saxifrage, lilies of various kinds and colours, columbine, and other showy peren- nials; but in small borders or separate beds, care sliould be taken to place each flower so as to appear to the best advantage, and not crowd and overpower each other. Anemones are beautiful spring flowers, and greet us very early in the year. They look extremely well as borderings to flower-beds. A double row looks very rich and lively, especially when the scarlet ones predominate, which they should do, as their warm colour best suits the cold gloomy season in which they first appear, but the other colours are soft and pleas- ing, when placed judiciously among their more bril- liant brethi-en. Anemones must be planted now. When you separate the roots, do not break them into very small pieces, or the plants will be weakly, and be careful that every piece possesses an eye or bud. I prefer anemones placed thus, or in beds by them- selves ; they look well, also, filling up the little circles round single trees or shrubs, which are often left empty, and look bare and desolate. They should be planted about six inches apart, and two or three inches deep. The gentianella is another plant of great beauty, adapted for whole beds or borderings. Its rich, deep blue, bell-shaped flowers dazzle tlie eye with their intensity, and add greatly to the beauty of a spring garden. It may be divided at any season, and will soon form a luxuriant mass. Bulbs look best in clumps. A tulip or two, standing here and there, look poor and insipid ; but as groups, or in a bed by themselves, they appear to great advantage. I con- fess I admire extremely the commonest kind of tulips, — the simple pink or yellow, which so frequently de- corate the cottage borders. They are so gay and lively, that, among other and better flowers, they add much to the general effect. Jonquil and narcissus should be grouped in the same way. They are no favourites of mine ; I do not like their bloom or scent, but they are generally admired and cultivated. Hyacinths — these fragrant treasures of the spring — may be placed separately with better effect, but they look best when placed together at even distances, and with some attention to the mixture of their colours. By placing violets among them, the green foliage forms a sort of carpet at their feet, and in some degree relieves the formal appearance of the bed. Ladies cannot always succeed in having very fine hyacinths ; but even common ones look well when clustered toge- ther, and need little care, except that of renewing the soil, wliich benefits every plant. A group of white, pink, and blue hyacinths, is a beautiful addition to every border ; and their fragrance in the open air is exquisite. The tall white and orange lilies should be placed behind other plants, or in shrubbery borders ; they are too tall and unwieldy for smaller beds. Pre- serve the white leaves of the former in brandy ; they are a valuable cure for cuts and wounds. Many are the useful qualities of plants and flowers — nothing has been made in vain ! Did not God himself declare that all things were " very good?" That sweet gem of the soil, the violet, should be extensively encouraged. They may be divided now, in moist weather, but not into very small plants. They like a good, tight soil ; but manure is too enrich- ing for them. The best dressing for violets is leaf- mould — with which every garden should be provided — and the sweepings of the ground after the removal of an old wood-stack. Violets form a beautiful car- peting under trees : let them nestle in every gi-een spot — under seats — on banks — in short, everywhere. They are so fragrant, yet so lowly, that tliey read us a beautiful lesson, if we will but hear it. The double violet requires to be a little more cared about. It must be divided every year, and light, fresh soil applied. Hepaticas are rich and lovely spring flowers, — deep pink and blue. Plant them in tufts, and in every border ; you can scarcely have too many. My favourites, snowdrops and crocusses, scorned as they often are, must not be forgoiten in our prepara- tions for the coming year. They are childhood's favourites too, and lead our thoughts many, many years back, to days in which a bright flower and gaudy butterfly could gladden our hearts, and dry up our bitterest tears. Let us cultivate these remembrances of the past, for they wake up many pleasant feelings, and may lead us to number oiu- days so as to apply our hearts unto wisdom. Crocusses are pretty border- ing-flowers, and gleam cheerily through a mantle of snow, in their yellow, white, and purple vests. Snow- drops should be in masses ; they look well in nooks and corners of the lawn, as well as in the borders, and are the first heralds of the spring. This is a chapter upon spring, written in the dark and sleety month of November ; but we must, even at this dreary season, prepare for warmer and sunnier days. Our garden speaks loudly to our hearts; in this particular also, bidding us look forward to that glorious futurity, for which we, too, must be prepared. How short a period of the year is that in which we have no flowers ! — scarcely more than a few short weeks ; and then, almost as soon as Christmas has passed away, what a gush of loveliness, and burst of song, arises! as if Nature herself rejoiced in that blessed season, and added her praises to the deep thanksgivings that should flow from the heart and lips of men. The early flowers of spring open their glowing blossoms amidst frosts, and snows, and storms, like the blessings so often sent to cheer us under the troubles and trials of life. They should be prized and encouraged, for our garden soon repays us for our care, and glitters in the frosty sunshine of the early months, like fairyland. Verbenas, which require care and protection during THE COTTAGE GARDENER. the winter months, if planted in rocJc-worky will live throughout the year in the open air, and look to great advantage in that situation during the summer. Their rich and various colours add much to the beauty of the garden. Rock-work, if judiciously formed, with- out care and cockneyism, has by no means an un- pleasin^ efiect ; but it must be thrown together naturally, and well covered with plants and creepei'S. The stoTiPcrop, with its gay, yellow flowers, is a plant very well ;id;:pted for rock-work ; it spreads rapidly, and is hardy and long in bloom. Beautiful and abundant provision is made by an all-wise and mighty Hand; for every spot of earth, and even stones and fliiits, furnish a dwelling for Nature's treasures. SOOT AS A MANURE. Everybody wishes to manure his land at the least possible expense ; and unless it be well done, it will never be productive. I know scarcely of any manures more efficacious than soot; and as it is in the power of every person to obtain without the least expense, few should be without it. The fol- lowing result of a trial I made with it upon three dozen cauliflowers will at once be convincing of its power as a fertilizer. I spread it round each plant about a foot in diameter, and from a quarter to half an inch in depth ; those plants treated in this manner were ready to gather two or three weeks sooner than the others in the same piece of ground. The benefit accruing from the use of soot is twofold, — it not only acts as a powerful fertilizer, but is also a preventive to the attacks of slugs. My plants were infested with these snails, when I examined them at night I found those plants with the soot round them quite clear, while the rest were, as usual, attacked by them. As to its being in the power of every person to obtain, I can only say, that every chimney in which a fire is constantly kept requires sweeping at least every four months ; and how few sweeps would be at the trouble of conveying the soot away if they were permitted to leave it, I consider that the sweepings from one chimney wotild be sufiicient to spread round six dozen plants, consequently in a year's time sufficient soot would be gathered to treat two hundred and sixteen plants in the manner I have described, provided the chimney be swept evei-y four months. A. A., Birkenhead. TO CORRESPONDENTS. Potato Etes {Rev. P. IT.)— "U'e think these -would all fail if planted in the autumn, but we never knew of the experiment being tried. We always plant whole potatoes, averag^ing in weight about two ounces each. We do nut seethe advantage of leaving potatoes in tlip ground where grown, over the plan of taking them up and storing them in alternate layers of earth. We have tried both modes, and both succeed equally well; why, then, not take them up und store them in that manner ? — and under a shed is best. You will then he able to pick thp small potatoes for planting at once. Large poiatoes do equally well lor planting as small ones, but then there is an unnecessary waste of food. MrLOK-sEEu (O. S.) — We think it probable, if nur correspondent wrote at once to Mr Williams, of Pitrnaston. he would send him a few of the hardy melon seeds. Something about mushrooms is in No. 5. and we liave more ahruT them in < ur present Number. We think our correspondent will find every vegetable mentioned in its turn (luring the weeks of the month. The calendar ailuded to was prepared by the editor of this paper. Tank-sy.'jtem op Heating (Af. S.) — The following is a brief out- line nf thit. excellent mode of heating gret-n-hr-uses and b-jt-houses. If you require plans, yon will find them in a little pamphlet entitled " A Treatise on the I ank-system," by Mr. Rendle, and -n the " Gar- dene tV Almanack "for 1 84 i. which may tie hail at >tat loners* Hall : — " A tank of iron or wood, twenty feet long, five feet broad, and six inches ileep, is constructed in the centre of the house, and surrounded by a waik. except at the end, where the holler is lixed fur beating it. The top of the tank is covered with large .-^labs of slate, cemented ttigether, to prevpnt the exre^sive escape of steam. Around this is a frame sufficiently high to reiain the bark in which tlie pots are plungrd. The boiler and tank are filled with water, and this ciriu- lates, when the fire is lighted under the former, by means of two pjpHs— one from the top of the boiler, and the other retun-ing nearer to is bottom. The expense of i>iping, and danger of the pipes freezing, is avoided ; the fire only requires to be kept lighted for two hours at night, and again for the same period in the morning: the water, when once heated retaining its temperature for a long time. In a .small house the apparatus Ciin be constructed for £o, and in all, for iess than half the cost of hot-w ater pipes." HnvA {E. P., J Ifin n tj- road. )~This is often called "The "Was PUnt." it belongs to the PentandriaDipynia class and order of Lm- naut, and to the natural order, Asclepiadareoe. The room we could spare for btitany would be too small to be useful. Those who wish for a cheap book on the subject will find one in Chambers's Educa- tional Course. More expensive, but more complete works, are those by Dr. Lindley. Potatoes ok Clat Soils (G. W. Prrliy, Esq.) — Tf whole potatoes are employed the slugs will not injure them, and none other than whole potatoes should be employed in auiumn-planting. "ttliy i-ot order the Cottage Gardener through your bookseller at Harle- ■!ton .' If he has a weekly parcel, you would have it for twopence per number. Layering, Sowing, etc. {An Amateur and constanf Subscriber.) — Instructions for these and all other practices will appear in due course. Remember, we have but a limited space, and cannot insert everything at the same time. Succession of Flowers (TT. X. J.) — You will find a list of flowers in our fourth Number, p. 34, which if planted now will keep up the succession you require. Autumn-planted Potatoes (D. Dnrley, Birmingham.) — Au- tumn-planted p^iiatoes, those planted in November, for instance, do not produce thei leaves above the surface so eath as lho^e which are spring-iilanted, so that they are not so liable to be cut utf by the frosts. We never recommend late-ripening potatoes. Plant ash- leaved kidneys and Julys, or any other early-ripening kind. Error (/. Hoberts.) — It was corrected in our third Number, at p. 30. Verses {A lover of the Pose.) — Thanks for a perusal of the verses of your friend, we have done with them as you directed. Watering Flowers in Pots {Un Franqnis.) — Do not water over their leaves. You w.ll find much upon the subject in our columns this day. Chrysanthemum .';eed is sown in the spring in any open border of the garden. We would recommend you to apply to'ilie preparer of the carbi-uized manure for tiie instruction yoa require. Charred Materials (/. W.A.ihtnn-under-Lyne.)—yo\xyi\\\ find some information in our nest Number. Any charred vegetab.es mixed with niglit-soil takes away the most offensive portion of its stench; and if some gypsum (plaister ol Pans) is also thoroughly mi.xed with it, the smell is entirely removed. Th^ carbonized peat is a good manure, but any charred or carOnnized vegetable matters are quite aa good. Garpkners' Dictionary (^o/eerAamp/on.)— Thanks for the compliment. Williams's Mode op Melon-growixg {R.Rf.R.)—1\\e rubbish need not be put together in forming the bed until within a few days of the time of placing in it the plants. Mr. Williams tloes not use a frame, hut only hand-glasses. The proper time for planting must be the end of May, or early in June, accordingly as the seasun is miUl or the contrary. The plants must be watered in dry weather, and we should give it early in the morning. An inquiry directed to John Williams, Esq.. Pitmaston, near Worcester, would doubtless obtain information relative to the seed you require. If Mr. Williams cannot supply your want, he will tell you what variety succ^-eds best with iiim. In the absence of such information we should try either the Early Cantalupe or the Netted Cantalupe, they are early and good, thiiugh sniall, and among the hardiest of the varieties. Gas Lime (/. JW.. /)u6/in.)— Thanks for the extract. There wil» be some information on this refuse as a manure in our next. London: Printed by William Tyler and Charles Reed. 5, 6, and 7, Bolt-court, Fleet-street, in the Parish of Saint Dunstan's-mth^ West: and Published by William Somerville Orr, at the Office, 147, St-and, in the Parish of Saint Mary-le Strand, London. THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 73 WEEKLV CALENDAR. M D w D Til NOVEMBER 23—29, 1848. Plants dedicated to each day. Sun Rises. San Sets. Moon R. anJ Sets. Moon's Age. Clock aft. Sun Day of Year. 23 St. Clement. Convex Wood-sorrel. 34 a 7 Ill 4 42 27 13 18 328 24 F Larch leafless. Starry Stapelia. 36. 58 5 45 28 13 329 25 S Mich. Term ends. Catherine. White Butter-bur. 38 57 sets.. O, 12 42 330 26 Sun 23SuN. AFT. 7'rinity. Oak leafless. Linear Wood-sorrel. 39 56 4a51 1 12 22 331 27 M Anniversary of Botanical Society. Lupine-leaved ditto. 41 55 5 33 2 12 2 332 28 Tu Elm leafless. Variegated Stapelia. 42 55 6 20 3 11 42 333 29 W Thrush resumes singing. Hairy Sphenogyne. 44, 54 7 15 4 11 20 334 St. Clement, converted by St. Peter, is thought to be nrentioned by St. Paul, in hts Epistle to the Philipi>ians(iv. 3). He was bishop of Rome, and mart\red tliere on ihis day, about the year 100. He wrote two Epistles to the Corinthians, which still remain, and were once recogrtised a part of the New Testament. He is the black- smiths' guardian-ia^'Qt. St. Catherine is said to have been tortured by being inclosed within a wheel lined with nails ; and this is conimemoraied in the name of a wel'-known firework. This virgin is said to have been beheaded on this day, in the year 305, by order of the emperor Max- eiitius She was the patroness of spinsters; and even yet, in some parts of England, maidens make holiday on this day — or, as they term a, '* Go Cathar'ning." Phenomena of the Season. — Thesealltellof the coming win- t(?F; and when we turn to the garden, we can sympathise with bim "nko said, "Again I come to view the scene Whose summer hues I well remember; 'Tis stripp'd of pride, 'tie shorn of green, Beneath the sway of rude November. Iksects. — In the autumn it is very common to observe part of th« leaves vf celery plants blistered " The melody of song is mute, Except the robin's lonely singing; The trees have shed their leaves and fruit,. And weeds iu ev'ry walk are springing," The first severe frost of this season in Hampshire — the first to turn the leaves of the Dahlia black — occurred on the night of the 4th instant. Tlie thermometer then fell as low as tweniy-two de- grees, or ten degrees below the cold at which water freezes. The golden-eyed pocher is now added to our list of tea-coast visitants. The stockrdove has also arrived. Both these migratory birds usually rc-ach us about the 29th instant. Moles have formed their winter retreativ A mole-oatcber infnrmed Mr. Jesse, that, previously to the selting-in of winter, this little miner prepares a sort of basin, forming it in a bed of clay which will hold about a quart. In this basin a great quantity of worms are deposited, and, in order to pre- vent their escape, they are partly mutilated, but not so much as to kill them. On these worms the moles feed in the winter months. When these basins are few in number, the mole-catcher said he knew the following winter would be mild. 1841. 1842. 1S43. 1844. 1845. 1846. 1847; 23 Cluudy. Kain. Rain. Fine. Frosty. Rain. Showery. 24 Fine. Kain. Cloudy. Fine. Fine. Bain- Fine. 25 Frosty. Rain. Sh.iwery. Cloudy. showery. Rain. CL.ndy. S6 Frosty. Fine. Cloudy. Frosty. Cloudy. Clo jdy. Rain. 27 Cloudy. Rain. Cloudy. Krosty. Cloudy. Fine. Rain. 28 Showery Rain. Fine. Cloudy. Rain. Fine. Showery. 29 Uain. Fine. Fine. Cloudy. Main. Frosty. Frosty. and turned yellow ; and this nccurs occasionally to such an e-xtent that their growth is checked and their size proportionally diminished. If the withered parts are ex- amined, and the cuticle, or j.kin, of the blisters, is raised, there will be found heoeath it some sraall green grubs, wlio have eattn away all the green pulp (parenclijTua) of the parts so withered. These grubs are the larva of the Celery Fly ( Trphrilis Onnpor- dinis). The grubs.may be found in the leaves of the celery in June, July, September, October, and November; for there are two or more broods of them in the course of the year. The grubs, though less frequently, are found doing similar damage to the leaves of Alexanders and (iarsnips. When full. grown, the grubs descend into the eartlrand remain in-the chrysalis state until the spring following, when they give birth to the fly. This, the Celery Fly, may usually be found upon the leaves of the liurel, hovering over flowers and resting upon palings in the sunshine, from the middle of May to the end of July. It is one of the niosi beautiful of the English two-winged flies, and has been thus described by Mr. Westwood. The general colour of trie body, which is five-jointed, varies from rusty-brown to shining black ; head buff, with black hairs ; legs yellow j thorax (throat) sprinkled with long black hairs ; wings black, with various pale spots ; eyes green. The whole length. of the insect is not more than one-sixlh of an inch, and its wings, when outspr- ad. barely half an inch across. The cross-lines in our woodcut show these proportions, as well as the inflect magnified. The motions of thisfiy are very peculiar; seated upon a leaf in the sunshine, the wings are partially extended, yet partially elevated, and it haa a sideling kind of motion.- The withered leaves of the celery should be picked off, and the grubs within them crushed as soon as seen. Mr. Wedgewood suggests that a &triu^,--SlBeated with' birdlime and stretched over the celery-plants, might catch many of the parents. Everybody must have known some one or more individuals who, in defiance of adverse circumstances, have won their way from ignorance and povertj" to all the harvest of pleasures that knowledge and inde- pendence aiford. We have known many suck ad- mirable and noble-minded characters, and they are to be found in every class, in every trade, in every employment to which the wants of society doom the majority of mankind to plod on through life. We knew a hairdresser, at Witham, in Essex, who, though a labourer for his daily bread at a penny per chin and twopence per poll, yet had acquired a deep knowledge of entomology, and had one of the finest collections of English insects ever gathered together by one man's unaided exertions. We knew also James Lackington, when he was the most extensive bookseller in Europe ; yet he had once been a poor shoemaker ! From extreme want, he raised himself to the wealth and happiness he afterwards enjoyed. Inflexible integrity, a love of learning, and living abstemiously, were the means he employed thus honourably to elevate himself; and he found in his wife a worthy helpmate. However narrow their means, they always made them suffice ; and he ha> 74 THE COTTAGE GARDENER. left among his " Confessions " the statement that in their hours of privation they sustained one another by singing together these lines by Dr. Cotton : '■ Our portion is not large, indeed, But, then, how liltle do we need, For nature's calls are few j In this the art of living lies, To want no more than may suffice, % And make that little do." We might swell our catalogue to many pages with the mere names of those who have thus struggled to eminence through diflSculties, but we will merely enumerate a few of our contemporaries, at least men of the present century. Gifford, the Editor of the " Quar- terly Review," was a cobbler's apprentice; Bloom- field the poet, and Mortimer the painter had been farming labourers ; Emerson the mathematician thatched his own cottage ; and the mother of Holcroft, the play-writer, kept a green-stall and sold oysters. All those and many others have risen to eminence and distinction ; but honourable notoriety does not always fall to the lot of those who have attained to an equal degree of knowledge ; and as certainly that eminence and distinction are not its best rewards. Hundreds of men in humble life may now be found deeply skilled in the natural sciences, — in the know- ledge of plants, insects, and birds, especially, — who yet are never heard of, never seek to he heard of, content to earn their livelihood by honest industry, and to piu-sue knowledge during their hours of leisure purely and solely for the pleasure it unfailingly yields. We could place our finger upon many such ; and we can add, for the encouragement of our cottage readers, indeed for the encoiuragement of all, that they are to a man worthy, happy, and respected. One of them is just " gathered to his fathers;" and he was indeed ready for the garner, for he was as full of hope, and faith, and honour, as of years. We shall not attempt to improve upon this record by one who knew him well : Death of the Father op the Lancashire Bo- tanists IN HUMBLE LIFE. — On Thursday, October 26th, at Royton, near Oldham, in his 82nd year, died Mr. John Mellor, gardener, who, both by his age and attainments, has long been considered the father of botany amongst the working men of Lan- cashire. This venerable old man remained in pos- session of his mental faculties nearly to the day of his death. His remains were deposited in Royton churchj'ard, and the funeral was attended by most of the botanists in humble life living in that part of Lancashire and the adjoining county of York. The deceased was bom at or near Royton, in the year 1767, of parents in humble circumstances, and fol- lowed the occupation of a handloom weaver for a few years, when he commenced cotton spinning on a jenny. This last-named emploj'ment he pursued until he was thirty years of age, when he left it and became a working gardener, a pursuit more congenial to hb taste. In this occupation he remained for upwards of half a century, as fine a specimen of a cheerful, vigorous, and hale old man as could well be seen, to within a week of his death. John Mellor had for his first companions the late John Dewhurst and George Cayley, both of Manchester — the former then the president of the Botanical Society of Working-men, and the latter since well known as the botanist who ac- companied the late Sir Joseph Banks to the South Seas, and brought home a fine collection of plants, now at Kew, one of which, the Banksia Caleyi, was named after him. After having explored the plants growing in his own neighbourhood, Mellor made annual ex- cursions into Yorkshire and the northern counties, and afterwards into Scotland, for a period of thirty years. Six times did he traverse the Highlands of Scotland, and ascended Ben Nevis, Ben Lowers, Ben Lomond, the Breadalbane, the Clova, and many other mountains. The plants he found in these excursions he brought with him to Edinburgh and Glasgow, and furnished specimens to the late Mr. Don and to Sir W. Hooker, then Dr. Hooker ; by both of whom he was well known and highly esteemed. Other speci- mens he brought home, and cultivated in his own garden at Royton, The last two pages of the present Number arc re- quested to be substituted for the two pages of our third Number, 21 and 22. THE FRUIT-GARDEN. Select List op Pears adapted both to the amateur and the Cottager. — We now proceed to fulfil our pro- mise as to this valuable fruit ; but must precede the list with a few observations, which will prove of ser- vice to those making a selection. In recommending pears to the cottager, it is indispensable to point only to those which are known as sure bearers, and, there- fore, profitable kinds. The cuttager must be content to give up a point occasionally, as to liighly-melting properties in the kinds he grows, and even flavour, for the sake of the essential of profit. The sacrifice in this way will not be very considerable ; for it so happens that most of our superior modern pears are sure bearers. We think it necessary, nevertheless, thus to anticipate objections which may be raised as to some kinds we recommend ; for, be it remarked, the evidence concerning this fruit from various parts of the kingdom is of so contradictory a character, that the high recommendations of a given kind which come from a southern country, with very gi-eat diffi- culty find belief in a northern one. With regard to the amateur, the case slightly differs. We are aware that bad bearers should not be recom- mended to any one ; still there are some which may THE COTTAGE GARDENER. be termed toleratly safe bearers, and of which the quality is such, under proper circumstances, that no amateur would like to be -ivithout them. Instead nf using abbreviations, which are apt to perplex and cause much reference, we hope to be of more service by giving the character of the respective kinds in detail, the list being arranged according to the order in which the varieties ripen : 1. Citron de Carmes (July). This is a well-known early kind, and a good bearer; fruit rather round, and not large ; soon mellow. Those who desire a very early pear may plant this, either as a dwarf standard or an ordinary orchard standard. 2. Jargonelle (August). As well-known as the preceding. This is undoubtedly the best summer pear in the country ; the only misfortune is, that it has long shown signs of what is termed " wearing out," the shoots being liable to canker. It is the custom in our northern counties to plant this pear on the gable of the dwelling-house ; in which situation it very fre- quently succeeds admirably. We think, however, that the Moorpark, or Shipley apricot, would pay much better; and the Jargonelle may be grown as an ordinary standard. Besides, the close pruning necessary to keep a wall-tree in order checks the bearing properties of this tree, which is of robust habit. 3. Dunmore (September). This forms a very good successor to the Jargonelle, and is probably a seedling from it. It is a very great bearer, and of a good constitution, and would be worth the cottager's atten- tion as a dwarf standard ; or, perhaps, as an orchard tree in the more southern counties. The flavour is good, and it is a melting fruit above the middle size. We would particularly advise the amateur to make this a successor in point of season to the Jargonelle. 4. Williams's Bon Chretien (September). This is a well-known standard market-pear in the neighbour- hood of London, and would answer for the same pur- pose in our northern counties. It is a very g' od bearer, and strong growing. Fruit long and rather large, but soon decay. 5. Beurre d'Amalis (September). This is a very hardy sort, and deserving of extensive cultivation by the cottager, being a very abundant bearer. It is large and melting, and would doubtless prove a good market-pear in its season in our northern counties. Suitable either as a dwarf standard or orchard tree in most part"! of England. 6. Fondante d'Automne (September and October). This is one of the most sugary pears with which we are acquainted; indeed so rich, that we have not been able to save even one from the depredations of the blackbirds this summer. It is too small for a cottage pear ; but the amateur would do well to have a dwarf standard of this kind, and place a net over it whilst ripening. 7. Louis Bonne of Jersey (October). Tliis is pecu- liarly a cottager's pear; indeed it is everybody's pear where the garden is very small. Although not par- ticularly high-flavoured, it is, nevertheless, an agree- able melting pear ; and were it once extensively planted (in our northern counties especially), it would soon take in the markets. Fruit rather long, reddish brown and green, and mottled next the sun; about middle size. 8. Aston Town (October and November). An old pear, and at the present day second to none in culti- vation in point of flavour. VVe think that it will not pay the cottager so well as larger sorts, but no ama- teur should be without one ; they succeed best as ordinary standards. Small in size and round. 9. Beurre de Capiaumont (October and November). Of all the free bearers, this is first. We have several dwarf standards no larger than currant-bushes, which have never missed a crop for sixteen years. Such bushes yield on an average half a bushel each, at least, annually. Fruit middle size, cinnamon-coloured. This would pay well in cottage gardens, and would take in the markets. 10. Marie Louise (November). This is so well known as to need little description. It is excelled by none in its season, — indeed, scarcely equalled. We dare not, however, recommend it to the cottager, unless in the southern counties. It is peculiarly adapted to train on the gable of a house in the north- ern counties ; on an east or west aspect it would answer well, whilst the south might have an apricot. 11. Althorp Crassane (November). A very good and 'free bearing tree, generally spoiled by being placed on a wall. Fruit round, middle-sized, of a dull greenish brown. Well adapted for a dwarf standard in the northern counties, or for orchard trees in the south. 12. Beurre Diel (November and December). For dwarf standards in the cottager's garden, this pear would perhaps prove more profitable than any in tlie kingdom ; for in addition to its free bearing proper- ties, it is of great size, and will keep a good while. Having a sound skin, it would carry well to market. Frait round, very large ; a dull green, with some freckles. 13. Passe Colmar (December and January). A great bearer, and adapted for dwarf standards in our southern counties, but requires a wall in the north. Fruit nearly round, middle-sized, and of a pale green. This pear has the desirable property o' bearing on the last year's shoots. 14. Hacon's Incomparable (December and January). Hardy, and a free bearer; this is everybody's pear. Fruit middle-sized, roundish, and of a brownish green. The flavour is good, and it is very melting. 15. Glout Morceau (December to February). A robust tree, which will answer well on the quince in our southern counties as a dwarf standard, but must have a wall or gable in our northern ones. Fruit large, greenish, and keeps well. 16. Winter Nelis (November to January). This we consider the finest flavoured melting pear in the kingdom. Properly ripened, it is excelled by none, and equalled by few. It would answer well in our southern counties on the quince as a dwarf standard, provided a snug situation was selected for it. In the north, however, it must have a wall. This is too tender and too small for the cottager ; but no amateur should be without one. Fruit smallish round, and of a pale green ; leaves of the tree peculiarly small and taper. 17. Knight's Monarch (January). A good hardy pear, and very productive. Fruit middle-sized, flat- tish round, of a yellowish brown, and of a somewhat musky flavour. Would answer well as a dwarf stand- ard in most parts, provided it were on a quince stock. 18. Easter Betirre (January to March). Much es- teemed as a late pear, although it has disappointed many. This is understood to be owing to its being put on walls possessing aspects too good for this hardy kind. It should be grown on dwarf standards in our southern counties, and in the northern it would, perhaps, be well to let it have a wall possessing a north-east or north-west aspect. Perhaps the quince- stock would reconcile it to a dwarf standard character in the north Of middle size, round, and of a lively green. 16 THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 19. Seurre Ranee (March to June). This is the best late pear in the country, at least for the amateur. Much, however, depends on the aspect and stock. We should think the quince would be most suitable, and it would succeed with similar aspect and treat- ment as the Easter Beurre. Fruit long, above middle size, of a dark green colour. 20. A'e plus Metiris (March and April), An ugly- looking fruit, but nevertheless a useful late pear. This deserves a west or east aspect, and should be tried on the quince. Fruit below middle size, nearly round, with clumsy angular pi-otuberances ; colour greenish brown. We have now described twenty of the best pears in the country ; and it only remains to throw them into groups, bearing reference to tlieir cidtivation. This we shall readily do, by reference to the numbers placed at their l>ead. Pears adapted for the southern orchard — ^Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 14. For the northern orchard— Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 14. For east or west wall in the north, or for dwarf standards in the south— Nos. 2, 3, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, IG, 17, 19, 20. Pears peculiarly the cottager's, as being particu- larly profitable— Nos. 2, .3, 4, 7, 9, 12, 14, 17. We feel assured that the foregoing analysis of the Table previously given will he found in the main coi-- rect ; and it will present a ready means of makkig a selection. We have so trespassed on ordinary calen- darial business with the pear subject, that we must defer such remarks until our next. R. Errington, THE FLOWER-GARDEN. General Directions : Shelters. — Stern winter has set in in good earnest, and it behoves the culti- Tator to keep a constant look out. The evenings are often ushered in by a clear sky, and if the wind in- clines to any point of the north, frost is almost sure to take place. Every thing ihat requires protection ought now, without fail, to be in their winttr quarters ; and every night cradles, (bedsbent over with hoops,) frames, and pits should be covered with mats. In our change- able climate it is scarcely ever safe to remit those precautions. It may even be a wet evening, clear up at midnight and be a sharp frost, to the gi-eat surprise of the neglectful in the morning. By way of being safe, it is far better, then, to cover all up every niglit. Order and Neatness. — .\11 dead fluwers should be cut down and the tops removed to the rubbish-heiip. Dahlias should be taken up and secured from frost in the manner recommended in a previous Number. The leaves of deciduous trees and shnibs will now be nearly all fallen from them, and must be collected into some convenient place, to decay and form leaf-mould. The borders should have a dressing of manure, or compost of loam, dung, and leaf-mould; spread this evenly all over the borders, digging it in, and leaving the surface quite rough. As the digging advances, it there sh.ould be any shrubs or flower-roots that require protection, let it be applied as you go on, so as not to have to go on the borders after they are dug. Amateur's Flower-garden. — So long as the weather continues open, that is, without snow, there is always something that requires attention. All new- planted shrubs should hav« their roots protected from frost, as far as they extend, by a covering of spent tanners' bark, short litter, or coal-ashes. If you keep the frost from reaching the roots they will continue to grow, and for this reason to draw up sap to enable the plant to push forth strongly in the spring. That they do put out new roots in the autumn may be easily proved by taking one up after it has been planted a month. The young white roots may then be seen pushing in all directions; and if the slrrub is immediately replanted tliere will be no harm done. Staking. — Every tree or shrub that requires stakes need them most during the boisterous months of autumn and winter. Examine all such as have been staked for some lime, and if the stakes are found de- cayed, which generally is the case just on the surface , of the earth, let all sirch he taken away and new ones put in their places. Such as are sound should have the ties renewed. The best stakes are those made of young larch-trees; they last the longest. The-baik should be removed, and the stake made smooth. The part to be driven into the earth should be sharpened to a point with a sharp instnunent; and then, to pre- serve it as long as possihle, let it be dipped into sinie hot tar and pitch. After it has become cool and dry, drive it in with a wooden mallet as close to the shrub as possible, taking care not to injure the roots. Place a shred of any kind of cloth round the stem, to prevent the string from cutting it, which it would be apt to do as the tree swells in growing. The best material to tie with is rope-yarn, or twine that has been tarred, such as is used in thatching hay or corn- stacks. Fences. — As every garden requires a fence from cattle or depredators, or as a division from a neigh- bouring garden, it is not out of place to mii'ke a few remarks on this kind of enclosure. There are several kinds of fences, but they may he divided into two — protective and ornamental. The protective, again, may be of two kinds, a wall or a hedge. Walls. — -The most simple, lasting, and effectual, is the wall ; and it may be either of brick or stone. In some localities stone is plentiful and cheaper than brick. A stone wall should always be built with lime, and have the front next the garden es/ieciaUi/ made smooth. In some cases the inside is built with brick and the outside with stone. If the wall is not used for fruit-trees, it may be covered with creepers, of which climbing roses are the most ornamental during summer, and the Irish ivy in winter. One shrub, however, must not be forgotten, — we mean the Pyra- cantha, or evergreen thorn. Though it has not such beautiful foliage as the ivy, it produces large bunehfs of bright scatlet berries, which are very ornamental during winter. Whichever kinds are used to cover the wall, they ought to be kept quite close to it by pruning and nailing. The gardens of villa-residences near large towns have the boiuidary next the general road formed with a substantial wall, and the division fences made with a low wall and an iron trelKs or railing upon it. This trellis would be very useful, and be much more ornamental to train creepers upon. The honeysuckle, the clematis, climbing-rose, and Irish ivy, would be much more pleasant to the eye an) gratifying to the sense than a naked trellis. Each THE COTTAGE GAJinENER, 77 proprieter of course will plant .oidy one fence of thia kind; and to cause it to aave a neat appearance the creepers -should be kept neatly and closely tied in, 90 as not to interfere with or sliade- the flower-borders on each side. HEDGEs.^The other protective fence is the hedge, which may be described as a row of thorny shrubs, set so thick and allowed to grow so high as to pre- vent cattle or trespassers from creeping through it or getting over it. This- kind of fence is more general in the country than near large towns. There are two kinds of shrubs used for this purpose in this country, the common thorn and the holly. The thorn makes a strong effectual fence, if well managed. In the first place, the ground where it is to be planted should be properly prepared. , If the situation be low and swampy, dig it one spit deep, and, as the digging proceeds, form a ditch at the outside, one foot wide and as much deip, sloping it downwards to the bottom of the ditch. Form the slope with some of the turf; the soil out of the ditch will raise that where the hedge is to be planted. Break the soil well with the spade, keeping the turf, if any, at the bottom of the trench, and leave the surface smooth and even. As soon as the digging is finished, the thorns may be planted. Stretch a garden4ine one foot from the ditch, andw'ith the spade chop down the soil so as to form an^upright bank, and deep enough to cover the roots- it is then -ready to receive the thorns. Some persons plant two rows to form the hedge, this we judge to be a useless waste of plants : one row, with the plants four inches apart, will grow better, and consequently sooner be a fence than two rows. The thorns will grow faster if a portion of rotten dung be added to the soil at the time of planting. It will also be advantageous to protect the- roots the first season with some short- litter. In high dry situations the ditch may be dispensed with ; indeed it is then not only of no^use, but injurious, as it takes away the moisture from the roots ; and the- expense and labour of forming the ditch and bank is thrown away. Who- ever observes the stunted- miserable fences that divide our upland pastures in most places, will easily con- ceive the cause to be the injudicious mode in which the hedges have been planted and managed. Should you propose to the farmer a mode of growing wheat, or any other plant, on banks two feet high, he would laugh at the absurdity of your plan, and yet with his hedges he follows that method which in- any other case he would justly ridicule. If a correct calculation were to be made of the waste of earth, of space, and labour the hedges of Great Britain cause^ it would surely luing about a reform in the planting and management of our hedges. The next protective fence is one that we strongly commend. It has tw-o qualities to recommend it that the thorn does not possess, — it is an evergreen, and is much warmer. We mean our beautiful holly. The only disad- vantage that can be urged against it is the slowness of its growth. This, however, may be partly overcome if the same pains are taken as with the other. For a garden fence, a fine holly hedge is invaluable, adorned as it is, when in perfection, with its bright shining leaves and scarlet berries. The same pains and method as described for the thorns, should be bestowed upon it. Both are best planted when- young. Thorns should be three years old, and hollies four. All the soil may be shaken off thorns when taken up out of the nursery rows; but it should be carefully retained to the roots of the hollies. The latter should be planted imme- diately, and the roots as little exposed to the sun and wind as ppssible; . Tbe best season to. plant the holly. is early, in October ; the thorn, too, will do best H planted before Christmas. All these pains may ba taken, and yet, if proper care is not taken of the fence afterwards, the fence will make but slow progress. By a temporary fence of posts and rails, cattle should be kept from browsing, on it. No weeds sbould be allowed to grow among the plants, as they will not only choke them, but will rob them of the nomishment they would have if the weeds were kept down. Besides, by fre- quently hoeing, the surface is in a good state to be benefited by-rains and snows. Hedges should be dipt with the dubbing-shearss lightly, even tlie first season ; taking off all the straggling shoots, and so laying, as it were, the foundation for its proper form. That form should be pyramidal, or that of the letter A. When in that form, every part of it is equally ex- posed to the benefit of light, air, and rain : whereas, if the upright perpendicular method is adopted,- the lower branches will perish, and the fence, become naked at the lower part of it. We will give directions relative to ornamental fences in a future Number. Cottage Flower-garden. The weather last week having been very suitable for out-door operations, we trust our cottage friends have made good use of it. The turf-pit and arched walk, mentioned in the late Numbers, are, we hope, progressing. No time must be lost now,- as the days are approaching to\vards the shortest. Do not forget, amidst all your works, to collect the fallen leaves, wherever you. can honestly obtain them. It is a very pleasant employment for the cottager's children, and an exercise they will de- light in, with their wheelbarrow and rake. The leaves should be put in a corner of the garden, and wetted with the slops from the cottage^ and should be turned over frequently, to assist the progress of rotting. They will be excellent maniure, either for the flower-garden, or vegetable crops. - FLORISTS' FLOWERS. TuLH-s. — If not already all planted, no time ought to be lost now, as the late fine weather has put the bed into fine order. The bed ought to have hoops stretched over it, so that it can be covered with mats during very heavy rains, or extreme frost. Anemonies. — The single ones may now be planted either in beds, or patches, in the general flower-border. Fine double ones had better be kept in the bags, till February or March. Pans v. — Agreeable to promise,, we now resume the culture of this interesting flower. In No. 5, we gave pretty full instructions how to propagate it : Soil. — Pansies love a light, rich soil. I.oam three parts, and leaf-mould one part, will grow them, finely. If the loam be strong, add one-eighth of river sand. Should the situation he damp, the bed ought to be drained. To produce high bright colours, the bed ought to be in an open situation. The bed should be got ready now, and be tm-ned over two or three times during tlie winter. Potted Pansies. — The best kinds should bekeptiu pots,underprotection,through the severe weather. Keep them rather dry and clean from weeds, pick off all decaying leaves as they occur, or they will cause the plants to damp off. Air must be given freely in fine weather, which will keep the plants healthy. When they become dry, water the soil, but do not let any water fall upon the leaves. The pots should stand upon dry coal-ashes ; and once or twice remove all the ppte, and -look out for snails, and other destructive 7fi THE COTTAGE GARDENER verniin. At the same time sprinkle another slight covering of dry ashes ; they will absorb the damps. If all those precautions and pains are taken, you will cany the plants healthily and safely through the winter. Early in the spring, level your bed down, and proceed to plant. The space between the rows should be nine inches, and the saui^ ^etween the plants in the row Let the earth be pressed with the hand closely tc each plant. They then want no further care except- ing keeping clear of weeds, and the soil stirred on the surface occasionally, especially after heavy rains. T. ArPLEBY. WINDOW AND GREENHOUSE-GARDENING. Night Warmth. — In olden times, those who could afford to have a greenhouse or pit to keeji their plants in through the winter, were never satisfied unless they could have them in a green fresh state all the year round. I recollect very well, when I was a little fellow, that I had often to sit up till past eleven o'clock, on frosty nights, keeping on a roaring fire to the greenhouse. My instructions Avere to finish up at night by filling the fireplace with dusty small coals, and over them a thick layer of ashes, and pat the whole down for the night, and to be sure to be up early in the morning to poke and stir up the remains of this fire. By way of insuring all this to be done faithfully, — if the fire went out during the night, I had to make up a fresh one before the sun was up, by way of punishment. I took pretty good care, you may be sure, to avoid this drudgery, as much as I could. The plants next the flues could never go one day without a good watering in frosty weather ; and we thought this was very much in their favour. Of late years, however, all this has changed: the stimu- lus given to gardening by the great exhibitions and the diffusion of sound principles through the press, have changed all — or almost all — our old notions: so much so, indeed, that cottagers' windows along the roadsides exhibit better specimens of plant-growing nowadays, than we used to have with all the fires and greenhouses at our command. It is now clearly ascertained that plants, like ourselves, require rest at night all the year round, and also a season of repose, like our apple-trees. AVhen our hardy trees cast their leaves in the autumn, they take their rest till the return of spring, when their buds — now swelling fast — tell that they are again at work ; but their labour is not incessant, for every cold night — and every night is colder than the days — they go to rest more or less. It appears, therefore, that cold is necessary to allow plants to have their own natural way of living, and that to keep them too warm at night, or during the winter, is acting contrary to nature, and, therefore, must he injurious to them. No wonder then that plants treated on the roaring fire system — as above — should get gawky and long-legged, hut unhealthy and of short duration. The cottager who puts out his fire before he goes to bed, and for fear of frost places his window plants down in the middle of the room, is acting more rationally than his lordship's gardener who keeps his men trotting " after the fires" the best part of the night. The cooler greenhouse plants are kept during the winter the less water they require, and the less attendance in every respect : they will also grow with much greater vigour when they begin in tire spring. In frosty and stormy weather the green- house fire should be lighted early in the afternoon, and, no matter how cold the day may be, some air ought to be given, if only for an hour or two, after the fire is lit. The flue then gets warmed throughout before night, and the fire may be damped down with small coal and cinder ashes, a little damped previously : this will keep a smouldering fire for a long time ; if the night is very frosty and the thermometer stands below forty degrees, the fire may be stirred up about eight o'clock. Management of Fires. — Here I must digress a little, to say there is not one in five hundred who knows how to manage a coal fire properly — not even if he buys the coals himself. I have been on steam-boats of all sorts and sizes, both in England and Scotland, and I have travelled on most of our great lines of railroads ; I have also seen fires made in large foun- deries, and I can safely say that I never saw a stoker in any of these places manage a fire properly. If a gardener who has had much to do with fires were made a railway king, he could save thousands of pounds yearly in the coal bills alone. The way fires are mismanaged is this : when the coals are about half burnt, or rather so far coked as to burn clear with little or no smoke, a great fellow comes with a long black poker, and stirs them up — clearing away the ashes and small cinders from among the fire bars, 'i'he fire then burns quite clear, and is perfect, and if left to itself in that state for a time, would be suffici- ently strong for any purpose. But no ; we are never satisfied with things as they should be. No sooner has the poker done its work but the coal-shovel must begin to undo it, by heaping on a fresh layer of coals all over the burning mass, and a black volume of smoke immediately destroys the efficiency of the clear fire. By the time this second feed of coals begins to burn clear — the state in which it is most powerful — the poker and shovel go the same unvaried round ; and it is no exaggeration to say, that one half of the coals used in this way are mere waste and useless smoke. The way intelligent gardeners manage their hot- house fires is this : when the first feed of coals becomes a clear bm-ning mass, no more fresh coals are thrown over it till the fires are made up for the night — their constant aim being to keep the body of the fire as clear as can possibly be done. When a fresh supply is necessary, the fire is stirred, and the unconsumed coals — now at a red heat — are pushed towards the farther end of the furnace, and the fresh feed is placed in front, next to the fire-place door. The quantity of smoke from this fresh fuel is nothing in comparison to that caused by throwing it over the surface of a hot fire, and a great part of i: is consumed in passing over the part ignited. The cold fuel ne.\t the door is thus coked, or carbonized, and when pushed forward in its turn, bums clear, and gives out a powerful heat ; besides, the coldest part of the fire being always next the furnace door, prevents this door from warping, and the rush of cold air through the crevices of 'he iron-work is also lessened. The air necessary for blowing a brisk fire should always be admitted by the ash-pit, and up through the bars, in order to get heated before it reaches the flame. This is the most effectual way of managing fires for flues or boilers ; and yet how often do you see directly the reverse — that is, to draw out the burning mass to the front of the fire- place, and apply the fresh coal beyond? Small cin- THE COTTAGE GARDENER. ders, in equal quantities with coal, make a steadier fire than either alone. When the fire is made up for the night the coal and cinders should he damped a Httie, and some of the dust ashes thrown over the whole, which should then he patted down with the back of the fire-shovel ; and, if a damper is used, this reservoir of heat ought to last many hours. Every flue, or chimney, for plant-houses, ought to have a damper near the farthest end from the fire to regulate the draught when necessary, and to prevent a current of cold air passing through the flue after the fire is made up for the night. I have occupied more space on the subject of flues than many readers may think necessary at the present time, when they are nearly superseded all over the country by hot water-pipes; hut I am persuaded that with our improved knowledge of cultivation, plants can be as well grown with smoke flues as with hot water, and with half the expense in the long run. The advantages attending the use of hot water-pipes in small green-houses — such as this article is intended for — are more than overbalanced in the loss of heat driven up the chimney and lost. For- merly gardeners were not sufiiciently alive to the im- portance of supplying the atmosphere of their plant- houses with moisture in proportion to the necessary degree of heat : hence the outcry against smoke-flues. On the other hand, a hot water apparatus is far pre- ferable when one can go to the expense ; but thousands who could indulge the luxury of a small green-house are prevented by the necessary expense of a hot water apparatus, and also from an idea that plants cannot be managed well with smoke flues. One strong objection urged against flues is that a house can never be kept to a uniform temperature by them, as with hot water- pipes ;— the end next the fire-place must be so much hotter than the other end. This assertion is quite true ; but instead of that being a disadvantage or objectionable, it is precisely the reverse, as it will enable you to grow a greater variety of plants in one house than could be done were all parts of the house of equal temperature, which may be illustrated thus : geraniums require more warmth than fuchsias, there- fore geraniums must stand in the hottest end of the house: fuchsias, again, must have more heat than heaths, and should take their place between the gera- niums and heaths, and so on. Where heaths are grown in one house, fuchsias in another, and geraniums in a third, it is of the greatest advantage to have each house of uniform temperature throughout, and nothing can do that like hot water-pipes ; but I am not writing for such places. The less fire heat is used for a green-house, consist- ently with tlie safety of the plants, the more healthy they will be, although, for the time, they may not appear so to the eye ; therefore, to protect it with mats, wooden shutters, or asphalt covers, is not only a great saving of coals, but of some importance to the plants also. There will be little watering to do in a green-house for a long time, but the plants should all be looked over occasionally to see what they may want. Camellias. — These are beautiful green-house plants, of the more hardy sort, which, if rightly managed, will flower every spring and look well at all times. At present you may see their flower buds growing in little knots at the end of the branches, sometimes growing close together, like clusters of nuts cr filberts, and every one of them would produce a flower if left to themselves ; but that would burden the plant too much, and probably keep it from flowering next sea- son, or break down its constitution altogether, and be a cripple or sickly thing for years to come : besides, the individual flowers would not be nearly so fine and large if the whole of the buds were allowed to open. Gardeners always thin out the flower buds of this beautiful plant, as soon as they can distinguish them from the other buds. If not done already, this is a good time to rub or cut off those buds, where they are crowded. Two are the most that should be left at one place, and where the branches or shoots are small one flower bud is quite enough for it to bring to per- fection. This work is called disbudding ; of which vou will hear a good deal by-and-by. Although camellias are not growing at present, and appear to he quite at rest, they have a heavy task to perform in nursing their own flower buds ; therefore they require good feeding, by being regularly watered, and about every ten days by a dose of some liquid manure, of which the safest stimulant at this season is soapsuds. I hardly know a plant that will refuse — or, rather, that is not benefited by being watered occasionally with soapsuds ; and if in a warm state, so much the better for the camellias. Chrysanthemums and the earliest Cinerarias are the only other plants that occur to me now as re- quiring the assistance of slight liquid manures, that is in the green-house. It is difierent with window plants in warm rooms. You may safely allow them a little more feeding at all times, as they are under greater disadvantages than those in the green-house. A mix- ture of one-half rain-water, and the other half of soap- suds, may be given them alternately, with clear rain or soft water. Ice-cold water, and all hard spring- water, fresh from the pump, is very injurious to all plants ; and some kinds of plants never prosper, if constantly watered with hard water. For green-house plants in general, I do not put so much stress on, having the water for them luke-warm ; if the chill is taken off, it is enough ; and that can easily be done by keeping a water-pot or two always full on the flue, or near the fire-place : if this gets too hot when the fire is at work, it is easily cooled by adding more cold water to it. It is now time to put by such window-plants as are kept quite dry over the winter, such as fuchsias, scar- let geraniums, cactus, etc. The branches of the fuchsias may he cut to within a foot of the pot : the remaining leaves on the scarlet geraniums had better be taken off also. In short, any plant put to complete rest, should have the leaves and small twigs first stripped off, as they can be of no use, and may do some harm by damping, and so bring destruction to the plants. Any place where the frost cannot get at, will do to winter such things. Damp is more destructive for them than frost, and they will do for months with little or no light. Indeed, some people keep their dry plants in the cellar ; but that is a dangerous place for them ; unless the cellar is perfectly dry, you may as well throw them in the fire at once. A dry lumber- room at the top of the house, is much better than a cellar ; and plants may he put into a box or basket, covered over with some thick warm covering while hard frost prevails, and in mild weather open them to the air ; look at them occasionally wherever they are. D. Beaton. 80 THE COTTAGE GARDENER. THE KITCHEN-GARDEN. Beans. — A small crop of these may be planted on a south border. The Mazagans are usually employed for this crop, but we prefer the Dwarl Fan. They come into bearing nearly, or quite, as early, and are not so liable to be blown down by the spring equi- noctial gales. Cover the surface of the earth over the rows with coal-ashes to the depth of an inch, for this brings the plants up quicker, protects their roots, and saves the seed from being attacked by mice. Cabbages, plant out for seed. Three of the finest cabbages of any one sort that have had good hearts, and have not been cut for use, are quite sufficient for producing seed enough for one family. Plant them in a row, so that in the spring their seed-stems may be easily supported between four stakes and cross rods. Do not grow more than one kind for seed at the same time, otherwise the bees, in flying from flower to flower, will cross-impregnate them, and none will come " true." Do not let each cabbage ripen more than three stems bearing seed-pods, but cut all others away. When planting the cabbages for pro- duc ng seed remove the large outer leaves, and dig the hole for each so deep that it can be buried quite down to the head. Do not plant them nearer than three feet from each other. Earthing-up attend to, for all crops, such as cab- bages, savoys, and brocoli. The oflener the soil is stirred between them the better. We find this season, in consequence of the extreme wetness of the summer and autumn, that the crops of winter-standing brocoli are very soft in texture and long-shanked. These are bad qualities for them to have, with the prospect of a severe winter ; for it this occurs, and they are ;& i pro- tected, or aided in some way, they will all be de- stroyed by being frostbitten in the neck. To prevent this, we have taken up, with as little disturbance as possible to their roots, all our long-shanked friends, and digging holes of the depth of their shanks, have replanted them in the same places, quite down to their leaves, and earthed them up still higher. Cucumbers. — Attend to keeping up the heat by linings of fresh dung if necessary, as directed in our Sixth Number. A very important operation for ob- raming early fruit, is the first pruning of the plants, or, as it is termed, stopping them : that is, nipping off the top of the first advancing stem. This makes it throw out side shoots, which become the fruit-bearing branches. In November and December, while the influence of the sun is little, and the excitability of the plants feeble, the attempt to stop them should not be made, unless their strengtli gives good proof that other shoots will be emitted. But plants in a young state, in spring, should be stopped at the first joint. Their being fruitful or otherwise in the early part of their life, will depend iu a great measure upon a proper pe.formance of this operation. Plants intended for I treilis culture should not be stopped until they have ' attained to a proper height, the distance from the soil of the bed to the trellis being necessary. The end bud, and every one btlow the three top ones, should be removed; and the shoots from these will become the skeleton of tlie future system of branches. Every useless or not requii'ed bud should be rubbed off im- mediately it is produced, and every shoot imnecessary removed with the fingers, the knife being required only in removing a worn-out branch in a later stage of growth, and to cut the fruit. The shoots with fruit should be stopped at the second joint beyond the fruit, as soon as it is out of bloom. The shoot emitted at the fruit, and the one before it, must be rubbed away; and should there be one behind it, that should be stopped, not removed ; but the shoots at the end bud, and others on other parts of the plants, must be encouraged to proceed unstopped, to succeed in a similar way, pioportioning their number and the number of fruit to the strength of the plants. When the plants begin to run, if a ti-ellis is not used, the shoots must be trained and pegged down at regular distances, which not only prevents their rub- bing against the glass, but also becoming entangled with each other. Never more than two or three main branches should be left to each plant, all otiiers to be removed as they appear. If more are left it causes the whole to be weak, and entirely prevents the due exposure of the leaves to the sun. For attaining this last-named object, as well as to obtain fruit unstained and of a uniform colour, it is by far the best mode of training to have the branches supported on a wire trellis at a regulated and equal distance from the glass. To promote the admission of light in fine days in winter, when it is calm, it is very beneficial to clean the inside of the frame by washing and wiping, using a little warm water and a sponge, and once a fort- night, or as often as required, the lights too ; these must be removed to a distance, and well sj'ringed and washed with a soft brush ; and before they are put on again allowed to dry. While this is being done, some other lights must be put on in their stead ; but prefer- ably to this, if it be convenient, is to use two sets of lights, one to be at rest and the other in use alter- nately every fortnight or three weeks. The training must be regularly attended to, and all needless shoots and leaves removed. If the plants which have been once stopped have extended their runners to three joints without showing fruit, they must be again stopped. As the fruit advances, if not trained on a trellis, tiles, sand, or other material must be placed beneath it to preserve it from specking, or a glass cylinder is still better; if a bulb containing water is attached, the fruit grows faster and finer. The greatest care is necessary in regulating the temperature ; it must never be allowed to decline below 70 degrees, or to rise above 95 degrees. The temperature of the bed, as well as of the exterior air, governs also the degree of freedom with which the air may be admitted ; whenever allowalde, the glasses should be raised. The best time for doing so, is from ten to three o'clock. It may not be misplaced to remark, that chilly, foggy days are even less propitious for admitting air than severe frosty ones ; during such it is best to keep the frames close, and to lessen tlie opening of tlie glasses, in proportion as the air is cold or tlie beds declining in heat, it never exceeding two inches under the most favourable circumstances. THE COTTAGE GARDENEll. MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION. My JLOWERS. [No. 6.] The auricula and polyanthus ave beautiful border- flowers. I'hey are too often considered so much as florists' flowers, and as not worth growing, except in perfection; but this should not prevent our en- couraging them as much as we can, because even inferior plants are lovely, and a very little care will improve them, and make their flowers rich and abimd- ant. I scarcely know any flower more beautiful than the auricula, with its downy, velvet-like blossoms ; and, when growing in clusters, it is a great ornament to the garden. They like a good soil — leaf-mould, mixed with sand, suits them. I do not mention the composts generally used, because ladies can seldom procure them — and if they can, every work on gar- dening will direct them much better than I can do. Auriculas must be placed deep in the soil, but it should not be pressed round them. In some old- fashioned gardens we see large tufts of these plants, with their deep purple, maroon, and yellow clusters, blooming exuberantly ; and although a practical eye might condemn them, they afford infinite pleasure to those who love flowers for themselves, and whose enjoyment has not been ruined by over-much know- ledge. Too refined a taste in flowers is sometimes almost a misfortune — it cuts off many sources of real pleasure, and prevents our doing anything when we cannot effect all. I have experienced this myself with regard to the polyanthus. I was taught to dis- tinguish the qualities of a perfect flower : and al- though I never arrived at any eminence as a judge, I lost my pleasure as an admirer. I have endeavoured to forget — hut it will not do ; my eye most perversely remembers ; and as I seldom meet with a tolerable specimen, I endure continual disappointment. The polyanthus should not be allowed to remain long without parting the roots, or the flowers become very poor, and are disfigured by leaves which choke the blossoms ; the plants should be divided, and replaced in good fresh soil. Plant them very deep in the ground, quite up to the leaves, as roots will form high up the stems. Cut off" all the stumpy, carrot^like roots from the old plant, and leave only those which have plenty of fibres. Choice plants are often tied up like lettuces when the flowering-season is over, to prevent the wet settling among their leaves and in- juring them. Lilies-ofthe-valley should be far more extensively cultivated than they are in every garden. Their fra- grance is so exquisite, yet so delicate, that they are delightful even in a sitting-room ; and the air never seems oppressive that is laden with their perfume. Cottagers do not seem to care for these very charming flowers ; I never remember seeing them in any of their gardens, but they should ever be encouraged, from the splendid parterres of royalty to the peasant's humble though smiling border. They possess a pe- culiar interest, also, in the eym "t the Christian, as being used in Scripture to describe the grace and beauty of the church; and a glorious pi-omise to Israel was made also under the figure of another variety of the same fragrant plant : " He shall grow as the lilv." T-et us. while enjoying the treasures of our gardens, ever extend our thoughts to higher and holier things ; for not a tree, or plant, or flower, or stone, or tuft of grass by the wayside, but leads our thoughts to God ! The lily-of-the-valley grows freely in the shade, but it loves the sun, and gives forth its richest odours j under his full influence. How good would it be for us to listen to the Idies of the garden as well as to those "of the field," and like them pour forth ihe incense of prayer and praise for the full radiance of the " Sun of Righteousness ! " Cottagers might culti- vate this flower With profit ; a few bunches, neatly tied up, would decorate the basket of eggs, or vege- tables, and catch the attention of many who perhaps seldom enjoy such sweetness. Few flowers grow so prettily as these. The little column of snowy bells stands folded so closely, yet so becomingly in its rich green mantle, that it seems almost cruel to disturb it — yet its fragrance is irresistible. I recommend every lady and every cottager to encourage its growth, and to place it everywhere — in shade and sunshine, under shrubs, and in beds and borders. There is a splendid flower, too generally considered as only belonging to the green-house, — I mean the camelia japonica. Many pet and preserve them through the winter in sitting-rooms, but with much care and difficulty ; but the advantage would be great if they could be hardened into shrubs, and this may be done in lime. V\^.ce roimd the plants wooden cases, according to their size, and on the top of each fix a hand-glass, through which may be admitted light, air, and water. Leaf-mould, or tanners' bark, six or seven inches in depth, should be laid within each case. This plan must be pursued for foitr win- ters ; during the next four winters, hoops supporting mats will be a sufficient protection ; after which they may be left uncovered with safety, — for seasons that have killed laurels, have never injured camelias thus hardened to the open air. The experiment is worih trying by any one who doubts the fact — for the plant would form a noble addition to the lawn and shrub- bery. The pure white blossoms of this plant — the deep crimson, and the white and red — glow brightly among their dark polished leaves, and would make our gardens very gay ; they are beautiful ornaments for the hair, and, being scentless, are well suited for the flower-vase. Our winter's last preparations must be made now with speed — the frosts and snows are at hand, and then we must cease from our labours. All nature is about to sleep, while the mighty hand of God is silently working beneath the dreary, frozen surface, performing the wondrous operations that are so soon again to send forth "food and gladness" to fill our hearts. Eye cannot discern these deep, mysterious works, nor can we hear the Voice that bids the sap awake and flow into the topmost bough ; yet we mark the swelling bud and the shooting blade, and we know that the mightv engines of God's power are in full activity — that He neither slumbereth nor sleepeth ^-and that soon the earth shall again " bring forth her increase," "the field shall be joyful, and a!l that is therein," and "the trees of the wood shiJJ rejoice." 82 THE COTTAGE GARDENER. HARDY AND GREEN-HOUSE PLANTS, LATELY INTRODUCED AND WORTH CULTIVATING. Slender-sfurred Columbine {AquUeijialepfoceras). — This flower was found by Mr. Burke, in 1845, in the regions of the Rocky Mountains of North Ame- rica. It is perfectly hardy, and its white flowers, slightly tinged with yellow and pink, are beautiful when grown in large groups or masses. Mr. Burke thus describes its first appearance to him : — " I found, near Medicine River, a most beautiful columbine, which I have never seen elsewhere,* growing at the foot of a iiill, in rich loamy soil: the flowers very large, beautifully white, variously tinged above with light bhie. In my opinion, it is not only the queen of columbines, but the most beautiful of all herbaceous piants." — {Doi. Mag. tab. 4407). It is easily propa- gated by seed as well as by division of the roots, a rich well-drained soil will best suit it. EcHiuM-LiKE Arnebia {Ameh'ia echisides). This bard)" herbaceous flower is a native of Armenia, and the Caucasian Alps. It has yellow flowers, marked with five purple spots. The flowers grow in trusses, like the cowslip and polyanthus. It is very pretty, and blooms in June and July. — {Bot. Mag., tab. 4409). It is easily raised from seed, and proliably by division of the root. Like its relatives, it will probably thrive best in a rich light soil, free from the shade of other plants. Hairy Burtonia (Burtonia villosa). This native of the country near Swan River, in Australia, has much the appearance of our common RfSt Harrow, but is much larger and handsomer. Its flowers are lilac, with a yellow throat. It requires the shelter of a green-house ; and bloomed during May, at Messrs. Lucombe, Pince and Co. 's nursery, E.\eter. — (Bot. Mag., tab. 4410). The pots in which it is grown must be well drained, and the soil a mixture of equal parts, peat and sandy loam. Nothing is so hijurious to this genus of plants, as too much water about their roots. It is raised from seeds, and from cuttings of the young shoots planted in sand under a bell-glass. DEEPEN THE SOIL. BY CUTHBERT W. JOHNSON, ESQ., F.R.S. There is perhaps no mode of rendering the soil of a garden more certainly productive, than by deepen- ing it. This is an improvement which few persons are SO poor as not to have it in their power to adopt. It very commonly needs only a good heart, and a stout arm, to make in this way the cultivation of the most stubborn soils more profitable. I do not confine my remarks to any particular description of land. The sands of Surrey, by merely deepening them, are in this way made to produce the best crops of potatoes. I have witnessed this not only in the gardens inclosed from the wild heaths of Bagshot, and around Woking, ' but in the deep strata of sands at Addington. In that ' parish deep pits are excavated to get at the fine white or silver sand, so well known to the housewives of London. To accomplish this, it is necessary to dig through two or three layers of different kinds of sand. These, when the silver sand is taken out, are thrown back into the pit, and it is these merely thus deeply- stirred sands which produce the excellent crops of potatoes to which I have referred. • Mr. .7aine« had previously discovered it in the neigiiljourhood of the mme niuiintatini. On the chalk soils of Sussex and North Hampshire the same excellent results of deeply stirring the soil are apparent : and this is a result which we might perhaps have had reasonable doubts of being attained : for the surface soil is already abounding with chalk and rests immediately upon a subsoil almost entirely composed of the same substance. Here, however, deeper digging or forking has been found very bene- ficial. The benefit may be thus explained: — Loosen- ing the subsoil not only affords a larger space for the roots of the plants to extend in search of moisture anesr, cherry, plum, and peach were similarly successful. Many other horticulturists have since followed in the steps which he first took, and hence we have those extraordinary improvements, not only in fruits but in flowers, such as geraniums, fuchsias, dahlias, and many others; alljjf which are obtained by crossing one kind with another, by taking the pollen from one to the female flower of a different plant of the same kind. I Every one having a garden could try similar expe- riments; and it is for the purpose of rousing the attention of our readers to the subject that we remark upon it thus fully. To guide them in their experi- ments we reprint, some Rules that we published else- where a few years ago : 1. The seed-vessel is not altered in appearance by impregnation from another plant ; therefore, no hasty conclusion of failure is justified by that want of change. 2. The colour of the firture seed, not of that first hybridized, seems to be most influenced by the male plant, if.its seeds and flowers are darker than those of the female. Mr. Knight found, that when the pollen of a coloured-blossomed pea was introduced into a white one, the whole of the future seeds were coloured. But when the pollen of a white blossom was intro- duced to the stigma of a coloured blossom, the whole of the future seeds were not white. Capt. Thurtell, from his experiments on the pelargonium, also informs us that he has always found the colour and spot of the petals to be more influenced by the male than by the female parent. Indeed, all experience proves that the progeny usually, though not invariably, most resembles in colour the male parent. 3. Large stature and robustness are transmitted to the offspring by either parent. It does not abso- lutely matter for obtaining this characteristic, whether it be the male or female wliich i* large ; but Mr. Knight generally found that the most robust female parent produced the finest offspring. 4. Capt. Thiu-tcll, from lengthened observation and experiment, has ascertained that the form of the flowers follows most closely that of the female parent. 5. Mr. Knight says that the largest seed from the finest fruit that has ripened earliest and most perfectly should always be selected. In stone-fmit,' if two kernels are in' one stone, these give rise to inferior plants. 6. The most successful mode of obtaining good and very distinct varieties, is to employ the pollen from a male in a flower grown on. another plant than that bearing the female parent. To avoid previous and undesired impregnation, the anthers of the male parts of each flower in the female parent, if they are pro- duced in the same flower with the pistils, or female parts, must be removed by a sharp-pointed pair of scissors, and the flower inclosed in a gauze bag, to exclude insects, until the desired pollen is ripe. An- other effectual mode of avoiding undesired impregna- tion is, bringing the female parent into flower a little earlier, and removing the anthers as above described ; the female parts of the flower will remain a long time vigorous if unimpregnated. 7. Although the fertility of all the-aeed in one seed- THE COTTAGE GARDENER, 87 vessel may be secured by applying pollen only to one style, even where there are several, yet the quantity of pollen is by no means a matter of indifference. Koel- ruter found, that from fifty to sixty globules of pollen were required to complete the impregnation of one flower of Hybiscus Syriacus; but in Mirabilis jalapa, and M. longiflora, two or three globules were enough ; and in the case of pelargoniums, Capt. Thurtell says two or three globules are certainly sufficient. 8. M. Haquin, a distinguished horticulturist at Liege, has impregnated flowers of the Azalea with pollen kept six weeks, and Camellias with pollen kept sixty-five days. He gathers the stamens (male or- gans) just previously to the anthers (their tops) open- ing, wraps them in writing-paper, places them in a warm room for a day, collects the pollen they emit, and preserves it in sheet-lead in a cool dry place. M. Godefroy suggests, that two concave glasses, like those employed for vaccine virus, would be better. The globules of the pollen must not be crushed. M. Haquin thinks the pollen of one year will be effective if preserved until the year following. Mr. Jackson, of Cross Lanes Nursery, near Bedale, says, he has found the pollen of the Rhododendron Smithii tigrinum retain its fertilizing power even for twelve months. 9. It is easy to discern whether impregnation has been effected, as in such case the stigmas soon wither. The stigmas which have not received the pollen re- main for a long time green and vigorous. " By the aid of the Stanhope lens," observes Capt. Thurtell in a letter now before us, " I fancy I can (fiscover the seed of the pelargonium being closed over in the space of four hours after impregnation." 10. When double flowers are desired, if a double flower should chance to have a fertile anther or two, those should be employed for fertilization, as their oflTspring are almost sure to be very double. 1 1 . Plants nearly related, that is, closely similar in the structure of their various parts, are those only which will immediately impregnate each other ; but it is impossible at present to say what families of plants may or may not be brought into fertile union through intermediate crosses. A very short time ago the azalea and rhododendron were thought incapable of such union ; but this opinion is now exploded, for Rhododendron Ponticum has been fertilized with the pollen of Azalea Sinensis, and the progeny between that evergreen and this deciduous shrub is the pre- viously unknown phenomenon, a yellow rhododendron. Though such unions may be effected, we entirely agree with Mr. Knight in anticipating that the pro- geny will be mules, incapable of producing oflTspring. The applications for Himalayah pumpkin-seed have far exceeded our supply ; a few of the earliest appli- cants had two seeds each, many had only one seed, and the latest, still more in number, had their postage- stamps returned. We hope to have a better supply next year ; and those to whom we have been able to send, we trust will save seed, and distribute it in their respective neighbourhoods. To two applicants, " Mr. James Gilbert " and " Mr. George Howard," we cannot send, because they have not given us their directions. If these correspondents will send their full directions, they shall hear from us. THE FRUIT-GARDEN. Stations fok Fruit-Trees. — Where the garden- soil is pretty good, these may be dispensed with ; but in the majority of cases some preparation is required, especially in order to carry out what we term a dwarfing system, which alone is adapted to limited gardens, where vegetable culture forms a most im- portant item; for of what use is it to plant gross kinds of apples, or other fruits, in such small plots, unless means are taken to prevent their over-luxu- riance ? How many gardens of the kind have we all seen, in which some huge tree overshadowed whole Jroles of ground ? whilst a continual conflict existed in the mind of the proprietor, as to whether it were expedient to cut the leviathan down. In a good season, with plenty of fruit, the monopolist character of such a tree would be overlooked ; but come a bad year or two together, and the question again recurs, whether the ground beneath the huge branches would not profit more on the whole under vegetable culture? It is not easy, however, to rear such trees; and the conviction of this deters many from applying the axe in due time, and the consequence is, in a majority of cases, that a decided loss occurs to the proprietor, in the long run, without his perceiving it. On such a course of argument, then, we lay the foundation of a dwarfing system, which of course involves the consi- deration of both stocks, soil, and even root-pruning. We would here beg to dissipate a very common error as to those matters. Many think they can keep trees within the desired limits by pruning alone ; nothing can be more fallacious. Certainly, the axe or the pruning-knife may at any time reduce the tree to one-half its original compass; but what then f From that moment it ceases to be fruitful, or, more properly speaking, profitable ; and the tendency of the tree henceforth is to produce abundance of watery growth, which, we need scarcely add, are indisputable symp- toms of barrenness. We have now to deal with the preparation of the soil for carrying out such a dwarfing system, or in our way of terming this subject, "station-making." It is astonishing what a very limited amount of soil, if of a proper staple, will suffice for a compact fruit- tree under this dwarfing system. We have a score or two of pear-trees trained horizontally, a foot from the soil, which were planted by ourselves eighteen years since, and which now cover not more than forty square feet; some of these produce annually on an average two or three pecks of first-rate Flemish pears. These trees were planted on stations, the natural soil of the ground being a loose, sandy loam, of a very porous character. We merely introduced about foiu- barrowfiils of very adhesive loam to each tree ; and these trees are in the best of health, and increasing in produce annually. We have no doubt that they will endure for at least twenty years longer. In many fresh enclosed gardens, it is both easier and more economical to make such stations, than to carry out general improvements, adapted at once to fruit and vegetable culture. Moreover, the plan we are about to recommend, frequently supersedes the necessity of any special drainage on behalf of the fruit-trees. After marking out the desired position for the stations, the first thing to be considered is, whether the ground 8S THE COTTAGE GARDENER. ia naturally too wet or too dry. If the former, the hole need only be half the prescribed depth ; the other half may rise above the ordinary ground level. If too dry, there is no occasion to elevate the surface, only care must be taken not to place the collar of the tree too deep, which is a serious fault under all cir- cumstances. Our stations are made to extend three feet on each side the position for the trep, thus pro- ducing an excavation of six feet square. We consider two feet in depth amply sufficient for any fruit-tree, especially for a dwarfing plan. The soil then should be thrown entirely out, and four or five inches more must be allowed for some impervious material, which we will presently describe. In throwing out the soil, care must be taken to place it in samples, or both labour and material will be wasted. It very frequently happens that three distinct samples of soil or sub- soil will come to hand during the operation. Of course all clayey, or sour, and badly-coloured subsoil must be rejected, and its amount will be supplied by the new material to be introduced ; and if this is scarce, any ordinary surface-soil may be in part sub- stituted. In filling the materials back again, the best of the original surface-soil must be kept downwards, mixing it thoroughly with the new soil ; the inferior or second-rate soil may be kept to dress the surface with. As to character of soil to be introduced, that depends partly upon the soil already existing in the garden, as well as on the kind of fruit-tree about to be planted. If the soil is naturally sandy and dry, a very stiff or clayey loam should be selected ; if naturally clayey, any fresh, mellow, sandy loam, or even the paring of road-sides, commons, or lanes will prove excellent material ; indeed, these should at all times be collected by the cottager, as they prove of immense service, when mellowed down, for dressing carrot and onion beds, which are liable to the grub in old soils. Tlie furrowings of old leys from what is considered good wheat soil, is, however, of all other soils the best adapted for general fruit culture. This, we fear, is seldom within the reach of the cottager. Whatever materials are used, let it be remembered that the more of turfy matter that can be introduced, the longer will the compost endure. Any sort of turf, even from hungry situations, is most relished by fruit- trees. If, nevertheless, no turf can be obtained, and the soil is loose and poor, it is well to introduce any refuse vegetables of a dry character, such as decayed bean or pea haulm, ordinary straw, old thatch, or indeed anything of a decaying vegetable character which is strong in fibre and enduring. If any manure is thought necessary, it should be fresh from the stable or cow-shed, as such will endure longer in the soil ; merely using one barrowful of mellow and rather rich soil to plant the tree m. As before observed, the most inferior portion of the soil may be reserved to dress the surface of the station with, after the tree is planted ; here it will do no harm, and will be in an improvable position. We come now to the hard materials for the bottom of the hole ; four or five inches in depth, as before stated. It matters not what this is composed of: broken stones fi-om quarries, brickbats, chalk, cinders, or clinkers, Src, all are eligible. These being rammed hard, our practice is to throw a coating of fine riddled cinders over the whole, or very fine gravel : this secures drainage and prevents the roots entering to any injurious extent. Pruning {continued :) — The Raspberry. — Early autumn pruning is of benefit to the raspberry, which, being of an excitable character, begins to swell betimes in the spring ; and pruning after the buds are swelled is always at the expense of the vigour of the plant. The pruning of this fruit is very simple indeed. The plants produce their fruit on long rods of the previous year's growth ; at least the ordinary kind does. What is termed the double-bearing or autumnal raspberry produces on wood of the same summer's growth, or, in other words, on the annual wood. Of this kind we shall offer some special remarks in due course. It is the practice in June to go over the raspberry bushes, and thin out the young suckers or rods, for they in general produce so abundantly, that they would become confused, and the character of the fruit would be materially injured. About half a dozen of the best are left to select from, and it now become* necessary to reduce this number. We think that four good rods are better than more ; this, however, de- pends on the strength of the soil, and more especially its continued moisture, even in summer, which is an essential with the raspberry and the black-currant, as we before observed. If any of the stools or parent plants are very weakly, they must be allowed a less number of shoots ; some three, others only two, and in some very weakly roots, it is necessary to cut them entirely down, in order to strengthen them for the ensuing year. In selecting the canes, the strongest must in the main be preferred. It is worthy of re- mark, however, that when they are very gross indeed, some of the canes are liable to produce side branches during the season they are springing. Such must be cut away, for, although so promising in appearance, they will not produce such nice fruit as those of a reasonable amount of strength, and, indeed, prove of too monopolist a character,— drawing too much of the sap into their huge vessels. About five feet is the greatest height to which the raspberry canes should be cut : our practice is, however, to cut the canes at different lengths. Thus, suppose four canes on a stool, — we cut the strongest to five feet, the second in point of strength to four feet six inches, the third to four feet, and the fourth to little more than three feet. Now, as the top buds grow strongest, it follows, by this arrangement, that the young fruit- bearing shoots, which grow from the canes, are more equally divided and enjoy more room, and, of course, more light Such completes the winter's pruning, after which the canes must be staked, and the soil about them top-dressed. The top-dressing we consider an important matter in their cultivation. As we have not space to complete our remarks on tbisusefiil fruit, we must reserve them for a little while, when we will give the general culture more at lai^e. Draining. — We have now fairly turned our back on the past year, as far as cultivation matters are concerned. There has been a vast amount of rain on the whole, which will surely have led many to consi- der seriously the great importance of draining. Much has been written and said about its importance, and which to some minds might savour of exaggeration. For our own parts, we are assured that this great fundamental step to all good culture has never been treated of accordihg to its merits. It is indeed so broad a matter, that it is a national question. If any one can prove that some twenty or thirty per cent, more produce could be created by this mechanical process alone, and that extra employ could be pro- duced for years for our surplus labour, he would indeed give some importance to the affair. This we conceive is by no means difficult to prove. Doubters will of course say, where is the capital to come from ? We ask, in return, where did the railway capital come from? or who anticipated such an amount of adventure twenty years since? R. Errington. THE COTFAGE GARDENER. 89 THE FLOWER-GARDEN. General Flower-Gardem. — The operations in the flower-garden now comprise removing into winter quarters all the summer flowers, such as verbenas, scarlet and other geraniums, petunias, dahlias, &c. When these are all removed, the beds should be manured and dug, and their places either filled up with evergreens in pots, or planted with bulbs. We mentioned in detail all these things in a former num- ber, and only repeat the notice to prevent any neglect. The digging, pruning, and replanting of the shrub- bery will be going on during fine weather; and during wet or snowy days, roots may be put away, sticks and labels made, mats tied, bundles of mat in proper lengths cut, and put in a place ready to be used to tie up the flowers next season. Hooked pegs may like- wise be made in such quantities as may be likely to be wanted for layering or pegging-down verbenas and other things that require training on the earth's surface. In fact, every thing ought to be done that will save time in spring, for at that season every hour will bring abundance of work, and all those useful little things being ready, there will be no time lost in seeking for them at the moment they are wanted. Amateur's Flower - Garden. — Ornamental Hedges. — We treated pretty largely upon protective fences in our last Number, and shall now fulfil our promise by describing the ornamental one. By this term is meant, a fence or division formed with a row of deciduous flowering or handsome evergreen shrubs. Flowering deciduous shrubs for this purpose may consist of sweet briar, roses, Pyrus japonica. Daphne mezereum (mezereon), Deutzia scabra (rough- kaved deutzia), lilacs, sweet gale, Syringa, double sloe, Ribes sanguineum (red - blossomed currant), snowberry, and the double furze. The ornamental evergreens for a hedge may consist of the American, Chinese, and Siberian Arbor vitse, aucuba, box-tree, variegated hollies, Swedish junipers, common laurel, privet, and the yew. All, or any part of these, as may be convenient, may be used for a fence where protection from animus is not required; some of these may be used alone, as, for instance, the Arbor vitffi; which by itself is a beautiful, warm, and close- growing shrub, for division fences, to shelter the flower-garden. Again, in deciduous shrubs, the sweet briar and rose make a sweet-smelling and beautifully- flowering division between the flower-garden and kitchen-garden, or from the gardens of others. AU those shrubs will bear pruning, to keep them in form. The knife is a better instrument for that purpose than the shears^ In planting, do not regularly mix them, but put in. three or four of one kind by themselves, then one or two of some otlier; then again a greater num- ber, with a honeysuckle here and there. When the whole is finished and grown for a season or two, it will appear something like those beautiful natural hedges we so much admire in country lanes. R0CK.W0RK. — The amateur and cottager were re- commended in a former Number to cultivate the interesting little gems of Alpine scenery. The plants that grow in those elevated regions are many of them very pretty ; as,, for instance, the Cyclamen coum, or round-leaved sow-bread, which; in eariy spring, may be seen pushing up through the pure white snow its lovely crimson-purple blossoms ; and as soon as the snow melts away from our own Ingleborough moun- tain, the bright purplerflowered, opposite-leaved saxi- frage garnishes its sides and highest points with its mossy-like appearance and rich-coloured blossoms. These elegant plants may be successfully cultivated and brought together, so as to bring their beauties under our observation without having to travel to seek them in their native wilds. They may be grown, and very well too, either in an artificial imitation of rock, or alpinery, as it may be termed, or they may be cultivated in pots. Upon the latter method w» will dilate a little, for this reason, that some of our friends may not have the materials to form this aerial habitation for them, or may not choose to go to the expense. Still, some who have not the convenience of a rockery, might wish to have some of these admired plants, if they only knew how to manage them. We will endeavour to supply that knowledge. To cultivate Alpine plants in pots, three things are necessary, — the proper soil, the right-sized pots, and good drainage. Soil or Compost. — ^Whatever kind of plant we attempt to cultivate, we ought to learn as correctly as possible what kind of soil was natural to it. Now, the soil in Alpine situations we may easily conceive to be of a poor, gravelly nature, formed by the decay of rocks and mosses and other small plants. This soil may be imitated by using heath mould, rotten, leaves, and broken potsherds : of the two former two equal parts each, and of the latter one part. In other words, two bushels of heath mould, two bushels of rotten leaves, and one bushel of potsherds, or pieces of broken flower-pots. The whole to be well mixed with one-eighth of coarse white sand. Pots. — Those plants in nurseries are generally grown in small pots, about five inches diameter. The proper size to grow them fine in, is a pot nine inches across at its top. It should be rather shallow, about seven inches deep, and be pierced with holes to admit air to the soil. These pots may appear rather large for such small plants, but such as are of a creeping habit, as many of the saxifrages, for instance, will soon cover the top of the pot, and such as do not creep may have three or four plants put in one pot. The reason why we recommend such pots, is to have fine specimens. We have seen them grown in such pots, and they were so fine, both in growth and flower, as to appear almost like gigantic varieties of their puny brethren, as grown in small pots ; in fact, quite equal to the finest plant on the best-managed rockery. Drainage is the third important article in the culture of Alpine plants. Unless the pots are well and perfectly drained, the plants will soon turn yellow and die. The way to drain them is to place over or against each hole in the pots a piece of a broken pot with its hollow side downward. Then put in so manv large pieces as will cover the bottom of the pot one inch thick ; upon this stratum place another inch of fine broken .pots, the dust being sifted out (the fine sifting will answer well to mix with the compost), and over this second layerplace some of the rough fibrous parts of the soil; the pot is then ready for filling with the compost and receiving the plants. Situation. — There is an advantage in having these plants in pots, that they can be removed to suit the seasons. During hot weather the best situation for them will be on the north side of a low hedge or wall, but in the early spring or late autumn, the east side of 90 THE COTTAGE GARDENER. tlie garden will be the place for them. During winter, a bed covered with hoops and mats will be a good habitation for them. Watering. — Whilst the plants are growing, they should be watered freely, but should be kept pretty dry during winter. All these minute particulars may appear to the practical man to be too precise, but to the uninformed we are conscious such instruction cannot be too explicit ; and we are so much delighted with Alpine plants, when well grown, that we could like to infuse the same feeling into every amateur and cottager in the kingdom. To complete this essay on the Alpinery, we subjoin a short select list of those interesting little gems of the Alpine region. ■^juga geneverisis (Geneva Bugle). Purple. Alyssum saxatile (Rock Madwort). Yellow. ,, ,, variegatun (Variegated). jirahis saxatile (Rock Wall-Cress). White. „ lucida variegata (Shining-leaved Variegated Wall-Cress). White. Arenaria verna (Early Sandwort). White. Aretia Vitaliana (Vital's Aretia). Yellow. Aubrietia purpurea (Purple Aubrietia). Purple. Campanula nitida alba (Shining Bell-flower). White. „ pumilla alba (Dwarf ditto). White. „ puUa (Russet ditto). Blue. Chieranthus alpinus (Alpine Wall-flower). Yellow. Corntts Canadensis (Canadian Dogwood). White. Cortusa Malhioli (Mathioli's Bear's-ear Sanicle). Red. Coronilla minima (Least Coronilla). Yellow. Dianthus a/pestris (Rock Sweet-William). White. „ Hendersonii (Henderson's ditto). Bright Red. Draba aiznides (Aizoon-like Whitlow-Grass) . Yellow. Erinus alpinus (Smooth Alpine Erihus). Purple. Erodium Reichardii (Reichard's Heron's- Bill). White. GnaphaUum dioicum (Dioecious Everlasting Flower). Pink. Gypsophila prostrata (Trailing Gypsophila). White. Linaria alba alpina (Alpina Toad-Flax). White. ,, Cymbalaria variegata (Variegated Cymbal- ieaved Toad-Flax). Rose-colour. Mi/osotis riipicola (Rock Scorpion-Grass or Forget- me-not). Blue. „ paluslris (Marsh ditto ditto). Pkhx divaricata (Early-flowering Flame-flower). Blue. „ nivalis (Snowy ditto). White. „ setacea (Bristly ditto). Red. „ verna (Early ditto). Purple. ,, procumbens (Trailing ditto). Lilac. PotenfUla reptans plena (Double-creeping Cinque- foil). Yellow. Primula auricula alpina (Alpine Bear's-ear Prim- rose). Various. „ farinosa (Mealy Bird's-eye ditto). Lilac. „ nivalis (Snowy ditto). ,, marginata (Margined ditto). Rose. „ Ci7ia, for contrast, will suit the centre of your four stands, — hyacinths, narcissus, early tulips, Chinese prim- roses, cinerarias, or any dwarf plants to surround them. Indeed your stands may be kept as full, if not quite as gay, in winter as in summer, by looking occasionally round the nurseries, to see for yourself what kind of plants you would like. Nurserymen no w-a days force all spring flowering plants for sale. i-'owLs' Dung (/. T. C.) — This is one of the richest of manures. Save it until the spring, keeping it dry and cool, and then dig it into the soil just before planting any crops you may wish to he very luxuriant. Il is most excellent for spring-dressing strawbtrries. Vegetable Marrow ijl/r.J*A./;)j).— Take the seed out of the fruit now, and convert its flesh into soup, as directed in. our fifth Number. Dry the seed well, and store in a dry place. Sow the pumpkin seed an inch and a half deep. THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 95 WEEKLY CALENDAR. M w D D 7 Th 8:F n;s lO; Son U M 12 Tu 13 W DECEMBER 7—13, 1848. Pintailed Duck arrives, [flocks. Conception B.V.M. Skylai'ks in Laughing Goose an-ives. 2 SUND.^Y IN Ad'S'ENT. Gross-beak sometimes seen. Black-throated Diver aiiives. Lucy. Red-tlu-oatedDirer arrives Plants dedicated to each day. Hauy Malvaviscus. Arbor Vitas. Larch. Cedar of Goa. Alepjio Pine. Cro wded-flow'r'd Heath Afi'ican Arbor Vitfe. Sun Sun Moon R. Moon's Clock Day of Rises. Sets. and Sets. Age. aft. Sun. Year. 54 a 7 50 a 3 3 21 12 8 8 342 55 49 4 41 13 7 42 343 56 49 5 59 14 7 15 344 58 49 rises. (V) 6 47 345 59 49 5 a. 31 16 6 20 346 Till 49 6 38 17 5 52 347 49 7 49 18 5 23 348 Conception of the Virgin Mary. — This festival was instituted by Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury, in the eleventh century, in gratitude for the preservation of the fleet of William the Conqueror during a violent storm. Ldcy, a wealthy virgin of Syracuse, who embraced Christianity, and distributed her property among the poorer brethren of the same creed. Being accused before a heathen judge, he condemned her to death, and she was martyred on this day in the year 305. Phenomena of the Season. — We have now, says a popular writer, a full sense of the loss we sustain in the departure of the summer birds, for we feel the absence of the cheerfulness which those wanderers communicate to our woods and gardens. Among the few remaining, we see the tom-tits pendent from the mossy limbs of some tree, seeking, active though silent, their insect food, Insects. — This is the Ash- destroying beetle {By- lesimts Fraxini). It is no more than two lines DECEfti, uttering at long intervals a note low and feeble, making us the more sensible of the surrounding stillness. The nut-hatch hammering on some distant tree, and the harsh screech of the jay, more loudly dis- turb the remarkable stillness of Nature so characteristic of this period. The redbreast, who forsook \is all the summer long, now joins us in our rambles, flitting before our steps like some ministering attendant, coming from we know not where, yet ever present, voice- less, and watchfiil. The insect myriads which peopled every wood- land are almost all departed, yet many are secretly at work, and among them are those small beetles who form such curious little winding channels in the form of a leaf, or a regular trained espalier- tree, which we see on the surface of elm palings, or on the ashen bar of a stile. These channels, or labyrinths, are formed by the grubs of beetles, of the kind of which the following cut is an example magnified, its natural length being no more than that of the line beneath it. DECEftl. 1841. 1842. 1843. 1844. 1845. 1846. 1847. 7 Highest & lowest Showery. Fine. Cloudy. Frosty. tTne. Fine. Rain. 50°— 47° 39°— 33° 55°— 47° 34°— 20° 47°-I9° 42°— 33° 53°— 31° temp. 8 Showery. Fine. Fine. Frosty. Frosty. Fine. Fine. 54°— 33° 37°— 31° 58°— 30° 32°— 26° 50°— 11° 42°— 34° 43°— 28° 9 Fine. Fine. Cloudy. Frostv. Fine. Cloudy. Showery. 44°— 38° 43°— 36° 44°— 34° 32°— 2S° 48°— 29° 43°— 33° 57°— 51° 10 Cloudy. Cloudy. Fine. Frosty. Fine. Rain. Rain. 55°— 36° 39°— 38° 49°— 36° 32°— 28° 5.3°— 29° 44°— 24° 55° — 19° 11 Cloudy. Fine. Fine. Cloudy. Fine. Frosty. Fine. 47°— 37° 43°— 38° 50°— 28° 30°— 22° 51°— 34° 44°— 19° 53°— 29° 12 Rain. Rain. Cloudy. Cloudy. Fine. Frosty. Fine. 52°— 47° 57°— 60° 50»— 28° 31°— 24° 43°— 23° 34°— 24° 53°— 38° 13 Showery. Fine. Cloudy. Frosty. Frosty. Frosty. Fine. 52°— 10° 6l°— 42° 48?— 31° 32°— 25° 36°— 25° 30°— 11° 53°— 35° longr, and half a line broad. The head and throat black and shining, the horns brown, ending in a small oval knob, pointed at the end ; the wing-cases very dark brown, marked with minute lines and dots. The grub, or larva, is yellowish white, with a large head and dark-coloured mouth. There is a peculiar swelling between its head and throat. They are now at work, eating their secret passages in the inner bark of the ash. There are other species, and though their ravages are not known to be very injurious in this countrj-, yet iii^Germany, among the elms in the islands of the Danube, great destruction is occasioned by the elm-destroying Scolytus (Hijlesimts scotiitus). This, we believe, is more injurious even in this country than is usually estimated. Some of the elms in the avenue at Southampton, we think, have died partly from the attack of this insect. In previous Numbers we have directed attention to several cheap manures, such as the house sewage, bones, chan-ed rubbish, salt, etc. ; and we would now claim fi-om our readers a due regard for the refuse they may obtain, almost for carrying away, at the Gas- works. That refuse is of two very different kinds — gas-lime and ammoniacal liquor, — both valuable, but the latter by very far the most valuable as a manure. We shall confine our observations to-day to the gas- lime, and we would premise that a substance may be productive of benefit to plants in many ways besides being taken in by their roots, and thus actually be- coming their food. Beuig fit for their food, entering into their very composition, is, of coui'se, a most im- portant characteristic of a manure ; but there are many other qualities only just a little less beneficial to a plant, when those qualities are possessed by a manure applied to it. For example, the manm-e may attract moisture from the ah', and thus in dry weather gather into the soO more moisture than it would otherwise have for the supply of the roots of the plants gi'owing upon it. Now, gas-lime (hydro-sulphuret of lime) attracts moistui'e from the air, for if dried by expo- sure to the fire, and then left in a cold outhouse for twenty-four hour's, it wUl be found to be quite clammy. Then again, a manm-e may benefit plants by destroy ing or driving away insects and other vermin that are apt to injm'e their leaves or roots. Now this quaUty is also possessed by gas-lime, for it is so acrid that it destroys every slug and wu-e-worm with which it comes in contact ; and is so offensive in its smell, or rather stench, that it puts to flight the turnip-beetle, if used as a slight top-dressing where turnips have been just previously sown. No. X, Vol. I. 96 THE COTTAGE GARDENER. Gas-lime is formed in the purifiers of the gas- works, by passing the gas through caustic lime ; the latter attracting from and combining with the sul- phuretted hydrogen with which the gas is contami- nated. But, besides sulphinetted hydrogen, it also contains a little ammonia and sulphurous acid ; so that the refuse sold to the cultivator of the soil is a mixture of hydi-o-sidphuret of lime, sidphate of lime, and oai'bouate of ammonia. Lime in some form exists in all plants. Wheat, barley, oats, tiu-nips, potatoes, cabbages, peas, beans, etc., contain it in considerable quantity. Now plants can only imbibe it by their roots in a state of solution, yet in the soU it is only found, unless added by means of manure, as chalk (carbonate of lime), which is insoluble. Therefore, a manure which will present Ume to the roots of plants in a soluble form must be beneficial; and such a maniu-e is gas lime, for this hydro-sulphui'et of lime dissolves in water. That plants have the power of decomposing it, retaining the hme and other constituents which they require, and emitting those which are unnecessary, is rendered clear by the experiments of M. Vogel and others. Sulphuret of Ume, by exposure to the atmosphei-e, is speedily converted into gypsmn (sulphate of lime), so well known to the cultivator as useful when ap- pUed as a maniu'e to the gi-asses, clover, turnips, and potatoes, and which it benefits by being actually one of their components. Carbonate of ammonia, the other substance found in gas lime, is a highly beneficial application to jjlants ; but, as it forms the principal ingredient in tlie ammouiacal liquor of the gas-works, it will be considered more in detail hereafter. From these facts it is very evident that gas-lime is compounded of matters well known to be beneficial to our crops, and practice has been found to justify the conclusion that it is a good manm-e. Thus Mr. Handley, one of our best practical agi-ioultmists, observes, that " In many parts of the country where gas-works are established, the refuse has become an object of interest to the farmer, as containing many of the essentials of the most efiective manui'es. The refuse lime, which was formerly an inconvenience to the manufacturers, and was carted away as valueless rubbish, is now contracted for by the ueighbom-ing farmers (in an instance within my own knowledge at 7s. 6d. per chaldron), and applied either in compost or in a direct form to the land, where, in addition to tlie usual operation of lime, it is said to furnish a protection against many of the noxious grubs and in- sects." — Journal of English Agricultural Society, i. 4(j. This last suggestion has since been demonstrated to be most valuably true. A top-dressing of fresh gas-lime, about 20 bushels per acre, mixed with about 100 bushels of earth or chalk, applied the day after the tui'nips are sown, drives away the turnip-fly by its disgusting fumes; and when trenched into the ground on wliich the carrot and onioti crops are to be sown, it has been found to banish from them the gi-ub and maggot, to whose attacks they are liable. Mr. Morton, manager of Lord Ducie's experimental farm, recommends gas-hme to be mixed with fresh earth or decomposing vegetable matters, for the form- ation of a compost. — Agricultural Gazette, 1844 (p. 30). Gas-lime, like many other really good manures, as is justly observed by Dr. Lindley, is injurious if applied to the surface-soil in large quantities, or unweakened, by mixture with earth or other compost. The proportions should be about eight bushels of eai'th or compost to one bushel of gas-Ume, and may then be drilled or harrowed in with the seed. On grass, thus mixed, Dr. Lindley says he has seen it produce excellent effects; and even when it has been applied unadvisedly in such quantities as to destroy the blade of the gi'ass, yet, after rains and exposure to the weather had diminished its power, the gi-ass revived with very marked increase of luxuriance and verdure. A farmer, writing in the Gardeners Chronicle for 1843, says — " Gas-Hme, not sufficiently mixed with earth, does not do as a top-dressing for wheat or tares ; it answers best for the bottom of muck-heaps, mixed with about ten times its own bulk of earth, and turned over twice before the muck is put on. It cer- tainly drives aioay the uire-Korm, and kills the seeds (of weeds) in the earth. I liave now used it for can-ots and barley, both of which look well." The Editor of the Carhw Sentinel, writing fiom his own experience in the November just past, says — "The plan ti-ied with great success in this town and neighbourhood, especially in laud where fi-om the wh-e-worm and other causes carrots and parsnips were never gi-own beyond their early stages, is this — "The gas-lime was sprinkled, not thickly, over the plot to be cultivated, taking due care that every part received a portion of that thin sprinkling ; over this coating of lime spread the manure to the extent re- quired immediately, and without further exposure to the air; dig both, so amalgamated, into the soU, tm-ning it completely up ; let the plots so cultivated rest for about five days ; after tlus, form the beds, if for parsnips, carrots, or any other crop ; and before the seed is sown the vermin are destroyed effectually, as the surface of the land frequently exhibits. By this simple process we have known land which for years never produced a carrot, grow them of enor- mous magnitude, and the ground completely freed from vei-min. " We firmly believe, from experience of the past year, upon a quarter of an acre of land, that potato ground so treated, if it be not too richly manured, will resist the progress of the potato disease, whether arising from atmospheric influences or other causes, if planted early. We draw this conclusion from the fact, that in the part planted without the gas-lime, the potato was, to a certain extent, diseased. On tbe contrary, where the Ume was put into the good ground in autumn, the potatoes were every one per- fectly sound, although receiving only equal care and attention ; and we affirm that the same seed was productive aud sound in the one soil, which was diseased in the other. We may observe that the seed was planted on tbe a3rd of February, 1848, and that the one was sound, wbile the other was unsound." THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 97 THE PRUIT-GAEDElSr. EooNOJtY OF Space in Small Gardens (continued). — It will be remembered that we offered some obser- Tations on this head in The Cottage Gardener of November 9th, our remarks then being chiefly con- fined to " slopes." We now proceed farther with this subject, and propose to offer advice on the following heads; viz. — 1st, how fruit-trees should be arranged; and, 2ndly, where the bush-fruit should be planted. We think that, for the ordinary dwai-f standard fruit-tree, no better place can be selected than the marginal borders, whether as to neatness of appear- ance, or economy of space. Such trees, or rather huge bushes, in the interior of the garden, are totally incompatible with all success in vegetable cropping ; they prevent both the fi-ee access of Hght and a pro- per cii'culation of air. We would even on most occa- sions, especially where the garden does not exceed half an acre, refi-ain from introducing any along the sides of a central walk. The principal walks round small gardens, there- fore, as before advised, should be next the hedge or other boundary, for the reason given in the Number for November 9th. If it becomes expedient to in- ti'oduce a central walk, we would advise the cottager to plant gooseberiy and currant bushes along its sides. In the case of the amateur such a walk will sometimes be requned to add to the oi-uamental or decorative department, when the bush-fruit may be in part or wholly dispensed with ; and tree-roses, dahlias, and hollyhocks, may form a back-gi-ound for the dressy annuals, or hall-hardy flowers, together with a sprinkling of some of our best herbaceous plants, as phloxes, larkspurs, peonies, gentians, prim- roses, auricidas, polyanthuses, and various others. Dwarf Standards.' — The first point is their dis- tance from the hedge or other bouudaiy. There should be as much as five feet allowed, provided the boundary be a hedge ; and if a wall, or dead fence, four feet, or even three will suffice. However, an- other consideration arises, as to whether hedge-row fruit-trees are introduced. If such be the case, six feet will be none too much ; and the ti-ees in the hedge-row must be so placed, as to fonn a ta-iangle with the two opposite dwarf standards in the mar- ginal border. They must by no means be opposite, or all will become confusion ; and the consequence will be, that some of the trees will in the end requii'e to be destroyed before they are worn out. It must be borne in mind that this walk will not be idle : it will in due time be completely filled be- neath with the roots of the fruit-trees and of the hedge. The fruit-tree roots will here, at least, be safe fi'om tlieu- great enemy — the spade. We would in all cases plant some gooseberry bushes between the dwarf standard fruit-trees ; and, in such case, a little more room must be allowed for the fruit-trees. Gooseberries are veiy Uable to suffer fi-om spring frosts when in blossom, and we have many times known a crop saved in such situations, when those fully exposed to the atmosphere were destroyed. The overhanging boughs of the dwai-f standards proved a protection to the bushes ; and although the fruit is not quite so firm, yet, if bushes are not inh'O- duced, the ground would be idle, for no vegetable cropping that requires spade culture should be al- lowed. Gardening, according to these ideas, may be divided into two parts, which may be termed dis- tinctly vegetable culture, and fruit-tree culture : the first needing good spade cultivation, and the last an almost total absence of the spade. The bushes, therefoi'e, chime in with the same ti'eatment as to root-management as the fi-uit-trees. From 10 to 12 feet apart may be allowed for the fruit-ti-ees : the gooseberry-bushes of com'se in the centre, between each two. We come now to the remainder of the bush-fniit; such as red and white currants, raspbeiTies, and the black-currant; the latter, perhaps, the most profitable fr'uit the cottager can gi'ow, provided the soil is suitable. Gooseberry and Currant-bushes. — We before spoke of using the borders of a central walk — if there must be one — for some of these bushes. It so hap- pens, however, that very fi-equently the gaa-den is not quite square. When such is the case it is good policy to endeavour to form a square out of it, for the sake of facility of croppmg, — a matter where spade culture by line is observed of no small moment in the end. In such cases, then, the sui'plus angles, or pieces, may be given up to the culture of the bush-fniit, to- gether with such useful things as rhubarb, &c. If no such plots occur, there is no alternative but to set out a row or two of bush-fi-uit, side by side, with the established rows of fi-uit-trees ; but herein some judg- ment must be exercised. None should be planted on the south side of the garden ; for the ti-ees would throw them into complete shade, and baiTenness would be the result. The row of bushes will of course be on the vegetable-garden side ; and if the north side of the garden be long, it would perhaps hold enough of itself, which would be a very desir- able matter ; for the east and west sides we would keep for beans or peas, especially the latter, which we would seldom place in the interior of the vegetable quarters : they always pod best when standing ft'ee, and running north and south, in which case they get the sun on both sides equally ; the same may, indeed, be said of all vegetable cropping when in drUls. The Black Currant and the Easpberrt require a separate notice. It is well known that the goosebeny and the red cun'ant will succeed in almost any soU with due cultm-e : not so the black currant, which, to thrive, requires above all things a permanently moist soil. It will certainly grow and make a laj-ge bush in dry soUs, by dint of manures; but if overtaken by drought, when the fi-uit is getting as large as small peas, tins susceptible bush will assuredly cast the chief of its crop : after which, eased of its burden, the bush with the next shower will produce a strong growth ; and thus they will proceed in such soils : continually flattering their owner by their fi-ee growth, and yet frequently disappointing him. As this is a most profitable crop to the cottager when rightly un- derstood, we propose to recur to its culture ; but now we must rest content to point to an eligible situation. Many gardens contain a portion of soil inclining to a boggy natm-e ; many, otherwise sandy, incline towards clay or loam at some point. These, of course, ai-e the portions containing most moistm-e, and tlierefore most eligible for this fiiut, and less so for vegetable culture. It is, indeed, a common prac- tice in the north to plant the black currant close beside a ditch, down which run the soapsuds and other refuse of the cottage ; and although we highly disapprove of the practice of letting such nuti-itious matters thus run waste, we must say that black cm-- rants enjoy such a situation. The raspberi-y is also particularly partial to soU permanently moist. It will certainly not cast its fi-uit lOve the black currant, but in hot and dry soils the fruit will lose half its size. The raspben-ies, then, as forming a uniform system of root-culture with the black cm-rant, we would place in alternate rows with THE COTTAGE GARDENER. them ; in wliicli case the rows should he eight feet apai't, or nearly so; the currants should he six feet apait in the row, and the raspherries ahout three feet. We wDl shortly return to the suhject of plant- ing fi'uit-trees, when we will endeavour to point to a ready, economical, and successful mode of making holes, or stations, for them generally. Draining. — Although we have hefore suggested attention to this suhject, we must again recm- to the suhject, which is, peculiarly, autumn work. Spring will arrive quite as soon as many ai-e prepared for it, and will then scarcely offer a chance of hringing up arrears. In a future Number we will shew what general maxims are applioahle to all soils, and what are of a special nature. In the meantime, those who are not prepared to proceed with a complete system adapted to the whole of a wet garden, should try their hand at a " preventive drain ;" that is to say, a deep drain, so placed, at the highest end of the plot of gi-ound, as to intercept the waters which come from higher gi-ounds. This judiciously carried out will frequently supersede all other drains in smaU enclo- sures. Materials for draining may in the meantime he procured. The character of these depends entirely on the neighbourhood. In some places stone may he obtained, in others gi-avel, and in some the soorise, or the huge clinkers from factories. It matters not ■what material, so that it he of an imperishable chai'ac- ter. Nothing excels the ordinary draining tile ; the cottager, however, cannot always avail liimself of these. Mulching Trees. — We beg to remind those who have recently planted choice kinds of fruit-trees, of the gi-eat importance of what is termed mulching them ; that is to say, covering the soil over their roots with half-rotten manure, or other porous mate- rial ; this serves as a regulator, or controller, of sudden vicissitudes in the atmosphere, and a guard against extreme low temperatm'e on the one hand, and severe di-oughts, or drying winds, on the other. It moreover retains the ground-heat much longer, and consequently facilitates speedy rooting. By such precautions a whole twelvemonth may be gained over a neglected tree. Let no time be lost in carrying on pruning, except- ing vrith the peach, the nectarine, the apricot, and the fig ; the latter should have the shoots in-otected forthwith. Exhausted Trees.— This is the period at which to carry out the maxims explained ixi the Nimiber for November 16th, by applying heavy top-dressings of manure, slutch, &c., as therein recommended for the old apple-trees. The same practice is suitable to all fruit-trees ; and in limited gardens, or where an objection is raised to the unsightliness of such mat- ters, the dressing may be removed in the end of March, and dug in for spring crops. The manure reserved for spring crojijiiug would thus be much better employed, than in lying in badly managed manure-holes to fatten the neighbouring ditch. Charred M.\tekials. — AU surplus, coarse vegeta- ble matter, including useless spray or brushwood, should now be charred and housed for general gar- dening purposes in the ensuing year. As soon as we have room we will describe the bestmethod of doing so. We would also direct attention to the cottager's compost heaps; the spouts of his building, if out of repair, too frequently rob his manure heap of its most precious properties. The |iast autunni has been a wet one, and many adung-heap has, no doubt, run to waste. When a surplus of manui-e-water thus comes to hand, it can seldom be wrong to apply it between the rows of cabbages or other greens. E. Ehringion. THE FLOWER-GAEDEN. Fernery. — There is aclass of plants which, though they do not produce much floral beauty, are yet exceed- ingly interesting, and well worthy of cultivation ; we mean the hardy ferns. It may be asked — Why are they worthy of that trouble ? We answer — because they win grow where few plants else will. Their beautiful foliage is different from, and njore elegant than, the foliage of any other tribe of plants. If tliey are placed in proper situations they are easily culti- vated ; also, excepting some of the rarer kinds, they are easily procured. Some of the most beautifnl grow abundantly in almost evei-y locality, at least at a sliort distance from large towns. We do not envy the feel- ings of that mortal who cannot see any beauty in ferns, who can pass by them without stopping to ad- mire the elegance of their form, the fi-esbness of tlieir green, and their pecuhar fitness for certain situations in which they gi-ow. Admiring those lovely plants as we do, we shall this week give our readers our ideas and experience on the culture they requh'e. We wlU consider, first, the various situations in which they grow naturally, for, if ignorant of this, the culti- vator may commit great, and, in some cases, fatal mis- takes. If a fern in its natmal home luxuriates in the crevices of an old wall, it woidd manifestly be wrong to plant it in a moist, shady place. Again, if a fern flourishes in warm, moist woods, it would be equally wrong to place it upon rockwork exposed to the burn- ing sun of J uly. The only Adiantum, or True Maiden Hair, that grows wild in this country, is found on moist rocks, while the Allosm'us Crispus, or Parsley- fern, is found in high, dry, rocky places. The common Polypody grows on dry hedge-hanks, on stumps of decayed trees, and on half-buried rocks ; but the Polypodium Phegopteris, or Beech-fern, loves the rock moistened continually by waterfalls. The Lastrea Thelypteris, or Marsh-fern, inhabits, as its name imports, wet, boggy places, whilst the Lastrea Rigida, or Rigid-fern, gi-ows on high limestone rocks ; Asplenium Marinum, or Sea Spleenwort, is found only on sea clifls; Asplenium Trichomanes, or Maiden- hair Spleenwort, exists and flom'ishes on old brick- walls. The Hart's-tongue-fern (Scolopendrium vul- gare) has its native home in dry hedge-rows, or dry, open plantations ; whilst the noble Osmunda Regalis, or Royal-fern, sends forth its magnificent fronds* from its habitation on the open boggy heath. These examples might be multiplied, but the above are suffi- cient to shew that some care and knowledge of such facts are necessary to ensure success in the cultiva- tion of those beautiful plants. In order, then, to guide the tyro or young begin- ner to grow ferns, we shall, in the next place, endea- vour to describe such a fernery as will be suitable for the greater number of those admirable plants. We have, in a Number or two back, du'ected the attention of our readers to the cultivation of Alpine flowering plants. A somewhat similar mode will suit ferns, with this diflereuce, that provision must be made for such species of fern as grow in low, shady, moist places. The form of bank shoidd be half- circular, about the shape of a horse-shoe, the two points of which should face the south. A gravel walk should be made round the whole, and across the space inclosed within the bend. This space is intended to plant such ferns in as require moisture and shade. If convenient, a small tank, or basin of water, would be desirable. This water may have an hregular outline • Frond — the name applied to the branches of the fern ; those branches being a peculiar compound of leaf, leaf-stalk, and branch. THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 99 of rockwork, and outside that a bed of peat earth, to be edged, Mke the walk, with such rough pieces of stones, flints, or furnace-clinkers, as may be most conveniently procured. The bank may he made with any kind of earth at hand. It should be fonued in steps, and the upright edges built with rockwork, in the insterstices of which those species of fern that gi-ow naturally on walls will find a suitable habita- tion. The space between the rockwork, which we have denominated steps, is intended to receive such species as grow in hedge-rows, or open glades. The lowest step may be planted with such species as re- quh'e moisture, but not so much shade. The inside of the bank may be formed into rockwork with rough stones, stumps of old trees, &o., to receive such ferns as grow on moist shaded rocks. As soon as we can find room for it, we shall give a list of ferns, with the different aspects they requh-e. Situation of the Fernery. — In small gardens, in the suburbs of towns, the habitation for those plants should be in some retired part, the south side of it, to be shaded either with a north wall or shrubbery. Several species of fern will gi-ow well in shady plan- tations, without any further care than planting them, and occasionally stiiTing the ground around them, and clearing away anything likely to smother or otherwise injure them. They may also be success- fully cultivated in pots, of which method more anon. In gardens of large extent, the situation of the fernery should be in some retu-ed place, with a dense shrubbery or plantation to the north of it. An arbour made of rustic materials might either be formed in the bank of ferns itself, or be placed in the plantation to face the rockwork, so as to have a view of it. Those who will be at the trouble and expense to form such a scene will not only be delighted with the eiieot themselves, but will find it give great plea- sure to all their fi'iends and visitors. Grass-plots — Most gardens have more or less of a lawn in them. The grass ought now to be closely mown, well swept, and rolled frequently. Should any places be bare of gi'ass, it is now a good time to relay it, if suitable turf can be procured. Let all the edges be neatly cut, and the cuttings put into some place to decay. This makes excellent compost for potting. Bulbous Irises. — These are singularly beautiful plants. Tbey are commonly known as the Spanish Iris {Iris Xiphioides). The price of them is mode- rate. A bed of four or five rows, about 12 feet long, at six inches apart every way, will hold a good col- lection. They may also be planted in clumps of four or five each, amongst other flowers. Soil. — Any good sound garden-mould, enriched with some well-decayed dung dug deep into the earth, will grow them finely. As they are perfectly hardy, no protection is necessary. The only attentions tbey require are frequently stirring the surface, keejjiug them clear from weeds, snails, and other vermin, and to have sticks 18 inches high put in as soon as the flower-stems appear, tying them loosely to these from time to time until the flowers are open. The colours of these flowers are as various as the hues of the rainbow. Cottager's Flower-G.\rden : Evergreens. — As during winter a garden without evergreen shmbs is exceedingly blank and dreaiy, we hope our cottage Mends will try to procure a few of those winter- cheering plants. One or two common laurels, with a Portugal laurel, a bay-tree, three or ibur laurus- tinuses, which flower at this season ; an aucuba, with its beautifully-spotted leaves ; an arbutus, or sti'awbeny-tree, with its red, strawberry-like fruit; and a pyracantha, or evergreen-thom, with its scarlet berries, against the walls of the cottage or any out- building, make all look smiling. Also, let our cot- tage friends find room for a bush of rosemary, the herb of remembrance : it is beautiful as well as use- ful (see p. 1-5). Sweet-brier. — The cottager can scarcely have too many of this fragi-ant shrub; and as the fruit, com- monly called hips, are now ripe, let a few be gathered. Break them in pieces, so as to separate the seeds ; then mix them with sand, and put them in a vessel (a garden-pot will answer), and keep them in a cool place till next March. In that month sow them thinly in rows, in some narrow, convenient border, and transplant the seedlings, after one year's growth, into the places where they are to remain. They grow best at that age. Let us remind om' amateur and cottage readers of the constant and necessaiy attention aU kinds of plants in pits and frames require now. Look for dead or decaying leaves every day or two, and in- stantly remove them. Water, when absolutely neces- sary, early in the forenoon, with water that does not feel of a freezing coldness. Cover up securely from fi'ost, and on all fine days give plenty of an-. If the sun shines, and there is no frost, pull the lights, straw mats, &c., quite ofi'; but cover up again in- stantly should rain or snow begin to fall. By these proper and necessary precautions, the plants will acquire the power to endure a long privation of heat and light during the dark, snowy, stonny weather we may calculate upon in January and February. FLORISTS' FLOWEES. Auriculas and Polyanthuses, during the dark, damp months, will require constant care to keep tliem fi'esh and healthy. They should have air on all fair days by drawing off the glass-lights, and on rainy days by tilting them up behind. To these plants decaying leaves are as bad as the cholera, if not timely removed. The surface of the soil in the pots should be clear of moss aud appear dry. No green moidd should he allowed to appear on the out- side of the pots. The pots ought to stand either on a proper stage of boards, standing upon a paved sur- face, or upon coal ashes, frequently renewed, in a dry state. Every morning, when the frames are opened, look for snail tracks, — the slime they leave wiU betray them. Do not leave them till their retreat is found, and then destroy them. Roses, for gi-owing in pots, for exhibition, or other purposes, sliould now be placed in a cold fi'ame or pit. The list below requii'es no protection, and are all excellent kinds for blooming in pots. They are the sorts that were exhibited in such fine perfection at the diilerent shows at Chiswick aud the Regent's Park during the last season. The soil they do best in is a good loam, formed of rotten turf, with a free mixture of well-rotted hotbed dung or two yeai-s' old cow-dung. Let the pots be well drained, of a size suitable to the plants. They wiU be one year in the pots before they flower profusely. The growing of roses in pots is very desh'able, independently of exhi- bition purposes, they being very ornamental for the greeuliouse. the parlour window, or the teiTace walk. List of forty kinds of roses, suitable for gi-owing in pots, that may be preserved through winter in a cold frame : Moss. — Celine ; rich crimson. Alba la Sediurant ; rosy blush. Gallica (French Roses). — Boule de Nanteuil ; crimson, rosy purple. 100 THE COTTAGE GARDENER. Hyeeid Pkovenoe. — Princess Clementiue ; paper white. Hybetd CHrNA.- — Beauty of Billiard; vivid scarlet. Belle Maria ; superb rose. Cbeuedolle ; light rich crimson. Coup de Hebe ; rich dark pink. William Jesse ; pm'plish crimson. Adsthi.\n. — Persian Yellow ; deep yellow. Damask Perpetual. — Mogadore ; jiurpiish rose. Hybrid Perpethals. — Aubernou ; bright rose. Baronne Prevost ; pale rose. Clementine Seringa ; flesh rose. Docteur Marx; carmine. Duchess of Sutherland; pale rose. La Reine ; rosy pink. Lady Alice Peel; deep rosy carmine. Louis Buonaparte; Vermillion. Madame Laftay; rosy crimson. Madame Verdier ; pink flesh. Mrs. Elliott ; rosy purple. Bourbons. — Armosa; fine bright pink. George Cuvier ; bright rose. Madame Ruychin ; rich cream. Madame Nerard, lively blush. Paul Joseph ; dark velvety crimson. Queen; buff rose. Souvenir de Malmaison ; clear flesh. Noisettes. — Aimee Vibert; pure white. Clara Wendee ; pale yellow. China. — Abbe Miolana; rosy purple. Cramoise superieure ; rich velvety crimson. Eugene Beau- harnois ; amaranth. Madame Breon ; beautiful rich rose. Madame Beureau; pure white. Mrs. Bosan- quet; delicate pale flesh. Tea-scented. — Comte de Paris ; flesh colour. Ni- phetos ; ditto, veiy fine. Viscomtesse de Cazes ; pale yellow, orange centre. GREENHOUSE AND WINDOW GARDENING. Greenhouse Bulbs. — There are hardly any tribes of plants more easy to manage than the different half- hardy bulbs which may be grown in a small green- house : few are more interesting, few take up less room, and none are more beautiful and varied in their flowers. They are also of all sizes, from a few inches high, as some of the African iris tribe, up to a lofty stature of 12 or 1.5 feet, as the gigantic lilies of Nepal. Although these are really so very easy to manage, yet they have the reputation of being very troublesome ; and for one question that a gardener is asked about other plants, lie is sure to have three in- quiries as to the proper management of Cape bulbs — " What ti'eatment do you recommend for Cape bulbs ? A friend sent me a box of them two or tliree years since, but I can do nothing with them ; and now we expect him home, and I am so annoyed that I hardly know what to do or say about them." This is the substance of numerous questions put to myself; and I am persuaded that a general idea exists among those who have thus been disappointed, that green- house bulbs are, of all other plants, the most difficult and dangerous one can take in hand. If, therefore, I can e.\plain this matter so as to remove part of this unfounded prejudice, I shall be doing at least, some service. But, first of all, let me give the substance of my answers to all the inquiries about Ca]ie bulbs newly imported. It may seem a paradox, after say- ing how easily these may be managed, to add that my answers invariably are, " Have nothing to do with these bulbs. The best advice that I can give you is to throw the box aud its contents at once into the fire." Tlie tnith is, that African bulbs, impoi-ted as above, are seldom gathered by European travel- lers ; they are bought at Cape Town from the seeds- men, who keep assortments of them ready in their warehouses to su)iply the demands of the English residents, or of others who may call at the Cape on their way home from India and other parts of the world. Those bulbs are gathered at the worst season of the year, when they are in flower, as at that time the different sorts are more easily recognized, and less difficult to be taken up, for the gi-ound then, it being the rainy season, is moist. We may form a better idea of the condition of bulbs thus treated, if we con- sider what would be the state of our own hyacinths or tulips, if taken up when in full flower, divested of their roots and leaves, dtied and packed ready for ex- portation. The case is worse, however, with a large class of African bulbs, which belong to the iris or coni-flag tribe ; most of these flower only once from the same bulb, which then dies, after producing others for succession. The renewal of these bulbs takes place only when the plants are growing ; and when they are distm-bed in that state, the chances are that the old bulb is too far spent to be of any use afterwards, while the yoimg ones are not sufficiently ripened to be fit for removal, although to all appear- ance they may seem promising enough. Another set of Cape bulbs, belonging to the amai-yUis tribe, are permanent, and flower from the same bulb for years in succession; but when these are taken up at the wrong season, they require several years of good management to bring them round again. Besides, they are always infested with insects of the mealy bug tribe, rendering it most dangerous to introduce them into our gi'eenhouses ; for if these creatines are once allowed to spread to other plants, there is no getting rid of them without enormous labour, if at all. But I think I have shewn sufficient reason for advising our readers to " have nothing to do with imported Cape bulbs." The safest plan, and the cheapest in the long run, is to procure your bulbs from those collections of them that have been cultivated at home for many years ; among these there are many splen- did ones, which have been originated here from cross- breeding, and which surpass in beauty and stateU- ness the best of the wOd African sorts. They are also so prolific in seeds and ofisets, that nurserymen ai-e able to supply them cheaper than most other plants, and when once you possess any of them, there is little fear of your ever losing the breed again, as they multiply as fast as our native crocuses. Gladiolus. — The first family of plants that I shall mention is the gladiolus, or corn-flag, of which there are many very beautiful sorts from Africa, as weU as many handsome varieties raised in this countiy from seeds ; but before I mention any of them more parti- cularly, it may be as well to put you on your guard against a common provincial way some jieople have of pronoimcing the word " gladiolus," by putting the accent, or stress, on the letter o, thus, " gladiolus," whereas the true way of uttering the same is as if written Glad-eye-lus, putting the accent on the i. Gladiolus Cardinalis, or, as we may call it, the Car- dinal corn-flag. This is the best known of all the old Cape sorts, aud is remarkably showy, having bright scarlet flowers, dashed in the centre with white dia- mond spots. The flower-stems rising to two or three feet high. Every one who means to begin gi-owing this class of bulbs, ought to get this one among the first, as it is one of the best to breed new ones from, and is already the parent and gi-andpapa of an end- less variety of most beautiful flowers, some of the best of which I shall mention below. Gladiolus Qppositiflonis (Opposite-flowered Corn- flag). — This is another well-known plant, a native of Madagascar, gi-owing as tall as the first-named. The flowers are wliite, with a bright pink stripe in each division. I place these two together, because between them a beautiful race of strong-habited plants may be THE COTTAGE GARDENEE. 101 raised. Formerly another wMte kind, called Gladio- lus Blandus (Fair Corn-flag), was used to cross-breed with cardinalis, but theii- offspring, though veiy beau- tiful, were not nearly so fine and large as those be- tween these two. Witness one of the earliest crosses between those two called ramosus, or " the branch- ing," which at once echpsed the work of thirty years in crossing andrecrossingthe cardinal with the breed of blandus, " or the fair one ;" this ramosus is much taller than either of its parents, and their colours are so beautifully blended together in it, that it is scarcely possible for words to describe them. All these flowers grow so much better in the Mghtrich soil of the nur- sery gardens in Holland than with us, that this very plant, ramosus, was brought by our nurseiymen from those of Haarlem, not longer ago than a dozen years, as quite a new plant, from the Cape of Good Hope, although it was first raised in England some years before ! Now, any of my readers, with only the aid of a single window, may grow these plants to perfec- tion; and I shall undertake to teach them how to raise new seedlings from them that will excel even race- mosus in beauty, by the simple process of cross-breed- ing the plants "when they are in flower. There is no- thing connected with the rearing or management of flowers more exciting and interesting than this, or more likely to arrest your attention ; I am, therefore, the more earnest to fix it on your mind. To be able to tell your ft-iends that such and such flowers were first originated by your industiy, aided by a little twopenny weekly gardening-book, is surely worth try- ing for ; and then, when you have more of them than you have room for, to be able to give some away as presents, or exchange for others, is both pleasant and profitable. But, instead of this kind of speculation, perhaps you would like better to hear what other kinds of beautiful corn-flags I would recommend. If, therefore, you are so far in earnest, and mean to buy those r have mentioned, I must tell you that the white one with the beautiful pink stripes, called Oppositiflorus, is often sold in the seed shops under another name, the meaning of which being that it is an abundant flower, or floribundus ; therefore that is the surest name by which to ask for it in the country, but in London either of the names vrill find it out. The next corn-flag I would recommend is fully as strong as the scarlet or white one, and also equally hard, but of a very different colour from either. I purposely mention it that you may have the most dissimilar colours which the corn-flag family affords. For, if you should be induced by my representation to try your hand at cross-breeding — a process that I shall have no difficulty in making you understand when they are in flower^ — -it is essential to success that you should proceed with the best kinds, and those with the most varied colours ; the Latin name of this one is Gladiolus Natalensis (Natal Corn-flag), the meaning of which is that it is a native of Natal, a place on the south-east coast of Africa, named by the Portuguese navigators, who first discovered it on Christmas-day (the natal or birth- day of our Savioui-), in the year 1-198. The Port Natal district now forms part of our Cape Colony, and not far from where Sir Henry Smith, " the hero of Ahwal," so gallantly put an end to the last Caffir war. Europeans in that country often send this beautiful plant to England by the name of " The Port Natal Lily ;" it is also called Gladiolus Psittacinus, or the parrot-hke corn-flag, in allusion to its beautiful colours, which are of a ver- million orange, spotted and feathered on the edges with dark scarlet or purple. Sb- WiUiam Hooker says of it, "The colours are indeed splendid beyond anything that can be expressed, except by the most elaborate miniature painting." Two out of the three species that I have mentioned, the Madagascar and Port Natal Plants, have the valuable property of not gi-owing — above ground — till the spring, like the old European sorts ; so, though they are best potted in the autumn, they may be stowed away anywhere during the winter when room is scarce. This quality of not growing in winter we must bear in mind when we come to rear seedlings between the different kinds, as it is now clearly ascertained that certain peculiarities in the parents, either of plants or ani- mals, can be transmitted to their offspring. But not to detain you any longer on this subject, let us pass to that of their management in pots. All the sorts — for there are a great number of them — except the two that do not grow in winter, and those reared between them, should be potted about the end of September ; but if you mean to try them now, it is not too late ; and there ai'e bushels of them yet in the London seed-shops. Indeed, I was offered any quantity the other day, of the Cardinal, at foiu'pence each, if I would take them by dozen or score ; and the white one, with the Port Natal plant, at half the sum, or twopence each, that is, if I took a large quantity of them, and all of these would flower next summer. It will be time enough to pot the last two tiU March, but I would rather have them in sooner. The pots must be particularly well drained. Put an oyster shell with the hollow side down over the hole, and a large haudful or two of potsherds broken small over that ; they like a light rich soil, and rather in a rough state, to let the water pass through more li-eely ; one half light loam, the other half equal quantities of peat and leaf mould, with a little sprink- ling of sand, is the best compost for them. They will grow, however, almost in any soil that is not too stiff" and not sifted. Gardeners often plant a dozen of them in one large pot, and about two inches deep in the soil, and the effect of the whole when iu flower is indeed most splendid. As soon as the bulbs are potted they are watered and put away any where till their leaves are above gi-ound, then they must have light; they are very fond of being near the glass, either in the window, pit, or greenhouse; and they are so hardy, that a close hot room would draw them up weak. They will stand a sharp frost if they are allowed plenty of air ft-om the beginning; the best place of all for them, except in very fi'osty weather, would be to stand under a veranda all day, and to be taken in at night. When they are six inches high, they may have water twice or three times a week in mild weather ; but if they are kept cool they do not want much water at a time. Hyacinths. — ^You may now see if the hyacinths and your other bulbs have made roots suflicient to support a steady growth. If the roots are beginning to coil round the ball, you may take some of them to the window of a warm room, and those for glasses may be removed also, as soon as their roots appear through the ball; if they are in pots, o)' if you put them all into a box of sandy soU, watch till the roots are three or four inches long, when they are fit to be put into the water-glass. For the first ten days after the glasses are brought into the room, put a covering of soft blotting paper, or moss, over the bulbs, as the sudden change from a cool moist situation to a di-y warm room may prove too much for them. Indeed, I am certain that they would bloom finer if the bulbs were constantly enveloped in a little moss or wad- ding, and this covering damped every three or four days, but it must be done very neatly. D. Beaton. 102 THE COTTAGE GARDENER. THE KITCHEN-GAEDEN. CoLEwoRTS, or youug newly-turned-m, or firm- hearted cabbages, sliould now be taken up carefully with the fork or spade, and laid in rows in some spare corner or piece of gi-ound, very thickly placed together. This increases the convenience of protect- ing them when severe frost sets in ; a little straw, pea- haulm, fern, evergi'een boughs, or other such article, wliicli may be at command, are used to advantage in covering them, and thus securing a plentiful supply of young cabbages and gi-eens tln-oughout midwinter. The same plan may be adopted by those who have saved their summer cabbage-stumps for winter greens, laying them in deep and thickly together. Another advantage is, that the gi-ound will be cleared for get- ting in manure on suitable occasions, and ojiportu- nity afforded to have it thoroughly trenched. MnsHRooir Beds out of doors should be protected with thatched hurdles, and a little addition made to the covering occasionally, and the damp short litter at all times kept clear from the bed. It may injure and weaken the spawn much, if allowed to remain adliering to the bed. The same direction as to pro- tection holds good for aU plants under shelter, which require covering. Mint, Tansy, and Tarragon, place in a hotbed of gentle heat; and Parsley in pots put into sheltered situations. Radishes. — A little short-top early-frame radish- seed may now be sown on a light friable soil, in a sheltered warm situation, and protected with straw or fern at night, but to be taken off during fine days. Sea-kale and Rhubarb. — A few successional roots of sea-kale and rhubarb should be taken up by those who have convenient room for placing them in warmth. Sea-kale roots placed in earth or sand in a cellar, mushroom-shed, or back shed, that are close and warm, and the light kept from the plants, may be produced very fine, and with little attendant trouble or expense. ( )f the early varieties of rhubarb, strong roots taken up now may be placed in any sheltered situation to forward their growth : such as a mush- room-shed, near the lightest part ; back sheds, where heat escapes from hothouse furnaces ; under green- house stages ; inside of a hothouse of any kind, where that convenience is at hand ; or a slight hotbed of leaves or fermenting materials of any kind may be made, and a frame and lights placed over it ; and the roots being put on the bed covered with tan, leaf- mould, or any light soil. Those who intend planting this season either rliubarb or sea-kale, should select a good piece of soil, and manure and trench it well, and the oftener it is turned and forked over, the more healthy it will become for early spring planting, or the sowing of the seed of the sea-kale, which is pre- ferred by some. Routine Work. — All old hotbeds and old pit- linings should now be cleared away, taking advantage of dry or frosty mornings for wheeling this manure out upon the spare ground to be trenched. The drains should be examined and repaired if requisite, and other necessary repairs at once attended to. By those who have no other convenience for forcing early vegetables, &c., than by fermenting materials, sligbt hotbeds should be made in succession for early horn- carrots, shoi't-top early frame radishes, and asparagus in succession. Leaves and litter of any kind sbould be collected together, and turned and mixed over well several times, to be in readiness for successional beds and linings. The season also is advancing for selecting the stock of nest season kitchen-garden seeds; we will, in a future number, give a list of well-proved useful articles. James Barnes. MISCELLANEOUS mEOEMATION. MY FLOWERS. (No. 8.) The cold stormy winds of winter have set in, and the glory of the woods has departed. Nothing now remains of the waving splendour of the trees except tlie crisp brown leaves of the beech and oak, which still cling to the boughs hke gratefid hearts, unwiUing to forsake them. The larch plantations look cold and comfortless ; the ground is strewn with leaves, some of so bright a yellow, that we seem to be step- ping upon gold ; and gusts blow them about in sport, as if to shew us what nothingness there is in their short-lived beauty. Yet even leaves have a work to do ; in nature nothing is idle, nothing is made in vain. Man dares to waste his energies, his reasoning powers, his time and talents, and leaves too often the great business of his life undone ; but every thing in nature does its duty well, and rejoices to fulfil the will of God. Leaves are of great importance to the life and health of the tree ; through them the excesn of moisture drawn into the trunk from the root, passes off into the air, and again they convey to the trunk nourishment from the air. They are, as it were, the lungs of the tree, and unseasouably deprived of their assistance, it would languish and die. Various and wonderful are the works of God! a simple leaf, with its delicate, thread-like veins, its use and beauty, pro- claims the hand that made our world and sun, and the thousand suns and worlds that fill the universe. When vegetation ceases, when the season of repose arrives, leaves are no longer needed ; they are done with, and dismissed. Let us remember the work we have to do — one of far deeper importance than that of leaves ; and as they rustle beneath our feet, they should remind us that "the end of all things is at hand," and " the night cometh when no man can work." Yet even now, how cheering it is to see the pro- mise of future beauty ! The leaf-buds of the Idao are formed and full; the honeysuckle buds are ready to burst into fresh life, and here and there a little sprig has fairly expanded, looking quite like spring. These natural objects are symbols of better things. Is there with any of us a tima so dark and dreary, that a word of peace, or promise of mercy, is not sent to cheer us? The rich blossoms of the laurustinus are now the ornament of the garden. It is an invaluable winter shrub, for it blossoms just wlien we most I'equu-e it; when there is nothing but the holly-berry to enliven the scene. It is remarkable that the laurustinus should so fearlessly brave our northern winds and frosts, for its native clime is tbe South of Europe, and tlie northern part of Africa ; and it was not brought into England until the end of the sixteenth century. Mach care, no doubt, was taken to harden it to the se- verity of our winters, which in those days were far more bitter tlian they are now ; and by the success with which it has been cultivated, we may be encouraged to try if we cannot harden other tender plants. The myrtle might with little trouble be inured to the open air. It is a hardier plant than many people are aware of, and less liable to suffer from frosts when in the open border than in pots ; and the more woody the THE COTTAGE GAEDENER. 103 plant is the better ; tliey thrive exti'emely well against a south wall, matted up through the winter with litter, ashes, or other protection over their roots ; but let them have aii', or else the shoots will be very weak. With a little shelter they would do well as garden shrubs, and be beautiful additions to the borders. They make fine plants if cut down, and covered with thick cotton or wool, as I have directed for border geraniums; but then they never grow beyond a certain size. They might increase to be a large and vigorous shnib, if cared for during the win- ter, and would amply reward om- trouble : then- deli- cate silky blossoms are very fi-agi-ant, and their foliage bright, glossy, and ornamental. The myrtle is a native of warm climates, grows abundantly in the East, as well as in many parts of the South of Europe ; and is used in Scriptm-e as one of the em- blems of the flourishing beauty of the church. It leads our thoughts, too, to the vision of Zechariah, amidst the myrtle trees, full of good and comfortable words to the aflBicted people of God. The mild an- of Devonshu-e permits the myi-tle to live through the year, and it abounds on its southern coast, which may give us hope of gradually strengthening it in the colder parts of England. The poor languid-looking chi-ysanthemums ai'e fading fast, but they have brightened our borders long after other beauties closed their summer season ; and very graceful, deUcate-looking flowers they are. They should always occupy a sheltered spot, and the soU should be light and good. Leaf-mould suits them very well, and they are improved by soapsuds. I see them in cottage gardens flourishing with very little cai'e ; and although, of course, smaller in size, yet valuable as so long enlivening the border. If placed against a wall they look very graceful, and do well ; they should be trained thinly and regularly, like a peach-tree, and if possible enjoy a southern aspect; they will then bloom tEl a late period of the year. The dark red IDao, and primrose-coloured varieties, are most frequently seen as border plants ; and grouped together, have a beautiful appearance. Those raised in pots are sometimes exti-emely large, and very rich in colour. Our garden work is now drawing fast to a close ; there is Uttle left to do, except to sweep up scattered leaves, and tie up the branches of climbing plants when storms have loosened them. Do not rake away the dead leaves beneath evergreens ; they protect the roots, and enrich them too, as they decay ; let them be swept under the shi-ubs again, as the winds distm-b them. If evergi-eens require to he headed down or clipped, wait till the spring, the season is now too far advanced — fi-osts are at hand, and would injure them. But shrubs or hedges that shed theii' leaves, such as hawthorn, privet, hornbeam, &c., may be clipped and trimmed with safety. Even at this ohUly season it is pleasant to wander about our garden, if we only find one stray twig to trim, or fix in its proper place. We mark the spots where our bulbs lie hid ; we watch the early spring plants, hoping to see the first shoot rising among the decaying leaves ; and till the snow falls and hides them from our sight, we ai'e daily visiting our borders. To the rich and poor alike the garden is of perpetual interest. How much enjoyment is lost to those who do not possess this taste ! and to those who do, all season have a charm. To ladies it is a source of health as well as pleasure ; it draws them from their weaiy worsted work, to inhale fresh balmy air; benefits mind and body, and if they wiU. perceive, their views of the wonders of creation will be extended, and their thoughts led in ten thousand ways to God. MANGOLD-WURTZEL AND TURNIPS. SWEDISH Having stored the mangold-wurtzel and Swedish turnip crops, it may not be uninteresting to some of the readers of The Cottage Gardener to know the particulars of theii- cultivation adopted at Bicton, for an abundant crop of these roots is no bad store for those who keep a cow or pig. It is a resource to go to through the winter, instead of having to incur- a heavy account at the mill or the mealman's. Both the roots above-named are of well-known value for stock, particularly when boiled or steamed ; and since the potato has so much fallen off, they will come into more extensive use. When good pig or farm-yard manure, or manure made fi-om a mixture of the slops and refuse of the house and gai-den, can be had in abundance, no ai-ti- ficial manures are requii'ed ; but as that abundance cannot always be commanded, it maybe of service to detail some results I have obtained from using the latter. To plots of Mangold and Swedes were applied Peruvian guano, at the rate of 3 cwt. per acre. It was mixed with dry ashes, and put on and hoed in at twice after the plants had commenced gi-owing strongly. To two other plots were apjjUed 3 cwt. of Mr. Barker's " New Patent Submaiine Manure ;" and to other plots was applied a mixture of 2 cwt. char- coal-dust and 1 cwt. common salt. In both cases applied at twice. The results were nearly equally good in all. The Swedes were drilled in, the rows twenty seven inches apart, in May, on a sandy loam well prepared for them. They came up quickly, and gi-ew away strongly. As soon as they were up tlie surface of the ground was gently crust-broken, by running over it a light wooden one-man roUev, with a few light bushes tied to its frame behind. This was done two or three times before the turnips were hoed. At the first hoeing no plants were cut out, but the thinning was done in due time, and the hoeing re- peated as long as it was possible to perform it. The average produce of these Swedes per pole or rod, of lU^ yards square, was from 298 tbs to 314 fbs after their tops and roots had been trimmed off. The tops per square rod averaged 53 tbs. The mangold-wurtzel averaged 146 tbs per row thu-ty-three feet long, after tlieir tops, &c., had been cut oft'. The tops fi-om the same length of rows averaged about 15 tbs. In cidtivatiug these crops, if a plant fails at the time of then- early gi-owth, the vacancy is immediately filled up by transplanting : and they are kept perfectly fi-ee fi-om weeds, and the surface as open as possible by frequent hoeings. This, in my opinion, is the grand, though simple, operation of all good cultivation. Unless the siu-face of the soU be kept open to admit the air, there wUl always be a proportionate deficiency of produce, and the crops will always be more liable to the attacks of vermin and disease. J. Barnes, Bicton Gardens. HINTS FROM OUR CONTEMPORARIES. Crtptomehia Japonica. — We are much gratified to find that Mr. TUlery, of Welbeck, Mr. Cox, of Red- leaf, Mr. Kail, of East Horsely Park, and other first- rate gardeners, agree in stating that they find this beautiful tree perfectly hardy, and capable of enduring our climate. For this member of the fir or pine-tribe we are indebted to the researches of Mr. Fortune in China. — Oard. Journal. 104 THE COTTAGE GARDENER. Roses. — Mr. H. Bowers, of Busbridge, near Go- dalming. says he finds these flowers much improved by being root-pruned and transplanted once every three years. Early in November he removes a part of the soil about them, puts in its place plenty of rich dung, shortens the strong roots, and replants them immediately. This treatment makes the roots com- pact and vigorous ; and they bloom freely, producing no suckers. — Gard. Chronicle. Charcoal. — Many of the Orchidacese at the Lon- don Horticultural Society's Gardens at Chiswick are growing on charred blocks of wood, and their vigour- ous aspect shews that they dehght in this treatment. — Gard. Almanack, TO CORRESPONDENTS. Mulching (J. Wharfe). — mulching is puttincr fresh long dung about the roots of a plant, but on the surface of the ground, to keep them moist. Kidney Bean Seed {E. W. Childs).~lt will produce fruitful plants next year, if only two years old. Cut Potato-sets (Ibid). — As you have been so badly persuaded, leave them ; they may survive, though the chances are against tliera. Seedsmen's Names (Iota, Middleborutigh). — A list will be found in "Johnson's Gardener's Almanac for 1849," just published. The error you point out has been corrected. Foundry Loam [J. J.). — This, if clayey, would benefit alight soil ; and, if saudy, it would be equally goud for a heavy soil. It gets nothing from being used in a foundry that will render it injurious to plants. Hollyhock (G. Hownrd). — We will give some directions for its cultivation. If you have your copy of The Cottage Gardener through a Bookseller, the delay arises from his having no parcel from London until Saturday or Monday. Soot (M. Bury, Green Lodge). — Soot may be employed advanta- geously to mix with the earth in potting most plants. We shall give directions for cultivating the verbena in due time ; and all the illus- trations we can afford. Raspberries (An Amateur Gardener, Fnreham). — You will find an answer to your query in our sixth Number. Cut all the canes down in April. The young shoots, Blr. Barnes says, will bear the same autumn. " Picking out the tops " of the young shoots, means nipping off the top bud of each. Cows, Pigs, Poultry {Rev. P. W.). — We intend to include these among our subjects by degrees. The difficulty is to get practical men to write about them. Celery (V. Hampson), — A letter addressed to Blr. J. Turner, Neepsend, Sheffield, stating your wants, will reach Mr. Nutt. Chou De Milan (A Willing Payer). — This is not a brocoli, but a borecole, and, translated into English, means the Milan cabbage. Cut off its head, when it will produce numerous sprouts. Kohl Rabi (Ibid). — This is the turnip-rooted cabbage (Brassica caulorapa). The bulbs are not so palatable as the turnip, and the tops are not so good as the cabbage. Nohl Khol is the turnip-cab- bage (Brassica napo-brassica), having a fleshy swelling on the stem, and, like the other, is of little value for table use. They are hardy and good for pigs, &c. Productiveness of Fruit-trees (A Subscriber). — This de- pends so much upon soil and management, that we fear we can give you no accurate information, but we will inquire. The book you ask for is "Johnson's Gardener's Dictionary." Un Francais {Cheltenham). — Asphodel tricolor we do not know; and the daphne and pitonia are tor borders, not for pot-culture. Full directions lor cultivating the camellia in rooms will soon appear in our pages. Hyacinths in Moss (E. M. Gawsworth). — All the common spring bulbs, such as snow-drops, snow-tlakes, tulips, hyacinths, nar- cissus, &c., will grow and flower in moss. The plan has been followed more than thirty years, and there is no question about its answering. Pack the moss firm, and bury the roots below the sur- face. All the water required is to keep the moss always damp. The pot or vessel, must be drained as when soil is used. Warm Pit ^2). — It will not answer to place soil over the flue, to plunge pots in ; the soil when dried by the flue would be a powerful non-conductor of heat. Melons and cucumbers can hardly succeed by your arrangement. Place a stage of boards above your flue, and twelve or eighteen inches above it, to lay the pots on ; all greenhouse and window-plants may easily be wintered in pits, where they have head-room enough, and where frost can be excluded. Scarlet Geraniums {iV/ur^'/re^). — A kitchen-window is generally too hot to winter scarlet geraniums in ; the heat will not let them rest properly : pick off their leaves and put them in a spare box or cupboard upstairs, and cover them well when frost prevails, and let them have air in mild weather ; if any of the tops are damp, cut them off instantly. Charring Peat (A Subscriber). — Both the samples of peat you have sent to us would answer admirably for charring. You will find sufficient directions by Mr. Barnes, at page 83 of our eighth Number. You can char any quantity at a time, from a few barrow-loads to as many waggons-full. The black portion of your peat is not charred, it is merely dried vegetalile matter and soil str.mgly coloured with the oxide of iron. Charred peat would act admirably as a disinfec- tant for the fifty years' accumulation of night-soil. One load of charred peat to five of night-soil would be sufficient. • Stakks (A. J.).— Pitch or tar on that part of a stake driven into the ground is not at all injurious to the roots of plants. The best mode of preserving that part of a staKe is to char it, letting the charring extend over that portion just above the soil. Paint can be put on over the charred part, as well as over the rest. Stakes and posts thus treated will outlast three or four that are uncharred. Names OF RnsES {W. H. Thomas).— We should have given the names in English if they had any, for we are quite alive to the utility of putting everything in our own language ; but we could not re- christen the roses. Nutritive Matter in Vegetable Marrow (O. S.).~-\Ve be- lieve that there is 10 percent, of nutritive matter in the vegetable marrow, and about 13 per cent, in mangold-iivurtzel. Apple and Pear-keeping {Ibid). — You will find our opinions on this subject fully given at page 3 J of our fourth Number. Book on the Potato (J. H. Chippenham) .—.Johnson on the Po- tato, published by Bohn. We will see as to the list of potatoes you suggest. Cottage Gardener (J. S.,Neu'caxfle-on-Tyne). — The delay in the delivery must be with your bookseller or his agent. We supply the country trade a day or two before the regular dav of publication. Greenhouse (DaMHml. — We will before long publish a descrip- tion and plan of what we consider the best mode of constructing this. Portugal Cabbage (A. TF.).— This, we presume, is the Portugal, or large-ribbed borecole. The heart of this is boiled as usual, out the ribs, which are very large, of the outer leaves are most excellent if cut out, tied into bundles, and served up at table as asparagus. Seed of it sown at the end of March, will produce plants ready for use at the end of autumn and early winter; sown about the middle, the plants are ripe late in the winter. Bower (G. W. Pretty). — To have this covered with evergreens as (juickly as possible, situated as it is under the branches of a spread- ing apple-tree, you cannot do better than to planty ivy and evergreen honeysuckle. We would also recommend a row of the large peri- winkle (Vinca major) all round; it will keep the bottom thickly evergreen. We shall be glad to hear of the results of the autumn- planting of potatoes adopted by you and your neighbours. Plants Under a Sycamore (C M.). — No plants will do here so well as where they have more light, a freer circulation of air, and less drip. The plant that will endure such a situation with least injury is the large periwinkle (Vinca major). You may try also, with a prospect of some success, the lily of the valley and the wood- sorrel. If you wish for a few shrubs also, plant the variegated holly, aucuba, laurustinus, holly-leaved berberry, scarlet-blossomed currant, and guelder rose. Seed Damaged by Post-office (W. X.). — We hope that the slight injury your seed has received will not prevent its growing. Unfortunately we have no more to send you. We have had one accidentally broken in two, which we have joined again by means of a little coUodium [gun-cotton dissolved in ether); this forms an artificial skin over the wound, insoluble in water, and we are trying whether the seed will now grow. Probable Product of a Dwarf Ridston Pippin (A Sub- scriber). — The Ribston pippin is so liable to canker in some situations, that it is a very uncertain kind to calculate upon. So much also depends upon the character of the soil, and of course the well-being and permanency of the tree. We should say, at 5 years old it would not bear more than one bushel per annum, average; at 10 years, not above two bushels ; and at 10 years, about three bushels. These remarks apply to the dwarf trees, which are supposed to undergo regular pruning, Standards unpruned would produce much more. DIanure for Roses (An Amateur, Tavistock). — It is quite true that Mr, Rivers recommends night-soil for roses, and its offensiveness may be removed by mixing it with charred peat, or even charred weeds in equal quantities. Pig manures, from styes where pigs are fatting, would be nearly as good ; especially if mixed with a little soot. One of the best manures for roses is super-phosphate of lime (bones dissolved in oil of vitrei). See page 56, in our sixth Number. Moving Large Trees (J. Harrison, Preston). — We have re- moved many large apples vvithin the last twenty years with much success. Our trees have not, however, exceeded twelve years in age ; their trunk at the base not more, on an average, than five inches in diameter. We do not cut them down to mere stumps, as you have done, but merely thin the shoots much more than usual. They should be removed with much care, and the surface over their roots, when replanted, should be mulched. If the succeeding May be dry, thev should be copiously watered. We will deal with this subject at large in the C. G. shortly. Your mode of covering wounds in trees with gutta percha dissolved in naptha seems good. OvER-LDxuRiANT Marie Locise Pear (.4. TT^.). — Throw out a circular trench about five feet from the stem of your Marie Louise pear, and cut every root clear away which comes to hand. Fill the trench again with any fresh turfy soil, and apply some littery mulch, three inches thick, over the surface of the uncut roots. In pruning, thin heavily, but do not shorten the shoots. London: Printed by Harry Wooldridgb, 147, Strand, in the Parish of Saint Mary-le-Strand ; and Winchester High-street, in the Parish oi St. Mary Kalendar ; and Published by William Somerville Orr, at the Otfice, H7, Strand, in the Parish of Saint Mary-le-Stranl, Lonion. — Deccmbsr 7th, 18(8. THE COTTAGE GAKDENER. 105 WEEKLY CALENDAR. M W D D U Th DECEMBER 14—20, 1848. Plants dedicated to each day. Sun Rises. Sun Sets. Moon R. and Sets. Moon's Age. Clock aft. Sun. Day of Year. Tufted Pocher comes. Swamp Pine. laS 49 a 3 9 1 19 4 55 349 I.") F G-reenfinches collect in flocks. Pitch Pine. 2 49 10 11 20 4 26 3.50 ' 1 fi S Camb. Term ends. ! Sapientia ! Chinese Arbor Vitae. 3 49 11 19 21 3 56 351 117 SrN':i SuND-iY IX Advent. [comes. Wliite Cedar. [press. 4 49 mom. «?■ 3 27 352 'is M Ox.Term ends. Brent Wild goose Slender - branch ed Cy- 5 50 25 23 2 57 353 19: Tn Linnean Soc. Meeting, [comes. Two-coloured Heath. .5 50 1 29 24 2 27 354 20 W ^Embei-Week. Long-tailedPocher Stone Pine. 6 50 2 33 25 1 57 355 O ! Pap!ENTia !— These were the first two words of a Latin hymn, formerly s:ing in the church from this day until Christ mas- eve. The first liii? of this hymn in English was, " O ! the wisdomwhich pro- ceeded from the mouth of the Most High." E:mber Wr.EK.— This is one of four weeks first appointed by Pope Calixtus, in the third century, for imploring a blessmg upon the earth's produce. They were seasons of peculiar fasting and mortifi- cation, when the priests put on "sackcloth and embers" (ashes). The Sundays immediately after these weeks are now appointed by the English Church for the ordination of her ministers. Phenomena of the Season.— Although we have had a few Insects.— Early in the present month appears the December Moth lEriogaster—PwcHocampa— populi) ; and it is the more notable by being almost the only one that is now to be found. It is not a very severe night-frosts, yet the days and weather generally were so mild and moist throughout November, that the common earth-worms were always to be found ^vithin a few inches of the surface, and often stretched upon it enjoying the moisture of the air. Their casts are even now almost as abundant upon our lawns as they are in the mildest and most showery days of April. Such casts are obnoxious to the eye of those who " in trim gardens take their pleasure ; " but otherwise these timid piercers and borers of the subsoil are the friends, rather than the enemies, of the cultivator. There is no doubc of worms promoting the natural drainage of the soil ; and, though they occasionally unroot a seedling, we think the good they do far outbalances their misdeeds. Decem. 1841. 1842. 1843. 1844. 1845. 1846. 1847. i U Highest & lowest temp. 15 Cloudy. Fine. Fine. Frosty. Shower)'. Frosty. Fine. 42°— 27° 56°-36° 51°— 41° 32°— 28° 44°— 35° 30°— 13° 51°— 32° Showery. Fine. Fine. Cloudy. Showery. Frosty. Fine. 50°— 37° 56°— 39° 54°— 39° 40°— 3'4° 51°— 39° 30°— 13° 54°— 17° I6 Pine. Fine. Showery. Cloudy. Fine. Frosty. Pine. 49°— 30° 55°— 48° 54°— 38° 43'— 35° 51° — 12° 35°— 21° 53°— 16° 17 Frosty. Fine. Fine. Cloudy. Showery. Fine. Fine. 39°— 17° 51°— 31° 54°— 30° 44°— 35° 49°- 40° 36°— 15° 55°— 46° 18 Frosty. Fine. Fine. Showery. Rainy. Frosty. Rainy. 35°— 16° 47°— 35° 45°— 40° 44°— 40° 49°— 35° 33°— 23° 49°— 26° 19 Frosty. Fine. Cloudy. Showery. Cloudy. Uainy. Fine. 37°— 27° 45°— 35° 47°— 42° 42°— 29° 49°— 36° 44°^1° 47°— 32° 20 Frosty. Cloudy. Cloudy. Fine. Fine. Rainy. Cloudy. 39°— 20° 52°— 16° 49°— 41° 38°— 23° 47°— 32° 48°— 42° 41°— 3'l° rare moth, and is to be detected sticking to the trunks of trees in orchards. The colour of the upper wincis is a dark chesnut, with a grayish fringe ; and \vhen outspread, they are about an inch and a quarter across. They haye a pale band curving towards the body, and another wavy band across the centre of each upper wing. The two under wings are brown ; the horns, or feelers fantennije), are thread-shaped. The female moth deposits her eggs on the upper branches of the poplar, and of vaiious fruit-trees. From those eggs the caterpillars are produced late in the spring. Their sides are grey, their backs are dark grey, with four red dots on each ring. They are in companies when young, under a silky web, from which they come out at night to feed upon the leaves. By degrees, as they grow larger, they leave the web, and live singly until full grown, when they spin a little silky bag, or cocoon, in which they remain in the chrysalis state until the next December, when they in their turn give birth to moths. Last week we confined our attention to the lime, or calcai-eous refuse of the gas-works, and we now address ourselves to the consideration of the gas- water, or ammoniacal liquor obtainable at the same manufactories. In so doing, we hare little to add to the following statements which the editor had previously published in another form. Every gardener must be aware of the experiments lately made, by mixing gypsum, gi-een vitriol (sul- phate of ii'on), and other bodies, with fanny ard ma- nure, to fix or prevent the escape, during its putri- fying, of the ammonia it contains. The reason for making those experiments is, that all chemists and all practical men agree that manui'es are fertilizing just in proportion to the quantity of ammonia which they contain.* All animal matters are more feitUiz- • We explained in a former Number that ammonia is the active spirit of smelling salts, hartshorn, S:c. Gypsum, or Plaster-of-Paris, is composed of oil of vitriol and lime, and the ammonia unites with its oil of vitriol. ing than vegetable matters, because the first contain abimdance of ammonia, and the latter very little. Then again, night-soU, pig-dung, guano, andpigeon's- dung, are the richest manures; and these contain more ammonia than any other ; and ammonia is beneficial to plants, not only as a stimulant, but be- cause it is a component of aU cultivated plants, as the researches of modern chemists demonsti'ate. Now ammonia is contained in large quantities by tlie gas-water. AU coals yield cai-bonate and acetate of ammonia when distilied in the retorts of the gas- works, and, being soluble, the gas is purified fi-om these salts by passing it through water; and how valuable it is thus rendered as a manui'e is thus testified by Mr. Cuthbert Johnson, in his Farmer's Encyclopedia : " There are many testimonials in favour of the use, as fertilizers, of the salts of ammonia, either in their pure state, or as foimd in an impiu'e combination with soot, or in the liquor of the gas-work. ' Soot,' says 106 THE COTTAGE GARDENER. Davy, ' owes part of its eflScaoy to the ammouiaeal salt it contains.' The liquor produced by the distil- lation of coal contains carbonate and acetate of am- monia, and is said to be a very good manure. In IftO^, I observed that the growth of wheat, in a field at Roehampton. was greatly assisted by a veij weak solution of acetate of ammonia." Care must be taken in using this and all other liquid fertilizers not to make the solution too strong; it is an en-or into which all cultivators are apt to fall in their early experiments. Davy was not an excep- tion : from making his liquids too concentrated, he obtained results which widely differed from his latter experiments. There is no doubt but that the salts of ammonia, and all the compound manures which contain them, have a very considerable forcing or stimulating effect upon vegetation. In the experiments of Dr. Belcher upon the com- mon garden cress, by watering it with a solution of phosphate of ammonia, the plants were fifteen days forwarder than other plants gi'owing under similar circumstances, but watered with plain water; and he also describes the experiment of a Mr. Gregory, who, by wateiing one half of a grass-field with urine (which aboimds with the salts of ammonia), nearly doubled his crop of hay. " It is probable," says Mr. Handley, " that the am- moniacal liquor which abounds in gas-works, and which, when formerly allowed to run waste into the Thames, was said to destroy the fish and prejudice the quality of the river water for human consumption, and which is still thrown away throughout the coimtry, except at a few works, where they manufac- ture sal ammoniac, will, ere long, be extensively used as a manure, either through the intervention of the water-cai't, or for the process of satiating and decom- posing soil or vegetable matter. A veiy satisfactory illustration, on a small scale, has recently been sub- mitted by Mr. Pain. He put into a vessel some leaves of ti'ees, saw-dust, chopped straw, and bran, to which he applied ammonia, and closed it up. In about three weeks the whole was reduced to a slimy mass ; he then stirred it, and added a little more am- monia, and, when submitted to the English Agi-icultu- ral Society, it was reduced to a black mass of vegeta- ble mould, strongly impregnated with volatile salts, and in very small particles, similar to peat mould. When applied in its liquid form to grass, like salt, it apparently destroys the plant ; but the spot is distin- guished by increased verdure the succeeding year." If applied to land in a liquid form, by means of a watering-pot, it should be previously diluted by mix- ing with it at least five gallons of water to each one gallon of gas-liquor. And its effects will be rendered more permanent, if the sour grounds of beer-casks, oil of vitriol, or other cheap acid, be mixed with it ; for the acid combines with the ammonia, and renders it less volatile, or, in common language, fixes it. The best mode of proceeding is to add oil of vitriol to the gas-liquor until it ceases to effervesce, or until bubbles cease to rise copiously in it, and then to add five-times the quantity of water than there is of liquor. A gallon of liquor will not require more than half a pound of oil of vitriol. Two hundred gallons of gas-liquor are sufficient for an acre. By experiments made by a practical farmer, it was proved that gas-liquor was far more beneficial to grass than eight other manures, though two of them were bone dust and soot. For an outlay of forty shillings per acre two tons additional per acre of hay were obtained. The London Horticultural Society have lately instituted experiments upon manures, for the improvement of laicns, and the conclusion arrived at was extremely in favom- of gas-liquor when compared with other manm'es. — Johnson's Gar- dener's Almanack. Mr. Knight, a most respectable faa'mer of exten- sive lands at Winnal, near Winchester, uses annually thirty bushels per acre of gas-lime and ashes, one- thu'd being gas-lime. He drUls it in with turnips, and sows with barley and grass afterwards. He allows the gas-compost to lie twelve months before it is used. The ashes are also from the gas-works, and have absorbed gas-water and tar. He has tried them against guano successfully. To the gardener, gas-water also ofiers a powerful remedy against one of their greatest enemies, the louse or green-fly (Aphis), which attacks their pea, bean, and other crops so destructively. I have found it equally effective in destroying the black louse (Aphis cehasi), which is occasionally so injurious to the Morello cherry. Dr. Lindley states (Oardener's Clironicle), that — "It has lately been ascertained by Mr. George Gordon, the Superintendent of the Hardy Depart- ment in the Garden of the Horticultural Society, that the ammoniacal liquor of the gas-works, diluted with water, is a certain remedy for the green-fly, which has been so unusually abundant during the present year. He has found that, although gas-water in its undiluted state bums foliage whenever it touches it, yet that plants do not suffer from it when considerably weakened with water." It appears that when the London gas-liquor is mixed with ten times its measure of water, and applied with a syringe to the parts of plants infected with the green-fly, it causes so speedy a destruction of those insects, that the greater part disappear after the first dose, and a second application is sufficient to clear away all the remainder. Upon mentioning this dis- covery to a person whose garden was, four days since, in a most deplorable state from swarms of green-fly, he ordered his gai'dener to repeat the experiment with gas-liquor, weakened with twelve times its measure of water. The following morning, upon looking over the bushes, it was scarcely possible to detect a living individual; the leaves were green and much refreshed by the operation. The syringing was only used twice. As we foresee that many inquiries will be made as to the proper proportion of gas-Uquor and water that ought to be employed, it is as well to anticipate them THE COTTAGE GAEDENER. lor by saying, that it is impossible for us to answer such inquiries, except in general terms. Everybody must ascertain the fact for himself, by mixing gas-liquor and water in various proportions, and trying their effect in a small way at first The fact is, that the quantity of ammonia contained in gas-liquor is extremely variable — the gas-works making it of no uniform strength. That used by Mr. Gordon and by the gentleman above alluded to was very strong ; effervescence not ceasing in an ounce of it untU iifty drops of the sulphuric acid (oil of vitriol) of the apothecaries had been added. Those who wish to determine the relative strength of that which they employ, can do so by a very simple process ; take one fluid ounce of the gas-Uquor to be employed, and add to it, drop by drop, such sulphuric acid as may be bought in the apothecaries' shops, until effervescence ceases. Then, supposing they find this to occur after twenty-five drops have been added, they will know that their gas4iquor is only half as strong as that used by the Horticultural Society ; and, consequently, instead of adding ten parts of water to one part of gas liquor, they must only add five parts, to obtain the same strength, and so on. It is true that this is not a very exact proceeding, because the sulphuric acid of the apotliecaiies itself varies in strength, but we conceive it to be quite suf- ficiency exact for gardening purposes. There is one important advantage that is obtained by this process, namely, that independently of killing the green-fly, the plants are well manured by the same operation ; so that nothing is lost. Gas-tar is an excellent manure, for it not only is composed entirely of vegetable matters, but is abound- ing in ammonia. Daniell's manm'e, which has been found so beneficial in many instances, has gas-tar funong its chief constituents. It is easily spread over the suj'face of the soil, and ploughed or dug in, if mixed with earth and ashes. It should be applied just previously to the last ploughing or digging, immediately before sowing or planting. But this is not the only use to which the gardener can apply gas- tar beneficially. It is an admhable paint for old walls, giving them a fi-esh face, desti'oying insects, filling up boles, especially if mixed with a little lime- dust, and so combines with the old mortar as to give it additional firmness to retain the nails used la train- ing fi'uiHiees. Finding it quite impossible to make room for the contributions sent us by Coeeespondents, or for special directions for Ailotmbnt Tenants, we pm-- pose publishing, at the end of each month, an extra Niunber, to be devoted to those subjects, and to con- tain a copious Index of the contents of the previous month's Numbers. THE FRUIT-GARDEN. Hedges and Hedge-bow FHuii-iREEa are by no means unimportant items in small gardens. Otlier boundaries prevail, especially in tlie neighbourhood of towns, such as wooden fences and regular garden walls; the latter for the most part forming an en- closure to the garden of the amateur; but om- purpose now win be to deal with the ordinary hedge, as bear- ing on the cultivation of hedge-row fruit-tiees. The mode of planting hedge boundaries differs in various situations; the diffei'ence for the most part being founded on the mere custom of the district. Thus, in one county, the folks have no other idea of a hedge but one raised half a yard above the groimd level; this, in the north-western parts of England, is termed a " cop." This cop has been forced into practice, no doubt, fi-om the gi-azing fields in the vicinity ; and certainly, whilst the hedge is in an in- fant state, the cop is of much service in withstanding the inroads of the cattle on the other side. These cops, however, are very sori-y affairs in some instances, especially on dry uplands. We have known many such in our day, which neither could produce nor maintain a good hedge. This is in part owing to the small amount of pains bestowed on the constniction of the cop bank; for, whether the soil on the spot be good or bad, it is tumbled over, and tinfed up at the sides; and where the soil is of a changeable character, — now a morass, now clayey, and then again mere sand — the hedge of course partakes in appearance of the fitful nature of the soil beneath. We know of hedges of this character extending for miles, in which luxuriant patches alternate with th ose in a half-starved state. In fact, in some places the hedge never rises a foot iirom the suiiace. To the stranger, this is a cause of surprise, but on a little examination it is perceived that all the strong-growing parts (many of which rise seven or eight feet in much luxuriance) are in the lowest dips, whilst those on the rising ground are stunted. The hedges in question flank the road-sides from Delamere Forest onwards towards Chester. They were fonned, probably, by gentlemen deputed ft-om the Woods and Forests' Board, who, not having prac- tical and local information on the subject, have missed their aim. If a hedge is at all necessaiy, means should be taken to make it a good and an equal hedge, for we are in the habit of thinking a boundary-fence a most im- portant affair. The introduction of fruit-trees into hedge-rows is worthy of much consideration, for, as we have before obsei'ved, we have known the cottager to realize a considerable portion of his rent fi'om his hedge-row fruit-ti'ces. We will, therefore, endeavour to encourage such cultivation, by a httle advice founded on practice. The best chance for thus estabUshing fruit-trees occurs when a new hedge is being planted : then it is that soil can with faciUty be introduced at the station for the trees, which will render them perma- nent in character; and, if manured aright, not unfi'e- quently superior in productiveness to those in culti- vated gardens, where, by an injudicious attempt at cropping close to the surface of the ti'ees, the spade carries on a most destructive waj'fare with the valuable surface roots. When such a hedge is planned, and it is determined to inti'oduce fruit-trees, some pains should be taken to examine both soil and subsoil along the whole length. It not unfrequently happens that, from sudden variations in the textm'e of the soO, an exchange may be accomplished, which wUl preclude the necessity of caiTying soil from other parts. The first tiling to be done, is to set out stations for the fruit brees. Their distance must be ruled by the situation of the dwarf fruit-trees on the garden-border, which, as we suggested in oui- chapter on slopes, should be within some eight or ten feet of the hedge. In this case, one hedge-row fruit-tree between every two gai'den or border-trees would be too much, espe- cially on the south side of the garden ; indeed, it is a question whether they ought to be inti'oduced at all on the south. We would, therefore, plant only half the 108 THE COTTAGE GARDENER. number of liedge-trees ; that is to say, in beginning at one end, we would plant one hedge-row tree in an angle, opposite the first two border-trees. We would then miss the ne.xt angle, and plant another hedge tree in the succeeding one, and so on. In preparing gi-ound for a hedge, which is to be a boimdary defence, a portion of gi-ound four feet in width should be trenched, or otherwise broken up. The depth to which this trenching should be can-ied depends on two things : first, whether there is to be a cop or bank above the ground level; and, secondly, as to what depth the good soil extends. If the ground in this part is very uneven in depth, and some jiarts a hungi-y sand or clay, we would remove as much of the very had soil, before proceeding to trench, as was needed to receive some of a better staple. After this, some better soil must be placed in its room. When other portions of the line are rich in soD, a part may be borrowed from thence. The stations for the fruit- ti'ees being each marked with a stake, the soil in those spots must have a little extra examination, and mate- rials of a sound and enduiing character dug in at those points. When it is considered how much the ground will be " sucked " by the roots of the hedge as well as of the fruit-tree, it is manifest that a little extra labour at these points wiU not be thrown away. As to what kind of soU to introduce for the fiiiit- tree, that depends much on the character of the soil already there. If of a clayey and wet character, some mellow and fi-ee soil of any kind will render assist- ance ; but if diy or sandy, marl, strong loam, or even clay may be introduced. We are anxious to impress on our readers that a strong staple should be provided at the tree stations, — a soil rather approaching clay than sand. We are aware that the mere cottager has much difficulty in procuring soD, and that some far- mers are not so ready to accommodate them as they ought to be. We have, however, known plenty of cases where a man may give a day's labour in hay or corn harvest as an exchange for things of this kind ; and two, or at most three, days' service would gene- rally procure as much soil as the cottager woidd requu-e. Tbei-e is generally some low gi'ass lands in most districts, where some furrowing has to be per- formed annually for temporaiy drainage purposes, and soil of this character is invaluable to mix with the hedge-sou, for the fniit-tree stations. It must be remembered that turf of any kind, even from the sides of the lanes, commons, or wastes, is of the utmost seiTice in this case ; too much turf of any ordinai-y kind can scai-cely be introduced. Even weeds, cabbage stalks, and other vegetable refuse may be blended with the mass. When good sound soil cannot be obtained, and the ground is poor and diy, we would strongly advise lumps of marl or clay to be tumbled in the bottom of the holes, where the fruit- trees are to be planted. A mixture, according to cir- cumstances, being thus introduced, the work, as far as the fruit-trees are concerned, is complete. The deep digging or trenching of the hedge line may now be carried out, taking care on aniving at the fruit-tree stations not to rob it of its materials, but to pass by it. Any ordinary sandy or poor material met with in trenching may be tossed into heaps on one side; such, if requisite, wiU do very well to raise the surface with, for six inches of such on the surface will do no harm: the main business is to secure sound material ibrthe roots below. About the hedge and fi-uit-tree planting we wiU oifer farther advice in due course. Peaches and other Trees on Walls. — We shall now soon turn our backs on Christmas, when spring, with its peculiar and pressing labours, will soon begin to advance. Nailing and training, if delayed, some- times becomes a serious impediment to other matters; and we advise that all these things be got forward with speed. Many persons do not like to prune their peaches in the dead of winter : for our own part, we have pnined at all seasons for many years, and could never find any injm-y resulting from midwinter prun- ing of the peach. Where such has occurred, it must have been in the case of bloated and badly-ripened wood : and this is liable to such injiu'ies under any circiunstances. At any rate, let all the young shoots be loosened immediately fi-om the wall, for the sake of picking and cleaning the shi-eds and nails, and placing them under horticultm-al quarantine. It is best with the peach and nectarine to remove eveiy shred which can be spared, in order not to be fettered in re-anaug- ing the shoots. Such may seem to involve much labom' ; we do not think so. We would rather under- take to nail a peach-tree totally un-uailed than one from which the bands had been removed sparingly. Indeed, all the trained trees on walls or fences must now be gone over, with the same view; and as soon as the shreds ai'e collected, they should, as in-door work, be picked over as soon as possible, using the test of a good tug with the two hands, in order to see if they wUl endure another year-. As soon as picked, throw them into boiling water for a quarter of an hour or more, in order to destroy the eggs of insects, and then spread them out to dry, and secure them for business. The nails should be shaken in a sack, the coarser it is the better. Put about a gallon into it, and let two persons, one at each end, shake them backwards and foiTvai'ds ; the fiiction against the bottom of the sack and each other, wiD loosen all extraneous matter. Some riddle them afterwards, and toss them in an- other sack, dropping a little oil amongst them before the operation. This will prevent rusting, and make them look quite fi'esh. In loosening the bands of the trees, care must be taken to leave as many as will pre- vent the shoots wind-waving, or they will get broken. Plums, pears, cherries, and apricots, need not have so many bands removed; they bear chiefly on spurs, and spur-beai-ing trees do not require so extensive a re-an-angement as those which bear on the young wood. Again we say, lose no time in canying out pruning matters. The gooseberries should be done as soon as possible, but where their buds are liable to the depre- dations of bii'ds, it is well to cut them very sparingly at this period. If they escape these pests, it is easy to go over them in the early part of April, and remove a few more shoots. R. Ekrington. THE rLOWER-GARDEN. Ferns {continued) : Soil. — The soils suitable for ferns are of very various kinds. Such ferns as are found in moist shady woods require a mixture of heath-mould and rotten leaves. Those that grow on mountains will thrive in gravelly loam ; whilst those that flourish in peaty bogs requu-e a peaty bog soU, as, also, sudi as ai-e natives of heaths or crevices of rocks do best if planted among sandy heath-mould. With those different soils most kinds of ferns may be suc- cessfully cultivated. Fekns in Pots. — Like the Alpine plants mentioned in the eighth Number, ferns may be satisfactorily culti- vated Ln pots. We have under our care, at Pine Apple- place, a good potted collection of them plunged in THE COTTAGE GAKDENER. coal-ashes, under a wall facing the west, where they thrive very well. The larger-gi'owing species, how- erer, do not send up such fine fronds as they would do if they were planted out in a proper situation, and in the right soil. Some of the more delicate kinds do exceedingly well in pots, in a compost of peat-earth, light loam, and sand, mixed with very small pieces of broken garden-pots. The larger pieces can he used for di'ainage. Those delicate kinds are such as grow naturally in the crevices of rocks in exposed situa- tions. Should the rains fall ever so abundantly and frequently, the roots of those ferns are never over- supplied with, moisture, so in the pots the di-ainage must be so perfect that the superabundant water will readily pass off fi-om the plants. Of course, those that are found in low moist places do not require so much di-ainage. In fact, if there be one piece of broken pot, or an oyster-shell, over the hole of the pot, it is quite sufficient. Water. — Ferns in pots should never be allowed to become dry The fibres of the roots are so small and delicate, that drought soon destroys them. They should be sprinkled over head every morning and evening fi*om April to August, excepting rainy days. In the autumn and winter they require no care but removing from them the decaying fi-ouds and weeds. Mosses and lichens may be allowed to gi'ow, as they will assist in protecting the roots fi"om the severe weather of winter. The following list of British hardy ferns, divided into theii' several localities, will materially assist the cultivator in placing them in his fenieiy : I. — Such Fems as grow on ex- posed rocks and crevices of walls. Adinntiim capillus veneris. True Maiden's-hair Fern. Allosorus rrispvs. Rock-brake. Polypodium calcareum. Smith's Polypody. Woodsia ilvenais. Ray's Woo dsia. „ atf}i?in. Bolron'.s dn. Ct/stopleris inuntmui. \V ilaou's Mountain Fern. Pofi/stichum Sonchitis. Holly Fern. Lastrea oreopteris. Mountain Lastrea. „ rigida. Rigid Fern. , ,, recurva. Recurved do. Asplenium lanceolntum. Lance- leaved Spleenwort. (Also on i Sea-cliffs.) ,, Adiantum nigrum, j Black do. j ,, Ruta muraria. Wall-rue do. ,, germnnirum. Alter- nate-leaved German do. ,, septentrionale. Forked Spleenwort. ,, trichomanes. Common ■ Spleenwort. Ceterach qfficionaruyn. Scaly do. I Lycopodium annotinum. Inter- ' rupted Club-moss. „ alpinum. Alpine, or ! savin-leaved do. ' , , selaginioides. Selago- like do. { II. — Such as grow on shady, moist Rocks, near Waterfalls or Ditches. Lomaria spicant. Spiked Lo- maria. Polypodium vulgare, var. cam- brictim. M'elsh Polypody. Polr/podium phegopteris. Beech Fern. Cystopteris fragilis. Brittle do. Aspfenium viride. Green Spleen- wort. ,, fontanam. Fountain's Abbey do. Trvchomanes spt'-iosum. Bristly Fern.* Hymenophi/llum Tunbridgense. Timbridge Filmy Fem.t ,, Wilnnnii. Wilson's do.t III. — Such as erow in moist, shady Woods. Polypodium dryopteris. Oak Polypody. Polyftfic/ium angulnre. Angular Polystichum. Lastrea spinosa. Spiny Lastrea. ,, multiflwa. Many-flow- ered do. ,, fili.r mas. Male Fern. AthyHum fil'u fctmina. Female Fern. IV. — Such as grow on Hedge- rows, open dry Heaths, and old Pastures. Athyrium Jilix famina, var. Smithii. Smith's Lady Fern. * This is a very choice fern, chiefly found in Ireland ; it requires a constant dipping of water over it. This may be managed by having a small vessel — a tub, for instance — higher than where the fern is planted, with a small hole bored in the vessel suflBcient to allow a drop or two out at a time. t These two are also scarce and elegant fems, loving moist rocks, but not requiring the drip over the herb, as the former one. In winter the whole three should be covered with hand-glasses, and a little common dried brake, or fern, thrown over them in severe frost. They are so lovely and curiously elegant, that they are worth all the pains you can bestow upon them. Polypodium vulgare. Common Polypody. Polystichum aculeafum. Prickly Polystichum. Scolopendrium officiiianim. Hart's Tongue Spleenwort. „ var. undulatum. Wavy do. ,, var. aiigustifolium. Narrow-leaved do. Bntrychium lunaria. Moon- wort. Lycopodium clavatum . Club- Moas. ,, selago. Fir do. Ophioglossvm mtlgatum. Com- mon Adder's-tongue. 109 V. — Such as grow in Boggy Heaths. Lastrea thalypteris. Marsh Fern. „ cristata. Crested Las- trea. Osmunda regnlis. Royal Fern. Lycopodium inundatum. Marsh Lycopodium. VI. — Sea-side Fems. Asplenmm marinum. Marine Spleenwort. }, Lajweolatum. Lance- leaved Spleenwort. Planting. — The fernery being completed and ready for planting, select as many of the first section as you may possess, then tmTi them out of their pots, and fix them in the crevices of the roclovork, pressing with the hand as much of heath-mould as will serve to fix them fii-mly hi their several places. Plant this section on the east and west sides of the rookwork. The se- cond section should be planted on the north and inside of the femeiy in the crevices of the rocks, in a simUar manner as the foregoing division, with the exception of the Bristly or Irish fern, which should be managed as described in the note. The third division should be planted on the lowest step, all round the fernery, in a compost of equal parts of loam and sandy heath-mould. As these are all, excepting Poly- podium Dryopteris, large growing species, they re- quire a space of at least two feet each to exhibit their fine foliage to advantage. The fourth section ought to be planted on the highest levels, in the same com- post. The common polypody is a creeping species, and may be inserted in hollows of old stumps of ti-ees, but the Moonwort and Adder's-tongue should be planted on a level part, and the sm-face covered with a coating of moss. A few pebbles or flints laid upon the moss will keep it in its place. The club mosses require planting, and part of their stems covered with moss and pebbles. The rest of the species of this lot merely require planting, and allowing a moderate space to grow in. Fifth section. The Royal Fem is in this division, and a noble, elegant species it is. As the whole of them are natives of boggy, wet places, they should be planted in the space round the small piece of water, inside the bank described in the last >f umber. The space allotted for them should have a coating of real bog-eai-th, nine inches or a foot thick. Plant them in it thinly, and keep the soil very moist, and as light as possible. They will then flourish surprisingly, and be exceedingly ornamental. Section the sixth, only numbering two species, should have a little sea-salt and gi-avel added to the compost, and be planted on ledges of stone orcUnkers. We have thus at some length dilated upon the culture of this tribe of plants so remarkable for their loveli- ness. We thought it best to give a pretty complete essay on the subject at once, so as to render it unne- cessary to refer to the subject again, except as a matter of routine management in future. One point is stni wanting to render it complete, and that is, a list of hardy foreign ferns, which we intend to give in some future Number. A.M-\teur's Flower-Garuen. — Again we must in- treat oiu- amatem- and cottage friends to read the essay on hardy fenis in this and the preceding Num- ber, and put it into practice as far as possible. We are quite sure they will he highly pleased with their labours. The alpinery and fernei-y may on a small scale be joined, but the plants should be kept sepa- rate, that is, the ferns and Alpine plants should not be mixed, as they do not bear the same treatment. no THE COTTAGE GAKDENER. Pruning. — Now is the proper time to prune shrubs, , &o. The principles to act upon are to produce the gi-eatest quantity of flowers, and to bilng the object into the proper and natural shape. All the small twigs in such shrubs as lilacs and syiingas should be carefully removed, especially near the ground. If they are left, they only serve as receptacles for fallen leaves blown about by the winds, and to waste the energies of the shrubs, so as to prevent, in a measui-e, the j)roduction of flowers and healthy foli- age. Common laurels frequently send forth a (ew extra strong shoots ; these must be shortened-in level with the more moderate gi'owing ones. All dead branches must be cut clean out, and also such as are diseased or ill placed. All the tools used in pruning — the knife, chisel, and saw — ought to be kept in good order. The wounds made by the saw should be pared smooth with the knife. All the prunings should be thrown together in some open place, and set fire to. Put upon them either some turf or rough soil, so as to char them. This is an excellent manure. Cottager's Flowek-gahden. — We tnist our cotter friends are profitting by the fine open weather we have been favoured with, and that all the various projects we have ti-eated upon are either completed or pro- gressing. Continue to watch the plants that require protection, and remove all things that will injure them. Strive to have in your flower-garden what we have recommended to you fi'om time to time. De- pend upon it your labom- will gratify and reward you when the season for your floral display anives. FLORISTS' FLOWERS. Cabkations and Picotees. — These beautiful, sweetly-scented favourites are of similar habits, and requii"e the same treatment, and, consequently, are genei'ally gi-own together. We shall, in the first place, consider (in answer to a correspondent) what kind of a blooming stage they require. We will suppose the collection to be small, say forty pots, containing eighty plants. The situation for this stage may be against a wall, facing the west or east. The stage itself should be level, raised from the ground one foot, three feet six inches wide, and fourteen feet long. This will hold three rows of pots, thirteen in a row, each pot being one foot wide, the centi-e or back row may con- tain foiu-teen. The stage should be suppoi-ted by posts driven into the ground, and cross pieces of wood, three iuches squai'e, nailed upon them. Upon these the boards, eleven inches wide and one inch thick, must be laid, leaving about an inch between each, to allow the water to run ofl'. Provision must be made for a shade to protect the blooms from the sun and rain. Four posts must be set up at six feet from the wall. This distance will allow two and a half feet for a walk. The height out of the gi'ound being six feet; also foiu- rafters to sup])ort the roller and canvass, should be laid sloping up to the wall. A roller of deal wood made round, two and a half inches diame- ter, will serve to nail the canvass to ; the other end of it should be nailed to a flat piece of wood, fastened to the top of the wall. The canvass ought to be strong, and moderately-close woven. Such canvass costs about 7d. a yard. The wheel is formed of three cir- cular pieces of wood, the centre one being two inches thick and five inches in diameter. The other two should be each ten inches diameter, and one and a half inch thick. The two latter pieces are to be nailed to the other, and bevelled off, so as to bring them to an edge outwards. When the wheel is thus made, and fastened to the roller, it wiH form a sort of gi-oove to receive the cord. When the blind is drawn up, the cord, one end of which is nailed to the inner circular piece of the wheel, is all oflf the wheel ; and when let down, it is all rolled round it. This is a simple and effectual mode of drawing up and letting down a shade or blind. The blind should come down as low as the stage ; and as, in the blooming season, winds may at times prevail, the ends ought to be closed up either with mats or canvass. Previously to fastening the canvass to the roller, let the whole have two or three coats of paint, stone colour being the neatest and cheapest. The post and rafters may be ornamented with honeysuckles or roses, which should be fastened with nails and shreds to the inside, so as not to interfere with the blind. The cost of a stage with shade, &c., of the above dimensions, will be about six pounds. GREENHOUSE AND WINDOW GARDENING. Eemembebing Names. — The most difficult part to a new beginner in gardening and growing plants is the quantity of strange hard names he has to leam. At first sight the gi-eat majority of these names look for- midable enough; but as names of some kind are necessai7 to distinguish one plant from another, we must learn them; and if we begin aright, all difficul- ties will soon vanish away with a little perseverance. The best way is to think of only one name at a time, to repeat it over and over again ; and if it sounds like anything you already know, associate it with that, and it will so far aid the memory. Writing a hard word two or three times is a capital way of assisting the mind. After you are fully master of this first name, you will find it more easy to learn the ne.xt; and you will succeed still more readily in your third attempt. Thus imperceptibly, and without any extraordinary exertion, the memory wiU soon get accustomed to this kind of exercise. Fortunately for the student in these days, every facDity which learn- ing and ingenuity can suggest for acquh-ing a know- ledge of the names and properties of plants has been made available for his use. Plants are now arranged in natural families, or tribes, so th at when one knows an individual of any one of these tribes, all the others belonging to it, having a family likeness, may easily be comprehended in a general way, and this is a great assistance to the memory in acquiring their names. All animals are classed in the same way ; and let us take an instance to shew how this arrangement assists us in finding out the names of things. Suppose one of your fi-iends had been to see a collection of wild animals, and told you he had seen among them a " fierce-looking beast;" you could not possibly under- stand from this description what sort of an animal he meant, or how its fiei-ceness manifested itself: he might even tell you the name of it was Leo Africanus, and still you would have no clue to guide you as to the aspect or form of the creature, if you never heard that name before. But if he were to tell you it looked like a huge cat, you would immediately form a dis- tinct idea of the shape, look, and general appearance of the brute ; and why? because pussey is already so famiUar to you. If you were then told that Leo meant a lion, and Africanus Africa, you would have the whole mystery cleared up at once: the fierce-look- ing beast turns out to be the African Hon ; and it further appears that the lion belongs to the same tribe THE COTTAGE GAEDENEK. Ill as the domestic oat. Now all the difficulties ahoiit the outlandish names of plants may be got over, with a little management, much in the same way. Take, for example, the corn-flag, — three kinds of which I recommended so strongly in my last letter. If you should only know the common one that blooms so gay in every old garden in the countiy about the beginning of June, you have a clear idea of the look and form of all the other corn-flags, which are very numerous, and not only to that, but of a host of other plants that belong to the same tribe, notwith- standing that their general appearance varies con- siderably. The greatest part of them, however, have their leaves sharp-pointed and flat, like a two-edged sword ; one of the edges being always turned towards the flower-stalk, which rises from among the leaves as if issuing out of a double sheath. Before I dismiss the subject of corn-flags, let me remark to such of my readers as are not acquainted with such matters, that if it were possible to destroy all the beautiful corn-flags that have been originated in this country and on the Continent by cross-breed- ing for the last thirty years, the whole of them, and many more besides, might easily be reproduced in three or four years by a judicious mixture of those three kinds I recommended, with the assistance of one other species, which is less generally known, and called Gladiolus tristis — " the sad corn-flag." Here, therefore, is an encouragement to begin cultivating these beautiful plants. There are upwards of two dozen more species of corn-flag found wild in South Africa — all pretty in their way — but the great acces- sion to the family by cross-breeding having thi'own these into the shade, I need say no more about them. Of the more recent seedlings that deserve general cultivation, the following half-dozen ai-e the cream. I am told, however, that there are a few raised within the last three years still more handsome; but not having seen them yet, I cannot say what they are : — Gladiolus Raraosus, "branching corn-flag," was men- tioned incidentally in my last letter ; G. Insignis, or " beautiful " corn-flag ; G. Formosissimus, or " most beautiful;" G. Speciosissimus, or "most showy;" G. Multiflorus, or " many-flowered ;" and G. Gandevensis, or " Ghent corn-flag." A large potful of each of these would make a gorgeous display for two months on a balcony or under a veranda, or indeed anywhere. IxiAs. — The next family of Cape bulbs that deserve special notice are the Ixias. They also belong to the same tribe, and may be said to be coi-n-flags in minia- ture, but with several shades of colour and markings not to be met with in the corn-flags. They are so numerous that it was found expedient to divide thera into several groups, under such names as Sparaxis, Babiana, Tritonia, &c. ; but for practical purposes we may set them all down as Ixias, without loading the memory with such hard names. It is the Ixias and two or three other families which give an inde- scribable charm to the vegetation of our Cape colony during the rainy season, when they issue forth, as if bj' magic, over the gi-eat plains which a few weeks before were hard-baked and sterile as a desert. Their little bulbs are enabled to bear the gi-eatest hardships in those hot regions. During the dry season the earth in which they grow is reduced to the hardness of brick ; hence the reason why it is so difficult to dig them up, except in the rainy season, when they are growing, and in the worst condition to be moved. They begin to grow with us in the autumn, which corresponds witli the spring in Africa, and they are so hardy that they only require the protection of a cold frame through the winter. It is very interesting to attend to all these bulbs, which gi'ow slowly all the winter ; one can mark their progress fi-om week to week, while other plants are at rest. Then they take up so little room that a one-light box would hold several dozens of them, and then- pots need not be larger than six inches across, These pots will hold sufficient soU for half a dozen bulbs; for in their native co^iutry they receive the most scanty nourishment from the ungenerous soils of the Kan-oos, as the great Afri- can plains ai'e called. Therefore it is that strong feeding is averse to them by nature. Almost all gai-- deners renew the soil for them every autumn, at which time they shake them from the old soil, and repot them in fresh mould. This is not at all necessary, for they will flower just as well, and look as healthy if they are only fi-esh potted every thu-d or fourth year. I once, as an experiment, kept some of them six years in the same soil, and I cordd see no difference between them and others more frequently repotted. I used to scrape away an inch of tbe surface soil down to the tops of the bulbs, and add fresh soil in its stead, and that was all the assistance they had during the six years. When we kno w the conditions natui'al to any set of plants m their native counti-y, we are never much at a loss to know the right way to treat them artificially, although we may not be able to follow out strictly those conditions. Formerly there were some elegant Cape bulbs belonging to this tribe in our gardens that are now lost, and 1 aui persuaded the reason why they were unable to bear our treatment was our pernicious habit of shaking them out of the soil, and keeping them in boxes and drawers while tbey were at rest; then giving them damp soU at potting time in the autumn, and as a climax to our bad practice, they were watered immediately after being potted ; for no gardener thinks he has done justice to a new potted plant tDl he has given it a good dose of water ! It is only by owning these our faults that we may reasonably expect to improve our practice. Now our practice, in tliis instance, is much at variance with tbe natural conditions under which these Ixias exist in Africa. When their leaves die down on the return of tbe dry season, their little bidbs are covered with a thin crust of sun-bm'nt earth, whOst the heat of an unclouded sky, and almost a vertical sun, plays over them for six or seven months running; so that you might think they would be baked Uke potatoes in an oven, instead of which this extreme dryness seems indeed to be necessaiy to their well-being. On tbe return of the periodical rains, these bulbs can only be gradually moistened; they then swell by degi-ees, and at last shoot forth so simultaneously that the parched plains become at once the seat of a charming vegetation. Now to imitate this state of things, as soon as the tips and edges of the leaves turn yellow — au unfailing indication that a bulb seeks repose — we should withhold water by de- grees, till the leaves finally die down ; then, instead of shaking the bidbs out of the pots to be exposed to our damp northern atmosphere, let us place the pots in the very hottest place within our reach; a top-shelf in a greenhouse, or back-shelf in a pit, close to the glass, is the best situation; next to that, the leads over a balcony, or on the outside of any spare window facing the south. Gardeners make use of then- walls for such pm-poses, and would say, place them " under a south wall." Whichever place is most convenient, let the pots be tm-ned down on their sides, the mouth of each facing the south, and there let them " summer" till the end of September, and you need have no mis- givings about their being roasted; our climate forbids that. In September, let the pots be turned upwards, 11-2 THE COTTAGE GARDENER. and let the autumnal rains give them the first two or three waterinn;s ; at le^i^it. he in no hurry with the watering-pot, for if no rain falls tlie air at that season will 1)6 elaiiip enough to atfect them and tlie soil also, and they will spring up immediately. When their leaves appear go over them, and with your forefinger take away tlie surl'ace-soil till you see the hulbs, and replace it with a fresh supply of soil. They should now he put in a sheltered place in the open air, with coal-ashes under the pots to keep down worms and to allow a free drainage in case of heavy rains. Leave them out as long as the frost keeps off, and when they are put under shelter let them have abundance of fresh air every day. except in very frosty weather. A cold pit, without a flue, is the very hest place to keep them in all the winter and spring, till they begin to flower, as when a fine day or mild weather occurs, the light may be drawn oif all day, and put on at night. The pots should stand within ten inches or a foot of the glass, and be plunged to their brims in sand or finely- sifted coal-ashes. Double dri/ mats will protect them from ordinary frost; and in vei-y severe weather addi- tional covering of straw, fern, or some other litter, must be added. Hundreds of plants would live over the whiter in such a pit, and with that management. All greenhouse and window plants would answer that way, provided they had head-room enough ; but I should make it a condition that the pots did not stand more than twenty inches from the glass, if possible, and that the top of the tallest plants not nearer than three inches to the glass. But I must finish what I mean to say about these Ixias. They require peat- earth to grow in; nothing else will do for them under cultivation. It is true that gardeners can grow many of the sorts in light composts, but gardeners can do many things which would be imprudent for others to attempt; and if they happen to kill a plant now and then with their fancies, they know where to lay their hands on another to fill up its place. No fancies, however, for him who must put his hands into his own pocket to replace his mishaps. No, — turfy peat ours must have, and chopped quite small with a spade, but not sifted ; good drainage, also, and the bulbs placed one inch beneath the sui-faoe ; and there are so many of them that dislike to be suddenly watered when they are in this dry state, that I think the safest way would be not to water them at aU when fi'esh potted. Let the soil be moderately damp, and the bulbs will imbibe sufficient moisture from it for the first ten days, and by that time they will have made a few roots, and may be gently watered or left out of doors to be first watered by the rains. I have not been led into these long detaOs for the sake of tlie Ixia tribe only — as few plants are more easily managed than they are — hut because there are a host of other beautiful greenhouse bvdbs to which these remarks are nearly equally applicable. Among these are bulbs from the highlands of Mexico, Peru, Chili, and the Brazils; and, indeed, ft-om the tempe- rate regions on either side of the Great Andes chain of mountains, to say nothing of many others from similar parts in the old world, which are sadly neg- lected, either from not knowing of their existence or how to manage them when we have them. I am unwilling to load this long letter with many hard names, otherwise I might easily give a long list of very beautiful Ixias, and. probably, I may do so some of these days; at present, I shall only mention a very few of them, but you will be at no loss to procure good ones at the nurseries, as they only grow the best sorts ; and I have known half a dozen pots of them bought for a mere trifle. Another way one might get a great quantity of them is by buying a sixpenny or a shiUing jiacket of mixed seeds of them. They may he sown now or any time till the beginning of March. Peat-earth is essential for getting the seeds to grow, and you must add a little sand to it; a quarter of an inch deep will be enough ; and you may water them as soon as they are all sown. The best sized are six-inch ])ots — that is, six inches over the mouth. Sow thin, as there will be no occasion to disturb the seedlings till they flower, which they will do the second season. When the leaves of the seedlings turn yellow, put the pots on their side as for the parent bulb, and afterwards treat them similarly. I ought to tell you, perhaps, that the seedlings wOl come up first just like barley, and you might think you had a potful of grass in place of Ixias. The first Ixia that you should try to get is the "Green-flowering" (Ixia Viridiflora) ; and if you get it into blossom before your neighbours, you will have all the people in the neighbourhood come to see it ; for there is not another flower in the world like it, and I am sure you can buy a pot of it for less than a shilling, and a single lootmuoh cheaper ; so that it is everybody's flower, and every cottage window in the kingdom is good enough to grow it in. If the roots are strong, it wiU grow eighteen inches high ; first, somewhat like a young stalk of wheat, and then come the flowers in gi'eat numbers. The colour is a kind of sea-gi-een, and a large jet-black eye in the centre of each flower. The next Ixia has two other names — Sparaxis Orandiflora — long enough at any rate, but not diflicult to remember; for grandiflora is nearly an English word, grand-flowered ; you will often meet with the name grandiflora, so you had better learn it at once. As to Sparaxis, you may or may not learn it, as you like ; but Ixia wUl answer our purpose just as weU, and I shall always call the Sparaxis an Ixia after this. This grows only nine inches high. The flowers are large, as the name implies, and are of a beautifid mixed colour, chiefly purplish. Iida Patens (patens means spreading out) : the flowers of this sort are splendid crimson. They spread wide open, and is the first of them to come into blossom in April. Ixia Aidira. or the Courtly Ixia, is another beautiful one, with brilliant rose-coloured flowers ; and so is Ixia Incarnato., or the flesh-coloured. It has large pink-flowers, often richly marked with dark-coloured veins or stripes. D. Be.\ton. THE KITCHEN-GARDEN. Sheltering. — The season is now ai-riving when protecting vegetables, herbs, &c., must be attended to, or the table will be scantily supplied in a needful season. Cauliflowers, brooolies, at this time, if at all turning-iu (coming to a head), should he secured by being pidled up, and hanging in dark slieds, cellars, or other suitable places. If these are not at command, let the plants be taken up and placed in sheltei'ed corners, or in trenches thrown out deep enougli for each side bank to protect them when laid in thickly ; these banks will support poles placed across to keep up mats, pea-haidm, straw, evergreen boughs, or other protecting litter. Lettuces, endive, and newly turned-in cabbages, may be protected in a similar manner. To find shed-room, by some, is considered a difficult matter; but, as I have often observed, where there is a will, oftentimes there may be found a way. At this season of the year, when thinning and pruning of shrubberies, the refuse may be bound in flat fagots, the same size at both ends, with two THE COTTAGE GAEDENER. 113 withies." also iu hedge-trimming and wood cutting, the brambles, furze, &o., may be saved and turned to the same account, for forming the wall and covering the roof. Some strong stakes or rough scantlings may be used for framing the shed, and a thin coat of reeds, rushes, or straight straw placed on the roof for making it water-proof Where clay, marl, or stiff soil abounds, it may be puddled, — short grass, hay or straw-chaff, being well mixed and incorporated with it, which will hold it well together ; and walls may be formed of any dimensions with such materials, with the trifling expense of labour only. We have run up many a shed iu haste formed of various materials, and experienced their usefulness for storing winter vege- tables and cultivating the mushroom. Where heath, furze, or fern abound, it may quickly be turned to valuable account for the hke purposes. Beans and Peas. — A few early beans and peas may be sown in shallow boxes or pans, and placed in any sheltered convenient situation in a house, pit, fi-ame, or out of doors, in a place to be sheltered or covered when requisite. The plants they produce are for transplanting, or making up any gaps that may have been made in the early sown-crops by vermin or wea- ther. Those beans and peas already up in rows should be attended to, by sowing amongst them dry dust of any kind, or charcoal-dust. Seeds required. — The season now advancing, it win be needful for us to think about our seed-list for the ensuing year. Having made all possible spaed in the way of manuring and trenching all spare gi-ound, and made up oui- minds generally how and what we intend cropping with throughout the ensuing season, let us see how we can manage to crop in suc- cession, to furnish the table bountifully throughout the year, whether in the humble cottage, or the noble mansion, and yet with economy. Long practice has taught us, that it is not the large quantity of seed, or the multiplicity of varieties pi'ocured, that wiU insure a bountiful supply daily throughout the year, but the due selection of varieties, to which some variation, of com'se, is needful. As respects soil and locality, the working the soil into a healthy condition at all times and seasons, the due selection of sowing and planting seasons, and the after-management, all combined me- thodically together, has something to do with insuring those matters ; consequently we wOl endeavour, after giving a list of a few good and proved varieties of vegetables, and after making a few practical remarks on them, to point out the season as it arrives for seed- sowing, planting, and insm-ing good vegetables in succession. AsPABAGus we need say little about, it being so generally known and appreciated, as an excellent and wholesome vegetable. There is a difference as regards colour; one variety being bright green, and the other a lighter colour, or brown. To procure a succession of good and large shoots, seeds of either variety should be sown on well-prepared rich soil in April ; if in a seed-bed, one foot apart in drills; but if to remain permanently where sown, it should be in diills two feet apart, and the seedlings thinned out to one foot from plant to plant. At the age of two years, every alternate row must be taken up ; those removed being, if well managed, good plants for forcing; the re- maining rows four feet apart ; which space is a good situation for summer-gi-owing cauliflowers orbrooolies, it being partially shaded. Our permanent rows of asparagus at Bicton are always four feet apart, and the quantity of fine shoots thus produced is astonish- ing. If transplanted, our practice is to plant in April, when the young shoots are three or four inches long. and these, called the crowns, are kept to the surface of the earth when planted ; and when ripened in Octo- ber, and cut down, we cover the earth's surface with two or three inches of good manui-e of any kind, if it can be procured, or decomposed short gi-ass, or other vegetable matter, and fork it in carefully in the month of March; never covering the crowns by casting up the earth. All is level, and with a coat of manure annually the crowns get sufflciently protected, as we find the shoots most liked when tender and green from bottom to top, so that the whole, or neai'ly so, may be eaten. The first preparation of the soil for planting asparagus should be well attended to ; for on laying a good foundation depends the future produce being good in quality and quantity. Our practice is to select a piece of ground that has been for years well trenched, manured, and worked about for other crops, and apply all the manure we can possibly spare, refuse, and decomposed vegetables of any kind, trenching the gi'ound three feet deep, if suitable soil can be found at that depth, and forking up the subsoil, and letting it remain; taking an early opportunity in autumn or winter for performing it (the present month being a good time), and turning it back twice, if possible, previously to the month of April. We will incorporate the whole together, the same way as one would a compost heap, and at all times forming as much as possible of the surface-soil into ridges, for the frosts and air to peneti-ate. Asparagus is also fond of salt, which we apply in a liquid state, with manure water, in the height of the growing season (April and May), atwhichtime we findit of most benefit. Those matters, however, will be noticed as the seasons arrive. Beans (True Early Mazagan). — One planting is sufficient, except by those who like a small bean in preference to a large one. It is generally a good cropper, and branches well from the earth's surface, if allowed room enough. We prefer, for all kinds of beans, planting in single rows ; they being so much benefited by the influence of the sun and air. When so grown they branch out luxuriantly, and pod to the very bottom of then- stems. The bulky crop we thus obtain is sm'prising ; and by running a few rough stakes along the row, and a piece of rope-yarn on each side of the row, bringing the yarn from both sides to the same stakes, which are placed at about twenty feet intervals, the wind and wet does not baffle them about, and a shelter is formed for neigh- bouring crops. Tlie True Long Pod, Windsor, and Green Seeded Beans, ai'e the best varieties to foUow in succession. James Baknes. MISCELLANEOUS INTOEMATIOlSr. APPLE-TEEES FROM CUTTINGS. It is known to many hortioidturists, but unknown to the public generally, that branches of some apple- trees strike root as readily as willows, and beautiful specimens of little trees they become. Last February I inserted cuttings of an American Codhu, not mere shoots, but well furnished branches, in a north border, and the strongest of them are now well rooted, full of blossom-buds, and will, I doubt not, bear fruit next summer. A ft-iend, too, hasjust sent me Manx CodHn- n-ees, as large as little gooseberry-bushes, which were 114 THE COTTAGE GARDENER. struck from cuttings, taken at the time above men- tioned, and now having abundance of roots and blossom-buds. Although these trees may be encou- raged in their growth to become as large as it" grafted on young stocks, still they may be kept, by jjlantiug and root-pruning, after the method of your excellent coadjutor, jNIr. Errington, to any size desii'ed — as pot- plants for the curious, or as miniature trees, that would not be very inconsistent ornaments even in the flower- gai'den. B. Maund, Broonisgrove. GOOSEBERRIES. I OBSERVE noticed, in page 40 of the "Cottage Gardener," an assertion by the Midland Florist, that the London, Companion, Gunner, and Eagle varieties are the four best ever seen, but which I do not think is the fact* The red berries up to the present time have always proved the largest, and the one called "Wonderful has produced fruit weigliing 83dwts. It is liardy, a fi-ee grower, and an abundant bearer, and is therefore highly deserving of a place in evei'y cot- tage-garden. The London and Companion (reds) have weighed this year— the former, 31dwts. ]9grs.; the latter, 28dwts. 3grs, ; and are also well worthy of the cottager's cultivation. The variety called Thumper (gi-een) is also deserving of notice; it has produced fi'uit this year weighing 3Udwts. 9grs. It is a fact, however strange it may appear, that the green-coloured gooseberries require less sugar for making into tarts than the red. The newest yellow berry this year is called the Catherine, its fruit weighing yodwts. logrs., and the newest white is the Freedom, weighing 28dwts. Igr. These improved varieties are obtained from seed, and if only one in a thousand succeeds, it is well worth the pains ; the fruit upon such trees having the appearance of large and delicious plums, contrasted with the old varieties, which look, in com- paiison, no larger than grey peas. The large ones, too, come in earlier in the spring than the small ones for culinary purposes, and are also far superior for preserves, for which pm'pose they should be taken I'rom the trees when they are beginning to ripen, sliced into a brass pan, and boiled about an hour. Then put to each quart of the sliced berries one pound of loaf sugar, and boil them another hour, when the whole will be reduced to a jelly, and must be put into jars for keeping, either for tarts or to spread upon bi'ead instead of butter. In propagating these varieties from cuttings, a little moss put to the end of the cutting has a gi-eat eti'ect in assisting the formation of the roots. Tliey should be placed in shady situations, and kept well watered dining the summer. M. Saul, Garstang. * Our correspondent, upon referring to page 40 again, will see that the varieties he mentions are only named as among the best. — Eo. C. G. 20 dwts., or pennyweights, make an ounce. TO CORRESPONDENTS. Sowing Himalatad Pumpkin (F. iJorfrf).— The best mode of raising plants of this is by sowing the seed in a gentle hot-bed, and with the shelter of a frame and glass, early in April. The seed may be sown in the open ground at the end of Dlay, in the place where the plants are to remain. A Cottage Fabm (Cemfort and Economy). — As you require a locality with cheapness, nearness to the sea, and a bracing air, we should recommend you to look out on the coast of Wales, or north coast of Devon. Advertise for such a farm as you require in some Devonshire or Welsh newspaper circulating iu the neighbourhood you pitch upon. PoTATo-GEOwiNG {Rei\ F, A. S.). — We cannot agree with you in sdvucating the discontinuance of potato-cultivation, for we believe that with proper precautions it is a safe crop, safe to produce a larger amount per rod of preservable food than can be obtained from any other crop, even though every soil would grow, like yours, forty tons of carrots per acre. This is a very large produce. The penstemon will be noticed in its planting season. Ivy (Rev. C. C. PF.).— We will take an early opportunity to advo- cate your taste ; it is our own likewise. We love "the ivy green." Thanks for your cheering us on. Salt, Soot, and Limb (Ebor). — Vou will find full directions for applying salt as a manure at p. 54 of our sixth Number. There is some information as to soot at p. 72 of Number seven ; but upon this, as well as upon lime as a fertilizer, we will give copious directions ere long. Drainage FROM Pigstte (/Airf).— It is scarcely possible to give you directions as to the amount of water you should mix with this. In rainy weather it is weaker than in dry weather. In general, one bucketfull mixed with two or three buckets of water will be strong enough for applying to growing plants in your kitchen-garden, such as Brussels sprouts, savoys, spinach, &c. When your supply is larger than you require for them, we know of no better mode of saving it than pouring it over a heap of coal-ashes or earth mixed ■with gypsum, and kept under a shed. The watery particles will evaporate, but the fertilizing and ammoniacal parts will be thus retained until required for manure. Rhubarb andJerusalfm Av.tic'rok'r {Mnidstone Subscriber). — We will give you full information on these in due course. Peat-ashes {A Suhstriber, Wigtonshire). — These ashes are an excellent top-dressing for lawns, and are very good manures for turnips, cabbages, potatoes, and peas. Peat-ashes contain a little charcoal, gypsum (sulphate of lime), Glauber salt (sulphate of soda}, common salt, and chalk {carbonate of lime), all useful as fertilizers. Flowers foe Exhibition {Un Francois}. — Every cultivator of flowers knows the time at which a flower naturally blooms, and, accordingly, if he \vishes it to do so a month or more earlier, he stans it so much earlier in the spring, by putting it into a gently- heated house, and takes care to keep it afterwards growing freely and unchecked. If, on the other hand, he wishes to retard the blooming, he keeps it in the cold, and uses other means to render its progress slower and more gradual. Azaleas {Ibid}. — Indian Azaleas are propagated by seed, which they ripen in February, and should be sown in March. American Azaleas are propagated by cuttings, taken ofl^ close to the stem. The proper time is May. Young shoots, about two inches long, must be employed. Plant them in moist sand, and turn a bell-glass, or even a common tumbler, over them, Rotation of Crops on Allotments (Ren. J. W. R.). — The directions we have given at p. 51 of our tifth Number will apply to this subject. We will, however, give some separate observations, and then see whether we cannot carry out your other suggestions. The late President of the Horticultural Society (J Neighbour u/Dowiiton Castle). — Thanks for pointing out the printer's error in our 86th page. We well know that Mr. Knight resided in Herefordshire, and not in Herefordshire, as there printed. Mr. Knight, in a letter addressed to the Editor, some years since, says, " Being born in the midst of orchards, I was early led to ask whence the varieties of fruit I saw came, and how they were produced. I could obtain no satisfactory answer, and was thence tirst led to com- mence experiments, in which, through a long life of scarcely in- terrupted health, I have persevered, and probably shall persevere, as long as I possess the power. Trees Grafted last March (B. C).— You may move these now without any injuri' to them, if you are particularly careful not to shake them violently, so as to disturb the scions (grafts). The parts where these are united to the stocks are yet brittle. Every care should he taken, also, to injure the roots as little as possible. Dip the roots into a thick puddle or mud, made of earth ana water, imme- diately they are taken up. This keeps their bark from getting dry during removal. Cyclamens (/I Subscriber, Bath). — The Persian Cyclamen is re- tailed in all the London seed-shops, at one shilling each. Not many years since the same cost half-a-crown, Camellias.— (S- C.).— Camellias may he presen-ed through the winter in a room with one or more windows facing any aspect ; they do not require a hothouse at any time ; they are easily reared, and not at all uncertain plants to flower. Keep them moist at all seasons ; and in spring, when they are making their growth, water them every day, and see the pots are well drained. Ivy (J. G.).— Lose not a day in planting slips of this beautiful evergreen. Cut the young branches into lengths, about six inches long, and leaving four joints, as well as some of the root-like fibres by which they attach themselves to walls. Remove the leaves from the three lower joints, and plant in a north or other shaded border, burying the three lower joints in the soil. They will be strong, well- rooted plants by next autumn, and ready for removal. If the place where you require the ivy has a north aspect, or is well shaded, you may plant the cuttings there at once. Holly {J. Bensu7t) .—The best time for cutting holly-hedges is early in the spring, before they begin to shoot. At the end of February is a good time. Never use shears in trimming the holly ; you will find how its health and beauty are improved by cutting-iu each su- perfluous sprav with a sharp knife. Pansy-sowing {Rev. G. Griffith) .Some directions relative to this will soon appear in our weekly " Flower-garden." London; Printed by Harry Wooldridge. 147, Strand, in the Parish of Saint Mafv-le-Strand ; and Winchester High-street, in the Parish of St. Marv Kalendar ; and Published by William Somebville Orr. at" the Office, U7, Strand, in the Pariah of Saint Mary-le-Strand, Loadoa.— December 14th, 1848. THE COTTAGE aARDENER. 115 WEEKLY CALENDAR. M W DECEMBER 21 — 27, 1848. Plants dedicated to Sun Sun Moon R. Moon*s Clock Day of B D each day. Rises. Sets. and Sets. Age. aft. Sun. Year. 21 Th St. Thomas. Shortest Day. Sparrow- wort. 6a8 51 a 3 3 35 26 1 27 356 23 F Snow-flake & Wild Swan come. Transparent heatli. 7 51 4 36 27 57 357 23 S Sun's dec. 23° 27" S. Orange-breasted Goos- Cedar of Lebanon. 7 52 5 36 28 27 358 24 Son 4 Sunday in Advent. White Nun comes. Frankincense Pine 8 52 6 33 29 bef. 3 359 25 M Christmas Day. Chaffinches in flocks. Holly. 8 53 sets. ® 33 360 26 Tn St. Stephen. Scaup-duck comes. Purple Heath. 8 54 5 a 8 1 1 3 361 27 W St. John Evangel. Black Diver comes. Flame-coloured Heath 8 55 6 6 2 1 33 362 St. Thomas the apostle, surnamed Didymus, or the Twin, is believed to have preached the Gospel in Hindostan, or India, and to have there been killed with lances at the suggestion of some of the priests of Brahma. It is an evidence in support of the opinion that St. Thomas visited India — that when the Portuguese discovered Malabar, they found there a district inhabited by native Christians. Most interesting particulars concerning them are in Dr. Buchanan's *' Researches in India." Christmas Day. — " England was merry England when Old Christmas brought his sports ag:mi. 'Twas Christmas broach'd the mightiest ale— 'Twas Christmas told the merriest tale : A Christmas gambol oft would cheer A poor man's heart through half the year." And why should it not now ? — ^^Tiy should not " All hail with uncontrol'd delight And general voice the happy night That, to the cottage as the crown, Brought tidings of salvation down ?" We knotv of no reason why all should not be as merry, and joyous, and grateful, as our forefathers were. We have even greater Sless- iNSEcrs — At the end of this month, especially in the south of England, is found the somewhat rare ings than they had, and we have the same sure and steadfast hope. We can only briefly add, that if the proprietors of the soil would more generally allot to every cottager a helping plot, and if every cottager would cultivate his plot more judiciously, there then would be throutihout the length and breadth of the land the diflriised plenty, helping to realise that merry, happy Christmas, which we heartily wish to every reader. Phenomena of the Season. — One of the most particular occur- rences among animated things at this season, is the arrival of the various water-birds upon our coasts. The various species of wild duck, goose, diver, &c., appear almost at one and the same time. They come from more northern countries, where the severity of the season now renders food for them difficult to be obtained. The dis- tance over which these water-fuwl travel, and in a short space of time, is very great. There is a small duck, about the size, and marked much like a pigeon, so abounding near the Cape of Good Hope as to be known to sailors by the name of "The Cape Pigeon." One of these was caught by the writer of this, on the 23rd of July, 1842, in lat. a*'^' 41", long. 22° 52". It had a button of the 78th Regiment fastened to its leg by a piece of wire ; and a notice of this being given in a London paper, an answer was sent, stating that the button had been so fastened by an officer of the regiment a few days before, and when at sea 1 ,500 or 2,000 miles horn where the bbrd had been caught a second time. Decem. 1841. 184a. 1843. 1844. 1845. 1846. 1847. 21 Frosty. Fine. Fine. Fine. Cloudy. Rain. Cloudy. Highest & lowest 35°— 26° 54°— 48° 50°— 42° 37°— 30° 39°— 28° 49°— 25° 35°— 31° 22 Cloudy. Showery. 64°-46' Fine. Fine. Showery. Fine. Cloudy. 37°— 33° 52°— 42° 35°— 27° 46°— 34° 49°— 26° 36°— 31° 23 Showery. Showery. Cloudv. Cloudy. Cloudy. Rain. Cloudy. 46°— 27° 46°— 31° 56°— 48° 34°— 28° 44°— 31° 39°— 34° 39°— 32° 24 Showery. Fine. Fine. Cloudy. Fine. Rain. Cloudy. 50°— 42° 50°— 25° 55°— 46° 34°— 31° 43°— 24° 35°— 26° 40°— 35° 2a Showery. Frosty. Cloudy. Cloudy. Showery. Frosty. Cloudy. 49°— 22° 50°— 48° 62°— 30° 35°— 31° 48°— 34° 34°— 19° 41°— 35° 26 Fine. Cloudy. Showerj'. Cloudv. Cloudy. Frosty. Cloudy. 39°— 24° 51°— 41° 46°— 41° 39°— 30° 50°— 37° 37°— 21° 40°— 30° 27 Froatv. Showery. Cloudy. Cloudy. Fine. Frosty. Cloudy. 36°— 25° 47°— 35° 45°— 33° 38°— 30° 62°— 41° 38°— 23° S7°— 30° Yellow-line Quaker Moth (Noctua FlaviUnea ol Haworth and other British authors). It measures about an inch and one-third across the expanded fore-wings, the ground of which is of a reddish colour, with the ordinary streaks very indis- tinct, and with the middle ear-shaped marks slightly distinct, rather distant, and rather yellowish. A black spot is on the hind part of the hind one in most specimens, a black dot near the base of the wings, and a nearly straight reddish slender streak near the wing's outer part, and angulated near the fore margin, where it is rather obscure, and outwardly edged with a pale yellow line — whence the English name. The hind wings are dark brown, with the fringe reddish. The caterpillar is found in the spring, and feeds on the plantain and chickweed usually, but we have found it on some of the cultivated pimpernels. No notion is more erroneous than that entertained by many, that neatness and embellishment are ne- cessarily expensive ; that a labouring man must be dirty, and his cottage must be unadorned, unless more money is spent, to prevent these disagreeables, than either he can aiford or than others would be justified in employing to prevent them. These opinions are totally incorrect, and, like everything else that is not true, they are very mischievous opinions. AU who are acquinted with country life know that every cottager of good character, and blessed with an undustrious wife, is never either dirty or un- tidy. On this subject we do not here intend to insist. for it comes scarcely within the province of the Cot- tage Gardener ; but the adornment of the cottage does — and how much can he done in effecting this, for very little money judiciously spent, every one of our essays on window and flower-gardening has shewn, as weU as did the true history of Brittou Abbot, in our 17th page, iUustiate. No cottager would have a bare unadorned dwell- ing if once convinced of the importance of having it covered with evergreens and climbing flowers — the importance, for his own character's sake, because many less wiser men than Solomon conclude, and usually truly conclude, that the garden " all grown 116 THE COTTAGE GARDENER. over with thorns and nettles," and the neglected " wall," bespeak a tenant " slothful and devoid of un- derstanding" (Prov. sxiv. 30). But the importance of having a neat and well-garnished cottage is not confined to the credit it reflects upon the labourer who inhabits it — for, beyond all doubt, it has an in- fluence over the future lives and characters of his children. Every one of Britton Abbot's sons and daughters endeavoured to obtain comfortable and trim-kept cottages — they had been accustomed to the neat and the beautiful, and they shrunk from descend- ing into untidy and carelessly-kept hovels. Man, it has been well said, is a bundle of habits ; and no habit is more inveterate, when once acquired by a child, than a love for order and comfort— and it is a habit which goes far towards making that child respectable and happy in after-life. Usually the outside of our country cottages — and we must confine ourselves to this — is bare, desolate, and neglected ; whereas for the smallest outlay, or rather without any outlay at all, those cottages might be clothed with a never-failing leafy ornament, equalling in beauty any that the most lavish expen- diture could obtain, — we mean the Ivr. If we chose to ask for public attention to an ex- ample, we coidd direct it to the two-roomed cottage of a widow in Berkshire, so enveloped in this British evergi-een as to look like an ivy-bush pierced with two lattices and a doorway. It is the result of her own exertions and her own taste, and forms one of the most beautiful objects — the very perfection of a snuggery — with which the eye can be refreshed. Some persons will object that ivy makes a house damp ; but no objection can be more groundless. That widow's experience, and the expeiience of every one who has bad either a house or shed mantled over with ivy, agree in testifying, that an ivy-covered buUdiug is always dryer and warmer than one that is not so clothed. Nor could it be otherwise, for the leaves of the ivy, glossy and compact as they are, throw off all rain, snow, and hail, and prevent even the winds from cooling the walls. Other persons may object that the fibres of this " rare old plant " injure walls ; but this objection is as groundless as the other. We can point to the Westgate and houses in Winchester and elsewhere that have been over- grown with ivy for centuries ; and when by the force of the wind, or other accident, a part of it is torn down, the brick-work and the mortar it had covered are invariably more perfect, because less weather- beaten, than such neighbouring parts as had not been protected by the "ivy -green." On all the reasons we have assigned, and on others which we could advance if we had more space to occupy in our columns, we say to every landlord and to every labourer, Pla.ni Ivy nocxu took cottage WALLS. You may plant at once, foUowing the direc- tions we gave to a correspondent in our last Number ; and we know that if you do, you will one day thank us for adding to your comfort and your respectaliility. Most sincerely do we wish that our recommendation may be adopted, for we know those consequences would follow; and we also feel, to quote the words of the rector of Whittington, that then " many villages would be converted, fi-om being positively ugly places, to prettiness itself." THE FEUIT-GAKDEN. Pbunixg the Peach and Nectarine. — In our younger days we can well remember what a ceremony was made over peach-pruning. The blue-apron gen- tlemen of the olden time, wlio loved a little mysticism in their movements, would look as grave over this proceeding as though the fate of nations was involved in the motions of their pruniug-knife. Things have taken in these days another and a better chrection; modes of pruning, considered in themselves alone, are thought of little avail, unless a proper action of root be maintained, and the ripening of the wood thoroughly carried out. Still, however, the pruning of the peach and nectarine is a matter of some im- port; after the above gi-eat principles have been secured, pruning is, of course, next in consequence, or nearly so, especially as not only the fi-uitfulness but the symmetry of the tree, and the equalization of the sap are in some degree influenced by it. We will, tlierefore, endeavour to remove some of the mys- tery from this delicate process. To understand this operation the better, it will be well to state what are the prime objects, viz. ; — First — To thill out, or I'emove, superfluous shoots, in order to insm'e sufficient light and a due circula- tion of air to the remainder. Secondly — To shorten hack, for the twofold purpose of removing unripe or immature portions, and of inducing plenty of successive shoots lower down the tree. For illustration, we will suppose an established tree, which has been planted five or six years. I'he nails being all unloosed, excepting a few to hold the princi- pal shoots, operations should commence at the bottom of the tree, near the coUar.* Here it is that a watch- ful eye must be keenly exercised at each returning pruning season, in order to preserve and continue a due succession of rising slioots from the lowest portion of the tree. It is evident, that if the young shoots at this point are not taken care of, the lower part of the tree will become barren, and a part of the wall wasted : besides which, the tree wOl not be so ornamental. It frequently happens that some of the young shoots in this part are inferior in character ; and veiy fre- quently shoots which spring from the collar, and reach a yard or so, possess a fine young shoot lower down, wliich is fitter to become the leading shoot of that portion of the tree than the one already existing. When such is the case, it becomes necessary to cut away the older portion ; this must be done with a clean cut, and neai'ly close to the point from which the future leader comes. However, the first point is to cut away any cankered or diseased shoots, and tlien to shorten judiciously those at the lowest level which can be obtained. It may here be observed, than no fruit should ever be permitted to grow for the • Collar. — The place where the main stem begins to fork into branches . THE COTTAGE GAKDENER. 117 space of a foot from the top of the collar on any given shoot. If fruit are produced at these lower extremities, they are always inferior, and they only serve to oppress a portion of the tree, which ought always to be kept as a nursery for young shoots, to keep the tree well furnished. By " shortening judi- ciously," we mean cutting back the lowest-placed young shoots as loio as jiossihle, provided a few good eyes, or buds, are left, and that such shoots are not required to fill existing blanks in the walls. Such then, when'pruned back, may be considered a guai'- antee against the tree becoming "naked." We come now to bearing-wood, and here the main point is selection, supposing there are more young shoots than are required. In making a choice, it is necessai-y to distinguish between the different kinds of young shoots; for, strange to say, there are at least three kinds of young shoots on many peach and nectaiine-trees, and on most there are two. We may characterize them as follows : — 1st. Perfect bearing-shoots; 2nd. Exhausted shoots ; 3rd. Barren shoots. It will here be understood that the above refers merely to the young spray. 1 . Perfect bearing-slioots. — These, in general, may be known by the majority of the eyes or buds seated on them being threefold, that is to say, in threes. AVhen such is the case, the two outer ones are almost always blossom-buds, and the centi'al one a wood-bud. All such is deemed wood of first-rate chai'acter, and it is the aim of the experienced cultivator to secure as much of this as possible. 2. Exhausted shoots. — We are not assured that this is the most proper title to give this class of shoots ; one thing, liowever, we do know, that when such shoots begin to prevail generally over a tree, it is a pretty sure sign of what medical men would term a " breaking up of the constitution." These have for the most part a single hud at a joint, and that bud a solitary blossom-bud ; such covdd not be readily dis- tinguished in early autumn-pruning, by a novice, from the next class ; and this is a reason why ama- teurs, who prune for themselves, li ad better defer it until the early part of February. Wood of this cha- racter, if left on the ti-ee, has seldom vigour enough to produce fine fruit Indeed such wood not un- fi-equently " sets" its blossom more freely than the preceding class ; and it is by no means unusual, at the thinning period in the end of May, to meet with shoots of tills class with a score of fruit on, yet no leading bud or growing shoot. These ii-uit exhaust the tree much, and eventually fall off. •3 Barren shoots. — These, again, possess solitary buds ; they ai'e, however, usually late gi'owths, and may readily be known by theu' pale and unripe cha- racter; or they are the production of over-luxuriant trees, and serve to denote a ti'ee of gi'oss condition, or vigour misjilaced. The difference between these and the preceding section is at once apparent at spring-pruning. The sohtai-y buds of the former become very plump of a sudden, whilst these do not appear to increase at all. Wood of this character, )/ ripened, is frequently of eminent service, inasmuch as it serves to keep up the main fabric of the tree ; and although not bearing-wood itself, it is capable of producing fine bearing-shoots at tire end of the year. Some of this must, therefore, be occasionally reserved, especially if a blank or space bare of shoots in any part be anticipated ; for, be it understood, much in peach-pruning depends on a far-seeing eye, or skilful antici]iations. We now revert to the pruning. The main business is to reserve a series of shoots all over the tree of the class No. 1 ; and where this class cannot be obtained, to secure enough of No. 3 ; the No. 2 class may, iu most cases, be considered a last resort. So much for selection. We must now advert to the shortening of the young spray. Only two reasons exist for shorten- ing at all ; the one is, where shoots overtake each other ; in which case some must be made to retreat, or the tree would soon be all confusion. The other is foimded on the necessity of removing unripe por- tions. The first case any mere tyi-o can judge for himself, the second requires some care. A little practice, however, will soon teach the uninitiated the diS'erence between the two. The principal criterion is hardness. A practical man would soon distinguish them, although blindfolded, by means of his knife. Colour has something to do in this matter. Ripe wood is generally of a brownish colour — unripe, of a pale and delicate green. We would advise those who do not understand this, to request some gardener to give them a shoot or two of each character ; and by the time they have exercised their pruning-knife in cutting these shoots to pieces, they will have learned this portion of peach-pruning. In ordinary cases, about one-third has to be cut away ; nevertheless, it is not easy to lay down a general maxim as to short- ening, for it becomes necessary, for the sake of suc- cessional wood, to shorten more severely at the lower parts of the tree, decreasing it in auiount progres- sively upwards. We wiU now add a sketch, which may assist in illustrating the above description. On referring to the foregoing sketch, it will be seen that the round black dots denote the lowest shoots on tlie ti-ee to which we directed attention in the outset. The cross-marks, in like manner, denote the shorten- ings by the knife ; and it must be remarked that these are ly no means ojiposite each other, but at different distances. The due observance of this principle in shortening prevents much confusion — tending to keep the young spray about to be produced well divided. In conclusion, we would remark upon the pruning or cutting-off of lai-ge limbs. We never take these away unless compelled by sheer necessity. The peach and nectarine are very impatient under such violent operations. Sometimes, however, actual decay of a branch takes place ; and theu such operations must be performed. The main business is to secm'e the wound afterwards : the admission of air and wet to the wound is ruinous. A kind of grafting-mixture, composed of cow-dung and lime, is very good : this should be fastened down with some waterproof mate- rial, and the whole tied tight. Upon all wounds on two or three-yeai's' old wood we make a point of applying a good coating of thick white-lead. E. Errington. 118 THE COTTAGE GARDENER. THE FLOWER-GAEDEN. Variegated Plants. — The colour that most pre- dominates in the vegetable kingdom is green. That tliis is wisely ordered there cannot he any doubt. As all things were created for the use of God's noblest creature — man, the coloiu- that best suited his sense of seeing is just the one which, generally speaking, clothes the earth. If we stretch the imagin- ation a little, and suppose any other colour had been the prevailing one, what a dreary scene the world would have presented. Look through a piece of coloured glass, and it will be seen at once what the effect would be. Certainly the sight is novel, and for a time pleasing : but if the colour was imiversal and constant, the eye would soon be tired and op- pressed by looking upon it. Let us think for a moment what colour would be a good substitute for green. Would the flaming red? No. Would the sombre black ? Oh, no ! Well, would the absence of all colour be desirable ? Ask the natives of those regions where the snow never melts. Take a walk when the sun is shining through the fields covered with snow, do not the eyes of the beholder suffer for want of the pleasant green ? The very idea of the pleasant gi-een fields and woods is refreshing to the mind ; how much more the reality to the eye. There- fore this delightful colour, so general, is the best. Yet if it had been quite universal, or all of one shade, we should have had no contrast to show its excel- lence and use. For this purpose we have the beau- tiful colours of flowers ; we have the light greens of spring and the dark ones of summer, succeeded by the more sombre, but not less pleasing, tints of autumn. We have also the subject of our present consideration — variegation in the leaves of plants. Some physiologists consider the partial absence of gi'een on the leaves of plants a disease. That it may be so in some cases is more than probable. That the absence of light will turn leaves yellow is well known, and in that case the plant is diseased ; yet the Aucuba Japonica is never so finely variegated in the shade as when fully exposed to the sun. We have some variegated forest-trees that flourish quite as well and grow as fast as their verdant brethren. Leaving the question, then, as to whether variega- tion is disease or not, we wish to point out how very pleasing and desirable vai'iegated plants are. They exhibit their beauties to the best advantage just at the season when the more gay colours of Flora have vanished from the garden. One of the most useful for thus ornamenting the flower-garden is the above- named Aucuba Japonica (what a pity it is that it has not an English name).* This elegantly-mottled shrab not only thrives in the gardens of the country, but flourishes better than every other shrub in town gardens, and in pots on the terraces and balconies of our streets. For these places it is invaluable : we have no other, whether green or variegated, that answers these purposes so well. The many varieties of striped and blotched hollies diversify the shrub- bery and ornament the lawn at this season of the year in a very pleasing manner. Variegation is not confined to the colder climates of the earth, as the various-coloured leaves in our hothouses and gi-een- houses testify. Neither is this peculiarity confined to our shrubs. A considerable number of the more lowly herbaceous (plants that are not woody) plants have their leaves prettily striped. Those plants re- quire no peculiar treatment, — the same soil and situation suits them as that in which the green ones • Aucuba is its name in its native country, Japan ; and we can only translate the two used by botanists — Japan Aucuba. thrive : they can also be propagated as easily (ex- cepting by seed). A collection of them grown by themselves is very interesting and pleasant to look upon. Below is a list of the most remarkable and beautiful of variegated trees, shrubs, and herbaceous plants : — Variegated Trees. Acer vulgaris variegata. Varie- gated common maple. Acer pseudo platanns variegatvs. Common striped sycamore. JEscvlus vulgaris variegatus. Variegated common horse- chesnut. Castanea vesca variegata. Striped sweet chesnut. Fraxinus excelsior variegatus. Striped ash. Ulmus campestris variegatus. Variegated English elm. Variegated Hardy Shrubs. Ataternus latifoUa variegatus. Variegated broad-leaved ala- temus. Aucuba Japonica. Gold-blotched Japan Aucuba. BtLxus sempervirens variegatus. Striped box-tree. Daphne crcorum variegata. Va- riegated trailing Daphne. Euonymus japonicus variegatus. Variegated Japan spindle-tree. Ilex communis variegatus. Striped common holly (many varieties). Juniperus saliina variegatus. Striped Savin. PItiladelphus coronarius varie- gatus. Striped Syringa. Rhododendron pontica variegata. Striped rhododendron, or rose- bay. Spartium scoparia variegata. Variegated broom. Taxus communis aurea. Golden yew. Ttiymus vulgaris variegatus. Striped thyme. Salvia officinalis variegatus. Striped sage. Variegated Bardt Hbrba- CEODS Plants. r. Alyssum saxatite variegatum. Variegated mad-wort, r. Arabis bellidifotia variegata. striped daisy-leaved wall-cre.HS, r. ,, lucida variegata. Striped shining-leaved ditto, r. ,, stricta variegata. Striped upright ditto. Epilobium hirsutum variega- tum. Variegated hairy willow herb. Glechoma hederacea variegata. Striped ground-ivy. 7m pumilta variegata. Striped dwarf iris, r. Linaria cymbalaria variegata. Striped cymbal-leaved toad- flax. Melissa officinalis variegata. Striped balm. Menttia piperita variegata. Striped peppermint. T. Primula marginata. Margined primrose. Saaifraga umbrosa variegata . Striped London pride, r. ,, cristata variegata. Variegated crested saxifrage, r. ,, rosulaiis. Rose-like saxifrage. Spireea ulmaria variegata. Striped meadow-sweet. Veronica spicata variegata. Striped spike speedwell. Vinca major picta. Painted greater periwinkle. Climbing Variegated Plants. Hedera helix. Striped ivy. Rubus fruticosus variegatus. Variegated bramble. Those marked r are rock-plants, and either must be grown on rock-work, or on little mounds of earth, with some small stones or pebbles surrounding them. Where the space will allow the variegated trees to be planted, by all means have them, as they are very ornamental, and will add considerably to the beauty of the plantation dui-ing summer. The shrubs with coloured, or rather discoloured leaves, are both deci- duous (plants losing their leaves) and evergreen, and, therefore, are ornamental all the year. Most of the herbaceous plants keep their pretty leaves through the winter, and even on that account alone are very desirable. Hollyhocks. — Amongst the many fine flowers that ornament our gardens during the last montlis of summer, there are none that surpass the hollyhock. We saw this last season, in the month of August, at Eaby Castle, the seat of the Duke of Cleveland, a magnificent example of what this plant can effect. On each side of a long broad walk leading to the hothouses was a closely-planted row of tall holly- hocks, forming an object of great beauty, and, at the same time, hiding the kitchen-garden crops. Their appearance was noble and imposing in the highest degree. We were so well pleased with them that we shall devote a few lines to recommend them, and describe the culture necessai-y for them. Hollyhocks are raised from seed, and propagated by division or cuttings. Sow the seeds in wide shallow pots in March, and set them on a warm bed of either dung, leaves, or tanner's bark, covered with two inches of coal ashes, THE COTTAGE GARDENEK. J 19 firmly beaten. The soil proper to grow them in is a light sandy loam, enriched with about one-fom-th of vegetable mould. Cover the seeds about half an inch, and give a gentle watering. They will soon come up, and will then requke plenty of air in mild weather. As the season advances, give still more aii-, to prevent the plants drawing up weak. By the end of April they may be exposed to the open air during the day for a week or ten days, and as soon as there is no danger from frosty nights, set them out of the frame in a warm corner, and dig a bed of sufficient di- mensions to hold them all, enriching it with soot and rotten dung. Then turn the plants out of the pots, and divide them carefully fi-om each other, and plant them at six inches apart eveiy way ; choose showery weather, if possible, for this operation. The plants can remain in this bed until September, and will be then good strong plants. That month is the best to plant them out in the situation where they are to flower. These plants love a rich soil ; and if you wish to see them in all their grandeur, give them strong food. Provide strong stakes, at least seven or eight feet long ; apply these in good time, and tie the hollyhocks up to them frequently and strongly, for the winds have gi-eat power over their tall stems. During the flowering season mark such as are very double, of a good shape, and fine colours ; and on a durable label describe the particulars of the character of each. From those good lands you are to propagate by divi- sion or cuttings. By Divmon. — Sometimes the plants throw out shoots from the main stem below the surface ; these shoots commonly produce roots independent of those belonging to the main stem. With a knife divide such shoots from the old plant, taking them cai'efully up, preserving every fibre ; plant them in a bed as di- rected for seedlings, and in the autumn following they wOl be fit to take their place where they are to flower. By Cuttings. — The best time for propagating by cut- tings is the spring. Take off the shoots when they are rather woody, and trim off all the large leaves. Plant tliem 6 inches apart in sand on a shady border under hand-glasses, burying one bud, or eye, below the surface. Pick off, as they occui', the decaying leaves. They will root in about six weeks, when the hand- glasses may be removed, and in a fortnight the plants will be fit to transplant into a bed, and afterwards managed the same as seedlings. To cottagers who may not have the convenience of hand-glasses, we would suggest that hollyhocks may be sown in a warm border in April, and aftei-wards transplanted as de- scribed above for those raised in fi-ames. Though managed in this way as well as possible, they wOl by no means make such strong plants as by the former, at least for the first year. Hollyhocks may thus be procured for a moderate sized garden for a mere trifle. A shilling packet of seeds will produce at least one hundred plants. FLORISTS' FLOWERS. The Carnation. — In our last number we described the stage for blooming them on. We would remark that this stage, by a little management, may be made use of for auriculas and polyanthuses. The only thing to alter wUl be the shelves ; instead of being level, and only one foot from the ground, the back- board should be brought up nearly level with the eye, and the other two about six inches below each other; the three will then form a sloping stage. After the auriculas are out of bloom, the carnations will be ready to put in their place. Soil. — The proper compost for carnations is as fol- lows: — Sound light loam, made of turf from an old pasture, well rotted and frequently turned, three bar- row-loads ; rotted hotbed dung, one barrow-load ; rotted leaves, one barrow-load ; one peck of soot, and one peck of river sand. Let these be weU mixed and turned over once a month for a year. In turning it over remove the largest stones and roots of bad peren- nial weeds, such as couch-gi'ass, dandelions, docks, &c., and be very particular to look dDigently for that destnictive pest to these plants, the wire-worm. Pots. — During winter, carnations should be kept in pots five inches wide, two of a kind in each pot. The pots for blooming them in should be twelve inches wide and ten inches deep. In the month of March have in readiness some broken pots, about one or two inches wide — or oyster-shells will answer when broken pots cannot be had; cover the hole at the bottom of the pot with a large piece, the hollow side downwards ; then place round it as many largish pieces as will cover the bottom of the pot level with the large piece in the centre. Upon these place about an inch thick of small pieces about the size of hazel-nuts ; over these put some of tlie turfy part of the compost; the pot is now ready for the plant. TmTi them carefully out of their winter pots, keeping the balls entire, excepting removing the crocks at the bottom ; put as much soil in the pot as will raise the ball a little above the level of the rim, then fill up with the compost round the ball till the pot is pretty full, give a smart shake down upon the bench, level the soil with the hand, and the operation of potting is finished. T. Appleby. GEEENHOUSE AND WINDOW GAEDENING. Greenhouses. — Of all the departments of garden- ing, perhaps there are none of more interest to a retired family than that afforded by a small green- house, more particularly so if the greenhouse is at- tached to the dwelling-house, and the female members of the family are fond of rearing plants. At any rate, a small gi'eenhouse would very much extend the source of enjoyment to be procured from a garden. Persons who have not paid any attention to this sub- ject themselves have little idea of the variety of plants which a small greenhouse is calculated to afford, at perhaps little or no more expense than what is often incurred with a three or foiu'-light pit with a flue in it. The trouble of lighting a fire is the same in both instances ; the work of attendance is more troublesome where plants are wintered in a pit, for they are more liable to damps and other injuries there than in a gi'eenhouse, where they can be kept drier, and looked over in bad weather when nothing can be done out of doors. When one has got over the difiiculty of in- cm-ring the necessary expense of erecting a gi-een- house, and fixed on the situation, the next great difii- culty is, how to plan the house itself, what elevation the glass should have, what the arrangements inside as to shelves, stages, paths, flues, &c. It has often been objected to by books and gardeners, that no two of them agree about the mode of even planning and arranging such a small concern as an ordinary gi'een- house. And the objection is valid enough to a certain extent ; but it may be asked, if two of any other craft agi'ee in anything but on some main points or certain fixed principles ? Will two physicians, for instance, agree in prescribing for a patient ? or two engineers 120 THE COTTAGE GAEDENER. in laying down a railroad? It is quite enough if men who have studied a profession, or any branch of know- ledge, agree in the fundamental principles of their art. Matters of detail are always more or less guided by fancy and convenience. If two gardeners are agi'eed as to the strength and durability of the timber, the kind of glass best suited to the purpose, and the best aspect and slant, or inclination, of the roof, they may differ as to all other points in the edifice they produce, but each will erect a good greenhouse. The best aspect for either a greenhouse or pit is south ; but east or west aspects will answer. The angle of the roof is best when low, say about thirty degrees ; the width inside from twelve to fourteen feet. Greeuhouse-plants always do best when the roof is pitclied low. The usual objection to low roofs is, that the wind will di-ive in the rain between the glass ; but that is easily got over by having the laps of the panes puttied. A higher angle for the roof than thirty degrees is apt to draw the plants too much to one side. You always see nurserymen, who are good judges of what is best for their plants, use flat roofs to their greenhouses. The roof sashes should be in two lengths, and the top ones one-third shorter than the bottom cues; ttiey will thus be lighter for sliding up and down in giving air to the house. A better plan, however, would be to have all the roof lights or sashes fixed, and in that case they would be better in one length ; but that could only be done well when a good dry shed is placed against the wall, behind the gi-eenhouse ; into this shed large openings might be made at the top of the back wall, for giving air. One of the greenhouses here (Sln-ubland Park) is thus con- structed, and answei-s very well. The lights have never been moved since they were put on, ten years since. Indeed, this very house and shed may be de- scribed as an example of one very economical and use- ful for an amateur. This house is twelve feet wide in- side, the bade of it thirteen feet high, and the fi-ont six feet, consistiug of two and a half feet of brickwork, and the rest of glass ; the front sashes move on htuges, by which they ai-e fastened to the top plate, and when opened, for giving air, are retained in their position by a thin piece of flat ii-on, fifteen inches long, fastened to the bottom frame of each sash. This flat handle, as I may call it, is pierced with ten holes along the cen- tre, about an inch apart, and there is an iron pin, one and a lialf inch long, fixed in the lower wall-plate, which fits these holes. Now, when you want to give air you take hold of this handle, lift it from the pin, and push out the sash with it, say to the length of six holes ; drop down the handle then over the iron pin, and your light stands open six or eight inches wide. No wind or accident can alter it backwards or forwards till the handle is let go ofl' the pin. There is nothing in tills contrivance to get out of order, and it is the siin])lest thing possible. All the front sashes may he opened to fourteen inches wide, and, with the door open, the plants are nearly as free as if they were in the open air. The roof sashes are all fi.xed, and just under the top angle there is an opening into the back shed under each light. These openings are three feet long and a foot wide, without any shutters to them; there they are wide open day and night, winter and summer. The shed behind is always dry, being used to liold large myrtles, fuchsias, &c., during the winter, and as a pointer's shop rvnd lumber-room in summer, so that a current of dry air plays over the plants all the year round. When the shed and gi-eenhouse are closely shut up in fi-osty weather, the current of air goes on nearly as strong as when all is ojien, by a very simple contrivance. The floor of the shed is six inches lower at one end, and here a hole is made through into the greenhouse ; this hole is directly over the furnace, which heats the greenhouse flue. As the air cools in the shed, it rolls down to this ojiening, and is sucked into the greenhouse by the heat of the furnace ; it then ascends over the plants till it escapes into the shed again by the top openings. I may state also, for the economy of the thing, that what we call the back wall is only made up of posts and strong boards, plastered over on the greenhouse side, and whitewashed with lime on the shed side; and being always kept dry, will last a life-time. A shelf, thirty inches wide, runs along the ft-ont and one end of this greenhouse, and under this shelf the fl ue passes all the way : the shelf is two feet thi-ee inches high from the level of the path — the bearers which support it being cross-pieces let into the second course of brickwork next the top; the shelf thus standing one brick lower than the front glass. The path ought to be two feet ten inches wide, or if you give it a yard it will be all the better. Eecollect there will be a shelf on each side of it; and when your friends come to see your success in growing plants, they have to walk, stand, or turn round in the path ; and if there are ladies in the party, their dresses are sure to be made so full that a narrow path will not allow them to pass without pulling down your pots and plants on either side of the way, and instead of getting any praise for your plants and lor the laying-out of your new gi-een- house, you will be told, and very properly too, that "you have made a poking place of it after all." Let us therefore have a wide comfortable path at any rate, thougli by doing so we encroach a little on the shelves. The front shelf need not be wider than eighteen inches, just to cover over the flue, if you are tied for room, as no tall plants could occupy that part for fear of inter- cepting the light fi-om the rest of the plants. The roof sashes are best made four feet wide, or as near to that as the size of the glass will allow ; let them be made of the best red deal, ]n'imed, and once painted before the glazing is done. The reason for giving two coats of paint is, that after the glass is in there must be no more painting allowed for full three mouths. Now, if you contract with abuilder to erect the house, recollect to enter this clause about the painting in the speciflcation, as he will be siu'e to lU'ge you to finish it oft' at once. The reason for the three months' delay is that the putty may get dry throughout before it is fit to be painted. Of course you will be told this is all fancy, and that ninety-nine persons out of a hundred never think of such a thing, and that a little white lead mixed with the putty will make it set hard in a few days ; and so it would, but have nothing to do with that sort of putty ; gardeners never allow the use of that old kind of putty in these days, because once it gets dry they can hardly cut it when repairs or altera- tions are to be made afterwards. I have seen a good glazier break four squares of glass tryiug to mend one broken one, besides spending an hour and a half at the job, which a mere lad could do in five minutes, and without any breakage, if proper putty had been used in the first instance. Hothouse putty is made with whiting, pounded down and sifted very fine, and boiled linseed-oil, making it into dough as the bakers do their bread ; the more the dough of putty is worked the better it will be, and it should be at least ten days old before it is used ; in that time a large lump of it will '• sweat," that is, shghtly ferment, which is necessary to give it the proper adhesive power. When tliis soft putty, as it is called, is allowed to dry thoroughly before it is painted over, it wUl last as long as the hardest white- lead putty, and at the end of twenty years be soft THE COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 121 enough td be cut away with your knife. If, there- foi-e, you wished to remove your greenhouse at any future time, you could easily take out the glass, pack it in boxes, and the timber-work could then be hand- led and packed without the risk of annoyance of breaking the glass. We often see very neat well- built green-houses in all respects, except that the putty having been painted over as soon as the lights were glazed gives way the second season, the paint having blistered, not being able to fix or unite with the putty in a green or damp state. Then the rains drip in between the putty and the glass in all directions. Now, to guard against this every-day occurrence is the reason for my dwelling so long on such minute details. To say that this, that, or the other, should or should not be done, without assign- ing reasons for wliat you say, is no proof that the party giving such directions is any judge of what he recommends or condemns. In making the shelves for the body of the house, the lowest shelf ought to be on a level with the front one, and the others car- ried up in i-egular gradations, according to the slope of the roof. If the house is detached ft-om other buildings, botli ends should be glazed above the level of the shelves. The door is to be at one end, and the fire-place behind the door, the flue passing under the ]jath within the doorway, and on reach- ing the front wall, to rise with a gentle slope, and to be carried nearly on a level along the front wall, and within two inches of it, and to pass along to the farthest end of the house into a chimney in the corner. The size of the flue to be nine inches wide and fourteen inches deep, made with biioks set on edge, and on no account to be plastered inside or out. The top and bottom of the flue to be made with thick tiles, called " foot-pamments," the bottom ones resting on flat bricks to clear them from the ground ; the fire-place should be eighteen inches long by fourteen inches wide, and fourteen inches high, with iron bars for a hearth. The door to bo a foot square, and the ash-pit nine inches deep, and the same length and width as the fire-place above it. The door of the fire-place would be more effective, and less liable to warp with the heat, if it is made a " double" door, that is, by having a plain square piece of half-inch thick iron rivetted to the inside of it, and two inches apart from the inside of the door ; this is a simple and very useful contrivance, but often neglected. British sheet glass, sixteen ounces to the foot, is the best kind to use ; the width of the panes for the roof sashes should be about eight or ten inches wide, and from a foot to eighteen inches long. For the front sashes the glass may be much larger every way. This kind of glass is sold in boxes, containing a hundred feet of glass each, and sold from StJ-d. to 3d. per foot. Sashes of the best red deal are generally made by contract, at about 6d. per square foot ; but the price, no doubt, varies in different parts of the country, but this will be suffi- cient to form a guess at what the sashes and glass will cost, for nothing of this kind ought to be at- tempted before every item of the expense is first ascertained. One suggestion more, and I have done. If the house is made by contract, let the contractor be responsible for the efficiency of the whole for the first twelve months. D. Beaton. THE KITCHEN-GARDEN. Dwarf and Eunner Kidney-beans. — Of these there are very numerous varieties. Almost every locality has its favourite, some distinguished for their earliness, and others for being pi-oMc. Amongst the best of the early dwarfs are the dun-coloured and white-seeded. The most prolific dwarfs are the negro and robin's egg. All four are of good quality. Of runners, the case knife and scarlet are considered the best; the latter is the most prolific and most useful bean of all ; it can be grown almost on any kind of soil and place in better condition than any other variety. Brocoli. — If the true Walcheren Brocoli is sown in March, and at intervals of three or four weeks until Midsummer, and planted in succession on well- prepared soil, it will produce good heads throughout the gi-eater part of the season. The Malta-white, Knight's-protecting, and the Russian-white, are ex- cellent varieties, succeeding each other in the order they are named through the winter and spring ; the Russian lasting until cauliflowers come in. The Wilcove, also, is a good and useful variety. The true Purple sprouting is the most prolific and useful kind for the cottager, and for all who can afford but little ground for this vegetable. The Purple and Hammond's White Cape are useful in summer and throughout autumn, if sown in succession as di- rected for the Walcheren. The other varieties, if sown in AprU, will produce plants strong enough to be put into the ground from which the peas and beans have been cleared at the end of summer. We generally sow at Bicton, for the principal crops of brocoli, about the middle of April, earlier or later, according to the season. Borecole or Kale. — Of this there are many pro- lific hardy varieties, useful for every cottage garden ; such as the Scotch or Curl Borecole, both dwarf and tall ; the Siberian and Egyptian, both very hardy and prolific. The Buda, Jerusalem, and Chou-de- Milan (tlie Milan cabbage), are equally hardy and good. The Buda, if the true variety, is the most prolific of any, continuing to yield an abundance of green tender shoots, even in very cold weather, when other vegetables have ceased to grow. The Brussels sprouts are always equally prolific, and are a good winter vegetable, if a true variety, and propeidy man- aged. In this country its cultivators are often dis- appointed, although the variety may be true, by the plants producing little open sprouts instead of the little firm-hearted bleached heads so generally ad- mired. There are two varieties, a tall and a dwarf, and both good. The seed should be sown in March and April, and as soon as the plants are large enough to handle they should be pricked out, on an open spot of rich soil. The Brussels sprouts is a hardy vegetable, requiring an open airy piece of ground for permanent planting out. We find that the soil for it sliould not be made over-rich with fresh manure ; for, if it is, the sprouts will most likely be open. It is best to plant this vegetable on gi-ound which has first borne a crop of some other kind after maniu-ing . The sprouts will then probably be produced firm and blanched. Cabbage. — This is certainly one of the most useful and productive of all vegetables. Its varieties have been greatly improved within the last twenty years, and are now so numerous that it is not easy to make a choise ; indeed, almost every locality has its own peculiar or favourite variety. The Battersea, Ful- ham. East Ham, Imperial, Sugar-loaf, and early York, are all weUproved good varieties. Of those lately introduced, we have the Matchless, a pretty dwai-f, dark green cabbage, growing close to the soil, having few leaves besides the heart, and coming in early. The Nonpareil is a good variety, also early, but of a lighter green and larger si7e than the Matchless. Shilling's Queen, Barnes, Sprotborough, 122 THE COTTAGE GARDENER. and Paragon, are all first-rate varieties; they are eai'ly, and of good quality. For the Matchless, we never allow more room than one foot from plant to plant each way. On a sloping bank they have a very neat and orderly appearance, the ground looking as if paved with cabbages. The Dwarf Red Dutch is good for pickling, preserving, and stewing. The Flat Pole is the best for pigs, cattle, sheep, and poulti-y ; all of which are remarkably fond of it, and, indeed, thrive well on good cabbage of any kind. James Barnes. MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION. MY FLOWERS. (No. 9.) The last month of the depai'ting year has opened upon us, and is fleeting rapidly away ; and although some of us have passed through more Decembers than we may cai"e to number, yet there is ever a solemn feeling in drawing near to the close of another of those stated periods which mark the flight of Time. In our childish days years felt Uke ages. With eyes and wishes fixed on distant things, Time seemed flying backwards ; but 7iow he rushes on with railroad speed, and none can call him back. No signal can check his rapid pace ; no station interrupts his steady course ; hut there is a terminus, whenever Time shall be no more, and for that solemn place and hour, each passing year loudly calls us to prepare. This mouth, dreary as it is considei-ed, has its em- bellishments. To the Christian, indeed, no season is dreary, all are aUke telling of the wisdom and goodness of God, and certifying his gracious promise, that " while the earth remaineth, seed time and har- vest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night, shall not cease." But the sobriety of winter is enlivened by the brightness of two stout- hearted evergreens, the one adorning the house, and the other glittering in the garden. The gay Pyra- cantba, or Evergreen Thorn, spreads itself over the cottage wall, and glows like coals of fire. Its bunches of red berries form a beautiful contrast to the daa-k sombre leaves ; and during the snow they make us feel almost warm. I have often seen this plant clothing the gable of a cottage, and the effect is veiy rich. Useless plants — those, I mean, which bear no fruit — should never be encouraged in cottage gardens, where profitable ones would grow ; but there are situations and aspects, unfavourable to fruit trees, where ornamental plants do well, and the Pyracantha should be one of these. It gives to the little dwel- ling a cheerful, happy look, and when the thatch is dripping with rain, or fringed with icicles, the bright clusters smile through it all, and seem to defy the storm. On the walls of a cottage residence, where profit is less considered than a pleasing effect, this cheerful winter ornament might be often trained among the lovely summer creepers, and thus there would be a constant succession of rich colours throughout the year. It may be moved in spring or autumn, but the most advantageous time is very early spring. The hoUy is now decking itself with beads of coral, and its dark polished leaves are in full luxuriance and beauty. It speaks of the great approaching festival, of which it has long been the ornament and emblem, so much so, that the jjoor know it generally by the name of " Christmas." It is supposed that it takes its name from being used in religious festivals. Dr. Turner, an early writer on plants, calls it " holy- tree;" and among the Germans, Swedes, and Danes, it is called " Christdoon," " Christoon," and " Christ- toon," from which it appears to be a kind of holy plant among these nations. In some parts of India, wlien an infant is born, water is thrown on its face from a vessel formed of the bark of the holly tree. To Christians there is peculiar interest attached to it ; and from our earliest childhood we have seen it wreathing our homes and churches. The thorny leaves, the berries, like crimson drops, dimly remind us, too, of what to our hearts should be so deeply pre- cious ; and it is possible that earlier Christians had this in view when they hung it round their hearths and places of worship. The holly is of slow growth, but rewards our pa- tience, for its foliage is rich and handsome, and either as a standard or a hedge-plant it is both useful and beautiful. It is particularly well-suited for the hedge, either round fields or gardens ; and I am surprised that it is not more generally used, as cattle cannot break through it when propeiiy managed, and it would greatly protect cottage gardens from thieves as well as animals. Quickset-hedges are very pretty in summer, but they shed their leaves, and are, be- sides, easily broken through. Yew, hornbeam, &c., are also pleasing to the eye, hut too mild in their manners for a useful fence. There is a sturdy " John Bullism" about a holly, and a sharpness of reproof that cannot easily be tampered with, and tliis makes it highly advantageous near fields and commons especially, and a wild heathy soil suits it well. If cottagers would plant them on the bank that sur- rounds their garden they would soon thicken and displace the untidy broken hedge that usually forms the only fence ; and as their delicate white blossoms appear in May, they would be an ornament to the little homestead also nearly all the year. The variegated holly is a pretty-looking tree, and the yellow-berried variety is ornamental in a shrubbery, as the berries look like blossoms at a little distance, lasting from October to March ; so that the holly may be said to adorn the garden continually. The proper time for planting hollies is in October, but in open weather they may be moved much later. Spring planting rarely succeeds, and should not be risked if we can possibly avoid it. If the weather is dry when they are moved, sprinkle them with water two or three times a week for a little while. If seedlings are taken carefully up, and planted well, they will, in three or four years, be as many feet in height ; and they are frequently met with in woods and copses fit for removal. Never destroy a seedling holly. Plant it, forget it, and some day it will surprise you as a a stout little plant, ready to do you service. Do not cut the holly much, and then only in spring, before they make their shoots. If they become stunted, train up the leader and head-back the laterals (that is, the side shoots,) so as to increase then- height. But if you train them properly from their youth, they will not be stunted, and much cutting, which they dislike, may be avoided. The wayward heai't of childhood rejects the training that is good for it, but the senseless bough bends to the hand, and obeys the impulse given. In this particular are we not children still? If we would let our gardens reprove us, what useful lessons we might learn. How bitterly do they re- proach us ! We are vexed when pigs or chickens root up our plants and seeds ; we are ve.xed if we cannot lay in a redundant shoot, or train one just as we please ; out flies the knife, down falls the disobe- dient bough ; we will be obeyed one way or other. But if God thus dealt with the trees in His garden. THE COTTAGE GAKDENER. 123 what woiald become of us ? Let our own hasty ways magnify bis strong and patient goodness. We deserve at his hands wi-ath and indignation, yet he spares us still. Let the twig that lies at our feet lead us to adore that mercy which, for the Pleader's sake, waits yet another year before he cuts us down. STANDARD CURRANT-TREES. Respecting the cultivation of standard currant-trees, I beg to observe that the roots are pruned of necessity as the ground is dug and cultivated to within a circle of three feet, so that they are root-pruned; so strongly advised in your valuable work. Tlie stems are about three feet high, and the head is closely pruned-in every year, leaving only two or three buds on the young shoot. This pruning-in has a most surprising etfect in causing the tree to produce fruit so large that few would believe without seeing it. It is a year and a half since my best twelve plants were planted in my garden, aud then the roots were so full of small fibres, that they resembled a mop. The fruit on those that are well established is larger than the same kind is, cultivated in the ordi- nary way. Tlie advantages of cultivating fruit-trees^ this way ai-e — much less room is required, no fruit is lost by being trailed on the gi-ound, they are more easily pro- tected from birds, &c., the fruit larger, and they spoil no ground by shading it. We also learn, that it fruit- trees grown in the old form were pruned-m oftener, that they would bear mom fruit and gi-ow less icood. A Standard Currant-tree (leafless), shewing its fruit-buds. A Tree with Fruit-buds at the joint far apart. A Bough of a Tree pruned close each year, and producing a mass of Fruit-buds from top to bottom. I think it not impossible to produce the effect of the second drawing ; and if in one branch, so with sis. or eight, and then we have a tree of the old form, but fidl of fruit-buds. The first is an example of the old trees of my neighhom's' large and old ti'ees, pro- ducing very little fruit compared to their size and age. Jos. 'B.>a.-L,Lougton Farms Potteries, Staffordshire. HINTS FROM OUR CONTEMPORARIES. Gener.^l Principles foh Pruxin-g. — It would seem very difficult at first sight to classify our fruit- trees in general, as to compress within a narrow limit principles appUcable to the whole of our hardy fruits. We will, however, attempt to do so, and will first premise that some of these princij)les are appli- cable to the whole, whilst others are of a special na- ture. In order to render the matter more clear, it will be uecessaiy to cast the eye over the principal objects or reasons for pruning ; these clearly exhibited, the rest will be found simple indeed. In the first place, then, thinning-out is necessai-y, in order to admit or equalize the amount of light and air to the bearing-wood. In the second, it is frequently resorted to for the sake of increasing the size and quality of the fruit. Thus far what is termed " thinning-out." We will now advert to the process termed shortening, or pruning back the shoots. The latter process is prac- tised for two principal reasons, — the one to increase the number of shoots, and the other to cause the tree to produce abundance of side spm-s. It must not, however, he inferred that any kind of pruning will of necessity render a tree more fruitful than if left in a state of nature. Priming is altogether an artificial procedure, and becomes necessary principally through limitation of space. Nature has her own pecuHar modes of pruning, if such they may be termed ; and that is by suffocation, and by the continual tendency of the ascending or extending branches to weaken, and finally to starve out, the lower branches. Ha\'ing said thus much as in introduction to the subject, we will now proceed to another consideration bearing on pruning afl'airs, viz., the classification of fruit-trees, with regard to their modes of bearing. One portion of tliem, it is well-known, bears almost ex- clusively on the young wood of the past year; of such are the vine, peach, nectarine, goosehen-y, and black currant. A second portion bears almost exclusively on spurs attached to the older wood ; of such are the apricot, pluui, cherry, pear, apple, and the ordinary red and wliite currants. We must here observe, that there are some singu- lar exceptions to these rules, and that some fruit- trees produce indilferently on both ; these, however, need not be singled out; it is manifest witli such, that their pruning treatment must be a sort of com- promise, or rather amalgation of the principles ap- plied to the two distinct sections already enumerated. These constitute, in the main, the groundwork of all pruning; but, in carrying out these principles, it should be borne in mind that some trees are natives of brighter skies than Great Britain, to say nothing of the mere question of heat. Such should, there- fore, be more liberally thinned, and in training them the shoots placed farther apart. Of such we may quote the vine, the apricot, the peach, and nectarine, the fig, and the tender sorts of Flemish pears. ^ The order in which we have mentioned these, will, in our opinion, pretty correctly indicate their partiality re- spectively to Ught. It becomes necessai7 here to offer some advice as to the distance to which shortening the young shoots should be carried; for, although old practitioners can tell at a glance, by a sort of instinctive feeling, how these things should be performed, yet here we would rather address ourselves to the amateur, or the 124 THE COTTAGE GAEDENER. mere tyro, who have of course not been able to profit by the same amount of experience as those previously alluded to. Shortening back the shoots, as before observed, must be ruled by the object in view, bearing in mind, also, that some trees have an apter tendency to force out lateral shoots than others. It may, moreover, be observed, that great peculiaiities in this respect exist even in one family of fruits. Any person may be satisfied of this by observing the habits of even our common apple-tree, especially in a plantation of some seven years' standing. Some kinds will appear to be laterally choked with side shoots, others wiU be comparatively naked. Under these cii'cumstances, we can merely advise that, previously to pi-uning, it would be well to ac- quii-e some infoi-mation of the kind ; and having done so, the mode will readily suggest itself. However, as a plain rule, about one-half of the shoot mav be reduced ; but in tender fruit-trees, as the peach, 'it is necessary, above all things, to prune as far back as the firm, or, in other words, well-ripened wood. The best criterion, generally speaking, of well-ripened wood, is its sohdity ; that is to say, the small amount of pith in proportion to the true wood. — Gardeners Almanachfor 1849. Fertile Earthy Compost. — As it may be desir- able to many persons to know how to make a fertile loam, and as I have had much practice in this work, I send you an account of how I proceed. I procure a load of clay, and having tempered it well, and made it veiy soft, I add to it three loads of sand, one load of lime, and two loads of sawdust, peat, or leaf-mould. The whole is then beaten with a spade, and more water added, until as well mixed as lime and sand are in making mortar. The water used for this purpose may be the dirty water from the house. When this is done, the whole is left in a heap to dry ; and when dry, pared down in thin slices with a sharp spade as required. Where roads are mended with lime-stones, the scrapings may be used instead of lime ; and where marl can be had, instead of clay and lime. On analysis, sixteen of the simple substances ought to be found in soil. If the water mentioned has been used, there will be most of these substances, and in the quantity desirable, which is very minute. C. A. A. Lloyd, Whittington. TO CORRESPONDENTS. Heating by Gas(F. /., Ham;7s^ead).— This is not a new proposal. Gas has been often tried as a mode of warming greenhouses, &c., and as often failed. It is too expensive, and spoils the air so much as to injure the plants. Perforated Garden-Pot (Ibid).— Th.\% is not required for plants plunged in borders. If it is desirable that their roots should extend beyond the pot, it is best at once to turn them out of the pot, and plant them m the border. But it is generally most desirable to keep the roots withm the pot, for the sake of keeping the plants com- pact and of moderate size. One of the objects of annually repotting 13 to reduce the quantity of the roots, so that the head or branches may be also kept within moderate bounds. Earth-worms (i?. ^.).— We do not recommend these to be de- Btroyed. If you sprmkle salt at the rate of four bushels per acre over your prass-plot about once in every two months, you will keep them away from the surface, and benefit your turf. Index (7A?(/).— We will take care that a very copious index shall be g;iven at the end of each volume. The Thrush {Ren. C. W. B., Dorset).~-\Ve have been much obliged by the following letter : " I saw in your Weekly Calendar, in the eighth Number of the Cottage Gardener, that the thrush (by which I presumed the song-thrush Tardus musicus, to be meant) would resume singing on Wednesday, Nov. 29. Your vaticination, upon what authority founded I know not, was certainly not far wrong. Sir, on Sunday morning, the 26th, the song-thrushes here began singing most lustily, and have been singing daily ever since. I have not, indeed, seen one so engaged, but I do not imagine I can be deceived as to their song. *' Upon looking into Mr. Yarrell's Birds, I find him representing the song of the thrush as 'beginning early in the spring;' and again, ' White, of Selbome, considered it a rule, that whenever there was incubation there was music ; and the early spring-song of the thrush is an equally true indication of an early breeder.' Volume i., page 203. '• Now, although this subject be not directly propounded in your very valuable little Publication, yet it grows so naturally out of it, that I venture to inquire, through its pages, which of the two par- ties concerned are in error; viz., White and Yarrell, or you and the thrushes ?" [We incline to think that we and the thrushes are right.— Ed. C. G.] Manure (H. H., Hammersmith). — As you object to the use of stable manure in your garden, we recommend you to use such charred vegetable matters as you can obtain ; the urate of the London Ma- nure Company, and super-phosphate of lime ; these are all very ma- nageable for a lady, and together will form an efficient substitute for the usual fertilizers. Oxide of Iron in Soil for Roses (H. Curtis and Co., West of England Rosaries). —These excellent cultivators of the rose think Mr. Appleby wrong in warning our readers, at page 14, from using a soil containing much oxide of iron. Their communication shall be published shortly ; but, in the meantime, will they oblige us by send- ing, post free, a few grains of the soil in which they find their roses thrive best ? Pots for Alpine Plants (Rev. C. W. L.).— The pierced pots we have recommended in "The Gardeners' Almanack" for 1849, could be made for you by any potter from the drawing there given. Thanks for your very agreeable letter. Dissolved Bones (Q. in a Comer, Kendal, and A Subscriber, Hornsey). — The quantity recommended to be used, at page 62, is small, because only intended for the supply of one crop. The larger quantity, mentioned at page 28, was for a dressing to endure through- out a rotation of crops. Whole bones take a very long time to dissolve in the acid. An ola tub or barrel is a very proper vessel for dissolv- ing bones in ; it vrill last for years with proper care. If properly broken, and the acid properly applied to them, a bushel of bones will be dissolved in twenty-four hours. Urine and Chloride op Lime (Tyro).— Neither of these can be used undiluted as a manure to plants ; they are far too powerful. Ferns in Glass Cases {A Working Man). — We will endeavour to give the information you require next week. Sandy Soil (H. B. S., Nottingham). — Your very sandy ground cannot be improved by manures alone. The staple must be altered by means of marl or clay. Salt may occasionally be applied, and gyp- sum, as a fixer, may be added to the manure. Plant strumer-pippin by all means. You must state whether your six apples are for table or not. Our Number for November 30 will give you the necessary information about preparing the soil. Plenty of quick- lime in water will destroy your worms on the grass-plot. Our space is out as to more remarks here : watch our columns — nothing will be neglected. We will shortly remark on your plan for making soil for fruits : in the meantime, pray do not proceed in the way you mention. Allotment Crofping (Beu. /. W. R.). — You will see that, in future, we intend to have a separate department for this subject ; in the meantime, we would beg to direct attention to our Diagram at page 51. We do not wish it to be inferred that this is the only eli- gible course : many modes of cropping a quarter of an acre may be urged. For the present we would say, divide the plot in three parts instead of two, if wheat mitst form a part of the rotation. 1 849. Wheat Potatoes Miscellaneous. 1850. Miscellaneous . Wheat Potatoes. 1851. Potatoes Miscellaneous ^\'^leat. 1 852. Wheat Potatoes Miscellaneous. It must be observed, that under the head " Miscellaneous " may be included carrots, parsnips, beet, and the various greens or cabbages — of which we should consider the green kale one of the chief. These, to be serviceable, would occupy their ground till the early part of March, which would be too late for cottager's wheat. It is our wish that nothing should appear in our Advertising columns that is not calculated to benefit our readers ; but the Editor of The Cottage Gardener begs to explain, once for all, that he in no case must be considered responsible for the goodness of the article advertised. Be will take care to exclude all that be knows to be bad, but he can do no more. London : Printed by Harrt Wooldridge, 147, Strand, in the Parish of Saint Mary-le- Strand j and Winchester High-street, in the Parish of St. Mary Kaleodar ; and published by William Somerville Ore, at the Office, 147, Strand, in the Parish of Saint Mary-ie-Strand, London.— December 21st, 1849. THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 125 WEEKLY CALENDAR. M w u D 28 Th an F 30 S 31 Son 1 J[ • 2 Tu 3 W DEC. 28, 18iS— JAN. 3, 1849. Innocents. Black duck amves. Velvet duck arrives. Eider duck comes to Tarn Island. 1 Sun. .\fter Christ. Silvester. Circumcision. Lime Hawk ^Moth's Gnib found. Bay-sboulderedButton-moth seen Plants dedicated to each day. Bloody-flowered Heath. Broom-leaved Heath. G-landulousPonthieva. Snwodrop. Launistinus. Groimdsel. IPersian Iris. Sun Rises. Sun Sets. Moon R. and Sets. a8 9 9 8 8 55 a 3 56 57 58 IV 2 7 9 8 16 24 10 35 n a48 morn. J 1 Moon's Age- Clock aft. Sun. 2 2 2 32 3 1 3 29 3 58 4 26 4 54 Day of Year. 363 364 365 366 1 Innocents. — Onthisday is commemorated the slaughter of the children of Bethlehem. It is known in some districts as Childermas Day — masses hcinc: said on this anniversary by Roman Catholics for the repose of the souls of those " Innocents." Silvester died Bishop of Rome, in 331. He is known as Pope Silvester the First, and why commemorated we do not know. New Year's Day. — We will not neglect the good old English custom of wishing to every one whose eye rests upon these lines, " A happy New Year!" No one ever regarded this day with indif- ference ; and the gardener is certainly not an exception to the rule. Much are his future hopes dependent upon tlie character of this sea- son ; and it is not a bad wish, so far as the prosperity of his next year's crops are concerned, to wish that he may, for no brief period, be a " frozen-out gardener !" Phenomena of the Season. — The most characteristic, most beautiful, and most beneficial occurrence of this period of the year is the fall of snow. It is not our purpose to dwell upon the beauty of its star-shaped crystals, nor upon its magic influence over a land- scape, but to offer a few notes upon its utility to the gardener. There Insects. — The gardener must not consider all insects are his foes, and is now but little doubt that snow really acts as a manure— not merely by killing insects and converting them into decaying matter, but by actually adding ammonia to the soil. It was an opinion entertained by the earliest philosophers, that snow contained some kind of salt beneficial to plants ; and the poet Thomson only repeats theii opinion when he says of wintry weather, " Through the blue serene, For sight too fine, th' ethereal nitre flies. ♦ * * The frost-concocted glebe Draws in abundant vegetable soul, And gathers vigour for the coming year." Liebig, however, by actual experiment, has shewn that both snow and rain contain ammonia in quantity quite sufficient to be materi- ally beneficial to jdants. Snow also acts as a protection from severe cold to the plants which it covers. We have knowii the temperature of the air, on several following days, to have fallen as low as 28", whilst a thermometer, buried six inches under snow, never fell, during the whole of the same time, lower than 32^. Brocoli plants, covered w^th snow, are never frosted in the neck, however cold the season may be. 1 1841. 1812. 1843. 1844. 1845. 1846. 181-. 1818. 28 Cloudy. Frosty. Cloudy. Fine. Showery, Frost. Cloudy. Highest & lowest temp. 29 44°— 37" 43°— 27° 49°— 42° 48°— 12° 52°— 22° 34°— 27° 37°— 25° Showery. Cloudy. Cloudy Cloudy. Frost. Frost. Cloudy. 45°— 39° 52°— 46° 45°— 37° 49°— 38° 52°— 40° 40°— 27° 35°— 35° ,•10 Cloudy. Fine. Fine. Cloudy. Cloudy. Frost. Rain. 42° — 31° 55°-46° 42°— 39° 42°— 32° 54°— 25° 32°— 15° 40°— 32° ;u Fine. Fine. Cloudy. Cloudy. Fine. Frost. Cloudy. 40°— 33° 54°— 30° .•iO°— 30° 44°— 32° 52°— 40° 28°— 21° 37°— 30° 1 Fine. Fine. Fine. Snow. Cloudy. Fine. Frost. Cloudy. 1 45°— 34° .18°— 27° 41°— 25° 39°— 27° 45° — 34° 46°— 30° 35°— 29° 42°— 29° 2 Showery. Cloudy. Frost. Frost. Fine. Frost. Snow. Fine. 45° — 32° 37° -25° 38°— 19° 37°— 14° 44° — 24° 41°— 22° 34°-26° 49°— 38° .1 Stormy. Frost. Frost. Frost. Frost. Frost. Frost. Cloudy. 39°— 21° 37°— 22° 43°— 27° 42°— 32° 40°— 29° 43°— 38° 35°— 30° 51°— 41° wa^e war against them yvithout distinction. Many of them are perfectly harmless, and others arc among the number of his best friends. Of these %ye shall have frequent occasion to take notice, but at present shall confine our notice to one small beetle — Ttieht/porus Chrysomelinus (Golden-coloured Tachyporus.) It is here represented of its natural size, and magnified. The prevailing colour of this insect is black, and it is remarkably smooth and shining all over — eWdently for the purpose of enabling it more easily to penetrate the soil. Its throat and outer case of the wings, and the legs, are reddish yellow, or golden-coloured. In the summer, about June, it is found in flowers, but in the months of December, January, and Fcbruarj', it is found among the roots of grass, and in the moss about grass-plots. In whatever situation found, it is doing no harm. On the contrary, at this season it is actually aiding the gardener to convey decayed matters into the body of the soil. It feeds upon these, and conveys them into the earth to the roots of the plants, among which this insect has its underground haunts. Some other very similar beetles do this in a still more remarkable manner. Thus the Dungy Earth-borer iGeotrnpes Stercorarius) makes a large deep hole" under a heap of dung, depositing its eggs in the hole after wrapping them up in a ball of dung. Thus burying it at the roots of the plants, and the hole, like a pipe, conveying rain — a liquid manure after passing through the dung — to the same imdergrouud position for most usefulness . So many applications have we had for information relative to the Jerusalem Aitichoke, that we tMnk it best to combine our answers — adding to them such observations as may be new or useful to some of our readers. It is difficult to imagine how the name of ai'ti- choke should have been applied to this vegetable — for, with the exception of its roots (tubers) when boiled being of a consistency like that of the bottom of the ai'tichoke-bead when similarly cooked, there is no single point of resemblance. The Jerusalem arti- choke, in fact, is neither more nor less than a tuber- ous-rooted sunflower. In England it does not usually bear any blossoms, though we have seen them — yellow, and differing chiefly fi-om those of the com- mon siuiflower, in being smaller. The Jenisalem artichoke does not bear blossoms for the same reason that the walnut-leaved kidneys, and other early vai-ieti* of the potato, are similarly flowerless — its productive, or breediug energies, are tm-ned into another channel. If the young tubers of the Jerusalem artichoke, or the tubers of the walnut- No. Xin., Vol. I. liC THE COTTAGE GARDENER. leaved kiJuey-potato, are removed as fast as they are formed, totli plants will produce flowers and ripen ssed. This naturally suggests tlie mode by which new and improved varieties of tlie Jerusalem aiticlioke might perhaps he obtained; and it is very worthy of many experiments, being a vegetable that -will endure hardships almost more than any other, is nutritious, .and capable of cookeiy in many different modes. The chief jjoints of improvement to be sought for in seedlings of the Jerusalem artichoke are, mcreased size in the tubers, and less height in the stems. We are aware that, as at present cultivated, it does not ripen seed in this country; but it would do so, pro- bably, if the tubers were removed, and thus the blossoms made to appear much eai-lier. Before passing to more important points, we eaniot forbear remarking that, as one of the names of this vegetable is inapplicable, so is the other name only a viilgar corruption. The uninformed would think that this vegetable either was originally brought from, or is much cultivated at, Jerusalem : whereas this name is no other than an iguoi-ant alteration of the word ijirosole — tlie Italian name for the sunflower. The Jerusalem artichoke was brought from France into England in the year 1617, and was speedily cultivated extensively. It had reached France fi-om Italy, whither it had been introduced fi-om Brazil, its native country. Altliough it will be productive in any soil, yet it is by far- the most so in one that is light and moderately rich. It should never have any manure applied at the time of jilanting. Either fi-esh manm-e or a veiy fertile soil cause the Jerusalem artichoke to gi-ow too much to stem and leaf The best time for planting Joiiisalem artichokes is in Xovember, but, whether planted then or in tlie early spring, let them be planted with tlie dibble six inches deep, in rows tlu'ee feet apart, and the same space between every two plants in the rows. The rows should run north and south, so as to admit as much sunshine as possible between them. Xo after-cultm-e is requb-ed, but fi'equeut hoeing, and thinuiug the stems, produced by each set, to one or two at the most. Neither esirth-up the stems nor cut them shorter ; for if you do so, the sap is con- sumed iu producing side-branches, and the croj) of tubers is proportionately reduced in quantity. In November the tubers will be fit for taking up, citheras wanted, or to be storedin alternate layers with earth. The middle-sized tubers aa-e the best for jjlant- ing. It is tnie that small tubers wUl do forthispmpose, but tlie plants to wliich they give birth arc smaller and less productive tlian tiiosc from lai-ger tubers. In these times (to speak in the rmldest terms) of no superabundance, it is the duty of eveiy one to com- mimicatc any mode of improving and increasing our available food with which he may become acquainted, and we ju-e glad to do so with the Jerusalem ailichoko on the present occasion. Take two pounds of Jeru- salem artichokes, pared and halved, and one pound of turnips, also pared and sliced ; two or three good- sized onions, and a stick of celery ; add two quarts of cold water, and boU all together slowly for more than two hom-s : then add tn'o large tablespoonsful of flom-, an ounce of di-ipping, with pepper and salt to the taste, and let it simmer on for half-an-hour longer, stii'ring it fi-equeutiy of course. We request all om- readers, rich and poor, to make this soup precisely as here given, and they will find it, as we have done, if not quite " good enough for a pampered alderman," at least a most palatable ad- dition to om- every-day cookeiy. THE FRUIT-GARDEN. Pears for the G.^ble-exds of Houses. — It has often been occasion of much regi'et with us, in passing through the counny, to behold so many situations of this kind unoccupied by fi-uit-ti'ees. We do not mean to say that the majority are thus neglected, but tiiat a gi-eat many are ; and such, of comse, entail on the tenants a loss of profit, or of convenience, or of botli. But, besides tiie profit-view of the aft'air, how much nicer a biulding looks with a well-managed h'ained tjiiit-tree on its walls, especially when laden with its choice produce. Whenever we see a well-fumished gable of this character, a clean garden, and a good boundary hedge, we may always augm- well of the moral and industrial character of then- possessor. These are not the sort of persons who are ever seeking parish relief Self-rehaiice is manifest in the neat and thiifty garden of the liumblest cottager. In considering the subject of gables, it must be borne in mind that there is no necessity to confine ourselves to oue sort of pear alone. This would be very impohtic as to convenience, as it is quite easy to produce a succession of first-rate dessert or table- jiears, on the same tree, J'rom the Jargonelle in August to tlie BeiuTC-rauce in JIarch or April. The cottager, however, may think it better to grow a glut of one kind, and to throw them into the market at once ; but we do not, by any means, think this coiTect. This misapiirehension of matters arises fi'om the fact of the ordinary cottager being ignorant of the very superior chai-acter of many of the newer kinds of pears, both in point of healing, keeping, and melting properties. There are few cottagers but could find room to pre- serve a bushel or two of peai's untd the spring; and a cou])le of bushels of the Bern're d'Aremherg, or the BeuiTC-rance, sold in February, w-ould go far towards paying the rent of a small cottage. These peai-s arc not unfi-equentiy quoted as liigh as foiu-pcnce each in the fiaiiterers' prices. Soil. — We may first advert to soil, though littie cau be added to om- advice about stations (see p. 107) ; as, however, the tree on an extensive gable has a much gi'eater space to cover, and as the dwarfing system, jiropcrly so called, will not answer the end in view, we advi.=e a greater depth of soil ; to which we woidd add, that it may also be of a more nutritious character. We would here mge, above all things, THE COTTAGE GAEDENEK. 127 the expediency of proenring a cart-load of the turfy soil described in The Cottage Gardenee for Decem- ber 7, under the head " Stations for fi'uit-trees." Furrowings li-om good wheat soils are there recom- mended. If fiuTowings cannot be obtained, the ordi- nary soil wOl suffice ; the tmfy principle may be imitated, by using a more liberal amount of any vege- table refuse. We \yould, therefore, say, let the soil beprepai'ed tliirty inches deep, if the gable be large; if not particularly so, twenty-four inches may well suffice. By no means put any manm-e in the soil ; this would ruin all. As before observed, fresh maiden soil, with some vegetable refuse, will be quite good enough, merely repeating the plan recommended pre\T!ously, of using one baiTow-full of rich soil at planting, to give the ti'ee what gardeners term "a start." Of course an impervious bottom of stones or otlier hard material will be placed beneath the soil ; this proceeding is described in the Number for De- cembev 7th. If the situation is natiu'aUy damp, one-thh'd of the bulk of the station-soil should be above the ordinary ground-level ; if a very dry subsoil, no elevation is necessary. Some persons would seem to imagine, that it is absolutely necessaiy to have the gi'ound cultivated over the siu'faoe of the roots. We beg, once for all, to aver, that it is a sad fallacy, not only in this case but in that of most other fi-uit-trees. We know that good fi-uit-cultivation may be earned out, with both digging and manming, by persons of much knowledge in the habits of fmit-trees ; but we also ];now, that a much superior, and certainly a more simplified, system will be found in a total withdrawal of surface-culture amongst fruit-trees ; and this wo hope to prove in many ways during the progress of The Cottage Gardener. In the meantime we say, attend to the principles here laid down as to soO, drainage, &c., aud then you may lay a jiavement over the soil as soon as well settled ; this, however, will not be for some six or eight montlis at least after planting. Diu-ing this period let some thorns, or other defensive bushes, be placed before or over the soil containing the roots of the tree ; let no treading or rambling over it take jjlace untU the pavement is down. Let, also, the pavement be laid dining a very dry period, and thou we 'will guarantee the whole proceeding as a sucoessfid one. Stocks for Pears on Gables. — Herein much room is oifered for advice. Persons who are not tliorouglily experienced in pear-culture may tlrink that an unne- cessary amoimt of importance has been attached to tills matter. Not so, however. There are certain points connected with all aftairs which at first sight appear inexplicable or tritiing, but wliich are really most necessary to observe ; so it is with many gar- dening practices. It unfortunately happens, however, that gardening, as well as other arts, lias had its quacks ; these are the gentlemen who mysticise. Our object is to simplify such matters. The Ijinds of pears are so various in habit, as to the amomit of luxuriance, and the cii-cumstances under which they produce blossom-buds, that much may be done m the way of either excitement or control, in order to render them profitable. Tlius some kinds, as the Beurre-Jiel, the Glout Morceau, tlie Beurre d'Aremberg, the Bemre-rance. &c., might answer well on quince-stocks, provided the soil was generous ; wliilst sucli as the Winter NeUis, the Ne plus Meuris, the Beurre de Capiaumont, &.C., would, on such stocks, never cover an extensive gable, even in the richest of soils. Under these oii'cumstances, therefore. and in order to simplify matters to the cottagers, we would advise the use of the fi-ee, or wild, pear stock, for gable-gi'owu ti'ees. Training. — Gables are generally lofty, and we think that one main leader carried up the centre, with shoots proceeding at a right angle, right and left, is above all others the best form, more especially if a chimney-shaft proceeding up the middle causes a gi-eater height at that part. In other cases the old fan shape may be successfully adopted. We care little, however, for modes of training ; stiU those who would make a good thing of a gable pear, must set out with some system. About modes of training under various circumstances, we wdl hereafter ofi'er advice. Selection of the Tree. — We should prefer what is caUed a half-standard in the nm-series, especially if having a leader, and a pan-, or a couple of paii's, of horizontal or side shoots, right and left. These we would at once train accordingly, and carry the central shoot or leader up the centre in a dii'ect hne, dividing the gable into two equal parts. Tliis leader ought, when the ti'ee is established, to be made to produce foiu- shoots annually fi-om its sides. Those shoots, and, indeed, the whole of the side shoots, should be nearly or quite a foot apart. Therefore it follows, that two feet of a main leader would be re- qiusite, in order to produce two pans of shoots. And so it woidd, but it is not always possible to secure two feet. Anotlierplan is sometimes resorted to, and that is to pinch ofl' the gi-owing point fi'om the young leaders in tlie month of June, as soon as advanced one foot fi'om the last pail' of side shoots. This shoot, if luxuriant, will in three weeks shoot again ; and a pair must be selected as side branches, and another leader carried straight ahead, which, at the ensuing winter's pruning, may be some twenty or thirty inches in length ; all this, however, must depend on the sort and the soQ. We hope these explanations will sufiice. with a little of individual ingenuity and perseverance, to enable our friends to carry out successful gable-cidtine. We must, however, offer a concluding remai-k on a veiy important part of tlie business. Tying down Shoots. — Oiu' practice is, aud has been for many years, to tie down young shoots diu'iug the growing season on the side or other branches. This matter lias so extensive an effect, both on the pear and other fruit, that we intend offering an article or two on it alone. For the present, therefore, we say, let the main side branches be viewed in the light of a trellis, on which to ti'ain any other kinds which may be grafted on their siu'face. A living trellis to be sine they will be, and this is requisite. They wiU, by a little labour, both carry the fndt of their own and other kinds; indeed, on a large gable, a very nice collection may be established on one shoot. Of this, however, more shortly. One piece of advice is still necessary. We would recommend the planting of a tree which had been grafted vith a usefid kind of strong growth, gi-afted on a pear stock. The Glout Morceau, the Beurro- diel, or even the Maiia Louise, we would recommend ; but, whatever the kind be, it should be possessed of a strong constitution, and also be a truly useful kind ; constituting in itseU' a kind tliat coidd not be dis- pensed with, and out of which it woidd be desirable to have a liberal produce. We come now to the close of the year. Time lost cannot be regained, as we all know, aud it will lie well for the cottager, during the long wiuter evenings, to examine his course of culture jiursued dining the past year, in order to trace to their source any failiu'es that 128 THE COTTAGE GAEDENEK. may liave nccnn-ed, so as to lay the foundation of ijn]>roved practices. Let no man sujipose that he lias nothing wliich ho can improve. For our own part, we can never find any gardening practice so com- plete but that we can fancy some amendment. One improvement generally begets another ; and our gracious Creator has so ordained these things, that not only profit, but an imfaihng som'ce of interest is provided for the minds of the most humble, in all matters connected with the soii, provided they perse- vere with an imflinching resolution. EOBEHT EbKINGTON. THE FLOWEE-GARDEN. Feenehy (continued). — The weather having been propitious, we trust that some of our readers have made a beginning to form a habitation for those lovely plants in whose praise we have descanted pretty largely in some of the late niunbers of tins work. We gave in the eleventh Number a copious Ust of such species as inhabit this countiy ; but, as ferns are more or less disti'ibuted in all climates, we can scarcely con- sider we have done justice to the subject without eiuimerating such species as are hardy enough to live iu the open air of this coimtry, though natives of foreign localities. We shall proceed, therefore, to lay before the fem collector a list of hardy foreign ferns, in doing which we are in some ditficulty on one point, and that is, the aspect or situation iu which they are foimd. No work that we know of in om- language gives us this information : therefore we must, from experience, learn what situation in, or on, the fernery to plant them, so as they may thrive well. Neither can we inform our readers where they can be procured, — at least, the greater part of them. Some are iu one or two nm'series near London, but theyai'e by no means common. Perhaps, should this paper tall into the hands of some of oiu' continental friends, they may obligingly benefit our English gardeners hy making the matter known, through our columns, what species of the following list ai'e iu theii- collections : Adiantum pedatum. Bird's-foot maiden-hair. North America. Aspidium acrostichioides. Acros- tichum-like 5hield-fem, do. ,, novaboracense. New York shield-fern, ditto. ,, fragrans. Scented shield-fern. Siberia. ,, marginata. Margined shield-fern. N.A.* ,, intermedia. Interme- diate ditto. N.A. ,, rigidum. Rigid ditto, South Europe. ,, atomarium. Atomcd ditto. N.A. ,, bulbiferum.BulbearJng ditto. N.A. ,. alpinum. Alpine ditto. South Europe. ,, montanum. Moxmtain ditto. Switzerland. Asplonium rhixophyllum. Root- ing-leavcd spleen\vurt. N..\. ,, angustifoliitni. Narrow- leaved ditto. N.A. ,. ebcneum. Ebony- stalked ditto. N.A. Botrychium fumarioidcs. Funia- tory-like nioonwort. Carolina, disscctuni. Cut-leaved ditto. N.A. ., virginicum. \'irginian ditto. N.A. „ obliquum. Obliiruc ditto. N.A. Cheilanthes gracilis. Graceful Cheilanthes. N.A. ,, vestita. Clothed ditto. N.A. Pavallia pilosiuscula. Rather hairy davallia. N.A. Gymnogramma leptophylla. Slender-leaved gymnogramma. South Europe. Lycopodium Carolinianum. Carolina club-moss. N.A. ,, complanatum. Smooth- leaved ditto. N.A. ,, dendroideum. Tree- like ditto. N.A. ,, alopeeuroidcs. Fox- tail ditto. N.A. ,, rupestre. Rock ditto. N.A. ,, ornithopodoides.Bird's- foot-like ditto. N.A. ,, hclvetieum. Svvissditto, Switzerland. ,, dcnticulatum. Toothed ditto. Ditto. ,, apoduni. Stemless do. N,A. ,, lueidulum. Shinmg ditto. N.A. Lygodiuni humilis. Dwarf -snakc-tonpuc. N.A. Aspleniuni Petraclue. Petrach's spleenwort fcni. France. ,, uielanocaulon. Black stalked ditto. N.A. * N.A. — North America. Asplenium thalypteroides. Tha- lyptris-Uke ditto. N..^. ,, Hallerii. Haller's do. Switzerland. ,, niichau.\ii. Slichaux's ditto. N.A. ,, montanum. Mountain ditto. N.A. Onoclea sensibilis. Sensitive Onoclea. Virginia. ,, obtusilobata. Blunt- lobed ditto. N.A. Ophioglossum lusitanicum. Por- tuguese bird's-tongue fern. Osmunda cinnamomea. Cinna- mon osmunda. N.A. ,, Claytoniaua. Clayton's ditto. N.A. ,, intcrrupta. Interrup- ted ditto. N.A. ,, spectabilis. Showy do. N.A. ,, gracilis. Slender ditto. N.A. Polypodium virginianum. Vir- ginian polypody. N.A. ,, hexagonopterum. Sis- angled ditto. N.A. ,, connectile. Connected ditto. Canada. Ptcris pedata. Footed brake. Virginia. ,, argentea. Silverybrake. Sil}eria. ,, atropurpurea. Dark purple stemmed ditto. N.A. ,, caudata. Tailed ditto. N.A. Struthiopteris Pennsylvanica. Pennsylvanian ostrich-feather fern. ,, germanica. German ditto. Woodwardia angustifolia. Nar- row-leaved Woodwardia. N.A. ,, Virginica. Virginian ditto. Eerss IX Glass-cases. — There is yet another me- thoil by wliich ferns may be cidtivated successfidly even in the heart of London and other large towns. We mean growuig them in what are commonly known as Wardimi Cases, from their being first made known by a gentleman named Ward. In Wellclose-squiu-e, in the heart of London, this gentleman has cultivated successfully those delicate jilants to the highest de- gree of luxuriance and beauty. Some inquuies haviug been sent to us on this subject by a correspondent signuig himself " A Working-Man," and having had some experience in furnishing Ward's Cases, we shall proceed briefly to give such information about them as will, we trust, be useful to many of our readers. A Ward's Case is nothing more than an oblong box, about five inches deep, with a ledge all round the top. Upon this ledge rests a glazed frame, iu shape like a Lilliputian sjian-roofed hothouse. It is gene- rally as high as it is long. " A Working-Man" de- scribes his as being "two feet high, one foot and a half long, and foiu'teon inches wide." This, however, is rather too high in proportion to the length. We should recommend one of the following proportions : four feet loug, two and a half feet high, and eighteen inches wide. Such a one, handsomely made, glazed, and painted, would cost about i'3 lOji. or i.i. The glazed part should be separated from the bottom, so that when the fems require anything doing to them, it could be lifted off, the work done, the glass cleaned, and then set on again. A glass door iu the centre is also desu'able ; as, when the atmosphere is colder outside than inside the case, the moistiu'e condenses on the glass inside, and the beautiful inhabitants are almost invisible. This renders a door useful. Ojieu it a very short time, and the moistm-e or steam will evaporate or di'y away, and the little paradise will again show its beauties to the admiring spectator. The Soil to grow them in is rougii fibrous peat, the finer parts being sifted out, and the rest broken by the hand into small pieces. Tejipebature. — Wardian Cases slioiJd always be kept free fi'om frost. If the hardy ferns only are cidtivated, the case may stand upon a balcony or window-sill ; but if tlie case is placed in a room where a fire is kept, exotic fenis will thrive in it luxiuiantly. The temperature of a living-room is generally between 5(1 and 60 degrees of l''alirenheit's thermometer ; and supposing the ease to be in a room of thatdescription, the list on our next page will be suitable for our friend "A Working-Man's" case. Watering. — To his next question — how often water is requii-ed ? — it is somewhat difficult to give a satisfactory answer. So much depends upon whether the Sim shines upon the case — whether the plants are THE COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 120 Cccnoptcris circutaria. Cowbane- like Csenopteris. Doodia aspera. Rough doodia. Gymnogramma Lcptiphylla. Slender-leaved Gymnopramma. Lycopodium Btolonifcrum. Creeping club-moss. Nephrodium pectinatum. Comb- like Nephrodiuni, gi'owiug and in health — and the reteutiveness of the lieat in which they are jilanted, that om- answer must be rather a vague one, only amountiag to this, — that if the earth is dry inside, or below the surface, it requu-es water. If the plants are growing luxuriantly, they reqim-e more water tliun when the leaves (or fi-onds) are matured or going to rest. If the sun shines on the glass, we may expect moistm-e will be drawn up fi-oui the sod by tlie heat, and, oonsequeutly, a small quantity of water will be reqiui'ed. In all the operations of gardening there is not one thatrequnes sucli nice discrimination, such good judgment, as the timely and proper application of water. It is impossible to give such minute instruction in regard to watering, so as to be quite sui'e we have well informed tlie operator. Observation and experience are the best, the safest guides in tliis important matter. Wardian Cases, however, veiy seldom reqiui-e watering. We have known some that have not been watered for twelve months, and yet some of the plants had grown remarkably strong. We do not recommend such an extreme. Examine the sod, as we said before, and if it is dry, give a little tepid (lulcewarm) water. Do this during the morning, and leave the door open for an hour or two, to cany otf the supei-iiuous moisture in the air. The following ferns are suitable for a small Wardian Case in a room : Adiantum cuneatura. Wedge- leaved maiden-hair. ,, trapeziformc. Tra- peziform-le.aved ditto.* Aspidium prolifa?rum. Proli- ferous shield-fcrn. Aspleniuni obtusatum. Obtuse- leaved spleeuwort. ,, odontitis. Toothed ditto. The above ten fenis will be sufficient for " A Work- ing Man's case." We shall be glad to give a larger list to any one that has a larger-sized case. Some of om- cottage friends are ingenious enough to make such a case for themselves. We trust, also, thattliere are a goodly number of them who are lovers of plants, and who would not think it much trouble to make a case for plants. Should they not be able to purchase glass, the frame might be covered with oUed paper, and the ferns would live and flomish imder it nearly as well as imder glass. The following plants will tluive under a cover of this kind : — ^Sarracenia pui^iurea (Purple Side-saddle Flower), S. llava (Yellow do.), Cyqnipedium insigne (Noble Ladies' Slipper), C. venustunr (Charming do.). Yucca pilamentosa variegata (Variegated Tlu-eady Adam's Needle), and some of the more woody Me- sembryanthemums, or ice-plants. On the ribs of the roof some eyelets, or rings, may be fastened, and suitable plants procm'ed to hang from them. This will materially add to the interest of the nunia- ture conservatory. We have used the following with success, for this purpose ; — Epipliyllum tnmcatum (Truncated EpiphyUum), E. Truncatmn violaoeum (Tiolet-coloured do.), Cereus flagelliforme (Whip- formed Cereus), TOlandsia pi.irpurea (Purple Tilland- sia), Linaria Cymbalaria variegata (Variegated Cym- bal leaved Toad-flax). Some of the long leaved ferns also thrive well thus hung up. The ball of earth belonging to each plant shoidd be wrapped up in a little moss, tied round with some copper wne, leaving a loop outside to hang them up by ; or they might be suspended in small baskets, made of copper wne, or * Trapezium is a four-comcred figm-e — best described aa being a square, having unequal-lengthencd sides. china, or even gutta percha. One of the last-named material, about the size of a breakfast-cup, was shewn us by a fi'iend a few days ago, and a neater Uttle thing for the pui^pose cannot be conceived. We have taken up so much room iMs week on the above subject, that we Itave not much space left for florists' flowers, but we trust all we have written will be interesting to most of om' readers Eveiy one can have a Wardian Case, and so enjoy a garden ui their sitting-room, and daily admire the beauties of those tiny lovely plants. FLORISTS' FLOWERS. CAitN-Viioxs. — At this time of the year the carna- tion requires but httle care. On all fine days give plenty of ivir to the fi-i\mes. Give water when they appear dry early in the morning, with moderately- warm water. Examine the pots and sides of the frame to see if any snails are linking abortt, and destroy them. Although carnations are perfectly hardy, yet it is scarcely safe to expose them to severe fi-ost! Let them be covered up with double mats on the least appearance of hard weather setting in. We shall describe the method of layermg and piping those pla,nts at the season for performmg those interesting operations. Carnations may also be raised li'om seed, but the chances of raising a good double flower are so small, that it has been said by an eminent florist that " one standard good variety is a reward for a life- time." For border purposes it is indeed worth whUe to raise seedlings. The cottager should try to re- member this — A eottar/er is quite as likely to raise a Ji lie flower as the best florist in theJiingdom. Let Mm apply to a respectable seedsman for a paper of seed, perhaps six pennyworth ; for that money he will have as much seed as wiU raise lum 1.50 or MO plants, three-fomths of which will very likely be double.^ Sow the seed on a warm border, about the middle of Mai-oh, and when the plants are up about an inch high, transplant them into a bed in an open place, four or five uiches apart. They can remain in this bed till they flower the following season, when all the single and bad colom-ed ones may be tin-own away. Should any of the rest appear to be pretty good, they can be increased by layering ; instruction about which wiU be given at the right time. T. Appleby. GREENHOUSE AND WINDOW GARDENING. Amakyllis.— The great mass of bulbous-rooted plants, passing under the common name of ''Amaryllis" among general observers, is divided in books into a number of different groups or genera; each group having something ui its nature difierent from the rest, and consequently requiring a different management. For instance, one group grows in summer and rests in winter ; another group grows in the winter and rests dming the summer. Some of them flower in the spring; some in the summer; and others in the autumn. Again, some of the plants are ha,rdy, or half-hardy ; others of them require a gi-eenhouse or good pit ; while a third portion will not live with us without the aid of a stove or hothouse. It is, there- fore, self-evident that if theii- natural habits arc to be 180 THE COTTAGE GARDENER. attended to whilst under cultivation — and they wiU do no good unless they ave — the various gi'oups must be very ditierently heated at Jifl'crent times of the yeaa-. No wonder, therefore, that a sardener is much yuy.- zlcd when he is asked a question, as '• What is the best method of growing the amaryllis'?" — and I liave that question now lying before me. An answer to a question so general, woidd be as likely as not to lead tlic inquirer in the wi'ong' direction. To be of any use it could only aflect one particuliQ- group, and per- haps not more than a single plant of tlie amaryllis tribe. Unless, therefore, ho who seeks for inlbnna- tion is able to state to what particular group his plant or plants belong, the chances are tliat, if he asks for advice respecting their management, he wOl be in- formed, miintentioniJly, in the wi'ong way. In tliis article, therefore, I shall run over the principal divi- sions of the amaryllis, and give the proper treatment for eacli ; recommending those plants tliat have sho^vy flowers and are easy to manage. The oldest amaryllis in Enghrnd is that plant whic'n has gone xmder the name of the Jacnhau Lily lor many yeai's ; and, wliat is cmious enough, imtil the last few yeai's no one linew how it foimd its way to England, or from what part of tlie world it came. It is now known to be a native of the temperate regions of Mexico and Guatemala, or what is now called Centi'al America, and is found to be quite hai'dy in England, if planted in front of a gi-eeuhouse, or in ch-y earth anywhere, provided it is placed six inches below the smface ; and you know potatoes wiU hve out an ordinmy winter at that depth. Therefore, if you have got a garden, or any piece of groimd, you may manage it as easily as potatoes, and very much in the same way, and hi that way it will increase by oftset-bulbs faster than you can find room for it. What becomes of the veiy old plants of it I cannot say, but I never saw a yoiuig or old one dead yet : so there is not mucli fear about your losing it. It will not flower in England unless it is taken u]) in the autumn, as soon as the fi-ost comes, and di-ied like an onion : tliat is, letting its leaves and roots slirivol up in the thying, before they are cut oB". Tlieii you may put it in a paper bag, and hang it up in the kitchen for three raontlis ; a cooler place wUl not suit it nearly so well. In the spring you may pot it in any good kind of mould in a damp state, and it will suck in sufficient moisture, without being watered, to set itself growing ; and by the time the leaves are three or foiu' inches liigh the flower-stalk will push up, and then water it fi'eely every day. All this time it will do in the wuidow or in a greenhouse ; but wlieu the flowerhig is all over, you shoidd plant it out of the pot into a border, and water it occasionally in chy weather till late in the autumn, when you must take it up as before. When you have several roots of bidbs or this plant you can jiot a couple of them, at intervals of a fortnight or three weeks, in tlio spring ,to jirolong their season. The flower-stalk seldom produces more than one flower, and never more than two, but the flower is liU'ge, and of a goi-geous colour, diu-k pin-plish red all over, and the wliole flower stands nodding down on one side of the stalk, giving it a pecuUarly gi-aceful ajipearance. It has never been known to seed, nor will aU our skill make it breed with any other sort. I suppose it is for these unsociable qualities that they have given it such a hai-d Latin niune in books, as Sprekelia formosissima. The next amaiyUis I shall name is the most com- mon of them all, and often called the BcUa-donita Lilij ; a name given to it in Italy, where it gi-ows as well as it does at its native place — the Cape of Good Hoiie. In all probability it was the first plant that was intro- duced to Europe fi-om the Cape by the Portuguese navigators or Dutch settlers. At any rate, it is the tyjje of the tiiie amarylUs family, of which there ai-e only two or three more sorts, all from South Africa, and nearly hardy with us. The word amaiyllis was the name of a beautiful woman, unmortalized by Virgil, the Mantuan bard, as the Bella-donna of one of liis earliest jioems. Wlien Ijinnaeus luidertook his gi'eat reform in the system of naming jilants, he applied Vh-gil's name of a beantiful lady, AmaiyUis, wliieh was handed down fi-om the poet's time as pro- verbial for loveliness, to those beautiful plants called Bella-donna lilies by the Italian gardeners. " It was the exquisite blending of pink and white in that flower, as in the female complexion, that suggested the common name in Italy ; and to those lovely tints LinniEus referred, when he assigned to it the name of a beautiful woman." (Herbert.) How absurd, there- fore, to have broken these playfid associations of the gi'eat botaniccd philosophei', on which he first founded the genus, liy associating with it either such green- eyed and paiTOt-eoloured faced ladies, as Avdica, Cat^-pti'ata, and Vittata ; or with such bewded and yellow, copper-coloiu'ed Indians, as Bracteata, Eques- ti'is, and the whole race of tubulosum, which have liarcUy any pai'ts in common mth om' beautiful BeDa- donna. Where the soil is suitable, the Amaryllis Bella- donna will live out of doors with us, and flower every autumn; but it does not like to be often disturbed, or any capricious treatment. A south asjiect, imder a wall or in iioiit of a gi'eenhousc, being idl the shelter it reqidres. In some soils, however, it is next to im- possible to flower it, and then it increases by oftsets much faster than when it flowers regidai'ly. The cause of its not flowering can only be a mere guess : therefore tlie best way is to take it iqi about the end of dune, change the soil, and make a new border for it. If the Bella-donna has remained several years in the same place, the roots have worked down veiy deep ; and if they got into a wet subsoil, that may have been the reason of its not flowering ; for unless the roots aa'e kept ih'y fi'om the end of May to the end of August, it wOl eitlier not flower, or, at best, not very fi'eely. Perhaps the bottom soil maybe too poor and di-y, and in this case the plant has not noiu'ishment sufficient to produce a vigorous gi'owth in the leaves, and then a liberal watering once a week wUl be very likely to overcome the soil. It is of little use to water bulbs in the common way, especially if they have been long in the same place. The way to get at them is this ; — take a jiointed stick (the handle of a hoe or rake will do), and make half a dozen holes roimd each patch of leaves, and as deep as yom arms can push the stick. Pom the water gently into these holes from the spout of a watering-pot, and, if you are qiute satisfied that the bottom of the border is too dry, one whole water- ing-pot full ynR not be too much for every patch the first time, and half that quantity at eacli watering aftenvards, and you may continue these weekly doses till the middle of April ; tor if the bulbs are in active gi-owth, and have good di'ainago, they wiU take an enormous quantity of water. It is a good maxim wliich says, " let well alone ;" yet I would not leave tlie Bella-donna more tlian six years imreplanted, even if it flowered evcn-y autumn ; but as its roots do not die annually, as those of some bulbs do, the work of transplanting them must be veiy carefully performed ; all the roots ought to be preserved as nuich as possi- ble, and as soon as you get them up, lay the bidbson theu' sides in a row, and tlu'ow some earth over the THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 131 roots. It is a strange notion to suppose, as some peo- ple do, that the roots of such bulbs are not very ne- cessaiy for them! It is true that they can renew tlxeii- roots if they are damaged, but then it is at the expense of then: store of sap, which ought to go for leaves and flowers next year. The instances of a oon- trai-y practice with tulips, hyacinths, &c., without any bad effects, is familiar enough, but the roots of these plants die natm-aUy eveiy yeai' : not so, however, the roots of the amarj'llis, and the older the roots ai'e the better they will flower. I once received a pai'oel of amaryUis bidba fi-om a gardener, and though I gave him insti-uctions about saving the roots, and the time I wished them, he took them up at the end of May, a month too soon, and cut oiT all their roots ; conse- quently, though they flowered regularly in his garden for twenty or thiity years, it took me five years to get them round. It is much easier to manage the Bella- donna lilies in pots in a pit, as you can regulate then- treatment with some certainty — but their flowers are not neaily so fine in pots ; and as the flowers appear before the leaves, Uke the Guernsey Uly, many people object to them on that account, alleging that it is " uncomfortable" to see plants flower without leaves, especiaUy in pots. Like all bulbs fi'om hot coimtries, the Bella-donna ought to be whoUy covered with the soil in a pot, as when they are at rest it is difficult to find a place sufiiciently diy to suit them. The air of QUI climate in the dryest season is altogether too moist for many bulbs ; but when they ai'e covered with a crust of di-y earth they ai'e safe enough fi-om its effects. Strong rich soil, and large pots, free ventilation, a vigorous gl•o^vth fi'om December to the end of March, after that water very gi'aduaUy %vithlield, and the pots when di-y placed in the hottest end of a shelf in a greenhouse or close pit, are the chief requisites for bringing out the Bella-donna as fine as pot-cultivation can do it. About the end of August place the pot in a saucer of water for four-and-twenty hoiu's, so that the whole mass of soil may become just wet, and keep it merely damp for a week or two ; by that time, if all is riglit, the flower-buds will sprout ; but do not give much water tiU the leaves are two or tlu-ee inches long, for jilants without then' leaves can use little water, and many bidbs perish ynth too much water at fii'st. There are half-a-dozen more amaiyllises which requu-e exaotli/ the same ti'eatment as the Bella-doima, and that is the reason why I said so much imder that head. These are only first cousins, not sisters, to the Bella-donna. They are called Brimsvigia, a land of complimentary name, in lionom- of the noble family of Bl•uns^vick, fi-om whom oiu- own gracious Queen is a descendant : so that it is easy enough to tliink of this name. Their bulbs are much lai-ger than those of Bella-donna, and if they are left above groimd, or half out of the soU in the pot, they never do much good. They like very strong loam, but no mamu'e mixed with it. If the jiots are well drained, as they ought to be, you can hardly give them too much water in winter. Some gardeners place them in hot- houses, tliinking to huny them on; but, being of a noble race, they resent this ti'espass on their dignity — they must have their own way. It is true they make a very rapid gi-owth, like all the bulbs of South Afi'ica, in their native wilds, as they can only grow dm'ing the rainy season, which in that country is not much above three months in the year, and when the rains ai'e over they are almost baked with the di'ought ; and we ought to mutate that diy heat as much as possible when they are at rest with us, by placing the pots where the sim strikes hottest about the premises. There is another peculiarity belonging to them, which puzzled all the gardeners for many years. Theu- roots never die of themselves, and, it' they meet with no accident, wiU penetrate down, in the com'se of yeai-s, beyond the influence of the annual di-oughts, and at that depth they have some moistiu-e, more or less, all the year roimd. Now, you could hardly beheve that we coidd imitate this part of their natm-al condition. If we put the pots in saucers when they were diy, and give a little water now and theu, we ooidd not so regulate the supjily as to prevent the soU imbibing part of it ; and the soU camiot be too diy, when they are at rest : many expeiiments failed, and hundi-eds of bulbs were destroyed before we over- came this difficulty ; and it is the simplest thing in the world after aU, merely placing the pots in deep saucers, and two inches wider aU round than the pot, then filling tliem biim-fuU of sand, and by only keep- ing this sand moist, the bottoms of the pots are kept unifoiTuly damp ; and thus the best pait of the roots ai'e kept fi-om ch-ying too much, whUe the bulbs ai'e as dry as om' climate can make them, and the ti'eat- ment is so neai- to their natm-al condition, that they flower regularly under it. In 18J4, 1845, and 184:6, I received a lai-ge assortment of these dii-ect fi-om the Cape, some of them not in the best condition. After establishing them in pots, I planted them in a border in the open air, fi-om which fi'ost can be kept, and now most of them have so far recovered as to begin to flower. Tins rainy season seems to have suited them; and yet in di'y seasons they do not like to be watered aU over their leaves, only at the roots. There are many kinds of bulbs fi'om the Cape colony, near relations to amaiyUis, wliich wUl all do under the above ti'eatment ; and one peculiarity be- longhig to them is then- dislike to close confinement, and yet they are fond of heat. They also reqiui'e then- roots to be three years old before they wiU flower; so that when once they are disrooted, no matter how old the bulbs may be, it will take three years to establish them again. We often see large imported biUbs of them flower a few months after theu- ai-rival ; but such flowers were formed before they were disturbed in Africa, and of coiu'se had nothing to do with our kind of cultivation ; but I beHeve no one has ever seen them in flower the next two years, or hardly in the thii'd season, owing to their roots having been destroyed when they were taken up. Now this is the whole secret of tlie supposed difficiUty in flowering Cape amaiyllises. They are not allowed a unU'orm mode of treatment to enable them to esta- blish themselves, before it is possible for tliem to flower ; no, aU kinds of experunents are tried to induce them to flower sooner, and when hot-beds, or house- cultiu'e, form part of such experiments, the remedy is worse than the disease. The only way that I can conceive artificial heat likely to be usefiU in such cases, is to plunge the pots in bottom heat of 85 or no degi'ees, without any close covering over them ; but as all the true amaryllises gi'ow oiUy in -winter, that treatment woiUd only suit the allied sorts, which gi'ow in summer, and have persistent leaves, that is, re- taining their leaves aU the year- round. In the whole range of gardening, I do not know where there is a greater opening for improvement to an amateiu, than in the tribe of half-hai'dy bulbs from different parts of the world. A good gi'eenhouse, one pit for such biUbs as gi'ow in ■winter, and another pit for those V('hicli make theii' gi'owtli in summer, good peat-eartli, strong loam, and sand, fi'om which different degrees of compost could be made, and a good stock of pa- tience and perseverance, are the necessary requisites for the undertaking. D. Beaiox. \n THE COTTAGE GARDENER. THE KITCHEN-GARDEN. DvsT AS A Protector. — If iVost does, oi- is likely to prevail, do not omit to follow our directions for protecting peas, beiius, autumn-sowu ouious, yoimg Ifttuce plants, cauliflower plants, late pricked-out cabbage plants, or any article that may require it, by shaking dry dust about tliem. It is really a vabiablc ai'ticle for winter protection, for it is at the surface of the soil the most serious miscliief is always done to vegetation in the winter months, either by wet or frosts. Endi-^-e. — Successions of this should be taken in ;is previously directed, and tlio successional crops pi-otected against sevei-e fiost. Radishes. &c. — If the weatlier continues open, a waiTU border should be chosen for sowing radishes and early hom carrots. CuciMBERS. — Succession of cucumbers shorUd be sown : and the plants ah-eady up in the seed bed must be well protected. If in frames, or pits, depending on heat from fermenting materials, they should be kept ])retty close to the glass, lightly plunged in charcoal dust, or haU'-decayed leaves, and a space left all roimd inside next the frame, or brick-work, to allow the heat a free and kindly circulation ; for, to insure success, the heat must be applied at the upper part by keeping the linings in heat and well topped up, protecting them with cb-y mould, refuse, hay, feni. or any dry rubbish, to absorb the moisture and maintain one regular uniform beat. If the linings are above ground, their outsides shovdd be also pro- tected with fiuv.e-fagots, or long thin fagots made up of any kind of rulibisb, jirunings, Scotch fir, spruce, or any kind of evergi-eeu boughs, or heath, and a tliin i'eather-cdged lioard nm along the top next the fi-ame, and close inside the lights, to convey away the super- fluous water. These precautions are to keep the lin- ings fi-om being chilled. Those cucimiber plants ab'eady tmjied out and making growth must be care- fidly attended to. by gentle application of tepid (luke- warm) water, and the inside of the ti-ame, or pit, next the lining, shoidd eveiy aftenioon, at shutting-down time, be sprinkled too with tepid water, if the weather wiU permit its being done ; that is, if not excessively cold. This will maintain a healthy moisture witliin the frame, keeping off those obnoxious insects, wood- lice, tluips. and red spider, &c. ; for these obnoxious vermin revel in a dry husky atmosphere, which does not either sidt or maintain a healthy vegetation. Melons also slioidd be sown. The early gi-een Persian is an excellent variety to commence with, coming into Tieariug (juicker than the Beechwood, wliich. however, shoidd be sown in succession, and then Fleming's Hybrid. Seed List (contmiial). — Carkots. — Every one is well aware tliat the Eai'ly Horn is the best early carrot for all purposes of sowing, either upon heat or warm borders, and is a very good-colom-ed and flavoiu'ed root through the summer and auttmm months. The Green Top and \Viiite Belgian are the most prolific to cidtivate to an extent required by the amatem' or cottager for his cow, for which they are a most valuable winter root. Indeed, we have this season grown quite as great a weight of the Green Top, on a piece of ground equally prepared, as we have of the Belgian Wiite. The Long Grange and Sun-ey CaiTot are well known — long, tapering, h»ndsome varieties, of superior coloiu-, for table, and should be grown, if tbo land is of kindly quality for theii- growth ; \-iz., a good open, sandy loam, well trenched and pulverized. In sowing caiTots, they sliould be drilled in rows, one foot apart, which shovdd be the distance for all kinds of caiTOts, and they should not be sown until a real healthy tilth is pro- cured. For sowing, choose a calm sunny day. mix- ing and parting the seed in good, dry. fresh wood- ashes, and ajijilyiug, also, in the drills, a goodly sprinkling of fresh air-slaked lime. 300 cwt. of fresh, or newly-biu-nt lime, procured and laid in a shed or covered jilace, to be slaked by the atmosphere, instead of applying water, or slaking it out of doors, is what we mean by being air-slaked. 300 cwt. vdW be suffi- cient for 100 rods or poles of gi'ouud, if applied pro- perly in the drdls, when formed at one foot apart. I know of no produce more useful or profitable to those who keep a cow or horse than a good cairot crop ; and it only requii-es to be methodically attended to, to inswe one. CaiTots do not requu'e a quantity of fresh maniUT. On the contrary, it is more likely to be an injury in producing a fungus, known as the scab, or it at times produces nimierous insects injmious to the root. Fresh soO. well winter-trenched or subsoUed, imlvcrized, and well worked in drying March windy weather, is the best i)reparation for caiTots. They sliould not be sown too early or too late ; if sown too early, many stait for seed the same summer and autumn, particidai'ly if those seasons are iby. If sown late, they do not reach then' projier size ; conse- quently there is a deficiency either way in the pro- duce. For a main crop of caiTOts, after preparing as above described, a suitable day shotild be watched for committing the seed to the soil, between the 21st of ilarch and the l-lth of April. The last week in March, or the first week in .4piil, is our chosen time. if everything is in that kind of order one could wish, and the weather, of com'se. qiutc suitable, ^^'e sowed about equal quantities of Surrey, Green Top, and White Belgian carrots, in the first week of Apiil last, on ninty-nine rods of giomid exactly, and the produce of roots was veiy even and fine, cleai', of good colom, and not a blemish to be found on them. The weight of the produce was nearly seventeen tons, which, at if'.' per ton, makes them worth something consider- able. My readers may depend upon it that the earth, witli a little methodical management, is capable of, and woidd produce, crops that would ]irevent any need of corn importation, or of agricultural pi'oduce of any kind, into this coiurtry. 1 am quite certain that if the culture of the soil were better understood, allow- ing even the increase of pojndatiou to proceed at the rate it is still doing, the earth woidd be fertile in pro- portion, were improvements to keep peace in the ratio of wliicli they are capable. .I.imes Barnes. MISCELLANEOUS INTpORilATION. COTTAGE FARMING FOE JANUARY. It so happens that, amongst our cottier popidation, many possess, or hold, an amount of laud which makes them something more than mere cottage gardeners. In fact, they keep a cow, or it may be a couple ; and this, of course, increases generally the number of pigs. Many also, engaged in commercial pm'suits. in the subiu'bs of our busy towns hold a few acns of land, and keep a cow or two likewise. In these cases it becomes essential so to modiiy the usual routine of gai'den cropping as to meet the consequent demands. THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 133 We h ave paid mucli attention to sueli matters d^uing the last twenty yeai-s, and feel persuaded tliat there is much room I'or improvement in the course of oultm'e piu'sued hy such holders. Amongst many other items of great importance, the rotation of crops is very far from being judicious in a majority of cases. " 2iixed cropping," too. about wliich little was heard until the imfortimate potato disease eommeuced, has since that period assumed much importance, as indeed it might justly do. The cidtivation of our vahiahle keeping-roots, as mangold, Swedes, caiTots, and parsnips, has advanced in notice as the potato lost its original gi'ouud : and such, with the introduction of some very useful things of the cabbage or brassica tribes, have already begiui to form, as it were, a fi'esh era in cottage economy. Before proceeding to offer advice on such matters, we would beg to be miderstood as making no sugges- tions but what liave residted from, and luive been tested by, experience. Theoretical knowledge is out of place here ; whatever results may foUow from some of our more modern speculative improvements, such, we tliink, must be tested by other hands, again and again, before we shall venture to recommend them to tlie cottager. Mixed Cropping. — We have often conversed with farmers, who, being from the first accustomed to a com-se of culture which was supposed to require a lay or rest state imder gi'ass, every three om' four years, have at onci; pronounced it impossible to continue cropping a piece of ground without this periodical rest. And, indeed, with the moderate amount of manures they can afford, as compared with the quantity ne- cessaiy for laud always " up," or under culture, it would be next to impossible. We have, however, ourselves gTo\vn mangold wmtzel on the same piece of ground for at least fom'teen years successively, as a part of a system of mixed cropping ; viz., alternate rows of mangold and potatoes, at thirty inches between row and row; the only change being tliis — that tlje potato rows this year would be mangold rows next, and so on, changing about. So that it is manifest that a plot of gi'ound, imder judicious rotations, may not only be Icept under culture for very many years with much success, Init that even one kind of crop alone, with the trifling alteration above mentioned, may be cultivated. Indeed, our ma.ngold has astonished the neighbouring farmei-s, being generally roots of fi-om ten to sixteen pounds weight. The manvn-e has been principally that of the pig, to which we have latterly added salt and soot. As arguments for a course of mixed cropping in small allotments, we would m-ge the following : — In the eai-ly sprmg months, the cottier's overtime hours are very limited in character. In the month of March, for instance, when the cottager is obliged to perform many of the operations connected with the rising year, lie can, on the average, not be employed more than two horn's in a day, overtime, in his own garden. Now this is a very short period in which to attempt to dig two-thii'ds of his garden over. The consequence is, that he is obliged to withdraw himself fi'om his daily l.abom' at intervals ; and this at the vei-j- period when his services are most required by his employer. Now, by a com-se of mixed cropping, he will be enabled to accomplish aU these matters without abstraction from his daily labour ; at least, on quarter-acre allotments this will be easily accomplished. This, we conceive, is a strong argmnent in itself: numerous and galling are the quarrels between the farmer and his labom'er in some jmrts of the kingdom, on account of the latter's absence when wanted on the farm ; it is a wound which always rankles, on account of the anticipated recm'rence of it, especially where the cottier holds an acre or two of land, and keeps a cow. We have had experience enough in such matters ; for the cottier is naturally a weather-wise subj ect, and generally in such cases can detennine which shall be a fair day, mth much accuracy, betimes in the morning. On foul days, however, he may regularly be found at his ordinaiy labom-. Economy of Space. — This is oui' second argument on behalf of a system of mixed cropping. It is evi- dent, that if a succession crop can be inti-oduced. and one-third gi'own before the principal crop is off the groimd, that both space and time are gained. For instance, we will suppose, simply, eai-ly potatoes in rows two feet apart, planted in February, and the thousand-headed cabbage, or green kale, introduced betTveen the rows after the last earthing-up. This woidd be in the middle of May, when the cabbage, or other crop introduced, would be um'sed, and one-thii-d gi'own by the middle of Jidy, by which time the potatoes woidd be off the gi'ound. BRE,u'nixG-Ti3!E. — This wiU appear at first sight an odd title : but we do not, however, know of another which would better express the idea we woidd wish to convey. Such keeping, or store roots, as the car- rot, the mangold, the parsnip, or Swede tm-nip, require aU the sun-hght our climate affords during August and September, in order to make them solid and give them nutritive, and, of course, keeping pro- 2)erties. Therefore, where mixed cropping is adopted as a system, tilings should be so managed, if possible, as to combine sucli crops «itli their cultme as might either be removed by this jieriod, or so reduced in bulk, or used up, as to throw all the influences of the .autumn sky upon them. Keeping-roots thus be- come what the countryman calls " well fed." and, as before observed, more nutritious: they will also be more readily preserved than such as have been much shaded mth other crops. Enough, we think, has been said in favour of mixed cropping to induce the cottager to tiy a portion of his allotment under this course of cidture. As, however, it is a matter which requires much forecast, and ii, correct knowledge of the habits of the respec- tive crops, we shall, in the course of our labours, point out various modes of combining these things, and hope tliereby to assist in paving the way to an im- proved course of cidtui'e. by inducing the cottager to give to them hereafter a gi'eater amount of considera- tion. We wUl conclude this month's labours by offering a few general maxims, which in the main will be found of use : — 1st. Endeavom- to cidtivate the allotment or gar- don in di^nsious ; either tljree or foui- will be neces- sary. This, however, hi future years will in part depend on the success of tlie potato crop. ■2nd. Endeavour to kee)) one of these divisions entu-ely free every season of all tlie cabbage and gi'een tribes. The cropjiing incessantly with these is one fruitful som-ce of the plants becoming club-rooted. ord. Do not plant any of the cabbage or gi-een crops as a principal ; they are better adapted than anjtliing else to introduce at any given time between or amongst other crops. 4th. Whatever mixed cropjiing be resorted to, let the " stolen crop" be of a different height, if possible ; and in the case of the keeping-roots, endeavour to have the intermediate crop entnely off the gi'ound diu-ing August and September. 5th. If manure is used for the carrot-crop, let it ]U THE COTTAGE GARDENER. be as old as possible, find dig it down very deei). None sliould be nearer tbe suvl'ace than nine inches. Ctli. Do not, under jn-osent circumstances, use any manure for the keeping oi- winter potatoes. 7th. Manm-e very ft-eely at all times for mangold, Swedes, oahl>ages, lettuces, and spiiiach. 8th. Do not manure tor the onions, unless the gi'ound is very poor. !Moderate-sized oiuons keen far better than larger ones : they are also earlier off the ground. The gi'eat point is to get an early har- vest of this root : they keep better, and the gi-ound they are removed from may be manui'ed and planted witli cabbages in September. 9th. Always sow peas in single rows- — ^each row by itself. One row of peas, standing alone, will produce nearlj' as much as two sown near together. ] 0th. Let all crops in rows, if possible, rim north and south : they thus get more light. nth. Do not plant or sow any crops on the fiidt- tree borders, but what may be introduced with a hoe. We have gi'own good turnips of the Dutch kind on Buch borders by hoe culture alone, no digging being allowed. 12th. Always keep a seed-bed for cabliago and the various gi'eens, and exercise forecast in sowing, to provide for known rotations. 13th. Let all gi-ound open in November, and which is not to be cropped ruitil spring, be dug deep and tlu-own into ridges. 14. Let all hedge dubbings aud coarse weeds of every kind be collected to one spot, and bm'ued or rather charred. October is the most eligible month for this process. The charred material nuist be put in an outhouse, or piled up, and cased with tm'ves to keep it qiute dry. Tliese are some of the main points to which we would cUreot attention. We wOl soon deal with some of these matters in detail, or as fonn- iug part of a rotation of crops. We would now advise the cottager to plant a liberi J breadth of early beans as soon as Christmas is turned. A good chance wUl offer on gi-otnid intended for beet or mangold, for they wiU be otf in time to pursue liigh cultivation with that crop. The same coui'se may be pursued with regard to laud for Swedes, MY FLOWERS. (No. 10.) I H.WF, never been able to decide whether flower- beds should be ])laced upon gi'ass or gi'avel. In the summer tlie coolness of a lawn is delightful to the eye and to the foot, but in whiter the wet and sponginess of the gi-ass frequently prevents a lady venturing among lier borders, and thereby she loses much plea- sure and employment as the year advances. Then, again, gi'avel ispleasaut and dry in wet weather, but is Rcorohing aud imrefreshing in the heat of summer, so that twice in the year my opinions alter, and I recom- i mend evei-y lady to leave her garden as she finds it, ' ibr much may be said on both sides of this question, i Where beds are placed upon gi-avel, or bounded by ! gravel walks, box edgings ai'e by far the prettiest, i Tliey ai'e so sweet and ai'omatic after rain, and so neat and gi-een if kept properly cUpped, that I prefer it to any other edging. This is the season for planting Viox. Small rooted slips should be selected for this ]im'pose, placed against the upright side of a small trench along the border, or round the bed they are intended to bound. The box should be clipped in .June, in sliowcry weather; never allowed to grow thick and bushy, because it becomes a harbour for slugs, aud the roots should be kept free from weeds, dead leaves, &o. It is most refreshing to inhale the smell of this rich, pretty plant, after summer showers. As shrubs, the variegated as well as the common kind are very ornamental, either standing alone, or grouped in shrubberies with other trees. When form- ing a large roimd shmb, with the lower boughs resting on the gi'ouud, it is very handsome, and should stand in a gi-ass-plot or in a circle of its own. Among the many sweet flowers that adorn om- gar- dens, the heliotrope might be more generally culti- vated ; and a prettier or sweeter one alady can scarcely possess. Its spicy odom' attracts us to the border the moment we enter the garden ; and when placed in single beds, the eft'eet as well as the scent is very rich. I speak of them now, because cuttings may be taken as late as Christmas, and we cannot have too many in readiness for planting out. Place the cut- tings in rich moidd, three or four in each pot, accord- ing to its size, and keep them in a warm sitting-room, unless the garden shoidd possess a cucimiber-fi'ame, which woidd do better. Pot them oti' into single pots when stnick, and carefully remove aU dead leaves aud mouhhuess wliich may ajipear, as these gi'eatly injure tbe plants. When severe weather is over in the spring, tiu'U them into the open border, in the warmest situation you can find. If cold nights occur, shelter them with hoops and mats. After flowering, cut them domi to within a few inches of the soU, which keeps them handsome ; those cut down in.Iune wiU bloom again in August. We cannot adorn om- gardens with more deUcious flowers ; and ladies do not encoiuage them much more than they do, jirobably supposing them to be gi'eenhouse plants, and therefore too tender for common use. They bloom freely and unweariedly, and are invaluable as border-plants. I have seen them in tbe open gi'ound, spreading them- selves around quite wilcUy, and tlu'owing their spicy shoots across the walk in rich exuberance. They are too fragrant for a room. No lughly-scented flowers should be permitted there, as they ai'e injurious to health, and afieet some persons painfully ; but in the open air we can enjoy the strongest perfiunes safely, and the heliotrope may tridy be said to scent the gale. The pale, sickly blossoms of the monthly rose ai'e still trying to cheer our winter gai'den, but they ai'e so Ian quid, and bufleted by wmd and rain, that they do not gi'eatly add to its beauty. We are most in- debted now to that lovely plant, the Cluistmas-rose, hardiest of the hardy too, which blooms boldly and richly at this season. The large, white, rose-like flower stands amid the evergreen leaves, vying with many summer beauties, although frosts, and snows, and rains idone gi'eet its appearance. I wonder that this flower is not more generally cidtivated, given us, as it is, to enliven the dark and stormy days of deepest winter : but it shoidd never be admitted among winter nosegays, for the perfume is unwholesome. Among the heathen of former days these flowers were con- sidered as a chai'm against evil spuits, aud were scat- tered over theu- floors, with songs of praise to the dumb idols they made and worshipped. It seems a singulai' and beautiful proridence that tlus flower shoidd bloom at Christmas, as if specially sent to remind our thoughtless hearts of that deep debt of gi-atitude we owe to Him who has called us out of heathen dai'kness into the light of the glorious Gos- pel ; and by bringing the rehgious customs of savage ignorance into striking contact with those of Christian light, to point out to us the amazing change wi'ought THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 133 in the miiitls of men, from wild idolatiy to pure and vmdeiiled religion ; and ti'om the unhallowed rites of blind superstition to the reasonable service of the living God. Woman has much in her power. Wives and mothers have gi'eat duties to perform ; they are the mamspriugs of the moral world: and even among tlieir fragi'ant flowers they may cidl instruction a,nd impart lessons of wisdom, — for iiatiu'e has many tongues. The holly and the Christmas-rose, belonging as they do to former times and customs, teach us to keep the great festival now jJassing more in the Chris- tian than the Pagan manner, — for the idle mirth and revehy of Clu'istmas festi-s-itj' 01 accord mth the song that angels sung, or with the " good tidings of gi-eat joy" they brought to man. Let this biilliant flower and glossy shrub repay our care by m-giug us to value more deeply, and commemorate moi'e smtahly, the gi'eat deliverance wi'oiight by Him wdio came to " save his people fi-om their sins ;" and then we may with conlidence expect a blessing upon om' " basket and oiu' store," upon our " fields and the fi'iut of oxu' gi'ound," and " upon all we set om' hand unto." Let woman ponder these things ; for wHle shai'ing in the laboiu'S and pleasures of her husband and her sons, she may sow " good seed," that shall " spring up and bring forth fruit an hundred-fold." TANKS. There is no greater improvement that can be in- troduced into cottage gardening than that of making use of tanks to receive the sewage, as you propose. The expense of construction is the greatest hindrance against then' adoption; but if I can shew that very substantial tanks may be put up by a handy labom'er, and at less than one-half the usual cost, it may in- duce many of yom- readers to give my plan a fair trial. To make more certam of my aim, and gruirantee to vom'self that I am not a novice in these matters, I send you my name and address in confidence. I may remark, as a general rule, that it is never ad'visable to make liquid-manure tanks deep — as when a tank is to be cleaned out, the slush at the bottom is easier tlu-own out the nearer it is to the sm'faoe. The depth should not exceed fom- feet, and, unless a division he in the middle, to make a double tank of it, six feet may he wide enough — capacity may easily he given in the length. The sides and bottom I make of concrete, and a brick arch to cover them, thus : mark out the size you mean the tank to be on the gi'ound, running a line down each side and across both ends, and vrith a spade make a mark along the Ime — outside this mark, dig out a ti-ench four feet deep all round, and as nai'row as your man can work it ; from fifteen to eighteen inches will he about the width he wUl require to reach down four feet; let him form the sides of the trench quite even, and slope inwards tlu-ee inches fi'om the perpendicidar. In tills trench concrete is pom'ed in to form the walls of the tank, the same way as melted lead is thrown into a mould ; the reason for departing fi'om the per- pendicidai' will now be apparent ; the concrete will lean as if it were against the outside of the trench when di'y. Concrete is made ■with one pai't imslacked lime and six pai'ts rough gravel, such as would do to mend roads with ; and, to save labom', the mixture shoidd he made close to the trench; thus, put down six barrowfuls of gi'avel in a flat heap, and one har- rowfid of Ikiie over it, then pom' water on the lime, and it will soon crmnble down; mix it with the gi'avel, thoroughly adding as much water as will make it so soft that it wdl run off the spade, tlieu throw it right and left into the trench till it comes up to within three inches of the top of it. The four walls of tlie tanlc are now finished, and must remain to dn-, one mouth in summer and five weeks in autumn or spring ; by that time the concrete will set as hard as a solid piece of stone. You vnll now say, the next job will be to throw out the soil inclosed by the con- crete, and make a bottom for the tank ; not so fast, however. I gi'aut that woidd be the easiest way ; but then j'ou would have to get a wooden frame to form the arch over, and that frame would he exiien- sive. My plan is to heap soil over the middle, when the ti'encli is being made ; pack it close, and round it off in the shape of the arch; it will thus make the best possible centre, as a brieldayer would call the wooden fi'ame, to fonn the arch on ; and any inteUi- gent labourer coidd smely buUd an arch on such a centre. The arch being finished, the inclosed soil must be tlu'o\^^l out at both ends or gables, and three inches of concrete made over the bottom ; this wiU di'y in a week. Now, if the lime and gi'avel were suitable, such a tank should hold water for genera- tions to come ; hut having never ti'ied a tanlv that way, I cannot be jiositive on the point. I always plaster them over with a thin coat of cement, first notching the surface of the concrete, so that the cement wiU take a better hold of it. I use common Roman cement one part, and two parts rough sand; but sea sand ■svill not answer so well as pit or river sand. The di'ain or pipe conveying the sewage to the tank must enter it at one of the ends and the flow or discharge pipe ; if any pass out at the other end, Tioth ends may then he closed up to the arch, with a few bricks without mortar. The soil tlu'own out may then be retm-ned over the top of the tank, or levelled about, and planted over with shi-ubs as at Mr. John- son's. (See page 7.) Senilis. [The wi'iter of this is one of the best practical and scientific gai'deners of England. — Ed. C. G.] POTATOES. Thkovgh the medium of the "Cottage Gar- dener," I beg to be allowed to say a few words in reference to what Mr. Saul advances in the Fourth Number, page 37 ; I have waved my observation, hoping some one better quaUfied would have taken up the matter. I planted a plot of gi'oimd with " Cups" on the lOtli of April, manm'ed with cow and pig- dung, upon a light open soil; I kept the ground clear of weeds and well forked and hoed. They looked healtliier than any of my ueighbom's' tiU the 20th of July, when, in the course of two or three days, they were completely knocked Aovm with the " disease," as I thought; I'was advised to take them up, as it was thought they would all rot. I dug about half of them on the 7th of September, and the other half on the 2nd of October. I stored them in bobbin-turnings, to keep them one fi'om another : I looked both lots over on the 4th of November. The first lot was nearly liaU' rotten, and the remainder were poor soft waxy tilings, fit for nothing. The second lot are as hard and as sound as need be ; there might he about on-sixth bad. I have trenched the gi'ound the last week, and the few potatoes I found have convinced me that they would have been all the better in the ground awhile longer. — Pro bono jMblico. 136 THE COTTAaE GAEDENER. BEE-FEEDINa. In your reply to a coiTespondent aliout feeding bees, you recommeud feediug them at the bottom of the liive I fiud it a much better plan to do it at the top, by simply pulling out the bung at tlie crown of the hive, and placing it over the -svoodeu feeding- trough — of which I send you a vei-y rough sketch. 'I'he trough is made of wood, an inch and a half tliiek — auy hai'd wood would do. I obtained the pattern from a bee-keeping fiiend in Nottinghamshire. But in Taylor's " Bee-keeper's ^Manual" a somewhat similar one is mentioned. This book, by the way, is so excel- leiit. that it almost supersedes the ueeessit}' of any fur- ther instructions being given to a would-be bee-keeper. When the feediug-ti'ough is placed on the top of the hive, I turn another hive over it, whicli covers the ti-ough and the glass that is upon it. A glass, of the si:!e required, may be purchased for about 7d. Eev. John Btron, Vicar of KiUinghohne. A. Circular aperture fitting over the hole in the crown of the hive. Through this the bees ascend into the feedinp-trough. B. The trough cut out as deep as the wood will allow. The liquor on which the bees are fed is put in by the hole D, which is cut in a sloping direction, from the upper surface of the outer rim of the piece of wood to the bottom of the trough B. C. A narrow groove, sunk about one-eighth of an inch, into which a bee-glass tits, which prevents the bees escaping, or any cold .lir getting to them. V. The hole leading into the trough, as mentioned above. The top of this should either be corked up or covered over in some way ; and at the bottom, where it enters the trough, two or three bits of wire should go across it, as bars, to prevent the bees from creeping up this passage. A piece ot wood, one-eighth of an inch in thickness, pierced full of small holes, floats in the trough B, rising and failing with the liquid : through these holes tlie bees suck the liquor. SHEFFIELD CELERY CULTURE. From a former communication, you are already aware that a very gi'eat improvement is being iii:ul.' in the gi-owth of celeiy in this neighbourhood (Shef- field) ; and as I have been the most successful cultiva- tor in this neighboiu-hood, it perhaps may be the best plan, in describing that cultivation, to give my own method of gi-owing it, making a few remarks as I proceed. In the first place, " good seed is evei-j-thing : " when I say good seed, I mean good seed of a good kind. I have been a cultivator of celery for fifteen years, and I have found that so much thtterenee exists in the kind of seed you sow, that one wOl bear no comparison witli the other, so much so, that I have put two kinds (both red) under the same treatment; the one I could only gi-ow to .'i lbs. weight, and the otlier 1 1 lbs. 7 ozs., when divested of all tlie lateral shoots, &o. Having obtained seed of the right kind, it should be sown in a seed pan, in a good compost, or good soO, sUghtly covering the seed over with the same : it sltould then be jihiced in a frame or greenhouse, the heat to be about 7 or 7 5 degrees ; when the seed is up, and got into " rough leaf, " as it is generally tenned, the seedlings should be taken up. and those intended for the first planting sliould be transplanted in pots, five inches across at top. and one plant in each pot, using a compost of old " spent " manure, and a little earth of light quality. They should then be put in the frame or gi-eenhouse again, still keep- ing them as warm as betbre for about a week ; after this, air should be given them by degrees, a little more every day. to harden them ready for final planting out. Those iuteuded for the second jdanting, may bi^ planted in a frame on a compost as before-named, at a distance of four inches apjrt ; after these have taken root they may be exposed to the air by degrees, till the glass is left altogether. Ha^'ing got the plants ibur or live inches high and very " stiti', " they are ready for final planting in the trenches in the o]ien air, which I reeoinmcntT to be as follows : The trench should be seven inches deep (not more) and two feet wide. I am fully aware that many jier- soas will differ in opinion with me on this point; they wOl say, dig the trenches twelve inches deep and twelve inches wide. I have tried both, ami expe- rience teaches me the fonner is the best. I had long been of opinion that celery made more side roots than tap roots ; and if such was the case, all nmuure placed below where the roots extended was of no use whatever. To the tnith of this opinion I arrived at in the following manner this year ; I dug my trench seven inclies deep and fifteen inches wide, and when the celery had attained the height of twenty or twenty-four niches, I took the earth from the edges of tlie ti-ench, and found the roots had got to the sides of the trench. I then made my ti'ench wider and placed more manure, so that my ti-ench was more than twenty-four inches wide. The result was (with the way I treated it hereafter named), I liad the finest celei-y this locality ever produced. Having dug the trench as before stated, it should be filled up to the top with good stable manure (in such a state that it may be cut with a spade) ; cover the manure with soil to tlie deptli of one and a half inch. If the plants ai'e in jiots take them out ol' the pots with all the compost adlicring to them; plant them twelve or fifteen inches sijiart. This sliould lie done about the beginuing of May ; those intended for the second planting (the plants that have been trans- planted in the frame), should be planted trom nine to twelve inclies apart. I prefer the latter. Tf the wea- ther should be very dry and hot, the plants ought to be protected in the day from the scorching sun ; watiT should be given freely aft<-r sunset, from a rosi'- waterpan. After the plants have got " hold, " or commenced growing, they will need no protection from the sun ; but take care to water pretty freely with clean water if the weather is hot and dry. THE COTTAGE GAEDENEB. 137 After the plants hare attained the height of twelve inclies they will reqiiii's to be tied round with a little bast matting, or anything of a softish tex- ture, but care must be taken uot to tie them too tight, taking off all the lateral shoots as the plants gi'ow. After having been tied up for some time, it will be necessary to imtie them, and tie them again a little higher, taking off all the lateral slioots and superfluous stems before tying them again. They may then be suffered to gi'ow till they have attaiued the height of fi-om twenty to twenty-two inches. Care should be taken that they do not suffer for want of water. Ai'ter liaving attained the above height, and are well cleared of lateral shoots, they should then bo earthed about three inches high, and tied a Uttle higher witli mattiug (the tieing is only done to pre- vent the wind and wet fi-om brealdng the outer stems). After havhig earthed them about twice, three inches at a time, I would water them once a week with the ammonia fixediu licpiid manm-e, but stUl keep watering with clear water if dry weather, (I have tried ammonia fi.'ied in liquid manme for prize goosebenies, and it luis answered well). As the plants grow they may be e.irthed up a little at a time, taking care not to earth tliera over the centre of the heart, or they wUl be very lil;ely to rot at the core. In conclusion, I must remark that nearly all de- pends on the kind of celery yon would grow. I have grown white of two or three lands, iurlucUng Scy- moiu's. Lion's Paw, &c. I have gi'owu red m greater varieties, bnt tlie best khid I have been able to meet with is " Nutt's Champion." I have found this supe- rior to any I have grown for size, Jiavour, and rapidity qfgroirth: and I am of opinion, that were it more extensively grown, it would prove itself, if not the ^first sort, second to none. Celery ought to be planted where it can get plenty of air ; it never does well if grown near peas, beans, &c., as they have a ten- dency to draw it. I would also say, hi using am- monia fixetl in liquid manure, it nuist not be used too frequently, once in six or eight days is sufficient. 1 use it extensively for many tlungs, and fielieve it might be used with great advantage if properly " fixed " and properly applied, and was it more e.'itensively used it woidd be more ajiprecialed. Neepscnd, Sheflicld. Jxo. Turxek. [We I'ecommend the foregoing to the attention of our readers, for Mr. Turner is not only the gi-ower of tlie best celery at Sheffield, but is admitted by the growers there to be an excellent judge of its merits. He is a cultivator of first-rate gooseberries, and is i,iow busy sentUng out young plants. By fixing ammonia in liquid manure, we suppose Mr. Turner means, adding a httle oil of vitriol (sulphiu'ic acid) to tlie liquor obtained by chssohing sheep's or deer's dung in water. — Ed. C. G.] SELECT LIST OF HARDY ANNUALS. Flowers that may be sown in the open ground, from February to May. Adonis Autumnalis — Autumn-flowered pheasant's- eye ; 18 in. high, crimson. Bajtonia Aui'ea — Golden bartonia ; 2 to 3 ft., orange. Campanula Lorei — Lorey's bell-flower ; 1 ft., white and blue. Silene Lobelii — Lobel's catchlly ; 1 ft, pink. Calendula Hybrida — Cape marigold ; in., brown and wlute. Clarkia Pidohella — Pretty Claikia: 1 ft., rose pink. ,, alba „ white, 1 ft. Elegans Rosea — Elegant rosy Clarkia ; 2 ft., light pink. Collinsia Bicolor — Two-coloiu-ed collinsia; 18 in., white and lilac. Convolvidus Ma,jor — Greater bindweed ; creeper ; various colour's. „ Minor — Lesser ditto ; trailer. Delpliinium Ajacis Flore Pleno — Dwarf-rocket lark- spm ; 1 ft., various. Consolida — Branching ditto ; 2 ft., blue. Erysimum Peroff'skeanum — Peroft'skey's hedge-mus- tard ; 18 in., yellow. EschscholtziaCalifornica — Californian eschsckoltzia; 18 in., orange. „ Crocea — Golden ditto ; lemon and orange. Eutoca Viscida — Clammy eutoca ; 18 in., bright blue. ,, WrangUana — Wrangle's eutoca; 1 ft., pale blue. Godetia Rubicunda — -Ruddy godetia ; 18 in., light rose. Venosa — Veiny ditto : light rose, white eye. Helichrysum Macranthum — Lai-ge-flowered everlast- ing ; yellow, 2 ft. Helianthus Annus — Annual sunflower ; 5 ft., yellow. Ilieris Coronaria — Crowned candy-tul't ; white, 1 ft. " Umbellata — Umbelled ditto ; purple, 1 ft. Kaulfussia AmeUioides — AnieUus-like kaulfussia ; 6 in., dark blue. Lathyiiis Odoratus — Sweet-pea; various-coloured; climbing. Leptosiphou Androsaceus — Not Englished ; rosy lUac, 6 in. Deusiflora— Ditto, dittb ; 1 ft. lAipinus Nanus — Dwarf lupine. „ Luteus — Yellow (Utto ; 2 ft. " Rosens — Rose ditto ; 2 ft. Nemophila Insignis — Showy Nemophila; 1 ft., sky- blue. Atomaria — Black spotted ditto ; white and black, 1 ft. Malopo Grandiflora — Great-flowered mallow ; dark crimson, 2 to 3 ft. (Enothera Rosea Alba — Rosy-white evening prim- rose; 1 ft. Mathiola Annua — Stock, ten weeks. „ „ scaidet ; 1 ft. „ „ white ; ditto. „ „ pm-jile ; dittto. „ German ; various. Papaver Rhoeas — Common poppy; 1 to 2 ft., vaiious colours. Very select Annuals that require to be sown on a. gentle hotbed in March, and transplanted into the open, border in May or June. AnagalUs Grandifloms — Large-flowered anagalUs ; blue, 1 ft. Aster Sinensis — Chinese star-flower ; 1 to 2 ft., vari- ous colom's. Brachycome Iberidifolia — Candy-tuft-leaved brachy- come ; blue, 1 to 2 ft. „ Alba— Wliite ditto, ditto, ditto. Calendrinia Umbellata — Umbelled Calendrinia; rosy pui-ple ; 1 ft. ,, Discolor — Discoloured ditto ; dai'k puiqile, 1 ft. Chrysanthemum Tricolor — Three-oolom-ed clu-ysan- themum; 2 ft. 138 THE COTTAGE GAEDENER. Clintonia Elegaus— Elegant Cliutonia ; blue, 6 in. „ _ Piiloliella — Pretty ditto : blue and yellow, 8 in. (reiiuu-es particular attention when in the seed-leaf.) Coehlearia Acaulis — Stemless scm-vy-grass; pale blue, 2 in. Coreopsis Tinctoria — Dyer's coreopsis; yellow and brown, 3 ft. „ Picta — Painted ditto ; yellow, 1 to 2 ft. Atrosauguiuea ; dark bloody ditto: 2 to 3 ft. Dianthus Cliinensis — Indian pink ; various colour's, I ft. Gilia Tenuifolia — Slender-leaved gilia; 1 to 2 ft., rose-colour. „ Tricolor— Tbree-colom'ed gilia ; 1 to 2 ft. Lobelia Heterophylla — Various-leaved lobelia; beau- tiful blue. 1 ft. Lupinus Cruiksbankii— Cndksbank's lupine ; blue and wliite, 3 ft., branching. „ Marsballii — Marshall's ditto ; various shades of blue, white, and primrose, 2 ft. Martyuia Fragi'ans— Fragi-ant maitynia; blush- spotted, 1 to 2 ft. Mesembryanthemum Tricolor — Tricoloured fig- marigold; 4 in. Glabnim — Yellow ditto, 4 in. Nolana Atriplicifoba— Spinach-leaved nolana ; blue, with wliite centre, 8 in. Phlox Drummondii — Di-ummond's phlox; crimson and rose, 1 ft. Portulacca Splendens— Splendid portulacoa; rosy- purple, 9 in. „ TheUusonii — Thelluson's ditto: orange crimson, 9 in. Bhodantbe Manglesii — Mangles's Khodanthe ; bright pink : 1 ft. Schizanthus Retusus — Depressed schizantlms ; deep pink and yellow. 2 ft. Priestii— Priest's ditto ; wliite, 1 ft. Sniithii — Smith's ditto ; lilac and white, 1 to 3 ft. Seupcio Elegaus— Elegant Senecio ; pui-ple, 2 ft. S])henogyne Speciosa — Showy spheuogvne ; birff- yellow, 1 ft. Tropaeolum Peregiinum — Yellow Indian cress : climbing. Viscaria Oculata— Eyed viscaria; pink, with dark eye, 18 in. Xeriiuthemum Lucidum — ShiuinK everlastuff; yel- low, 3 ft. ° J Zinnia Elegans — Elegant zinnia; 18 in., various shades of cruuson, scarlet, and rose. OXIDE OF IRON IN SOIL FOR ROSES. On perusing No. 2 of The Cottage Gardexeii, a biglily desirable periodical, we find at page 14, " If there is the least appearance of much oxide of iron in it (loam), be nuist avoid it as the plague." Surely Mr. Applebv has no acquaintance with the soil of a great part of this county (Gloucester), wliere vegeta- tion thrives in a soil whicli, from the large quantities of oxide of iron contained in it, is literally in many places a bright red. Not only do o>u- roses exhibit a healthiness rarely surpassed, but all other plants grown in the ueigli- bourliood, annual, perennial, bidbous, kc, grow equal to any we have ever seen. Henry Ciirtis and Co., West of England Boseries, Moorend, near Bristol. CULTURE OF WATER-CRESSES. Observing you have given a detailed account to gi'ow water-cresses, I give you a very simple plan, which I have practised for several years. Choose a moist situation, if near a pond, or the pump, the better, with a light rich soD; ])rocm-e either seeds, or jilants, or cuttings, in the spring; if plants, set them about six inches distant ; they will soon gi-ow, and the pro- duce will amply repay the trouble ; keeping them moderately moist, they will continue many years, growing good crops. G. Howard, Florist, Spnugfiekl, Essex. SCARLET-RUNNER BEANS. A GOOD method of gi'owing scaiiet-rxmner beans, is to plant eight or nine seeds in a circle of eighteen inches diameter, and put a good larch pole, nine or ten feet long, in the centre, and train the beans up to it. They produce more fi-uit, shade less, and re- quire less gi'ound, and are very ornamental. 'Where the occupiers of gardens have the means, I would strongly recommend this method, having proved it myself. Joseph Bale, Loucjton Farms. GOOSEBERRY PLANTING. Now is a good time for planting, and I am now sending out the following selection : Red — London, Comjianiou, and Slaughterman. Yelluw — Leader, Catherine, and DrDl. Orcen — Tbiunper, Queen Victoria, and General. Wldte — Freedom, Queen of Tnmips, and Lady Stanley. If planted as hereafter named, I feel assured they will " smqirise the natives" of the south of England ; they ai-e all able to bear fi-uit next season, with the exception of Freedom ; it is the best I have at present, but the sort is there: plant them in the natural gi'oimd, about tlu'ee feet six inches apart ; take out the soil, wiiere they are to be planted, tln-ee inches deep ; make the bottom of the trench quite level witli the back of the spade, then jiut down a stake, or stick, say two feet long, about three-quarters of an inch tldck; do not leave the stake above six or seven inches above the level of the trench : tie the "bole," or "stem,"- of the tree to the stake with a little matting (this is done to prevent the wind blow- ing them about) ; when you have done this, take aU the roots and straighten them, placing a little soil upon them as you proceed : let the roots be placed as uniformly as you can round the trench, taking care one root does not lie over another; then cover the root one and a half incli deep, including the litttle youhave put on in laying the root straight; then lay over this a little spent mauiue, about one inch thick, cover this with soil, and they will do without any fiu-ther trouble till spring, and before that time I shall have sent you fm'ther information. Do not be afraid of making tlic trench a little wider than the roots extend, as it gives you a little room to extend the roots. I think I have said what I need say, at present. I have oft v> ished they could get some good sorts in the South, as my impression is they could be grown a gi'eat deal larger than we can do. London has been grown this year, 31 dwts. 19 gi-s. ; Thumper, above 30 dwts ; Catherine, 30 dwts. 1.5 gi's. ; Freedom, 28 dwts. odd. We weigh them 24 grains to a pennyweight. John Turner, Xeejisend, Sheffield. THE COTTAGE GAEDENER. 139 POTATO DISEASE. I HAVE been very much pleased with a letter on this subject, by one of yovu- contributors, in the Gabden- ek's Almanack for 1819. It is cheering to read such a letter, after suoli a mass of nonsense has been pub- lished on so plain a subject. Mr. Eriington takes a sensible view of the whole case, and points out the cause of all the mischief For more than twenty years I have, by wiituig in dift'erent publications, and travelling hundreds of mUes amongst the gi-owers of the potato, tried to convince them of the foUy of pm- suing their present mode of cultivation, and keeping their seed, and that nothing but a total deterioration could be the result. If yom- readers will refer to Pas- ton's HortkuUuml Register, the Cottage magazine and newspaper, they will find my letters, giving an account of the usual plans adopted with this valuable root, and at the same time gi\Tng them my own plans. Fermentation is the grand destroyer. Why, the seed is never at rest, ±i-om the time it comes out of the ground until the time it goes in again ; the seed is constantly expending the sti-ength winch ought to go to produce the next year's crop. Treat any other tuber in the same way, and the same residts will follow. I have never yet had a diseased potato fi'om my seed; winch I always make a point of saving, and exchang- ing, every tlu-ee or four years, with a fiiend who adopts the same system. I have examined a gi-eat number of tubers with the microscope, and I find it the most delicately -consti'ucted tuber I ever saw, and the soonest liable to injmy, if not properly treated. In- dependently of the fermentation constantly going on, the potato has been too much forced in the soU, by a great surplus of manure. It is impossible we can grow from twenty-five to sixty tons weight per statute acre, and keep it in health. Growers seem to think they can make the potato gi'ow without taking any cai'e of the seed, or studying the natiu-e of its cultivation. In the spiing of 1846, 1 pubKshed afuU account of the (hsease in the Economist newspaper, but it con- tained little more than what I had wi-itten and pub- lished many years before ; few people in England have, I tlunk, paid mucli attention to the subject until the last three or four years. There is a I'emedy to be foimd, if cultivators wiU be at the ti'ouble to adopt it ; but if they are determined to go on as they have done, the disease will certainly progi'ess. G. J. Dale, LoiigsiglU, near Manchester. Another correspondent, the Rev. Walter Sheppaxd, Hermitage, Newhury, says : — " I hope ere long to give you a tew facts with regard to the potato-disease, and a remedy which has proved effectual as a preventive. You are quite right as regards autumn or winter planting. I have pmsued it with success for three years, and without the application of maniu'e, plant- ing after cabbage, for which I manure highly. My potatoes are American Whites, with a very tlun skin; my soil a light sitnd. Pounded unpurified sulphate of magnesia, the residmmi of sea-salt, or ahun works, applied to the ridges in spi-ing is the remedy. I will get the particidai's, and write to you." PULLING UP POTATO STEMS. As all information is just now valuable about the cultivation of potatoes, when any success has been experienced in their growth, and disease has been warded off, I shall not, perhaps, be wasting your time by a few words about mine, since I have had good crop of them, while those of my neighbours have failed. Mine were grown in the soil I have imperfectly endeavoured to describe. Some were planted in De- cember last, some about Febiniaiy. Disease appeared in the tops of both crops about August, when I pulled up the haulm clean away. The potatoes I left in the ground, and I had good crops in size, though not very lai'ge in quantity. Scarcely any were diseased when I took up the greater piart of the potatoes in Novem- ber, and the sound ones were more mealy than when I pulled the haulm off in August. They had im- proved, and therefore had suffered no deti'iment from that operation. The common opinion in my neigh- bom'hood in August was, that the sooner the potatoes were taken up the better ; that the longer they re- mained in the ground, the more diseased they would become. I have proved the conti'aiy. Those taken up by my friends were scarcely eatable aU the autumn, whUe mine improved in the ground : so did those of the person who I induced to try the same plan as I did. My plan proceeded, I may say, equally well with both my autumn and spiing-sown crops. I saw scarcely any difference in the produce of the two. I had a few rows of potatoes, which were the best I ever ate ; they were as mealy and ihy as flower. What I did was''this. Having treated them as above described, I took up, as they were required for daily consumption, every other row, and planted in the place of them some brocoh. Tliis was in August. Whether the digging up one row acted as a drain to the other, and the brocoh tinther drained them, by sucldng up more moistm'e, which I imagine to be the case, or how it was, I know not ; but, as I said before, I never ate any potatoes so good in my life, as those left in tlie alternate rows, and I shall certainly adopt the same plan another yeai". I left them in the gi'ound as long its they lasted, and dug them up every day as they were wanted ; and tliat plan 1 am sure added to their goodness, and should be generally adopted by persons fond of good potatoes. I have a crop still in the ground, which I dig for daily use. If T had a wet clay sod, I think I should plant a row of cabbages and a row of potatoes alternately, at two or three feet apai-t, in the fu'st instance, instead of wailing to take up a row of potatoes to sidistitute the cabbages in tlieir place. It would be worth the experiment. Rev. P. W. ROSE-PRtWING. I sow \viitc (Dec. 8) with a large vase of garden- flowers before me, composed of six dift'erent sorts of chrysanthenmms, anemonies, laurustinuses. and roses, of which latter 1 am, hke all florists, a great admirer : and on reading over your last week's Number, I piu'- ticularly noticed the mode o.f priming it you recom- mended, which I think good, but capable of improve- ment ; and venture to sug;|;est a mode which, after some years of experience, I have thought best. You very correctly say, let the Firenoh and climbing-roses stand over mitil spring, whicli I have found advisable for all. Some j-ears ago I p runed close in every sort in my garden," (without reg-ard to hardy or tender- ness.) in October and Novemiber. The coming \rinter proved a very severe one, an d almost, without excep- tion, every shoot was cut d( iwn by the fr'ost below the flowering bud, and I hakd scarcely a rose in my garden. This was also the c ase with my jessamines. 140 THE COTTAGE GARDENER. Since that time I liave adopted a different method, wliioli I find to answer so well, that I am induced to thus suhmit it to your readers. In the autumn, both with regard to the rising sap during the winter, as well as a suitable degi'ee of neatness in my rose- bushes (and .jessamines in particular-), I pnme off all straggling, useless slioots, as well as the ends of all those intended for next year's flowers, to within two or three buds left for that purjiose ; and as soon as the spring shews a settled appearance of safe weatlier, I then go carefully over the whole for a final pruning, cuttmg-in some to the very lowest bud, and leaving others with three or foirr buds, which buds, having be- come more turgid fi-om the rising of sap dining the win- ter, flower sooner than the others ; and by this means my rose-bushes, as well as piUars and climbers, keep longer in bloom. My conviction is so strong that the sap of abnost all friut-trees, as well as others, never wholly slumber or sleep, that I certainly think an autumn better than a spring-pruning for most sorts that are sutficieutly hardy to bear, without in- jury, a severe frost ; for this obvious reason, that all the fnut-bearing buds become more bold, and readier to break forth when genial weather arrives; whereas, if useless shoots are left to imbibe the rising sap be- tween autumn and spring, (wliich, by the universal law of nature, always jnishes to the e.xtremity of every healthy shoot,) to the impoverishment of aU the lower buds, when the knife takes away the upper part of tlie shoot, it leaves the rest poor indeed. Q. INFLUENCE OF WET SOIL ON POTATOES. Thinking that eveiy atom of experience respecting the potato may be useful, I beg to inform you that I planted some second early kidney potatoes this spring iir my gai-den, which seemed to come on favom-ably for acousiderable time, but suddenlythe disease seized them, and they rapidly decayed. On taking them up, I observed that the roots which were next to the hedge, and not so much exposed to the sun, aii', and wet, were very good, prolific, and free from disease, producing fine ripe fruit ; and" the roots that were })artially screened by several raspberry clumps yielded the same healthy friut. Again, I have found that potatoes bought in the market on the Saturday are good at first, and become bad by keeping five or six days ; proving, in my opinion, in both cases, that the cause is in the atmosjiliere. I also planted in the spring a few rows of a very fine mealy potato, roimd, and blue and wldte ui colour. I am at a loss for its uame.=!= I forbid the use of any more after I saw tlie first thsh come to the table, keeping every one for seed in a cold store- room, vnitil I saw your recommendation to bury them in sand or soU, in layers, which I have done, and should plant them now, but I fear the weather wiU not permit me, having such coutmued wet weather here. Josh. Ball. Loufjton Farms, Staffordshire. THE BEE. [Wc have been obligingly permitted by the Rev. C. A. A. Lloyd to publish portions of his Lectin-e on this insect, delivered before the Natural History Society of Slu-oj)shu-e, and we tliis day commence the subject.] Whkn wo take up auy old book upon the subject of bees, we must see at once the vei-y little that was • Perhaps the Forty-fold.— Ed. C, G. imderstood concerning the natural history of tliis most industi'ious of all of God's creatures. This ignorance is the more extraordiuaiy when we consider how many scientific persons have written about the honey-bee, and that the attention of man- kind lias been drawn to the subject by bees submit- ting themselves to be liived, and placed in oiu' gardens imder our immediate inspection. The first writer who speaks of the natural history of the bee is the famous historian, Xenophon. He states that there is a mo- narch in each hive. Aristomachus, a native of Asia Minor, spent sixty years in the study of bees ; and PhiUssus of Tlu'ace passed his life in the woods for tlie same pm'pose. Mehssus, king of Crete, is said to have invented and taught the use of bee-hives. Aris- totle and PUny devoted some of their thoughts and writings to enlighten manldnd on the natural histoiy of the bee. The great Mantuan poet embodied in his Foiu'th Georgie the knowledge of bees in his time : but it would be as absurd to learn such knowledge of bees from his poems, as it woidd be to learn political economy (as many do) fi-om " Goldsmith's Deserted Milage." Dr. Charles Butler, who hved in the time of Charles I., was the first person who began to dispel past ignorance on this subject. He first taught that the sovereign of the hive is a female : that bees prior to swarming send out scouts to find a new habitation : that in each journey from the hives, bees attend to only one species of Bowers in collecting farina: that the farina is collected only to feed the larvte (gi'ubs), and that it is not wax, for that when bees make most wax they gather no farina : that old stalls which are fidl of combs carry more of this matter than swarms, and yet have no more wax at the end of tlie year than at the beginning : that real wax is to be found in white scales at the bottom of the hive, the scales fallmg from the bees in workmg the combs, and that when melted together, no one could doubt about its being wax. He also taught that the Lycoperdon bovista would stupify bees without desti'oying them. John Thoiiey, who hved in the time of Queen Ann, made a further discoveiy as to wax, which he relates in the following words : — " Viewing a hive of bees busy at labom', I observed one liee among the rest of an mrusual appearance, upon which I seized her directly ; and with a very sensible pleasure I found withm the plaits of this bee no less than six pieces of soUd wax, perfectly transparent, tlu'ce upon one side and three upon the other, appearing to the eye equal in bidk and gravity." Thoiiey introduced side-hives, and the manner of taking honey described in the "Conservative Bee-keeper." He held that bees would die if they had only access to farina, and that tliey do not eat it under any circmnstances. It is curious to remark, that about 200 years after the discovery of Butler, and 100 years after Thor- ley's, that an author, in the year 1821, (Arthur Aikin) should be so ignorant, or so obstuiate, as to state in his book, that " wax is made by bees from the dust within the anther of flowers," and "that larviE are fed with the purest honey ;" when Thoiiey had proved that wax is concreted under the scales of the working bees, and Butler that the farina is only used to feed larvae. Birttbn was in the same mistake to his death. Joseph Warder, a physician, hi the early part of last century, taught that chones were males, and the workers females. He recommended ventilating hives when you are dcsh'ous that bees should not swarm. The following are the names of other persons who studied the subject last century : — Reaumer, Blcm, THE COTTAGE GAEDENER. Ul Schivacli, Hunter, Kniglit, and Bonner, but, with two exceptions, theii- investigations, were not attended with any great success, though they were strictly men of science. The two first examined tlie ovary of the queen with microscouj^^lasses, and found an im- mense uumbei- of eggs. Schhach discovered tluit bees liad the power to convert a young grab of a working- bee kind into a queen. Mr. Dabraw, of Cambridge, lays claim to this discovery in the " Plulosophical Transactions of 1777." lieim discovered prolific workers. Hunter estabhshed the fact that bees con- sume more honey iu frosty than in opeu weather. Arthur- Dobbs anclKuight, in the work just mentioned, claim as discoveries, what Butler had established many years before. The same may be said of Bonner. Having now summed up all that was done by a host of learned men in investigating the natural history of the bee, amounting in the whole to a few facts, I now come to speak of Huber, a native of Geneva, who has done more to elucidate our subject than all his gi'eat predecessors had done before him. If Butler first pointed out that wax and farina were quite distinct substances, and Thorley found wax under the scales of working bees, it was left to Huber to give a full explanation. U Schiraoh and Debraw discovered that bees have the power to make a work- ing-bee maggot into a queen, they thought that it was the only way the God of Nature had provided for the formation of a queen : it was left to Huber to render the experiment complete. If Eiem discovered fertile workers, Huber shewed the cause of them, namely, their having been nm-sednear royal cells, and having been fed upon royal jelly. If uaturahsts knew that drones were destroyed, or di-iven away in the autumn, it was Huber who discovered that they were stung to death by the working-bees at the bottom of the liive, and there only. Francis Huber was born at Geneva, on the 2nd of July, 1750, and inherited a taste for natural history from his father. By the writings of Bonner, and by an intimacy with him, his attention was turned to the subject of bees. Most unfortunately, he lost his sight, but had an assistant in Francis Berens, quite quahfied for the task of carrying into effect the sug- gestions of his employer; and in Peter Huber, his sou, he had a coadjutor in every way worthy of such a father, and who afterwards became the discoverer of the natural history of the ant. The elder Huber had married Maria Aimee LuUen, the daughter of a Swiss magistrate, who warmly entered into all his views, and assisted in his experiments, as did also Iris daughter Jurine, by her slciU in anatomy : she has for ever set at rest all disputes as to the sex of the working bee. She died very young, or she would probably have added more facts to our knowledge of bees. The discoveries of Huber are most splendid, and his little work ought to be in the hands of every lover of natural history. Huber lived to a good aid age, and died on the 22ndday of December, \H-M, aged eighty- one ; but his niime will exist for ever in the minds of aU who love to study the works of the great Creator. After all Huber's discoveries, there are still some facts wluch want ehioidation. The age to which bees live is stLQ unknown ; and whether the honey which bees collect fi-oui flowers undergoes change hi the honey- bag of the bee, or is deposited in the exact state in which it is found, is also involved in mysteiy. (To be continued. J KAIN-WATEE.=;= BY OUTHBEHI W. JOHXSOX, ESQ., r.R.S., ETC. If Floretta requires the rain-water merely for the purpose of washing, the requisite degree of pmity wrU be readily attainable by allowing the water to pass through a stratum of sand, placed near the top of the water-cask, according to the following plan : A. Overflow-pipe. B. Koof-pipe. C. Filter. In arranging this, it will be well to have the false bottom, B, made of wood, and pierced with holes ; on the top of this put about an inch deep of small pebbles or sand, of such a size that it cannot pass through the holes. Upon tliese pebbles lay about two inches of fine wlute sand ; tlris will remove all the soot and most of the other mechanically suspended matters. If Floretta wishes for a greater degree of purity in the rain-water, some little'cai-e is needed to reject the first portions of the rain-water Avhich flow from the roof after any little interval of dry weather. This I have accomphshed by the httle apparatus (wluch is regulated in-doors) represented in the foUowiug out- line : — * This has been written, at our request, in answer to a correspond- ent, signing her query "Floretta;" but wc thought the subject de- aen'ed general attention.— Ed. C. G. 142 THE COTTAGE GAEDENER. A. Pipe from roof. B. Trat-cock. C. Cock regulating the passage of the water in the strainer. ]1. Strainer. E. Pipe which conveys the water, after passing through the strainer, to the store-tank. J. Wall of the house. By this arrangement, the rain-water wliich falls on tlie roof is received into the wooden box, F (about nine inches cube lined with lead I, and escapes over a ledge, H, down the water-pipe, G, into a drain ; and this is allowed to thus run away, until by drawing ofl' a glassftd at the test-cook, B, (wliich is inside the bouse), we find the water is of sufficient piu'ity. Till this is ascertained, the cock, C, is kept closed. As soon as the water is sufiiciently bright and tasteless, tbe cock, C, is o]iened, and tlie water then passes into tbe strainer, D, tbrougba stratum of white sand, resting on a false bottom, in tbe wa,y I have already described, and then by the pipe, E,into a stone tank. Some little period will elapse after any interval of dry weatlier belbre the rain-water escapes from the roof m a state fit for thinking. I found, at Lee, in Keut, that at least two hours of steady rain were required, on a slated roof, before it became bright : at lii'st it was very sooty, looked as if soap was mixed with it, and tasted very nauseous. At AValdronfield, near Croydon. ( find it escapes from tbe ronf (which is of slate), sufficiently pure, in less tbau hirlf lliat time. [ may add. that tlie little metal strainer in the box, F, is added to prevent the leaves, feathers, large beetles, &c., fiiiding theii- way into the sand-filter. SCRAPS FROM CORRESPONDENTS. School Gabdens were established about a century ago liy the Quakers, at their school at Ackwortb, in Yorkshu-e, and tbe jilan is carried on to the ])resent time. Eacli boy has a certain portion of seed allotted to him for his gi-ound, tbe cultivation of which is foimd highly beneficial to his health, and interesting to the youthful mind. A similar plan has been adopted for ages at the convents, for flower-growing, aud continues to the present time. The friends of tbe pupils are allowed to send them new seeds, &c. — M. Saul, Oarstamj. EABTHixG-ur Celery. — In No. of The Cottage G-\nnENER I see a statement relative to the manage- ment of celery, which I also am able to i-ecommend. For the last two years we have tried the system of eartliing-up celery at twice, wlrich answers far better than the old practice. We have at the present time some very good celery, weighing on an average from 5 to 7 lb. per stick, quite fi'ee from decay. We have no doubt, nad we adopted the old plan of earthing-up when the heart of the plants were two or three inches high, and so on progressively until the plants bad done growing, we should not have had it so good and fine as we have at the present time ; for by eajfthuig-u]! celery at so many difterent times, it is almost next to an impossibility to keep bits of soil out of the heart of the plants, and consequently, in wet seasons, like the present has been, by the time it is wanted for tbe table many of the sticks are decaying, if not altogether unfit for use. — T. Elliot, Gardctier to R. Baxter, Esq., iJnncaster. SiLKwosjis. — Havingnoticed tha tyou intend giving a series of Essays on the Management of Bees, )nis induced me to think that a few remarks upon that interesting insect, the silkworm, whoso laliours are equally wouderfid and valuable, would not lie unin- teresting to yoiu' readers. The niulber.ry leaves are considered to be the mine worked by the silkworm; and the white mulberry plant is preferred, as coming earlier in leaf tluui the black, and enabling tbe cater- pillars to produce much finer silk. It -would require some capital to make the cidtivation of sOk a matter of extensive specidation ; but now that tbe spinning- wheel is banished fi'om om' homes, why should not oiu' young spinsters be engaged in tbe ciiltivation of silk, an article indispensable in tlie fabrice.tion of articles for female attire ? In our more refine pd age, too, the liusband may equally admne, in the tasi ■efid adornment of bis bride, her patience and industry, as in former days her more substantial coutributioi isofhome-spim linen. It was long considered that the white nnil- berry-tree, being a native of Persia, could not be reared with success m England, but it might have been remembered tliat the walnut is from tbe same country. The gi'owing interest for this vab jaMe branch of agriculture will remove all iirejudii :e, as it is now jn'oved. not only that tbe white mulb erry-]ihints may easily be propagated in tlus comitv y, but that the silk produced is etptal in quality am I weight to any silk imjioi-ted. In each gaiden a small piece of groiuid shoiddbe appropriated to the cultivarion of this valu- able jilant, and we have even seen !-.iuall plants in pots, !ind tbe silk-worm, after ha\rjng nrrived at matvnity, ]ibu-ed on it, where it will spm its cocoon, ]iroducing a novel and interesting a; )pearajice to see tbe silk-ball enveloped in its leaves. Vktra Chiddin- fold. THE COTTAGE GAEDENEE. U3 NEW GEEENHOUSE AND HAEDY PLANTS WORTH CULTIVATING. Gummy Chihon [Cldronia ylntinosa). — This green- house shrub, of bushy habit, was found among some rubbish throvs-n aside at the Hull Botanic Garden. It is believed to be a native of Australia. Its blos- soms are very numerous, purjiUsh red, and con- tinuing for several months. It is easily propagated by cuttings, planted in sand, and a gentle bottom- heat given them. The rooted plants require to be grown in a soil of equal parts loam, peat, and leaf- mould ; to be kept gently moist during the growing season, but rather dry in winter. It likes plenty of an- and light. — Paxtons Mafjazine. Menzies' CiNQnErotL [Potentilla Menziesii). — This is a garden variety lately raised by Mr. Menzies. gar- dener to H. Edwards, Esq., of Hope Hall, near Hali- fax. It is a hardy border-plant, grows bushy, about three feet high, and bears many large rich crimson flowers. It is best propagated by dividing the roots in autumn, but this may be done in earJy spring. The soil should be a moderately rich loam, well di-ained. — Paxtons Magazine. DouGL.4.s's AscLEPiAS (Asclejjius Douglasii) was found on the west side of the Eocky Mountains of North America, by Mr. Biu-ke, in 1846, where it had been previously discovered by Mr. Douglas. It is a handsome hardy herbaceous border-plant, gi'owing to the height of a foot and a half. Flowers wliite and red, continuing a long tune. — {Botanical Magazine, tab. 4413.) Lilje others of the hardy herbaceous Asclepiases, it wOl grow well in any very light soil, but it is benefited by the addition of a little peat. It is readily propagated by seed, to be sown early in the spring, or by dividing the roots late in the autumn. Gkey's Swainsona {Sirainsona Grei/ana).— This is probably a half-hardy shrubby plant, but certainly would thrive in our borders during the summer, and would requh'e no more than the shelter of a cool greenhouse dm-iug the winter. It is a native of Port Adelaide, in South Australia. Its flowers are shaped like those of the sweet-pea, and are purjile and white, blooming fi'om June to August. It is the most beau- tiful of this elegant family of plants. — (Botanical Ma- gazine, tab. 4416.) The soil best suited to it is a mixture of two parts sandy loam and one part peat. It may be propagated by seed sown in the spring, or by cuttings of the yoimg shoots in autumn. HINTS FEOM OUR CONTEMPOEAEIES. The Kitohe.m-garden at Trentham Hall. — Trentham Hall is the seat of the Marquis of Statibrd, near Newcastle-imder-Lyne. Its gardens are under the care of Mr. Flemmg, one of the best of modern horticultiuists. The kitchen-garden occupies five acres, and is thus noticed by a recent visitor: — " Al- though in every sense of the word a kitchen-garden, it may nevertheless be traversed by ladies in any wea- ther — so perfectly hard and impervious are the walks. The alleys inside the borders, fi'om the principal walks, ai-e all edged and gi-avelled, which adds much to the general appearance, and enables the worlouan to pass to and fro in a cleanly manner ; scrapers are also placed at every opening. These things, however trifling they may appear, are perfectly necessary to good gardening. One of the many expedients which Mr. Fleming has adopted with the view of economising room, and which has an excellent efiect, is that of throwing an arched iron trellis over the principal walks, upon which ai'e trained all the best kinds of pears, which, when we saw them, were literally loaded with fi-iut. Independently of the saving of room, these arched walks afford a most delightful retreat in hot and scorching sunshine. Some of the walks that are not arched over, have the pears in the borders trained to bell-shaped u'on trellises, which look very handsome. Many of the largest and best kinds of pears require some such support ; for when planted o>rt simply as standards, a heavy gale of wind fi-e- quently shakes off the fniit long before it is ripe for gatheiing. The best sorts of apples ai-e also trained to trellises in the form of a cylinder, four feet wide and foiu- feet high, and such is the natm-e of the soil at Trentham, that these trees scarcely ever produced half a crop until they were taken up bodily, and the whole of the borders concreted ; and the few fiaut that were produced previously were generally hard and gi'itty, and destitute of flavour : now such is not the case ; eveiy tree, whether apple, peai-, or goose- beny, is as much under control at Trentham as a pine apple or a pumpkin ; and were such not the case, vexation, disappointment, and labour wasted, would be the resiflt The wetness of the subsoil, and the proverbial moistm-e of the locality, have com pelled Mr. Fleming to adopt eveiy means that could possibly be suggested to keep all the ti'ees of a fi-uit- bearing kind as limited in their gi-owth as possible, consistently with the production of a crop. They never sufl'er from di-ought. As soon as the peaches and apricots against'the walls have tbeii-fruit gathered, they immecUately have their roots examined and shortened back : this checks then- gi-owth annd facili- tates the ripening of the wood. Were this not done every autumn, they woidd continue growing until the frost checked them; the latter generally destroyed half the young wood. The gi-eat enemy to contend with in gardening here, as has been previously stated, is the superabundance of moistm-e, both in the atmo- sphere and in the soil : to cure the latter, a main chain is placed vmder every walk and aUey ; tliis receives the innumerable tributaries which intersect the garden in all du-ections. " The goosebeny-bushes, as well as the red, white, and black currants, are trained as standards— some having stems foiu- feet high, with round bushy heads. This allows the sim and an- to get to the soil, and also much more readOy to the fruit — by which means its flavom- is much improved ; besides, it keeps the fi-uit from being splashed with du-t and sand jji heav)' rains. No digging is ever sirfiered on the friut-ti-ee border, or among raspberries or strawbenies ; the soil is merely loosened with a three-pronged fork — but then this is repeated frequently, to admit of free atmo- speric action. Easpberries and sti'awberries are all dressed in winter with a decomposed compost of rotten dung, tree-leaves, &c., which improves the size and quality of the frait very much. Some years ago, the asparagus in this gai'den was never fit for use. It was better calcidated for flower-stakes than for the table. Mr. Fleming has recoin-se to salt, wlrich he applies in spring, when the beds are dressed. The quantity used is two pounds to the square yard ; and also, during the season of growth, salt is used in a diluted liquid state : tliis has produced such a difi'er- ence, both in gi-owtb and quality, that the asparagus is now all that could be desii-ed. Mr. Fleming is a gi-eat advocate for the use of salt,wluch he applies all over the vegetable ground in fine weather, when the soU will admit of being trod on."— Gardener's Chron. U4 THE COTTAGE GARDENER. Garden Allotments. — It was announced at a meeting of the Diu-hara Sanitary Association the other day, that the Dean and Chapter of Diu'ham liad given directions to their agent, j\Ir. Rowlandson, to jirovide garden allotments, at the earliest possible period, for tlie Members of the Diu'ham WorlcLng- raen's Association. Chinese Gardening. — We are informed by a very intelligent captain of the Royal Navj', among other anecdotes Olustrative of the sedidous and ever- watoliful cai-e of the Chinese to save every particle of fertilizing matter, that our consul at Ningpo found himself e.\.tremely incommoded by the smeUs from two jars in the vicinity of the residence assigned to him by the mandarin of the disti-ict. Upon ex- pressing liis desire to have them removed, he found that it coidd only be done at the expense of many dollars, for that certain parties, through several gene- rations, had purchased the riglit of having all the house-slops, &c., emptied into those jars, for use upon their pfi-ounds. TO CORRESPONDENTS. Autu:mn-pl ANTED POTATOES (Cfencus Demnensis). — No wonder that the stems of your ash-leaved kidneys, planted in your southern district so early as the IQth of October, have appeared above ground ; the igth of November A\ould have been a better planting time. You had better leave them alone, the frosts will cut them down, and fresh stems will appear in the spring. Pears on Quince-Stocks (Ibid). — You are quite right in discre- diting those who assert that these are not suited fur De\'0nshire. It is one of the wet counties, and the quince, we know, delights in moisture. I\lr. Rivers, of Sawbridgeworth, we believe, delivers them free from carriage in London. Bees (T. Murcer).~\Ve believe that Wr. Neighbour, Holborn, 1-ondon, will procure you a swarm, Melon Culture (E. Pitt, Birmingham). — We shall treat of melon culture in our weekly calendar. Ulills " On the Culture of the Cu- cumber and Melon " will give you full information. Shallow Soil ON a Gravelly Subsoil (Rev. P. IV.) — Although your subsoil is a gravel, we recommend you to trench it two or three feet deep. The staple of the soil resting upon it would be greatly improved by adding chalk, as you propose : but a still better appli- cation for the purpose would be a mixture, in equal parts, of clay and chalk. A heavy coating of mere brick earth, which probably may be found in your neighbourhood, would be found beneticial. After any of these additions, you would find your manures not so soon exhausted. Thanks for your communication about potatoes. Dissolved Bones (W. Parn/).— The sulphuric acid is only suffi- cient to take part of the lime from the phosphate. The phosphoric rtfid set free, combines with the remaining phosphate of lime, and rtrnders it a super-phosphate. Your communication is too theoretical for our cottage readers. Clericus. — Mr. Barnes informs us that he inadvertently wrote KVJ i/(irils square, at pac;e 103, instead of \6-^feet square. A pole, or rod, Mr. Barnes adds, is termed, in the west of England, a land yard. Orange and Lemon-trees (A. Harvey). — Young orange-trees lilie yours, in a room without artificial heat, should be allowed to rest till the return of warm weather in spring. Your plants, being so small, must not be alh>wcd to go without a little water now and then, just sufficient to keej) the soil from becoming too drj* and powdery. Old plants in large pots, under similar circumstances, would be better without any water for the next two months. Cut otf a few inches from the points of all the shoots, and few leaves will then be Irft, and the bcad;^ of your trees will become more bushy next season. Keep frost and frosty air from them as much as possible, but in mild weather open the windows daily. Cost of a Two-light Frame (L. B.) — The woodwork of a two- Iii;ht frame may be purchased ready-made for 26s. ; the glazing can be done very well for less than 20b. more. Names or Roses (P'er^Kmnu*).— Thanks for the corrections. The Pine-Stove (X). — Wc are sorry that we cannot oblige you. If we admit the pinc-«tove, how can wc refuse similar applications for other hothouse departments? Autumn-vlanted Potatoks [D. V. Brampton). — This mode of planting answers equally well for the late as for the early varieties. Either keep your seed-potatoes stored in alternate layers, with earth, or plant them at once duriug dry weather. Sawdust (Ibid). — If decayed, it is a good manure for yoiu- garden. See more on this subject at p. 52. Oleander Scale (J. N. B., Halstead). — Try dipping one of your plants into water heated to 140'' ; it is said to destroy the scale without hurting the plant. We have found brushing over the scale with spirits of turpentine two or three times, at intervals of two days, a satisfactorj' remedy. Sprouting Potatoes (S.O., Sal/ord). — Do not rub off the sprouts, but keep them in as cold a place as you can, in alternate layers with earth, until your land is ready. Charred moss is a good manure for tlie raw moss-land. Bone-dust dissolved in sulphuric acid does not last so long as bone-dust by itself, but is more speedily beneficial. Alpine Strawberry-seeds (C. Goode). — You can get these of any first-rate London seedsman. SuPER-PUOSPHATE OF Lime for Roses (Amateuy, Tavistock). — Sprinkle it over the surface of the bed either in a solid or liquid state, and point it in slightly. Half a pint will be an abundance for each rose-tree. Apply it in the spring annually. Spent Tanners' Bark (J. H., Wilts).— This is of little value as a manure until decayed; and then it might be advantageously mixed with gas-lime, as you propose. It would make very good manure if charred, and we can give no better directions for domg this than you Mill find at page 83. Gas-lime as a Manure (W. J. N.) — This is a good manure. You have probably, since writng your note, seen the editorial on the suljject in our tenth Number. Potato-planting in an old Pasture {/?. D., Kerrff).— Do not, on any accomit, add any manure ; your soil is fresh and excel- lent for the crop. Almost the only point on which all agree relative to the potato disease is, that it appears worst on ground recently manured. Hardy Evergreens in Pots to place in Beds in Winter. —Arbor Vitie, Arbutus, Aucuba Japonica, Box-tree, Cotoneaster, Trailing Daphne.* Hardy Heaths,* GaultlieriaProcumbens,* Hollies, of sorts, Swedish Juniper, Sweet Bay, Ledum buxifolium,* common Lavender, Laurustinus. Mahonia Aquifolia (holly-leaved Barberry), Evergreen Oak, Hemlock Spruce Fir, Cedrus Deodara, Common Rhododendron,* Rusty and Hairj' Rhododendron,* Vacciniura Ameenum* (pleasing Bilberry), Yew, Yucca Filementosa (Thready Adam's NcedleJ, Yucca Recurva (Recur\'ed ditto). Those marked * require to be potted in sandy peat. They should be put in pots suitable to their size at the time, and will do very well in the same pots for two years. The number required will of course depend on the size of the beds. The situation for them in summer should be an open one. They should be plunged in the earth ut this season also. At the time of removal from the winter beds, they nmstbe pruned pretty freely, to keep them bushy and dwarf. After tlie two years, in the spring shake off the greater part of the earth, and re-pot them in the same pots, in which they will flourish again for two years more ; after that, either renew them entirely, or give tUem larger pots. They need not be very thickly placed in the beds, as they arc merely used to prevent the naked appearance of the beds during winter. Sowing Pansy-Seed (Ren. G. Griffith).— The best time to sow pansy-seed is as soon as it is ripe. The plants Mill be sufficiently strong to plant out in a bed of a size suitable to the number of plants. Four inches apart will be sufficient for seedlings. They will flower the following spring. Select such as are of good form, clear distinct colours, and large size. Take tliem carefully up with ^ trowel; keep their balls entire, and plant them in a bed by them- selves. Give them descriptive names, and jiropagatc as described in a preceding number (the 5th). Pruning Roses {R. .i.) — Wc presume our correspondent means by "joints," the wood between the buds. If he Mill turn to No. 6. pages 56 and 57, he will find an accurate description of pruning roses. The number of eyes to be left, meaning the number of "joints" from the juncture of branch. The mode of pruning referred to is applicable to standards as well as dwaii roses. Varnish for Fences (Inquirer). — We arc trying to get the information you require, and as soon as wc can obtain it satisfactorily we shall insert it. Cauliflowers and Brocoi.i (Peter).— U taken up carefully, these are not at all checked if planted in trenches, as we directed. Those hung up in sheds will remain good for some time, but should he first used. They keep better there than when exposed out of doors to the frosts and wet of the season. Table of Contents {J. Stanlei/). — You will have seen by the address to our subscribers in the I2th Number, how m'c purpose to comply with the wish which you entertain, in common with many of our other friends. Cucumber (W. M.) — If you want a prolific variety' for January and February, you cannot cultivate a better than the Long Prickly. If you want fruit of superior beauty, Latter's Victory of England, Sion House, and Victory of Bath, are three of the best. London: Printed by Harry Wooldbidge, 147, Strand, in the Parish of Saint Mary-le-Strand ; and Winchester High-street, in the Parish of St. Mary Kalendar ; and Published by William Somerville Orr, at the Office, 147, Strand, in the Parish of Saint Mary-le-Strand, London.— December 28th, 1848. THE COTTAGE GAEDENER. 145 WEEKLY CALENDAR. Th. F. R. Sun. M. Td. W. JAlSrUARY -L— 10, 18-1!). Rosemary Flowers. [sings. Botanical Society's Jleetiug. Wren Ei>iPH.\xY. Twelfth Day. 1 SUXD.W .\FTEr, El'IPH-iNY. Lucian. Plough Monday. Redbreast eommences singing. Honeysuckle-leaf opening. plants dedicated to each day.^ Hazel. [foot. Stinking Bear's - Rigid Screw iloss. Portugal Lam-el. Yellow Tremella. Common Laurel. Fiu'ze, or Gorse. Sun Sun Moon R. Moon's Clock- Day of Rises. Sets. and Sets. Age. aft. Sun. Year. 8aS 3a4 •2 18 10 5 21 4 8 4 •■i 35 11 48 5 7 4 00 12 U 15 1 {) 1 13 41 7 7 8 rises. (v) 7 8 9 5 a 23 15 7 31 !) 11 6 36 IB 7 55 10 Epipuany. — This festival, instituted in commemoration of the shewing of Christ to the Gentiles, or magi, as recorded in the second chapter of St. Matthew's Gospel, is now more popularly known as Twelfth Day, and by its seasonable cakes. On this day — the twelfth after Christmas— the festivities of the season were concluded in " the good old times : " and though the origin of many of its cus- toms is obscure, yet it is observed in :some mode in all Christian countries. "Drawing King and Queen" is a game as old as the time of the ancient Greeks and Romans. LuciAN lived in the middle of the fourth century. He was pres- byter of the church at Antioeh, and deserves praise — though not a festival — for the care he took in preserving the text of the Hebrew Scriptures. The first Monday after Twelfth Day was named Plough Monday by our forefathers, because on it they returned to tilling their soil . PnENOMEXA OF THE SEASON. — Hoar frost — that white feathery Insects. — At this season of the year, and especially during frosty weather. clothing: which fairy fingers seems to have scattered, so silently and lightly, over even the minutest blade of grass — now prevails, and is so beautiful, that we incline to wish it more permanent. Vet it is no more than the frozen vapour of the air, dissolved by the sun's earliest beams, and rarely occurring more than three or four days successively. So short is their succession, that it is a common saying in some country districts, *' Hoar-frosts and gipsies never stay nine days in a place." It has been well said, that at such times sOence and purity, as a mantle, are thrown over the earth — and this simile was suggested by the colour of the frozen particles, and the entire absence of wind when they are formed. Hoarfrost is nothing but frozen dew. M'arm air holds, dissolved, more moisture than cold air will hold ; consequently, when cooled at night, the air deposits some of its moisture : the moisture so deposited is dew, — but if the cold is low enough, the moisture freezes as it is deposited, and then is called a hoar or rime frost. 1841. 1842. 1843. 1844. 1845. 1846. 1847. 1843. 4 Frost. Frost. Showery. Cloudy. Cloudy. Rain. Cloudy. Fine. Highest & lowest temp. 5 35°— 29° 37°— 23° 43°— 29° 51°— 34° 45°— 36° 43°— 22° 43°— 39° 49°— 27° Frost. Frost. Showen'. Showery. Showery. Frost. Cloudy. Showery. 33°— 22° 3C°— 30° 41°— 31° 54°— 44° 53°— 12° 39°— 21° 46°— 33° 46°— 24° 6 Frost. Snow. Frost. Fine. Fine. Cloudy. Shower\'. Fine. 30°— 12° 37°— 23° 41°— 34° 52°— 36° 54°— 43° 47°— 14° 43°— 40*= 40°— 26° J- Frost. Frost. Cloudy. 46°-36° Fine. Cloudy. Cloudy. Cloudy. Showery. 2/-°— 6° 35°— 28° 48°— 25° 54°— 32° 48°— 4'3° 42°— 37° 40°— 27° 1 8 Frost. Snow. Showery. Frost. Cloudy. Cloudy. Cloudy. Cloudy. 20°-6° 34°— 28° 42°— 30° 44°— 35° 35°— 31° 50°— 11° 39°— 34° 3S°— 29° 9 Frost. Frost. Frost. Cloudy. Cloudy. Cloudy. Cloudy. Frost. 33°— 2;° 30°— 27° 47°— 32° 40°— 33° 35°— 28° 49°-47° 36°— 22° 33°— 28° 10 Showery. Frost. Rain. Showery. Cloudy. Showery. Cloudy. Cloudy. 39°— 31° 31°— 25° 42°— 30° 48°— 30° 49°— 30° 42°— 37° 33°— 24° 32° —29° the rough bark of apple and pear-tree stems should be scraped oif, for the purpose of destroying the Apple-Wceyil (Anthonymvs Pomontm), It shelters itself beneath the scurfy hark during the winter, awaiting the return of spring to renew its attacks upon the blossom-buds. " This insect," says J\lr. Curtis, "connnits great dev.istation in apple-orchards, by destroying the stamens, pistil, and receptacle of the flower.* As soon as the blossora-buds swell, the female beetle begins to deposit her eggs. In calm weather she selects a good bud, and makes a hole in it \yith her rostrum (long beak); she fi-xes herself at the hole, lays one i^^^. and goes on till she has deposited a considerable number of eggs in separate buds. The bud continues to swell, and the petals (flower-leayes) nearly expand, when suddenly the growth ceases, and the petals wither and assume a shriyelled appearance. If one of these flower-buds be e-xamined \yhen nearly expanded, a small white grub, with a black head, will be found in the centre, which begins to assume a yellowish colour ; a few days later, the grub will be found either wholly or partially changed to a beetle — and should there be a small hole on the side of the receptacle, the beetle will haye escaped : the transforma- tion from the egg to the perfect state not haying oecu})ied more than a month. MHien this beetle, or weeyil, leaves the receptacle, it feeds during the smunier on the leayes of the trees, and is seldom to be seen. In the autumn, the weeyils leaye the trees, and search for conyenicnt hiding-places under stones about the trees, or under the rough bark, in which they pass the \yintcr. Consequently, as they commence their operations early in the spring, care should be taken to remove all stones, dead leayes, and other litter, from under the trees, as well as to scrape off the rough dead bark from them in the winter season. The apple-weevil is also very injurious to pear-trees." This beetle, or weevil, is scarcely one line and a half long; its wing-cases are dark bro\yn, with whitish-grey stripes ; its autennie (horns or feelers) spring from the middle of its beak, and all these parts, as well as its eyes and the under part of the body, are black. * Stamens — the male part of the flower ; pisUl — the female part. Receptacle — that part at the end of the flower-stalk into which all the other parts of the flower are inserted. The pistil is in the centre, and the stamens round it. We have had upon onr table, for some weeks, a little volnme, entitled " Gardening for Children" edited by the ReT. C. A. Johns ; and, though it does not possess all the excellence attainable in a work on such a subject, yet there is much in it that is good ; and though, like all first steps, it may be but a small advance towards the end of the jouruey, yet we must remember that, without such first steps, that end could never be reached. The theme, the object, of the volume is of far more importance than may strike upon the mind of those who ai'e too content with gliding over the sm-face of tilings, and aa'C satisfied with waiting for others to sug- gest a thought wliicli tliey wUl take up and circulate. "Gardening for Children," like "The Rm'al Spell- ing Book," is wisely associating useful as well as amusing inibnnation with the eai'Uest efforts of the mind in its search after knowledge. '• Seeds are best Xo. XrV., Vol.. I. uo THE COTTAGE GARDENER. sown in rows, for tiae sun and air can then get to tlie plants, whicl) come up from those seeds, and the hoe can with ease cut down the weeds," would be a lesson which might be remembered with advantage through life, and quite as easy to learn as those crudities of ilavor or Vyse — " He is a good boy. but she is a bad " Gardeuing for Cliildren," we repeat, is a step in the right direction ; it is teaching not merely words but things — it points the same way that tiie new regu- lations of Cambridge point, by which a man of science may now take honours as well as a man of letters. This we think a measure of imalloyed good, for al- though we honour as highly as any can honour those who excel in classical and mathematical attainments, yet we do not, therefore, honoiu- the less such men as Davy, Faraday, Wedgewood, Watts, Miller, Aber- crombie, Paxton, Beaton, and En'ington. These are the men who apply science to the business of life ; and we know of no reason why we shoidd not, or rather we kuow of eveiy reason why we should, pro- mote a system of education which cannot fail of facili- tating the callmg up of such men from among the educating childi'en of England. On this point we quite agree with the vei-y able " Report of the Eeigatc Coltiiye GarJeiiei's Societi/." We think, as itsautlior thinks, that, ■■ To a proper knowledge of every business, and every kind of work, education or training may be considered to be absolutely essential ; but the farm labourer has, properly speakiug, no training at all — he is left to pick up viliatever knowledge of farming- work lie can attain just as lie may. In rural districts tliere might be acombination of manual labour in field or garden work with scliolastic instniction. after the pupil leaves the elementary school, in subjects to be understood by older boys, including a knowledge of the nature and structure not only of the ' jihints of the farm,' as the subjects of agi-icultural and liorticidtural growth, but also tlie forms and properties of other obvious natural ]iroductions of the vegetable world, and be made to know wliether they are salutary or noxious to man or other animals. ■' From want of some of tbismental discipline, vei-y easily administered, tlie intellectual faculties of the ploughboy remain unawakeiied; and evcij his senses are insusceptible of impressions. " The beautiful productions wliich spring up beueatli Ids feet excite no attention or observation. He sees not, and heeds not, the birds of the air, their songs and plumage. 'I'he gay colours and graceful forms of animated nature excite no thought nor contemplation ill his mind, which remains a blank, so far as respects the healthful and the beautiful ; into which, therefore, intrude inferior thoughts and considerations, leading to habits too often uijurious, if not fatal to purity and integrity of mind and conduct. " A knowledge of tlie structure and habits of ani- mals, and tlio nature and care of the live stock on the farm, to be subjected to the care of the farmer's boy, should be imparted to h nil with the habit, on principle, of treating tlieni with gentleness and humanity. '■ As also should be all kinds of farming and gar- dening work ; and something of an a]iprenticesliip, however short, should be served under those working men who have superior skill and ability, and excel in particular departments of agricidturar labour. For their use also, wbenever jiracticable. there will be a great utility in the establishment of evening schools. '■ In advocating the cause of education and training, it may be with perfect ti-uth athrmed, that the lowliest of mankind have minds to be cultivated, and souls to be saved, as well as bodies to be maintained in health and vigour, equally with those higher in the scale of society : and with those to wliom tlie argument of the purse outweighs every other consideration, any small additional expense wliicb may be inemred will be amply eomiiensated by having a sober, industrious population, who depend for theii- maintenance on the i'niits of their own exertions ; and we may be assured that it is cheaper and more economical to educate the working classes into good, and useful, and valuable members of society, rather than to inciu' heavy poor- rates : and, in many cases, the exjiense of iirosecuting them as criminals. " Many boj's and youths whom we see attending the plough, or tnidging beside the cart, liave nowhere to sit down after tlieir day's work is finished, and often scarcely where to lay their head. The village youth know not where to go. The public-house or beer-shop alone is open to tliem. Its fire and caudle, its company, its other attractions, constitute the only form of welcome within their reach. It is as the clul) or other place of resort to the homeless man of the world : yet that all-receiving home is the hospitality of their ruin — the conversation, the examples, the counsels of such ]ilaces are fatal to them. Hence ensue degradation of mind and low morals : thought- less, premature, and improvident mamages are too often contracted, witii the probable consequences of domestic discord, continued resort to the beer-house, with subsequent reliance on parochial assistance rather than on the results of a well-regulated economy and industry, and all the evils of poverty, self-repi-oach. bad heidtli, and their accompaniments, complete tlie unhappy state. '• Very recently, with the view to diminish the gi'eat and deplorable evils attending the jioor lads who are left to their own guidance, and to the evU influences wbicli siuTOuud and beset them, Mr. Baston, of Kynaston Coiut, has provided accommodation for twenty boys on his premises, where tliey are fed on plaui aud wholesome food, and are taught luid em- ]jloyed in all kbids of fann-labom'. under a superiu- tcndent. who also during the evenings, after the work of the day is over, instruets them in reading, writing, and arithmetic, and in a knowledge of their religious and moral duties, in all which, moreover. Mr. Baston lumxflf pcraiinidJji assists. " ilr. Baston gives a detailed statement of expenses and profits, proving that even in a pecuniary light the plan is advantageous to the employer as well as to the boys, besides taking into account the elevating and hapijy influence ol' this eom-se of life on the pre- sent and future character of the boys who are so fortunate as to be under the whig of this benevolent man." •' The riiilantlu-ojiic Society" have entered upon the same hopeful course on a still larger scale. Its managers are disposuig of its present collegiate-looking premises near Loudon, and are proposing to found a kind of colony at Potter's Bar, near Baniet. Tliis Society has for its object tho refonuation of cruniual aud other cliildi'eu who. indeed, " have none to help THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 147 them ;" for tbe parents and relatives of such unfortu- nates are calculated to aid them on to ruin, and to ruin only. At that colony the boys are to be asso- ciated in families of sixty, and here the industrial training, instead of being confined to mechanical trades, is now to embrace full instruction in the arts of gardening and farming. This is all as we wish, and we know of no reason why similar establishments should not be founded in every county in England. When this is done, — when the rm'al popiilation have been duly educated, — when the fifteen millions of acres at present waste land in Great Britain and L-e- land are duly allotted and cultivated, — we shall see the necessity for emigration cease. Emigi'ation is an evil ; for, however it may be disguised, it is an evil for a country to have to part with its industrial inhabi- tants, and it is an evil, a heart-breaking sorrow, for these to leave then- homes and to depart into e>dle. We have touched upon so many subjects which have rushed upon our thoughts as we addressed our- selves to the consideration of " Gardening for chil- dren," that we have but a brief space to allot to a consideration of the work itself The first forty pages are uselessly occupied with descriptions and pictures of every-day flowers, — -descriptions, too, in many instances, falsely exaggerated. For instance, who ever saw a tree-lai'kspm' with flowers so vividly blue and bright " that the eye cannot rest on it with- out inconvenience?" The best part of the book begins at p. (i'2, and continues passably good through- out ''the Kitchen-garden," though there is some bad gardening in it, and no small ignoi-ance of natiual history. What is meant by " every ^lair of wasps kUlod in spring saves the trouble of a swarm in autumn '?" The wiiter of tliis evidently is ignorant of the fact, that every wasp seen in spring, if not de- stroyed, will be the foundi-ess of a nest. The " Maxims ' at the end of the book fomi the best portion of its con- tents ; and it would have been well if the author had thus written one of these maxims, and kept it upon liis desk whilst preparing this little volume for the jiress : — " Do nothing carelessly ; whatever is worth doing at all, is worth doing well." There is much that is good in its pages, but moi'e that might be amended, and a larger portion stUl that might be omitted, to make room for more useful infoi'matiou. THE mUIT-GAEDEN. Having now fairly turned cm- backs on the year 1848, with all its anxieties, it may not be amiss, with the rising year, to take a retrospective glance at the position of gardening affairs, as far as relates to the amateur and cottage gardener. The spring is at hand, and a corresponding amount of increased ani- mation will soon begin to be felt by all parties con- cerned in the cultm-e of the soil ; and we do trust that our imassuming periodical, during the year 1849, will not only prove of essential service to the classes above named, but that the farmer also, who possesses much interest in a well-cultivated garden. wiU derive benefit from our labom's, for there is much room for improvement. Amateur gai'dening has, indeed, made very rapid advances within the last seven years. Most of the possessors of gardens of this class are gi-eat readers ; and it must be confessed, wp think, that much of the hortiwdtural literature dm-ing that period has pretty well kept pace with the spirit of the times; and not only recorded the solid impi-ovements already made, but paved the way to increased success by sugges- tions based on soimd principles. The hyjjothetical and prescriptive character for the gardening of bygone days has been severely tested by hundreds of practi- tioners, who at once combine liigh scientific attain- ments with great experience ; and the residtlias been a gi-eater amoimt. as well as certainty, of success in the various departments of gardening, as fdso a surer footing as to future progress. Whilst on the subject of amateur gai'dening, there is a point or two to Mdiicli we woidd dii'ect tlxe special attention of persons of this class. We all know that within the last few yeai'S much attention has been paid to the question of the food of plants, both in a general and a special sense. This has, of course, led to much scientific investigation as to the relative merits of vaiious manures ; and much good has, be- yond doubt, resulted from it. T^his is all as it shoiUd be. Still, however, a \"ital point, connected more immediately with the permanent improvement of the soil, lies somewhat in tlie back-grormd. We here allude to the improvement of the mechanical texture of soils; in other words, the improvement of theu- staple. This is, indeed, the gi-aud basis of all ti'ue improvement, without which the maniu-e-question must merely " creep where it ought to soar." Everybody knows that open sandy soils ai'e Inmgiy soils ; everybody also knows tliat it is of little use midtiplying the amoimt of manures in stagnant clays or boggy soils, unless di'ained. Hei'e, then, we come to the matter of mechanical texture, wliich indeed is one of vast importance. Thorough drainage must, of course, precede all attempts at improving the tex- tm-e in the case of adhesive soils, whilst the sandy ones before alluded to requu'e a solidifying or reten- tive principle to be added to them ; and all this in- dependent of the question of manvd'es. As the spring advances, we do hope to shew how these thinge may be done ; they ai'e simple in principle, and more or less witlun the reach of most of our readers at one period or another. We woidd now offer a few words of advice to that usefid class in societ)', the industrious cottagers. " Take Time by the forelock," is an old saying, and the maxim holds good in all gardening allah's, and more es]iecially so at the commencement of a new year. Let it be home in mind, that one hom-'s labour omitted at a necessary jieriod wiU generally lead to the loss of half a dozen in the end. Let every cottager feel persuaded within himself, that every hour's well-directed laboiu-. whether in cleaning liis crops, extu'pating inveterate weeds, digging his soil deep, or in secm-ing everything at all times in the shape of manure, will amply repay liim. ■' Cast thy bread on the water," says the ■wise Solomon, '" and it shall be seen after many days." Indeed, in the inspii-ed -iTOtings may be found abundance of maxims, as applicable and suggestive now as in the days which produced them. To the cottager especially we would point to more 348 THE COTTAGE GABDENEE. caie in the collecting of manures diuing the ensuing year. Guano and other liighly concentrated manm-es may he out of the reach of most of this class, hut it lies in the power of all to husband well those witliiu theii' reach; and, moreover, much to increase the hulk of their middens, or manme-heaps, against another yeai', hy a provident forecast and a due attention to the piinciples which will lie pointed out weeldy in The Cottage Gaudener. Having offered these sug- gestions, which apjily as well to successful fniit- culture as to vegetables, we must proceed with some details. Planting Feuit-tkees in Poor Shallow Soil. — Cm' attention has been directed to this subject in consequence of a letter from a correspondent, who, it appears, is about planting an orchard, and wliose soil is described as a hungi'y sand, of about a foot deep. Cm' correspondent proposes to dig holes t\vo feet or more in depth, and to fill a gi'eat portion of the exca- vation with weeds and refuse vegetable matter. This case is so mnch in ))oint, as an illustration of a had course of culture, that wc seize it to warn our readers, as well as om- corresjioudent, against such a course of practice. We must protest, at the very outset, against maldng holes any deeper than the orthnary dejith of the suvface-soU, whether in the case of fniit- trees or shrubs. We have laiown many ti-ees thus planted, and have invariably foimd them a failme, after being planted a few years. Indeed, how coidd it be otherwise ? It is cmlent that the fibres will be induced to go do\vn below the level of the ordinary soil, and iu that event must either peneti'ate ungenial subsoils, or be liable to prematm-e decay. As to the peneti-atiou of a bad subsoil, he must be a bold culti- vator who would consider such as a trifling matter. All subsoils, of coiu'se, are not precisely ahke, and we have loiown the roots of trees descend into some without any apparent ill effects. It is well, however, not to trust to this chance, for deep roots are at all times inimical to the ripening of the wood, and this is a necessary point even with ordinary ti-mt-ti'ees. Besides, om' correspondent's weeds and decajTng ve- getables would so rapidly sink in volume by means of decay, that if planted on the level at the first, they would within a twelvemonth be sunk nearly a foot below the surface level ; and in that event two-thmls of the bidk of the roots woidd be surroimded by a mass of bad subsoil, which in tins case is a himgiy sand; and we need scarcely observe, that premature decay must of necessity ensue. The ti-ee would be in a similar condition to a plant in a deep garden- pot, with little soil beneath, yet plenty above out of its reach, and starvmg, although suiTomided by plenty. In all cases, therefore, wc say, never let prepared soil descend into the level of the subsoil ; the bricks or stones necessary for the bottoms of the holes may indeed be in part a little below, but care must lie taken that their surlace liscs a little above the subsoil surface. In clay or cold soils it is absolutely neces- sary to plant on the ordinary gi-ound-level ; tliat is to say, after the necessaiy preparations have been made in forming a station, in which event the tree will appear to stand on a mound when the planting is completed. Where soils are of a shallow, chy, and hungry character, it is advisable, in all cases, to form the bottom with clay ; this we have rei)eatedly prac- tised, beating the clay into a mound, rising iu tlie centre. We have removed trees which had been thus planted after a lapse of eleven years, and have gene- , rally found a gi-eat body of useful fibres, like a net- 1 worlf, over the siuface oi' the clay. In addition to this I we would tlu-ow lumps of clay amongst the vohune of the soil as we filled it in the holes, especiaUv if lor apple-trees : this would prove a reservou- of moistm-e dm-iug periods of drought. Marl may be used in- stead of the clay, if to be had; in such eases we shoidd give tlie marl the preference. PiiuNiNG. — As weeldy ealendarial matter we may beg to remind our friends of pmning and training matters. Another week or two and we shall fancy we perceive the bud sweUiug, as indeed it does all through the winter, although imperceptibly at first. We have more advice to offer about the jil'anting of fruit-trees, as well as the selection of kinds, and we shall deal with such subjects during the next six weeks, iu order to assist om- readers in then- spring- planting. Let us, therefore, advise tliose who feel at a loss iu such matters to defer their fniit planting imtil Febniary. We wiU in the meanthue otter some advice winch may be relied on. At present, stations for then- reception can he duly prepai'ed. R. EimiNGiox. THE FLOWER-GAEDEN. Shrubs for a Wall. — As some of om- fiiends have made the inqiuiy, what kind of shnibs, climbing or otherwise, will do for a wall, we shall with jileasme devote a few lines to the subject for tlieu- benefit. Much will depend upon the aspect of the wall as to the kinds proper to plant. The Border, — The first thmg to attend to is to prepare the border. The soil should not he rich, as the object is not so much to gi-ow them rajiidly or strong as to have a variety of moderately gi-own and freely flowered plants. The border need not be wide ; if it be four feet it will be qmte suificient. Even two feet will do, and it will be more convenient, as it will allow the ojieratious of nailiug and iirotecting the shrubs to be more conveniently performed. A good compost for them is formed of one-half loam and one- half sandy peat, well mixed, but not made too fine. If the situation is low and wet it must be drained, and a quantity of hi-ick ends, or broken stones, or chnkers, put at the bottom about foiu- or five inches tliick. The depth of tlie compost need not be more than sixteen inches. Shoidd awallc he next to the border, the (h-ain can be luider the walk, and an edging of box planted. The compost shoidd be put in two or three inches higher than it is intended to be, to allow for settling. Planting. — WHien all this is properly executed the shrubs may lie planted. As it is desirable to cover the wall as soon as possible, there ought to he some tliiugs planted for immechate cfii^ct. Such as are in- tended to be permanent, ought to be legiblj' named with such a laliel as ma}' be easily read. Each may be conveniently hung up, or nailed to the wall, close to tlie plant it belongs to. It would be well if the natural order, as well as the botiuiic and English names, were written on each label. This would be a great help tow-ards leai-niug botany, a. science so de- hghtful and jilcasaut that every one from tlie highest to the lowest ought to know something of it. Indeed every plantin the Hower-garden ought to be so named, whether the garden belougs to the nobleman, the amateiu-, or the cottager. If tlus was generally done, what a grand amount of knowledge would be opened to the rising generation, both rich and poor. We THE COTTAGE GAEDENEE- 149 shall retiu-n to the subject of naming plants in some future nmnher more fully. Training. — The border being made, and tlic shrubs planted, the next operation will be to fasten them to the wall. Even tliis simple operation may be done several ways. TJie most common method practised is with sln-eds of cloth and nails. The slu-eds are generally made of the list, or outer edging, of woollen cloth, dipt into suitable lengths; longer for the thick branches, and shorter for the small ones. Tliis list can be procured from the tailors. Cast iron nails, on account of first chea2mess, are mostly used, but ham- mered nails are the best, and cheapest too. in the end. Another method of fastening shrubs to the wall is by having a treUis of wooden laths previously to planting set up against and nailed to the wall, so as to allow matting or twine to pass under each lath to tie the shrubs to. This plan, when the trellis is neatly made, and painted green, has a very ornamental appeai'ance. but there is an objection or two to it: it is rather expensive ; is hable to decay, and harbours dead leaves and bisects. The next plan we shall notice is that of having cast h-on nails with an eye to each. These can be driven into the wall, at certain distances, between every otlier row of bricks, where the wall is of that material. The plants can be tit)d to those eye-headed nails, 'and tliis wHl answer pretty well. In our opinion, however, the best plan to adopt for this purpose, is that of using long lengths of copper (iron or zinc) wire stretched horizontally along the wall, at about nine inches apart. It can be fastened to the wall with such eyed nails as we have just men- tioned, or with ii-on staples. Now the using of copper wu-e for tliis pin-pose has several advantages : one it has, in common with the two last, that wlien onoe fastened to the wall, there will be no more need of injming the mortar by cbiAong in or di-awing out nails, as is done by the nail and shred system. 'Ihe round- ness of the wire wiU not be so liable to injure the branches as the wooden square trellis, or the sharp edges of the eye-headed nails. The shoots, as they advance, can be tied to each succeeding wire in a straight direction quite as well, if not better, than by the shreds. Neither dead leaves nor insects will har- bour so much under the wires as they would under the trelhs ; and, lastly, that it is less liable to decay, or get out of order, than any other method. The following is a select list of shrubs suitable for this purpose: — Those marked with an asterisk maybe used where the extent of wall is moderate. The whole are well worth cultivating where there is room for them. Deciduous. *Amj/gdaluspcrsicafloreplcno, Double-flowering: peach. Berbcris dulcis. Sweet ber- berry. , , fascicularis. Bun- dle-flowered ditto. * , , trifoliatus. Three- leaved ditto. Ccfcis siliquastntm. Long- podded Judas-tree. *Chbnonanthus fnigrans. Sweet Chimoiianthus. *Cydo7iiajapomca ulha. White Japan cydonia, or flowery pear. * ,, rubra, lied ditto. Hydrangea quircifolia. Oak- leaved hydrangea. *MagnQUa conspicua. Showy magnolijj. * ,,. Soalangcana. Sou- lange's ditto. *Putucagrnii.ata. Pomegranate. Eibca xpt'fivsu. Showy goose- berry. Robinia hi& acacia. nda. Hairy rose Evergreen. *Ceonathits cmruleus. Blue ceonathus. Cistus ludamferiis. Gum cis- tus. *Cotoneaster microphylla. Small-leaved cotoneaster. Escallonia Montevidensis. Blonte Video Escallonia. Jnsrnimcm fruticans. Shrubby jasmine. Laurics nobilis. Sweet Bay. Ligitstritm sineuse, Chineae privet. MugnoUn grandijlora. Large- flowered magnolia. * ,, E.nnfjathii. Lord Ksmouth's ditto. Pbotininacrrtdala. Saw-Ie.ived pIiGtin ia. Climbers. Ampelopsis hederacea. Ivy- lenved Virginian creeper. Atragene Austriaca. Austrian atragene. J, Siberica. Siberian ditto. *Bign07iia radica7is major. Larger-rooting bignonia. *Clemati.s azurea grandijlora. Large blue clematis. ,, florida. Florida ditto. ,, „ pleno. Double ditto ditto. ,, flammitla. Sweet do. ,, Hendersonii. Hen- derson's clematis. * „ Sieboldii. Siebold's ditto. ,, montana. Mountain ditto. Corchorus jnpotiicus flore ple- no. Double Japan corchorus. *Crategus pyracantha. Ever- green thorn. Eceremocarpus scaber. Rough eccrcmocarpus. *Hedera Helix. Ivy (several varieties). *Jasminum officinale. Com- mon jessamine. „ revolutum. Revolutc- flowered ditto. *Lonicera Italica. Italian ho- neysuckle. ,, coccinea. Scarlet do, * „ fleiVaosa. '^Twining ditto. ,, grata. Evergreen do.- * ,, sempervirens. Trum- pet ditto. *Pass>Jfora cmiilea. Blue passion-flower (rather tender). ,, Muyana. May's do. ,, palmata. Hand- leaved ditto. Viiis riparia. Sweet vine. * Wistaria sinensis. Chinese Wistaria.* In addition to the above, the following climbing roses would make a very agi'eeable variety : Amadis. Crimson. La Biche. Creamy-white. Laure Davoust. Pink. Ayrshire queen. Dark crimson. Boursault elegans. Crimson purple. Felicite perpetuelle. White. Gracilis. Deep blush. Madame d'Arblay. White. Miller's climber. Purple. . Yellow Banksinn. To fill up the wall until the permanent shrubs cover it, annual creepers should be planted, such as tropeolum canariense (canary nastm'timn), mamandya Barclayana (Barclay's mam-andya), lophospermum Hendersonii (Henderson's lophospermum), rhodochi- ton volubile, or lophospermum rhodocliiton, (Twining rbodochiton), cobjfia scandens (climbing cobaea). Should these not be sufficient to cover the wall en- tirely, fuchsias, scarlet geraniums, some strong grow- ing verbenas of different colours, heliotropes, phlox Dnimmondii, mimulus glutinosus, and jM. puniceus may be planted dining the first summer. AVe liave seen all the above used mth very good effect. Where expense is no object, more tender things might be planted, such as myi-tles, oleanders, camellias, aloysia citriodora (the lemon plant), azalea indica, alba buddlea globosa (globe-tiowered buddlea), clethra arborea (tree clethra), chanthus puniceus (scarlet ch- anthus),coronillaglauca(glaucouscoronilla), daphnes, several species. Erythiina cristagalli (coral tree), metrosideros floribundus (bundle-fiowered metrosi- deros), pittosporum tobira, veronica speciosa (showy speedwell), V. sahcifolia (willow-leaved ditto). Should any or all of these last-named be planted, they will requii-e protection fi'om fi-ost. The best and most efle(!tual is, to have thick straw mats, fastened to a frame of wood, and when fi-ost is hkely to occin, to set them up against tbe plants requiring protection, taking care that they fit close ; over these, in extra severe weather, put a double thickness of Russia mats ; over the roots place di'ied fern, or diied stable litter. Flued Wall. — Should the wall intended for tliose ornamental plants have to be built, it would be very advantageous to rim flues in it, so that it could be gently heated to keep off the fi'ost. This would save a great deal of the trouble of i:)rotection. Now the question may be asked, is it worth wliile to be at all this trouble and expense ? We answer, just visit Chats- worth, and see the conservative wall there; and that wall, we think, would convince the most doubting. The beauty of the plants, ui perfect health and luxuri- ance, must please every visitor. W^e mentioned, at the beginning of tliis subject, that muck would depend * Cidled at flrst Glycine tiiiicubis— Chinese Glycine, 150 THE COTTAGE GARDENER. upon the aspect. Now, the best aspect for all the above plants is south-east or south-west. The south itself we consider too hot ; it would render the plants too tender to withstand the cold nights of early spring or autumn. FLORISTS" FLOWERS. The Carnation and Picotee. — (Continved.) — At this season of the year, these plants only require pro- tecting from very severe frost, and keeping moderately dry ; about once a month stir the sm-face of the soil, and keep a good look out for snails and slugs. Should any of the leaves appear yellow, j^ou may be sure the wire-womis are at work ; seareli in the soil for them instantly, by moving the earth from the stem. Should you not find them, lay a ti'ap for them. A small po- tato out in three pieces, and laid close to each stem, find covered slightly with soil, is the best of all decoys. The worm will feed upon the potato, and if looked for about every otlier day, you will soon be rid of these destructive pests. For the information of new beginners, we have made a selection of a few good kinds, arranged in then* colours, with the price of Hach. We have not selected the newest and dearest sorts, for these are not always the best because of their dearuess or scaixeness. CARNATIONS. Scarlet Bizarres.* Xames. Rais&rs. PerPr. s.d. 3 6 Don John Twitchett. . Dultc of Welling- ton Smith Gay Lad HoUiday . . Leader Hepworth . Lndy Peel Puxley Crimson Bizarres. DukeofBedford.Ely ^Tcorgiana Jaques . . . . I*iiul Pry Wakefield . Rainbow Elliott Shakspcre Manslcy . . Pinlc and Purple Bizarres. Kpaminondas . . Hogg 2 Iris Jaques 2 6 Queen Victoria. . Smith .... 26 Woodcock's Seedling ....Woodcock. 2 6 Purple Flakcs.f Colonel of the Blues Hogg John Wright . . Ely a 5 2 I 3 6 Names. Raisers. PerPr. s.d. Lady Ely Ely 2 6 Lovely Ann Ely 3 6 Village fliaid . . . Greasley ..26 J PICOTEES.t Red Edged. H Duchess of Cambridge Brooks 2 6 H Duke of Wel- lington Sharp .... 26 L Gem Sharp .... 40 Mrs. Bevan ..Burroughcs 3 o H Sir R. Peel . . Giddcn 2 6 3 2 6 Lady Howe Hale 2 6 Mary Anne Malpas .... '2 Q Princess Char- lotte Turner 2 Scarlet Flakes. Brilliant Chadwick. . 2 6 Earl of Leicester . Wigg 2 6 Firebrand Hardwick. . 5 Mary Anne Grcasley ..3 6 William IV Wilson 2 Rose Flakes. Flora Chadwick. . 2 o Harriet Wilson 3 Purple Edged. L Duke of New- castle Burroughes 3 H Favourite .... Ely 26 L L'Elegant Sharp 3 H Marchioness of Douro Burroughcs 2 6 L Prince Albert . Crask 2 6 H President .... Burroughes 4 Rose and Scarlet Edged. Bride Dicksons ..30 FairRosamondTwitchett . 3 Ivanhoe Crouch 3 6 H Miss Osborne . Burroughes 2 6 Prince Albert .Johns .... 36 H Miss Fanny Irby .Wilson 2 YELLOW GROUND PICO- TEES. Malay Chief . . Pride of Pout Parsee Bride . . Topaz . May . . . Cooke . May . . . Hojle 3 6 5 5 7 6 Those kinds marked H are heavy-edged; that is, have a deep border of the colour round each petal. Those marked 1, are light-edged. Those not marked are intermediate. T. ArrLEBV. • Bizarre—Oi carnation, marked with two colours on a white ground. t Flake — a carnation marked with one colour on a white ground. X Picotees differ from carnations only in their colour -being con- fined to the edges of the petals or flower-leaves. GREENHOUSE AJVD WINDOW GARDENING. Geraniums. — You ask me how it is that yoin- aimt Harriet's geraniums are never killed by tiie fi'ost. although she has only a common wnidow to keep them in? Whether there are some geraniums more hardy than others, and if it be true that geraniums ought to he cut down every year? Allow me, before I answer you, to express a hope that you have not lost yom' own geraniums last winter, as you did the whiter before, and to ask whether you have consulted your a\int as to her mode of management? As I should rather prefer to explain to you, first, any points in her ma- nagement, which yoii may not have understood pro- perly, before I enter on the subject in my o\vn way. Vo>i admit, then, that she did give you a "whole his- tory" of her proceedings, but that she so mixed up her details ■with anecdotes of her losses, anticipations, fail- ures, success, and you know not what else besides, that ynu could only recollect that part of her story which related to some cuttings she gave you at the time, from those old plants of her's. which you believe wOl never die as long as she can attend to them herself Now, I tliink, you have given me a clue to the liistory of yom- own gardening attempts. You have been admiring those beautiful geraniums, in which deai' aunt Harriet takes so much delight; and, indeed, who could sec them without being struck with her good manage- ment ! she told you how to strike the cuttings, and gave you full directions how to manage the plants aftenvai'ds ; but in yom hiu'i-y to be a gardener all at once, you forget the most useful part of her instruc- tions ; yon soon rooted the cuttings, but that is nothing to do with growing the plants well ; they blossomed, no doubt, and you let the fi'ost kill them the first win- tor ; and now you hear that every one in the parish will have window plants next j'car, owing to this '• CoTTAoE Gahdener," which is hi "every body's mouth," and you come to me with a sti'ing of queries, ratlier than let amit Harriet know how slightly you valued her instructions — of more value, too, as being the residt of many years' attentive observation. Now that we understand each other so far, I h ave no doubt T shall be able to refresh yom- memory about many of the main features in aunt Harriet's account of her present practice wdtli her geraniiuns. In the tirst place, she told yon it was many years before she knew how to prune them right ; they used to get so long in the branches, and so naked below, for want of leaves, that she often resolved to break off the points of the shoots, to see what etfect that •would have ; but she always discovered another set of blossom-buds just formed, and she thought it would be a pity to lose such trea- sures ; for she was always fond of flowers. At last, the geraniiuns became so tall and imsightly, that she had some thoughts of throwing them away altogether, and to buy a fresh lot of young ones. Before slie had made up her mind, however, for this extremity, an unusual hard winter set in; and notwithstanding her previous misgivings, she took the best possible means within her reach to preserve them from the frost She even went so far as to lay them down lengthwise, under her sofa, during two or three of the hardest nights; for they were so long-legged, that they could not stand under the table opjiosite the fire-place, as they did on former occasions. She also was aware that no water should be given them dm'ing such a hard fl-ost ; yet, after all, they (Ud not pass through this ordeal without considerable damage ; indeed, she thought at flrst they THE COTTAGE GARDENEE. lol were killed outright, till she found the bark on the bottom of the stems, near the pots, was stiU fresh ; but, as the leaves and gTeen parts were all frosted, she gave them up for lost : or, at least, she thought she did ; but it was difficult to get rid of the idea that, " as long as there is life there is hope." Time passed on, and flue sprhig weather opened at last, and one day she thought she could see a bud swelhug out on the dry stem of one of the plants. She coidd hardly believe her own eyes ; she then cut off the remains of the frosted parts down to the live stumps, and gave the pots a little water — the first drop they had since the commencement of the frost two months before — and in less tiran ten days all the plants gave evident signs of life. In a short time the whole were m full leaf agam; some of the plants having shoots as close toge- ther as they could stand. When she thought upon them after this, she could breathe fi'eely. The next point to settle was, how so many yoimg shoots were to be disposed of? She got over tliis Ijy rubbing off one here, and another there, till at last there were only from six to eight shoots on each gera- nium ; and as these kept crowding on each other, owing to their strong gi-owth, and larger than usual leaves, she ti-ained them to sticks placed all round each pot, in such a way as that aU the shoots were at equal distances from each other. Wlren she got them in this trim order, she thought she never saw plants look so beautiful before ; and by the time they came into blossom, they were such big plants, theh' blossoms larger than they used to be, and such quantities of them, and the leaves were so glossy, so large, and hanging over the pots so boldly in all directions, that she was obliged to remove some of them to other win- dows than those of her sitting-room ; and in the distri- bution, Susan, the maid, got one of them for " her own self," as she used to say. Aunt Han-iet says, to tins day, that Susan was the best girl she ever had for looking aftei' the geraniums : that she never knew her to dust the parlour «ithout first setting the jilauts outside the window, or into the next room, if the wea- ther was cold, to preserve them from the dust. Susan has been married now some years ; her children are the tidiest in the village ; her cottage is always orderly and scrupulously clean, and everytliing Susan puts her hands on seems to prosper and do well. You may be sure there are no waut of oonrmon flowers about her door, and a well-kept geranium m the wmdow ; and all this, and much more besides, may be dated from the happy day on which Susan got the geranium for her " own self " from auut Han-iet. Anything we learn by actual experience is less likely to be forgotten than such things as we learn fi'om conversations or books. The effects of that hard winter taught yom- aimt many tilings with respect to her plants; indeed, it may be said to have laid the foundation of her success in after years. In the first place, she saw the gi'eat improvement caused by the accidental death of the tops of her geraniums; the beautiful bushy plants they made in consequence, paved the way to her piresent system of cutting them in so close every autmmi ; and tliisis a dii-eot answer to one of your questions. Then, as to the hardiness of one sort over another, aunt Harriet perceived at once, that if her plants were young, with gi'een stems all down to tire pot, she must liave lost them that very hard winter ; whereas those parts that were ripe, hard, and dry, resisted all that long frost, so that the sup- posed difference of hardUiood in window geraniums turns out to be owing to their various ages and degi-ees of ripeness m then- shoots. The younger plants are, therefore, the more Uable to be frost-bitten, and this is one inducement, among others, to try to keep plants over the winter. Did aimt Harriet ever tell yoir tliat she pruned the roots of her genaniums as well as their branches'.' Probably you never thought to ask so sti'ange a ques- tion, otherwise she would have readily told you what an excellent plan it is, seeing she is so kind as never to make a secret of any plan she finds useful for her geraniums ; nor has she ever been kno«Ti to refuse a cutting when she coidd spare one. There is no doubt but she woidd have told j'ou about cutting the roots had you not been so thoughtless as to say to her that you thought it ridiculous in any one to cut down a geranium while it looked " green and healthy." It is thus with us all : we never learn to do tlungs in tlie right way wlule we hold sti-ong opinions of om- own. You say you cannot vmderstand how it is that aunt Harriet's geraniums are re-potted or sliifted twice every year', (as she says they always are,) and yet they look as if they were in tlie same pots ever since you knew them. I can easily conceive how she ma- nages that; and it is a fru-tber proof, if such were needful, of her excellent management. But I .see how it is : rmder this modest disguise of assmning ignorance as to your aunt's management, you want me to say how the gardeners manage then geraniums; but hav- ing led me thus far, I had better go on with what I conceive to be the main featm-e in your aiuit's pro- ceedings, and if I miss any essential point, please to let me know after you consult her, and I shall let you hear in a future letter how the gardeners succeed best. Well, then, to make the story more clear, I shall follow the fate of those geraniums that were frosted, pre- suming that they had been treated according to her present experience. You recollect these did not come into leaf tUl early in ilarch, owing to the accident, therefore they did not come into blossom tiU six weeks after their usual time, and this taught her to pnme some plants in the spring, on piu-pose to make them fiower later than those which were prmied in the autumn, at the usual time ; and that is the secret of her having plants in blossom most part of the sinnmer. Of coiu-se she does not cut her spring shoots quite down, as she was obliged to do with the frosted ones; she merely breaks off an inch or so fr'om their points. From the middle to the end of this month (January) is her usual time to "stop" the shoots of a couple of beautiftd plants she always gets into bloom about Mid- simrmer-day. She outs two more plants at the end of February, to succeed the ^tidsmumer ones. Some people, when they hear that soapsuds and other liquid mauru'es are good for geranirmis, give them lai'go doses of these as soon as they begin to grow in the spring. Yom' aunt has given up that plan long suico. She found that with the rich niordd they were potted iu, the use of stimulants in the spring tended rather to lengthening the shoots than increasing the size or brQliancy of the flowers ; and short stout branches are one of her e\'idences of good management. As soon, however, as she can perceive the blossom-buds formed in little clusters, she begins to water them with soap- suds and other sti'ong water, which I need not mention further than that Susan first found it out, and by adding one-half rain-water with it, and giving it alternately with clean water, it had a sm-piising effect on her plant. This rich watering causes the geraniums to gTow on and flower much longer than is usually the case, especially those plants that are encom'aged with soapsuds to make all then- growth fii-st. After the plants have done flowering in the summer, aunt Han'iet is never in a huiTy to prune them, or cut them down ; she merely turns them out of doors to 1 :>-i TIIF. COTTAfiK GARDENER. iv(!ovpr tliemselvns after tlic liavd labour of pi'oilncirjs so many flowers in succession, hihe lias learned by experience, that it' cut down when in tliis exbausted condition, tlie next shoots come np very iiregidarly, so that some are very sti'ong, while the greatei' part are weak puny things, which flower %\'eakly. and pre- vent the possibility of forming a regidar bushy head to the plant. As soon as the geraniums are tnrncd ont, all strong water is \vithbeld, and no more rain-water is given than will keejj the leaves from drooping, so that the plants get over their exhaustion in a natm'nl way \rithout any stimulus. After a while they arc ijuite recovered, and even under this scanty nourish- ment they begin to gi'ow away freely at the top. Now this is the precise moment to cut them down ; their blood or sa]) being now in active motion all over the plant, when they are cut at this stage, all the young slioots come up vigorously, and issue forth almost at the same moment. Another advantage results fi'om this practice : — by leaving her plants uupnuied till they renew then' strength, the gi'owing season is so far spent that the young shoots come up slowly and short- jointed, so that they are not more than a few inches long by the end of October, which is the time she begins to keep them drier for the winter. In this state they are easier to keep through the winter than if they were long lanky plants, as we often see in win- dows. As soon as the plants are ready to cut down, she first lets them get diy enough to cause the leaves to cb'oop, that prevents them from "bleeding," as we say when a plant loses the sap when cut ; and she also withholds water from the cut plants for two or three days, to enable the wounds to dry more readily. There is no one in the parish, I believe, who cuts down geraniums so closely as your aunt, and that is one main cause why her plants always look so bushy. She cuts all the branches down to within three inches of where they began growing from the older wood, and if she meets with a weak or very small branch, which, however, is seldom the case, she cuts that down to the last bud, so that it can only produce one shoot for next season; that causes it to gi'ow as strong as the others, as generally there are three or four branches allowed to gTow from the stronger shoots. Now, after the jilants are thus cut, they arc slightly watered for ten days or a fortnight, or till the young shoots have three or four leaves each, or, say, are about an inch long, and then comes the great annual revolution of shaking away the whole of the soil from the roots. If you bad called at her cottage just at that time, and found her at this employment, without being aware that this process was ever resorted to by any one before, you might well feci alarmed about the state of her mind. But there she is, taking one pot after another, shaking out the sod, and even cutting all the larger roots to from four, five, or six inches from where they first issued, as coolly as I am writing about it. When the roots of geraniums are thus cut, the stumps that are left will push out many young roots fi'om then- sides, and instead of one old large root, she will get half a dozen young healthy ones, that wdl suck up a much gi-eater share of nourish- ment; and so they would need, seeing that next year there will be so nnuiy more branches to be sii]iplied with food. The large roots being thus shortened, and the small ones trimmed in a little, the plant is imme- diately rc-potted; but the branches being cut so close in, you may be siu'c it docs not require so nnich feed- ing as when in full beauty ; so to accommodate the lilant in this respect, it is put.iirto a very small pot, just large enough to hold the roots without being doubled or cramjied iu any way. Allhougli auut Haniet uses richer mould than any of her neighbours for her geraniums at this potting, she mixes a portion of sand with it, to make it more loose, which will enable the young-tbrmed roots to pass through and among it more freely. The proportion of sand may be about one-eighth, sometimes more and sometimes less, according to the texture of the mould. No one is more jiarticular aboiit the drainage of pots than yoiu' aunt. She learned tlie proper use of drainage many years since by sad experience, having then lost a beautiful young plant by the soil getting soddened, — the oyster-shell having got choked up round the edges witli the loose mould. Potting- day was a busy day with Susan ; she had to carry the pots, nnx the mould, break the crocks, and aiTauge them very regulai-ly iu the bottom of the jiots ; and she always contrived to liave some fresh moss at hand on potting-days, to place a thin layer of it over the crocks. She also carried the new potted plants oiu- side, to some level spot, where they got a good watering with a rose watering-pot, to settle the new mould about the roots, and wash the leaves and branches. In the evening, when the pots got dry, and all the superfluous water drained away from them, the Jilants were taken in-doors and placed in the win- dow, where they made but a sorry appearance for some time in the eyes of strangers ; yet aunt Harriet was well satisfied with their condition, and for the first week or ten days after potting, she woidd order the window to be kept shut, to keep the room close and warm, in order to assist the plants to make new roots, and on very bright days the blind would be di-awn down to keep the sun from them in the middle of the day; that is, for the first fortnight after the potting, by which time they were pretty well established in the fresh soil. Now, with all this care, and with such small pots, the gerauiiuns usually wanted another shift into larger pots iu about six weeks, or say late in September. Then pots, crocks, oyster-sbcUs, moss, and rich moiUd, were all iu requisition again ; and for tins final potting for the season, Susan contrived to have at hand some di-y rotten dung, of which she placed a layer over the moss above the drainage. How this rotten dung was procured is one of tliose mysteries peculiar to the old saying. " where there is a will there is a way." This potting was more easy to perform than the fonuer oue, as nothing was required but to turn the bidl of earth, in which the plant was growing, into the new pot, with as much soil under it as raised it nearly level with the rim of the new pot ; yet every ball turned out of the pot was criticised as to the extent of the roots — their healthiness, and general appearance : if these were thought favourable, then the plant was put hito its floweiing-pot at once ; if otbei-wise, a smaller pot was used, with the view of giving the plant another and the final shift in the spring; so that, in fact, the plants were always flowering in the same pots as you said you thought they were. After this potting, the room was again kept more close, to encoin-age the gi-owth of roots; but by this time the sun was not strong enough to require the blinds to be taken dowii ; and if it was, the plants did not requii-e this time to lie screened, as they had plenty of roots. Strong plants like these, being thus early put into the pots they are to flower in, coidd not fail to give a largo crop of flowers, if they are kept veiy slowly growing, from November to tlie end of February. People who have greenhouses (miu hardly be so in- dulgent, for want of room, as, if they have a large stock of plants to ju'cserve through the winter, such large )iots would take uji too nuich room; they therefore THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 153 put them in secoud-sized pots late in the autumn, and give them the final shift as soon in the spring as they can make room for them, by tm-ning some of the more hardy plants out of the gi-eenhouse iuto temporary pits, or sheltered corners, where tliey can be covered at night. I intended to di-aw up, iu one small para- graph, the chief points in this account of aunt Hai-riet's management; but, on reconsideration, I think it wovdd be much better if you were to do tliat for yom'- self — it woidd lielp you to recollect it ; indeed, any of my letters, in which you see hints suited to yoirr own case, might be sifted iu the same way ; as once you see the reasons I give for such and such things, all you want to remember are the chief points, or names of plants, dates, &c. D. BE.iTON. THE KITCHEN-GARDEN. Rhubarb. — The cultivation of this useful and veiy wholesome vegetable was not much understood or at- tended to until within these last thii-ty year's. It is true that two or three very poor varieties were to be found in most old mansion gardens, but placed in some corner whence they were never again to be removed until worn out by old age and decayed by piecemeal. In those days it was a rare sight to observe a leaf-stalk of rhubarb larger than one's thumb, and they were too tough to be nuich sought for. Wlieu the lament- ably long war M-hich had involved all Europe was brought to a close, enterprising men sprung up who not only oonmienoed uiprovements in the cidture of the son, but who also began to observe how needful it was to improve the varieties of our fi'uits and vege- tables. Rhubarb was one of the first to be decidedly improved, both in its varieties and cidtm-e, so that now it is not at all uncommon to observe leaf-stalks of rhubarb as large as an arm, of many poimds weight, delicious in flavour, and beautifid iu colour. Varieties. — Amongst the earliest improved varie- ties were Buck's Early Red, Elford's Early Red, and Radford's Early Red. The Giant speckled-stalked was the best late vai-iety. Now several stiU further improved varieties have made their appearance ; of those are Myiit's Victoria ; it is speckled, or more in- clined to be green stalked ; and if not the best variety down to the present time, yet, considering all its good (salifications, we do not know of any one more excel- lent. Tobolsk is a very good early vaiiety, but takes more after the above first improved varieties. Alyat's LiuuEeus and jNIitchell's Royal Albert are also first-rate modern varieties. PflOPAG-vrioN. — To propagate from roots to get a large stock, the best mode is to take up the old stools eaily in spring ; to pull of all the roots which are found to be free from canker, to jilace them thickly together, say nine inches or one foot fi-om each other, iu a drill, covering them witli earth three inches deep. But if only a few select stools or strong roots are requu-ed, as for a private family, the stools should be carefully parted with a crown to each. In this man- ner good rhubarb stalks would be produced the second year after planting, if a good preparation has been made of the soil. If raised fi'om seed, the above would take longer to produce good stalks, for the seedlings woidd have to be transplanted from the seed bed. The seed of rhubarb should be sowai in April, on well prepared pulverized soil. Sow it in drills eighteen inches apart. Great pains should be taken throughout the first season, wlule observations can be made in selecting and mai-king the most supe- rior-looking plants to be taken up the following sea- son for making the plantation. Soil and Plan'tixg, — Although rhubarb wDl grow on almost any kind of soil, yet it delights most iu a good stapled sandy loam, with abundance of strong manure. Pig, cow, or horse-dung, night-soil, or the sediment of a cesspool or sewer, are not too rich for it, if well incorporated with the soil. The soil should be well trenched and pulverized previously to plant- ing, and each stool or root placed foiu- feet apart each way. The plants must be supphed iu the gi'owing season with abundance of strong liquid ma- nure brewed fi-om the piggeries, cow-house, sheep, or deer droppings, butchers' slaughter-house, cesspool, or strong sewer liquid. By this treatment the amount of ju'oduoe which may be obtained from a few plants is very large. Six plants of an early red, and six of Myat's Victoria, or any other approved variety, ai-e enough to supjily a tolerably large family from March to July ; and if a few roots are commenced forcing the end of November, and a succession kept up, abundance of stalks will be produced fi'om Christmas unto the roots in the open gi-ouud are productive. Preparation of Soil. — To commence a rhubarb plantation, if for the early kinds, select a border or other warm situation, and if the soil is not in staple or depth good, it should now be made so, as this is the season to perform it. If it is a stiff tenacious clay, thoroughly di'ain it ; add to it abundance of old brick rubble, or broken rough stones, charcoal nibble, and refuse vegetable matters, sweepings of walks, gi'ass edgings, or rough open turfy soil. To a rod or pole of gi-ound, a one-horse cart-load of good strong manure, of any of the above described which are easiest comeatable, will not be too much. Incorpo- rate it well together, by first well trenching it to the depth of two or three feet, if the subsoO will permit ; and then, in suitably frosty or other dry weather, turning back the soil once or twice at least ; for rhu- barb is a plant that does not suffer much from trans- planting, wlien a good preparation of the soil is made, and all is in good condition. In suitable weather it may be successfully planted at any time from Octo- ber to the end of March. Februai'y and March is our favourite time of planting, provided the soil is then in good condition. If the sod is of a light sandy or gi-avelly nature, add a good portion of turfy loam, maiden-loam, marl, or even clay. If healthy strong roots are obtained, good stallcs will he produced the second season from planting, and will be fomrd in their prime the third and fourtli seasons. The plan we have adopted for years is to make a fresh preparation for planting a small quan- tity every year ; grubbing up the oldest every winter for forcing : after which they are pulled to pieces to make young plants for successional plantations. Strong prepared liquid manure should be applied in the months of April and May. when the weather is showery. Routine Work. — Continue previous directions as respects treuchmg, wheeling or carting out mauu;-e, forkmg over the already ridged ground during frosty mornings. Attend to the protection of endive, let- tuce, pai'sley, and brocoli coming in, as well as peas and beans which are above ground. Prepare a warm border for radishes ; and, if the weather and sod will permit, sow another sowing of early peas and beans. Also secure a few more roots of an early variety of rhubai'b for forcing. Asparagus already in cut should be well attended to, admitting air on sidtable occa- ira THE COTTAGE GARDENER. sious, and supplj'iiig it with tepid weak manure water, witli a small ])oi-tion of salt dissolved in it. Carrots and radishes already up under protection should lie duly thinned, clioosing a fine day for sifting among them dry earthy dust, applying tepid water of a hue day, ami sliutting up early. Cucumbers and melons should be sown in succession, and fermeiitingmaterials got together and well wrought, for a succession of beds, where depending ou such materials. Jajies Baenes. HINTS FROM OUR CONTEMPORARIES. Flower Borders. — Wheel manure on to the bor- ders dm'ing frosty weather. The best of all composts for this purpose is a mixture of charred rubbish, de- cayed leaves, and the bottom of old wood-stacks; for fertQizers containing much ammonia, such as stable- dung, are too stimrdating for plants required to be of compact growtli, and more productive of flowers than leaves. Our N.iTivE Flowers. — ^Perhaps no one of our readers would dissent from the proposition, that beauty, not rarity, is tlie first quality to be desu-ed in the tenants of our parteires : and for om'selves. we have no hesitation in saying, that that gardener should not have the direction of om' flower-borders who rejected tire beautiful, because it was common, to make room for the more insignificant, merely because it was scarce. No, we prefer, before all other considerations, beauty of coloiu, beauty of ibiiu, and excellence of fragi'ance. Moreover, we are not of those who ad- mire most that which costs most ; but, on the con- trary, we shoidd be best delighted to save every giunea we could from being expended upon the tenants of our outdoor departments, in order that we might have that guinea to spare upon our stove and gi'eeuhouse, the denizens in which must, beyond escape, be excel- lent, in proportion to their costlmess. We make these observations, because we happen to know thatefl'ects the most beautifid may be obtained by the aid of our native plants ; we have seen rustic seats looldng gay, yet refreshing, from their profuse clothing of our vlnca minur and major, and we will ventiue to wager a Per- sian melon against a pompion, that half the amateur gardeners of E ngland would not recognise th ese flowers in theii' cidtivated dwelling-place. Again, if any one wishes to have the soil beneath his shrubberies glad- some in early spring, let him introduce that pretty page-lilce flower, the wood-anemone, to wave and flom-ish over the prum-oses and \'iolets. Let him h ave there, also, and in Ins borders too, the blue and the wliite forget-me-not, Myosotis jjalustrin and jSI. alha. We will venture the same wager, that not a tithe of om- readers ever saw that last-named gay little native. Mr. Paxton's observation applies to them both when he says, as a border flower it has very high chai'ac- teristics ; it only requires ]jlanting in a moist soil, slightly sheltered and shaded, to become a truly bril- liant object; it is equally good for forcing, very va- luable for bouquets, and alUu.\ls (Subscriber, Lnughton). — If you %vill send a list of your seeds, we will give you the desired information. There is no hurry, as at this season very few seeds can be prudently sown in the open air, or even in pots. Perhaps the list in our last Number may have given you the information you require. Climbers fob .\ Soutu-kast Wall [H. Mortlock). — The fol- lowing hardy climbers will suit you to plant against your house with a south-eastern aspect : — Bignonia Radicans Major (Orange Trumpet- flower), Jasniinum Officinalis (Common White Jessamine), Cratcegus Pyracantha (Evergreen Thorn), white flower, scarlet berries, Loni- cera Flexuosa (Twining Honeysuckle), nearly evergreen, orange flowers, Wistaria Sinensis (Chinese Wistaria), purple. Magnolia Grandiflora var. E.\mouthii (Lord Exmouth's Magnolia), cream- coloured. The above are suflicient to cover a pretty large house. A few climi)ing-roses might be added to run in among them. See also " The Flower-Garden," at p. WQ of this Number. Glass foe Vixery {W. B,). — We do not think that the pale green glass, employed for glazing the new palm-house at Kew, can lie obtained unless specially ordered. It is manufactured by Blessrs. Chance, whose office, we believe, is at Birmingham. We should not employ this if we were about to glaze a new house, but should use rough glass, which is stronger, does not intercept any of the ravs of light, prevents scorching, and is cheaper. It may be obtained o{ any of the dealers in horticultural glass. Raspberries \A. Atkinson), — The directions for pruning rasp- berries, given at p. 8 of No. 1, are apjilieablc to any of the varieties. Sawdust, when decayed, is a good manure for raspberries, or for any other garden plant. We will inquire of our gardening friends as to the differences of times for sowing iu the south and north of England. Filberts and Cob-nuts {A Subscriber). — \\'e will give some directions for their culture. The space you allude to was not suffi- cient, and will by degrees be occupied with other subjects. Canker in Apple and Pear-trees (.V. R.). — The causes of this disease appear to be various. Old age. unripencd wood, and un- favourable sod, each give rise to canker. If you will inform us what are the varieties affected, and the nature of the soil and subsoil on which they grovV, we will enter more fully upon the question. London: Printed by Harry Wooldridge, 14", Strand, in the Parish of Saint Mary-le-Strand ; and M'incliester High-street, in the Parish of St. lilary Kalendar; and Published by William SOMERVILLE Orr, at thc Office, 1-17, Strand, in the Parish of Saint Mary-le-Strand, London.— January 4th, Ibjg. THE COTTAGE GAPiDENEK. in 5 WEEKLY CALENDAR. W D JANUARY 11—17, 1849. Plants dedicated to each day. Sun Rises. Sun Sets. Moon K. and Sets. Moon's Age. Clock bef. Sun. Day of Year. u Th Hilary 'T. begins. Common Bunting sings. jTliis-year's ^loss 5 a 8 12 a 4 7 49 17 8 19 11 u F Honevsuckle Leaves open. Hygrometiical Moss 4 13 8 59 IS 8 42 12 18 S HilaiT- Camb. Term beg. Furze flowers. Yew Tree ■.\ lb 10 7 19 9 5 13 14 Sn.x 2 Son. a. Epip. Long-tailed Pocher goes. :BaiTeu Strawbeny 3 lU 11 15 20 9 27 14 15 ]\r Oxford T. begins. Marsh Titmouse sings. Ivy 2 18 morn. 21 9 48 15 16 Tn Horticultural & Linn. Societies' Meetings. Common Dead Nettle ] 20 20 H^ 10 9 IG 17 W Hedge Accentor sings. Garden Anemone 7 21 1 23 23 10 29 17 Hilary was a native of Poictiers, in France, and eventually became Bishop of that place. He lived distinguished for his learning and piety, and died on the 13th of this month, in the year 368. Phenomena of the Season. — During this month usually occurs the lowest degrees of cold that we have to endure during the year. The " Great Frosts " of England have always cither begun or ex- tended over a part of this month ; nor does this prevail in England only, but throughout the northern hemisphere. From the North Pole, and over the whole of this portion of the globe, the old proverb is illustrated, which tells us that " January will freeze the pot upon the tire." The great frosts of 1/83, 1/96, and 1814, all began, or were at their greatest intensity, during this month ; freezing over the Thames and other rivers, so that fairs were actually held upon them. During these frosts, which lasted four or more weeks each, the ther- mometer was fretjucntly as low as 7° of Fahrenheit's thermometer, being 25° below that at which water freezes. It was on the llth of tliis month, in 1820, that Captain Parry observed the greatest degree of cold during his voyage to the North Pole. It was, on that day, ft/rti/-niue degrees below zero; that is, it was eighty-nn^ degrees bcluuD the freezing point uf water! Every one has suffered by having bottles and pitchers cracked by their contents freezing, but very few persons are aware of the cause, — viz., that water, unlike any other liquid, swells in becoming solid. This is a wise and kind pro- vision of God ; for if, in freezing, water became more compact and heavier, the ice would sink to the bottom of our ponds and rivers, — and there, never thawing, the whole of the northern and temperate parts of the globe would become, in the course of a few years, as cold, and even more dreary, than the snow tricts inhahited by the Esqui- maux. The force with which water expands, or swells, in freezing, has been shewn by filling with it hollow balls or shells of iron, and then freezing them. The shells were split. Insects. — We have this week to offer a warning in defence and on behalf of another insect, and we do so with more alacrity, because we have in most of our past comments, and shall have still more frequently in those that are in prospect, to condemn and direct war against our insect foes. Now being the time when vacant ground is trenched, and as during nest month ground will again have to be levelled and dug, the garden Centipede {Cryptops hortensis—Scolo- pendru of some Entomologists) wQl be frequently observed, and actively endeavouring to twist again into an underground conceal- ment. Never kill one intentionally ; for. as their jaws plainly shew, they are carnivorous (flesh-eating), living upon worms and other insects they find in the soil. Mr. Sheppard once saw a centipede attack a worm ten times its own size, round which it twisted like a i Jan. 1841. 1842. 1843. 1844. 1845. 1846. 1847. 1848. 11 Highest & lowest temp. 12 Fine. Frost)'. Fine. Cloudy. Rain. Showery. Frosty. Cloudy. 39°— 33° 34° — 30° 40°— 31° 46°— 30° 51°— 44° 42°— 32° 34°— 21° 37°— 24° Fine. Fine. Frost. Rain. Rain. Cloudy. Cloudy. Cloudy. 39°— 22° 36°— 24° 43°— 23° 44°— 35° 47°— 32° 36°— 31° 36°— 27° 44°— 29° 13 Showery. Snow. Stormy. Showery. Cloudy. Fine. Frosty. Cloudy. 38°— 32° 33°— 29° 46°— 37° 44°— 35° 51°— 30° 48°— 35° 38°— 21° 42°— 39° H Snow. Fine. Cloudy. Cloudy. Showery. Fine. Frost. Showery. 36°— 32° 36°— 22° 39°— 28° 40°— 26° 50°— 35° 50°— 37° 35°— 19° 45°— 36° 15 Showery. Frosty. Fine. Frosty. Showery. Fine. Frosty. Fine. 39°— 31° 390—20° 40°— 26° 40°— 20° 50°— 39° 49°— 36° 36°— 21° 42°— 20° 16 Showery. Showery. Fine. Fine. Cloudy. Cloudy, Cloudy. Frost. 52°— 40° 42°— 31° 41°— 30° 39° — 32° 48°— 32° 51°— 40° 36°— 27° 38°— 28° 17 Cloudy. Fine. Fine. Cloudy. Cloudy. Showery. Cloudy. Rain. 62°— 45° 43°— 22° 42°— 37° 45°— 39° 42°— 37° 51°— 36° 31°— 28° 44°— 29° Serpent, finally conquering and eating it. This species (C horteivils) is found in Devonshire, and other southern counties of England. Colour, rusty brick red ; antcnnje (horns) hairy, and seycnteen jointed ; eyes indistinct ; legs hairy, and twenty-one on each side. There are scycral species, ycry like this, and all of them are friendly rather than injurious to the gardener. They are provided, says Dr. Carpenter, in his *' Zoology," not merely ^yith a pair of horny jaws, but with a pair of strong sharp claws, formed by an enlargement of the second pair of legs, and having at the top a small hole, through which a venomous fluid is probably poured into the wounds made by them. Small insects seized in these claws are seen to die very speedily. The most neglected of all the valuable manm-es available to every liouseliolder, is Soot. In most cases the cliimney-sweeper is allowed to cany it away, rather than that he shall have a few more pence given to him for leaving the black treasure behiud — for treasm'e it is, and its value is she%vn by the fact that the sweep has to be paid for leaving it, instead of for taking upon himself the ti-ouble of re- moving it. The reason for this is, ^hat the farmer knows well the value of soot as a top-di'essing, even for liis wheat ; though applying it on the surface is the most wasteful of all modes of adding it to the soU. The value of soot, as a manm-e, principally arises from the salts of ammonia which it contains ; and a large portion of these are lost by exposing it to the sun and wind. The best time for appljing soot as a top-dressiug is during rainy weather, for the rain washes the ammoniacal salts into tlie soil before the sun and wind can drive them off. Soot is that part of common coal which is driven off by the heat of the fire without being burnt; and, as the ail' which bears it along is cooled, it is depo- sited on the sides of the clumney. Soot is composed, therefore, of the most volatile parts of the coal, and of some of its most solid parts in a state of veiy fine division. It has been analysed, and 1000 pormds foimd to be composed as follows : — Charcoal (very fine) 371 tbs. Salts of Ammonia 426 „ „ Potash and Soda 24 „ Ko. XV., Tor.. I. 156 THE COTTAGE GARDENER. Oxide (or i-ust) of Iron 50 tbs. Silica (flinty sand veiy fine) 65 „ Alumina (pure clay very flue) 31 „ Sulijliate of Lime (Gypsum or plaister of Paris) 31 „ Magnesia (Carbonate of) 2 „ 1000 „ Now eveiy one of the above constituents of soot are constituents also of our garden plants. The cliarcoal buiied in the soil is gradually converted into carbonic acid gas, and in that form is sucked in both by the roots and leaves of plants ; and all tlie other constituents are more or less soluble in rain- water, and, consequently, are also taken in by the roots as food for their ])arent plants. Having tlms shewn that soot might be recom- mended confidently as a valuable manure, even fi-om a mere knowledge of the substances it contains, let us now see what practical men say, who have tried it in their gardens. Strawberries. — Mr. Cuthill, of Denmai-k-hill, Cam- benveU, who grows this fruit extensively in pots, puts a lai'ge handful of soot over the crock at the bottom of every pot. The roots of the plants, he says, delight in it, and it keeps out worms. He entertains a very liigli opinion of soot as a manure for all ))lants, thinking it both beneficial to them as a food, and as a protection against insects. He uses it largely as a manm-e for Tulips, Carnations, Potatoes, and, indeed, to till his crojjs, with the most mai'ked success. Potatoes — So beneficial has soot been found, when dug into the gi-ormd at the time of planting, by Mr. Barnes, Mr. Morton, and others, that some persons have been so sanguine as so think it a preventive of the potato murrain. Although we do not entertain this opinion, yet we know it to be a capital maniu-e for the potato. On a light soil, witliout any manme, the late Rev. E. Caitwriglit gi-ew 157 busliels of po- tatoes per acre ; but an acre of the same soil, manured at the time of planting with .30 bushels of soot, pro- duced 102 bushels of potatoes ; and another acre, similarly manured with 30 bushels of soot and eight bushels of common salt, produced 240 bushels. The gi-ass of lawns dressed in April, by sowing over them in rainy weather one bushel of soot to eveiy seven square rods, we have seen increased in close- ness and fineness of gi-owtb. But we think soot too valuable to be employed for that pm'pose. Liquid manure made of soot and water has been found by Mr. Barnes, and other gardeners, an excel- lent mode of employing it. One writer says, " My manure is soot mixed \\'ith water, in the proportion of one table-spoonful of soot to a quai't of water, for plants in pmts : but, for asparagus, peaii, &c., I use six quarts of soot to a hogshead of water. It nuist never be applied to plants while they are in a state of rest. It succeeds admirably with bulbs, and has benefitted every ]ilant to which I have applied it." Pine apples, tliough not witliin our province, we may notice are manured with soot, and most benefi- cially, by Mr. Fleming, atTrentham Hall ; Mr. Barnes, at Bicton ; and Mr. Alexander, at Cailton-gardens. Oarrots are nnich benefitted by soot ; for, if well mixed with the soil, it not only increases then- size, but protects them fi-om the caiTot grub. The late Mr. G. Sinclair, gardener to the Duke of Bedford, found that an unnumured soil, which produced only 23 tons of caiTOts per acre, produced 40 tons when manured with Oi bushels of soot, mixed with dV busliels of salt Onions are benefitted by the application of soot, more, perhaps, than by any other mamu'e. At the time of sowing, sprinlde soot thickly along the bot- tom of the di-ill. and stir it gently in with tlie corner of the hoe before putting in the seed. It will improve the growth of the onions, and save them from the gi-ub of the onion fly. After losing the plants of three sowings fi'om the attacks of this pest, Mr. Mosely, of RoUeston Hall, at length put it to flight by watering the bed with the following mixture : — twenty gallons of rain water, one jieck of lime in lumps, half a peck of soot, two gallons of lu'ine, one pound of soft-soap, and one pound of flowers of sul- phur. This mixture was poured upon the bed, so soon as it had settled sufficiently to pass tbj'ough the rose of a watering-pot. Oarlic and Sliallols, when planted, should have only the root ends of their bulbs just buried in the soO ; and, at the spot where each is thus put in, about a dessert spoonful of soot should be spiinkled previously. Tins saves them from the attack of the gi-ub, as well as fiom the decay to which they are subject. Quantity per acre. — Twenty bushels per acre is the smallest quantity that can be applied alone with much benefit, and twice that quantity is still more advantageous. The best time for applying it is at the time of sowuig or planting a crop ; or by point- ing it in about the roots of plants in tlie spring, when they begin to gi-ow. THE FEUIT-GARDEN. Planting. — The arrival of the new year- will re- mind those of our readers who contemplate fresh arrangements in then- fruit-gai'den, that delays are dangerous ; and that whatever business of the kind has become necessaiy, must be proceeded with im- mediately. Planting operations may be safely per- formed up to the middle of March, at which period let all be completed. We sliaU, therefore, be only perfonning a duty in endeavouring, in the intervening period, to tlu'ow out a few brief hints connected with the cidture of fnut-trees in general, as a basis on which to found future operations; feeling anxious to give as many usefid hints previously as possible, to guide the inexperienced in making a selection. One tiring must be premised — and that is, that the space and period allotted will not pennit us to go so fidly into the matter as coiJd be desned. We sliall, therefore, treat of indimentary matters chiefly ; the rest of the ground can be gone over as occasions ofler. Plusis. — We will now proceed to take a glance at the various phuns in cultivation. It is evident that some of them, like apples and pears, or, indeed, like most other ft'iiits, ai-e so gi'oss in theii- ordinaiy gi"owth as to render tliem unmanageable on waUs or trellises, unless some pecidiar root-control be exercised. Again, some are natmally of slender gi'owtli, and al- most unfit to bear theii- own weight. Some shew a strong disposition to bear on the last yeai-'s wood ; others produce chiefly on the old spurs. Now the veiy first thing in fi-uit cidtm-e is so to classify tlicm in the mind's*ye, as to see at once that systems of cultirre must vary as their habits vaiy. This, indeed, is one of the chief secrets of success. Soil.. — A good sound yet mellow loam will suit the majority of plums. Nevertheless, there must be some- thing more than the mere matter of soil which afl'eots them, for we find the damson thriving in our north- western counties on clayey sods, on sandy loams, and THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 157 even on peats, jirovided such aj'e properly drained. From such facts, we have long since been persuaded that the amount of moistiu'e in the atmosphere has sometliiug to do with the question. However, he that as it may, some pains must be taken where the soil is of a very inferior character. As before observed, with regard to pears, peaches, &c., in regai'd of the pi-opriety of so prepaiing the soil as that they may be brought into early bearing, and not make a superfluity of young shoots, it is indeed expedient to make what we have termed " stations " for them. Stocks. — On the above head we need say no more at present than that the same kind of soil wliioh suits the peach will siut the plum ; for the question neces- sarily resolves itself into one of stocks. Our peaches in the main are budded on the ordinaa'y Muscle Plum stock: so are many of our plums. However, the "Brussels stock" is much used, we believe, in nur- series, for the plum ; and, for a dwai'fing system, we tliink that it is assuredly too gi-oss. We will now proceed to give a select list of plums adajited to the amateur and the cottager ; merely ob- serving tliat we are not hunting for novelty, but merely endeavouring to point to really good and pro- fitable kinds, whether new or old. We wUl place them in the order of then ripening. 1. Preooce de Tours. (T. K.*) — July. An oval pui'- pie plum, of medium size and very good flavour. We have a tree of this kind on an eastern aspect, which has borne a fuU crop for the last twelve years. The fruit is veiy handsome, and will con- tinue in succession for neai-ly three weeks. 2. Morocco. (T.) — Beginning of August. A small round purple fruit, of great merit. This is also one of the surest beai'ers in the whole list ; we have it on an east aspect. .'i. Orleans. (K. and T.) — August. Roimd and pm- ple ; middle-sized. Tliis is one of the greatest bearers in the list, and is much gi-own by market- gardeners as an ordinary standard. i. Drop d'Or. (T.) — August. A fine rich fruit of the gi-eengage flavour. Fruit rather small, roimd, and yellowish. Should have a wall. 5. Greengage. — August and September. Too weU known to need description. No collection is com- plete without this kind, wliich is best on the wall. 6. Botja.le Ilative. (T.) — September. Round and of a piu^ile colour ; fiiiit middle-sized. Very rich ; should have a wall. 7. Reiiie Claude Violettc. (T.) — September. A round pmple plum, of gi-eat excellence ; middle-sized. A very liigh fiavom-ed fruit, deser\'ing of extensive cultivation. Would succeed as a standard in most of our counties. 8. Goes Golden Drop. (T. K.) — September. A large oval fruit, of a golden colour, frequently mottled with brown spots. This is a most valuable fruit, its only fault being its attractive character. This plum is so rich, that like the Bigorreau cheiTy, it is preserved fr'om the wasps and flies with great difficulty. A good bearer, and succeeds well as a standard. 0. St. Martin's Quetsche. (T.) — End of September. A yellowish fridt, not at present much known. A very valuable variety on accoimt of its flavour, its bearing jiroperties, and also its power of remaining long on the tree. Wm answer as a standard. 10. Washington. (T.) — September. Of American * The following abbreviations are used :— K, for kitchen use ; T, table ; and P, preserving. origin. Very large, oval, and of a yellowish cast. Flavour good, but not remarkable. Will answer well as an ordinary standard. 11. Jefferson. (T.) — September. Another American plum, very large indeed. It is highly spoken of, but for very limited gardens had better receive farther proof. 13. Wine Sour. (P.) — September. Roimdish and of a purple colour; a great beai'er as an ordmary standard. WeU known as a good pre serraig plum. 13. Magnum Bomim. (K.) — September. There are two varieties, the red and yeUow. WeU known as lai-ge fi-uit for kitchen use. They make a very exceUent jam. Do best as standards. 14. Saint Gatherim. (K. and P.) — September. Whit- • ish and of a small size. A well known preserving fruit ; also a good bearer. ] b. Ickworth Tmperatrice. (K. and P.) — October. A good-sized flattened pmple fruit. Vei-y valuable for its long keeping, if cai'efuUy gathered, and kept in a dry room. We much fear we have now gone too far with the hst to be useful to the generality of our readers We wUl, however, give a classification of them, in order to guide the inexperienced. As ordinai'y standards adapted to very small gar- dens, and as being great bearers, we would point to Nos. 2. 3, 7, 8, n, 12. As first-rate wall-fruit for table, adapted to very smaU gardeus^Nos. ], 3, 5, (5, 7, 15. It may be here remai'ked that Nos. 10, 11, 13, lieing of the class termed " egg plums," are very gross in habit. For a dwai'fing system, therefore, then- soil should by no means be rich. Root-pruning should, also, occasionally be practised. We have much, very much, more to say about the phun; and for the sake of hastening to other matters which press, we must defer farther observations for a whUe. In the meantime, enough has been said to guide both the amateur and the cottager as to the nucleus of a selection. There are, as we are aware, many new plums in the market, and some, doubtless, wUl prove good ; but, as we before observed, we dare not rest on novelty alone. It is far better, ^vith re- gard to those for whom om- labours are intended, to be very particular in selection ; and rather to seek improved modes of cultivation than more extensive collections. Peaches, Dressixo for. — We promised to give a recipe for di-essing the wood of peaches, and are now proud to do so. There are other mixtiu'es in \ise, and, perhaps, they are exceUent. Our pm-pose is, however, to give what we have jjroved to be one per- fectly successful, for at least the last fifteen year's. During that period, we liave found three distinct di-essings to be all that is reqiured dui'ing the year, in order to secure (as far as applications of this kind go) the health of the trees. One dressing is applied immediately after priming, and before the trees are naUed. A second is used immediately the trees are out of blossom ; this is a sulphm- mixtm-e, to guard through the summer against the ravages of the red spider. A thfrd is to destroy the apliides (plant lice), and is applied when the yoimg shoots are rmfolding themselves. Of the latter two we shall speak at the proper period : we have now to describe the first. Beat up foiu' ounces of soft-soap in a gallon of warm water ; add one pound of flowers of sulphur ; beat up some good clay into a complete mud, and thicken the whole to the consistence of a stout paint with the latter; finally, add two quai-ts of fresh slaked 158 THE COTTAGE GARDENER. lime. Let the whole be well mixed, aud daub every imrtiole of tlie shoots with it. The best thing to apply it with is au ordiuary painter's brush. When the mixture is thoroughly chy, the raihug may be proceeded with. Fruit-tree Stocks. — It is well for the amateur and cottager to gi-aft and bud many of their choice fi-uits. To the amateiu- it is interesting; to the cottager it is a matter of economy as well. Besides, as we before observed, in regai'd of apples, every opportimity should be taken of gi-afting kinds from the immediate neighbom-hood, wluch liave been long proved aw suitable to the character of the soil as well as the situation. Tlds is a safer proceeding, on the whole, than tiiisting to the nursery kinds, many of wliicli, although, perhaps, excellent in some situations, will not thrive in all. We have known abundance of baking apples — seedlings, probably, which originated in the veiy neighbourhood, and which had never been cultivated a score of miles beyond tlie spot where they were raised — quite equal to anything in the nm'seryman's catalogue. These have, frequently, names indicative of their origin; as, the pigcot apple, the piunp apple, &c. &c. Let the amateur, therefore, as well as the cottager, set apart a small portion of groiuid for fniit stocks, and, as it is time to think about procming them, we wUl give a list. We will suppose enough to begin a system of the kind on about three-quailers of au acre of ground. 20 Crab Stocks ; for apples of delicate gi-owth, and veiy fine bearers. 20 Paradise Stocks ; for strong sorts of a]}ples, and especially for a dwarfing ^ilan. 30 Muscle Stocks ; for plums, peaches, and nectarines. 1 Commoner Stocks ; for apricots. 12 Pear Stocks ; for gi-eat beai-ers, and where size is reqiui'ed. 12 Quince Stocks ; for a dwai'fing plan. These things may be obtained e-X-ceedingly cheap ; a couple of shiUiugs would purchase the whole, with the exception of the quince, which is the most ex- pensive. The cottager may leave out the peach, the nectarine, and the apricot stocks; and, indeed, the quantities of each may be altered according to the extent of the garden. Let a plot be prepai-ed for them on a sound piece of gi-ound, free from water lodgments ; let it be well maum-ed, the manure by no means dug in deep ; keep it near the sm-face in order to encourage fibrous roots. They may be placed in rows two feet apart, and one foot between plant aud plant. Let aU roots of a desceuduig character be primed away before planting, aud let every precaution be taken to keep the small fibres damp, from the moment they are removed until finally planted. RocTiNE-WoHK. — Let all bush-fi-uit prumng lie completed soon. Proceed idso with apple pruning, and indeed pears and phuus, where the futm-e blos- soms cau be well distinguished. Cottagers, if thrown out of work for a week or two, may collect turty mat- ters, and trench as much gi-oimd as possible. Every cottager should learn to make baskets ; nothing can be easier. It assuredly is a great benefit. We ^vill speak of willow cultivation shortly. R. Erbinoiox. THE FLOWEE-GARDEN. The New Year has now opened upon us, with its cheering influences of hope and pleasant anticijia- tions. AVe look fonvard to enjoying the fruits of our forethought, preparations, aud conservative cares. We can look back with pleasm-e also, provided no- tlung in our power to do, or witliin the reach of our means, has been neglected or omitted. Circmn- stances, however, may have occiuTed to cause us im- avoidably to have left imdone some things that ought to have been done, therefore we will very briefly look back upon what we proposed doing in the flower-garden, and so make a fan- start to begui the year, with a firm resolution to bring up the work to the present time. Retboscectiox. — Soils. — Provide different sorts of soils : these are absolutely necessary. Lose no time in procin-iiig them, if not ab-eady done. (See No. 1.) Pebenxials. — In procm-ing these, no time must now be lost, or they will not flower finely nest season. Bulbs. — Some few bulbs may yet be planted, such as Japan aud other lilies, .\nemones, aud Gladiolus or CoiTi-flag. (No. 2.) Forcing Violets may still be done, also Lily of the Valley. Roses may also yet be planted. (No. 3.) Evergreens in Pots. — Place in vacant flower- beds. It is not by any means too late for tliis ope- ration. FoBciNG Roses may yet be commenced. Indeed, this is a work of succession : the first lot ought now to be in bud, and should have every attention paid to them. (No. 4.) The Alpixery, or artificial rock-work, if not begim or finished, should be foi^warded by all means now, to have time to settle previously to planting in early spring. Cottagers to make Turf-pits, and foi-m an arched trellis. (No. b.) Shrubberies may yet be planted or renovated ; and, for American Shrubs, the beds may be made with sandy jieat, veiy conveniently, during fi-osty weather. Boards or straw should be laid upon the gi'ass, to save it from injiuy by the barrow-wheel. — Roses may be planted yet, and now is the best time for piiming them. (No. 6.) PRop.\G.iTioN OF Roses. — In iniining roses, there wUl be a good supply of cuttings. (No. 7.) Protective Fences. — The gi'oimd where these ai'c to be planted may j'et be trenched, ditches formed, and the thorns or hollies planted, either entirely separate or mixed. (No. S.) Orn.\jient.\l Fences. — Should the weather con- tinue mild, these fences may be planted dming tliis month and the next. Alpine Plants may lie put into then- blooming-pots, either now or later. (No. 0.) Fernery. — A rocky, boggy, aud shady jilace, to cidtivate hardy ferns. The mateiials for this pm'pose, and the putting them into form, may be done any time between this and March ; but the sooner it is done the better, for the same reason as given for the Alpinery — that it may have time to settle. RosKS may yet be put in jiots, but wUI scarcely bear forcing at all this year. (No. 10.) Ferns in Pots. — Where you have not a convenient place to form rock-work, you may gi-ow these ele- gantly-pretty plants in pots. Pruning Siir.rBnERiEs should now be finished without delay. (No. 11.) Variegated Plants are mentioned, and a list given, togedier with a Compost fob Carnations ; to hotli of which we now dh-ect yotu' attention. (No. 12.) And, lastly, in the 13th Number, we have descrilied Waruian Cases, their culture, and a list of plants suitable for them. AVe tnist these retrospective hints will he useful, and spur on our amateur and THE COTTAGE GAEDENER. 150 cotter Meuds to use evei-y exertion to make tlieii' flower-garden or flower-border liighly ornamental and delightful to themselves, their fainilies, and their- fiiends. FLORISTS' FLOWERS. Anemones. — The bed intended for the finest double ones ought to be now in a forward state. It should be turned over for the last time any favom'- able day during the early part of the month. The commoner kinds, jilanted in November, should have the surface of the beds or clumps stin-ed gently -ivith a short three-pronged fork, on suoli fine days as we have been favoured with lately. Acriculas must have the care and attention ne- cessary for keeping them iir health and vigour. Air, cleanliness, and water must be given in suitable liroportions and quantity. (See page 2.5). C.^BNATTONs AND PicoTEES. — At this soasou of the year these plants require very little care. They may be watered occasionally in mild weather, and have abundance of air on all fine days. As they are per- fectly hardy, very httle protection beyond the glass covers for the frames is reqiusite : they are more likely to sufler fi-om damp and mildew than ii-om fi-ost; but in very severe frost let them be covered with double mats, well fastened down, to prevent the sharp winds blowing them oif. Dahlias. — Look over your stores of these fine autumnal flowers. Remove all decaying stems or rotten roots from them. Damp, wet, and fi-ost, are the gi-eat enemies to guard against. A little care now may prevent much loss and disaiipointmeut in the spring. Should any of tlie roots be found wet or damp, expose them for a few days to a di-y, warm atmosphere, to di-y them. Late struck ones,"in pots, must be kept dry, and secure fi-om fi-ost. Pinks. — Ofalltlie flowers usually named _/Zom<«', this family is the most suitable for an amatem- or cottager. Then- beauty is quite equal to any, theii- fragranoe is very superior, and they are more hardv and more easily propagated than most others. All these considerations recommend them to our especial notice. We propose, in an early munber, to devote a considerable space to then- cid'tiu-e, and to a Ust of the best sorts at present in eidtivation. At this season they are planted out in the bed or beds for blooming, excepting, perhaps, a few of the very choicest, which may, from precaution more than ne- cessity, be kept in pots in the same fi-ame or pit as the carnations. Those in beds, after heavy rains, should have the surface stirred; and, after fi-osts, the soil pressed fii-mly with the hand close to the stems. This work should be done when the soil is rather di-y. The Pansy is also a desii-able flower for those persons for whose especial benefit tliis work is in- tended. We cannot press too strongly upon om- readers the merits of this and the preceding lovely embelUslunents of the flower-garden or border. The pansy, or heaxtsease, for it is known by both names, and some other old fashioned ones, is quite as hardy as the pink, and has, perhaps, more beautiful coloru-s, but is deficient of the rich perfume possessed by the pink : not that it is entu-ely scentless, for some varie- ties have a very agreeable though faint smell. We Iiave already bestowed some instiiictions on the cul- tivation of tliis favourite, to wluch, for the present, we refer the reader. (See pages 47 and 77.) Polyanthus. — This is also a lovely family of flowers, not half so much cultivated as they deserve. There is very little cbificulty in growing "them, as they are perfectly hardy. The only drawback upon I success is, that they are veiy subject to be attacked by the red spider. The recipe we have given for the destiiictiou of this vermin is a cei-tain one (see pao-e 25). At this season the polyanthus requii-es to be kept quiet, by being as cool and dry as is iust sufii- cient to keep it alive. With respect to aii-'and shel- ter, the same treatment as we have dii-eeted for the auricula -wQl be proper for the polyantlms. Ranltxculus.— The roots of tliis fine flower will yet be in the bag or drawers. The bed to plant them hi shoiild be in a state of readiness. It is a good plan to cast all the soil out on a ridge on each side of the bed ; then, upon the di-ainage, place tlu-ee or four inches of cow-dung about half rotten : spread this evenly over the bottom, and then throw upon it the son, leaving it five or six inches above the general level. Let the bed be edged with wood or slate, and hooped over in the same manner as the tulip-bed. Verbenas. — These may now be considered as flo- rist's flowers. Numbers of them have been hybrid- ized^hat is, the pollen of one variety has been apiihed to the stigma of another, for the pui-pose of improving either the size, the fomi, or the coloiu- of the succeeduig generations.* Many beautiful kinds ai-e now in cultivation, and the number increases annually ; so much so, indeed, that it is somewhat diflicnlt to make a selection in moderate numbers. Verbenas are very suitable flowers for small gardens. "^Tiere they are gi-own in borders amongst other flowers, they should be tied up to sticks about eighteen inches high, set in a cii-cle round each plant. By tlus method the flowers show better, and are not lia- ble to be splashed -with soU dming heavy showers. The gi-eat use of these flowers is to plant in beds in masses of one colour ; one kind in each bed. When planted so, they ought to be pegged down with small hooks, tin the bed is completely and thicldy covered. The Soil sliould be moderately rich and light. If the situation is low and damp, the beds ought to be th-ained. The best time for plautmg out is the begiuning or middle of :May. By the middle of July, should the season have been favourable, they will be in a blaze of floral beauty, wluch wiU last till the cold wet niglits of autumn spoil then- flowers. Propagation by Seed. — The seed should be sown in shallow pots, plunged in a gentle hot-bed, early in March. When the seedlings are three inches high, transplant them, thi-ee or four together, into pots foiu- inches wide. Nip off the tops to make them bushy. When the planting season anives, the seedlings may be planted out also in a bed, in some retii-ed part of the garden. Select the best as they flower, and take cuttings of such as appeal- good. Number and describe them in a small book, so tiiat you may know how to arrange them the following year. PnopAGATiNG BY CuTTiNGs -wiU be Considered in a futiu-e number. Select List of Verbenas. BLUE. Duchesse d'Auraale. Imperatrice Josephine. Valentine de Sacoi. Imperial Blue^ CRIMSON. Atrosanguinca. Due de Nemours. Emperor of China. Mcny Monarch. Sir E. Buxton. PUEPLE. Conqueror. Heloise. Henry 4th. Pourpre Superb, PINK. Enchantress. Gem. Lady of the Lake. Madonna. Vixen. WHITE. Mount Blanc. Mountain of Snow. Princess Helena. \\Tiite Perfection. SCARLET. Barkerii. Defiance (extra fine). Emperor of Scarlets fn\'id). Diana (very bright). Siigma, the top of a pistil, or female part of a flo^ver. Sec p. I(i0 THE COTTAGE GARDENER. Boulc de feu. Wonder of Scarlets. COLOURS, VARIOUS. Captivation, bright rose, scarlet spot. Corapte de Paris, rose and blue. Diisirable (Barker's), purple lake. Kxcelsa (Superb), large, deep rose. Lady uf the Lake, bright rose pink, ni adouna, rosy pink, primrose eye. miss Sarah, white, pink centre. ' Queen of Beauties, pink, red cen- tre. Reine des Francais, pink, with rich crimson centre. Rose d'Amour (Dufay's) purple, shaded with bronze. Saint Margaret, scarlet-crimson, light violet eye, large, and fine form. Tricolour, pale rose, deep carmine centre. Any or all ot'tlie above are beautiftil varieties^ well wortliy of cultivation. They are not expensive; any dealer will I'urnisli them at Us. to 12s. the dozen. T. Appleby. GREENHOUSE AND WINDOW GARDENING. Cold Pits. — The sti'eiigtli and diu'ability of pits and gi-eenhouses, and, indeed, of any kind of Iniild- ing, depend much on the season of the year when they are erected — on the timber being well seasoned, and on the kind and age of the bricks used — the lime being the only part of the materials which should be used in a ft-esh state. The strength of the mortar depends much on the lime being slacked, and made into mortar immediately afterwards. Late in the .sjiring is the best time of the year to build plant erections of any kind, and particularly so for a cold pit, as then the whole siuiuner season is before it, to dry up and consolidate the work, so as to be in the best possible condition to resist the effects of a long and changeable winter, and to ensure the safety of tlio plants witliiu it. Stability, light, and ventilation, are the tliree gi-eat essential points in all plant sti-uc- tures ; but perfect exemption from damp arising fi-om natural causes, such as low situation, or damp clay foundation, may be said to be no less necessaiy ; for we can always keep a pit or house damp artificially when the plants requu'c it, but to contend against the effects of natmal damp in a cold pit is indeed a misfoitime. I hope, tbeiviore, to be excused if I speak out fi'eely, and write even too fully on such, seemingly, small matters. Small matters, indeed! They are of the very first importance to those who have to do with them. The timbers should be well sea-soued anddi'ied.andbethe produce of slow gi'owth, such as the English oak, or the red or true liigbland pine of Scotland. The latter you caimot procure at present, but that from Norway or Sweden will do as well, provided it is not so gi-een as to exude moistm-e at the extreme ties, after the weight of tlie glass is put on them ; as I have seen more than once, when a log was taken from the cargo of a Norway trader, sawed and fixed all in the space of a few weeks ; or, if it was so diy on the outside as to take on the paint, pre- mature decay and the dry-rot were the sm'e conse- (piences of tliis careless way of builduig — to call it by no harder name. Fresh burnt bricks from the kiln are every whit as bad in then- way asgi-een logs from the forest ; their heat and powers of absorbing mois- ture will reduce tlie best mortar to a diy powder, so that the strength which ought to be acquired from the composition of proper materials is altogether wanting, and the consequence is soon told. In a season or two. t)io mortar between the joints %vill have cnunblcd and given way, so that recourse must be had to the tedious process of " pointing" tlie joints, wliich, after all, is a mere bUnd or makesliift for a few seasons longer. There is a cheap and inferior kind of soft lialf-burnt brick, called in the trade " place bricks." These spongy bricks arc totally un- lit for our pi-esent piuiiose, or for any building wliich it is desu-able to keep dry. K you intercept the natural dampness of the foundation from them, tliey will absorb sufficient wet from the atmosphere to defeat om' purpose ; evei-y beating rain wiU peneti-ato into them, and the frost will shatter them to pieces in a few seasons; yet 1 have seen pits budt with this kind of brick because they were sold cheap. The kind of brick called ■' stocks ' are the proper sort for all plant erections; these are well biunit, luu-d, and sound, and therefore best calculated to resist the weather and keep the inside of the house or pit di-y. Fresh burnt stone lime is far- superior to that fi-om common chalk ; but chalk lime will do very well, if used quite fresh from the kiln, and the joints made with it be as thin as the safe bedding of the bricks will allow. Indeed, tlie joints in all brickwork ought to be made as thin as possible. Some bricklayers have an awkward way of making large tliick seams or joints between the bricks, which, unless the lime is of the very best quality, wiU cnimble away more or less in a few years. Pits for half hardy plants are best if built on the siufaco of the gi'ouud, not sunk in tlie gi'ound like cucumber pits. In frosty weather they may be guarded with any kind of litter, and dm-ing fine open weather the ventOation is more perfect, and the jilants wQl be less liable to damp ofl' than those in sunk pits. Where small stones or rough gi-avel can be had, the foundation for pits and greenhouses might easily be made of concrete, which is better and cheaper than brick foundation. Concrete is made with frcsli uuslackcd lime and rough gravel ; say, one baiTow-load of Ume and six baiTow-loads of the gi'avel. mixed up with water much thinner than brick mortar. FiU the foundation trench with this as soon as it is weU mixed, and in two or three days, unless the depth of the ti-ench is considerable, the whole \vill have set as hard and as solid as a rock, and you might build a castle over it. Indeed, castles and all large buildings are now-a-days built on con- crete foundations. After getting up the foundation to the siu-face of the gi'ound, of whatever material it is made, the next proceeding is — or ought to be — to intercept any damji that may rise from the bottom. Plants cannot be kept well if the walls of the pit ai-e naturally damji, as they are sure to bo unless the situation is veiy dry. The usual way of rendering the brickwork dj-y, is by laying the first comse or two above the foimdation in cement : if the cement is fi'om a newly opened cask, it will answer the purjiose pe riectly well ; but it often happens that cement for such small jobs is taken from a cask that has been opened some time, some of the contents having been used long since ; in which case it is not much better than common Ume mortar. The aii- is well known to destroy the adhesive power of the best cement. Rather than run any risk on so material a point, I would prefer making the walls damp-proof by a layer of fthin slate over the foundation, and building the brick-work on that. Common roofing slate is thick enough for the pm-pose, provided it is bedded solidly on the foimdation. I have never seen a copy of the " Biulding Act," but, unless there is a clause in it to prevent builders erecting houses mtliout a thorough provision against damp rising ft'om the foundations, it does not say much in favour of the sanatory wisdom of oin- legislators. At any rate, let us have dry structures for our plants, and we can iilways dam]i them to our own liking where they require it ; and i am certain the easiest and most efl'cctual way of arresting the progi-ess of damp is as 1 have stated. THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 161 AU of us have Iniilt " castles in the air," but none of them with drier foundations than may thus be made. I would not give bread and cheese to a country la- bom'er who could not make concrete, and flU in the fi )midatiou fi'om the foregoing dii-ections, if he could read them. Then, there is no gi'eat art requii-ed for common painting and glazing — many an amateur might do that part of the work. Buy a few poimds of the best white lead, and a few quarts of boiled linseed oU, and to every quai-t of oil add half a pint of " tm'ps," (that is, spuit of tm'pentiue) and you may soon make as good paint as ever was bought; and as to the mere mechanical process of laying it on your fi'ames, it is as simple as sweeping the hearth-stone. Glass also is now made so stout, and cut so ti-ue on the edges, that one can put in a hundi-ed squares without using a diamond (that is, the Uttle instni- ment with which glass is cut). It is rather dear to buy a new one, but I have seen second-hand ones, as good as new, bought at the pawnbroker's under ten shillings, and it is a useful tool for any one ha^^ng glass to fit or repair-. Recollect what I said about two coats of paint before glazing (see p. 120) ; the first coat they call pmning, and is made with red lead and spirits of tiu-jientine — not always, however, but it ought to be : it should be thinner than common paint. Red lead is much stronger than wliite lead, and putting on this strong coat at flr-st prevents the wood imbibing too much of the oil out of the other coats of paint, and also out of the putty. When the putty is dry enough, after glazing, the best way to jjaint a light is to place it sideways before you, not flat or standing on one end ; then paint the upper sides of the bars first, and if there is any flaw or crack either in the putty or between the putty and the glass, it will be more eflfectually stopped, for the paint win flU it up by its own weight. When the upper sides ai'e finished, pass on to the next light ; or, at any rate, do not turn the first light upside down till the jjaint is a little dry — for if you do, tlie oU, or thinnest portion of the paint, may i-un out of these cracks. If I intended to build a pit or a greenliouse next March or April, I woidd get the woodwork and the glazing finished between that time and the pre- sent, and also bargain for autumn-bm-nt bricks, as it is sometimes difficult to pm-chase well-seasoned bricks in tlie spring, when building becomes general ; and if you use them hot from the kUn, you may bui-n your fingers two ways. The best size for a cold pit is sis feet wide ; the back wall to be three feet high, and the fi-ont wall about two feet. The last com-se of bricks all rormd to be set with cement. The extra expense for the cement ^vill be well repaid by the superior sti-ength thus given to the bricrw'ork, which will also be ren- dered drier and rain-proof. The wall plates should be of red deal, and cut on a bevel to suit the slope of the glass — say, from one and a half to three inches thick on one side, and two inches on the other, — the thick side to be outwai-ds along the back of the pit, and inside in front — to be flush, or even, with the briclcwork inside, and to project an inch beyond the brickwork roimd the outsides to tlu-ow ofT the drip. The lights, or sashes, should slide easily between the rafters ; and the simplest contrivance for fixing the lights fiimly between the rafters, to prevent the ^vind blowing them ofi', is a small stick with a wedge end, to push in between the sides of the sash and rafter; tliis will keep it as firm as if nailed down. Small u-on handles should be fixed to all pit sashes behind, to push them up and down with ; indeed, it would be vei-y convenient to have a handle at each end, as in that case the sash could be moved fi-om either side with equal facihtj'. It is a good plan in winter, whenever a fine di-y day oocm-s, to turn the sashes of all kinds of pits inside out, in order to get the damp on the inside dried up before night, and this is also a simple way of giving an, as the lights, thus tm-ned, do not rest closely on either back or ft'ont plate, the projection of the sash bai-s keeping the sash a little clear' ofl' the plates, and allowing a di'aft of air to pass fi'om ft-ontlto back. During cold di-ying winds, it is not desu-able to create a draft over plants that have been rendered tender by a long confinemeut, either in a gi-eenhouse or pit ; but whenever the air is mUd, di-aft ventilation is better for the health of indoor plants. This difference in the wa}' of gi\'iug ail- is far more essential than many jieople suppose, and more so after tliis time, when plants, by being shut up under glass, have been a long time deprived of part of the scanty light which our northern climate affords in winter. Calendar. — The management of greenliouse and window plants, being so unifonn for thi'ee or four months during winter, I did not consider it necessary to give a weekly calendai' of operations ; but have thought the more useftd eom'se to be, to give a few essays on the subject in hand. However, we must soon begin to detail what is most necessary to be done in the way of weekly operations. D. Beaton. THE KITCHEN-GAEDEN. Potato Forcing is practised from the close of De- cember to the middle of February, in a hotbed ; and at the close of this last month on a warm border, with the temporary shelter of a fi-ame. The hotbed is only requu'ed to produce a moderate heat. The earth should be six inches deep, and the sets planted iu rows six or eight inches apart, as the tubers or roots are not reqiured to be large. The temperature ought never to sink below 05 degi'ees at night, nor rise above 80 degi-ees in the day. The rank steam arising from feimenting dung is undoubtedly injmious to the roots of potatoes ; and to obviate tliis, they may be planted in naiTow beds, and the dung applied in ti-enches on eacli side ; or aU the eai-th ft-om an old cucumber or other hotbed being removed, and an inch in deptli of fi-esh being added, put on the sets, and cover them with fom' inches of mould. At the end of five days the sides of the old dung may be cut away m an inwai'd slanting dfrection, about fifteen inches fi'om the pei-pendicular, and strong Unings of hot dung applied. K the tubere'ai'e desired to be brought to matu- rity as speedily as possible, instead of being planted in the earth of the bed, each set should be placed in a pot about six inches in diameter, for tliis checks the gi-owth of the root ; but the produce in pots is smaller. Preparation of Sets for Forcing. — They should be of the Walnut-leaved Kidney variety. To assist tlieu- foiTvai'd vegetation, plant a single potato in each of the pots intended for forcing, dui'ing the present month. Place the pots in the gi-ound, and protect them with litter fi-om the frost. This renders the potatoes very excitable by heat ; and, consequently, when plunged in a hotbed, they vegetate rapidly and generate tubers. The seed potatoes ai-e equally as- sisted, and with less ti'ouble, if placed iu a cellar just ICi-i THE COT'I'AGK GAliDENKR. ill contact witli each othev, and as sonn as the slioots ai'i' four inches long, are removed to the hotbed. Mtinagement. — ^lore than one stem to each stool should never be allowed, othenvise the tubers are small, and not more uuuierons. Water must be given whenever the soil appears dry, and in quan- tities proportionate to the temperature of the air. Linings must be applied to the hotbed as the tem- perature declines ; and air admitted as treely as the temperature of the atmosphere will allow. Cover- ings must be afforded with the same regard to tem- peratm-e. from six to seven weeks usually elapse l.ietweeu the time of planting and the fitness of tlie tubers for use. The average produce fi'om a single light is about five pounds. Routine Work. — As a most interesting part of the season is now ajjproachiug, every available oppor- tunity must be taken for trenching, ridging, and forking about the soil, to procm-e a healthy, crumbly state, or tilth, ready for spring sowing and planting, on which so much depends the health of our future crops, and the abundance of their produce. Take advantage of favourable, mild, dry weather, for plant- ing Broad and Long-podded beans, and for sowing the principal crops of early varieties of peas. Seed List continued. Pe.\s. — Among the best early are the Prince Albert, Warners Emperor, and the Earltj Warwick. None of these vai-ieties grow taller than from four to five feet, and if they are kept topped, that is, if the points of then- shoots "are picked out when they commence blooming, their average height on good soil will be about four feet. The ad- vantage from toj)ping or stopping their main shoots is, that the jjods take the lead, and consequently the ga- thering of peas is advanced several days. It also causes the stems to throw out branches or side shoots. For those who have room to gi'ow a succession of peas, the Early Charlton is good for a second crop, and is much finer and more productive than either of the above early varieties; but, for a cottager, or those who have gi'ound to spare only for one row of peas, tlie Scimetar Blue is the best, both as to the cjuantity and quality of its produce. Its height on good soil is five feet. Knhjht's Tall Marrow is a pea of the first quality for yielding an abundant crop of fine pods. It requires a rich, deep, mouldy soU ; and on such a soil, the quantity of peas of good quality it will produce throughout the heat of summer, from the middle of July till September, is very large, more particularly if over the roots the ground is mulched with half-decayed mulch or leaves, and the roots are occasionally well soaked with liquid manure. It is a pea that requires to be sown thin, one pint being abundance of seed for a row lUO feet long. Whilst gi'owing, the plants should have their tops picked out when about two feet high ; and again on several occasions afterwards, if their sti-ength and luxmiance wUl admit of it, for they wUl continue to branch in succession, and produce pods, if kept clean gathered as soon as ready, for six or eight weeks, being a longer period than any other variety of pea that we are acquainted with. The Woodford Green Marrow and the New Green Marrow are both excellent varie- ties, to be sown in succession, for coining into bear- ing tlu'ough July, August, and September. Indeed, the New Green ilarrow we have liad in fidl bearing tlu-oughout October, by stopjiing, miUching, and ap- plying mauiux'-water, as above mentioned. Its aver- age height is seven feet. There are several other good varieties of peas, but those we have named, if sown in succession, woidd amply furnish an exten- sive demand of good peas from the end of May until October. G. W. J., & J.\MES B.\KNES. MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION. MY FLOWERS. (No. 11.) Every winter bud and blossom has now come forth; and there is nothing more to be done, till the voice of the Almightly shall awaken sleeping vegetation, and call it up fi-om the deep of the earth again. The light gossamer flowers of the clematis I occasionally see, wreathing the ban-en boughs like snow-flakes — a sort of memorial of the past ; and the winter furze, with its golden blossoms, decks the liedges, and gives them a cheerful aspect. This is sweet, but not so richly fragrant as its summer sister ; and the stalks and prickles are bro\vner and less handsome. Still, at tliis season, we are channed to see and smeU a flower, and are little inclined to quarrel \vith its more dusky hue. Furze would be a lovely addition to a gar- den, where it coidd fill up spaces imder trees, or form small patches on the lawn. In wild healthy situa- tions it would be exti'emely suitable ; and in such soil, the pretty white and amethyst-coloured heaths would form a rich and glowing under-gi-owth, more beautiful than grass, and useful too — for when gi'owii high enough to cut and tie up into bimdles, heath makes excellent tliatcbing for bowers and sheds, and looks far jirettier than straw. I have a bower thatched all over -with heath, or hng, as it is some- times called: and, with an occasional patch or two, where the wind has forced its way tlu'ough it, it has lasted for twelve or thuteen j'ears, and is sound and serviceable still. Furze and heath may be consi- dered very common plants, and so indeed they are ; but they are beautiful and sweet, and would, I think, be much admii-ed, if placed judiciously among trees and shrubs. The simple-minded florist — to whom alone I venture to address myself — might add much to the beauty of her " pleasaunce " by thus adopting some of the wild plants and shiiibs that pass almost unnoticed in the fields and woods, but would make grateful retm-ns for her fostering care, and become richer and finer from improved cultivation. Fm'ze wiU not root well if transijlanted. I know that it has perpetually failed when moved fi-om its place; it must be raised fi-om seed. It is a beautiful hedge plant, on the summit of banks, when properly clipped, so as to be always thick and rich ; but it is not a sufficient protection against cattle, unless the bank and ditch are deep and lugh. Fui-ze is cut down every thh-d year, and this causes either a glow of bloom, or none at all. Where good effect is wanted, this might be obtained by cutting a portion only of each plant ; and where it forms a hedge, by cutting one side down every year, and leaving the other to stand and bloom — for, as a hedge, it shoidd be broad enough to admit of this. Thus, there woidd be a constant sheet of blossom ; and if winter furze is planted with it, both seasons woidd be enlivened by its brilliant flowers. In the island of Guernsey, where the cattle are always tethered, the banks ai-o frequently clothed with fiu-ze, which, in that genial, deliglitful spot, flourishes ricldy; and it is hnpossible to describe the beauty and sweetness of the walks and views during the flowering season. I know not THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 163 any scene of simple nature more charming to the eye than commons or heathy brows gUttering with this dazzhug flower, so truly golden, and so very sweet. If cottagers encouraged these plants on hanks, they would he useful to feed their fire or oven ; and, when cut, should be carefully tied up in bundles for that pmijose. I know my humbler fiiends are sometimes sadly neglectful of many things that might he turned to profit ; and even their hedges would be made ex- tremely useful, instead of falling to pieces, and being stuffed with sticks and briers. Evei-y spot and inch of gi'ound should be tiu-ned to account, especially by cottager's, whose gai'dens too often present a wofiil scene of neglect and ruin, when by diligence and activity they might largely contiibute to the famOy support, and fill up many idle wasted hom'S with wholesome employment. And now, while the forest trees shiver in the blast, we tm-n gladly to the fir, whose rich clothing now is doubly useful — pleasing tlie eye,«ud screening the poor dripping bu'ds from wet and cold. The spiaice seems to revel in her graceful beauty, waving her spreading boughs as if in tiiumph ; and the stern, sturdy Scotch fir, with its dark cumbrous foliage, en- riches, though it scarcely enlivens, the winter scene. When dotted among larch plantations, the Scotch takes somewhat from then' lifeless appearance, and conti'asts agi-eeably \vith theh' pale brown hue. But the monarch of the evergi'een world is the noble, interesting cedar — a ti'ee we should strive to place in evei'y garden, not only for its beauty, but for the many recollections that hang, as it were, on evei'y bough. It may tridy he called the Tree of the Bible, so often is it spoken of in Holy Writ. Such was its beauty and gi-andeur in the east, that the cedai' is used in all tlie sublime prophetical descrip- tions of whatever was beautilul, or stately, or flou- rishing, among the kmgdoms of the earth, — liut chiefly as applied to the people " beloved for their fathers' sake ;" and it was even employed by Solomon famtly to shadow forth the beauty of Him who is Lord over His Chui'oh, and whose gloi-y the most fervent imagery can but darkly poi-ti'ay. These majestic trees should stand singly on a lawn. Some- times their branches inchne to the earth, spi-eading widely around the ti-unk, and forming a natural canopy, under which it is delightful to sit in summer ; for even in this chilling climate there is a kind of spiciuess about them, and they speak of other times and other lands, full of interest to a Christian's heart ; and we know that although the cedar is the glory of Lebanon, yet even it, in its pride and strength, shall be broken by " the voice of the Lord." Let us listen to that voice. The closed and open- ing year is " a time to keep silence," and also "a time to speak." Deep stillness has settled upon tlie earth. Natui'e is at rest, and a solemn pause takes place. Well would it be for us if we paused too, and thought of all the past year is burdened with ; for every thought, and word, and work of man is stereotyped, and there is but one hand that can ever blot them out. In om' youthful days we love to dance the old year out, and a joyous dance it seems to be; hut things would go better with us if we welcomed the coming year in a different way; for too often "the end of that mirth is heaviness." I do not know a more affecting sound than the ciume that bursts from the village church, when the unconscious clock has tolled the knell of the departed year, and ushers in the new. It is most solemn — most impressive ; and, coining from the house sacred to prayer and praise, it seems like the people's thankful acknowledgment for some added mercy. I wish their hearts and voices were mixing with the joyful peal. I wish, too, that my cottage readers would take a fi'iendly warning at this special time, and strive to separate the work of ring- ing from that of di-niking, for they are apt to travel hand-in-hand, and that which is intended as a mark of joy and gi'atitude becomes a means of intemper- ance and sin. This should not he. Even om' harm- less amusements and useful employments may thus bring down a cm'se, and not a blessing, on oirr heads. We cannot expect om' fi'uits and flowers to flourish ; we cannot expect " to receive the early and the latter rain ;" or to see our children gi'ow up as the yoimg plants, if we regard not the honour of God in all we do and say. We may dig and sow, and water our crops, hut the blight will come; the worm will des- troy ; the hand of God will mar our labours, unless His name is feared and honoured, and His word written " on the door-posts of our houses and on om gates." Let us, as we step into another year, remember this : it is of deep importance to our peace and our prosperity. It equally aftects the high and low, the rich and poor. None can thrive lomj, without a blessing. It gladdens the palace, and gilds the cot- tage walls ; it brightens the path of ]ieer and peasant : it sweetens and sanctifies the joys of home, and gives the sm'est increase to the useful labours of " The Cottage Gardener." SCEAPS. Naked-flowered Jasmine, on Jessamine. A plant of Mr. Fortune's Jasmiuum nudiflorum is in blossom on the conservative wall of the Hoiticiiltiu'al Society's Garden, as are dso the specimens of Chimo- nanthus there. The latter never fail to ju'oduee their sweet flowers at this season, and thtit with little trouble. The chief point to attend to in their manage- ment is priming. This should never be done ^^-ith a knife ; where they require it, the points of the roots only should be nipped ofl" with the finger and thumb. A plant of Jasminum nudiflorum was also coming finely into flower in the open border. It otters fair to become one of our most ornamental hardy winter flowering slu-ubs. — Oardener's Chronicle. Experiments in Potato -growing. — Mr. John Walker, of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, says, " Last spring I procm'ed samples of dtflferent varieties fi'oin Yorkshu'e, Lancashire, Northampton, and other places. The ground allotted for experiment was about a hundred and forty-four square yards, and a good dark hazel loam, on a stronger subsoil, or what is usually termed 'limestone land' with us. On this I grew about eighteen varieties, and treated them in the following manner : — Cash-in-liand — (We think this a good name to heyin with) — I had out of Yorkshire. Planted four inches in depth, and covered about two inches thick with a vegetable soil, composed of decayed pea haulm and spent lime ; they were quite free from disease. Thoreshy's Seedlings I tried several ways. — 1st Row. On the old-fashioned system, with fresh manure, covering with soil. This row was decidedly had. '2nd Row. With strong soil, inclining to red clay. This, too, was very had. IGi THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 3rd Row. With road scrapings and wood ashes. These were much better than the above. 4th Row. These were treated with the refuse of my winter greens, cliopijed into lengths of abont two inches, spread in the drill, and the potatoes planted on it, covering with light soil. These were entirelji free from disease, though the tubers were smaller than 1 and 2. Tlie qualitj-, how- ever, was e.\cellent. The remamder of this variety (Thoresby's Seedling) were planted in decayed vegetable soil, to which was added a small quantity of crushed bones and other animal matter. Of these about one- tliu'd were diseased. Early Strawberry. — 1st Row. Dressed and planted in wood ashes, chan-ed vegetables, and spent lime. Quite free, with the exception of some tluree or four tubers. 2nd Row. Planted with fresh manure. Very bad uideed. 3rd Row. With old manme. One-half diseased. 4th Row. Old manme, with soot strewed over, when covered up \vith soil. Only one-fllth bad. Eilott's Flour Ball. — The first row in decayed vege- tables, in which a good portion of salt had been mi.xed when gi'eeu, were not more than one-tenth diseased: whilst the very next row, planted in a similar manner, (only that bones, &c., had been mixed with it instead of salt,) were one-half bad. Engineers, planted in similar soil to the first row of liour Rahs, were entnely free, with tlie exception of tlu'ee tubers in the two rows. Winter Pink Eyes and Radicals, from Lancashii-e, planted in a similar compost to the Engineers and Flour Ball, No. 1, with the addition of a few wood ashes, were perfectly sound. Soden's Early 0.iford and Tinley's Early. — Wood ashes, leaf moidd, peat, and a little lime. A most beautiful clear sample. Fortyfold. — Planted in decayed vegetables, mixed with salt. Nearly free, not more than one in twenty, and these but slightly. Another row, with old manure, about one-twelfth. Farmers Olory. — With manure, very had ; with de- cayed vegetables and bones, one-half bad. This appears to be a variety veiy subject to disease. Hague's Seedling. — With mamne, a very heavy crop, but sadly diseased ; and with equal parts manure and vegetable soil, half were affected. This is a very fine-flavoured sort, but with me the tops were too long, and the tubers lay far from the stem ; qualities which I by no means admii'e. Regents. — One row, planted with vegetable mould and salt, was neaiiy fi'ee ; whilst two rows, planted with night soil (privy manm'e), wood ashes, and leaf mould, were nearly all bad, and exlubited symp- toms of cUsease very early in the season. The same results were produced with two other vaiieties, planted in a similar maimer. Repealers, with manme, very bad. And I may here observe, that a few Early Strawberries, planted where a small heap of manm'e had lain last win- ter, and covered with peat that had been dried in the sun, %oere a very heavy crop, and entirely fi'ee fi'om disease." — Midland Florist. [We extract the preceding because they are facts. Among other intuuatious for our guidance, they con- firm what the experience of others had previously indicated, — viz., that fresh stimidating dimgs pro- mote the potato muii'ain. To shew how soil and locality influence this disease, it deserves to be re- marked, that the editor of the Midland Florist planted atNottuigham three of the foregoing varieties, (Early ytrawberries, Tinley's Earlies, and Engineers,) on soil uumauured with anything but old decayed turf, and had not a sound potato among their iiroduce. — Ed. C. G.l TO CORRESPONDENTS. Oleander Shedding its Flower-buds (H — n, Bristol). — The three shoots of your oleander ought to flower next July. Keep the plant as cool as possible till the middle or end of March, and only water it sufficiently to keep the soil a little damp. Early in May place it so that its leaves nearly touch the glass ; water it freely after that, till you see the blossom-buds appear, and then place the pot in a saucer of water till the flowers are all gone. Do not turn it out of doors till after flowering. Charring Refuse {Rev. J. Pnrton).~\i this, which you truly call " a most valuable manure," is apt to burn to ashes, you do not exclude the air sufficiently. Though covered over closely with turves or earth, sufficient air will get in to keep up the desired slow burning. If you follow the direcAns given by Mr. Barnes, at p. 83, you cannot fail of success. Draining (O. S.). — The only soil that would not be benefitted by draining is a very light one, resting upon a very deep open subsoil. Clay soils are always improved by draining. The cost varies accord- ing to the nature of the soil, the depth of the drains, and accordingly as pipes or other drainage materials are used. On a clay soil, with the drains 18 feet apart and 3 feet deep, if pipes are used, the highest cost should be £S per acre ; and if stones, instead of pipes, about £%. On a light soil, with the drains 24 feet apart, the cost should be ^6, or.* 3. Espalier Rails {Jbid). — The best arc made in the form of iron hurdles. 'Wires may be stretched from post to post, and the branches will not be injured if proper care be taken in fastening them to the wires. We hope to endure as long as does taste for gardening among our countrymen. GoosEDERRY CuTTiNGS {Ihid).—YoM will find full directions for planting these at p. 55. The same directions are applicable to cur- rant cuttings. Peach and Pear-tree Pruning (.4 Subscriber). — The peach described by you is what gardeners term a " strong maiden." It has three shoots, you say, a yard each in length ; shorten, therefore, one shoot on each side at least half its length, and from the other at least three-fourths must be pruned away. Train one right, one left, and the very short one perpendicular. We have no space here to give reasons, hut such will appear in the proper place for every process connected with fruit-tree culture, as opjiortunity occurs. Similar principles apply to the Jargonelle. The wall must be covered, and an active root-pruning will effect it. Apple-Grafting on Siberian Ceabs {Ibid). — You may graft shy bearing apples, or kinds too gross, on your Siberian crabs, by all means. This was a crotchet oJ the late celebrated Rlr. Knight. We do not think it the best plan, but no doubt may answer. Miscelleneous, — S. K., Ipswich, will be inserted. — W. Fook must remember we have more tastes than that for flowers to cater for, but he shall have his share of attention. — M. Saui, thanks, but the drawing is scarcely intelligible.— Jn Oiwje?" of Cottage Allotments shall have full explanations relative to tank-making. — Rev, L, D. will be answered in our next. — R. Ferriss will find full particulars relative to gooseberr)' cuttings at p. 55, and the same are applicable to currant cuttings in every respect. CoAL-AsHE8 C^' it/aJ'«/and).— These are very good, mixed with night-soil, if the staple of your soil is too heavy ; but they are injuri- ous if your soil is light. Rendle's Treatise is priced five shillings : you can get it through any bookseller. Your two other queries shall be answered in our next. Age op the Bee {Querist). — Dr. Bevan is somewhat surprised that Mr. Lloyd should state that the age of the bee is unknown, as the experiments detailed in chap. 29 of the " Honey-Bee" are gene- rally admitted to be conclusive on that subject, and they have never been controverted. Industrial Self-supporting Schools (Clericus, J. H.). — We cannot hear of any reason why those at Eastbourne were abandoned, except that, on the death of Mrs. Gilbert, no patron succeeded to take the lead, so essential for the prosperity of sucn institutions. London: Printed by Harry Wooldridge, 147, Strand, in the Parish of Saint Marj'-le-Strand ; and ^\''i^cheste^ High-street, in the Pariah of St. Mary Kalendar; and Published by William SoMEBViLLE Orr, at the Office, 147, Strand, in the Parish of Saint Mary-le- Strand, London.— January Uth, 1849. THE COTTAGE GARDENER, lOJ WEEKLY CALENDAR. M I) 1« w JANUARY 18— 2i, 1840. Plants dedicated to | each day. Sun Kises. Sun Sets. Jloon E. and Sets. Moon's Age. Clock 1 Day of bef. Sun.i Year. Prisca. Tufted Poclier goes. SilveiT Moss (Bryum) VII 23 a 4 2 25 24 10 48 18 U) V. Cole Titmouse lieanl. inffs. White Dead Nettle 08 34 3 2G 20 11 6 19 ■>i) s. Fabiau. Starlings resort to buOd- Large Dead Nettle 07 2G 4 23 20 11 24 20 ■.u StTV. 2 Son. a. Epip. Agnes. Grosbeak goes. Cliristmas Rose , au 28 5 18 27 11 41 21 ■n M. Vincent. Menereou flowers. Early Witlow Grass i 00 30 9 28 11 58 00 ■>i^ Tn. Sun's dec. 19° 24' s. Skvlark sings. 'Sauoer-like Peziza 53 31 53 29 12 13 23 ■H W. Great Titmouse beai'd. .Pointless Moss (Phasurn) 5> 33 sets ® 12 28 24 Prisca was a Roman virD;m, martyred by command of the Em- peror Claudius, about the year 4", for refusing to desert Christianity. Fabian, nineteenth Bishop of Rome, was martyred on this day in the year 214. during the Decian persecution. Agnes, another Roman and Christian virgin, was martjTed on account of her religion, by order of the Emperor Diocletian, about the year 304. She was only thirteen at the time she was beheaded. Formerly om* country maidens were accustomed to go to bed supper- less on the night of the 20th, which they called '■ fasting St. Agnes* fast," with the belief that their future husbands woidd appear to them in their dreams. Vincent was a Spanish Christian, burnt during the same persecu- tion, by the Emperor Diocletian, in the year 304. Phenomena of the Season. — Whilst we are writing this (Jan- uary 6th), the face of the earth is covered with snow which fell the preceding night ; but a thaw has commenced, and as one of our ob- jects in publishing these notes is to awaken a spirit of inquiry among our readers, let us examine a little into " the why and because " of what this thaw is doing. We see that a spade was carelessly left upon one of the borders yesterday, and the snow has melted from off the iron part, whilst it remains unaltered upon the handle. Why is this? Because metal becomes warmed much faster than wood. Thawing is the return of ice or snow to the state of water, and this thawing is oorasioned by their being exposed to a temperature higher than 32°, at which water freezes. That higher temperature is occasioned eitter by the direct rays of the sun, or by a warm current of air, and from these the iron of the spade receives, or absorbs, beat faster than does the wood of tlie handle. As the iron receives heat faster, so does it part with it faster than wood does ; or, as the chemists say, it is a better conductor of heat. Therefore, the iron of the spade gives out the heat to the snow more quickly, and melts it more rapidly than is done by the wooden handle. The thermometer shews that, now it is thawing, the air is warmer than yesterday when it was freezing, yet we feel the cold more, — to use a common phrase, " it is a raw penetrating cold." Why is this? Because the air is damper during a thaw than during a frost, and damp air absorbs, or conducts heat from our bodies, and from all other bodies, faster than dry air does. Plants in a greenhouse, or elsewhere, will endure without hurt a degree of cold, if the air within it is dry, that would kill them if that air was damp. Insects. — In the present month, a few years since, when grubbing up the roots of some old lime, or linden trees, we found many of the pupie or chrysales of the Lime Hawk Bloth [Smeririt/ms tilim).* We believe that during the present month, and until the end of March, is the best time for taking them from their resting places about the roots of the lime and elm. They are dark brown, and found about two or three inches below the surface of the earth. In I\lay the perfect insect, or moth, comes forth from the pupa. Its thorax, or Jan. 1841. 1842. 1843. 1644. 1845. 1846. 1847. 1848. 18 Rain. Frost. Cloudy. Cloudy. Kain. Showery. Frost. Fine. Higbcst & lowest 47°— 33° 33°— 31° 49°— 33° 44°— 38° 46°— 33° 53»— 35° 32°— 28° 38°— 27° tcln]). 19 Sbowery. Cloudy. Cloudy. Fine. Sho\yerv. Rain. Cloudy. Cloudy. 36°— 28° 33°— 27° 44°— 34° 4S°— 37° 45°— 32° 54°— J 1° 33°— 26° 35°— 29° 20 Fine, Cloudy. Cloudy. Cloudy. Rain. Fine. Snow. Cloudy. 34°— 22° 33°— 32° 39°— 29° 48°— 28° 45°— 24° 51°— 40° 36°— 25° 35°— 3'o° 21 Frosty. Cloudy. Cloudy. Cloudy. Frost. Showery. Snow. Cloudy. 38°— 25° 35°— 30° 41°— 34° 47°— 34° 45°— 21° 55°— 50° 36°— 30° 32°— 30° 22 Frosty. Cloudy. Fine. Itain. Fine. Uain. Cloudy. Cloudy. 44°— 32° 38°— 29° 44°— 34° 49°— 26° 4S°— 38° 56^—11° 36°— 30° 33°— 26° 23 Fine. Sleet. Sliowerv. Fine. Cloudy. Showery. Cloudy. Cloudy. 43°— 32° 38°— 18° 48° — 13° 45°— 35° 48°— 39° 51°— 42° 44°— 34° 35°— 29° 24 Snow. Frosty. Showery. Fine. Showery. Fine. Showery. Cloudy. 38°— 26° 36°— 23° 48°— 39° 43°— 23° 46°— 25° 53°— 11° 48°— 38° 37°— 29° bicast, is ash-coloured, with three oliye green bands; body ash-eoloured ; upper wings pale brick-red, blotched with olive green near the middle and upper edge ; the outer edge has a broad border of olive green ; lower wings rather darker, but muted with the same colour ; feelers, or horns {antennm) and feet, ash-coloured. Each female lays about fifty eggs, from which the caterpdiars are hatched in July and August, and are then found feeding upon the leaves of the lime and elm. They are rough ; green, with reddish yellow stripes along their whole length ; thinner before than beliind ; and have tails. They are usually found alone, being very liable to attack and wound each other. They change to the pupa state in October, first burnng themselves in the ground, and becoming of a bright purple colour just before that change. It is curious that the moth invariably comes forth from the pupa precisely at noon. ♦ Pupa or Chrysalis is the form assumed by the grub or caterpillar, and in which it remains at rest, until the time arrives for its final change into a perfect insect. Another of the most excellent of our Britisli gar- deners bas been gathered by death ; but, to mitigate OUT regret, we have the knowledge tliat he was ready for the harvest, and has left behind him a remem- brance, a character, which all may benefit by imitating. .Mr. William M'Nab, Cm-ator of the Eoyal Botanic Gai'den at Edinbtu'gh, died a few weeks since, at near the allotted age of three-score yeai-s and ten. " He first saw the light," says Dr. Neill, in a com- munication with wliich he has favoured us, " in 1780, in the parish of Dailly, in Ayi'shire, where liis fatlier was a farmer. His early years were devoted to the duties of a shepherd on the hills of bis native countiy. Amid those scenes his genius was early directed to the beautiful forms and vai-iety exhibited by vegetable hfe; and om stripling shepherd was inspired with a strong predilection for the occupation of a gai-dener. His father, yielding to liis wishes, had him apprenticed to the gardener of Mr. Ken- nedy, of Dalquharran, at the age of 16. After serv- ing three years in that place, he was recommended by Mr. Kennedy to the late Mr. Walter Dickson, of Edinburgh, who procm'ed him a situation in the gai-dens of Lord Haddington, at Tyniugham. There he remained about a year, when, being anxious to improve still farther in his profession, he went to No. XVr., VoT.. I. 16G THE COTTAGE GARDENER. London, where lie had the good foitune to he recom- mended to Mr. Alton. Su]ieriutendent of the Boyal Garden at Kew. and to obtain eraploynient in that magnificent establishment ; after three yeai-s' service in the difiei-ent departments, he was appointed to the responsible situation of foreman. There he remained for several yeai'S, acquii'ing knowledge and exjierience ; and his conduct and intelligence recommended him to the favom'ahle notice of his Majesty George III., then a fi'equent visitor at Kew, and brought him in contact with Su- Joseph Banks, the ready patron and judicious fi-iend of modest merit. On the death of the Ciu-ator of the Royal Botanical Garden at Edin- burgh, the late Professor Rutherford considted his friend Sir Joseph on the choice of a successor, and Sir Joseph strongly recommended Mr. M'Nab, who immediately received the ajipointmeut, and entered on the duties of his new office in May, 181 0. It is therefore nearly forty years since Mr. M'Nab was called to Edinburgh. " After his appointment, he exerted himself with indomitable industry in the old Botanic Garden of Edinbm-gh, and when it became necessary to ti-aus- fer the Garden to its present locahty, Mr. M'Nab displayed remai-kable skill in his an-aiigements for that purjiose : partieulai-ly in the successfid removal of trees, shrabs, and plants, to their new situation; some of them of large .size, and probably 100 years old. Dm-ing his whole career, Mr. M'Nab pursued a steady and imobtrtisive course of observa- tion and experiment with regard to the rearing of exotics fi-om all quarters of the globe ; and that he has been pre-eminently successfiil in this depart- ment, the Botanic Garden in its present state fur- nishes ample proof. He has also, by useful publi- cations, made known to others both the natme and results of his practice : and his numerous pupils have not failed to disseminate widely the lessons they were taught. Indeed, by the strict order and un- deviating regularity which he has ever both dis- played and enforced, Jlr. M'Nab may be said to have organised a new school of practical gardeners ; while liis kindly encom-agement of merit, wherever it ap- peared among his assistants, and his unwearied attention to eveiy request for advice or aid, whether from operative or amatevu' horticulturists, has made him as universally esteemed as he was extensively known. " Mr. M'Nab's happy combination of sornid theo- retical views with roles of practice, has never been exceeded by any horticultural writer. His papers on the management of Heaths and the transplantation of Evergi-eens are guides which wOl never mislead the inquirer. But he taught by personal example more than by written preoe))t ; and those only, who have now lost the former, can judge correctly of the value wMch woidd have been contained in the latter." Thus, by Iris own persevering and luiwearied efforts, and by his obUgiug manners, did the shepherd's boy win his way tlu^ough the paths of science and of life, until he deserved and obtained one of the best ap- pointments attainable in that particular department of the arts and sciences to wliich he devoted his mind. The knowledge to which he attained was deep and accurate, and the courtesy which adorned him was the joint offspring of a sound sense and a kind lieart. " No man," says Dr. Balfour, the Edinburgh Pro- fessor of Botany, " possessed a more thorough know- ledge of Ids profession in all its departments ; and yet, combined with his extensive information, there was an innate retiring modesty and unobti-usiveness of deportment, which endeai'ed huu to every one. His advice and counsel were readily given when asked, and they were always tendered in such a wav as to secm-e imiversal respect. Few men ever had a greater number of fi'iends, in all ranks of society, during his lil'etime ; and none evei' died more gene- rally legi'etted. His death was a loss to the city, and will be deeply felt by aU the inaclieal gardeners of the coimtiy." Yet, with all these high and acknowledged attain- ments, Mr. M'Nab was never presuming ; but, on the conti'aiy, like a ti-ue son of genius, always modest and unpretenduig. " He was respectfid to his superiors in rank," says Dr. NeiU, " yet without being in the slightest degree obsequious. No man knew better liis position in society, and he conducted liimself accordingly." Thus loved and honoured, Mr. M'Nab lived and died ; and it must have been a comfort in his dying hour to know that he had trained up a son so well, that he is not only worthy to be, but who probably will be, liis successor in the C'uratorship.* THE FEUIT-GARDEN. Ndts. — As some of the con-espondents of The CoTT.\GE G.\EDKNKK have inquired about nut culture, we win endeavoiu' to supply them with the inlbrnia- tion for which they are seeking. The cultiue of nuts is seldom pursued by the cottager as a profitable article, unless it be in the county of Kent, so long famed for its filberts. We do not see, however, why its cultiu-e may not be attempted by the cottier — especially in the vicinity of large towns, and where the soil is of a fr-ee loamy texture. VABtETiEs. — There are several varieties of this interesting shiidj ; but. amongst them all, the filbert has for many years claimed the pre-eminence in the dessert. Nevertheless, some of the other kinds are well worthy of cidtivation — some for their size, and some for the individual cliaracter stamped on them, although maiidy affecting the beai'd or luisk, from whence it woidd appear- the name of " full beai'd" or filbert is derived. These, like all om- other ft-uils, liave had their varieties multiplied by seedhngs, some jiartaldng more of the chai'acter of then- male pai-ent, otliers of the female. The kinds worthy of cidtivation may he classed under two heads — 1, filberts ; ;i, nuts ; the remaining portion being for the most part seed- lings, not far removed from the wild nut. Some of these kinds are pi-opagated by gj-alting on the com- mon hazel, others are reared by suckers. The Spanish Cob is prefen'ed by some, as a stock, on account of its strength, &c. ; but we feel pretty well assured that the wliole would answer better (as part of a dwarfing system) for small gardens, 2)ropagated by cuttings, and trained accordingly. As special kinds, we would cultivate the foUow- mg:— Tlie White filbert ; first rate. * This son, Blr. James M'Nab, is at present, we believe, Superin- tendent of the Caledonian Horticultural Society's Garden, at Edin- burgh. THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 167 The Red filbert ; interesting on acconut of the pink coating inside, and scai'cely inferior to the former. The Erizzled filbert ; rery ornamental. The Cpsford ; large, a good bearer, and thin shelled. The Cobs ; rei-y large, upright in growth. The Downton ; proljably a variety of the former. The above are all that will be needed by the readers of The Cottage Gabden'er. The next matter is how to cultivate tliem properly. Culture. — Nuts, like most other fruits, may lie over excited ; or, as tlie gardeners term it, " run too much to wood." This is to be seen in the ordinai-y liedge, where hazels may be found wliich seldom bear ; whilst the uncultivated, uupruned hazel of the wood is notorious, when in a situation exposed to the Uglit, and possessing some age, for abundant crops. The cultivation, therefore, of nuts is by no means difficidt ; indeed, they are more likely to be injui-ed by over-cultivation than otherwise. They should, in all cases, be ti-ained to a single stem ; for the pro- duction of suckers,* or rather the pei-mittiug them to remain, is most injurious to theu' future success. Suckers \vill spring up, and they must everj' year be removed. The stems shoiild be from half a yard to two feet in height, and the head should be formed after the manner of dwarf apple ti-ees. As we cannot describe all the minutiae in this paper, we will recur to the subject in due time. .It must be remembered that tlic fruit is mostly produced from the extremities of the shoots ; for the nut loves light as well as most other friuts. After carrying up a clear stem, therefore, the next point is to form a proper head, and this must be accomplished in the same way as the ordinary red currant bush — by selecting four or five shoots which are well placed. Such shoots must, of course, he obtained by heading back — that is, cutting them off near to the stem ; and in order to obtain a sufficient number, the operation may requned to be repeated. The middle of the bush must be kept rather open, for the sake of ad- mitting light to all parts of the ti-ee, or rather bush, for it should not be permitted to gi-ow above tlie height of five or six feet in small gardens. The keep- ing them thus dwarf involves some consideration connected with soU, root-pi-uning, &g., about which we will presently offer advice. The trees having fonned suflicient heads, annual pruning, more or less, must be resorted to : for no fmit-tree answers better to judicious pruning than the nut. This operation must not be pei-formed uutU February. The nut is what Botanists teitn an amentaceous slu-ub,f of the Linnaean class Monsecia ; all of which class produce blossoms of both male and female separately, but on the same bush. The male blossoms are well known by then- gay danghng appearance, and by the yellow dust they shed on being handled ; this dust is the fertilizing pollen. The female blos- soms, on the conti'arj% are so obsom-e as to require a close examination in order to find them. When in full blossom, they are of a lively pink colour, and appear like little brushes at the tips of the side shoots produced by mature wood. The female blos- soms do not appear until a few days after the males have ojjened. Now it so happens, that trees at a certaui age, or imder certain conditions of culture, will sometimes produce either almost entii'ely male blossoms, or • Suckers — Shoots from the roots, t Producing catkins as male blossoms. otheiTvise female. Those with the males alone must, of necessity, be barren for that year : but if only female blossoms appear, branches should be cut, bearing catkins of male blossoms, and suspended or tied amongst those possessing female blossoms. Occasionally, too, on a sunny day, a branch of the dusty catkins may be carried in the hand like a rod, and brushed lightly over the tips of the female-bear- ing bushes. . -Many good crops of nuts have been lost for want of tills precaution : it is vain to think of the female blossom yielding fiiiit, without the catkins have been near- them in Februaiy ; then the blossoms may be readily distinguished, and then it is that pruning may be successfully earned out. The fruit is produced, principally, on the former yeai-'s wood, and generally form compact side shoots, the produce of leaders of a short-jointed and mature appearance. Such lateral fruit-bearing branches may be induced in greater abundance by shorten- ing back strong shoots of this character. Thinning out, however, is one of the principal matters ; for. unless this be duly attended to, the bush will become crowded vdtk spray worse than useless. — it will also obstruct the light fi-om the bearing portions, as well as hinder the circulation of air. A gi'eal deal of small spray will be produced on the inner portions of the branches; and these, although of the character of bearing-wood, are generally un- fruitful ; most of these must be pi'uned away. Anj' one who observes the habit of the nut closely, will soon perceive that the shrubs are most disposed to bear at the exli-emities of the branches ; thus evinc- iug their partiality to plenty of light and air. These, then, are the portions of the tree where the eye must be directed, as to fruit-bearing properties. Such leaders, however, must not be encouraged so thickly as to cross each other ; and. in order to pre- vent the lower portion of the head from becoming naked, a good strong well-placed shoot may be occa- sionally encoin-aged, heading it back in due time, in order to keep it producing side branches, &c. .After duly thinning away superfluous shoots, tlie principal leaders shoidd be all shortened. Asa general rule, we would say, remove about a quarter of the length ; this, as before observed, will cause the tree to pro- duce abundance of side spray, from which, in the i'utm'e spring, the fruiting shoots may be selected. Soil. — Almost any light loamy soil will answer ; it should, however, more incline to sand than clay. There is no occasion to use any mamn-e for nuts when first planted, but merely to dig or trench deep for them ; and if the soil is turfy, so much the better : the turf may be trenched down nearly half a yard. The main thing in the majority of soils, is to guard against over luxuriance ; for such will, in some kinds, produce only catkins or male blossoms. Theu it will be found that nuts bear most surely when tamed by a little age. When, however, the trees get old, or become very weak, wliich is sometimes the case, top ch-essings should be applied occasionally, the same as to other fruit-trees. Planting. — -Nuts are not always planted in a con- tinuous way in small gai'dens. When such is the case, if in a single row, about eight feet apart wiU suffice ; if, however, there are more rows than one, and they are side by side, we shoidd place the rows ten feet apai't, and the plants eight feet apart in the row. We have known them succeed to admu-ation on the marginal borders, alternating with apples and other fruits. A row of nut and goosoberiy ICS THE COTTAGE GAEDENEK. buslies would anwer well, if the nuts were ti'ained with a stem a yard high. They would then assist iu protecting the gooseben-ies from late sjn'ing frosts. Root-pruning. — We may here observe, that root- jiruning may be practised when the ti'ees are too gross. We have performed the operation ourselves, more than twenty years ago, on a whole line of bushes, .wliich gi'ew in a clayey soil, and produced veiy powerful rods. This operation was severe, and it brought them into capital beai'ing in the covrrse of a year : it was accompanied by a severe pruning and shortening. Composts. — We hope all parties will have seized an occasion, during the past frost, of turning their compost heaps, whether for the fruit or the vegetable garden. No pains should be spared, at any period, by the cottager, to preserve and store away turf par- ings of any kind; such may always be obtained from the vicinity of unenclosed lands, lane-sides, &c. Ditch-scouiings too : what an excellent material to dress onions or caiTOt beds with, when mellowed down ! They are, also, capital material for fruit-ti'ee holes. General Planting. — In another week or two, planting may be resumed, and tlie making of tlie uecessaiy stations may be accomphshed m frosty weather, if necessary. Everj'thing should he in readiness, for such extra operations ar'e sure to im- pede the ordinary spring business. Hedges. — We need scarcely remind om readers, that this is a very good time in which to perform all hedge operations; whetlier plashing, cutting iu, cutting down, or the making new hedge lines. In the latter case, means should at all times be taken to break up the ground thoroughly; and in the case of intervening portions of a very ban'en character, some better material should occasionally be intro- duced ; for of what use is the mere formality of hedge planting, iniless means are taken to ensme a good fence in all its parts ? When we have brought up some arrears of matter, incidental to the season, we win say a good deal more about hedges. E. Ebbington. THE FLOWEE-GARDEN. Water. — Of all the ornaments used to embellish a garden, there is none that has so pleasmg an efl'ect, especially in the warm days of simuner, as water. On a large scale — when we can have so much of it as to afford space for islands, planted with weeping willows and other suitable trees, together with water- falls, rooks, and secluded and open walks, laistio bridges, boat-houses, and rustic seats — we have then a power to please the eye and delight the senses to the Irighest degi'ee. In happy England there are many such scenes, hut with such gi-and specimens of the power of water to embelhsh scenery, these pages have notliing to do. Yet in the gardens of our amatem, if not of our cottage gai-dcns, small pieces of water may be iised with very good cfiect ; tliat is, whenever there is a supply of that beautifid and usefid element. The size of the collected water ought to be propor- tioned to the garden; tliat is, of that portion of the garden devoted to the lawn, flower-garden, and slu-uhbeiy. Its form may cither be ornamental or naturid. By ornamental, we mean formed with ma- sonry, either round or oval, surrounded by a gravel walk or the lawn. A natm-al piece of water is of an irregidar form, the points of winch may have a few rough stones so placed as partly to hide the hollows, with a weeping willow or two planted amongst them. If a walk is carried en one side of it, a shrub or two should be planted to hide the extent of tlie water ; and on the opposite side a slielving pebbly walk, will) a small bed of shnibs here and tlierc, woulil make pretty small views and shadows ui the water. To preserve the water fi-om wasting away, or making the gi-oimd wet about it, the bottom and sides ought to be well puddled either with well \vTought cliiy or fine sifted earth ; we have used both for large reser- vofrs with equal success. If the ornamental form is adopted, the stones sliould be well built with Roman cement, and the bottom flagged and covered with the same. This water being exposed to the air will im- bibe portions of it, and will, iu consequence, be greatly improved for the jnu'pose of watering the gai'den, plants in pots, syringing, &c. This water will also afford an opportmiity and a good situation for gi'owing aquatic plants, a considerable number of which are exceedingly handsome. We possess iu tliis coimtry one plant, au aquatic, of wbicli the foliage and flowers ai'e surpassed by scarcely any exotic water plant.-: "^'e allude to om' own lovely water-lily, a plant whose beauty atti-acts the admfra- tion of every one. Gold and silver fish may also be kept in tlie water. the only thing to attend to iu keeping them being to have a corner of the water protected from ii-ost, to allow tlie fish a breatluug place. Tliis may easily be accomplished by having a few pieces of wood laid across one end of the pond, and place upon them some twigs of fir-trees, or a thick straw or nish mat. SELECT AQUATIC PLANTS. AlismaPlantago — WaterPlantain, pink and white. — Ranuculioides — Ranuncu- lus-like do. purple. ♦Butomus Umbeilatus — Umbel- flowered Flowering Ruah, pink. *Calla Palustris — Marsh Calla, white. Caltha Palustris fiore pleno — Double-flowering Mareh Mary- gold, yellow. Asarifolia — Aaarum-leaved ditto, yellow. * Hottonia palustris — Marsh Water-iiolet, flesh coloured. Lobelia Uortmanna — Dortman's Lobelia, blue. Menyanthes Trifoliata — Three- leaved Buck-bean, white. Myriophylluni Spicatum — Spiked \\'ater-milfoil, red. Verticillatum — MTiorlcd ditto, green. Nuphar Lutea — Yellow Water- lily, yellow. Nuphar advena — Strange ditto, yellow and red. •Nvmphcea Alba — \\Tiite Water- lily. Polygonum aniphibium — Amphi- bious Polygonum, pink. Potamogeton fluitans^Floating pond-weed, red. Sagittaria sagittifolia — Arrow- leaved Arrow-head, white. latlfolia — liroad-lcaved ditto, white. Teucrium scordium — Water Ger- mander, purple. Trapa natans — Floating Water- caltrop, white. quadrispinosa — Four-spined ditto, white. Villarsia nymphoidea — nymphcea- like Villarsia, yellow. cordata — Heart-shaped leafed ditto, white. Where the extent of the water is small, tliose marked with an asterisk (*) are the best. Most of them are natives of this country. The double marsh marygold is a fine species, and should be planted close to the bank. ELOEISTS' FLOWERS. Verbenas (continued).— At this season the ver- benas will be imder glass, either in frames or iu a pit, or on a shelf in a gi-eenhouse, as it may sidt tlie convenience or means of tlie cidtivator. The gi'aud enemy to contend with now is damp, and the pre- ventives are, keeping a dry atmosphere, picking off all decaying or mouldy leaves as they occm, givmg no more water than is just necessary to keep tliem from * E.votic, a plant from a foreign country. THE COTTAGE GAEDENER. 160 flagging, and giving abmidance of air on all favour- able days. The lights may be drawn oiF in sunny mild weather, which will invigorate and strengthen them much. A dry atmosphere may be promoted by sprinkling between the pots some very iine dry coal- ashes. When they become wet, remove a thin coat- ing of them, and replace it with some that is dry. This will require doing about once every three weeks or a month. Should the weather prove warm, the verbenas will be pushing young slioots, and when- ever this is the case, nip off the tops, which will cause the plants to grow stocky and bushy. Propagation. — Bij Cuttings in Spring. — To strike cuttings of verbenas in the quickest and best manner, the following things are necessary :— A gentle hotbed covered with a frame of one or two lights, according to the number wanted. Upon tliis bed lay a coating of coarse river sand, about one or two inches thick. Then take some pots, five inches across, fill them to within one inch of the top with light compost, made of one-half loam, one-quarter leaf-mould, and one- quarter sandy lieath-mould (peat). JMix tlie whole thoroughly, and if not sandy enough, add as much sand as will make it so. When a sufficient number of pots are filled to the above depth, then have the other inch filled with as pure sand as you can pro- cure. Then give a gentle watering, and the plants are ready for the cuttings Take these from off the tops of the plants, about IJ- inch long, and with a shai-p knife cut off the bottom leaves close to the stem, and finish with a clean cut across the bottom of the cutting. Make as many at once as will fiU one pot. Place the cuttings round the edge of the jjot, about an inch apart. As each pot is filled, re- peat the watering, and iDlace them in the frame, shading them for a few days fi'om the light, and afterwards only when the sun shines. la a month they will be rooted, and should then be potted ofl' into pots, 2-^ inches across, one plant in each. Again give a gentle watering, and replace them in the fi'ame for a week or ten days to estabhsh them, when they may be gradually hardened by giving air freely, and exposing them to the full light and open air on cloudy days, or dui-ing showery weather. All this ought to be done in early sjiring, about the end of March, or early in April, so as to have the stock ready for planting out in the beds at the latter end of May or beginning of June. Planting Cuttings in Antumn. — Then, again, cut- tings shoiild be struck towards the end of Sepitember, to be stored away in frames or pits through the winter. They will afford cuttings from their tops, and make strong early plants, either to cultivate in pots for the greenhouse, or to plant out in the beds or borders. Bg Layers. — Good plants of vei'benas may be jn'o- cured by simply pegging down some shoots, and laying a small stone upon a joint, and as soon as they are rooted, cutting them off and potting them in smaU pots, placing them in a frame or under hand-glasses. These make nice plants, but are more trouble and not such perfect plants as those ii'om the cuttings. Yet, where there is not convenience for cuttings, the layering is a very usefid and efficient mode of increasing these lovely flowers. Il.\NUNouLDs. — In the last week's number we made a few remarks on this favomite tribe of flowers. We shall, now give a select list of good kinds that are moderately cheap, arranged in classes of colours. This list will be useful to most of om' flower-loving friends. We woidd caution them, however, against attempting to grow choice-named kinds in conunon borders, or in a bed not properly prepared, in the manner before described. The best kinds for borders are the Turban Ranunculus. SELECT LIST OF EANUNCULUSES. White-edged — Abella, Bellerius. White — Parisian, Pausaniaa. AVhite-spotted — Agrippina, Fa- ther niathew, Jewess, Juliet. White, rose-striped — Beaute des Dames, Ord's Fancy,Temeraire. \VTiite mottled — Belle Agreable, Cicero, Endon, Father Mathew, Lucinda. %\'Tiite, purple-edged — Burns, Es- ther, Venus, Reine desflcurs. White, rose-edged — Nonpareil. Rose — Alexander, Apollo, Atlas, Bertie, Jupiter, Pindar, Tar- quin. Mottled rose — Clarissa, Erskine. Rose, spotted — Evelina. Rose, yellow-striped — Assemblage des Beautes, Favourite, Mig- ' nonne. General Hoche. Rose, yellow-spotted — Soleil. Dark rose — Surpasse tout. Buff-edged — Basilicus, Triton. Buff-shaded — Blanche superb, Maurice. Buif rose-mottled — Candacc. Buff-spotted — Harriet. Orange rose — Arlequin, Gomar. Orange — Cedo nuUi. Orange-mottled — Earl of Coven- try, Lord Eldon. Yellow-Bpotted — Adrianus, Gor- don. Yellow — Earl of Chester, Helen, La Purite, Roi des Ranoneulcs. Yellow-mottled — Competitor, Duke of Clarence, Demetrius. Yellow-edged — Dazzle, Fulvius. Light yellow — Eliza, Voltaire. Striped — Cameus, Flora. Dark — Condorcet, Dolphin, Her- cules, Lamin, Naxarie, Negre, Oel noir, Mantua noir, Tippoo Saib. Crimson — Duke of Bedford, Hen- rietta, Grand Romana. Crimson-striped — Earl of Hard- wick. Cream, crimson-striped — Duchess of Leeds. Scarlet — Rubens, Sylvia. Purple — Terpsichore. Dark olive — Bouquet sanspareil, Lesbos, Olive superb. The prices of the above list are not the most ex- pensive, being from Is, Is 6d, to 2s (id each, accord- ing to Messrs. Tyso and Sons' Catalogue. T. Appleby. GREENHOUSE AND WINDOW GARDENING. How TO Send Bulbs, &e., from Hot Climates to England. — In all likelihood some of our readers may have a relative, friend, or old soliool-feUow, at one or other of the Missionaiy Stations in South Africa, far away in those parched and inhospitable regions where the Ixia, the Amarylhs, and a thousand other fine plants dehght to flower. After writing so strongly against the usual way of receiving bulbs from the stores m Cape Town, it occurred to me that I was in duty bound to offer some observations on a better mode of proceeding; and that by giving some practical liints about gatheiing, packing, and trans- mitting seeds and bulbs, in and fi-om the Cape, it would pave the way for a better system of receiving and exchanging bulbs and seeds with friends, resi- dents in our Cape Colony, than tliat about wliich we hear so many complaints at present. There is no- tliing new or requu-ing any very extraordinaiy exer- tions about this system. I have acted on the same plan for many years, to get hold of novelties from different parts of the world, as well as fi'om the Cape ; and it was only the other day that I received notice from tins very colony that a large assortment of seeds, which I sent ofl' last February, aU aiTived safe, and vegetated freely. Not one failure was repoited out of one hundred kinds of flower-seeds, and about forty sorts of om' best vegetable seeds. I had them all thoroughly well dried, and they were packed in coarse brown jiaper, which was also di-ied, and then jiut into a strong deal box. The address was wi-itten on a piece of zinc with indelible ink, so that rats or accidents could not deface it on the journey. I also pounded some camphor, and strewed it among the }iackages, in packing the box, to prevent weevils or other insects from destroying the seeds, as they often do, especially those coming home from foreign parts. no THE COTTAGE GAEDENER. The bos was addressed to a London ship agent, who ]Hit it safe on boai-d, at Falmouth, for a triSing com- mission. This is always the best and safest way to send off or receive jiarcels from any port on the coast, unless you are neai' the port, and can do it in person. Captains of oiu' navy ai'e proverbial for then' libe- rality, in allowing room for small boxes of seeds. Sec., and taking them home fi'ee of charge ; but they are the worst hotanists in the world, and it is not of the least use to ask them to procure good seeds for you. Hundreds of these joUy good fellows lay out tlieir money in foreign ports every year, to procure a collection of seeds for some friend at home, not one out of a thousand of which is wortli two-pence. There ai'e harpies, or rather dewnright rascals, in all foreign ports, who will sell you anything, from a scarlet crocus to a blue dahha, or any other unknown monster of a flower ; and such are the parties who often make up parcels of seeds for the masters of vessels, and passing travellers, to make home presents with ; or, I should rather say, for home nuisances ; for I hardly ever receive such presents without gi'um- bliug, if the presenter does not send me at the same time a cheque on his banker to remunerate me for the trouble of proving his seeds to have been worth- less. Even if the seeds are labelled, "From the Botanic Gardens a* Floribunda," it does not often mend the matter ; and from long experience I can safely assert, that there is not a Captain in Her Majesty's Eoyal Navy who can calculate the latitude or hngitude of a seed warehouse beyond the Une. But there is a kind of tT'eemasoni-j' amongst these naval officers, by which, if you get a promise from any one of them, he can enlist the good service of a brother officer to bring you home a box of seeds or roots from any part of the world, and often without any chai-ge whatever. Therefore, the best advice that I can offer, with respect to Afi-ican seeds and bvdbs, is to repeat instructions which I sent out in 1848 to a young inteUigent officer, then stationed at the Cape of Good Hope, who, under these directions, sent home the best collection of bulbs that I ever saw imported at one tinie, although he hardly knew one plant from another. Some of the bulbs were not larger than the common garden pea, yet every one of them aiTived quite safe ; and a beautiful lot they were, numbering in all forty-six different sorts. The in- structions were simple enough, and here they are. Look about you diu-ing the rainy season, for that is the time when all the bulbous plants within your beat are most likely to be in flower. Fix on those which attract your own attention as being the most beautiful, mai-k their locality, and when the rains are over, and the vegetation is parched up, your mai'ked plants will be ready to remove. Take some sharp-pointed instrument to tui'u them up with, and do not pull them up by main force, if you can help it. When you meet with masses of dry brown netted sort of vegetable matter xmderground, be not deceived in supposing them dead things ; they are the enve- lopes of some bulb belonging to the Ixia or Iris tribe, and you will liud a whole family nestled in the middle of them. Separate the bulbs from their envelopes, for they are of no more use, being only a pro-insion of natiu-e to ward off the superabun- dant rams fi-om the little family they inclose. When you meet with large bulbs like the Spanish onion, be sure to get as many of their long roots saved as you can. One of them, called there the Candelabra plant (Brunsvigia grandifloral. I want particularly to gel a dry specimen of, taking the whole stalk and fiowor-head when in full blossom, and dried in the shade. You will, probably, be much struck with the beauty of the sDver trees (Leticoden- droit argenteiim) ; the seed cones will put you in mind of the Scotch fir at home, but we have plenty of them already; however, as the cones will do for chimney ornaments, or to be given away for museums, let us have a few of them also. There ai'e tln-ee or four sorts of tlie honey plant ( Protea) ; one of them, P. Mellifera, will supply you with honey all the time it is in Hower. Send a few seeds of them, as they take up little room for some years, and they may be useful for exchanging with the nurseryman for other things ; but, in a general way, we do not want large trees or bushes, and none of the mimosas, for we have dwaifer sorts of them from Australia. Indeed, I am not aware of any seeds, within your reach, that we want particularly ; unless you could hear of the yellow- flowering gerauiums, of which the seeds would be a golden harvest to us ; but. unfortwiately, I cannot tell you of their locality. You must inquire dihgently about them, however, from the buUock-drivei's who may arrive from the interior; pai-ticularly any one fi-om the north-eastern parts, where the Caffre fi'ontier was considered to be, thirty years' since. Perhaps Baron Ludwic (a merchant at Cape Town) can tell you of their whereabouts. The Baron then possessed the best garden in Capie Town ; he died last year. Let all things be well dried, and packed in coarse brown paper, in separate articles, and jiut into a strong box ; and if you put in some pounded camphor or any strong tm'pentine-smelling powder, it may keep away cockroaches, weevils, or any other insects, which often destroy seeds on long voyages. See, also, to a proper address ; cards and parchment are sure to be gnawed by the rats, and if you can get Captain B. to put the box in the "locker," it will be the safest place about the ship for them ; and when he arrives at Falmouth, let him hand over the box at once to any respectable ship-broker, who will foi-ward it there through his London agent. Now, some such directions as the foregohig, sent out to any of the missionary stations in south Afiica, could hardly fail of procuring fine l)idbs and seeds. There was an apothecary of the name of .T. C. Lacy, in Port EUzabeth, Algoa Bay, who took orders for such things three or four years since, and. if he is there still, he could manage to see things from the eastern parts of the colouj' sliipped from Algoa Bay, or forward them to Cape Town. He would be the most likely person to hunt out the yellow geraniums, if they are to be fouiul in the eastern parts of the co- lony, which I much doubt. The north-western parts are more likely to furnish them ; and those pasture lands along the banks of the OUphant's Eiver, and of the banks of the streams which run into it, seem to be more suited for such vegetation than the desolate plains and vallies to the eastward ; but this is a mere conjecture. Those who have friends at any of the stations between Cape Town and the Orange Eiver. are the most likely to prociu-e them; and many people believe there are some handsome plants never yet introduced from that large portion of the colony washed by the Atlantic ; and this, probably, is true enough, seeing that ahnost aD Eiu'opcan ti'avel- lors visiting the Cape, after a stroll up Table Moun- tain, direct their steps castwai'd to the Caffre frontiers. At any rate, we are qtute certain that there are two or three kinds of geraniums, or, to call them by their more proper names, pelargoniums, gi-owing some- where in the Cape colony, with flowers as yellow as our buttercups — for we once jiosscsscd them, btit they were lost soon after their ai'rival; and now THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 171 that oiu- industrious florists have done suoli wonders in improviag tlie breed of these beautiful plants, we are most anxious to reintroduce those yellow ones, to enable them to vary the colours by crossing them ■ivith then improved breeds, and I have no doubt but many of om' readers will be able and willing to help us to prooui'e such rare treasures ; not to hoard them up, however, for the gi'oss pm-poses of peouui- ary gain, but to give them away ft'eeh' to those who are the most likely to make the best use of them. For my own part, were I to receive a packet of their seeds to-mon-ow, I would only keep two or three. and send the rest to difterent florists eminent in then- calHug ; and if one or two lost them in the rear- ing, some one woidd be siu-e to succeed, and thus save them to the country, and for me to recommend the new breed fi-om them for cottage windows — after a while. C-\NDELABR.\ Plan't. — With respect to the candela- bra plant, the oHioer alluded to managed to dry a very good specimen for me. I have it now ; it looks much like a huge agapauthus, or blue Afi-ioan lily, mth forty-two flowers in one head, and the outside ones bending round on long foot-stalks, just lilce the branches of a chandelier, so that the name is very appropriate, and it would be a good thing if the names of all plants were so. Now this beautifid plant, with a vei^y large bulb, in shape like a Spanish onion, but much larger when full gi-own, will gi-ow in England in a cold pit, even without a flue, — but it must be planted in the soil without a pot, and the bed for it ought to be two feet deep. If the bottom is of clay, a di'ain to the lowest end must be made ; but with any other kind of bottom, no drain will be wanted. The top of the bulb sliould stand just one inch below the surface, and to have six inches of sand all round the bulb, as that will be lighter than mould to press on the bulb. In summer, when the bulb is at rest, the glass light ought to stand on night and day, without giving air — the hotter it is inside, the better : and if the sand round the bulb is hot enough to burn one's fingers, it will come pretty near to the natm'al condition of this amai'yllis — for a real true amai'yllis it is after aU — and therefore it must be handsome. A one-light box would hold nine or ten of them. They gi-ow fi'om September to the middle or end of April, and are very thu'sty, but must not be watered over the leaves, for fear of its getting down between them, and rotting the bulb. They delight in fresh air whenever the weather is mild, just like English ladies. No amaiyllis was ever kiiown to live long in a confined atmosphere, and all the sisterhood should be got up in j^fi-ica with as many of their old roots preserved as possible, and if they are well dried, they wiU keep safe for six months or more. Routine Wokk. — Nothing is to be potted or sown yet for the window or the greenhouse. It is ti-ue, gardeners begin to sow seeds, especially foreign seeds, about this tune, but then they have so many con- veniences to aid them ; they also put in roots of the beautiful Achimenes now, and set them in a cucumber frame, to get them to flower early in May, and so go on in succession to October. Any one who has gi'own tins most useful tribe before, and has a cu- cumber frame at woi'k, or in preparation to begin soon, may tiy this bold experiment with a few roots. They will do anyhow for a wlule, till they sprout, even lying on the top of the soil, or in a saucer of either sand or earth, but they need not be potted till they grow out an inch or two. About the end of January is the half-way house between autumn and spring, and many of the old gardeners used to look over all their- plants at this time, and some of the old rules ai'e just as good as the new ones. A dampish pit, in a low situation, is a bad place for plants; they ought to be taken out on a tine day, and some dry ashes put in the__bottom, and in fi-osty weather have the covering taken off for a few hours every day when the sun shines. A few patches of crocuses and snowdrops might very easily be taken up now, with a lot of soil round the roots, if the ft-ost will allow it. They would flower in a room just as well as if potted last October, and. in many cases, a good deal better, for tliey are ticklish things if not well managed, but now they are so for- wai'd that they cannot help flowering. D.' Beaton. THE KITCHEN-GARDEN. Asparagus Forcing. — In a previous number (p. 92) we gave directions for planting this in a hotbed, with other particular's. In addition, we have to ob- seiwe, that the more rapidly plants are forced, the smaller in size wiU be the produce. A two-hgbt frame will hold enough plants to yield 300 or 400 shoots in the course of about tlnee weeks, duiing which they wUl continue iu production. The best temperature dming tlie day is 03 degs., and at night not lower than 50 degs. Cucumbers. — Keep the temperatm'e of the fruiting beds to 80 degs. during the day, and to 6.5 degs. at night. Seakaxe. — -Tills excellent and usetid winter vege- table is not cultivated to the extent it should be by amatems and cottagers, for it will p)roduce an abmi- dance of blanched shoots throughout the autinnn, whiter, and spring months, when fresh vegetables are scarce. The soil should be good, well manui'ed, ti'enched, and pulverized. If intended to be raised from seed, lay the gi-ound down level iu the month of Apiil, after the winter's ti'enching, choosing suitable weather for the operation; di'aw drills (if the kale is to stand on the same gi'ouud permauently to be forced, or otlienvays blanched) three feet apart, '"and finally thin the plants to two feet apart in the rows. This wOl allow room to get between them, in the gi'owing season, to apply soakings of liquid manure, which seakale delights iu. Liquid manure ft'om the piggeiy, cow-house, stable, sheep-shed, or brewed from the excrements of animals, or fi-om guano, with a good portion of salt at all times dissolved in it, is what the gi-owth of seakale may wonderfully be improved by. The sti-eugth and the frequency of such liquid manure being applied, must be regulated by the strength of the jjlants, and the season of its application. For instance, at the commencement of the gi-owing sea- son, the Uquid mamn-e should be of moderate strength ; as the plants gain strength with the ad- vancement of the season, so shoidd sb-onger soakings of liquid inanm-e be appUed. The same i-ule holds good with all applications of Kquid maniu-e, either in the open field, garden, hot-house, greenhouse, or fi-ame, and it should always be apphed in as clear a state as possible ; for we have oliserved much mis- chief and stagnation caused to vegetation, both in fi-uit and plant eidtm-e, by sudden strong muddy ap- plications of liquid manure ; and so we have by ap- jjlioations of too strong Uqiu'd maniu-e to such vege- 173 THE COTTAGE GARDENEK. tiitioii. Emits and plants wlueli have only had a uiengi-o or jioor preparation made tor them, and to sneli as are diseased or in a weak state, stroncf appli- cations of liquid manm'e is a ready way to still more weaken or to destroy them. Phtntiixj. — If tlie gTouud is to be planted with seakale to stand permanently, choose one-year old ])lants fi-oni a poor piece of gi'omid, no matter how small they are, so that they are clean ft'om canker and the distorted, ci'ooked swellings caused in them liy wounds from a variety of the cauliflower gi'uh. Plant them in rows tliree feet apart, and the plants in tlio row two feet apart. Insert the plants singly, and not as formerly practised — two or three plants in a liunch, for they then exhaust and starve each other. There are so many waj's of producing good sea- kale, and some of them so easy and simple, that we imagine .almost any amateur or cottager who can spare a small corner to grow a few plants may have the pleasure of enjoying good seakale in those winter and spring months wlien good vegetables are scarce. A cellar, or the bottom of a dark cupboard, or any dark curuer, are excellent places for producing early shoots of it ; if planted in sand, old tan, leaf, or other light vegetable soil, or even in common garden earth. 'I'he plants should, of course, he kept as much in darkness as possible, if intended to be well blanched, but for our own eating we do not object to its being a little coloured. Strong plants should be taken up or secured for such places, and no matter how thick they are placed. Water them occasionally with tepid water, and two or three crops of excellent seakale may be obtained in succession, before the plants are exhausted. We are at this time cutting, at Bioton, the third crop from plants put in a cellar-like place in November last, and a very fab- and good production it is. Those who do not choose to )dace the plants on the floor of their cellar, cupboard, or such-like place, could put them in boxes, filled with any of tlie betore-named kinds of materials. Those who liave not a cellar or cupboard, and have a dark cor- ner in a stalile, cow-house, wood-house, or any otlier i'uel-house, could ]n'oduce good seakale from a few strong roots placed in a rough-made box, as above directed, and have the pleasure of enjoying a luxury iu early spring ; but to all those who have cellars imderground, as Lu Loudon and otlier large towns, nothing could be more easy or simple than produc- ing first-rate, well-blanched seakale, and good rhii- liarb too, in abundance, all winter and spring. Of com'se rhubarb has no objection to the light, although it may be produced of excellent quality in darkness. Thus any cook, or other servant, by procuring strong plants, which may be obtained easily enough, and at a reasonable rate too, could produce those articles of as good quality as the best gardener. Indeed, any one who has the convenience, and will carry out our simple dii'ections, may enjoy those vegetables in abun- dance, and at a season of year when, if to be pur- chased, a high price has to be paid for them. I have ofteti wondered why this simple way of producing seakale and rhubarb has not, ere this, come more into general practice, as, to our knowledge, it has been to a limited extent in practice for these last twenty-five years; although, perhaps, it has not been made known enough for the million to be benefitted by its simplicity. Eor our own part, we keep no se- crets which would he likely to benefit others, as we observe abundant space to extend our humble ideas in search of further information in otlier matters, having never yet seen anything of man's production so )ierfect but could be still further improved. Seed List coxttn'ued. Oxioxs. — The Drptford and ti-ue Bmiliug Muds are excellent varieties both for quality and producing a weighty crop. 'They are, also, both good ccdom'ed varieties for kitchen jiur- poses. The M'liite Ohihe axiiX Old Bronn OhihcAxe also excellent, and both good late keepers, particidarly the latter, which is the best of all for late keeping. The JVliitf iSjtiiniaJi. and I'no-hhided are the best varieties for jiickling purposes, and making use of as small- sized, handsome shaped onions, for other table piu-- poses. Indeed, for such uses, there is no variety equal to the Two-bladed. 15esides, the smidl bidb's of this variety, }daced thickly iu drills at this season, will form fine, early, round, well-shaped bidbs, to succeed the last year's bidbs, earlier tlian the Uiidcr- f/round Union can be produced, which is also a good variety to cultivate on a small scale in case of a bad seed-saving season, or in case of a blighted season, as they are ready for early harvesting. G. W. J., & James Baekes. MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION. MY FLOWERS. (No. 12.) Now for the rose. We cannot choose a sweeter subject for the opening year; yet I scai'cely know how or where to begin on such a finiitful theme. I am no scientific gardener, and must leave the names of the hundi'eds of varieties to other wiiters ; but I wish to ilirect the attention of " my sisters," and more particularly of the cottager, to the cultiu'e of this queen of flowers, which might be cultivated more extensively than it is, and add great sweetness and splendour to their gardens, and the general ap- pearance of the country, as we pass along. The cot- tager is of more importance iu this respect than lie is aware of Nothing adds so much to the landscape as picturesque, well-ordered cnttaye.f — nothing de- li.ghts the feelings more than a neat hamlet of snug, cheerful, bowery-looking cottages, with their little gardens brimful of cabbages, potatoes, and omons ; and their wickets and porches shaded over with waving flowers. The residences of gentlemen do not please and interest us half so much, unless it is the pai'souage, which, to an English heart, is, and must ever be, second only to the venerable pile near wliicli it stands. But the beauty and interest of every parish and every village rests chiefly with the labour- ers. Let them remember this, and though they ai'e poor, and may think themselves of no account, j'et they are of much importance, as well to the beauty of their- native land as to its welfare and support. There is moral beauty, too, in the cirltivated cottage garden. Neatness and attendance bespeak activity, diligence, and care; neglect and untidiness tell of the heer-hoKse. So that, as a tree is known by its fruit, a man may, iu a gi'eat measure, be known by Ins garden.* There are roses of all kinds and colours, of eveiy taste and temper. There are climbers, creepers, bushes; hardy, tender, deciduous and evergi'een ; thoruy and thornless, double and single, sweet and scentless ; iu short, there is scarcely a fi'eak or fancy iu the mind of man that tlie rose cannot meet with and * We recommend to our readers, in connexion with this suhject, a very excellent tnict published by Wcrtheini, entitled "The Cleanest Cottage : or. The InHuence of Home." — Kd. C. G, THE COTTAGE GARDENEB. 173 gi-atify. I often lean over cottage wickets, and wisli I could see these brilliant Howers more frequently mingling with the trees and bushes clustering round the windows, and entering the very doors ; and, with little trouble, a constant succession of bloom might be obtained through the summer months, and much of the winter. The China rose is unwearied in its bloom, very fi-agrant, and will climb to a consider- able height. The crimson Cliina rose is a beautiful flower, seldom seen in cottage gardens. Some are delicately sweet, and cover a wall beautifully. There are many cluster roses which climb rapidly, and wave theii' white blossoms in masses of great beauty ; and the Moss and Cabbage roses do extremely well against a wall or as espaliers, and should be sjjeciaUy encom'aged ; for of all varieties they are the sweetest, and the former is the most beautiful rose we possess. I know how difficult it is for the poorer classes to procure any variety of fruit or flowers : their money is required for food aud clothing ; tliey cannot buy a plant ; but they might frequently obtain a rose or other flower from sUps without expense or trouble, and thus indulge an innocent fancy without injuring themselves or others. I have fomid the easiest way of striking slips of roses is by placing three or four in a phial half full of water, so that the slips may be an inch or two below the surface ; aud, as the water lessens, fill up again, for they must never become ch'y. In about six weeks you will see tender threads appearing at the ends of the slips, whicli rapidly in- crease into silvery rootlets. When they are an incli or two in length, break tlie phial, lest the roots thould be injured by drawing them out, and plant each rooted slip carefully in pots. Sometimes only one slip will root ; therefore, if possible, procure two or three of each kind, to prevent disappointment. The bottle should be hung in a hot, sunny window, when the slips ai'e placed in it, whi(!h forces them into action more surely. I have been so constantly disappointed in slips of roses placed in the open gi'Ound, wluoh have invariably died, even after pro- mising for a time to do well, that I now always adopt the " cold water system," and have had much better success. It is an interesting little process, and the spreading roots are veiy beautiful, and give us some insight into the wonders that so silently take place beneath the soil. All roses are most safely propagated by suckers ; and, if they can be procured, this is the proper way. The old plants should be removed as seldom as pos- sible, — roses do not like bemg disturbed, but tlie autumn, or the very early spring, is the time to do so, when unavoidable. It is a good plan to take off some of tlie long fleshy -looking roots, and cut them into pieces three inches long ; plant them, and water well in dry weather. This should be done in March, and succeeds admirably, even with those roses that are the least disposed to succeed by cut- tings or slips. Moss roses do extremelj' well this way, whiob is a very great advantage, as they aflbrd few slips in general, and seldom do well in the hands of inexperienced gardeners. They are suoli exqui- sitely beautiful flowers, that we shoidd, if possible, All our gardens with them ; and it is suiinisiug how seldom we meet with moss roses, considering their loveliness and fragrance, and the favom' with which they are always regarded. Tlie moss roses of our childhood were in greater abundance than they are now — probably from the introduction of so many new varieties ; not one of which is equal to that, our old and special favom'ite. They are all charming certainly, — but let us not reject the old fashioned richly scented flowers for the gayer but less valuable productions of the present day. I am certain that aU the contents that every greenhouse England pos- sesses cannot rival the simple, yet perfect, beauty of a half-blown moss rose, — -and eveiy lady, every cottager, every person who loves aud possesses flow- ers, may thus compete with the rich and scientific gardener, and display as fine a specimen as any that his more skilfifl labours can command. Let us use and enjoy those pleasures we can possess, without sighing for those beyond our reach and means. Let us delight in those beautiful works of God that we can coUeot around us according to our limited pow- ers, for if we view them as springing into life and beauty at His command, and prize it, because He has himself formed and fashioned them, we shall gaze on a single buttercup aud daisy with as much astonishment and gratefid deUght as on the most admired and tender inhabitant of the stove or hot- house, and huger among our cottage borders and shrubs with necer-ceashu/ wonder aud satisfaction. Let us not forget adoration and praise. There is so much to say on the subject of the rose, that I must continue it in futui-e papers. The prun- ing season is at hand, and we shall soon be called to work again. We are once more returning to the golden beams of the summer sun ; aud, in a few short months, aU will be green and bright I The dark stoi-my days of winter usher in the mild ami fruitful spring. PROPAGATION OF HOLLYHOCKS. In your twelfth number (p. 118) is a short account of the best method of cultivating the hollj-hock, par- ticularly recommending the cultiu-e from seed. As I have paid some attention to the cultivation, aud talien nnich interest (as an amateur) in that flower for some years, I beg to otter a few remarks, as I'ar as my experience goes, which may not be uninterest- ing to some of your readers. I have found from seed there is no dependance either in the colours or shape of the flower, although I have carefully marked the seed and put zinc labels with it when sown. More frequently than othei-wise the colours have proved quite opposite to what I ex- pected, and fi-equently the shape of the flower; there- tore the only advantage obtained is the variety, which you must generally wait two seasons for. The easiest method of cultivation wlrich I have discovered, combining certainty of colour aud form, is to select and mark such as you wish to propagate ; then, in June or early in July (as the season best suits), cut a branch of the plant or plants selected into as many pieces as there are eyes or shoots, allowing a space of two inches on each side of the eye. Cut them into such lengths, and slit them down the middle, re- moving all the pith from the inside; put them im- mediately into some soil or earth in a shady place, (say the north side of your garden) about an inch deep, keeping the eye above the earth ; water and cover with a hand-glass, and if hot weather, water well over the glass, but do not disturb it. In six weeks there will be nice young plants, which should be planted out early in November, in such places as reqvdred. They will blossom freely in the June following. This plan is the only one which I have found to my satisfaction : it may induce others to tiy some improvement which may prove even better. J. PiOBEBTS. 174 THE COTTAGE GARDENER. NEW VEGETABLES AND FRUITS.^^ Potato. — Jack.wn's Asli-leavi'd Kidnejf. — Saitl by its proprietor to be the brst and most prolific Early Kithiey. Vy.K. — ('hii'hes Llncoln-grecn-jtodded Marroir. — Said ti> be as early as its parent, the Early Riiij^-- wood, with a gi-eeuer pod. Am.::. — ManniiKjUmsPeannain. — This was raised at L'rldield, in Sussex. Said to be au excellent des- sert apple, and that it will keep to the end of May. Cucu^iBKR. — Lord Kemjons Favourite, or Syon Free Bearer. — Said to be superior, for winter cultiva- tion, to the old Syon House. Grape. — llie Queen's Muscat. — Raised by Mr. Glendiuning, Chiswiok Niu'sery. Berries middle- sized, oval, yellowish, semi-transparent; when ripe, linn, yet tender and sugaiy, It is early, and well adapted for 2)ot-culture. Cauliflowers. — Largest Asiatic. — Raised by ilessrs. Schertzer, of Haarlem. Taller and larger tluin the common cauliflower. Earhj Leijden is the same as the Walchaj*en brocoli. Black SU'wian is the pui^ile Cape brocoli. Kidney Bkans. — Spanish Hyhrid Runner (Haricot D'Espagne Hybridej. — From Messrs. Vilmorin, of Paris; blossoms beautiful, scarlet and wliite. Pods not superior to those of the Scarlet Runner, and do not remain so long good. Shilling's New French Bean seems to be a cross between the Scarlet Rimner and some dwarf variety. Pods large, and continue long good. * We may here state, to avoid repetition, that in these announce- ments we Qo not recommend any new article, unless ice especUiUy say so. Otherwise, we merely inform our readers that there are such new things to be had. Heating a Greenhouse (P. S., Bow).—Yo\i will find tubes of galvanized iron instead of brick flues very objectionable, and not less expensive after a time. The tubes will give out a great heat during the day, and injure the plants by burning the particles of dust always floating in the air — a burning always detected by the peculiar smell occasioned. At night, also, you will be unable to keep out the frost, for the tubes will become rapidly cold ; whereas the bricks of a flue, well heated at the time of making up the fire at night, will continue warm until next morning. 3IUSHROOM Bed {Mrs. Birch).— Tht aspect is not of much conse- quence. One end to the south and the other to the north would be preferable. Vou will find full directions for making one at p. "0. If you wish for further information we shall be pleased to hear from you again. Sweetbrier seed may yet be obtained from old bushes in your neighbourhood ; but for berberry seed you must wait until next au- tumn. It is not usually kept at the seed shops. Night Soil (.4. .■!.). — If your garden soil is clayey, mix it with your ashes ; but if your soil is light, you had better mix it with some of the soil itself; or, which is far better, with some clayey earth before applying it. The object of mixing it at all is for the purpose of get- ting it more easily on to the beds, and dug in. The fresher it is used the better. It is a very strong manure, and far too much so for fruit- trees. The reason of your fruit being small and dry more probablv arises from bad pruning and want of drainage, than from poverty of soil. Vou \\i.\\ find much information on these and the other subjects you mention in our pre\ious numbers, and we shall give more direc- tions as we proceed. Gravel Walks {E. Bonfield).~'Yovx gravel walks becoming mossy and discoloured so soon after cleaning tells at once that your garden requires to be drained. The stagnant water in the soil fosters moss of all kinds. If you cannot drain vour garden, relav your walks, giving them a foundation a foot deep of brickbats, clinkers, &c., to act as (b-ainage to the gravel above them. You had better be content with beautiful tlowers, without caring whether they possess the florists' characteristics of perfection, but we shall, as occasions arise, give the characters you require. TuDEE08E(G.^.,67o/fe-iVeH'mg'/on).— March is the month for pot- ting the_tuberose, and before that time full directions will be given lor its culture. GHEENiioueE Heating {R. Mnrsland.)—\o\x can treat the tank in your greenhouse in the way you propose, hut do not allow the pipes to sink lower than the bottom of the boiler ; as, if sediments get into the pipes, they will settle in the lowest bend, and stop the circu- lation of the hot water. If you plunge pots over the tank, you must not exceed 90°. V.'ill that be sufficient for the house ? There is no advantage gained by having the water in a tank deeper than four or live inches. Tanks {An Owner of Cottage .'IZ/o^wien^s).—" Senilis" will pre- pare answers to your valuable letter shortly, and is gratified that hia hurried contribution has called forth such practical remarks. pLA^■Tl^G Dw.vKF Standard Pears {R. Blackburn). — Vou may safely follow the plan recommended in the fruit department, certainly in the event of ground naturally eligible— say half a yard of sound soil rt-sting on a bed of dry and clean gravel. There will be no occasion for forming a substratum ; such soils, however, are indeed the excep- tion. Planting Hollies {Ibid), — On another occasion do try the mid- dle of October. As to keeping them bushy, your apprehensions about edge-tools in pruning them are pretty correct. We have obtained the objects you desire by using our finger and thumb — in the summer — pinching out successively the terminal shoot, commencing with the season after planting. Coal-Tar on Fruit-trees {Rev. L. X>.).— We have used coal- tar extensively on the rough bark of old timber-trees in a park, to keep the horses from barking them, and have not witnessed any ill- effects. On the smooth bark of fruit-trees it may act differently. We should be afraid of your resin and bees'-wax closing the pore's. Vou had better pare away the decayed parts, and apply a mixture of cow-dung, lime, and ordinary clay — using by far most of the first. This, bound on with old rags, will cause the bark to grow again or to become sound. If any are very badly abused, we would plant fresh ones. WniTETnoRN Hedges {Ibid). — Your object is, wc presume, in planting thorns unpruned alternately with younger stuff, to erect a temporary hedge and to save the expense of rails. It may answer, but we do not hold it the best hedge husbandry. It is usual, in many parts, to plant the whitethorn sloping at an angle of about 45°; the reasons being, that the plants will develop more shoots in this posi- tion. This is, doubtless, true ; for the sap becomes more equalized. Hedge on Yellow Clay {Ibid). — A pure yellow clay, if real clay, will be found too stubborn to produce any fence in perfecrion. We fear even your willows, although the plan is good if they will grow. We have seen hollies, forming capital hedges, in a very strong, tena- cious, yellow loam ; but in such the whitethorn also would succeed. If your clay was thrown out to freeze, and, when mellowed, some road scrapings, lime rubbish, or any hungry, sandy soil trimmed in with it, you would have abetter chance. Pear-Tbee Shedding its Blossom Unset (R. Marslnnd.) — Vour pear is a most hopeless subject. As for root-pnming, that will do no good in your case. Boot-pruning is to induce flower-buds, and you have plenty. We should suspect its tap-roots are in a pernicious subsoil, and would take it up and replant it in fresh maiden soil, cut- ting away every descending root, or spreading them near the surface. If you examine the blossom, we dare say you will find the pistil or female nart wanting or crippled. We have kno^vn many cases simi- lar, ana must confess they have generally baflBed our efforts. You may tr\- pollen, or male dust, from another kind. Dyers' Refuse [yeu-ington-green). — This, consisting of wood- chips chiefly, would be long in decaying if dug fresh into the soil. We should render it more speedily available to our crops, either by mLxing it with quick-lime, and frequently turning over the heap, or we shoidd char the refuse. Either mode would produce a good ma- nure. Rough Plate-Glass C.-I Prac/ica/). — We have not seen it tried on a large scale, but we have tested it enough to our own satisfaction to prove that it interrupts, but does not exclude, the direct heating rays of the sun, which are those alone which can scorch. We shall be glad if any of our readers can inform us of any greenhouse or stove glazed with rough glass. Our correspondent says, "theoretically, the glass at Kew was to be perfection ; practically, it is useless for the purposes intended." We always expected this ; for, if any of the sun*8 rays could be injurious to plants, God would not have mixed them with its light. Standakd Curbant-Trees {Rev. J. T. C. Cooper).— Wt no not know of any nurseryman who keeps them for sale ready trained. You could very easily train them yourself, selecting some single stemmed young plants to begin upon ; t>ing one shoot to a straight stake fixed by the side of the stem, and removing all side shoots until the centre one had reached the height you require. Damson Prvning (Srookland Gardetis). ^-You. will observe that we began the subject of plum-culture at p. 156, and in future papers upon the same subject you will find the information you seek. Celery Seed (F. Giles). — Mr. Turner, we have no doubt, will supply you if you write to him. See advertisement for his address. Your other questions shall be answered in our next. Tropceolum Tuberosum (J. R. Wood). — This is the tuberous- rooted nasturtium, and was brought to England in 1836; a drawing of it is given in that excellent and cheap periodical, Mnund's Botanic Garden. Its yellow and red flowers are verj' handsome. The tubers should be planted beneath a south wall, yet shaded by trees from the mid-day sun. Trench the soil two spades deep, and plant in the first- week of April. The plants will require a frellis of some kind to climb u])on. They bloom at the end of August, and continue in flower until cut down by frost. When the stems are dead, take up the tu- bers, dry them, and store them until the following April. In Peru, the tubers are cooked and eaten. London: Printed by Habry Wooldridge, 147, Strand, in the Parish of Saint Mary-le- Strand ; and Winchester High-street, in the Parish of St. Mary Kalendar ; and Published by William SoMERviLLE Orr, at the Office, 14", Strand, in the Parish of Saint Mary-le- Strand, London.— January 18th, I849. THE COTTAGE GARDENER 175 WEEKLY CALENDAR. nr w Plants dedicated to Sun Sun Moon R. Moon's Clock Day of D D Th JANUARY 25—31, 1849. each day. Rises. Sets. and Sets. Age. bef. Sun. Year. CoNVERS. ofSt. Paul. Hepatica flowers. Winter Aconite. 51a. 7 35 a. 4 6 a. 5 1 12 42 25 26 F. Hazel flowers.* White Butterbur. 40 36 7 14 2 12 55 26 k7 S, Housp-flies in windows.} EartliMossfPhascum 48 38 8 25 3 13 7 27 28 SnN. •fSoN. A. Epip. stinking Helebore flowers. Double Daisy. 47 40 9 38 4 13 19 28 20 M. Daisy flowers. Royal flowering Fern. 45 42 10 51 5 13 29 29 •in Tii, K.COA. I. MART. 1649- Snowdrop flowers. Common ilaidenbair. 44 44 mom. 6 13 39 30 31 W. Hilary Term ends. Honey bee flies abroad. Hart's Tongue. 42 45 5 3 13 48 31 St. Paul. — This festival, commemorating the conversion of the Apostle of the Gentiles, was adopted by our church in the year I662, and well does the event deserve thus to be impressed upon the Chris- tian's mind. Theconveraionof one of the most learned enemies of our faith, to being its ardent and unwearied teacher, and even to martyr- dom in its cause, is almost the strongest eWdence of the truth of that faith. It is curious, that the weather occurring on this day, 25th of Januarj', in times and places far remote from each other, has been considered to afford an omen, or token, of the character of the year. The following lines embody the superstitious opinions entertained on this subject by our forefathers. If Saint Paul's day be fair and clear, It does betide a happy year ; But if it chance to snow or rain, Then will be dear all kinds of grain ; If clouds or mists do dark the sky, Great store of birds and beasts shall die ; And if the winds do Hy aloft, Then wars shall vex the kingdom oft. Phenomena or the Season.— Although "March winds" have Insects.— At the end of this month, and early in February, the Early Moth C Geometra primaria) is to be found become proverbial, yet it is more on account of their coldness, dry- ness, and unhealthiness, than on any other account. Some of the most violent gales of wind occur in England during the present month, and their fury, at times, is truly terrific. A wiud is scarcely felt when it moves at the rate of one or two miles per hour, but it is brisk when it moves at the rate of ten miles per hour ; at fifty miles per hour, it is a storm; and atone hundred miles per hour, is a hurri- cane, carrying away trees and buildings. — Mtlner's Gnlteyy of Nature, 437. At London, on an average, the different winds blow yearly in the following proportions : South-West . 112 days South East 32 da North-East . 58 „ East 26 „ West 53 „ South 13 „ North-East . 50 „ North IS „ At the same place, the soitth-ivest wind blows most frequently in every month, though it most prevails in July and August ; the north- cfist blows most in January, March, April, May, and June, and most seldom in Februarj', July, September, and December ; and the north- west blows oftenest from November to fliarch, and least during Sep- tember and October. Jan. 1841, 1842. 1943. 1844. lUi. 1846. 1847. 1848. 25 Fine. Fine. Fine. Frosty. Fine. Showery. Showery. Cloudy. Highest & lowest temp. 40°— 32° 46°— 35° 49°— 14° 46°— 36° 51°— 42° 56°^6° 47°— 33° 32°— 25° Fine. Shower\'. Cloudy. Fine. Fine. Showcrv. Fine. Frosty. 26 49°— 43° 43°— 21'' 51°— 45° 48°— 27° 52°— 33° 55°— 11° 50° — 41° 27°— 20° Fine. Fine. Cloudy. Showery. Raiu. Cloudy. Showery. Frosty. 27 63°— 30° 45°— 31° 53°— 50° 50°— 39° 45°— 23° 54°— 10° 49°— 40° 31°— 19° Cloudy. Frosty. Cloudy. Showery. Snow. Cloudy. Cloudy. Frosty. 28 44°— 28° 45°— 23° 56°— 15° 54°— 32° 45°— 19° 56°— 39° 47°-25° 29°— 17° Fine. Sleet. Cloudy. Fine. Cloudy. Cloudy. Fine. Fine. 29 46»-32° 46°— 36° 55°— 48° 54°— 44° 45°— 20° 54°— 37° 41°— 21° 44°— 28° Showery. Fine. Fine. Fine. Cloudy. Cloudy. Fine. Showery. 30 40°— 37° 43°— 32° 55°— 36° 61°— 32° 34°-27° 53°— 40° 46°— 33° 48°— 36° Showery. Cloudy. Showery. Showery. Frosty. Cloudy. Fine. Cloudy. 31 42°— 28° 47°— 3'o° 61°— 14° 41°— 26° 35°— 22° 56°— 44° 41°— 21° 39»— 28° about our hedges. By some writers it is called Cheimatobia rupricapvaria. The male, represented in the accompanying cut, generally measures rather less than I5 inch in the cypanse of the fore wings, which are greyish brown, with a broad dark bar across the middle, the edges of w hich are darkest and somewhat notched, narrowed behind, and bearing a dark dot in the middle. The hind wings are whitish, with the ordinary central dark dot placed before a nearly imperceptible narrow line which crosses each, the edges are marked with brown spots : the antenna; (horns) in the males arc bepectinated (have bristles on each side so as to be like a comb). The female has short, rudimental, \vhiti3h- ashy wings, haying a dark bar towards the point farthest from her body, and a slender streak across the hind winga. The caterpillar is greenish, with whitish lines and margin to the segments ; it is to be found early in spring feeding on the wild plum, but we have seen it also upon damsons and bullaees growing in a hedge row. The moths appear in January and February, the males flying about hedge rows. It is rather a common insect. * This refers to the male flowers, or catkins ; the female flowers appear a few days later. t This refers to their first appearance in activity, in roomi where tliere is no fire. — Jenyns. SIany letters having reached us, inquiring whether om directions for gardening operations are equally suited for Devonshire, the Midland Counties, and Scotland? and as the question involves important consequences, we have taken some pains to ascertain Uie opinions entertained by others before we made oiu- reply. In making that reply, we have now no hesitation, because we find that we are imanimous. The directions given by us weekly for the work to be done in the fruit, flower, and kitchen gardens, unless otherwise expressly stated, are so timed as to be most suitable for the Midland districts of England; and Mr. Erriugton and Mr. Apjileby agree with us in tliinkmg that, in the extreme northern counties, the same operations may be done usually ten days or a fortnight earlier ; and that m Devonshu"e, and along om south coast, about the same nimiber of days later. Mr. Ellington says, in a letter now before us, " I should say, taking Birmingham as a centre, that Kent, or Devon, or Hampshu-e, would be at the veiy least ten or twelve days in advance in most matters ; and that Northumberland and the adjacent counties would be at th« very least 10 or 12 days in the rear of Bii-mingham. If a sowing were made in Hamp- shire on the 28th of August, then about Birmingham No. XVII., Vol, I. ire THE COTTAGE GAEDENER. it should 1)C (loue ou t!ie 20th. ,aud in Northumber- land ou the 12th of the same uiouth. However, it must he remembered what a lone; uedc of laud con- stitutes the chief of Northurabria ; and, indeed, all those parts uortli of Alnwick may, for practical pur- poses, be considered as a portion of Scotlaud. The difference, however, is more obvious in some things than in others, and perhaps it would be well to separate vegetable sowiug from fruit ripening, and from flowers blossoming. " When I lived on 'Wiinblcdon Heath, some five- and-tweuty years since, om- dHhlias used generally to bloom a week or two longer in the autumn than those mthe Valley of the Thames, only a mile distant, owing no doubt to the fi-ee dispersion of moistm-e on the hills. " Winds, too ! how they aflect the earliiiess of pro- duce ! I am within about ten miles of Chester, yet they always beat us for early pease, aparagns, &o. by at least a week. They are innnured witliin stone walls, and possess a fat alluvial soil ; we are on the middle of Delamere forest, and every wind has a claim on us; besides, a great chasm lies open from us to Liveiijool, aud the xVtlantic gales rush up continually. Too httle attention by fai' is paid to these things as to seed sowing." Mr. Applebj', writing on the same subject, says: — "If wallflowers are sown at Birmingham on the 1st of June, they will make nice bushy plants, likely to stand through the winter better than if sown earlier. If wallflowers were sown ui Northumberland the same day, they would he too small (unless the autiunn was mild) to flower well in the foUowiug year. Again, if wallflowers were sown on the same day (1st of June) in Devonshii'e, they would be too gross and large to stand a severe winter. Therefore, to regulate this time of sowiug to the three places, the following woidd be the proper times : — At Bu-miugham, 1st of dune; In Northumberland, 14th of ^May ; In Devousliii-e, lith of June." Altliough we thus state, as our opinion, that gar- dening operations necessary to be done in ^Midland England at any given time, ought, in general, tn be performed ten days or a fortnight earlier in the north, and a similar number of days later in the south, let it be remembered that we suppose the soil, elevation above the sea, and aspect, are in each case similar. Mr. Errington's experience at Wimbledon is only one instance from the general experience of gardeners, of the influence those circumstances have over vegeta- tion. So great is that influence, that, we are quite convinced, if any seed of a hardy plant were sown in an open border of an ordinary garden in Devon- shire, on the 1st of June, that some of the same seed sowm ou a dark-coloured, light, well-drained liorder beneath a south wall in Northimiherland, at only a moderate elevation above iha sea, and not in a mountain district, might be made to produce seedlings quite as early. We therefore quite agree with Jlr. Beaton, who says: — " I would take in hand to have sowings of, say cauliflowers, to be done on the same day in Devonshire, Birmingham, York, Edinbm-gh, Perth, and Inverness, aud would lay fifty to one that the crop in Inverness would first come to table, if I so chose. In 1837, when I was last at Inverness, the laburnum and hawthorn were thi'ee days in bloom before the same sorts in Kensington Gardens, London ; aud I kept journals of this sort for six weeks that season. Cm- blacksmith here (near Ipswich), who is only a quarter of a mQe from us, can sow his early cabbage ten days later than I can, and yet be ten days before me at cutting time. We have tried it repeatedly. "Earliness or lateness in sowing crops, and in their coming into jiroduction, depend more on the cvij'^ct am! subsoil oi the locaUty than on the latitude: that is, in om' island, not taking hiUy districts into the account." More than one corrosjiondent having asked us what is meant by '• Plants dedicated to each day" in our " Weekly Calendar," a fuller and more prominent explanation seems to be required from us than is usually necessary in our customary place for answers. In countries where the Roman Catholic religion pre- vails, every day of the year is the anniversary of some saiut, to each of whom a plant is dedicated, and is worn by any one on the anniversary, if he wishes to evince especial reverence for the saiut then com- memorated. Those saints ai'e wiped fi'om om- Calen- dar, but the flowers, we think, may be well retained ; because they have been so selected as to be brought to our notice at the time of their greatest beauty, or at the time when they may be most useful, or when some pheuomenou about them may most strildngly enforce the comforting query, "If God so clothe the gi-ass of the field, wliich to-day is, and to-moiTow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith ?" Closely connected with this subject is a little volume now before us, entitled " Historical Flowers and their Associations," one well-designed, full of thought, and dclightfidly wTought out ; aud its author only speaks what w-e thought at tlie time we assigned a column to them in om' " Weekly Calendar," when he says, "Thus are the flowers as an ever-present voice, speaking to us out of the ' midst of the garden.' " Moreover, the voice utters lessons of no small beauty and iitility to those who wiU but attend to and con- sider them. In the Calendar to-day we have " the Winter Aconite," the yellow blossoms of which are now to be found in our borders, of which they have been the earhest ornament ever since the plant's first inti'oduction from Switzerland in the yeai' 1596. Its botanical names are now Eranthis hjemalis, or THE COTTAGE GAEDENER, 177 Winter Flower of Love ; for it tells us, if we will but accept the lesson, that though all appears dead and dreary, j^et tliat providential care and love are silently about our path, and that there can be but one answer to this question — '* since outward life requires them not. Then wherefore had they birth ? To minister dehght to man, To beautify the earth." The daisy, the mosses, and the ferns, which comprise the other plants in this day's Calendar, offer the same reply, but they tell us much more. At this time of the year, when in our chmate the more noble plants are at rest, and their functions almost suspended, these humbler and more hardy plants come forth to supply then place. We before ex- plained (p. G3) that jilants supply the atmosphere with the vital aii- (oxygen) necessary for ora- breath- ing. The aconite, the daisy, the moss, and the fern, are now performing this important office ; and if we plunge them into water, we shall see the bubbles of healthful air wliiuli they ai-e pouring forth. Many other notes upon their \ise are before us, but our space warns us that we have no remainiug room for more than an e.s.pressiou of the hope that we have satisfactorily explained why we give the "plants dedicated to each day." In October nest we shall liave passed over the twelve months, and the column these plants have occupied will then be devoted to another subject. At p. li, ilr. Appleby, when speaking of soil for floricultural purposes, says, " that if it contains much oxide of u-on, it must be avoided as the plague." TMs warning aroused Messrs. Curtis and Co., of the West of England Eoseries, near Bristol, for they cultivate a soil so red, that to the eye it seems to be composed cluefly of the red oxide, or nist, of iron. They sent us three well-grown plants of roses, with vigorous brauches, and a full healthy amount of roots, to show what that soil produced, and at the same time they observed tliat Mr. Appleby could not know " the soil of a great part of Gloucostershii'e, where vegetation thrives in a soil which, from the large quantities of oxide of u-on in it, is literally in many places a bright red." Now, here is the source of the mistake. Messrs. Cui'tis have been imder the wrong impression that the red colom- of their soil arises from its oxide of iron, but we have ascertained that it does not contain more than six per cent.* This is a proportion not excessive ; and many dai-k- colom-ed fertile soils contain as much. Tlie soil of the West of England Eoseries owes its colom', probably, to being the alluvium, or in-some-other- mode-pulverized portion of the red conglomerate and * The average of our analyses gives 5.5, or 5^ parts of oxide of iron in every oue-hutidred parts of soil. red sandstone, the colour of which does not depend upon oxide of iron. Therefore, Mr. Appleby's state- ment, that much of tins oxide in a soil is injurious to flowers, is not contradicted by the successful practice of Jlessrs. Cru'tis. Thehs is a red, but not a ferni- ginous (ii'ony) soil. THE FEUIT-GAEDEN. The CuErEY. — In a few weeks' time we shall be comjielled to ofier a good deal of mere caleudarial advice ; we must, therefore, rim through the prin- cipal fruits whilst time and space offers. We are the more anxious to do this, because we find, by the applications from querists, that many are waiting our hsts, in order to select for ]>lant!ng by tliem. We now deal with the cheny. Our cultivated kinds are worked (budded or grafted) on the wild cheiTv stock, called in some parts the merry-tiee. They are gi'afted, or budded, precisely the same as apples, pears, &c., and at the same period. I^ess preparation is uccesstUT for the cheriy in regard of soil, than for any other fruit-tree, as it is not so im- jiatient of indifferent subsoils as some of our other fruits, neither is it so liable to disease. Gumming — generally through accidental woiuids — being the evil cheny-trees are most liable to. Soil. — A deep sandy loam suits the cherr}' best, such, in fact, as woultl be considered a. good carrot soO. This should be deeply trenched, and if jioor, and no tiu'fy matter in it, any raw vegetable nuitter may be trenched down. Varieties. — To the cottager, as a matter of proiit. we are not aware tliat we dare recommend any other kinds than the !May-did;e and the Morello. The ilay-duke, however, il' intended to fetch a high price at a very early period, shoidd be the true early Huke, for the late Duke, which is nuich like it in wood and general habit, is nestrly a month later. Any cottier, living in the suliurbs of busy commercial towns, where there is an active uiarkct. woidd, we thuik, find an early Dulie cheny as prohtablc a fruit as the jiear, and perhaps more so. foi' it is a very sure bearer, and comes sooner to profit than the pear. The finest and eailiest Dukes we have ever known, were trained on gables facing- the east, and those gables continuing a chimney. Tlie Morello ^Ye have liefore adverted to, iuid v,'e nnist again recommend it as a cottager's i'ruit, adapted for the north sides of buikUngs or dwelliug- liouses, or, in fact, for any aspect or situation too cold for other fnuts. We may as well repeat, also, that the Morello will be found to succeed iu a much stronger loam than most of the other chen-ies. We have known the fruit in such adhesive soils, on northern aspects, nearly as large as the Orleans jilum ; and we thiuk that it may safely be affirmed, that tins valuable fruit does not fail of a crop more than once in seven years, on an average. It is well known that the Morello is much esteemed for making brandy cherries, especially when crJtivated in a su- perior manner; and. imder such cncumstances, wDl always realise very high prices with the confectioner. We come now to cherries for the amateur ; and we will give a list of truly good kinds, placed in the order of their ripening. 1. Early Purple Griotte or Guigne. — Tins is not equal to the early May-duke in point of quaUty, but is much earlier, ripening in the early part of 178 THE COTTAGE GARDENER. June. It is a cleep-colourecl, heart-shaped fruit, of middle size, adapted for either wall or standard culture. 2. Earhj May -Duke. — This is too well known to need description. It may lie styled the hest early cheny in the kingdom. Wall or standard. Ripe towards the end of June. 3. Black Eagle. — A heart-shaped middle-sized fmit; a most prolific hearer, and very hardy as a stand- ard, although equally deserving a wall. Ripe in the early part of July. 4. Elton. — A splendid cherry — excelled hy none. We consider no collection complete without it. Fruit large, pale, heart-shaped, and ripens in July. Particularly deserving a wall, but wUl succeed in our warmer counties very, well as a standard. 0. Biijarreau or Oraffion. — A noble fi-uit, which has been much esteemed for many yeai's. rruit lai'ge, pale-coloru-ed, of a somewhat obtuse character, and a good hearer. Perhaps better adajited for a standard than the wall, its large leaves being im- patient of confinement. Ripe in July. It is veiy difficult to preserve from the wasps and flies ; this, however, is one gi'eat hinderance in extended cherry culture, and suggests the employment of some canvass or other material. 6. Florence. — Much like the BigaiTeau, but rijiens nuich later. Wall or standard. 7. Late Duke. — Of the character of the May-duke ; a great bearer, adapted for standards, hut every col- lection should have one on a wall, protected fi'om birds. Ripens in the eom'se of August. 8. Morella. — Well known. Ripens in August and September, and, if well protected, wiU endure until the end of October. 9'. Bilttner's October Morello. — Later still than the Morello ; of similar character. Is liighly recom- mended for late purposes by good authorities ; we, however, have no experience as to its quality. To conclude, we may name the Kentish, so much used for drying; this is a veiy useful kind. The stone in this may be drawn away attached to the stalk. This answers best as a standard. We wQl recur to modes of rearing, training, &c„ when space occurs : but, for the present, we must finish the cherry with a few general remarks. We have before said, and we must now repeat, that then- ti'ainhig on walls shoidd be based on the size and character of then- leaves, as to the distance of the branches fi-om each other. Indeed, this is a principle which ought to regulate the training of all our wall fruits. It ought to be considered that if we find one leaf overlaps another leaf on a waU, and is fastened do-svn with nails, that the leaf so overlapped is not in so good a position to elaborate juices, and thereby to form a plump bud, as the leaves on the branches of trees dangling at liberty and unattached to a wall. Again, we may add, that every amateur who aims at a long and clever succession of chen-ies through the season, should study well the aspects selected, in order to estabUsh such in a judicious way. We would advise that one early Duke occupy in all cases a warm wall ; we would even tiy and get one Morello in a warm aspect, for it is astonishing how luscious a Morello is after hanging several weeks in a wann situation. For the rest, east or west, or any combinations of such aspects with the north, will answer very well ; a south-east or south-west, of course, producing them earlier. Our catalogue of kinds may appear destitute of variety to those who garden high. We do not, how- ever, profess to instruct such persons. Oiu' desire is not to overshoot our mark ; and, in order to follow out such a course in a consistent way, we think it far the best to recommend such kuuls" only as have established a reputation, and which we have our- selves cultivated. The list, therefore, will be found to contam at least a regular succession of most of the best cherries hitherto proved. To those amateurs who feel an interest in prowng new kinds of fruit, we would recommend an application to such men as Mr. Rivers, of Sawbridgeworth, who is one of our most ingenious fnut cultivators. Mr. Rivers attempts the dwarfing system with all fruits ; and, as a funda- mental principle, he " begins at the beginning," viz., the root, either limiting the amount of the ascending sap by means of root pruning, or. what is better still, by judiciously adapting the stock to the pm'ijoses sought. He has grafted the cherry extensively on the Mahaleb stock, with what amoimt of success we do not know — the jiractiee is at least ingenious. PE.iR Pbunixg. — We here beg to ofler a few brief hints about pear pruning, the season being at hand. We cannot, however, go fully into a system appli- calile to yoimg pears, on the 2Jlatform mode, from the moment of their planting ; such must be reserved untd the pressure of other affau's has passed. Our pvn-pose now is to induce those who have long been disappointed in their produce, tlu'ough an eiToneous course of practice, to change their course in some degree ; this they can at least do in the priming. It was the custom in former days to " spur Imck " the spray produced all along the line of main shoots ; this consisted in cutting back every yoimg shoot to within about half an inch of its base. The conse- quences were that every watery shoot produced a couple or three more shoots of the same character in the following summer, and these m tui-n were sub- jected to the same operation. It is astonishmg with what an amount of pertinacity our old " blue-aprons " stuck to this ridiculous mode, dignified with the title of the spur si/stem. We do not say that every wall is thus treated in these " march of intellect" days; we do know, however, that some old practitioners find it difficult to escape these old traditionary ti'am- mels. Now, since the peai' is kuo^vn to bear freely on the two years' old shoots, if of a pi'oper character, and duly exposed to the hght during the gi'owing season, why not reserve a portion of such spray every season all over the tree ? We have done so for years, and we are not aware that any one can excel us in bearing-pears at least. Our plan is this : — at the Jidy disbudding, or shortening, we reserve most of those annual shoots which are peciiUarhj short- jointed; this we consider the first criterion of fniit- fuhress : the next point is colour — such shoots will be browner than baiTen shoots : and the thu'd point, scarcely inferior to the former, is a cessation of gi-owth, or at least a tendency, before other portions of the tree. At the winter's pruning we examine these (which had been tied down to the leading shoots iu July), and, reserving a choice sprinkhng, we tie them down, pruning all the rest entuely away. R. EnniNGTON. THE FLOWEE-GAEDEN. N.iJiixG Pi,.\NTS. — We alluded to this subject iu the fom-teenth number ; and we thought the subject so important that we promised to resume it. W'e will THE COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 17Q now fulfil om- pledge. No one that has paid any attention to this matter wiU deny its gi'eat use ; we need not jjress its imjjortance to our brother gar- deners. They are fully aware how necessary it is to have, theii' plants correctly named, whether in the Idtohen-garden, iiower-garden, pits, frames, green- houses or stoves ; in all good gardens, naming the plants is fully carried out. We expect and look for all plants iu botanic gardens, to be completely and accurately named — that is, to find correctly, neatly, and legibly written on a lable on or near to each plant its natural order, botanical and English names, native country, and the j'ear when it was first intro- duced into this countiy, — and in all public gardens that have any pretensions to utility, this is done. Not only are the flowers, such, for instance, as the common fox-glove ( Digitalis purpurea. J, but the noble trees of the forest, such as the common oak (Quereus sessilifloraj, and the ash (Fraxinus excel- siorj. These in public gardens are, or ought to be, labelled in the manner above mentioned; and we may venture to mention, as an example of useful and correct naming, the Public Arboretiun* at Derby. Many of the trees and shrubs in the Kensington Gardens are also named, but the names are now nearly obliterated, and consequently not so useful as they might be ; we hope the Commissioners of Woods and Forests will soon have them repainted, so as to bo legible. Having said so much of the usefulness of naming plants, we shall now proceed to shew our amateur and cottage readers how they may put into practice such an amusing and delightful som-ce of iiselid instruction. The first thing to prociu-e for this end is a good, correct, and general catalogue; we know none better for om* pui"pose than Paxtons Dictionary of Botany, which contains in a small compass a gi'eat mass of information besides the mere names of plants; it may be proomed of any respectable bookseller — its price is l.os. The next article is a sulRcient number of labels. These are made of various materials, some of earthenware, white and brown, the latter to have the part where the name, &c., are to be written painted white, and the names put on with black paint ; and if that part, after it is written on, has a ^liece of glass affixed so as to in-otect the wTiting from the weather, it wiU last several years. In this manner, and with such lables, are the plants named in the Derby Arboretum, and after ten years' exposure are yet very nearl}" as fresh and as perfect as they appeared the first day they vrere used. Some lables ai'e made of cast iron ; of this material ai-o those at Kensmgton Gardens and St. James's Park, in London. Some are foimed of pieces of Welsh slate, and these are veiy excellent and durable ; they may be seen in use in the Eegent's Park Botanic Garden ; they are cut in the shape of a long triangle, the sharp point to be thi-ust into the earth; the broad end is painted black to the depth of four or five inches, two coats of paint are given them, and when that is well dried, tlie name, &c., are written in fab legible letters with white paint ; and when this is perfectly dry, the lables ai-e thrust fiimly into the ground opposite the tree, or shrub, or flower the name belongs to. T'hese lables are very neat and dm'able. In the herbaceous gi'ound at Messrs. Henderson's nursery, Pine-Apple-place, Edgware- road, there is used a good kind of label, easUy made and very dm-able. It is fonned of a piece of wood about 4^ inches long by 3 inches M-ide ; two holes are bored through the piece of wood from side to side, about J of an inch trom each end ; these holes are * Arhorctum.^^ garden of trees. intended to receive two strong pieces of wire 1^ inches long, about the thickness ot a common qiull • the wu'e is wedged in fast with a nail, and the whole has two or thi-ee coats of white jjahit given ; when I I Iris Lurida. Lurid Iris. this is dry the name is painted with black paint. The lable has then this appeai-ance, is neat, and as the wood is kept from the ground, and the wire being iron, it is dm-able. We think this label veiy good and worthy of adoption, as the materials can bs easily procured in any part of the country. For plants in pots zinc labels are lasting and useful, but they requu-e a peouUar ink, and are not always at hand. For all common pm-poses wood labels are to be recommended, a bundle of common building laths will make several hmidreds, and are easUy and quickly made with a common sliarp pocket knife, a little white lead made thin with turpentine and oil, and rubbed on with the finger, and then the name written with a softish black lead pencil wbUo the paint is wet; this is all that is wanted for naming plants in pots, espiecially tliose under cover. The cottager can make them very conveniently by his fire-side these long evenings ; if lie cannot procure laths, any kind ofwood will do. Make the labels of different sizes, some for pots, about six inches long ; others, to name flowers in the borders, rather larger ; and those intended to name shrubs or fi-uit-trees should be at least a foot long. We have seen very good labels for the latter pui'pose made of oak rods well dried and sjjlit in two. Each piece will make two labels. Tlie inner part has to be cut smooth to receive the name and description, and the outer part also to have the bark shaved oft' and the knots cut off clean ; the ends that are to be put in the gi'ound should be charred to prevent their rotting ; indeed, the whole label should have two coats of white paint, and the name, &c., should be done with black paint. Writing the names would be a pleasant exercise for the cottager's boys or giiis, and woidd impress the name upon their memories. But I think I hoar some of om- friends exclaim, " How are we to know the natural order, botanical and English name, and native countiy ? We cannot afl'ord to buy botanical dictionaries and all that sort of tlung." Well, my friends, do not despan ; we will put you into a way by which you may easily acquire this knowledge. Let as many of you as are neighbom-s, and well disposed, ]neet at each others' houses in the evening at times, say once a fortnight, and pay a trifle each 180 THE COTTAGE GARDENEE. weekly to buy this book of names, then ask some gardener or other capable person to meet you ; have yovu' flowers and pieces of shnibs there at the time, vnth a slip of jiaper attached to each ; your kind friend will tlien name them for you, and you can take your lot of names home, and having the labels ready, write for each its right name, with every other particidar. If this method is followed diUgeutly for a few months, you will obtain names for all your plants, which will be a great pleasure, as well as useful, to you, your wife, and your children. We have given tlu'ee examples, by wliich our fi-iends may see how to name their- trees, shrubs, and flowers ; and have pin-posely selected three very common tilings, such as we believe every body knows, in order to shew every point in naming plants that ought to be attended to. Where florists' flowers are cultivated to any extent, the best way to distinguish each variety is to have them all numbered with wooden labels, with con'espouding numbers in a memorandum-book kept for that especial piu-pose. Where time, however, is of no consequence, and the owner is so disposed, the names may be written on zinc or wooden labels; but this is a somewhat tedious operation, as every one of every variety must have its name fully written. Yet this has its advantages, for every time the name is read it is deeper im- Jiressed upon the memory, and to sti'augers or friends \'isitmg your garden it is very pleasant to find yom- plants all named : so that, without refen-ing to your memorandum-book, each visitor can at once read the name, and learn to distingiiish the different varieties. Our amateur friends may expect shortly to have some fru'ther remarks on this subject, suit- able for them, and which we tiiist will be usefid and accejitable. FLORISTS' FLOWERS. C.iRN.vTiox Seed S.wjng. — A correspondent, who signs himself G. K., having made the inquiry. — how are carnations and piootees to be impregnated so as to produce seed ? (see a copy of his letter, p. 189) — we shall proceed to state how tlus may be done. These flowers are. in the eye of tlie florist, in the greatest perfection when they are firlly double, a single flower being by them accounted of no value. Now, a double flower is a monstrosity of nature, in which the jiarts of the flower intended for the reproduction of the plants by seed are changed by high cultivation into mere flower-leaves or petals. In proportion as tins inonsti'osity is canied to perfection, so are the powers of the plants to produce seed lessened, or desti-oycd altogether ; consequently, to save seed, choose such as are not quite double. The Clove pruk ( DUtnlluis Cscen ted flowers ; and to have some indoors as well, they woidd take up part of the stock carefully with a trowel when tho flower-buds were beginning to open, put them into pots, and, by carefid watering and shading them for a few days, they woidd soon recover this check. Those that did not flower tho first year woidd be very strong next season; and once the first batch came into flower, there would always be a succession afterwards every year. Every time they were taken up the offsets would be taken off them, except bvo or three of the strongest to be grown for stock ; and when the tuber once flowered, these stock offsets would be planted separately, to undergo the same routine as their parent. There is no more trouble in all this than there is in rearing a bed of ridge cu- cumbers, and he js a poor gardener who cannot do that in England after tho middle of Apiil. Half-spent dung, from the Imings of a cucumber bed, or any refuse of that sort, woiild be good enough to begin the young tuberose with. Such a bed shoidd be made in an open trench in some warm comer, packing iu the dung tightly, so as not to settle much or un- equally aftenvards. About two feet deep of dung would be thick enough, and carried up to near the surface. When the heat became steady and not too strong, the bed shoidd be covered a foot tluck with light rich sod, and then planted with the ofi'set tubers, leaving the crowns, or top part, an inch below the surface. The frame and light would then be put over it, and a sharji-pointed sticlc thnist down in tho bed, to be drawn every other day for a fortnight or so, to ascertain that the dung did not heat too violently ; for, if it did, it might greatly iujiu-e the tuberoses, if it did not roast them altogether. The safest way to check such violent heat is, to make holes iu the bed here and there, and pour down water from the spout of a watering-pot, but not too much at a time, for fear of chUling so small a bed. The tuberoses would not requne any water till their leaves were well up, and not much of it afterwards, except in dry weather. There is one point in this old way of growing the tuberoses for ourselves, which I think a great hnprovgment on the present fashion of buying our supply of them from Italy, and that is the preservation of their roots. It does not require a prophet to foresee that if wo coidd obtain those fine long roots, which the tuberose makes in the Italian soil, in good preservation, the tubers woidd produce much larger flowers than they do at present, and in greater numbers. The beautffid old-fashioned bidb called T'ujfidia, or Tiger-flower, woidd answer remarkably well under tho above treatment, and no doubt many other half-hardy bidbs besides. Tho only secret in gi-owing the tuberose, which we buy at tho seed shops, without tho help of a pit or hotbed, is to begin early with them, say the first week in Apiil ; to strip oft' all the Uttle oftsets that gi-ow in a ring round the bottom, for these must suck their noin"islinient from tho parent tuber, and that extra food had bettor go to enlarge our flowers ; to plant only one in a small pot of not more than four inches in diameter, with very good drainage, and, if possi- ble, a tliin layer of fresh moss placed over the di'ain- age, for the double puqiose of preventing the soil getting down among the crocks, and for supplying the tips of the roots, which are sm-e to work down as far as they can, with uniform moisture. They wUl do better with moderate watering m. a steady way, than with largo doses at certain intervals. The soil must be light and open, and any common sod can be made so by adding sand to it ; and a Kttlo leaf mould, or the refuse of rotten wood, will both open and enrich a stitfish sod. if no better can be had for potting. This soil, or compost, should bo neither dry nor wet when fii-st used, but just to feel damp to the hand, and I am altogether against the bad prac- tice of watering dry bulbs or tubers as soon as they are potted. So doing is just like bmying a man ahvo, and putting plenty of roast beef and strong ale in his coflin. A root, or bulb, that will keep safe month after month in a drawer or paper bag, will surely wait a week or ten days after potting without water, or uutfl. it can make some roots or leaves to make use of the water. Its own jiuoes, and the natural dampness of the sod, wUi be stimulus enough for any plant of this kind that ever I heard of, tiU it pushes up a few loaves above tlie earth. The tuberose 182 THE COTTAGE GARDENER. is vpi-y fastidious iu tins respect, and if it is once swamped witli water in its early progress, no coaxing will induce it to flower tliat season, if grown in a pot. When grown over a hotbed, where the roots can spread in all directions, it is, of course, less susceptible of such injury. The window of a warm kitchen is the best place for the pots after potting, and even better for getting them up than a greenhouse or cold pit. If the heat should dry the soil too much before the leaves appear, it wiJl require a gentle watering. When the leaves advance to four inches high, give smaU quan- tities regidarly, and unless you see the leaves turning greeuish-white at the bottom, the place is not too hot for them. By-and-by the leaves will be long enough to arch out round the sides of the pot ; that is their natui'al way; and, to guard them froni accidents. ]ilace four sticks of the size of a pendiolder round the pot, and draw a string, or piece of narrow tape, round them, and sutHciently high to support the leaves where tbey arch over the pot. Some persons, from not knowing better, tie up all the leaves to one stick, but they can never flower that way, because the upper sides of the leaves cannot get light enough. If the leaves look quite gi-eeu, and no signs of being drawn up with too much heat or too little air, they may remain in the kitchen window, provided it is open to the sun, till the flower stalk begins to rise from the centre of the leaves, for the plants are no beauties till the flowers appear. As soon as the flower stem is seen, they must have plenty of air ; and close to the glass in a gi-eenhouse, or cold pit, woidd be the best place for them, but they will do very well in a good window, if the flower stems appear before the first of Jidy. Tie up the flower stem to a neat green stick, but not too close, as it will grow rapidly at first, and might get injured from a close tie. They are not thu'sty plants at any time, but they must have a Uttle more water than usual while the flower stem is fast growing, and a little soapsuds would srdt them well at that time and when the flowers appear, as I hope they will and in great numbers too ; they require only to be kept a little moist. Now, after all this long story about tube- roses, I shall be disappointed if I hear of a single failure among om- readers next season. The only thing else that I can think of just now, is, to get them in good time before they ai'e picked over by the old knowing ones, who can tell at a glance the best tubers to flower weU. They choose the plumpest ones, with the shortest necks, and they always tiy if the bottoms are sound ; they also cut ofl' all the little offsets with a sharp knife as soon as tbey come home, to give the more time to the wounds to dry over before potting time. Foreign Seeds.— Without the aid of a hotbed, it will be time enough to sow seeds received from friends abroad about the beginning of Mm-ch ; and, unless they are from temperate cHmates, they will be of little use for a greenhouse ; or, if tbey have been collected by traveUers, they are hardly worth the trouble of sowing. Residents in foreign parts are the only persons from Avhom really usefid seeds may be expected, as they may have had an opportunity of seeing the plants in flower which produced them. The best gardener in the world can only guess what kind of flowers a plant will bear, if he only sow it in seed for the first time. If you meditate on making a present of foreign seed to any gi-eat gardener, he will take your good wiU for the deed ; but, in all probability, he will throw aU your seeds in the tti-c. Foreign seeds have become an actual nuisance since travelling has become so general. Sunr.^cE OF Pots. — This is a. good time to stir the top soil in jilant jiots ; and as it will be much ex- hausted, some of it should now be thrown away, a,nd a little fresh soO jnit in its place. This is a good plan even for hyacinths and other bulbs coming into flower ; the fresh soil will help to invigorate the plant ; and many other plants, if thus treated now. need not be fresh potted so soon as usual. D. Beaton. THE KITCHEN-GAEDEN. Se.^-Kale. — Besides the direction mentioned in our last, respecting the production of this very useful vegetable, there is another mode of forcing it early, on tlie ground where it is established, by placing over the plants, pots, boxes, &c., and covering these with fermenting materials, such as stable dung, leaves, tan, fera, straw, &c. To get the shoots thus produced, stm-dy, of good colour, and substance, the heat applied by such means must be regular and moderate. There are several modes in which sea-kale may be forced, whilst growing in the hotbed where raised. Thus, after the plants have been dressed and trimmed in tlie autumn, the bed may be covered with a mix- ture of moderately sifted light earth and sand or coal ashes, two or three inches deep ; each stool must be covered with a pot set down close, to keep out the steam of the dung ; or, bricks or planks may be placed to the height of eight or teti inches on each side of the rows of plants to be forced, and covered with cross spars, having a space of about an inch be- tween eacli two of them. The dung employed must be well tempered, and mixed for three weeks before it is required, or for four, if mingled with leaves, otherwise the heat is violent, but not lasting. When thus prepared, each pot is covered ten inches thick all round, and eight inches at the top. The heat must be constantly observed ; if it sinks below 50 degrees, more hot dung must be applied ; if above 60 degrees, some of the covering should be removed. Unless the weather is very severe, it is seldom neces- sary to renew the heat by fresh linings ; when the thermometer indicates the necessity, a part only of the exhausted dung sboidd be taken away, and the remainder mixed with that newly apphed. In three or four weeks from being first covered, the shoots will be fit for cutting, and they will continue to pro- duce at intervals for two or three mouths, or imtil the natural crop comes in. To have a succession, some should be coveret' with mulch, or litter that is little else than straw ; this, by sheltering the plants fi'om cold, will cause them to be forwarder than the natm-al gi-ound ones, though not so forward as those imder tlie hot dung ; and by this means, it may be had in perfection from Christmas to Whitsuntide. It also may be Ibrced in a hotbed. When the heat moderates, a little light mould being put on, three or fom- years old plants, which have been raised with as little injury as possible to the roots, are to be in- serted close together, and covered with as much earth as is used for cucumbers. The glasses must be covered close with double matting to exclude the light, and additional covering afforded during severe wea- ther. Sea-kale, thus forced, will be fit for cutting in about three weeks. Instead of frames and glasses, any construction of boards and litter that will exclude the light answers as well. A common melon frame w'ill contain as many as are capable of being THE COTTAGE GARDENEE. 183 produced in two drills of twenty yards each, aud with only one-tliu'd the quantity of dung. To keej) up a regular succession untU the natural gi-ound crop arrives, two three-light frames wUl be sufficient for a large family ; the first prepared about the beginning of November, and the second about the last week in December. Another mode is, on each side of a three- foot bed, to dig a trench two feet deep, the side of it next the bed being perpendicular, but the outer side sloping, so as to make it eighteen inches wide at the bottom, but two feet and a half at the top — these trenches being filled with fermentuig dung, which of course may be renewed if ever found necessary, aud frames put over the plants ; the light is to be com- pletely excluded by boaids, matting, &c. The ao- companyiug sketch represents a section of the con- stiiiotion. \Trencli Frame Bed Tranehl Those who have but few plants, and have not a convenience of either forwarduig it in a cellar or cupboard, or the means of forcing it with fermenting materials, may produce excellent blanched sea-kale in the spring months by covermg the crowns with light friable earth, fine cinder ashes, old tan, or leaf mould. If this mode of merely hlanching (or whiting), and not forcing, be adopted, the most simple mode is to cover over each stool, sand or ashes to the depth of about a foot; the shoots, in their passage through it, bemg excluded from the light, are effectually bleached. Dry clean straw may be scattered loosely over the plants to effect the same pui-pose. But pots are by much to be preferred to any of these coverings. Butter-firkins, or flower-pots of large dimensions, may bo employed, care being taken to stop the hole at the bottom with a piece of tile and clay, so as to exclude every ray of light ; but these suggested by Mr. Maher are generally adopted. They are of earthenware, twelve or eighteen inches in diameter, and twelve high. Mr. Sabine improved upon them, by making the top moveable, whicli prevents the trouble arising from the escape of the spreading shoots, or the entire removal of the dung at the time of forcing. Frames of wicker are sometimes em- ployed, being covered with mats, more perfectly to exclude the light. Previously to covering the stools with the pots, &c., the nianm'e laid on m the winter must be removed : aud the operation should com- mence at the close of February, or at least a month before the shoots usually appear, as the shelter of the pots assists nurterially in bringing them forward. In four or six weeks after covering, the plants should be examined, and as soon as they appear three or fom' inches high, they may be cut ; for if none are taken until they attain a fuller growth, the crop comes in too much at once. The shoots shoidd be cut whilst young and crisp, not exceeding five or six inches in height; the section to be made just within the gi'ound, but not so as to injure the crown of the root. Slipping ofi' the stalks is much preferable to cutting. The plants may be gathered from until the flower begins to form, when all covering must be re- moved. If, when an-ived at that state in which bro- coU is usually cut, the flower is emploj'ed as that vegetable, it will be found an excellent substitute. But one thing should never be omitted ; when the sea-kale is cut, it shovild at all times be cut down, that is to say the crown or stalls, a little under the earth's surface ; as any part left above gi-ound, after ha%dng been once forced, is almost sure to be affected by the weather, which produces canker.and the ensuing year the crowns will be weak and unfit for producing strong healthy shoots or heads. Another thing most essential to be obsei-ved, after sea-kale has made two or three inches of its natural summer gTowth, is that the shoots should be thmned, all the weak spu- rious shoots being entirely removed, the strongest only being left, and those thinned according to the strength of the plants. Then, if former directions are attended to, in respect to applications of liquid manure, fine, strong, clear, healthy buds wOl be established and matiu'ed in good season for the next year's produce. All blooming shoots should be re- moved as early as possible after they appear. Routine Wobk. — Every available opportunity shoidd be taken advantage of, for surface stirring the soil about the cabbage, cauliflower, early pea, and bean crops. Indeed, also, if possible, it should be stirred among winter brocoli, savoys, aud the kale crops; for it not only is the means of preventing seedling weeds and slugs getting ahead, but it also tends to bring the surface soil into a healthy con- dition for succeeding crops. All ground that has been trenched already for onion and root crops, should be well attended to of fi-osty mornings, by routing it over with strong forks. A few of the two- hladed onion should now be sown in a warm corner thickly, for early drawing ; and those who wish to produce large onions, and have omitted autiunn- sowing for that pm-pose, should now sow in pans, placed in a gentle warmth, Spanish, Tripoli, orDept- ford onion seed, to produce plants for transi^lauting on well prepared gi'ound, when ready. Successions of mparagvs should be taken up, and placed on slight hotbeds or tanks ; also rhubarb and sea-kale should be taken into warmth, and assisted moderately with fermenting materials, on the gi-ound it is established on. Principal crops of radishes, horn-carrots, peas and 6ert«s, should now be sown on favourable opportunities. A few early cauliflower and lettuce plants could be procured by sowing in pans in a Httle warmth ; and if red Dutch cabbage were not so^^'n in autumn, or jjlants of other vaiieties being now short, there should be a little seed sown in the same way, and if assisted along by a little care of surface stm-ing, aud pricked out in due season in a wann comer, to be sheltered by hoops and evergreen boughs, iiu'ze, or hght coveiing of any kind that is come-at-able, clear strong plants will be furnished for early spring planting. 'Those who have cauliflower plants in pots should now prepare for jmtting them out under hand-glasses ; as, if allowed to stand in pots to a later season, they are more liable to start into flower, or " button," as it is termed, and become useless. Frame cucumbers and melons at this time requhe carefid watching, and to be methodically covered at night and ah-ed by day, or night either, if the interior heat will allow of it ; 1S4 THE COTTAGE GAEDENER. lor to estal.Jish robust health, is the main point to ensure a pkutiful supply of good fniit. O. W. J. & JiMEs Barnes. MISCELLANEOUS IXF0E:\[ATI0N. ALI,OTMENT CROPPING. Wf. now proceed to otter some special directions ou this head, and, as the spring advances, we will attempt to shew the matter in vai-ious successions ; for it is astonisliing what a number of combinations mav be made, and each good in some point of view. I'lie question, however, is, in a gi'eat degi'ee, one of manure, for the cottager cannot att'ord in all cases to manure the whole of his plot every season : nor, indeed, is it necessarj' that he should do so. There are some crops wliich ai'C better and safer without it, ])rovided the preceding crop had a di'essing. Of such are onions, can-ots, common hirnijis, &c. ; for, although heavier crops of the onion may be gi'o%vn by high manuring, yet we have ever foiuid them more liable to the grub when thus cultivated. The onion, too, is natiu'ally a late harvester, and is thrown a foi-tnight later by heavy maniu'ing ; and this is a serious affair, for when late and gross they never keep so well ; and we hope to induce the cottager to make a portion of his rent out of the onion crop. ^Moreover, we shall shew liim how to steal a crop ofl' the onion giound in the same autumn, a plan which we have followed for years. To proceed with the manure-view of the question. !Many cottagers rent a plot of land fi-om their em- ployers, or tlie neighbouring fanners, for the sunnuer only, m order to gi'ow their potatoes on fresh laud ; and a veiT good jilan it would be, for both farmer and cottager, if the fanner did not charge quite so high a price for it; the competition, however, is so gi-eat, that the cottagers take such land (especially if it has been hard ploughed) much too dear. Well, the cottier has to manure this portion ; for in this part of the kingdom (Clieshire), at least, the farmer increases the amount of his wheat soil by such means. The manui'e necessaiy for this pui-pose often compels the cottier to be rather niggardly to his own garden ; we. therefore, hope to shew in due course, that much manure has been mis-apphed — owing, chiefly, to tlie want of well-studied rotations, and liow the cottager is, at present, much in the dark. In looking over our ordinaiy vegetables, to see which can be rendered tnily profitalde to the cottager, and which at tlie same time will chime in with rotation scemes, we find the following, which we throw into classes with titles ; the titles are of couse arbitrary, but will serve to point to the rota- tion : — ]st. Coif and Piij-lceping roots. — Parsnips, caiTots, mangold-wurt/.cl, Swede turnips, kohl-rabi, &c. 2nd. Winter ))Otatoes. 3rd. Bed Culture. — Cluions. born caiTots. dwarf cab- bages, sjiinach, lettuces, &c. 4th. Miscellaneous. — Pease, and various other matters, all requiring more or less mamnc. — K.B. Tliis class is not obliged to be tutidhj distinct in character from the others; it is a sort of reseiwe for odd tilings, which would not class well with the other rotations, and will enable the cottager to widen his spring scheme of cropping, if necessai-y. He will want, moreover, seed beds for the various gi'cens, for lettuces, &o. One invariable rule we would adopt in all cases ; and that is, to have one division in eveiy year totally free of all the cabbage tribes, or the vai-ious greens. These, as before observed, if stuck in indiscriminately in aU parts, lead to clubbing, or anbmw. in their roots ; and, indeed, in a few years they would cease to be prolitable. We, therefore, think tliat the " keeping root" diWsion must be the plot that is to be wtbout any of the cabb;ige tribe iu each year— this trilju including savoys, borecoles, cauliflowers, and brocolis, as well as cabbages and tuniips. We wUl now subjoin a diagi'am, illustrative of a course of four years' cropping, formded on the above classification. No scale is necessaiy, as the gai'den or allotment is supposed to be divided uito four equal parts, whether large or small. Miscellaneous, manured. Beds, no manure. Hoots, manured. Winter Potatoes, no manure. "^6 3 O u ! II 1 U li i1 ^A ' 11 ft H .a- £ -1 So si o s b - 1 Winter Potatoes, no manure. Roots, manured. Beds, no manure. MisccUancous, manured. followed by in in 1851 in 1852 Now, it must not be understood that the kinds enumerated occupy the gi'ound for the whole year. A^'e hope to shew how other crops of various kinds, and in various ways, may be introduced amongst them. The above, however, are the main objects, and we tl. ought it best to exhibit them in an uufettcrtd state, iu order to shew the principles of rotation, and bow manruing matters should be carried out. We sludl have to refer to the above diagi-am occasionally, in order to illustrate the details which wo shall en- deavour to work out ; but, in the meantime, we must liave an eye to 'mmicdiate business. The tirst things which the cottager should look to, as cropping in the new year, is how to obtain plenty of heatis and 7;c(/sc, without disposscssmg Ids valua- ble store roots of their portion of the soil. As for pease, we would, in general, sow a row round the outer edge of nearly the whole plot. This com-se, however, woidd require some change of crop for that outer edge ; and why not, iu alternate seasons, make the divisions between the foirr compartments or quarters'? Pease, then, would make a substantial division. If such a plan were adopted — and we can see no better at present — there would be three rows in succession. One might be so'mi in the end of January, a second in the middle of Febniai'v, and a THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 18i thii-d in the middle of Mai'cli ; beyond tliis, we do not tldnk they would prove profitable to the cottager. The outer edges of the compaitnieuts woidd alil;e offer thi'ee successive sowings, making it a point to sow none on the southern boundary. The bean crop, however, we consider to be of far more importance than the pea ; foi', in the first place, it is one of the best " stolen" crops that we know of. By stolen crop, a term in common even amongst fanners, we mean a crop of any kind which can be obtained \rithout impediment to the usual comse of crops. Beans, when ripe, are a veiy excellent material to work up as meal with other diet for pig-feeding ; and the cottager can hardly grow too many. There is one very peculiar merit attached to the cultivation of broad beans as a stolen crop, and that is, their free- dom fi'om over-shado-ning branches ; provided they are firmly soiled (earthed) up, they retain their position to the veiy last ; so that cropping, even by the bed system, may be earned on to witliin half a yard of then- stems. Another good property we must point to, and that is, that if sown very early in order to stand until ripe, beans will not prove tlie slightest impedhnent in the way of autiuun culture of other tilings, even almost close to the, stems ; for, towai-ds August, their leaves discolour and begin to shrivel up, and the amount of shade tliey produce becomes daily less as they advance towards ripening. We must now proceed to shew how a few of the broad beans may at this period be woven into our diagram scheme; and we are the more anxious to do so, as we should like to hear of a good breadth being planted by the middle of January. It will be seen by the diagi'am, that the compai'tment No. 1 is winter potatoes. We would not introduce beans here unless the potatoes were planted in raised beds, two or thi-ee rows in a bed, which is much the custom in Lanca- sbhe and Cheshhe, and has originated chiefly through the cleansing character of this jji-ocess with regard to the wheat crop, wliich almost always follows jiotatoes in these counties. We have no very forcible objection to this, but the potatoes must be planted rather further apart than those on farm lands, as the cottager's gi-ound will become richer in fertile matters, and the potatoes will consequently grow more into hauhn. If beans are to be introduced, here the gi-oimd should be planted with potatoes in Novem- ber, or in the com'se of January. Alleys woidd be formed, which would be excavated or dug out, for covering the potatoes, which at this early period must be covered eight inches in depth ; this, owing to the settling of the sod, will soon become only six inches. Things being thus, the broad beans may be dibbled along the edges or shoiilders of the potato beds, about a foot apart ; the long-pod would he best for this pui-pose, and the beans may be set iu pairs about three inches apart. We would dibble them in about the end of December, putting them six inches deep. In the end of April the potatoes wdl want hoeiug and thoroughly cleaning; and, imme- diately on the heels of this operation, some di-um- head cabbage, or the thousand-headed cabbage, sliould be planted in the alleys, one yard apart. Care must he taken in gathering the beans not to ti-ead on the cabbage. We shall hereafter shew how the potato gi'ound may be made usefid in Septem- ber, vmtil sown with the succeeding crop of roots in April. In the meantime let us look over the other compartments, and see if we can mtroduoe any more beans. Compartment No. 2, as we before observed, we would keep entirely free from the cabbage families for one year ; we must, therefore, tiy and gi-ow some more beans here. Root crops ai-e generally sown in drills at equal distances, say about twenty-two inches apart. We much prefer, however, under the allot- ment system, to sow all these things in what we term double drlUs ; indeed we should cany out this prin- cipile extensively in fai'm eidture for several reasons, which we must not stay to explain here. Well, then, we advise these root crops to be in double drills, each pafr sixteen inches apart, with an aUey of thfrty inches or so from pair to pafr, and in this space we woiild plant a double di-ill of beans down the centre. These beans should be planted betimes, say in the end of January. In digging the gi-ound for them, it woidd be merely necessary to set down a hne at eveiy twenty-three inches, and make a mai'k with a hoe or spade, and then to dig one spit on each side of this line. This being done, the beans may be set. The root crops will be thoroughlv cleaned and hoed for the season in the beginning of June, when the beans would be coming in blossom ; care must of course be taken to avoid injuring the beans. We would, if possible, leave these beans to ripen. We now come to compai-tment the tlui-d. As to bean culture here, so various ■will the objects be, that little can be advised ; all we can suggest is to tiy and get a planting of beans for succession either in this plot or in No. 4. Tins planting may be made in the middle of March, beyond which period beans do not produce enough for a cottager's pm-pose. Op- jiortvmities will occm' for a row, or a coupile, in these compai'tments, and we now dismiss the bean subject for the present. Quantities of Seed necessary. — It wiU soon be time to purchase seeds ; and it is most important to, allotment holdei-s, to know exactly the smallest amount of seeds that will be necessaiy, for they are expensive, and any waste is a serious drawback in the httle profits arising. Mangold Wmtzel, per acre 5 to 6 tbs. Ditto, for a drill of 150 feet ] oz. Swedish Tumii), per acre 3 tbs. Ditto, jjcrdi-iUof ISOfeet... 1 oz. Carrots, large kinds, per acre 4 to 5 lbs. Ditto, per di-ill of 120 feet 1 oz. Ditto, the horn in beds, 8 sq. yds. 1 oz. Pai'snips, per acre ;? to 4 lbs. Ditto, per drill of 200 feet 1 oz. Common Turnip, per acre 2 to 3 lbs. Ditto, per 100 squai'e feet ... i- oz. Broad Beans, per row of 90 feet 1 pint Peas, the smaller Idnds, per row of 60 feet 1 pint Ditto, the larger classes, per row of 80 feet 1 pint Onions, per 9 square yards 1 oz. Leeks, per 2 square 3"ards ^ oz. Lettuce, per 4 square yards ^ oz. Radishes, per 4 square yards 1 oz. Spinach, per 90 square feet 1 oz. Ditto, per chill of 120 feet 1 oz. Brocoh, Cabbage, Caidiflower, Kale, Sa- voy, Brussels sprouts, and the gi-eeu tribes generally, in seed beds, per 4 square j'ards h oz. Mowing Ghass. — Those who desire a decent crop of hay, should now withdi-aw stock of aU kinds from such land as soon as possible. If manure has not been applied for the aftermath, a little should be laid on immediately; if to spare, choosing such as is rather littery, and reserving the rotten manm'e for the 180 THE COTTAGE GABDENER. root crops. It is astonisliing what a benefit even the protection afibrded by litteiy duug is, merely in carrying over tlie cold winds, provided it is applied in the autumn. One gi'eat misfortune with some of cm- small holders of farms of about a couple or three acres, is overstocking ; by which means they never get a good crop of hay. Such small holders not only keep a cow, but frequently attempt to rear young stock ; and we acknowledge, that seven or eight pounds for a young lieifer is certainly rather tempt- ing. This, however, flings these holders, by degi'eea, out of a regular and good system, for they become compelled to gi'azo the meadows intended for mowing too late; and their cow is, of com'se, not kept as she should be, when in milk, during winter. Soot fOK ^Manure. — We may remind the cottager to bo sure and take care of tliis valuable manure. It merely requires to be kept dry until wanted. If there is no other use for it, sow it on the mowing gi-ouud forthwith. AVe think it better reserved for tillage piu'poses, however; and, in such cases, it should not be applied too long beforehand. We have foimd it excellent for drill cropping, blended with a small amoimt of guano and gyjisum. Four bushels of soot, half a hundred weight of Penivian guano, and one bundi'ed weight of gypsiun, will make an excellent drill dressing, and will cause a very small amount of manure to go a long way. It is well, however, to mix some ordinary sand or soil witli it ; this reduces the caustic character of the soot, Viy dividing its particles, and make it go farther. Old, mellow, rotten vegetables, tan, or leaves, would he capital — too much could scarcely be added. As much as thirty or forty bushels per acre is commonly applied in farming operations. It is of much use applied to growing crops also. THE COW AND THE PIG. We must now begin to fall in with the design of oiir supplementary number — in endeavouring to fur- nish some useful information with regard to the cow. Such will lead to an economy in the apportionment of the soil somewhat different from the quarter or half- acre allotment. Two prime pomts here offer themselves to our view, and these must be allowed to influence the whole consideration. The one is — how to secure a good winter's fodder in the shape of hay or straw ; and the other — to provide a due amomit of keeping roots, such as Swedes and mangold, in order to force milk after calving time, or to assist in laying in sufficient condition diu'ing a long winter, in connexion with straw, &c,, whilst the cow is dry. The production of these materials will be a question for the next month ; in th(! nicautime we may render service to the uninfonned, by offering a few observations of a general character. Economy of Fodder. — ^Muoh fodder is wasted cither through slovenly or inattentive management, or through using up, at certain periods, materials somewhat too good for the puiiiose. Thus, for a cow recently calved, and sufficiently out of danger fi'om what is termed "milk fever," the food can hardly he of too generous a character. But for one near calv- ing, or immediately after, the lUmost caution is necessai'y, — indeed, many losses occur through mat- ters of this khul, of which we have had ample proofs in oiu' days. Strange to say, that although the dairy farmer has far more fodder of a stimulating cliaracter at conmiand than the cottager, yet we know from experience that the cottager, at least in our part (ChesMre), looses more cows during their calving than the farmer. And why? The farmer's stock is fed by one simple system — no petting here. But the cottager's dame, who is generally a person of thrifty habits, thinks she can scarcely do too much for the animal, and regardles of calving, or other critical periods, treats tlie cow on the same footing, or nearly so, as the feeding hogs. Hence the numerous in- flammatory attacks wliich attend the calving of " petted" cows. These matters we propose to explain more at length by and by ; in tlie meantime, we recommend uuich caution at such periods. The cottager who is short of hay at this time should endeavour to purchase a little good oat straw, in order to help his hay out; more especially if his cow has been some time in nulk, is in calf, and approaching the drying period. This, with some chopped mangold or Swedes, daOy, will keep the cow in good heart, and enable the cottager to preseiwo some good hay until she calves. Inferior hay, or any of a mouldy or flavoiuless character, may be rendei-ed palatable by sprinkling it with hot water, in which a handful or two of salt has been dissolved. It is astonishing what a quantity of inferior fodder may be worked up in this way with a little of a better sort, some good old straw, &o. If the cow is in full milk, it is absolutely necessary that she have a good diet iu-doors at this ])eriod. If there be any mangold or Swedes, some should be cut up twice a day, and given with some good hay. Our j)ractice is, to slice the mangold very thin, and sprinkle a handful or two of bran amongst it, shaking the whole together. In fact any sweet meal, such as Indian corn, will answer the purpose well. Rough carrots or parsnips, not worth the preser'sdug, may occasionally be sliced with the mangold or Swedes. Ptgs. — If tlie cow is either dry, or about becoming so, some of the root-crops may be spared for feeding swine. ^Mangold, Swedes, parsnips, and carrots, are all excellent nuiterials for the pig, more especially if boiled, and where a cow is kept, if whey or butter- milk is added, together with, of course, some meal. We use Indian corn meal, which we obtain from Livei-pool for something less than twenty shillings a '■ load," which is about foin- bushels in bidk. We do not think that anything can be more economical than this ; much, however, depends on the situation, and sometimes gTeater facilities exist for obtaining barley- meal, oatmeal, &c. &c., of which we shall have more to say in succeeding supplements. In concluding, let us urge upon the cottier — remember the old saying, " a-armth is half meat." Indeed, a warm bed of diy straw will render less food necessary, and general cleanliness will promote health in tiie animal, and the increase of the manure heap. MY FLOWERS. (No. 13.) The rose thrives best in a rich, strong soil. Moss roses prefer a cool soil, and the white rose wfll not do well unless it has been budded on a dog-rose. Roses form many beautiful objects in a lady's garden, and give little trouble. A selection might be made which would eualile us to possess tliem from the eiu'ly spring to a late period ui the autiunn — and, indeed, the China rose so totally dcHes the cold of winter, that even in that inclement season wo may enliven the work-table with their delicate flowers. A piUar of roses has a charming efl'cct, and may be made without much expense or difficulty. Three THE COTTAGE GARDENEE. 187 or four tall fir poles placed iii a striking situatiou, within a few inches of each other, and united by a few cross sticks, to form a sort of ti-ellis, wiU be quite suiBcient, as the roses wiU soon cover it, and conceal its rough workmanslrip. Three or foiu' rich-coloiu'ed roses planted round it — or more, according to the size of the fi'ame — and pruned judiciously, produce a splendid effect, and are well worth some care in the selection. A column covered with some of the follow- ing roses would be the most beautiful ornament a lady's garden could possess, — viz., Brennus Blaiii, Belle Parabere, George the Foiuth, Fulgens, and Cocctnea Superba. But where ladies wish to avoid ti'ouble, and sometimes expense, in procuring varieties, lovely eifect may be produced by planting the dark- floweringChinarose, the white cluster, and thecommon China, roimd the pillar or column, adding, as oppor- tunity offers, any fresh varieties that may fall in our way. Roses for pillars requne to be strengthened and enriched by manure laid freely over then- roots, on the surface of the soil. This should be done in winter, and again just before the flowering season ; for they requh-e to have the soU moist when in flower, and will also bloom for a longer period when this is attended to. The unsightliness of this plan may be prevented by laying moss thickly over the manm'e, and placing flint stones over that again, to keep the birds from disturbing it in seeking for woi'ms. This will give it a more pleasing appear- ance than by covering the roots in any other way, and enable you to season the top-dressing without any difBculty. Another way of placing poles to support roses, is by fixing them in the ground at equal distances, two or tlu'ee feet asunder, and joining them at the top somewhat in the shape of a pyi-amid. Two difterent colom'ed roses might be placed at the foot of each stake, and tJie efl'ect would be very good, jirovided the garden is large enough to admit of these kind of objects ; but in small gardens care and judgment is required, that they may not be crowded with devices, which give, in small spaces, an air of Cockneyism, and lose all th eir beauty. Country gardens sometimes contain trees, such as the Mountain Ash, Acacia, Bii-ch, &c., which might all support climbing roses, and enrich the general appearance very much. By scooping out the soil at the foot of the tree, and re- placing it with rich earth to receive the rose, covering the surface with manure, and attendiug to the process of pruning, a very short time would sulBee to alter the look of a neglected garden, and make it exceed- ingly gay- In small gardens, where we ai'e obliged to adopt strait walks, one of the prettiest contrivances to display the rose, is a trellis on each side of a walk, about a foot and a half within the borders. It should be a lightly-formed trellis, five or six feet in height, and the roses should be planted at even distances, not very far apart. The treUis I have seen was covered with small wliito cluster roses, and this I tlunk diminished the efl'ect, for a variety of colour would look far prettier, and if possible a succession should be arranged, so that the trellis should remaiu for some time in a blooming state. Yet even as it was, the effect was lovely ; and I shall not easily forget how much I was charmed with it. In the ^'icinity of towns, where ground is scarce, a double trellis ii-om the garden-gate to the door would be pretty, and the unavoidable formality overlooked. Town gardens might be beautified in tliis way, according to theii- size and position; for a trellis will not injm-e anything by its shade, or take up un- necessary room, and the more we crowd oru- gardens with these lovely and delicious flowers, the more then- general beauty wiU be increased. Manj; very beautiful flowers woidd weaiy us, if we cultivated them only ; but I do not tliink that either om- eyes or heaa-ts would weaiy of the rose. It reminds us of that gloi-ious time when " the desert shall blossom as the rose," that gi-aceful image chosen to express the beauty and fi-agrance of the Chiu-ch of Chiist — thus again leading oiu- minds fi-om caitldy to heavenly things. •January is the proper time for pnming roses in general. I say in general, because there ai-e some exceptions. lii bushes the shoots should be annually shortened to nine inches ; this produces much wood and flowers. If roses are left unpruned tLQ the spriug shoots are about an iuch long, and the old wood is then cut back to below where the new shoots had sprung fi-om, flowers will be produced some weeks later than if primed at an earlier season, and thereby a succession is secm-ed. Climbing roses should not be much shortened in height, but every year the stems should be reduced in number, when they exceed five or six, as they will then shoot more riclily and vigorously. Fom- years' old wood should be cut out of every ti-ee and bush. The Yellow Banksian rose must on no account be touched with the knife at this season, but be pruned immediately after the blooming season is over. To retai'd the blooming season, prune back when you can just see the flower-buds. Cultivation is necessary to plants, and so ispruning. How few plants and ti-ees there are that do not need the knife, that would not run into wild disorder, and bear weak flowers and worthless fruit without it. While we, in oiu- finite skilfvdness, clip, and head back, our- choicest jilants, or cut out vigorous stems that seem so promising, knowing that we are thereby strengthening, beautifying, and enrichmg them, let us learn how good, and wise, and mercifiil, are those sharp deep strokes of the heavenly Husbandman, that cut down om- hopes, thin out the blessings oru- affections cling to, and sever us fi-om so many objects that would cause our hearts to run into un'profitablo wUdness, instead of dedicating all we have and are to the use of Him who has planted and nourished us. When we fear the knife's keen edge, let us thirik of our rose trees, and learn a salutaiy lesson from them. The Yellow Banksia rose is one 'of the most elegant climbers I know, and is well suited for the waU of a mansion, as well as for that of a cottage. The finest I ever saw completely covered the fi-ont of a flue old moated residence in Essex, and the efl'ect was really exquisite. The house seemed as if powdered with gold, and the gi-ave and somewhat gloomy style of building was enlivened, without our feeling that the decoration was not in character with the place. I-sy, or evergreen thorn, are sometimes too dark and heavy in then- appearance to be desirable in gloomy situ- ations, and in this case I can recommend the Yellow Banksia rose, for I have seen its beauty and its pro- priety in such situations. Climbing roses of every colour and shade may be selected for training ag'ainst walls or houses, but I always prefer the most decided colours, as producing the best effect ; deep crimson, bright scarlet, and yellow roses mix well, and look strikingly brilliant as they interlace eacli other. Perfectly white roses contrast well with the deep coloiu;s, but I do not so much admire pale pink or blush, the effect is seldom rich, which is of tlie greatest consequence in a 188 THE COTTAGE GAEDENEB. garden. Iii Natiu'e, strong conti-asts aud glowing colours are ever agi-eeable to the eye ; nothing offends us there. But in art, how unjjlcasing they are, and how essential it is to soften, and blend, and subdue them ! This is a striking proof of the perfection of God's works. The more we study them in the majesty of creation, the more we shall feel the poverty and insipidity of man's devices, and shall cease to wonder how it is that scarlet, and yellow, and gi-een, should be so lovely in the fiower-bed, and so offensive to the eye when jumbled together in a dress or a drawing-room. The hand of God throws together in rich magnificence the most opposing colours — yet how harmonious they are, when issuiiig from the loom of the Creator I when He has called tliem forth, and lighted them up with the beams of a summer sun ! Whoever enters a glowing flower- garden, must surely feel and acknowledge tliis. Climbing roses, like the ivy, form a most beautifid undergrowth among trees. They must be planted with care, and the earth loosened lor some space round them, as in these situations it is generally hard and full of roots. Peg down the branches as they advance, so that they may root, and throw out their sprays thickly around in sportive luxuriance. If trees stand very close together, of course the rose will not thrive ; but there are many spots where grass gTOws well that wiU not admit of flowers in general, and here the rose will spread, and flourish, and look lovely. Two or three shoidd be planted in difl'erent places, and of different colours, aud then tliey would intermingle their blossoms, and give a very gay appearance to the ground. I do not admire standard roses, they are insufi"er- alily stift' and dull ; but among shrubs, wliere rose bushes would make no appearance, they do well, and their ungraceful forms are concealed. In borders or on lawns they are, I think, most ungainly ; but I luive ofteu thought that if climbing roses were budded on standards, instead of looking like liouse- maid's brooms, as they now do, the sprays woidd wave gracefully down, and fall like a drapery round the stem, which would entirely change their sttfl", awkward look, and make them highly ornamental. I shoidd like to know whether tliis plan has ever been adopted. Many jiersons object to training roses aud other creepers against the walls of their liouses, particularly when they are faced with cement or built with stone ; the nails injure and deface them. This may be entirely prevented by placing a light framework of veiy narrow- pieces of wood, not thicker than one's little finger, against the wall, as high and as broad as you choose the plants to spread. The trellis nuist bo crossed to strengthen it, and to enable you to train the branches in all du-ections, but the squares may be as wide as you like, and, of course, the larger they are tlie less wood-work will be necessary. This plan preserves tlio waU I'rom much or indeed any damage, and if painted green gives a warm and verdant look, even before the creepers have reached any height ; and, if it is painted the exact colour of the house, wUl scarcelv be noticed at all ; but paint must be used, to preserve the wood. The branches aud shoots must he tied to the trellis witli string or strips of matting, aud this is far less unsightly than the shreds usually cm- ployed, which disfigm'e light creepers even when in leaf, and in ^dntei- have a very frightfid look on the bare walls. The small, highly-Bcented, Scotch rose, is a very lovely member of this numerous family. Its blossoms md leaves are bo small, and it has sueh a crumpled look, that it does not sb-ike the fancy at first, but its il-agrance soon wins regard and makes it a gi-eat favourite. I have seen tins rose fonned into large round balls, by constant and careftd chipping ; aud, although I have an aversion to formality, I admire it when thus shaped exceedingly. The little delicate blossoms nearly cover the ball, aud it has a pleasing as well as novel effect. An entire bed of roses has a very rich and gay appearance when neatly pruned and clipped, so as to give it a dome-like shape, with a standard in the centre by way of finish ; but let its head only appear from among the surrounding foHage. The rose is so easy to manage, so docile, and so ready to adapt itself to our wishes, that gardens might be far- more pleasingly an-anged than they are, if we would give up striving after difficulties, aud improve possibilities. We long after delicate, troublesome plants and trees, disregard- ing those that cheerfully offer us uimvalled charms, because they are common and old-fashioned. This is not taste, but it springs from something more than want of taste. Ai-e we not in other things too apt to overlook those blessings we possess, and those means we might so usefidly employ ; and crave, like children, for wliat we cannot have, or that would disappoint us if we could ? Let us train our I'oses, twine our lioney- sucldes, prune our wild straggling creepers, aud enjoy their luxuriant sweetness with quiet, thoughtful minds. The book of Natme has a chapter for every one of us, and by observing how much the simplest and less esteemed flowers might add to the enjoyment and embellishment of our homes, we may be led to feel that " common" daily mercies and means are far more wholesome and good for us than all we weary ourselves to obtain. Let us always remember this. NEW HARDY AND GREENHOUSE PLANTS WORTH CULTIVATING. BnisTT.Y CncETOGASTKA. (ChcetogastrastHgosa). — ■ This greenhouse plant was obtained by Messrs. Veitch, of Exeter, from Guadaloupe. Its greatest height is eight inches ; and its numerous bright crim- son flowers are fully open in August. It is propagated by cuttings of the half-ripened wood, planted in light soil or sand, under a glass, and with a gentle bottom- heat. The best soil for it is made of leaf-mould and sandy peat in equal quantities, with a little light garden soil added. The pots must be well drained. — Pn.vt.on'.i Magazine of Botany, xv. 26^. Neumann's Passion-Flower. [Passijiora Neiiman- nil). — A hardy hybrid, named in honour of M. Neu- mann, of the Jardin des Plantes, at Paris. It very much resembles the common Passion-flower, bloom- ing in August, thriving in a light garden soU, and being propagated the same as the plant last men- tioned.— /ftf/i. 270. Kajitschatkia STONEcnoi'. {Scdum Kamtschathia). — This perennial, native of the snowy region of which it bears the name, is a hardy ornamental plant, first cultivated in England in 1846. Its flower-stems are not higher than eight inches, and it blooms during ■Jmie and Jidy. Like other succuleuts, it will thrive best in the cbiest soils ; for, as Mr. Maimd observes, '• they have a life-preservoi- wrapped about them — not a protector fi'om the sea, but from the sun. This is their cuticle (or outer skin), which admits of the pas- sage of moisture from within as well as from without, but in a due and definite proportion in every plant." — Maund't Botanic Garden, No. 1155. [The flowers ar* THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 189 yellow, tipt with scarlet. It is easily projiagated, either by dividing the roots or by cuttings ; aud it wUl tbrive on any Ught, well-drained soil, or on rook- work.— Ed. G. G.] NEW VEGETABLES. Be.4n. — Du-arf crimson-seeded. — ^From Messrs, Vil- morin. This is probably a cross between' the Dwarf Fan aud the A^iolette, mentioned in our list of tbe bean varieties, at page 60. Height one foot ; pods roundish and 3 inches long ; seeds crimson. It does not appear to be in any respect superior to tbe Dwarf I'an, but, like it, is excellent for mixed cropping. Leek. — Large Rouen. — (Poii'eau tres-gi'os do Rouen). — -From Messrs. Vilmorin. Larger and greener than either the London flag or the Nether- lauds leelcs. Well deserving to be cidtivated. Beet. — Barrot's New Crimson. — From Mr, Glen- dinnmg. Probably a sub-vaiiety of the Castlenau- daiy, than which it is rather larger, and less Uable to fork ; but, like it, the leaf-stalks are yellowish. It has been gi'own iu the Horticultural Society's Gar- den, and there pronounced to be " The best variety Imown," — Hort. Soc. Journal, iv. Celekv. — Cole's Superb Bed Solid. — Raised by Mr. Cole, gardener to H. CoUyer, Esq., Dartford, Kent. Usually, each head weighs 6|-1ds. Colour good, and said to be excellent. OLEANDER SCALE. Having lately received a fine oleander as a present, which was much infested with the scale, I have suc- ceeded in cleansing it and bringing it into a healthy state, by merely using a paU filled with luke-warm water, and with a fine sponge thoroughly washing every leaf on both sides ; regularly watering it eveiy day also, when the weather has been sufficiently dry. It is about six or eight weeks since the plant was washed, and there is not the least appeai'ance of the return of these destructive insects, Tliey are, I be- lieve, chiefly produced by a dry heat, wiiich, above all things, is most distasteful to tliis elegant green- house shrub. GOOSEBERRIES AND RHUBARB. If yoiu' notice of tlie largest gooselieiTies, grown in 1S48, is correct, the largest Companion was grown here by Thomas Rowser, vi/.., 28 dwts. 3 qrs. We have hero, also, John Baker, tbe raiser of Turn Out; he is an old veteran in the gooseberry growing. I have beard of him carrying a bag of deer's dung fom- mUes upon his back to make liquid manure witb. It is very interesting to see the fruit (gooseberries) nn tbe trees just before the exhibition. This neigh- bourliood is famous for gooseberry growing, but many of the growers are veiy dishonest. jSIy partner, W. Bailey, has raised a fine variety of rhubarb, " Monarch" from the Earbj Pontic and Victoria; he has another very fine one not yet out, from the same parents. Jos. B.VLL, Longton Farms, Potteries. LIQUID MANURE. In your editorial remarks, at the end of mine, on tbe " Culture of Celery," you say by fixing ammoiua ill liquid manine, we suppose Mr. Tm-ner means adding a little oil of vitriol (sulphuric acid) to the liquor obtained by dissolving sheep's or deer's dimg in water. I beg to say, I either mean sheep's or deer's dimg ; or, in fact, any other dimg or Uquid that contains ammonia. My conviction is, that we, the " gardeners of England," are not alive to the importance and utility of many valuable Uquids, which we sihTer to be thrown away as useless, or worse than useless, wliich, if properly understood and apphed, would be found liigbly advantageous in garden cultui'e. The Cliinese are, I believe, a centuiy before us in these matters. I was much pleased with tbe anec- dote that bears on this subject in the " Cottage G.iUDEXER," (page 144). I have acted on that, or a similar principle, some time — I think with advantage to myself. I have a large cask, which holds 70 or 80 gallons, placed at a respectable distance from the house. 1 have put into tliis cask all the bed-chamber and other slops that are made about the house, including the dish-washings, soap-suds, &c. When the cask is near full, I take f fb. of sirlphm-ic acid (it costs about a penny), and pour this into tbe cask. Efiervesoence (great bubbling) wUl take place, and keep up for a day or two. When this has ceased, the ammonia is '■ fixed," (has united to the sulpbmic acid,) and may be thrown on the manure heap, aud covered with a little manure, or I tlu'ow it on my heap of vegetable refuse, as I think it not only has a tendency to des- troy insects, but mal;es the refuse sooner ready to be applied to the manuring pm'poses for whicli I want it. Either in the spring or summer I make an addi- tion, by puttiug a little mauiue to tbe slops before- named, then add the sulphuric acid, and when the effervescence has ceased, I apply it to anything I wish to stimulate, sometimes tUhUing ^vith a little water where I tliink it woidd be too strong for the purposes wanted. I do not stand alone in this matter, — tbe editor of the Midland Florist (in tho January number), in answer to a correspondent, who asks — '• what is the hcst method to dispose of liquid manure during winter?" — says, " we should advise the ammonia to be fixed, it may then be thrown over the soil, or vegetable refuse, and soil again be thrown on the top. We arc fuUy persuaded that every person who is at all alive to the importance of fertilization of the soil, may gain much by paying attention to the subject of liqiud maniu'os. Occasional doses to tho roots of fruit-ti'oes would be sorvioable." Jno. Turnee, Neepscnd, Sheffield. RAISING CARNATIONS FROM SEED. ] All told that if a flower is properly impregnated, it wiU drop its petals m twentj'-four bom-s afterwards, and tho pod wUl begin to swell. I am a workiug man aud an amateur florist, and have grown the carnation and picotee for some years, and have always been successhd iu the blooming of them : tliat is to say, I have produced flowers that would not have disgraced any show in England, but I have always failed in obtaining seed. This last season I let all my flowers stand for seed ; plaoeil all tlie car- nations at one end of the stage, and the piootees at the other; felt the pods, some of which were hard and seemed to be swelling ; cut off the decayed petals ; and let tlie pods remain on until the flower- stems were quite dry and withered, but not a single seed was iu any oi' tliem, I liavo plenty of bees, flies, aud otlier insects, in my garden, aud I should liave thought that they would have caused some of the flowers to be impregnated. I certainly have never taken the trouble to dissect either a carnation, 190 THE COTTAGE GABDENER. picotee, or pink, not liking to destroy one of my lavoiu-ites while in theii- most lieautiful ftate, but tlie most common observer must have seen the horns gi-owing out of tliosc flowers, wliieh I have always considered to be tlie stamens or male organs, but I never saw any pollen upon them. If Mr. Appleby will go into the detail of this sub- ject, and enlighten me upon it, through the medium of the CoTT.tGE G.\nDENEU, I shall esteem it a favour, and will be gratefully obliged to him for it. — G. K. [Om- con-espoudent will see that liis request has been complied with. — Ed. C. (?.] LANCASHIRE GOOSEBERRIES. In consequence of some remarks on this subject in page 114 of The Cott.\ge G.^rdenek, many of your subscribers have been induced to seudinto Lancashire for a supjjly of these excellent fruit-trees, and I advise those who have done so, not to jilant them at this season of the year in the situation where they are intended to remain, but in some sheltered spot, reducing their branches to three in number, each of them abo\it five inclies long, and arranged so as to form a triangle. Plant a few early potatoes amongst them, and let the trees remain until September, by which time they will liave sent forth some prime shoots, but only one shoot must be allowed to grow from each side of the three iiramdies. The trees should be planted about three inches deep, placing the roots, which must be pruned and shortened, free from each other ; and near to the ends of the roots, make a small ridge of manure around them. Close up the whole with fine earth, and put some old cow or horse manure on the surface. It the season be drj', water them until the last week in September, and then remove them to the situation in which they are to remain, which may be done with little injury to them, if they are re-planted as before dnected, and watered at the same time with a little liquid maniuT. By this means, some fine fruit may be expected the following year. The branches which are cut away at the first planting should also lie planted at the same time, with a little moss at tlie lower end. and in a rather inclined position, as they are found to root lietter thus than when placed upright. Keep them well watered with liquid manure, in a shaded situation — and, at the proper time, I hope to renew my observations on the subject. M. Saul, Garstnii'j. THE BKE. (Continual from p. 141). Foil the sake of those who have not made the natural history of the bee tlieir study, I would state that a colouy of bees contains three kinds: First, the (piecn, the mother of the whole liive ; Sndly, the working, or female non-breeders; and ."irdJy, the drones or males, who do not work, hare no sting, and are seldom foimd in hives but in the summer time. These tbi'cc sorts ;u'e hatidied in three kinds of cells built by the workers. The hone\'-bee is foimd in all the five great divisions of the world, and is the only ins(^ct that lays by a winter store. The Qceen Bee is almost an inch long, her tongue shorter than common bees, and her wings propor- tionalily less. She does not gather houey, propolis, or farina. She is of a deeper ooloiu- above, and rich tawny colour underneath : her antcnufe possess an exquisite sense of feeling ; her legs ai'o shorter, and her proboscis slenderer than the workers ; lier sting is bent, and it is probable she never uses it. but against a rival queen. She has no baskets on her hinder legs for farina; has an ovaiy which contains above 5,000 eggs at once, and she lays in the course of tlie summer ."JO daily for two months, and may lay, it is said, 12, 000. The eggs wliicli arc to produce queens, are placed by her in larger round cells made for the purpose, and the maggots are fed upon royal food adapted only for their use, which appeal's like jelly. The royal eggs pass in three days into mag- gots or larvfe, and in five days more the bees close the cell ; in 24 hours, the embiyo queen spins a coc- coon. On the 12th day she becomes a nymph, in which state she passes 4^ days. On the IBth day the perfect state of queen is attained. It is to be observed, that while workers and drones spin com- plete coccoons, the royal lan-a; make imperfect ones, covering only the liead and fore part of the body, and thus leaving themselves exposed to the mortal sting of the first hatched queen, who seeks the de- struction of those who would become her rivals. When she destroys all the larva; in the royal cells, the working bees ai'e quiet spectators. If the queen is confined to the hive 20 days, and afterwards per- mitted to fly abroad, she only lays tlie eggs of cb'ones, and no other kind as long as she lives. In this case her instinct suifers, and she lays her eggs indiscri- minately in various cells. When this is the case, her abdomen becomes so large as to incapacitate her from flying, and she loses all animosity to her rivals. Thus Kirby remarks, " that she seems to own she is not equal to the duties of her station, and can tole- rate another to discharge them in her room." The eggs laid in workers' cells produce small drones, by reason of the maggot being compressed and ex- pansion prevented. Whenever the queen begins to lay male eggs, the bees always construct royal cells. When the queen lays drone eggs in royal cells, the workers are deceived, and treat the maggot di-ones as if they were young queens ; but if fertile workers lay their eggs in royal cells, the bees never fail to destroy them. The queen always puts to death prolific work- ers whenever she finds them out. Slu^ never leaves the hive except to meet the drones hi the air, which is only once in two years, or to lead out a swarm when the hive is too crowded for its inhabitants. Forty-six hours after her first expedition she begins to lay eggs, and for eleven months only lays workers' eggs. In May, an old queen lays a great number of male eggs, and never leads out a swarm until she has finished all this kind of egg. All swarms after tho first are conducted by young virgin queens. On the following day, if the weather permits, they take their aerial exuiu-sions, and this is usually when five days old. Mr. Huber deprived a queen of one of her an- tennie, without further apparent injury, but when she was deprived of both, she was much deranged, and dropped her eggs at random. He put another queen into tlie hive, which had been deprived of both antenn.-B. He observed that these queens had lost all natm-al animosity to each other, and that both endeavoured to leave the hive. It is (KfBcrdt to say what organs of sense are combmed in the feelers of a queen bee. God has inspired queens with suffi- cient instinct to know the species of eggs which tliey are about to lay, and to deposit them in suitable cells — namely, drones in the larger, and workers in the small ccUs. A queen will not suffer any rival in the hive, but will kill any queen which may be intro- duced, or die in the fight ; but working bees npver THE COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 191 Tise theii- sting against a queen bee, either theii- own or one introduced. The queen does not commonly feed herself, but is fed by the working bees. AVheu bees have lost then- queen, they will not admit a stranger, unless 24 hours have elapsed since the loss of then' own queen. The old queen always conducts the tii'st swarm, but never quits the liive before depositing eggs in royal cells, from which other queens will proceed at her depar- tiu'e. The queen sometimes penetrates the cells of the males, and continues very long motionless in them. She has power to utter a sound, at which the bees become motionless. In the swarming season the bees will not let the queen kill royal larvse, and this contention is the ultimate cause of swanning. When the queen is taken ovit of the hive, for some time it is not perceived ; but in about two hom-s the hive becomes a scene of tumult. On retm-niug her to tbe bees, they become quiet almost immediately. If an egg of the working bee kind be placed in a royal cell, and the maggot fed on royal food, tlie egg will become a queen ; and in this way the bees form a queen, when the old one has by some accident lost her life. If worker maggots Tmder three days old have their cells enlarged, and are fed upon royal food, they become queens. If there be no young brood in the hive, the production of a new queen cannot take place, and the hive will come to an untimely end. Thisiransforraation may appear' strange, but changes take place according to cu'cumstanees in other ani- mals. Thus, when a cow has two calves, and one of them is a female, she is generally ban-en, and is called a Free-martin. I believe this is also the case with Imman beings. Scantiness of space and food prevents the development of the ovai-ies. If the larvas of the working bee be fed upon royal food with- out haA-ing the cell enlarged, the}' become fertUe. but only to produce drones. They are not indifferent in the choice of cells, but will \ise smaller when larger are not to be had. In this case, small drones are the consequence. Thus working bees have the genu of an ovary, but it does not expand, imless the bee has received royal food wliile a wonn. In the operation of laying, the queen puts her head into a cell for a second or two to see if it be empty, and then lays an egg, which is attached to the bottom by a glutinous substance. The royal egg attains the winged state in sixteen days, the worker in twent)', and the drone egg in twentj'-fom- days. The (^gg is of a slender oval shape, and, like a bml's egg, it has a large and a small end. In a late swarm the queen does not lay her eggs in forty-six hom-s as in early swarming, but she does not begin until the following sprmg. Usually the queen lays only one egg m each cell, but for want of cells three or foiu' have been found in one. In tliis case, the workers remove aU. but one. Huber confined a bee where tliere were only cells of drones, but she tried to make her escape, and at length di-opped her eggs, which were eaten by the workers. The Woukisg Bees. — The body of a working bee is about hah" an inch long, blackish brown, and wholly covered with hair, to assist in collecting fai'iua from flowers. The head is of a triangidar shape, with two large black oblong immoveable eyes, thicldy studded around with hairs, to preserve them trom dust. There ai-e also three coronetted eyes on the ci'own of the head in the form of a triangle, and aji- propriated to upward vision. The bee is furnished with two antennas, whose exti-emities are tipped with round knobs, very sensible organs of feeling. It has four wings, the imder pair- smaller. Their teeth serve as tools in working wax. The proboscis with which many insects are endowed, in the bee is composed of two pieces connected with a joint ; so that, when not wanted, it is doubled up and hes secure under a scaly pent-house. It is admirably adapted to extract juices from flowers. Its abdomen is divided into six scaly rmgs, which shorten the body by slipping one over the other. It contains two stomachs, the small in- testines, the venom bag, and the sting. Paley re- marks, " the action of the sting affords an example of chenusti-y and mechanics : — of chemisti-y, in respect to the venom which can produce such powerful effects ; of mechanism, as the sting is not a simple but a com- pound instrument. The machinery would have been comparatively useless, had it not been for the chemi- cal process, bj' which, in the insects body, honey is converted into poison — woidd have been ineflectual without an instiaiment to wound, and a syringe to inject the fluid." The honey-bag is the size of a small pea. In this bag the bees fetch water, to mix with the fai-ina for feeding the young. The sting of a bee ynil pierce a gnat-skin glove. It penetrates human sldn more readily than the finest point of a needle. The sting consists of two piercers conducted in a gi'oove. The piercers are serrated on the outward edge, and can be thrust beyond the gi-oove. The serrated edges prevent the bees from (Usengaging themselves, and tbey generally fall vic- tims to tlieir own attack, by leaving behind then- sting and part of then- viscera : why they are thus sacrificed appears sti-ange, and I have nothing to ofier on the subject. The bee will not connnonly use her sting but near the hive, and the workers do not use it against each other, but only their pincers. It is stated by "Wndman the elder, that bees labour night and day ; part reposing in the night, and part in the day. Pidey observes, " the harmless phuidcrer rifles the sweets, but leaves the flowers immjiu-ed." The labom-ers gi-eatly exceed in number the other kinds, and in winter are the only kind, with the ex- ception of one queen. These construct the whole hive, and are smidler than the queen or males. They are all females in construction ; but when they breed, which is seldom, their eggs only produce di'oues. The queen alone is the mother of the workers. The number of labourers varies from tlu-ee to nine thousand. Eeaumer found that -386 of them weighed an oz., and that lOn drones were of the same weight. Butlar found 280 of them weighed iin oz. WOdman 308 „ „ „ Keys 290 „ „ „ Tlie writer of this lectm-e 240 dead bees. Hunter wet his bees to make them toiqiid, and fomul that a pint held 2160 Keys says, •' a pint wiU only hold 1830." Bees bred in old hives are smaller tlian those bred in new ; this will explain the difterence in weight and measure, in the statements of various writers. Many animals have the power of regurgitating (chewing the cud), some for the sake of better diges- tion, as cows and sheep ; crows and pigeons to feed then- young ; but the bee has it to deposit her store in the hive. The resei-voir for honey is on the left of the stomach, Any one accustomed to bees will ob- serve that tbey ai-e cajmble of maldng several sounds. "N^liat they make when flying they can vary at pleasure. It arises jiartly from the wings, hut rf the wings be made to stick together witii any glutin- ous substance, it is still found that a bee can make a 193 THE COTTAGE GARDENEE. noise, aud even if the wings be cut quite off. Before swarming, it is said tliat there is a sound to be heard, the same witli (A), an octave higher tlian lower (A) of the treble of a piano-forte. When colonies of bees intend to eniisrate, scouts are sent out to find a new habitation. Hollow trees obtain their preference, when they can be found ; and a staict examination is made of them, to determine whether they are fit for the puifose, and tliis is done by a continual succes- sion of different bees for various days. The maggots which are to become workers are fed upon farina of flowers, wldch is collected in great abundance in bas- kets on the legs of the bees in the warm months. It is stated by lleaumer, "that 100 Ifes. of faiina are brought into the hive in one year." This is only used for the pm'pose mentioned, aud is not formed into wax, as was once ignorantly presumed ; but wax is formed fi-om honey by a particular elaboration in tlie stomach of the bee. Swarms of bees confined by Huber, and fed only on liquid sugar, produced wax ; as did another swarm fed upon honey only. The bees fed upon sugar pro- duced more wax than those fed upon honey, so that it is jiarticulavly desirable to feed bees ujion sugar when newly hived, in order to assist the bees in the formation of wax. If we slit down a cell of farina, we commonly find it composed of layers of different colours — deeji orange ycUow and brown. When a bee canies farina into the hive, she puts her hind legs into the intended cell, and tlien brushes ofi" the farina with the point of her tail from both legs, and the tvvo pieces of farina nniy be seen at the bottom of the cell : anotlier bee then enters and works them down, leaving a smooth surface : this latter operation takes about live minutes. Bees collect farina only fi'om the same kind of plant from which they begin to take their load. Tlius tiiey do not conti-ibute to produce hybridous plants. Bees are clean in their own personal acts, but are guilty of the reverse with respect to the cells of tlie maggots ; so that in time the cells become useless by the accumulation of filth, aud old liives are broken up fi'om this circumstance When the breeding season is over, the bees fill the cells iu which the larva; were hatched with honey, and seal them with wax, as they do aU other cells. This seaUng keejis the bees from daubing themselves, and the lioney from spUUng. In order to maintain the hive at a proper tempera- ture, one or more of the bees are employed in fun- ning or ventilating with their wings at the door. Iu a popiUous hive the temperature is from '.)i to 07 degrees. A great many bees in the inside, on the floor of the hive, are also employed iu fanning, and they turn their heads to the entrance while thus engaged. As soon as a bee is laden, she always flies in a direct line to the hive, and this is the way that persons who live in the woods of America discover the nests of wild bees. A plate of honey, or liquid sugar, is placed on the gromid, whicli soon attracts the bees, who having fiUed themselves, fly straight to the nests. The hunter seciu'es one or two bees, and having walked a few hrmibvd yards at right angles to the course of the bees, lets the confined bees escape, observing their course by a pocket com- pass. Where the two courses meet, is the spot wliere the nest is situated. Huber was of opinion " that the radius of the circle wliich bees traverse does not exceed a mile and a half, Imt that it is probable they do not fly fiir. Bees Juiving the thorax painted did not retm-u, if he carried them tor tweuty-five or thirty minutes from their dwelling." Plinyj.says, " Bees are put into boats in Italy, and cax'ried up the rivers in the night in search of fresh pastures. In Upper I'lgjlit, boats are filled with hives in October, and proceed slowly dowu the Nile to afford fresh pasture, luitil they arrive iu Feliruary near the sea." Perhaps something of the kiud may be done fin our rivers, aud also on our canals, if the tonnage would not take away all the profit. Bees liave memory, for if they are fed in any particular spot one year, they will return to the same place the next year, though no food is given them. Dr. Butler was of opinion that bees only live one yeai-; Thorley says, " two summers;" and Lord Bacon speaks of an instance of a bee living seven years. Huber knew a queen for two years ; but queens do not labour, uor use their wings, but very sparingly. In July bees are seen witli ragged wings; but in September they are no longer to be observed. We hope bees do not drive away theii- aged members. (To he continued.) CATCHING GAEDEN MICE. After planting my bulbs late in the autumn. 1 found nearly every morning one or more had vanished diuing the night, and tlic hole in which it was placed exposed. Thinking it was the work of mice, I put a quart jar in the middle bed up to the rim in mould, and laid a little wheat round •!. and hall filled the jar with water ; almost every night smce 1 have caught one of those destructive little animals, and frequently two or three. I am qmte aware this is no new method, but a very exceflent one I am sure it is. li. Bol-field. SCRAPS. Balji of Gileab (Bracoeephcclum canar'tense). — Tliis native of the Canary Islands was first cultivated in England by the Dueliess of Beaufort, in the year ItiiJT. Miller says it was called ]3alm of Gdead on accovmt of its fragrance ; but we quite agree with Mr. M'Jntosh, gardener at Dalkeith Palace, that we can- not account for the superstition among northern spinsters, that if they plant this flower their spinster- hood wiU eoutiuue for hie. What Influences the Flavo-jr of Vegetables? As fiir as we h-HYe been able to observe, it is an axiom witliout exception, that vegetables gro«'U on soUs most abounding with uuitters suitable for then- food are always the best flavoured, provided the situation be favourable. Schluber says, that tlie jieas grown upon a soil manured with lime or marl, boil better, and have a superior flavour than those on a dunged sod. — Onrd. Chron., 74. This, we think, is not correct, unless the soil was sufficiently fertile to bear a good crop with- out the application of any nuiuure. Lime, or super- ]diosphate of lime, is a g'ood addition to tlie soil on which the pea is grown, but the produce would be_ very indifferent, botli in quantity and quality, if there was uot an al)undance of decoiuposing organic matter in the soil. Tlu'^ same distinguished cliemist proceeds to say, that lime used as a manure for the potato, renders it more meidy and savoury. It may, if tlie crop be gi-own in the Iiumid imgemal climate of Germany, and in a retentive soil : but, in a favourable soil in this country, the best saline application is a mixtore THE COTTAGE GAEDENER. 193 of 2 lbs. common salt and 1 lb. Epsom salt to each square rod of ground. The best potatoes in England (those of Lancashire and Cheslm-e) are gi-own in light soils within the influence of the sea-haze, (which brings to them those salts), and are treated with the richest of animo-vegetable manures. The flavour of vegetables is gi'eutly influenced by then- exposure to the light, without winch they cannot duly elaborate theu- appropriate juices ; to demonstrate which, if demonstration be necessary, let a crop of peas be sown on the south and north sides of the same wall. Freedom li-om excess of moisture to the roots is another essential circumstance for obtaining full flavoured vegetables. This is only to be secured by a good system of under-draining. This is most re- markably apparent in pot-herbs. If these be gi-own in a wet soil they are luxuriant, but very deficient in the peculiar essential oils on which then- flavom-s depend. Seedsmen are not always too careful in preseiwing the purity of varieties of which they sell the seed ; but it is quite certain, on the other hand, that diflerence of soil and of cultivation will work changes on the crop gi-own, that bring censure upon the seedsman totally unmerited. Thus, we have seen Knight's Wiinkled Pea sown fi'om the same bag upon a hght and upon a heavy soil, and the produce through every stage of growth strikingly dissimilar. So. at a late meeting of the Loudon Horticifltm-al Society, some Ringleader cucumbers were exlubited. Some of them had been watered with a solution of nitrate of soda, the remain- der had been grown in loam mixed with powdered charcoal ; they were very dissimilar, the one being prickly, and the other nearly smooth. — Oardener's Almanack. TR.\XSPLA>iIING L.iKGF. EVERGREENS. Mr. Glcndill- niug, of the Cliiswick Nursery, Tm-nham Green, re- commends all evergreens, and whatever tlieir age, young or old, to be transplanted in August or Sep- tember, which last, he says, iiS "the safest month in the year." He prefers this month, because the sap is then descending, and the sim's action on the dechne; besides, he considers that the earth being yet warm aids the production of young roots diu-ing the same autumn. Preparatoi-y to moving large ever- gi'eens, he recommends a trench to be dug round them, so as to include a ball of earth not too large to move undisturbed, and the ti'ench so deep as to enable the workman to cut thi-ough all the principal roots. This is to be done in the winter previous to moving, and the trench again filled with earth. This gi-eatly facflitates the moving of the trees or shrubs. At the time of transplantmg. after they have been replanted, the roots are to be thoroughly watered with pond water. Each should be supported in its new place with thi-ee stakes, for if violently shaken by tire wind they cannot produce fresh roots. — Journal of Horticultural Soc. iv. 41. That evergreens planted in September wiU succeed if the season prove moist we have no doubt, and Mr. Glendinning we are quite sure has so succeeded ; but then we are equally sm'e that Mr. Rogers, Nm-sei-yman, of Southampton, suc- ceeded equally well in planting evergi'eens in April. They are both practical men, and we think that the error they have fallen into is mistaking an exception for the ride. If Aprfl. and May ai-e moist and are succeeded by a wet summer, Aphl-planted evergreens will succeed admirably ; and it October is wet, those planted in a moist August or September will thi-ive equally well ; — ^but what would they do if a di-y May was succeeded by a hot summer, or if September and October were, as usual, hot and diy? — Ed. O. G. Sooi Manure fob Celert. — Mr.W. Cole, gardener to H. Colyer, Esq., of Dartford, says that soot water is an excellent manm'e for celery ; and that, where worms and otlier insects are troublesome, a little dry soot dashed in along the rows will jn-event then- ravages. — Journ. of Sort. Society, iv. o(j. Earliest Conservatory or Hot-house. — Albertus Magnus possessed a structure of tliis kind in the Con- vent of the Domuiicans at Cologne. This celebrated man, who had already fallen luider the suspicion of sorcery on account of his speaking machine, enter- tained the king of the Romans, Wilhelm of Holland, on the 6th of Januaiy, 1249, in a large space in the Convents garden, where he kept up an agi'eeable warmth, and preserved frrut-trees and plants in flower tln'oughout the winter. The account of this banquet was exaggerated into a tale of wonder in the " Clu-onica Joanuis de Beka." — Humboldt's Cosmos, 2. Note xxii. and authorities there cited. Vegetable Marrow. — Mr. CutblU, Florist, of Cam- berwell, says, " I have been tiying numerous experi- ments tliis autumn with ripe vegetable marrows ; and I find they contain a rich, sugary, and farinaceous matter, and are a most exceUent and nutritious ai'ticle of diet, when dressed in the following manner : — Cut the marrows into short pieces ; take out all the pitch and seeds, and boil them in plenty of water with salt. When well boiled scrape out all the marrow, put it between two dishes and squeeze out all the water, then mash it well, adding salt, pepper, and a little butter : it is then a dish fit for any table. But my object is, strongly to draw attention to the desirableness of gx'owing marrows instead of the later Idnds of pota- toes, until more propitious seasons shall come. The early potatoes having been well taken care of during winter — as recommended in my pamphlet on the cultivation of the potato — the marrows may be sown about the first week in May, in the open gTOund in a warm corner ; when ti-ansplanting time comes, the early potatoes wiU not be near ripe ; but a root of potatoes is to be lifted every sLx or eight feet apart, in every sixth or eighth alternate row, and the niaiTowto be inserted in its place. I find that when thus planted,^ in moderately rich land, I can gi'ow twenty tons of nuuTow to the acre easily ; and. when ripe, they can be stowed away anywhere, and wUl keep good for a veiy great length of time. In addition to their utility as a vegetable for the table, they form a most economical and excellent article, when boiled, for fattening pigs; and landlords woidd do well to encom-age then- tenants to cultivate this prolific vegetable, which wUl yield them an ample return for theh labom-, in place of the later sorts ot potatoes, until more propitious seasons for the cidtivatiou of the potato shall return to us." — Oardener's Chronicle. Cottage Farming. — One of the best practical farm- ing lessons that I have ever received, was given me whilst travelling in Wales, last Februaiy twelve- mouth, by the mail between and . I had proceeded du-ect from London, and was becoming very tired from being so long shut up, when told I should find amusement, and the distance shortened, by taldng a seat for a few stages on the box. The afternoon being fine, I was thus induced to place myself by the coachman, of whose fai'ming I had been hearing wonderful accounts. We had not pro 194 THE COTTAGE G ABDEMEE. ceeded far wheu some remarks of inine, comment- ing on finding the cattle shivering in the fields at that inclement season, opened the conversation. "Ah, SU-!" said the coachman, "you may well make these remarks — these Welshmen see no farther than their pigs there, that eany tlieir ears over their eyes ; and when I holloa to them to get out of the way, are sm-e to holt between the leaders' legs. Such a thing as a dry farm-yard, well littered down, with the stock half hid in the straw, you will not sec in all Wales. They have no idea here of making their animals comfortable, or of providing manure for turnips by wintering them in their yards. No ! their poor cows and beast aj-e all exposed at this season ; starving in theh' fields, dropping their manure under hedges and trees, wliei-e it does no good, and half the summer is , lost in recovering the flesh they lose in the winter; and consequently a field of turnips is a rare sight in this country. Vegetables for man or beast at this time arc scarcely to be had ; but then it's an ill wuid that blows no one any good. Their neglect does me no hami. I drive the mail four stages out and in every day, and this gives me four hom-s a day to work in my garden. My liome is in . where I have a good cottage and nearly an acre of garden for £i'2 a- year ; gardens in this country are not thought much of, except to grow potatoes. They lierc don't know wliat may be made from a small piece of well-done land — so I get mine cheap. There, I coidd as soon live without bread as without gi-een stuft"; 1 wish I could show you the fine brocoli and Brussels sprouts I am now selling to those who have gardens of tlieir own, and arc getting nothing out of tliem. I have made £1^ in the last twelve months of its produce, besides what we have ourselves consumed. All this is done with the manure these people take no account of; they will go crawling all day on the roads to pick up the dung they find there, and yet let all their soil at home inns waste into holes or ditches, or be earned away by tlieir rivers. When a lad, 1 was always more ready to help hang a gate, or mend a fence, and fonder of working at the wheeler's than going to school, so I am handy with tools. I have knocked up a carnage on wlieels, and I sink tubs in my cess- pools, into wliich everything from my house, cow-stalls, and pig-sties is drained, and wlien the tub is fuU it is raised on my carriage ; and with little laboiu', and no dirt, I and my boy am able to draw it about, and apply it where it is wanted. By this means my gar- den has become so rich, it now does not take all these cesspools provide ; the remainder is now carried out to a little meadow I hired for a cow, but finding slie could not keep down the grass (which by this dressing has rajiidly increased,) I took to buying w-eaning calves, and as these gi-ew to near calving, I found small farmers to take and rent them of me at a pound a year apiece. I have now twenty cows so let, and I liave also forty sheep which I have thus raised and put out; besides, I must not omit a sow and her pigs, which arc kept principally on the waste from my garden, and the milk we have to spai-e. The sow gives two litters a. year, and generally nine or ten pigs at a time ; these come in March and September, and find mo in bacon and pork, and pay most of the rent. They tell me in a few years we shall have railways everywhere, and tlierc will be no coaches to drive ; T shall tlieu be fit for nothing, unless 1 again tm-n farmer. ] was born a fanner, as was my fatlier and Ills father before me, and at twenty I came to one of the best little farms at the rent in Bucking- hamshire ; but at that age notliiug would do for me but driving a coach, and in five years I had given up my fai-m, and was on the ' Tally-ho 1' and so t have continued driving ever since; hut 'what is bred in the bone will come out in the flesh,' so now I want to be again a fanner, and you see I am getting together the stock to begin with. Won't I some day show the natives how to raise larger crops and grow roots, by well dressing and keeping the land clean ! The gentry round come to sec the coachman's fann, as they call my garden and field. Su- John 's agent came a few weeks ago. and offered to let me one of Sir John's fanns, liut I told him I was not yet ready to take one. What do you think he said in reply? Why, that the want of a couple of hundred should not be a hindrance, for he wished to have me on the estate to set an example to tlie old tenants, w'lio were always complaining of the times, and who he feared, with fi'ee trade and low prices, would soon not be able to pay any rent at all ; but I told him, ' No, no, I would wait a little longer.' You see I can manage to keep laying by a few pounds as I am now doing, and I am sure nothing is to be done in farming without plenty of capital. Do you think, sir, I could drive tliis mail ten miles an horn' over these hills, if the horses had not plenty of corn? Nothing does well that is done by halves ; when I go farming I will have a liundi-ed to spare, and no double rent to pay, from the want of capital." Hewitt Davis. Pexstemon Speciosuji. — Mr. G. Gordon, one of tlie managers of the Hoiticidtural Society's gardens, at Chiswick, gives the following directions for the cultivation of this beautifid flower. "The seeds should be sown as soon as ripe in the autumn; for, if not sown until spring, they will probably not grow until the following Mareli, which is the case with those of most Penstemons fi'om the north-west coast of America and California. The seeds should be sown in pans or large pots in sandy loam, without any mixture whatever, and sliould be placed in a cold pit or frame for the winter, where they wUl requu-e no further care mitil the following spring, (beginning of March,) when they should be removed to a wai-mer situation, where there is plenty of light and air, (tlie greenhouse is a very suitable situation.) and where they may remain until the middle of May, when tlie young plants should bo potted, taking caj-e nt aU times til at they never suffer from the want of water, with whicli they should be liberally supplied. In jjotting, place each plant singly in a 00-])Ot (3-inch,) and use a compost composed of three parts sandy loam, and one of well decayed cow-dung ; afterwards place the jilants in a close pit or frame, and water freely for a few days, until they recover the cft'ects occasioned by the sliift ; afterwards give air fi'eely, and wlieii the weather becomes very warm, and the sun liright, about midsummer, place the plants in a frame with its face to the north, shading them in very bright sunshine, but fully exposing them during night, and in dull weather. They may remain in lliis situation until tlie end of August, when they sliould be shifted into larger pots, using the same kind of compost as before, and giving a liberal sup- jdy of water. When shifted they should be placed in an any situation, where they are jiartially sliaded from the swi, until tlie end of October, when tlie strongest plants sboidd be planted out in a bed in the flower-garden, made rather rich and fresh, with sandy loam and rotten dung ; llic smaller ones should be again transferred to a cold jiit or frame for the winter, where they will be free from dam]) or stagnant moisture at then- roots, and where they may remain till the end of the following March, wheu THE COTTAGE GAEDENER. 395 they may also be planted out in the flower garden as before, making the soil very rich for them with rotten dims;. These plants will then make a good succession to tliose planted in the autumn : they must he freely supplied with water in very dry weather, but never over-head ; for if watered over-head, they very soon canker and lose their stems ; and as the stems are easily blown over or broken off by the wind, they should be fastened to slender stakes about the begin- iring of Jime, and it woidd be very advisable to place hand-glasses over the plants planted out in the end of October, to protect them in case the winter should prove very severe and damp; for although they are seldom killed by cold, they are very impatient, and soon injured by frost and damp togetlier, particu- hu'ly in sprhig. Thus treated, this fine Penstemou will bloom from the end of June to September, and produce aliundauce of seeds, which should again be sown as above stated ; for in reality the plant is not more tliau a biennial, and recpiires to be raised every year from seed, to keep up a succession." — Ganlcner's Chronicle. C.inDooN. — Although, except in raising the plants in pots, there is nothing partictilarly new in the following mode of cultivating the cardoon, by Mr. Fleming, of Trentham Hall, yet it is an e.Kcellent mode ; and we insert it, for the purpose of rousing attention to a Idtchen vegetable too little known, and too much neglected. It is good stewed like celery, and is an agreeable addition to stews, haricots, and soups, and where it is disUked, it is because sufflcieut attention has not been paid to boiling and soaking it with water, so as to remove the bitter flavour it otherwise retains. Only the iieart, and not tlie piped outer leaves, ought to be employed. The hearts sliould be boiled until tender, in water without any salt ; all strings and sliminess should then be removed from them, and then they should be kept in cold water until required for table. They may then l)e served up with wliite sauce or gra'N'y. " I choose for the cardoon," says Mr. Fleming, " a piece of gTOund that requires well pulverising and a rest from lieavy cropping ; as for growing them on the plan I follow, it matters not how poor or stift" the soil, so that the bottom be dr}'. The exposure must be an open one, as they require a free circulation of air and all the sun possible. Having marked off the spaces for tlie trenches and ridges, allowing U feet for each, those spaces marked out for the ridges are manured well and dug, for I keep in view the ijnprov- ing of the pieces of ground for other crops, as weU as providing for the cardoon. The trenches are next dug out one footdeep, laying the soil right and left on the ridges, and brealciug the lumps well as the work pi'oceeds. The sides of the ridges should be well sloped off, and beaten smooth with the back of the spade. The trenches being now ready, we wheel into them, to the depth of 4 to inches, a previously prepared compost, consisting of chopped turfy soil, good solid half-rotten manure, and road drift or fine ashes, and, if we have it, some bm'ut clay, in about the proportion of equal ])arts of each kind. This is forked into the trench in such a manner as to keep the compost merely covered, wliile the ground below is loosened to the depth of a foot at least, and this finishes the tr-encli, which ought to lie uncropped until the season for planting out the cardoons, by which time the ground will be in fine order to receive tliem. We sow two rows of dwarf peas upon the ridges, and a row of spinach between ; these will be off be- fore the cardoons i-eqvur-e earthing up. In the first week in May, we sow the seeds in tlmmb pots, placing two sound seeds at opposite sides of the pot, and plunge the pots in a cold frame, which is kept close until the plants appear, when jilenty of air is admit- ted to prevent them drawing up weakly. In a fort- night after the plants are up, they will be strong enough to plant out in this order : — one row up the centre of each trench, IS inches apart, and a row 2 feet from it in quincunx fasliion on each side. Planting two plants together is to guard against losses by insects, and, when all danger fi'om this is over, the weakest can be destroyed. Raising them in pots, instead of sowing them in the gi-oimd, is to prevent gaps in the rows, and to give the opportunity of having all the plants in the ridge of equal size; so that, when earthed up, the plants being alike in strength, the same quantity of soil will be required for alL Tlie weakest plants may bo kept in the cold frame 10 days longer, whioli, with a second sowing, will give a succession. Water the newly turned out plants, and loosen up the soil between them, which finishes the planting part of the business. If dry weather succeeds tlus operation, the plants will require watering once or twice, until they get established, after which they will only require to be kept clear of weeds till October. This will bo most advan- tageously done by forking among them occasionally, wliich will keep the weeds in elieck, and promote the gi'owth of the plants better tlian the use of the hoe. In the beginniiig of October, the most forward trench of plants will have attained tlieir full gi'owtb. and a sufflcieut number of well twisted hay-bauds must be provided for winding round them. Take advantage of a flue dry day, and conunence by carefully bring- ing all the leaves into an upright position, in whicli tliey should be held by one person while another fastens the hay-band round the bottom of the plant, and winds away tightly until the whole of the stalk is hound round, and the end of the rope secured. Proceed in tliis way until the trench is completed, and then earth up till the bands are covered with the soil, which should be pressed very tightly round the plant at the top, to exckule air and moistm'e as efi'ec- tually as possible. Proceed in the same manner with the remaining trenches when fit, until the whole are finished. By deferring the earthing up till October, and by twisting the bands well, and fastening them tightly round the plants, we have very few faihn-es, although our situation and soU are very indifferent. We have ti-ied blanching by fastening the leaves closely toge- ther with string or mattbig, and putting an earthen drain pipe over the plants, and filling up with sand. This plan answers admirably ; the whole of the leaf stalks were perfectly blanched, quite crisp, and fit for use. The adoption of this plan would prevent the loss of room occupied by the ridges, as no soU would be wanted for eartlung ; but it takes a pipe 7 or is inches in diameter for a well-grown plant, and these, if many are required, are expensive. The cook here, who is one of tlie first in his profession, gives me the following recipe for cooking and serving ; " After the cardoons have been trimmed and waslied, and their outside leaves removed, cut them into pieces about 4 inches long. Put the pieces into a pan of cold water ; wdien boiled take them out, and with a cloth rub the outer skin until it can be easily removed. After this is done, let them be well washed, and boiled three hours in good stock or broth. Serve them very hot with brown sauce, made with good 196 THE COTTAGE GARDENER. gravy. It is au improvement, in serving the cardoon, to put some marrow round it." — Qanhnefs Chroniqle. Shell Sand, a Cl'ue for the Potato Disease in THE Parish of Holme, ix Orkney. — Mrs. Smith liad heeii in the practico of having sheU sand put into the parts ot'tlie garden where the early potatoes were phuited. I'or several yimrs hetbre the disease Uiade its appearance, in order to improve their tjuality and make them earlier. It had the effect, and from that time she reaped the earliest and hest potatoes in the country. In IS46, the first year of the disease in Orkney, she was prevented from at- tending to planting, and hut a small patch that never hefore produced good potatoes was sanded, and it yielded the only part of the crop that escaped the disease. Next year, 1847, all the early potatoes- were manured with shell sand, and proved quite sound, while the general crop was diseased. To test the efficacy of this sand in preventing disease, she, in 1848, had part of the early potatoes planted with the sand, and part without. The first was perfectly free from disease, and tlie latter overnni with it, as well as the rest of tlie crop. The potato submitted to the expei'iment was a white kidney. The sand was strewed rather thickly on the ground before the potatoes were planted, but it was found to have the same effect when spread over tlie surface afterwards. Shell sand, of which a sample is forwarded, is what was used. Mrs. Smith was induced to try it, from having seen similar sand improve pasture gi*ass land many years since. — Gaideners Chronicle. TO CORRESPONDENTS. Pruning Peaches just Planted {M. W. C.).— Select fire shoots, cut the others awny ; set out two of them to the right, two to the left, and one npripht in the centre. In pruning:, leave the lowest right anil left eigliteen inches long; the next, one foot; and the centre one, nine inches. Watch The Cottage Gardener in May, how to proceed with disbudding and stopping, on which so much depends. Raspbrrries (SrooWflwrf Gardens). — The True Fastolf and Au- tumn-hearing are both red. The first differs from the common raspberry only in bearing much larger fruit ; and the second differa from both in bearing from July to the end of October, and even later, if pruned as di^rected at p. 8 of our First Number. They are all propagated the same way, viz., cither by suckers or division of the stools. Meadow, Laying down a (iW. W. C, Sm/oM-).— That part of your field already sown with wheat, can have grass seeds sown and harrowed in some time during March, at which time the rest of the field had better be sown with barley and grass seeds also. If you will tell us the nature of your soil, and whether on a hill, or near a river, we will tell you what seeds you had better sow. Tuberose {F. Giles). — No man, however lowly, will ever find us inattentive to his inquiries, or unwilling to inform him. Vour thanks are the more gratifying, because they tell us we are useful. You will find the culture oi the tuberose in another page of this Number. Your new-buught bulb, if true to name, is not much — a hardy plant that will grnw in any common soil, the leaves and flower-head not unlike an onion, with dingy yellow flowers, Thanks for the spirit of your letter. The Calendar (/rnnAoe). — It always is for the following week. This Number, for instance, was so published in London, that you could have it in Sheffield on the 25th. The fault must be with your bookseller. Chimonantiius Fragrans (J. Wharfe). — This hardy deciduous shrub is a native of Japan. If it is the sub-species C. f,n-undi/{oi-u.s, it will do best on a well-drained border, beneath a south wall. The three kinds may be propagated by layers, or by cuttings of the young shoots planted in a pot of sand under a glass, and plunged in a gentle hot-bed. The rooted plants do best if a little peat is niixed with the soil, and leaf-mould is the next best addition. The only pruning they require is to pinch off the points of the strongest young shoots early in the summer ; this cauaea them to push out bidc-ahoots, bear- ing numerous flowers. Fruit-Trkes for a NoETn-NORTH-KAST Wall (3p, 0. B,).— Your situation will take ten dwarf trees ; the following would answer v»ry well:— 1 Duke cherry, 3 Morello ditto, 1 Orleana plum, 1 Reine Claude violette plum, I Aston town pear, 1 Marie Louise ditto, 1 Hacon's incomparable ditto, and 1 Easter Beurre ditto. Cottage F.^hminc (.V. 1', Z.). — We shall by degrees give the in- formation you require. The Farmer's E/ici/clopo'dia and the Fnr- vitr's Almanack should be your standard works for reference. RIagnolia (Iiei<. G. Griffiths). — Magnolia grandlflora, varieties elliptica, obovata, lanceolata, and rotundifolia, arc all splendid trees, and hardy if grown on a peaty well-drained soil. If plants of a few years old are planted, they will bloora the second ye ar after removal, Soot from Peat {Ibid). — We never tried this, but judging from the components of peat it must be nearly as good for manure as that from coal. In so cheap a publication as ours, and as we have no room to spare, we should not do justice to our old subscribers by reprinting any extracts from our early numbers. Twopence will buy the number containing the extract. Cucumbers (Dai'id Gee). — You will find a list at p. 144. Latter'a Victory of England hati been grown 21 inches long ; Browston Hy- brid, isi; Duncan's Victoria, 28; Allen's Victory of Suffolk, 24 j Sion House, 9 ; Victory of Bath, 17 ; and Prizefighter, 16 inches. Chrysanthemums {Rev. W. Procter). — None of those in the list are quilled. Celery Culture fS.J.— The plan pursued by Mr. Turner is adapted for growing celery of the largest size, and this does not pre- vent it jjossessing every other excellence. In a short time we will state our mode of culture for general table use. Mr. Nutt will not have any seed to sell until next autumn. Seymour's Red and White Solid are good sorts for general purposes. Apple Weevil {Ibid). — However extensive your orchard may be, it would cost but very little to have the loose bark scraped from the trees. Doing so will not injure but improve their health. We recommend you to do »*o forthwith, and then, with a whitewasher's l>rush, to paint your trees over with a strong mixture of gas-lime and ■water. There is no better mode of destroying the apple weevil ; and by repeating it for a reason or two, you will probably get rid of the peat. Pea {Twig). — The dwarf white pea you describe as being no more than six inches high, and called the White Fan, was, perhaps, the Queen of the Dwarfs. Wc know of none other approaching your description. Tables of Prices {,1. Price). — We have not lost sight of these, but the difficulty is to obtain returns that can be relied upon. They are too often totally devoid of credit, made up to suit private purposes. Worms {J. N. S.). — No applications yet tried will banish these from your lawn, but you will find a mode of driving them away at p. 124 of No. 13. Miscellaneous. — ^V. X. and L. li. Lucas will be answered in our next. Peach-leaves Falling {B,, Waterford). — Your peach-trees on n south wall produce, you say, the usual amount of leaves at the ■proper season, and after a while they f.all off ; but this is not informa- tion sufticient for us to advise you confidently. The great amount of humidity in the Irish climate is not by any means favourable to the peach. Nevertheless, it is very probable that your case proceeds from the attack of aphides (Plant Lice). It is hard to persuade the "world what an extent of mischief these simple insects produce witli the peach. We have known effects quite equivalent to the anomalous appearances complained of produced in three days. Are, however, the roots of your trees right? Have you read oiu- article on " Sta- tions?" Watch The Cottage Gardener; our advice is at least practical, and quite as well adapted for Ireland as England. Strawberries and Gooseberries (T. Griffin). — We apprehend that the strawberry you mention is I\lyatt's British Quei-n, which you may obtain of any respectable nurseryman. The following 12 best gooseberries may be obtained from Mr. Turner, Neepsend, Sheffield. Reds. — Slaughterman, Companion, London. Yelloivs. — Catherine. Leader, Drill. Greens. — Thumper, Queen Victoria, Gene- ral. Whites. — Queen of Trumps, Lady Stanley, and Freedom. Damson Pruning (Brookland Gardens). — You inquire what pruning the damson requires ; and whether it would be safe to cut down one just planted, iis you wish to dwarf it? In reply, — the only pruning the rtambon requires is a little thinning out of cross branches during its earlier progress. Many thousands, howuvor, in the north- west of Kngland never feel a knife. Your newly-planted tree should be suffered to grow one season, and then be cut to the desired height. The process will, liowr.ver, make nearly three years diiference in the produce coming to hand. Your plum query is, you will see, partly- anticipated. You will find copious advice shortly. London : Printed by Harkx Wooldridge, 147", Strand, in the Parish of Saint Mary-lc-Strand ; and Winchester High-street, in the Parish of St. Ulary Kalendar ; and Publisheil by \\'illi.\,m SoMERViLLE Orr, at the Office, 147, Strand, in the Parish of Saint Mary-le-Straud, London.— January 25th, 1849. mmtmrmnt^tm^tmam THE COTTAGE GARDENER, 197 WEEKLY CALENDAR. M w D B 1 Th. F. 3 S. 4 SnN. 5 M. Tu. 7 W. FEBRUARY 1—7, 1849. Botanical Society's Meeting, [seen. PUBIFIO. CaNDL. D. Pied Wagtail first Blase. Tawny Owl hoots. SepTUAGESIMA Sun. Field Speedwell Agatha. Elderleavesopen. [flowers. Linuean & Hort. Soc. Meetings. Golden Plover goes. Plants dedicated to Sun Sun Moon R. Moon*s Clock Day of each daj'. Rises. Sets. and Sets. Age. bef. Sun. Year. Bay Tree VII VI 1 20 8 13 56 32 Snowdrop 39 49 2 34 9 14 4 33 Great Water Moss 38 51 3 44 10 14 10 34 Common Goldylocks 36 53 4 48 11 14 16 35 Common Primrose 34 54 5 45 12 14 20 36 Blue Hyacinth 33 56 6 33 13 14 24 37 Round-leaved Cyclamen 31 58 rises (?) 14 27 38 TuE Purification of the Virgin Mary, or the anniversary of hRf iiresentin;]: her child and offerings in the Temple, (Luke ii. 22,) is celebrated in the Roman Catholic Church. It ia also called Can- dlemas Day, because on that day, according to the Ritual of the same Church, the candles which would be used during the year were brought to the priest and blessed. In the north of England, it is called " Wives' Feast Day." In Somersetshire they have as a farm- ing proverb, that you should " Sow beans on Candlemas waddle;"* and in many parts of these islands they have rhymes intimating that if it is fine on tliis day the remainder of the year \vill be inclement ; the Scotch express this in these two lines : — " If Candlemas is fair and clear, There'll be twa winters in the year." Blase was Bishop of Sebaste, in Armenia, and was martyred in the year 3l6. He is said to have been the inventor of the comb with which wool is combed, and for this reason he was adopted by the Wool-combers as their titular saint. In some of the Yorkshire woollen districts, processions and feasts are held on this day, in which some weaver, I'cpresenting Bishop Blase, performs a con- spicuous part. At Winchester, formerly a great woollen mart, the anniversaries of two of its charities are always accompanied by u representative of Bishop Blase. Agatha was a Sicilian Christian virgin, martyred in the year 251, by command of Quintianus. Phenomena of the Season. — "February fill ditch," shews that the months have not changed their manners ; for our ancestors so called this one of the twelve, because of the floods which then overflowed the country; and, still, February continues "birth-time of thaws and fogs." It is a very common error to consider this a rainy month ; but, so far from this being the case, less rain falls during its continuance than during that of any other month. On an average of years, at London, the amount of rain in inches which falls in each month is as follows ;^ January 1.483 February O.746 March 1,440 April l.;86 May 1.853 June 1.830 July 2.516 August 1,453 September 2.ig3 October 2.073 November 2.400 December 2.426 The %vestem side of England is visited every year with a much greater fall of rain than is poured upon its eastern counties ; proba- bly three times the quantity. The depth of rain which falls on an average over all England "is about 30 inches, or 300 tons on each English acre, — MUiier's Gallery 0/ Nature, 473. Insects. — The little furze beetle (Bruchus ater) may be now found upon furze, and is one of a family that confines its attacks chiefly to leguminous (pod-hearing) plants. This insect, represented Feb 1841, 1842, 1843. 1844. 1845. 1846. 1847. 1848. I Snow. Fine, Fine. Frost. Frost. Fine. Cloudy. Fine. 31°— 23' 46°— 26° 53°— 45° 39°— 20° 38°— 27° 51°— 39" 40°— 30° 37°— 26° Q Snow. Fine, Rain. Snow. Frost. Fine. Snow Fine. 31°— 18° 50°— 40° 45°— 37° 390 — 28° 40°— 21° 48°— 35° 36°— 31° 46°— 29° 3 Frosty. Cloudy. Showerv. Frost. Showerv. Fine. Snow Fine. 28°— 14° 45°— 37° 45°— 24° 40°— 23° 43°— 34° 52°— 39° 37°— 30° 460—33° 4 Frosty. Cloudy. Snow. Snow Cloudy. Fine, Fine. Cloudy. 30°— 22° 42°— 30° 390—30° 40°— 25° 43°— 25° 490—36° 39°— 22° 51°— 39° 5 Fine, Cloudy. Frost. Frost. Fine. Fine, Cloudy. Rain. 30°— 26° 42°— 27° 39°— 29° 40°— 19° 48°— 31° 49°— 30° 35°— 32° 53°— 48° 6 Cloudy. Fine. Cloudy. Frost. Fine. Fine. Showerv. Showerv. 2S°— 24° 38°— 26° 38°— 31° 43°— 26° 43°— !9° 50°— 33° 51°— 30° 55°— 46° 7 Sleet Sleet. Snow. Sliowerv. Frosty. Showerv. Cloudy. Cloudy. 27°— 24° 40°— 30° 37°— 32° 45°— 31° 38°— 17° 52°— 31° 35°— 17° 52°— 40° in the annexed cut of its natural size, as well as magnified, ia black, with its elytra (wing cases) marlicd with lines, and lighter-coloured dots ; antennje (horns) divided into eleven joints. The females are now depositing their eggs in the germs, or young seed-vessels, of the winter- blooming fui'ze ; and the same insects may be found again in June similarly employed upon the summer-blooming furze. The grub hatched from her eggs lives upon the seeds, and every one who has noticed this plant, must be aware that its ripe seed-vessels often contain nothing but a little rough powder ; a powder which is the refuse of the seeds destroyed by the grub of this insect. Two other members of this family of beetles, Bruchus i^runnrhts and B. pisi, are greatly destructive to our pea crops. They are small brownish beetles, usually found at the time the plants are in flower, and they deposit their eggs in the tender seeds of leguminous plants, and sometimes in different kinds of corn. In these the larva, a small white fleshy grub, finds both a suitable habitation and an abundance of food. It undergoes all its transformations in the seed, and the perfect insect remains in it till the spring, though in fine autumns the perfect insects appear at that season also. The larvie possess the singular instinct of never attacking the vital part of the seed till the last. We have often observed the seed-pods of chorozema, and other delicate and scarce leguminous plants in greenhouses, pierced by the Bructius pisi. The more effectual remedy is to pull up and burn the haulm and pods altogether, and not attempt to get a crop at all. Peas infested with B. ^anarius, are always known by a small hole being on one side, and these should be carefully picked out, as they not only spoil the appearance of a sample, but spread the injury, * Waddle — wane of the moon. We are too much accustomed to ignorance and prejudice being connected with all that relates to the cultivation of the soU, to be sui'prised that the use of LIME, as a fertilizer, has been so much neglected by the gardener. It is quite true that the preparation of lime was a process known to the Israelites, some two thousand and five hundi'ed years ago, (Isaiah xxxiii. 12) ; and it is equally true, that Cato and Pliny, Roman writers contemporary with the Apostles, speak of the same process, and of the use made of the lime as a manure ; but these facts do not at a 1 induce us to be sm-prised that, perhaps, not one gar- dener in a thousand ever employs lime for the same pm-jjose. Gardeners of the old school, more even than other men, are "bundles of habits," and as the use ^ lime, as a manure, is not one of these habits — No, XVIII., Vol. I, 198 THE COTTAGE GABDENER. that is, because neitlier liistntai^r nor gi-andfntliev ever used it, so neither does Jonathan Bhie-apron. How- ever, the bundles of habits have of late years been very much broken up, changed, improved, and enlarged. Indeed, so much so, that if Stephen Switzer, Philip Miller, and John Abererombie, the three best gar- deners of the last centiuy, could revisit the enclo- siu'es over which they once presided, they would fuel " strangers at home ;" for there is a change in every- thing, we think, except the wateiing-pots ; for these are quite as awkward and rmsightly as they were in 1740 ! To the other changes which those three ancient gardeners woidd have to contemplate, we desire to add the general employment of lime, as one of the gardener's best friends ; and our desire is foimded sure and steadfast upon " practice with science." Let us take the testimony of science first, and this shews to us that not one of the crops cultivated by the gardener — not one, be it pot-herb, flower, or fi-uit — but contains a veiy considerable amount of lime. For instance, 100 paits of the ashes of broooli leaves contain more than 20 parts of lime ; 100 parts of the ashes of the greengage, 10 parts ; of the Jerusalem artichoke, 41 parts; of the daisy, 25 parts; and of the sunflower, 11 parts. This list might be increased by the addition of eveiy garden plant that has been submitted to the tests of the chemist, but a number has been enumerated suffi- cient to enforce the fiict upon the attention of our readers. It is quite time that a portion of the lime found in plants is in the state of phosjihate of lime (earth of bones) ; and tlus is best given to them in the form of dissolved bones, as directed at pp. 02 and 124. But much of the lime in plants is also in the state of carbonate of lime (chalk) ; and in no state so favourable for the rains to dissolve it, and thus enabling the roots to suck it in, can it be added to the soil, as in the shape of lime. Lime added to a soil usually improves its staple ; clayey loam mixed with it is rendered more friable, that is, more easily broken down by the s]iade and the rake ; light sandy soils, on the other hand, are rendered more compact and more moist — for Professor Schubler and other chemists have found that lime attracts moisture very powerfully from the au'. Lime, also, is very caustic ; and, when mixed with a soil, not only destroys the insects it contains, but speedily converts to vegetable mould the stubborn dead stalks and other fragments of previous crops with which it may come in contact. We have had the opportunity of tiying numerous experiments with Hme, both iqion light and heavy soils; and have used it both by itself and mixed with other matters, so as to form a compost. Twenty- live bushels per acre for light soils, and one hundred bushels per acre for heavy soils, we tlunk, are the most beneficial quantities. One bushel of lime ^ eveiy three bushels of the tiu'fy parings and scour- ings of ditches, makes a compost, which, after being mixed for six weeks, and then dug into a light sod, produced excellent crops of tuniijis and potatoes. Lime 30 bushels, and salt 15 bushels, applied to an acre of light soil, just before sowing it with tur- rups, yielded a crop equal to another on which rye had been fed ofl' by sheep, who, at the same time, were supplied with oil cake. Lime should never be mixed with dungs of any kind, as it promotes the escape from them of their most valuable constituent, ammonia. Neither shoiUd it ever be mixed by the gardener with the peat some of his plants requfre ; for it decomposes the sulphate of iron (gi-een vitriol), and other substances which render peat acceptable to our rhododendrons and other American plants. It is a common practice to burn oouch-gi'ass, docks, gorse, and other vegetables, wliich are veiy retentive of life, or slow in decay; — a more mieconomical, rm- scientific method of reducing to a state beneficial to the laud of wliich they were the refuse, cannot be devised. In breaking up heaths, such vegetable re- fuse is vei-y abundant ; but, in all cases, if the weeds, leaves, &c., were conveyed to a hole or pit, and, with every single horseload, and with barrowJoads in proportion, a bushel of salt and half a bushel of lime were incorporated, it woidd, in a few montlis, form a mass of decayed compost of the most fertiKziug quality ; the lime retaining many of the gases evolved during the putrefaction of the vegetable matter, and the salt conibiuiug with the lime to destroy noxious animals, which might form their nests in the mass. By this plan nearly aU the carbonaceous matters (or charcoal) of the refuse vegetables are retained ; by burning, nearly all of them are driven ofl'. — Prin- ciples of Oartleninci. Lime riibhish is the old mortar and plaster obtained when brick buildings are pulled do'mi. It is an ex- cellent manure, abounding with tlie salts of potash and lime. It should be reduced to powder before spreading and digging in. Lime water, one of the most effectual applications for destroying slugs, woims and other insects, is best made by mixing one peck of fresh-burnt lime to forty gallons of clean soft water. A wateruigpot, contain- ing four gallons, will be enough for soaldng a bed thu-ty feet long and four feet wide ; or for a single row of cabbages, or other plants, sixty feet long. We purposed to have added examples of the results from applying lime to particular crops, but our limited space compels us to defer this to some future opportunity. Death was busy, during the past month, among the friends and practitioners of gardening. Earl Auck- land, one of the vice-presidents of the Horticultin-al Society, died unwarned, but, we believe, not unpre- pared, wliUst on a visit to Lord Ashburton, and not THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 199 long after a stroll through tliis nobleman's elegant conservatory. Whilst in India, the writer of this brief tribute witnessed Lord Auckland's exertions there to improve the cultivation of its soil; and will- ingly bears testimony to their strenuousness and efficacy. His distribution of medals among the na- tive mallees (gardeners) ; Ids appointment of Dr. Falconer, to be general superintendent of the Botanic Gardens of Mussooree and Saharunpoor; his encou- ragement of the Agri-horticultural Society of India ; and the long dissertation, written by his own hand, on cotton cultivation, ai-e a very few incidents rising promptly to memory, as instances of tlie efforts Iris lordslup made to promote the cultm-e of plants in the most important of our tropical possessions ; efforts not relaxed, though du-ected into a ditferent channel, upon his return to England. The words of the Advocate-General, Sir Laurence Peel, \vhen Loi-d Auckland was leaving oui- Indian shores, may be repeated over his gi'ave, for they were also applicable to Ids life at home — " His career, tlu'oughout, and uniformly, appeared as il' it were to be an answer to one perpetuaUy-rememberod query — 'How can I best promote the interests of those over whom I jH'eside ? ' " Equally sudden in their departure have been those two excellent horticulturists, Mr. Robert Watson, gardener to David Anderson, Esq., at Morcdun Gar- dens ; and of Mr. John Blnir, gardener to the Earl of Roslyn, at Dysart House. The first died on the yrd, and the second on tlie 11th of Januai'y. Mr. Blair was a very successful hybridizer and cultivator of Rhododendi-ons, and was preparing for publication an essay on the subject, when death so unexpectedly struck him down. THE PRUIT-GAEDEN. Pruning Young Trees from the Nursery. — ^'This, although appearing at first sight a simple affaii', proves to be very puzzling to many beginners in gardening ; and, on consideration, we need scarcely wonder at it, for the old moral maxim, " train it up in tlie way it should go," is, literally, as applicable to a tree as to a child. We have been amused, many a time, at bearing persons declare that they have purchased " a fine peach-tree fi"om the nursery, with slioots four feet long!" and, perhaps, desii-ing, at the same lime, to know how to prune it. But their disappointment when, in former days, the ruthless hand of the pruuer woidd reduce at " one fell swoop" a fine-looking four-feet shoot, to six or oiglit inches, was indeed gi'eat ! Yom- gardener " of the olden time," moreover, was not the man to give reasons for such a jirooedure ; and this must in many cases have much increased tlie disappointment. We will now offer a few words of advice on this head, and will preface them with a few remarks on The Young Pe.\oh in the Nursery, and Mode of Selection. — It shoidd be at once understood, that over-luxiuiance in either the peach or nectarine is only another name for hnmatui'e wood ; or, in the gardening language, wood " badly ripened." It is well, if in oiu" damp and fitfid climate, the peach or nectarine can produce shoots annually, of one foot in length, even against a wall. Indeed, of what use is a greater length, if a very considerable portion has to be pruned away? If strengih ahne is to be the criterion, the addition of manures will generally accomplish any amount; but such we know to be ruinous. A great many of our nurseiy trees are, in these times, ti'ained on sticks in the open quarters of the mu-sery; and we need scarcely say, that such are more immatm'e by far than those fi'om walls. Peaches and nectarines are budded in the open quarters ; and the spring after budding, the stock is beheaded ; when, in consequence, all the sap goes to nourish the yoimg stranger — the newly-introduced bud. This, availing itsell' of the monopoly of sap, grows with much luxuriance. The young shoot the bud produces is so well suckled, that in general a multitude of side sprouts are also put forth ; and, strange to say, it reserves five or six buds at the base, which remain in the embryo state, that is, tliey do not shoot. We come now to the autumn, and the young peach or nectarine in this state is termed "a maiden," a name which has been technically applied much beyond a century. Now, from such maidens, the niu'serymau selects young plants, to supply the place of those sold from his walls or fences ; as also those from tlie luirsery-quarter, trained, as before observed, on sticks. These are headed down, — that is, are pruned to witldn a few inches of the junction of the stock and the new bud ; or, in fact, to the embryo buds or eyes, before aUuded to. At the end of May, or beginning of June, the young " maiden " will have produced several sprouts, — generally about five or six ; and these are carefidly trained to the wall or fence. By tlie end of summer, tlie young tree loses its original name ; and, instead, of being teiTned a "maiden," is called "a dwart-trained peach," or nec- tarine. And, indeed, if the culture has been success- ful, the quondam "maiden" is vei^ much altered in appearance as well as value. In the autumn jire- vious, it might have been pui'chased for eigbteen- pence ; now it is accounted worth five shillings, at least. The purchasers now select from these, and five out of six will jircfer those with the longest and strongest shoots ; such, however, is not always the best policy. This brings us to the — Principles of Selection. — Such trees are, of course, wanted for a wall or a fence of some kind ; such walls or fences are, in general, not very high ; and it is desirable to clothe them to the very bottom. We advise the amateur, therefore, to moderate the idea of veri/ early productiveness ; and to cndeavom-, by all possible means, so to ostabUsb the tree dm'hig the first two years, that the above objects may be carried out in a permanent way. Here, then, arises the necessity of a somewliat close pruning during that period. How often have we seen a good and healthy hedge spoiled for want of a closer pruning when in a young state ! As with the hedge, so with the tree : the " bottom" must be first well established — or, in other words, the lower part of the wall must have good shoots secured to it. We do not here wish it to be understood that whiter-pruning alone is to accomplish all this ; no, a far more effective agent will be found in what is termed summer-stopping. We must not, however, digi'ess so much as to explain the rationide of this interesting process ; this we shall recur to with much pleasure at the proper period ; suffice it here to say, that this we consider one of the most important pro- ceedings connected with fruit culture. In selecting peaches and nectarines fi'om the nur- sery, the foUowuig we would lay down as maxims to regulate the choice : — 1st. Purchase no tree wldch has giun exuding ft'om any portion of it. 200 THE COTTAGE GAEDENER. 2nd. See tliat the shoots trained right and left are equal, or well balanced. 3rd. Select one, if possible, that has an equal number of slioots right and left, and one shoot ceu- ti-al, or capable of being rendered so. 4th. As to strength, choose one of a medium cha- racter, in which the shoots ai-e rather short than long. 5th. Prefer one in which the young shoots are of a brownish cast, in preference to those of a very pale green. tUli. Select those in which the stock and scion, or budded portion, are nearly equal in thickness; if there must be a difference, the scion should have shghtly overgi-own tlie stock. 7th. Take those in which the bai'k of the stock looks bright and clear. 8th. Prefer those wliich show portions of fine hearty roots a little above the gi-ound. nth. Reject all the shoots of which have decaying points, be they ever so strong. The relative importance of these points of selection are mdioated by the order in which they are placed. These rides will be sufficient to giude the most inex- perienced. In the next number of The Cottage Gardener, we will give a drawing illustrative of the fii'st primings, and a select list of peaches and necta- rines, with then' characteristics, periods of ripening, &c. &c. In the meantime, we may as well offer some advice about the care requisite in planting yoimg liiiit-trees. The Dwarfixo System — We hope none of oiu' readers wUl be alanned at tlus title. Those who have been pestered ^vith stimted trees will apprehend a case of actual starvation ; such, however, is not strictly identical with our dwarfing system, as we shaU presently shew. It is one thing to starve a ti-ee with improper soils, and another to feed it with a sound material in a limited quantity. We have before stated that abundance of fibrous surface-roots must be obtained by some means, or the whole case may fail. It has been long known that such roots lead to a fruit-bearing liabit, and vice versi'i. The philosophy of this affaii- has not been, however, so clearly understood and defined; and this, in due time, we shall eudeavoiu' to explain. Admitting, then, that the soil is duly prepared, and eveiything in readiness, even the yoimg tree in hand, awaiting the knife ; the first thing is to see if thei'e be any root of a strong sap, or forky character. Now, it so happens, that some young trees imlucldly Jiossess chiefly such ; in such a case, therefore, bad roots are better than none. There is generally, however, about a couple of sti'ong roots, rather of a sidelong or horizontal character than descenehng, and from these proceed nmnerous fibres or subordi- nate roots; these must be cai'efidly preserved. If there shoidd be a strong root of a dcsceniUng cha- racter, let it be cut entirely away. The only business now, is to use a shaqi knife, and to cut away every wounded point from every root that can be found hroken. The peach-tree is so susceptible of iujmics, through bruises, that we consider tins course • abso- lutely necessary, in order to ensui-e the pennanence of the tree. Lei it be well understood that, during these pro- ceedings, that is to say, from the moment the tree is taken out of the groimd imtO fixed in its new situa- ation, not a root must be suffered to become dry ; every good cultivator wdl be sure to pi'ovide against that. It is, therefore, necessary to keep a water-pot at hand, with a rose on, and frequently to api)ly a little. R. Ebkingion. THE FLOWEE-GARDEN, Waiks. — No gai-deu can be said to be even re- spectably managed, where the walks are ill ch-ained, badly defined, neglected, and covered with moss and weeds. If every other part of the garden be kept in perfect order, and yet the walks be even pai'tially neglected, they give an air of desolation to the whole. On the other hand, if the walks are dry, clean, and neat, a sti-oU in the garden may be endiu'- able, tliough the grass may be rank, and the weeds rampant in the otlier parts. We feel, even when in health, great comfort in walking in a garden on a sohd, dry walk ; but to the invahd, this is absolutely necessaiy. To such, who have been confined long to a sick-room, and ai-e consequently weak both in body and mind, a short walk in the garden appeal's an enjoj-nient devoutly to be wished for. Imagine a dearly-loved one in such a state, some fine spring morning, immediately after a refi'cshing shower has fallen ; the clouds have dispersed, the rain is over, the bii-ds are singing, the sim is shining, and all nature appears rejoicing, and, as it were, rimning over with tliankfulness and joy. On such a day, we wish our sick relative, or friend, to lean ujion our shoidder, and gently walk abroad to taste the sweet breath of heaven, and by such influences hope to win back health and strength. Our relative is brought to the door, equipt for this fii'st effort, when, alas ! the walk appears in pools of water here — in miry puddles there — and with moss and weeds ovei'gi'own ; and the invalid, in bitter disappointment, exclaims — " I cannot, dai'e not, go out ! beautifid morning as it is, I must wait till the sun diies up the walk." Perhaps, by that time, the day is declining, and then the feai- of the dews of the evening ai'e a final prevention of the desired aii'ing. To prevent the possibihty of such occiuTcnces, oiu* advice is, " mend yoiu' ways promptly and at once." We are sensible that our language may ajjpcar some- what sti'ong and savouring of the visionary ; but we too often see instances in our daily rounds, of walks in such a state, that a person of mfirm health would di'ead to take the aii' on them, excepting in the driest weather. As this is a good season to either unprove old walks, or to make new ones, we shall endeavoin- to give our amateur and cottage readers some iu- stnictions on the subject. To Improve Old Walks. — Whenever walks are out of order, proceed with ]iickaxe and sliovel to loosen all the rubbish the walk may be made of. If the walk is not drained, or badly ihained, have either some draining tiles or bricks with covers ready. Let all the old rubbish be sifted, and tlie rough laid in a ridge at one side of the waUc. The fine stuti' that passes through the sieve wiU do well to mix witli dung to mauiu'e the garden with, especially where the general soil of the garden is heavy, or of a clayey natm-e. Wiiere there is plenty of room to lay the rough rubbisli, the whole may be sifted at once ; but where that is not the case, the work may be done in lengths of ten or more yards at a time. After tlie nibble is removed, the next operation is to make and lay the driiiu, iirovided the walk is deep enough. To make a thoruugldy good di-y walk, there ought to be at least nine inches deep of open rubble. The drain shoidd be in the centre of the walk ; haU' of its depth ought to be below the bottom of the rubble. Then lay short chains from the sides of the walk to the centi-e drain ; and upuu them, close to the cdguig, lay four bricks to receive a grating, to take in tiic top water in heavy showers. THE COTTAGE GAEDENER, 201 Where tlie walk is pretty level, these gratings need not be nearer to each other than from 10 to 15 yards ; biit if the walk is steep, or even of a moderate slope, the gi-atings ought to be much more niunerous; perhaps, in extreme eases, as near as five yards to each other. The day, or earth, under the rubble, should be made smooth and sloping from each side, down to the drain. This will convey aU the water that settles through the rubble to the draia, which draiu will convey it to a general di-aiu outside the garden. As soon as the drain is laid and the bottom made smooth, the rubble should be put in carefidly, so as not to distirrb the drain. This shoidd be put in to within two inches of the level of the edging. If the edging, whether it is of gi-ass, box, thrift, daisies, or even slates, be out of order, in tliis state of the walk it is a veiy good opportunity to renew it ; but gi-eat care must be taken not to mix the earth with the rubble. AVhen all this work is well and duly done, let the rubble be beaten down with a rammer, or well rolled ; it is then ready for the gravel. Lay on a coating of rough gravel first, rounding it up in the centre, so that the top of the centre should be as high as the edging, and the sides 1^ inch below it. This rough gravel would be better to lay as it is for a few days, or even weeks, if convenient, so that it may settle, and become in a degi-ee solid. Then lay on the last coat of gravel, wliich should be moderately fine, the pebbles amongst it not being larger than hazel nuts. This coat of gi-avel should be laid on pretty nearly level witli the edging, and roimded up to the centre. This will, after it has been well rolled and becomes solid, allow the water to run to the lowest part of the wallv — the sides, and fi'om thence into the drains, through the gi'atings before mentioned. All the drains ought to have a gentle descent, to allow the water to run off fi-eely. If the walk is steep, it win be necessaiy to lay the bottom of the drain with slate or flat tiles, to prevent the water working away the substratum, which will soon choke up the drain if this precaution is not adopted. In places where the wallis are ou a steep descent, it is a good plan to pick out of the gi'avel, or to procure them on pmiiose, as many pebbles about the size of hens' eggs as wiU pave each side of the walk six. or nine inches wide, laying them rather hollow, so as to form a condiut for the water in heavy rains. This will prevent the gi'avel washing away, and will not look amiss, pro- vided it is neatly performed. Walks fob Coti.vge Gardens. — If om cottago friends cannot procm-e gravel, there are many sub- stances that will make a firm dry wallt. Perhaps the next best to gravel is coal-ashes. In the neighbour- hood of large manufactming towns these are vei-y plentiful. In using them, proceed as with gravel, — di'ain first ; then put in the rough, larger pieces, and then a coat of fine ashes, beating them down firmly with the back of a shovel or spade. These walks are drj' and firm, though, of course, not so sightly as gi-avel, neither do they last so long. We have also seen very decent walks formed of road scrapings. These requu-e to be well raised to keep them dry. Spent tanners' bai'k, where plentifid, makes a good path, and has the advantage of keeping down weeds entirely ; or if these do grow, of being easily weeded. Wliichever of the foregoing materials can be easiest procured, we hope our cottagers will not neglect to obtain and use them at once, for notliing makes a garden, however hrmible it may be, appear so un- sightly, as a mhy, puddly walk up to the door. Labels for AirAiEURS. — We saw lately some veiy neat enamelled labels, both for pots and borders, at a shop, 109, St. Martin's- lane, London. They are very dm-able, neat, and, considering the material, tolerably cheap. Those for pots were of three sizes — the largest 63s, middle-size 48s, and the smaller iis per 100. The names of the plants ai-e beautifully -wiitten upon them ; the expense of the writing being included in the above prices. Neither the name nor label, with moderate cai-e, can ever decay ; not, at least, for a gi'eat nimiber of years. FLORISTS' FLOWERS. Tulips. — The very rmusually mild weather we have had lately will cause these brdbs to send up their leaves ; and, as cold weather may yet reason- ably be expected, its effect will be very unfavoui'able to tlieir flower buds. To prevent this, we must adopt means to check their growth. The most effectual way to do this, is to shade the beds during the day, and to expose them dirring the night, iniless frosty. When fi'osty, cover up the beds very secm-ely, as the tulip, with advancing buds, is very tender, and the efiects of fr'ost getting to them will be shewn by yellow defoimed leaves, with imperfect flowers, and consequently gi-eat disappointments to the anxious cultivator. Auricula and Polyanthus. — These flowers will also feel the efiects of the warm weather, and the same means must be used to keep them fi-om prematmely pushing foi-ward their flower stems. Keep them as cool as possible, by giving abundance of an, and during sunshine by shading them ; keeping the air on at the same time. Choice seedlings in small pots may now be shifted, to encourage them to grow and make sti'ong plants to flower next year. Pansy. — Those planted out last autumn will now 'requfre the smface of the soil in the bed to be stiiTed, either with a short three-pronged fork, or a small forked stick; close the soil with the hand fh'mly round each stem, and keep a look out for slugs and wireworms. Below is a descriptive list of some of the best moderately-priced ones : — Arethusa (Brown's), purple ; self.^ Apollo (Turner's), yellow and bright orange- Beauty of Guildford (Hart's), white and ^'iolet purple. Blue Fringe (Major's), white ground, deepljlueeye, andblue edge. Bridegroom (Major's), white and purple. Cato (Schoficld's), white ground, with light blue belt. Clinia.^ (Bell's), white and purple. Companion (Hooper's), gold and chocolate. Duchessof Rutland (Thompson's) white and purplish lilac. Doctor \A''olff (Backhouse's), gold and bronze purple. Excellent (Thompson's), golden yellow and dark bronze. Favourite (Schoiield's), mulberry and rich crimson. Field-Marshal (Schofield's), white and dark purple. Great Britam (Hooper's), yellow and purple. Grand Siiltan (Youell's), dark puce ; self. Hero of Bucks (King's), gold and maroon. Lord Hardinge (Gossett's), straw and purple. Lady Sale (Hooper's), dark pur- ple. The above tliirty-six varieties average Is each, or 9s the dozen. T. Appleby. Lord Jlorpeth (Major's), large yellow. Mmerva (Schofield's), rich mul- berry, and white ground. Model of Perfection (Chater's), mulberry ; self. Optimus (Turner's), white and purple. Perfection (Thompson's), golden yellow; self. Pizarro (Thompson's), yellow and bronze. President (Schofield's), yellow and purple. Queen of 'Whites (Hart's), fine white ; self. Rainbow (Hall's), dark purple ; self. Richard Cobden (Oak's), black; self. Satirist (Thompson's), bron2epur- ple ; self. Supreme (Youell's), yellow and dark purple. Superb (King's), white and blue. Sulphurea elegans (King's), sul- phur ; self. WhitcSergeant(Hooper's), white; self. Wonderful (Hooper's), yellow and rich bronze. Wellington (Hunt's), maroon ; self. Yellow Climax (Bell's), yellow; self. Self— 2k flower all of one colour. 202 THE COTTAGE GAEDENER. [Eerata. — At page I69, first column, 27th line from the top, for *^ plants," read "pots." Same page, second column, 2nd line, for *' or in a bed 7tot properly prepared," read " but in a bed properly prepared.*'] j GREENHOUSE AND WINDOW G.iEDENING. Calceolarias. — These may be called the next hest class of flowers for window and pit cultm-c, after the gerauiums and fuchsias ; and, like them, they have always been favoui'ites with those who know tliem, and grow them for summer flowers. The florists have taken tliem up of late yeaj's, and improved them wonderfully in size, shape, and markings, but they committed a sad mistake in discharging some very beautifid blotched and selt-colom-ed ones, tliat were in high repute between 1834 and 1840 ; for it must be remembered, that the present race of calceolarias are of very recent origin, and, with the single ex- ception of the fuchsia, are the youngest tribe wliich have won the smiles of the florists, (shame be to them for neglecting om- old favourite sorts !) for the pansies began to attract attention much about the same time as the calceolarias. The first hybrid calceolarias were raised near Edin- burgh, and flowered in the summer of 1830, and the fh-st account of them was given to the world in Jameson's Plulosophical Journal for Jidy of that year, by the late Dr. Graham, then professor of botany in the University of Edinburgh. The late Mr. Yoimg, nm-seryman at Epsom, bought that coUeotion, and introduced them to England in 1831, and their fame soon spread throughout iUl the laud, making a great stir among gardeners ; and in less than six months afterwards, we had finer colom-s, and more marked ehai-acters among them, than is to be met with in the present day. The present race of fancy calceolai-ias are certainly most beautifid things, and are extra- ordinary instances of the powers of cultivation, aided by the hand of the hybridiser, over the wUd fonns of nature, in so short a time. Yet these beautiful plants would have been far more extensively cultivated and sought after, if the family character had not been reduced down to one uuifonn strain, so as to come into mathematical precision in respect to form and general outline of the flower. The industiy and perseverance of florists, and the ndes they have laid dowTi for testing the produce of their- laboius, are beyond all praise ; but the race between the diflerent growers is so keenly contested, that unavoidable mistakes, with respect to breeders, are often committed. No matter what good proper- ties a plant may naturally possess for the purposes of general cultivation, if it does not include the " go- a-head" principle, and can reach the wimiiug-post " neck-or-iiothing," it is utterly discarded ; and once the tide of fashion is led into a smooth channel, it is useless to endeavovu- to stem the cuiTcnt. No one knows aU tliis better than a florist ; but he must live like other honest people, and what brings hiui in bread and cheese is not to be compared with other people's fancies. Great treasures are left in store, therefore, for the amateur who has time and inclination to follow out the art of hybridising, without allowing himself to be trammelled by mathematical rules, or any set of fixed laws whatever, and he need have no apprehen- sion about gardeners being able to compete with him in that department. In these days they have no leisure for such pui'smts ; and if they have the incli- nation, they can only take a bite here, and a snatch there, without any regular plan of proceeding. Slipperwort is the English name of the calceolaria, because the little weeds ti-om wliicii oiu present stock is descended had gaping small flowers somewhat in tlie shape of a shpper; but the new ones are more lilie globes and balloons than anytliing else, and the toe end of the old slipper must now be jmtt'ed out like a fuU blown bladder, without the least wrinkle or jiuckeiing of any kind, and moreover be as regidar in outline as if cut out with a stamp, othei-wise it will not come witliin the florist's ultimatum. Some of the varieties have really attained tliis — so called — perl'eo- tion, and then- spots, strijies, and other mai-kings, are nearly endless. Notwithstanding all this diversity from the ori- ginal stock, and having through twenty successive generations been removed as far' fi-om their wild alpine ancestors as it seems possible to reduce them, they yet maintain the coiiMUutional character im- planted in their wild parents through the lapse of ages in a pecidiar climate. The whole race are natives of the western declivities of the groat Andes' chain of mountains, in South America, fi-om Peru, tlu-ough Chili and Patagonia, and some of the adja- cent islands. In some of theu- localities on the hills, they are so niunerous as to give a peculiar cast to the vegetation, as om- own buttercups do here. Those fi-om which our present calceolarias have originated, inhabit a belt, or zone, on the liills in Cliili and the southern provinces of Pern, not far below the snow hue, the moltiug of which often suj)- plies them with summer moisture ; and the south wind, loaded with vapour fi-om the Pacific, plays on them for eight or nine months in the year, so that they enjoy a temperate, moist climate ; while the vegetation immediately below them, along the plains to the sea, is withered with scorching heat and want of rain. They have thus acquii-ed a pecidiar consti- tution, from wliich their more civilized ofi"spriug seem imwiUing to depart ; and a constitution, too, wliich pecidiarly fits them to the damp atmosphere of England. Actual damp in cold pits, however, is certain destruction to them. Their alpine nature requii-es a uniformly cool, moist air, in constant motion around them. A wai-m close room, there- fore, wiU not do well to grow them in, mdcss they are tm-ned outside in mild weather; and in that case, there is no place better than a %vindow for them. Eii-e-heat is disagreeable to them at any stage of then- gi-owth ; eveu om- summers are generally too hot for them ; and it is in the autumn and spring tliat they enjoy, with us, the nearest approach to tlieii- native climate. This " relation between climate and vegetation" is ahuost a new kind of study among gardeners; and it is of the utmost importance to facilitate the jiro- gress of superior cultivation. The climate of Italy is much the same as that of central Chili, but the cUmate of Chili varies considerably in the lUfl'ercut districts. Thus, in the calceolaria districts, we have seen how cool and moist the atmosphere is, while in the nortliei-n eUstricts of Chili, idl along its coast line, the gi-eat heat and di-yncss of the air renders the vegetation of those plains more like that of the Cape colony than that in which the calceolarias flourish, just on the hills above thorn. 'I'hercfore, with the same general climate as Chili, the Italian gardeners may and wiU excel us in rearing the ti-agrant tuberoses, the gay helladonua, and even the Peruvian daflbdils {Ismeiic), from the country of tlie calceolarias, aud yet not be able to approach oiu- success in the culture of the calceolarias them- selves. So much is vegetation influenced not only THE COTTAGE GARDENEE. 203 by climate, but, also, by tbe state of the atmosphere in a given locality. Hence it is, that plants from the same country, and under the same latitude, often require very opposite treatment. Hence, too, the necessity of keeping the roots of calceolarias much cooler than thefr herbage ; their natural water- ing, on the hills of Chili, being from the melting snow on the hills above them. No lukewarm water I'or them, therefore, for it is almost impossible to keep them too cool at the roots under cultivation ; and they ai'e the first to suffer from exposure of the pots to a dry or hot atmosphere. No plants delight in double potting more than these; and cold water is, at aU times, more congenial to them than when in a lukewarm state. The generaUty of plants are much improved in health and vigour, if the soil about their roots is kept somewhat warmer than the atmosphere they live in ; because, in all warm coimtries, and even in more temperate localities, it is found that the average temperature of the soil is always some degrees warmer than the surrounding atmosphere ; and this state of things we endeavour to imitate, by watei'ing our pot plants with lukewarm water^more particu- larly in cold weather. Plants like the calceolaria, however, which hve naturally near the snow-line in hilly countries, have the usual course reversed. Their roots are in a much cooler state than the air they breathe : with the melting of the snow, the groimd is always more or less moistish, and at a temperature much lower than the suiTOunding air. The first fruit tliat ever I tasted, I believe, is the produce of a little plant that for years I was accus- tomed to see in flower early in June, with a collar of snow round its neck. Yes, as soon as the snow got thin enough to allow this little alpine to push up its leaves and flowers, it would bloom in myriads along the edges of the snow, with flowers just like om' strawbeiTy blossoms, and as clear white as the snow wliich siuTounded and watered them. Yet a frosty night at that season woidd destroy a year's crop, as happens in oiu' gardens but too often. This shews clearly that they require a warmer atmosphere for theii' flowers thau is uatm'al for tbeii' roots ; and, of course, piu'e an- is at all times what they breathe. Hence tlie gi'eat assistance gai-deners and others derive from the study of climate with reference to vegetation, and the peculiar conditions under which some plants thrive in their native places. The fruit of the little plant alluded to is called the Cloudberry. It is about the size, shape, and colom- of a sti-awben-y, and in hot weather, at the end of summer, is as refresliing and wholesome to eat as any of our summer fr-uits; but I forget about the flavour. No codling, therefore, for our calceolarias. In summer, however, the pots shoidd be well secm'ed from the sun, and be enveloped in damp moss, if possible. They will gi-ow in any light rich soil ; but leaf-mould, peat, and sandy loam, in equal propor- tions, will keep them more healthy, and less Uable to mishaps, than richer composts. They are very glut- tons, nevertheless, and will get to a gi'eater size in a more rich and adhesive compost ; but that sort of forced gi-owth is against their keeping qualities. They are propagated from sUps, or cuttuigs, after they have bloomed in summer, and the little plants are kept over the winter in cold pits and greenhouses in four-inch jiots, with very httle water and abund- ance of air. As soon as they begin to move in the spring — about the end of Eebniai-y — they ai'e potted into pots one size larger. They now grow rapidly, and take large doses of cold water, and manure water twice a week. As soon as one sized pot is getting full of roots, they are shifted into the next larger one in rapid succession, till the middle of May, when their flower-stalks are pushing up strong. No amount of air is too much for them after the flower-stalks appear ; and if the night an- is just above the fi-eezing point, it is more natural to them, and they delight in it, as well as to be watered at this season with ice-cold water. This I have proved over and over again; for, as is well known to many of the readers of The Cottage Gar- dener, I was once the greatest gi-ower of calceolarias in England, and my fingers always had an itchuig for experiments. The best preventive against insects, is to give calceolarias abimdance of cold night air, and to keep them veiy cool at the roots. When they are pampered with warm water and close comfortable lodgings, as one might say, they become the prey of insects directly, as you may easily prove by keeping a plant in a wai'm room, and his fellow just outside the window ; and it would be intei-esting for the reader to tiy all om- niles by du-eot experiments. No matter how humble your station, if you shew by a fairly-tested experiment a better way of gi-owing any plant, all the best gardeners will be obhged to you for telling them of it ; and you need never be afraid of \viiting about any plan of gi-owing plants, for fear that you cannot speU the words right, or that you might use bad gi-ammar, and all that sort of thing. You never think it a difiiculty to write a letter to any of yom- friends, and are we not all of us friends ? We never think anything about fine words, or good spelling either — facts are much better. The editors and printers will put all that to rights — it is their business : they cannot dig, veiy pi'obably, like us ; but the most confused letter that you ever saw, they can make as smooth and even in pi-int as an onion bed, and nothing pleases them better, if it is about anything new or useftd. D. Beaton. THE KITCHEN-GARDEN. Rhubarb Forcing. — First cover the plant either with a sea-kale or common garden pot (twelve inches across), but a butter firkin or chimney-pot is still better ; the leaf-stalks becoming much longer and finer. Whichever vessel is used, cover it two or three feet all round with fennenting dung. As by this mode the plants are very Uable to be broken, their leaves soon touching the sides, a fi'ame is much less objectionable, formed, by driving stakes into the grovmd on each side of the bed. These are to be three feet liigh above gi'oimd, and the space between the two rows of stakes two feet at the bottom, but approaching each other, and fastened by cross pieces, so as to be only fifteen inches apoi-t at top. To the sides and top, stout laths are fixed to prevent the dung falling upon the plants, are represented in the accompanying sketch. The dung may be either fresh, or that which has al- ready partly undergone fermentation, placed all round the frame eighteen inches thick, and tbe top covered with long litter. The temperature in the interior 204 THE COTTAGE GARDENER. should have a range from 05 to CO degrees. If it rises higher, two or tlrree large holes made through the top soon coiTects it. Cabbages. — Any vacancies among the autumn- planted, caused by vei-min, or the effects of winter, should now be filled up from those pricked out for the purpose, and for supplying sti-ong plants for sijruig planting. The plants should be raised with a liand-fork or trowel, so as to distui'b tbeii' roots but slightly. Tlie yellow leaves should be collected away from aU cabbage plantations, and lioeing and sm'- face-stimng well attended to, in suitable weather ; for it will well repay th'p trouble, by an earlier produc- tion of healthy luxuriant produce. Cauliflowers wliich liave stood in frames, or under the shelter of glass, should now be well hard- ened. Indeed, the frames may now be altogether removed from them ; and, if frost shoiild prevail, hoops and mats, or evergi'een bouglis, straw, pea haulm, or any simOar covering, will answer the pur- pose of protection. Those who have warm borders, or banks, or sheltered situations of any kind, and the soU well pulverized, should, there, at once get a quantity of the sti'ongest plants set out. Yoimg l>lants now coming up in pans, &c., should be pricked out as soon as they can be handled, into other pans, an incli apart; or on a sUght hot-bed, slieltored with lioops and mats ; or under a light or hand-glass, for a short time, if these shelters can bo spared. Jehusalem Abtiohokes and Hoksebadish, where not already ti-enched out, and new plantations made, should be done so at once. The small and r^efuse artichoke tubers should be saved for the pigs or poultry, for which they are excellent food. Where game is preserved, artichokes are a most excellent food for enticing and keeping them at home. Routine Work. — Sow ^»'«s and heans in succes- sion, Salmon and Turnip radishes, and tmistard and eress. The two last-named wholesome salad plants may be gi-own well in the cottage window, in pans or boxes ; and shifting it to the chimney corner of a night will forward it much. BrocoU now coming in shoidd be protected by breaking over them a leaf or two, or by pulling otf two or tlu-ee of the yellowest leaves from the base of then stems, and placing over them for protection. Early varieties of rhiibarh, in the natural ground, may be much assisted by placing a few evergi'een boughs round about their crowns, and by adding a little fern, heath, straw, or pea haulm, lightly over the crowns, and between the boughs. Mushroom Beds should be kept clear from .short litter ; and, where necessary to be covered, which is the case with those in cold sheds or out of doors, a little fresh litter should occasionally be applied ; which is a much better system than changing it to any extent, or all at once, for this is apt to cause various checks, which are not so easily remedied. Stable dung should be got together for succession beds, and placed in small ridges, and turned over and left open and light, to partially dry ; open slieds, or inider stack stands, are the best places for putting it to dry. Frames and Pits shoidd now bo well attended to. Early ciic-umlers shoidd be methodically stopped, thinned, and trained, always rubbing off every show of fruit, until the plants are strong enough to cany and mature them in perfection. When leaving fruit to be matured, rub off all, at each joint, as soon as seen, with the exception of one, and that the strong- est and boldest looldng. Those thus left should be again thinned as soon as tlie blossom is di'opt and the fruit set, only allowing a given quantity in vari- ous stages of gi-owth to swell off. For being over covetous of much fruit is often the means of only producing deformities, exliaustion, and disease. Whenever needful, Unings, if well protected with furze, faggots, or otlier refuse, and kept topped up to the upper edge of the frames with dry, sweet stable manm'e, will produce a lasting, kindly, regular heat ; which is much more essential for the main- taining good health, and obtaining abundance of fniit, than sudden changes. A succession of both ciicum- hcrs and melons should be sown ; and plants already potted, kept close to the glass, to maintain sturdiuess. Early Potatos. — Eveiy available article, at all fit for fermenting piu'poses, should be collected to- gether, for making slight hot-beds, for producing early potatoes in trenches. Cart out earth enough to make a bed one foot deep, with earth enough left in a ridge, on each side, to comraaud a foot in lieight, above the potato plants, for forming a shelter, and for placing across poles or rough scant- lings, to bear a slight covering of any casUy-pro- curable material. The best plan for preparing the potato plants for plantings in such temporary places, is to place moderate-sized whole potatoes thick toge- ther, in shallow pans or boxes, putting these in a little heat, — such as the front of cucumber or melon pits, frames, or hot-houses, &e., covering them, but thinly, with light earth. W^hen the slioots are two inches high, transplant them into the trendies. No plant does better than a potato, transplanted, AVhen the stems get high enough to earth up, the soU in ridges, left for shelter on the sides, shoidd be made use of for tliat puiiiose. Radishes and Horn Carrots ah-eady up should be thinned in due season ; the sm'face between them stirred often, and spiinkled in good time, during fine afternoons, mth tepid water ; and if, by any accident, they have become a little drawn up, sift among them some light earth and charred ashes. Lettuce plants should be also similarly treated. G. W. J., & James Barnes. MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION. MY FLOWERS. (No. 15.) The unusual mildness of the present season pro- mises a cold, frosty spring. Every lady who has ne- glected to prepare her borders in November, or who has, since that period, caught a new idea, should ad- di'ess herself to the work \rithout delay, if the open weather continues, as notliing can be done during the prevalence of frost. New borders may now be formed, and left to pidverize and settle, before the planting time begins. If the new soU is strong and heavy^if it is even a clay — spread coal ashes rather thickly over the newly-dug bed, and leave it to digest them. The eifeot of coal ashes on clayey soU is marvellous. I have myself experienced tins, and, therefore, can speak confidently. My oNvn garden soil is a vei-y sti-ong one, almost approaching to clay, and was once a shrubbery of laurels and other trees. When first cleared, and laid out in beds, the newly-dug soil lay in almost hopeless lumps, hard and unmanageable. After throwing a thick coating of coal ashes over the soU, I left it for a little whUe, perhaps a mouth or more ; when, to my joy, the THE COTTAGE GAEDENER. 20 5 lumps broke up into mould, and I worked with ease and comfort. I have ever foimd tliis to he the case ; therefore, ladies need not give up a situation that suits their taste, because the soil is hai'd and cold ; they need not lament over theii' borders, because they are wet and comfortless ; only give them a good supply of ashes, not very finely sifted in the worst cases, and they wUl find in a few weeks that the spade and trowel wiU move with ease. It is best to do this before the winter, because you gain time, and the frosts help you too, but it is not too late to do it now ; and, as there is every j^robability of a cold late spring, the garden wiU not be much behind- hand. In mild open weather during this month, hardy bulbous roots may be planted — hardy perennials and biennials also, Lf not done in the autumn. Shrubs may be moved also ; and shiiibberies shoidd lie cleared ft'om long rambling shoots, and whatever is unpleasing to the eye. Cut them aU away ; let an air of neatness prevail, so essential in a lady's garden ; and either dig among the sluiibs, or clear and rake away long dead grass and litter, according to the ground on which they stand. P'rom my own experience, I should advise ladies to have as little dug gi'ound as possible among shrubs and bushes, for it is a perpetual trouble ; weeds spring up incessantly, and it is very difficidt to get at them. The rose and sweet-brier bushes tear our bonnets and collars to pieces, and we tread most vexatiously on our rai- )iient, when stooping to avoid them. Tims, as in some situations in hfe, often brought on by our own folly, we cannot avoid one evil witliout eneoiuitering another ; and I have come ft'om among my slmibs with draggled dress' and cnished bonnet, day after day, in the vain attempt to destroy the persevering endless-rooted weed that infests my garden. It has, however, defeated my efibrts ; and I have now tinfed up the border, lea^^ng a veiy small circle round each stem ; and this plan I recommend every lady to adopt who is her own gardener. It would be well for some of us, if we " turfed up " much that we do, and take delight in ; much that, at best, is weedy and ixnj^rofitable, and very often ends in guilt and grief We have within us, gi'ound veiy difficult to tiU ; our hearts are harder than clay ; our wills more stubborn than thorns and briers ; and every evil more deeply-rooted than a dandelion. Clay may be softened, briers cut down, weeds rooted up, but how are ^ve to be broken up and fertilized? Tins is a se- rious question. Let us not spend all om' time and skill upon fruits and flowers, useftil and lovely as they are ; but let us leai'n fi'om their requu'ements how much we need culture too ; and that though many ways are devised to enrich the soQ, there is but one way to improve the human heart. Let us seek it, and use it diligently. Few, and far between, ar-e the flowers of this season. The lovely lilac primrose has been per- suaded to tbuik this winter only a chilly spring, for her blossoms have been peeping among the soft green leaves for some little time. The common prinn'ose, too, I saw, long befoi"e Christmas, in the sheltered garden of a friend ; but they did not give me pleasure, they looked cold, and pale, and languid, as il awakened fi-om their sleep too soon. Nothing looks healthy — scarcely pretty — when out of season ; but when once we feel ourselves again bounding towards the sim, an early flower dehghts us ; and I am already beginning to glance at the hedges and warm banks, in seai-oh of the early buds. I do not like primroses in borders, they belong so exclusively to the woodland treasury, to " the banks and braes of bonny " England, that they do not look half so charming among garden flowers, as when carpeting the newly-cleared copse, spiinkliug the fields, and peeping fi'om imder every wild entanglement of hedge and brake. There they are in their native loveliness, and cbai-m us with then- delicate blos- soms, and equally dehcate scent, which, in the fuU flowering season, greets us as we pass. The Winter Aconite is a valuable addition to the scanty flowers of winter. Its rich yellow blossoms rest on the ground, below the i-each of cutting and dashing winds. It is found in the woods of Italy also, and some other pai-ts of Eiu'ope, and is a deadly poison. Where there ai-e childi-en, it should be excluded from the garden. The Rosemary is blooming also ; it is a ft-agi'ant as well as a pretty flower, and useful as a flavom-ing herb in some jjarts of cookery. It belongs to south- ern Eiu'ope, and is foimd among the broiling desei-ts of Africa, so that it may be called a citizen of many climes. It is used in Gennany in some of their religious ceremonies; and was once regarded, in days of romance, as an emblem of constancy ; and in bygone days, it was used in England both on nuptial and funeral occasions. It has much to say to us, therefore, of times and seasons — ;joys and sor- rows — and is an interesting as well as kindly visitor at tins dark season. We might fill our gardens with many plants that woidd talk instructively to us, if we studied their nature and their liistoiy. They would form a little hbrary of useful knowledge ; and we should not content ourselves with admiring "the pretty blue flower," or " the bright and handsome red one," as we often do. I feel my own ignorance on these subjects, and how much of enjoyment and interest I lose by it ; therefore, I would mge " my sisters " to gain all the information possible, relative to their histoiw, then- habits, and then properties. A garden is a beautiful and rational recreation ; a.nd the more we see and understand of God's perfect woi'kmanship, the more interest and delight it wOl afford. The Garden and the Field are the cradles of Englishmen; and we shall, I trust, be old indeed when the pleasure and profit we derive from them shaU cease. TO CORRESPONDENTS. Strawhehries (E. Marsden). — The best early strawberry is Keene's seedling ; and the best, for the main crop, Myatt's British Queen. The best time for planting is from the beginning of August to the end of September, but the earlier the better. Trench the ground and manure it now, and plant two rows 18 inches apart, and the same distance from plant to plant. The bed being so narrow, enables the fruit to be gathered, and all necessary cultivation attended to, without treading on the bed. This is important, for it ought never to be dug until the plantation is broken up. Salt Water for Hyacinths (W. X.). — A little salt in soft water is no doubt useful for hyacinths and other plants ; but the dose is so liable to be overdone, or not given at the proper time, that we never recommend it. We have found nothing so saie as the soap- water from our wash-hand basin in the morning, without the addition of other slops. For twenty years wc have used this water with the best effects for all kinds o'f house-plants ; and this is generally the thing we mean when we say *' soap-suds.'* The morning is the best time, at this season, to water plants ; and every house has the daily supply of this useful article every morning. Greenhouse Climbers {W. X.). — I'ou say that you have Mau- randya Barclayana, Sollya salicifolia, Lophospermum scandens, Lonicera implexis, Tweedia coerulea, Passiflora princeps, Kennedya monophylla. Clematis azurea, Clematis grandiflorum, and Jasmi- num revolutum. These are all good — but your Lonicera and Jasminum will do out of doors, — even in your " bleak situa- tion." If you can train them against a wall ^ith any aspect, s o 20G THE COTTAGE GARDENER. much the better. The perpetual-flowering rose you require for a greenhouse must be of the " tea-secnted" class. If intended to be planted out as a climber or pillar rose, almost any of the strong-grow- ing old sorts will answerin good rich soil ; and some buds of the newer sorts may be inserted afterwards. The newest and best of the tea- scented roses iu, unnuestionably, Vicountessc de Cazes. It was exhi- bited last summer tor the first time in England ; and is of a beautiful huffish red, and charmingly sweet ; but it costs 3s. Gd. But to begin with, take Uougere. Triomphe d in a rich soil, and well drained, the seeds covered one-fourth of an inch, and about 20 seeds in that sized pot, as some of them may not grow, and others may chance to die after they are up, but then, after making a full allowance for all failures, there ^vill be plenty to fill the pot and some to spare. The plants must, therefore, bo tUuned as soon as they begin to crowd each other, seven or eight plants will be enough to leave for flowering, and half that number would be enough if they were to be flowered in the pot ; but they are to be planted out in the box as soon as the flower buds appear-, with the ball undis- tiu'bed, and the top of it placed half an inch deep below the smi'ace of the soU in the box. Stocks (of which the scarlet ten-week, or inter- mediate, is the best,) are to be raised after the same manner, but in four-inch pots, aud three or fom' plants will be sufficient for one pot. When the plants are six inches high, they will be ready to shift into the box in alternate rows with the migno- nette pots, and then the whole to have a good water- ing to settle the mould about the balls. Of course there will be a row of holes in the bottom of the boxes to let ofi" the water, ^\^len the seeds ai-e sown the pots may stand in the window : or, if the kitchen window is wai'mer, they may be set there tfll the seedlings are well up above tlie sod. If they do not come up weak aud spindly, the place is not too hot for them, but they will require to be very near the glass, and to be gently watered as often as the surface soil becomes dry ; but very little wiU serve them at a time till they get up stout little plants. Any window on which the sun shines most part of the day, aud where a fire is kept, \vill do to rear these little fellows capitally ; and as they advance in strength, timi them outside for a few hours on fine sunny days; or, if frost prevails, keep them diier, and let them stand down in the room at night, for fear of the fi'ost nipping them through the glass. Now this is reaUy a nice experiment to try ; and, if you shoidd not succeed at first, the loss wiU be a mere notliing, and depend upon it you will learn THE COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 213 more about them in one month tlian you can leam from hooks in a twelvemonth. There is nothing Uke going at the tiling in earnest, and doing the work with yom' own hands ; that is the right way to find out all the httle secrets, and if you persevere I shall tell you of many such experiments this spring, and hy this time next yeai', perhaps, you will put yom' neighhom'S in a better way of doing these things, fi-om your own experience. Only tliink of that. Sweet Peas. — These also are extensively sown in pots about tliis time, to iiower early in May, and perha])s this plant is the safest thing for one to begin with for the flj.'st time. Sow m a encle roimd the sides of large pots, say those eight or nine inches in diameter; and, as soon as the seedlings appear, allow them plenty of an-, and merely guai-d them from fi'ost and cold, cutting winds, .giving them water whenever the soil appears dry. When the i^lants are five or six inches high, put a few twigs in the pots for them to cling to ; and when they reach a foot in height give them taller sticks, and large doses of water, as they are now sti'ong feeders. A sheltered place out of doors, where the sun will get at them most part of the day, would be a suitable place for them after they are six inches liigh, and either to have some protection at night or to be taken in doors. CALCE0L-\rjA Seed. — If you should make up your mind to have a trial at gi-owiug these beautiful plants, and would be content to raise plants for yourseh', this is a good time to sow the seeds, and by good management the plants would blossom next autumn. The best time, however, to sow calceolaria seed is in August ; but, imluss one has had a little experience in keeping jjlants over the whiter, these are too delicate to begin with. The only (h-awback to February-sown seedlings is, that our svunmers ai'e too hot for tins family ; and unless the pots are kept cool, either by double-pottiag, or by being enveloped in damp moss in a shaded situation, the plants often become a prey for the red spider, an almost invisible little insect, which is a sad pest to gardeners when once they get a good footing, and of which a di'awing was given at p. 03. The seeds of calceolarias are as small as dust; therefore, I shall give a very full detail of the whole process of sowing and rearing the plants, and the same iides will be appUcable to many other Mnds of small seeds. Some people have a notion that seeds ought to be sown in the veiy land of compost that will gi-ow the plants best when they are full gi-own. The reason- ing on this point is natmal enough ; but in jiractico it is found that aU seeds that will sprout in a few weeks, will do so just as well in a poor sandy compost, as in the best prepared soil. This must have been imderstood in ancient times, othenvise om' Saviour would not have referred to the subject in the para- ble of the sower. I have often raised calceolaiia seedhngs in pure sand ; and I consider light sandy soil one half, and the other half sand, the veiy safest compost for young beginners to sow then- *eds in ; as, being so open and so poor, the plants will be less liable to accidents from over-watering or damp.. Pom-inch pots are of the best size to sow the seeds in, and these should be half filled with cinder ashes, then this light compost for the other half, but not fillin g the pots quite fidl, for we must leave a littlo room for watering. Make the soil smooth on the top, or if an iuch of the top soU were sifted finely it would be all the better. Then take a fine-rose water- ing-pot, and give the soil a good watering, to wet it tlu'ough. EecoUect this is before sowing the seeds, for they are so small that they can hai-dly be covered with soU, and such a watering as is necessary to wet all the soil woidd be apt to wash them out. There- fore, for very small seeds, we always water the pots first, and as soon as the water passes off through this large mass of di-ainage, the seeds are thinly sown with the forefinger and thumb, taMng a small pinch at a time, and passing it off as you would salt upon a sandwich at a pic-nio party : and when the seeds are in, take another pinch of the dry soil or compost and sow it exactly in the same way, till you see the seeds are just bedded in the soU, and no more. The pots ai-e then put into a good window, with a piece of cai-d, or something of that sort, placed over the mouth of the pot to keep the moistm-e fi-om diying oS out of the damp sod; and when you see the surface of the soil getting diy, you must give a gentle spriulding of water, but you must do it as carefully as if yom- very existence de- pended on your caution, for fear of distm-bing a sin- gle seed out of its place. In ten days or a fortnight you will see the seeds sprout, and then the card must be removed, to let in the au- to them. Now, at this early stage, a good window in a room where a fire is kept is the place for tliem, much better than a gi-een- house, as the diy atmosphere of a room will prevent any damp — the gi-eat enemy of aU young seedhngs. They are not veiy particular about being always in the same tempierature ; what happens to be the heat of the room will do, provided neither the fi-ost is let to them at night, nor any cold currents of air. Although it is always advisable to be careful in the rearing of young seedlings of any sort, there is no more diificidty about the matter than in raising a pot of mustard or cress. As to how often a pot of seedhngs, or indeed any pot, ought to be watered, all the plulosophy ui the world cannot determine with- out being on the spot. Therefore, when I state such a time, or so many days, it is all mere guess. In dull weather, tlu-ee or fom- days may pass, and no watering will be needed; and in hot, sunny weather, seed pots often require to be watered twice a day. The only ride for seedlings, is to have the smface damped gently as often as it gets diy, and that such water be always Inkewann when apphed, even for the calceolaria ; whose watering, in a state of natm-e, is often from the melting snow, as we stated last week. CixERARTAs, to fiowor iiext autiunu. shoidd be sown early in Febniary, and treated exactly as above di- rected for the calceolarias, only they may have a little more covering of sod. I tliink any seedsman in the throe kingdoms can supply little sixpenny packets of those two tribes ; as, if they happen not to have any of their own saving, they can procm-e them fi-oni London or other lai-ge places. Orders for things of this natm-e ought to be given in time, however, as it will never pay to send for small jiai-cels on puiqiose. They must come along with plants and other tilings. Veiy fine and new varieties wiU be much dearer than stated above ; but it is only such as have gone through the process already, that will risk a good price, till they see how the experiments wUl tm-n out. Wlien the little seedlings are big enough to be handled — or, say, when they have four leaves each — they must bo transplanted into small pots ; large pots hold too much sod for seedlings that are at all deUcate in gi-owth ; four-inch pots are the best for the flu-st potting of calceolarias, and half a dozen little plants may be be put into each, for nm-sing ; and, in another month or five weeks, according to the weather, these will reqiui-e a foiu--inch pot each. The soil for all this nursing must be of a light natm-e ; but after that they wUl take richer soil, and one uot quite so light. 214 THE COTTAGE GARDENEB.. Gardeners make use of reiy lich composts for gi-owing caleeolaiias, but until you get well accus- tomed to manage tliem, such rich composts are dan- gerous. A coiTespoudeut at ^Manchester says, "last October, I got some horse's dung, leaves, &e., and mixed them with some hght soil, ready for my jilants this spring." — A capital receipt, and this compost will be in good condition to grow the calceolarias and cinerarias after the nursing is orer: and, with equal parts of sand, ^vill do for the seeds and for the nursing pots. A boy, for a few pence, will gather a baiTowfiil of horse-dung for such a compost on almost any road ov street, and a little dry road-scrapings is exceUent to mis witli such a compost; and when that is quite rotten, one-thii'd of it added to two- thirds of any good mould, and a little sprinkling of sand, will gi-ow ninety -nine out of a hundred oJ' all tlie pot plants in the kingdom. Bals.\ms, Cockscombs, and a host of other tender annuals will be time enough if sown early in March. Pots. — If you use new pots for any kinds of seeds, they ought first to be steeped in water for a few hours, as they will be too dry otherwise, and will suck away the moistiue from the seeds, and nothing is worse for them than to be too often watered. All your old empty pots ought also to be steeped and well washed, to be ready for use. There must be no idle pots lying about by-and-by. If you have any wallfloicerx in the garden, a couple of them removed into pots now, and kept in a shady place for a few days, would come into flower a long time before those left out of doors, if you can spai-c room for them in a pit or greenhouse. I find moss by far the best thing to grow the hyacinths, and some might even now be taken out of a bed and put in pots of moss. D. Beaton. THE KITCHEN-GAEDEN. In every art, and in eveiy science, he is the most praiseworthy practitioner who can effect his piu-jjose with the simplest apparatus, the commonest tools, and, consequently, at the smallest expense. We aj-e led to this remai-k, from having lately been walk- ing roimd the forcing gi'ouud in the garden of tlie Warden of Winchester College, which is imder the care of Mr. Weaver. He is one of the best practical gardeners alive, a good natiualist as well, and cai'- ries oif some of the best prizes, eveiy year, at the shows of the Hamjishii-e Horticultural Society. Amongst other excellencies, he is a vei-y superior chiysauthemum grower ; and this leads us to Dlus- trate the sentence with which we commenced. Upon looking over the sea-kale forcing, by liim, under a hot-bed made of leaves, we found ttiat the twelve- inch pots, ill winch Mr. Weaver blooms his chrysan- themimis, are employed by liim in this operation, and Ms observation upon it is worthy of every gar- dener's remembrance : — " Tliis keeps the flower-pots from being idle ; and I can get sea-kale a fortnight foi-warder imder tliem than I can imder sea-kale pots ; they are smaller, and can be kept warmer." Pkeparing the Soil. — Embrace eveiy favourable opportunity for bringing the soil into a healthy, pul- verized condition, for all spring crops ; for this inte- resting, busy season, is now fast approaching ; and as success in obtaining an abundant return from the sou so much depends on a good preparation, and the fi'equent surfaee-stimngs afterwai'ds among the growing crops, it is well often to remind om- cottage friends of tliis important matter. It is not luuTying the seed, or the plants, into the soil on " our village fair-day," or on any other appointed day. because it has aiTived, whether the soil is in a fit condition or not, or whether the weather is suitalile or not ; but, on the conti-ary, the chief point of good culture, and for seeming an abundant retiUTi ti'om the soil, is first to di'ain, and then to trench it well ; to perfomi surface-stiiTings, and hoeings. in favourable weather, and as often as possible. All these pains and la- bours wiU be well repaid by a bomitiful, healthy crop in return. Sowing and ])lanting shoidd always be perfonned, too, in favom'able weather, and not till a good preparation is seciu'ed. A sowing in diills, of parsh-i/ and spinach, should now be made ; a little chaiTed refuse sown with it will be found beneficial. Spinach, in drills, may be advantageously sown now. and at all times, between every two rows of peas. The ground is thus econo- mized, and tlie shade from the peas continues the spinach longer in a state fit for table use. Peas and heans, already up, should be occasionally sm-face- stin-ed, and protected by shaking amongst them dry dust: and those intended to be protected by sticks and boughs should be so protected at once. I'r.oies. — Earlfi cucumbers and melons. — Maintain as regular a surface heat as possible, by well topping up the linings, keeping the inside soil and inner side of the frames or pits moist, by sprinlding them in the aftenioon. at shutting up time, with tepid water. This is the means of mauitaiuing a kindly moistness, preventing the occurrence of red spider, thiips. and woodlice. Those who have a little fer- menting materials to spare, by making shght hot-beds, protected with refuse, and hooped over to support the protection of a mat, could forward a few early turnips, sowed in di'ills. Also aspaniyus may in this way be fonvarded, and produced veiy fine and abundant. Potatoes, radishes, and carrots, may stiU be obtained earlier, by planting and sowing on slight hot-beds : and with more certainty of obtaining a healthy, abundant crop, than in the open gi-ound. if pro- tected with mats, &c. Those already up, and gi'ow- ing, should be kept well thimied, surfacc-stiiTed, and assisted by waterings of tepid water. When the seedlings are strong enough, a Little liquid manure should be added, thus encouraging a healthy, luxu- riant gi-owth, and by shutting up tolerably early of an afternoon. Potatoes ab-eady gi'own liigh enough in fi-ames or pits, should have a little hght earth placed amongst them, to keep the siuface tubers from greening. Collect together eveiy available ar- ticle that can at all be turned to account as a fer- menting material, and keep it snug together, turned and sweetened ready for use. G. W. J. & James Barnes. MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION. MY FLOWERS. (No. 16.) Althodgh Februaiy is, in general, wintiy and cold, it is decidedly a spring month. The days ai-e delight- fully lengthe"iiing ; every moniing we hear a new and joyous note, when we open our window ; and when the sun does find time and opportimity to shiiic brightly upon the eai-th, his beams ai-e waraier and softer than duruig the frosty days of winter. There is a stir, too, among the things of earth, — a busy movement in nature, that speaks of approaching re- vival ; and every soimd of spring is so distinct from THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 215 that of other seasons, that were we to bring from a long impTisonment one who knew not what season of the year he left his cell, and were to bring him forth blinclfolded, he would at once exclaim, " It is the spriag." There is a whispering in the woods, a rusthng on the ground, sounds both above and be- low, that can never be mistaken ; the perpetual har- mony of birds, the lowing and bleating from the sprkiging pastiu-e laud, reminding us so loudly of the pastoral habits of God's ancient people, and the beautifid and interesting scenes described in the sacred pages of the first great histoiy. The very gales of spring have a different tone to those of autumn ; there is a loftiness and giundeur in them, a peculiar soimd in the topmost boughs, and, at the same time, a buoyancy and spirit, if I may so speak, that I have never remarked at any other season. All these pleasing harbingers of brighter days are now steahng upon us, and drawing us continually to the open window, the garden, and the fields. 1 have already rejoiced at the sight of one half-blown snowdi-op, and one little bright twinkling hepatica — a sight really exhilarating to any one who loves the garden, and longs to be busy among the borders once more. The shai-p gi'een points of my crocuses are rising here and there ; the gentianeUas seem ac- tively employed, and look gi-een and promising ; and the laoneysnokles are covering themselves -with deU- cate springs, and the old lingering leaves have all disappeared. I am. however, sensible of some di-aw- backs to perfect felicity. The hares and rabbits have eaten down one flourishing climbing rose, to wliich I bad been looking forward with some interest, hav- ing placed it in a new and striking position, and in- tending it to cover a pole. That hope is extinguished for the present, as are several pinks and other plants which I hoped the mild winter would protect from hungry animals. I mention these disagreeables be- cause it may reconcile some other sufferer to her lot, when she knows her case is not one of singular an- noyance. Tha best way to protect borders from such destruction, is to fix rows of tar-twine round them, by means of sticks, hke miniatm-e posts and rails. Hares and rabbits are said to dislike the smell, and will not jump over the Uttle fence ; but I do not speak from observation, for 1 have never tried the experiment. This is the first season my roses have been attacked, and I was not, till now, aware that they were in any danger. Although there is still much wet in the gi-ound, and some soil can scarcely be touched with the rake or ta'owel, yet in early situations and light soU, the borders should now be put in order, and prepared for seeds. Weeds begin soon to appear, much sooner than the flowers : the garden, as well as the human li£art, proclaims that bitter fact. Whenever the soil is stirred, — whenever a border is formed, — whenever a garden operation is effected, up comes a weed. Flowers must be placed there, but weeds spring up unbidden. Let us, while we prepare the groimd — while we remove the weeds — while we plant and sow those future beauties of the soil — remember, that were it not for that one gracious Hand that nm'tm'es us, that sends light and sunshine upon om' worldly path, that roots up the evil and sows the good seed within, we should be left in hopeless, unfruitfid ste- rUity. Let us reflect, too, with bitter shame, that wlule our trees and plants rewai'ds us for our care, — wlule our flower-beds please the eye by their neat and cultivated appearance, and our shi-ubs look gi-een, and bright, and healthj' — our hearts and lives make a far different return to Him who ti'ains us with a Father's hand, watches over us with a Father' love, and has opened " a Fountain for sin and mi cleanness," more pm'ifying and enriching than all the showers that water the eai'th. Well may those deeply-affecting words be spoken to us, " What could have been done more to my vineyai-d that I have not done in it?" Surely, as we labom- and busy our- selves about our flowers, we might learn a deep and important lesson om-selves, the blessing of which might extend even beyond the gi-ave. Slickers and layers may now be removed from the parent plant, in soft, open weather. Thrift may be planted for edgings, and an extremely pretty edging it is : it gives a bright rich glow to the garden, lasts a long time in flower, and makes up considerably in effect, should any flower-bed be without bloom for a time. I have seen it interspersed with flint-stones, and, for a cottage garden, I like the idea ; but I do not think it would so well suit that of a lady. Box has been called " the worst of all edging," but I con- fess I think it neat, pretty, and sweet, if kept in close and perfect order. Turf may be laid down now : it should be laid very even, and weU beaten down. The best thing for tm-f is constant treading. Wild, rank, weedy grass, by being continually trodden upon, will beoeme a fine lawn. Pressure desta'oys weeds, but it benefits the grass ; never mind, therefore, how much your lawn is trampled upon, in wet weather especially ; roll it, to keep it even, and it will look more beautiful than ever. Moss ought never to be encoiu-aged, stiictly speaking, but I much admire it. A soft mossy lawn is agreeable to my taste, but a gardener would condemn it. Frequent roUing de- sti'oys it, and it arises sometimes from not being rolled at all. Ladies cannot always command the use of a labourer, to roll then- lawns, in which case they will imavoidably become mossy ; but frequent treading will do much to prevent it. Moss is a very pretty ornament for dishes of winter fniit; it looks warmer and less formal than tiie laurel leaf, and en- ables you to place the fiiiit more conveniently m the dish. Lawns should never be allowed to remain long without mowing ; or the grass wUl grow strong and coarse, and look yellow and liightftd when the scytlre has passed over it. Eveiy fortnight, at least, tliis should be done, and oftener if possible, except in very di-y weather, or where the soil is apt to scorch and injm-e the grass. A lady will soon make her own observations, and dii-ect it acconUngly. There is always something to do, and to watch, and about which to interest ourselves, when once we have formed an attaclunent to that delightfid object — a garden. SCRAPS FROM CORRESPONDENTS. Hedges on Yellow Clay. — The crab will succeed better than the white-thorn, and make an impene- b-able fence. Hornbeam will also make an excellent hedge on such a soil. On a yellow clay, especiaDy if moist and of the plastic clay formation, cuttings, either of the common bramble or of Rnbns Coryl.i- foliiis (Hazel-leaved bramble), will make a dense and unassailable hedge in two years; tiie latter is the preferable sort for its fruit, which makes an exquisite preserve. — Hantoniemis. Cyclamen — Sow-bread. — Wliether this name be sufficiently distinctive or not, we believe the fault lies not with EngUsh botanists, but that the name is translated literally from the Genuan. The plant is cultivated in Hungary as food for animals — we IIG THE COTTAGE GAEDENER. believe swine ; see Dr. Bright's " Travels in Hun- gary." ilangokl-wiu'tzel is a name still less descrip- tive than sow-bread.— W. P. T. TO CORRESPONDENTS. Heating a small Geeexiiouse (T. F. M. Otleif).— You have a vinery 1/ feet long by 11 feet wide, with a pit in the middle, which you propose heming by means of three-inch piping, connected with :i boiler at the back of your kitchen fire ; and you wish to kno\y if these pipes will heat both the pit and the house. You also mention some cases of failure, where the pipes were considerably below the boiler bottom. In reply, we have to observe, that the best, the simplest, and the cheapest way of heating a small greenhouse is by a common flue, as we have already stated. It is always dangerous to place hot-water pipes lower than the bottom of the boiler, as then the circulation often ceases in the lowest part ; two of your pipes, a flow and return, will be amply sufficient for your pit in the vinery, and these ought to have stop-velves to cut off the cb-culation when the bottom heat is high enough ; the other two should be carried round the front to the farthest comer, and then return. Keep them a few inches from the stem of the vines. It will not at all answer to heat the house from the pipes under the pit. The pipes for bottom heat ought to be chambered, by cross pieces of rough wood, a few inches above them, on which lay the plunging material ; but 2-inch slate would be the cheapest in the long run, with sand over to plunge in. It would cost from 35s to 403 to cover your pit with slate. Sand, kept moist, is the best material to plunge pots in over bottom heat. Sigma. — Many thanks for your friendly though cynical criticism. ■\Ve all require stimulating occasionally. Binding the Cottage Gahdener (G. E. L.). — We i^ropose to give a full index and title page at the end of the year, leaving every subscriber to adopt what binding best suits his taste. Manuee Round Roses {Ibid). — Do not remove this until the end of March ; we would, indeed, recommend our own practice, viz., not to take it away at all, but to point it in and cover it with earth when the beds are spring dressed. Monthly Parts (Eastoniensis and G. Langtry). — Thanks; we will endeavour to meet your wishes, and we think it will be generally acceptable, by printing, in future, on the cover of the Monthly Parts a Calendar of the work to be done in the Fruit, Flower, and Kitchen gardens during the next month. KvANiziNG (L. B.). — This certainly renders wood less liable to decay and the attacks of insects ; but a cheaper and very effective mode of obtaining the same benefits, is to have the wood planed very smooth, brushed over with coal-tar at a boiling heat, and then painted. Glazing Melon Frames {Ibid) — Use the largest and &es< sheet glass. We are quite sure that where any injury has occurred from using sheet glass, it is because cither the quality of the glass has been bad, or less attention has been paid to the ventilating, watering, and heating, than was necessary to keep pace with the vigour of the plants enjoying an increased degree of light. Panes 9 inches wide and 2 feet long would not be too large. In London the frames can be had for the price we quoted. Filtering Water {J. P. Hawick). — We do not know the patent purifier you mention, but we do know, from having tasted it, that rain water passed through a filter like that described in The Cottage Gardener, p. 141, is pure and excellent. A cask, as there drawn, with a tap and a false bottom, bored full of holes, supporting the filtering materials, may be cheaply and easily made. The filtering materials should be : — I, a layer of pebbles ; 2, a layer of sand ; 3, a layer of powdered charcoal ; 4, a layer of sand ; and, on the top of this last layer of sand, a board pierced with holes, to prevent the sand being disturbed by pouring in water. At first the water will run through thick, but after using it constantly for two or three days the water will be pure and clear. Each layer should be 6 inches deep. Calceolarias, &c. (An Amateur in Plajits). — The directions given in our last Number, in the "Greenhouse and Window" de- partment, will give you all the information you require. On Cine- rarias and Balsams you will find in our columns full information in due time. Your compost of horse-dung, leaves, and light soil, made in October, will do very well if you mix it with one-fourth sand. See Window Gardening. Gladioli (E. B.). — Fou ask about their after treatment, and whether they may be planted out in the spring. In reply, — water your Gladioli (Corn-flags) sparingly till the leaves are tour or five inches long ; after that, water freely every two or three days. If you drained the pots according to the directions for this tribe, you need not fear giiing them a good dose every time, say a pint of water to a bulb-pot six inches wide, and what the soil will not hold must pass quickly through the bottom. If you give them plenty of air, and so bring them up hardy, they will do very well to plant out late in the spring, if you prefer that way. Plant them without the pots, and place the surface of the ball an inch below the ground, taking care not to break the bill. There it no advantage gained by plunging them in the pots. If the pots arc six-inch ones, and only one bulb in a pot, you need not shift them ; if otherwise, when the roots begin to coil round the ball is the proper time. It is best to put all flower- ing bulbs into their flowering-pots at once. Cold Pit (Ibid). — The bottom of your intended pit, on " sandy and gravelly" soil, will not require any draining; it is the best possible bottom for a pit. Unless you wish for a flue, or hot-water pipes, to heat it, the "internal arrangements" will consist of levelling the bottom, placing two or three inches of rough coal-ashes over the bottom, and a little flner over that, to place the pots on. Then such plants as are very dwarf must be brought near the glass, by adding a quantity of fine coal-ashes at one end, and plunging the pots ia it Qown to the rim. Any little plants will do well enough a foot from the glass, and this way of plunging them is by far the best and easiest way of wintering them. Shelves, or stapes, in such pits are expen- sive, last no time, and can only be well managed bv experienced persons. Nevertheless, never hesitate a moment to ask for any little instructions that we can give. Hardy Spring Flowers (A Glasgow Lndy). — There are hardly any new additions to our very early hardy spring flowering plants, and many of the older ones would not do in front of your library windows, where more fancy things must take their place in JMay, when little spring plants dislike to be removed, and if left in the beds would be smothered. Therefore, the most satisfactory way of keep- ing flowerbeds near the windows gay in early spring is "by bulbs, such as the snow-drop, crocus, snow-flake, hyacinth, early tulip, jonquil, and squill ; also, for the middle of the'beds, wallflowers of different hues, and as many tree violets as you can get, — but we shall give an article on the subject. Fattening Cattle (0. S.).— It is a disputed point whether cattle are fattened most profitably upon Swedish turnips or upon mangold-wurtzel ; we believe that the doubt arises from other cir- cumstances than the actual nutritive composition of the two roots. One soil will bear a greater weight per acre of one than the other : the cattle may relish one more than the other ; and the season may have been more propitious in the production of sugar in one root than in the other. We should recommend a combined feeding with the two roots, adding daily a little straw, bruised oats, and oil cake. Laving down a Meadow (M. W. C. Suffolk).— Instead of barley, as recommended by us, p. 196, you may sow oats, but your land being light, on a gravelly subsoil, would probably bear a better crop of the former. You need not root up the wheat already sowti on the part you intend for a la^-n, but may sow the |grass seeds among it. The same seeds will do for your meadow. Slips op Roses {Lady C, Wiltshire).— Yo\i may now put these into water, as mentioned at p. 1/3, by our fair contributor. Whitewashing a Wall (A. N. -40.— This will probably improve the health of your plants by giving them more light. A red orick wall absorbs nearly all the rays of light which fall upon it, except the red, but when whitened it reflects them all. It is for this reason that the insides of greenhouses, frames, &c., are painted white. Burnt Oyster-shells (Ibid).— AH that we have said about the use of lime applies to these, for they form a very superior lime when burnt. Oyster-shells, before they are burnt, are composed of car- Itonate of lime (chalk) 98'3, phosphate of lime (bone earth) 1*2, and animal matter, 0'5. You cannot employ a more prolific bean than the Scarlet Runner for your trellis. Raspberries (.-I Constant Subscriber). — If in a single row, a space of two feet from plant to plant is quite room enough ; and wc recom- mend you so to plant them on the east, west, and north sides of your kitchen- garden beds. If you devote a separate quarter to them, plant them in rows three feet and a half apart, and two feet and a half from plant to plant. Soot and Salt (T. Harton).— For your plot of ground, 20 yards long and 10 yards wide, which you are preparing for potatoes, half a bushel of salt and two bushels of soot will be a good dressing. Sow them over the surface, dig them in, and plant immediately you read this. Allotment Farming (Sylva, Brijton). — We will reply to your inquiries fully in our Nmuber which will be published on the 22nd instant. Potatoes on .\.n Old Meadow (TT. A*.).— Do not, if you wish for a good sound crop, put a single shovelful of guano, soot, or any other kind of manure, for an old meadow is always full of decom- posing matters. All agree in deprecating the practice of manuring for potatoes. All that you need do is to pldjit forthwith, do not delay for a single moment, but follow the rules we have given in our edi- torial to-day. Budding Roses (Miss C. Robson). — Hai-ing some wood-cuts to be engraven, we must defer our answer until next week. Na.me of Plant {C. Planner).— Tht plant of which you have sent us a slip is, we think, Diosma hirsuta, but there being no flower we cannot speak positively. If a Diosma. it is of the Linnean class and order Pentandria Monogynia. Cuttings of the young shoots planted in sand under a glass will root without any artificial heat. The crocus is of the class and order Triandria Monogynia. Sweet Peas (Highgate iff//) -—Probably, Mr. Beaton, to-day, gives you the information you require. — In your poor hea\'y soil, it is no wonder you fail in your attempts to grow this sweet annual. Let your soil be finely broten ; remove a circular space one foot across and six inches deep ; put into this one inch of your rotted horse-dung, then replace some of the soil, leaving a hollow one inch deep. Sow your peas the last week in March in this hollow, and cover them with sifted coal- ashes, so that these rise half an inch above the surface. Do this to every patch of sweet peas, and you will succeed, provided you take care of them after they come up, by sticking them vrith small twigs first, and stronger ones as they grow. For Jasminum nudijiorrnn, price 25. 6d., anply to Mr. Appleby, at Messrs. Henderson's, Pine- Apple-place, Ecigeware-road. Sweet Lemon (H. F. Saunders). — There are two lemons which are sweet and pleasant to eat. One of them, the common sweet lemon (Limonicr a fruit doux of the French gardeners), may be obtained of any of the large fruit retailers in London, and very cheap. The otlier, Citrus margarita, the Pearl, or sweet China lemon, is not well known in this country. Agapantuus (W. H.).— Shall be answered in our next; and Tanks (0. S.) on the 22nd of this month. London : Printed by Harry Wooldeidge, 14". Strand, in the Parish of Saint Mary-le-Strand ; and \\'inchester High-street, in the Parish of St. Mary Kalendar; and Published by William SoMERViLLE Obr, at the Ottice, 147, Strand, in the Parish of Saint Mary-lc- Strand, London. — February 8th, 1849. THE COTTAGE GAEDENER. 211 WEEKLY CALENDAR. M W D D 15 Th. 10 F. 17 S. 18 Son. 1!) M. 20 Tn. 21 W. FEBRUARY 15—21, 1849. Yellowhammei' sings. SmaJl bloody-uose beetle seen. Dandelion flowers. Shrove Sund.\y Jaclvdaws build. CoUop Monday, Spring Crocus flowers. SuroveTues. Hort.& Linn. Soc. meetings.' I LentBegins. AshWed. Greenfinchsings. Plants dedicated to Sun Sun Moon R. Moon*s Clock Day of each day. Rises. Sets. and Sets. Age. bet. Sun. Year. Clotb of gold Crocus. 16 a. 7 13 a. 5 1 13 ® 14 25 46 Pink double Primrose 14 15 2 12 23 14 21 47 Susian Crocus. 12 17 3 8 34 14 17 48 Wall Speedwell. 10 18 4 25 14 12 49 , Field Speedwell. 8 20 4 47 26 14 6 50 j Vouus's Navel-wort. 6 22 5 29 27 14 51 1 Wiite Crocus. 4 24 6 C 28 13 53 52 Shrove is derived from the Saxon word shrive, or shrift, and means confessed; this being: the time especially set apart for confes- sion of sins by the Roman Catholic Church, preparatory to entering upon their severe fasting time of Lent. CoLLOP flloNDAY is obscrvcd still in the north of England, coUops, or slices of ham, or other salted meat with eggs, being the customary dish at dinner. It was the last day on which our ancestors indulged in eating riesh ; and it is probable that they now ate up remnants (coUops) of meat, to avoid having a large joint just at the beginning of the forty days of Lent. With this, Egg Saturday, celebrated two days before at Oxford, seems to correspond. Shrove Tuesday, Fuating Eve, or Pancake Tuesdm/y the last day before Lent, though devoted to confession, was no less celebrated by feasting in old CathoHc times. The hell which is still rung in some of our towns at ten o'clock, is no longer kno\vn as the Confessional but as the Pancake hell. There is strong reason for belie\'ing that eating pancakes on this day is a relique of the adaptation of papal customs to those of the heathen converts. The Roman Fomacalia, a festival celebrated in honour of Fornax, who presided over bread- making before ovens were invented, were celebrated on the 18th of February. We have no space for details of the games celebrated in various places upon this anniversary, but will conclude with some of our ancestors' sajings relative to its weather : — " Thunder on Shrove Tuesday foretelleth wind, store of fruit, and plenty;" *'So much as the sun shineth on this day, the like will shine on every day in Lent." Asn Wednesday retains the name given to it hy the priests of the Roman Catholic Church, who on this first day of Lent bless ashes and sprinkle them on the heads of their congregations. The term Lent has no reference to fasting, but is derived from the Saxon name for spring — Lengtcn-tidc — because the days then are lengthening, this lieing the spring fast. It is a Norfolk proverb, that ** wherever the wind lies on Ash Wednesday it continues dm-ing all Lent." PiiENosiENA OF THE SEASON. — Some of the most striking occur- rences of this month are the general sj-mptoms of plants arousing from their winter's torpor. The blossoming of some, the leating of others, and the bud-swelling of a still greater number, announce on every side Insect. — The Orange Upper-wing Moth ('X«H//i«/e//. When the ch'ills are all finished, sprinkle, at the bottom of each diHl, some fine sand ; then bring out your ranuncu- lus roots, with a numbered label, made cither of lead, with the number stamped upon it, or of wood, with each number wi-itten upon it with a black-lead pencil, upon a coating of white-lead. Begin then to plant the variety written in your book opposite No. 1 : take each root between your finger and thumb, and place it at the bottom of tlie drill, veiy gently press- ing it down ui the sand to about liaU' the length of the claws of each root. Having placed the first to your mind, put the next at four inches distance from It ; and so proceed till you have planted all the first Icind; then thrust in the numbered label, either with the number facing the kind, or with its back to it. Both ways are practised by llorists, but we prefer the number to face the variety it belongs to. If our plan is followed, the number should be always put in first, the whole of the variety planted, and then the second number put in, and the second kind planted. Follow on in this manner till the bed is filled. As soon as that is completed, cover the roots just over the crowns with some more of the fine sand : this sand prevents the roots from getting too wet or moidding. Having proceeded thus far suc- cessfully, take your rake again, and carefidly level down the soil into the drills. If your lied is not edged with boards or slates (as reconuuended before), stretch a line on one side of the bed, about four inches from the roots, and with the back of the spade ]iat the sod on the side of the bed gently, to make it firm : then chop down the edge of the bed nearly per- jiendicularly, rake the walk neatly, and the operation of planting ranunculuses is finished. Auriculas and Polyanthuses. — As the season ad- vances, the days becoming longer, and the sun more powerfid, so the cares, and toUs, and pileasures, of the lover of flowers inci'eases. The tune to to])-dress these chamring flowers has anived. Look in the compost-yard for some very rotten cow-dimg. two years old at least, and some rotten leaf-mould and light loam. If these are not dry, use means to make them so : mi.x them with the hand well together, and add a little sand ; then have yom' plants in some couvement jilace; remove a portion of the old soil, clear away all decayed leaves, and apply the top- dressing of fresh compost, veiy nearly fllUng the ]iots ; press it rather closely to the stem of each plant; give a gentle watering with a fine-rose ■water- ing-pot, to settle the new earth; rejdace the plants in the frame, and attend to them caroiidly, as directed by us previously. This top-dressing gi'eatly strength- ens the plants, and consequently the Wooms. T. ArPLEBY. GEEENHOUSE AND AVINDOW GAEDENING. The Fuchsia. — Of all the jdants in oiu- gardens, this has the prettiest name ; it is, perhaps, the pret- tiest flower also ; and, what is curious enough, the very oldest of all the fuchsias is as beautiful and elegant as any one of the many thousands that have hitherto been raised by cross breeding them. Of the best of the new wild S2iecies, it may be almost pre- dicted that we shall never be able to improve on them ; that is, in their own sections. Intermediate forms we have in great abtmdance, and these mil go on improving, nobody luiows how long. But Fuchsia fidgeiw, the glo\ving fuchsia of ile.xico — F. coriimhijlora, the cluster-flowered fuchsia from Peru — and the Queen of Fuchsias, F. sju-ctahilis, also from Pei-u — have been so exquisitely finished by the hand of Nature, that no art can possibly improve them. The Queen of Fuchsias, as Dr. Lindey calls it, is the best of them all; or, the "loveliest of the Idvely," as the young gentleman who first discovered it WTOte home concerning it. This ought to have been called the Marvel of Peru, if that name had not been pre-occcupied ; and, by the way, the scarlet Marvel of Peru is nut unlike the Queen of Fuchsias. If envy was aUowable, who would not n\\y the feelings of Jlr. WiUiam Lobb when he first discovered this charming plant on the Andes of Cueuca, in Peru. We who live in hajijiy England little know of tho gi-eat hardships and dangers which botanical col- lectors, like Mr. Lobb. must necessarily undergo in wild and savage countries, looking out for beautiful plants for us to cultivate and enjoy, with all the THE COTTAGE GAEDENEK. 221 other blessiugs which, are so abuDdantly vouchsafed to us iu our temperate climate. Look again at the great expense and rislv wliich must attend these expeditions; and, who can gi'udge the nurseryman a i'air price for what has cost liim so much labom-, anxiety, and expense. Messrs. Veitch and Sou, of Exeter, are the hicky gentlemen who raised the Queen of Fuchsias for seed, and in whose possession it now is — but I behove it wiU be sold to the pubUe in the spring. A guinea a plant, no doubt, will be the price at first; and cheap enough too, if we would but remember the hunth-eds of pounds which Mr. Lobb's mission must have cost this enteiinising firm. I hope, however, before the end of next au- tumn, this Queen of the Fuchsias wUl be cheap enough to be within the reach of all our readers ; meantime, let us keep it in mind, the name of it — " spectahilis" (gi-aceful) is very easy to learn, if we only think of s23eotacles, or resjjectable — words which sound very like it. And now let us see what is best to be done with om- present stock of fuchsias. They have all been laid up before winter arrived, in some out of the way jilace, safe from the fi-ost; and before the end of Fcb- ruaiy, some of them at least ought to be set gi'owing, to come in for early bloom in May. The dry soQ should be all shook away fi'om their roots, and then the largest roots must be pruned back to within six inches of the stem, and the smaller roots trimmed a little. Then their branches must all get a regidar pruning, the smaller ones to be cut back to the last joint, and the stouter branches to be cut to three or four joints next tlie-main stems, and the tops of the old stems had better be cut back a little also, for tliis wUl render the plants tliick and busby ti-om the bottom. They are then ready for a new potting, and the first pots ought to be as small as just to hold aU the roots without cramping them, yet some of the smaller roots may be tinned roimd the jiot in a regidar way without doing any liarm. The soil for this first pot ought to be light and rich; say, three parts light sandy loam, or any good garden mould, and one part leaf mould, or very rotten dry old dung, a hand- ful of sand being added. This compost wiU enable the young roots to get a fair stai't at first. The soU for after pottings may be of a stronger kind. Fuch- sias oi-e fond of rough compost, such as pieces of tiu'fy peat, some charcoal about the size of horse- beans, or broken bones of that size, and these — • besides em-iching the soil — will help to keep the whole ball more open, and free for the roots to spread in, and, therefore, the loam may be of a firm textiu'e. I.eaf-mould, or rotten dimg, and a little sand, m the foregoing proportions, must be used in all the pottings; and always when the young wliito roots appear to get crowded round the sides of the pot, is the true sign when they, or any other plant, want another shift into a larger pot. They ought to be in their last pot for the season, by the time they are getting freely into bloom, and that is the best time to begin to give them good doses of strong liquid mauiu'o at every other watering. They are never at a loss for a good appetite, and, as they cany such a heavy crop of their beauth'ul cariing-hke blossoms, they require a generous diet. They ai-c excellent window plants, except in very hot summer weather, when they may stand outside, but it wiU be time enough to ttilk of that when the summer comes. As to the mode of increasing them, they make roots as free as willows, if you stick them in the ground. The bits of the branches you pnine off at the first potting will make roots if you plant them iu a pot of light soil; or even if you only place them round the sides of the pots iu which the plants are, they wUl do weU enough, and be ready to pot by the time the plants wUl reqim-e shifting. The cuttings would also root in little phials of water, Inmg up in the window, and tlus is a very interesting way of trj'ing many cuttings. The phial that comes readiest to hand will do, as, if it is too deep for them, you have only to tlnnk of the sly old crow, which wanted to diink out of a deep pitcher, but woiUd not trust her cunning head down the neck of it. Of coiu'se you recollect how she filled the pitcher with pebbles, tUl the water rose up to her reach: just do the same for yom' cuttings. If yoiu- phial is too deep, fiU it up one half or so with moiUd, and pom the water over it; if the water is two inches deep it will do, and you may gi'ow hundreds of cuttings that way. The pliials may hang on naUs, or hooks, round the sides of the window, right facing the sun : oleanders and hydrangeas, and, I dare say, many other plants, wUl make i-oots that way faster, and much easier, than in earth. If you have a cucumber bed, there is another veiy curious expei-imeut you may tiy with fuchsias, when they come into full leaf, namely — to grow them fi-om leaves only. If you are dexterous enough, you might turn every leaf of a fuchsia into a new plant. Cut them oft" with their stalk, and plant them in very little pots, half filled with sand. Let the bottom of the leaf part just touch the sand; place them down close to the sides of the i)ot, with the tops of the leaves leaning iuwai-ds, towards the centre of the pot. Give them water to settle the sand, veiy close to their little stems, and you must keep the sand damp all tlie time they ar-e fonning roots. After a whUe, you wUl see tiny plants, like seedlings, coming up out of the sand, and when they ai'e all up in this "way, you can shake them out and repot tliem iu a nursing pot, one size larger than that they were first in, and use half sand and half soil for this nin-sing. I must now turn back to tell you the safest way to manage them after they are first potted in the sand. Take an empty pot, two sizes larger than the cutting l)ot, and place the cutting jiot inside it; then place a jiiece of glass over themoutli of the emptypot, and if it is of the proper size, the top of the leaves in the inner pot wUl be just one inch from the glass covering, or if they are a Uttle deeper down it does not matter much. The best place for them is the front side of the cueiun- ber pit, as the sun does not reach that part so strong; and tlie reason for putting the glass over them, is to keep them from the air, which might otherwise dry and shrivel them .up. You wiU find the glass quite wet on the underside every morning, fi-om the damp- ness of the sand, and you must turn it upside down eveiy day, that the leaves may have a dry covering overhead, otherwise the drops falling fi-om the glass in so confined a place might damp and destroy them. Now, this is really a most beautifiU and ciu-ious experiment. The nicety and patience reqim-ed to carry it through will lear-n you such a practical use of your eyes and fingers as wiU make you a good gardener so far for the rest of your life ; and I can say, from experience, that a single potful of such plants reared in tliis way wtU give you more genuine pleasui-e than if you were to get a whole basketful of new plants for nothing, and the Queen of the Fuchsias added to the bargain. I recoUect, as if it were but yesterday, the first cuttiug I struck. It was from that old sweet-scented plant, the Balm of Gilead. 222 THE COTTAGE GARDENER. I had it from a schoolfellow, whose father was a job- bing gardener, and sill his children were fond of flowers, and I thought them very genteel because they had pot flowers in then- windows, and if I could but manage to have flowers of my own I would be a gentleman at once. All that I recollect of my first cutting pot is, tliat it did not want for water, at any rate! but I rooted one out of three cuttings, and I am certain I have never thought that I have executed a more clever feat since. Yet the Balm of Gilead is easier to root than a fuchsia, and though a very old plant, it ought to be seen in, or about, every cottage in the kingdom. It is almost hardy, and will keep green all winter in a window. The flower is nothing — it is the peculiar fragi'ance of the leaves for wlrich it is remarkable. When rubbed, they emit a strong resinous scent, which is agreeable to most people, even to those who are not able to bear the scent of many kinds of flowers. The associations connected with the plants mentioned in the Scriptm'es are always pleasing, and this name more so than most of them. Jeremiah (viii. 32,) makes a beautifiil figure of language, when he asks, "Is there no balm in Gilead? is there no physician there? Why then is not the health of the daughter of my people re- covered?" Our plant, however, is not a native of the vnld hOls of Gilead beyond the Jordan. It grows much nearer home, in the Canary Islands. Where there is a good stock of fuchsias, some of them may be left in their winter quai-ters along time yet ; even till it is safe to tm"n them out into some sheltered corner, where a good mat will protect tliem from the late fi'osts. Thus a succession of blooms of them may be had thi'ough the whole season. Sc.iKLET GKR.iNiuMs that have been kept dry, as recommended, ought now, or very soon, to be brought to light. If they received much injuiy, as sometimes they do in theu' winter stores, they will requue a particidarly good treatment at first. If they are in pots, which is the safest way to winter them, do not, on any account, shake them out of the dry soil at first. Hundreds of soft-wooded plants, that have been kept safely over the winter, are killed every spring, by the bad practice of shaking them from the soil at first, as I have just recommended to be done with fuchsias, which are of a very different and op- posite, or hard-wooded, natm'e. We must get rid of the rule of thumb, which treats all plants and seeds, at particular stages, alike. Thus, one man plants, or pots, a diy bidb and waters it immediately, as if it was a camellia; another takes out his scai-let ge- raniums about the end of February, and shakes the di'y mould from then' roots, as if they were fuchsias ; whilst a third sows his calceolaria seed, which, although they are as small as dust, he wiU water im- mediately, as if they were tmnip seeds. Now, if The Cottage G.\rdenek can break tlu-ough this thumb- ride, even at the risk of breaking some of the more stubborn of the thumbs, it will be doing a gi-eat service to gardening. Therefore, when you talic down — for I suppose they are somewhere up stall's — your scarlet geraniums, take a sharp knife, and cut out every spot and speck wlrich appears driatl up or dead, and see that every wound is left fleshy and quite gi-een. If it is the least brown or streaky, you must cut lower down stiU. There must be no squeamishness about the matter; if you should have to cut down as low as the suri'ace of the pots, you must not leave a morsel of dead matter on the plant. Then, with a sharp pointed stick, loosen the surface of the soil, breaking it quite fine, and the work is finished. No watering, recoUect, or any kind of codling, till all the wounds are perfectly dry. Any- where about the kitchen is better for them now than the best gi-eenhouse. All that they want now, is to be left to get round in their own way, and some of them will get over their woimds faster than others, like other patients, and you have only to look upon them as a set of dry bulbs, newly potted, and you cannot go wrong The dry heat of the kitchen will soon heal their wounds, and set tbeii' blood in cu'cu- lation. Be in no biu'iy, however, to water them. All their smaller roots have been killed in the diying: thei-efore, water mat/ do them hai-m, but cannot be of any use to them. Their own vitality, or livmg prin- ciple, is sufficient for all their present wants. By- and-by, buds will appear ; and after that, tiny leaves; and now, the large roots are making small white fibres, no matter how dry the soil about them may be. This is the moment to water them for the first time, and you may give them a good dose, if you have looked that the drainage crocks ai'e fi-eed from the old ball. When the more forward buds make shoots an inch long, is the time to shake the old soil from them. You can then prove what I said about dead and living roots. Cinerarias. — The more fonvard of these should now be shifted into then blooming pots. Use a rich compost; keep them regulai-ly watered; and see about diy mould, clean pots, and stuff for di'ainage, as potting-time is fast arriving. D. Beaton. THE KITCHEN-GARDEN. Slugs. — We fear, after the many months of mild, moist weather, which occurred dm-ing last autumn and the present winter, slugs have been active, and will shortly come forth in stiU gi-eater numbers fi'om then- hiding places. Their ravages will then be felt in every department of the garden, but especially in the kitchen-garden, where yoimg seedlings of the cabbage, lettuce, and pea tribes, ai-e especially hable to their attacks. There are many ways to trap and to destroy these vermin, but the most successful and sweeping mode to operate upon them is to have some fresh brewers' gi-ains in a bucket, and from these to drop upon the bed piuclies here and there as fast as you like to walk. Do this in the dusk of the evening, and about three hours aftenvards go round with a bucket of freshly-slaked lime, and sprinlde some over the numerous guests which will have coUected to partake of the gi-atus. If slugs aboimd, and the evening is quiet and moist, they will collect in a shoit time about the grains in midtitudes not to be imagined by those who have not put this simple method to the test. Then our method is, to send a boy round, at day-break, with a small spade or garden trowel, to collect the beb-ayed foes into a bucket, or to bury them at the spot, if it does not interfere with the crop, thus converting a desti'uctive enemy into a maniu-e at once. New bi-an, also, is a most excellent bait, if di'opped about in the same way, but we find it does best scalded first, as it appears the slugs are attracted to it by the smell. Scooped- out tiu'uips, cut in halves or quai'ters, placed about witii the outsides of tlie tiu'nip upwards, will also attract slugs ; and so wiU Swedjsh tunup tops, cab- bage leaves, brocoU leaves, and many other articles of that kind; but thus to destroy them in a large garden amounts to much labom-, which is only anotlier word for expense. Salt is also a very good ai-ticle applied on dull, misty, mild nights, or early in the morning, but it requii-es to be applied with much caution ; be- THE COTTAGE GARDENEK. 223 sides it only destroys tliose that are out fi'om their liiding places, and those only which the salt happens to fall on. The same may he said of slaked lime. Let it also be home in mind, that a gi-eat help to keeping the soil free from slugs, and other vennin, is to ti-enoh and drain the soU well. Forking, hoeing, and surface-stirring, on every suitable occasion, all tend to the same good result, at the same time that they promote the health of the gi'owing crops. Routine Wobk. — Now that the season is advanced, work must be got fonvard, and advantage taken of all opportunities, according to weather, soil, and the prepai-ation made. Full crops of Long-pod, Wind- sor, and any other kinds of hean, should be planted. Good vai'ieties of cabbage sliould be sown on well- dug, rich soil, in a sheltered situation. Brocoli, borecole, and nohl-khol, kohl-rabbi, early born carrots, chervil, and caiilijlower, should be somi, each to be protected slightly with a ooveiing of mats, or other available article, and secui'ed fi'om the ravages of bu'ds by nets or boughs. Also spinach, for full spring crops, lettuces, radislies, and small salading. Peas should now be sown in full crop of the best vai-ieties. Endive should be blanched, and early cabbage-httuce protected. Fbames. — Those used for cauliflower, lettuce, and aspai'agus forcing, as soon as done with, take care to have in view, and in good order, so that no loss of time shall occm- when they ai'e again wanted for early varieties of potatoes tm-ned out fi-om pots or boxes, early dwarf French beans, cucumber or melon plants, or whatever may be most requisite. Pay strict attention to cucumbers and melons already ridged out, gi's'ing them abundance of air night and day, with very light covering at night if the weather continues quiet and mild. This treatment is essen- tial to maintain the plants healthy, sturdy, and for the pi'oduction of a good, lasting, crop of handsome fruit. Pot-Heebs — -such as balm, bumet, fennel, mint, pennp-oyal, sage, savory, lansy , tairagon, and thyme — should now be planted. They all require a well- di'aiued, light soU. Do not put any ft-esh dung into the ground prepared for them, but a little biicklayers' limy rubbish improves their quality. The object to be obtained is intensity of flavom-, not luxuriance of growth. Gaelic and Shallots plant on the tops of slight ridges. Put a pinch of soot, or of chan-ed garden refuse, on every spot where you ai-e about to insert an offset, or clove, of either of these bulbs, and then press the offset into it, so as not to bm'y it moi'e than half its length. Onions. — The weatlier is so fine that we should recommend the main crop to be sown now, or before the month closes. Select for them ground where celery has been grown. The onion jirefers a rich fiiable soil on a di'y substi'atuin ; a situation enjoying the full influence of the sun, and entirely free from ti-ees, wliich are veiy injm-ious to them. If the soil be poor or exhausted, abundance of dung should be applied in the preceding autumn or winter, and the gi'ound thrown into ridges. By these means it becomes well decomposed and incorporated with the soU; for rank uni-educed dung is generally hui'tfol, engendering decay, and inducing maggots ; if, there- fore, the application of manm-e is neglected until the spring, it should be taken fi-om an old hot-bed, or other som-ce, whence it is to be had in a thorouglily putrescent state, and tm-ned in only to a moderate depth. Sea-sand, particularly if the ground is at all heavy, is advantageously employed ; coal-ashes, but especially soot, ai-e applied with particular benefit. In digging over the gi-ound, smaU spits only should be tm-ned over at a time, that the texture may be well broken and pulverized. Sow the seed tliinly, in drills, eight inches apart. An ounce of seed, if so sown, is abundantly sufficient for a square rod of ground, especially for the main crops, as they should never be allowed to gi-ow to a size fit for salads -svithout thinning. The beds should be divided by nan-ow alleys, into foin- feet widths, for the convenience of giving the necessary fi-equent weedings and hoeings. G. W. J., and James Babnes. THE FRUIT-GAEDEN. [Mr. En-ington's conti-ibution to this depaa-tment not having axi-ived at the time of cu- going to press, we have to substitute the following highly useful communication fi-om Mr. Beaton. — Ed. C. &.] Peuning. — You desu-e me to give you my reason for disapproving of the wood-cut given in No. 2, p. 77, of The Cottage G.aedeneb, as a model for pruning young shoots ; and as one reason, in a good case, is as good as ten, I shall only give one, although the shape and equiUbrium of a whole tree tunis upon this very point. All wounds die back, more or less, after winter pi-uning, those of young shoots more so than those of older wood ; therefore, when you cut close under a bud, as in the wood-cut refen-ed to, say about the end of October, nature cannot heal that woimd till new wood is formed next Jime and July; and in Oiis long inteiwal it is a hundi-ed to one if this close wound does not perish tlie wood immediately under the bud, so that, if it starts at all, it will only make a weak shoot, and the next bud below it wiU become the leader, and thus derange the shape of the b-ee at once. A vine shoot, a chen-y, cmi-ant, or raspbeiTy, or, indeed, any soft shoot with a large pith, cut in that way late in the autumn, would be as certain to km the bud over it as that two and two make four. Close cutting imder a bud is only appUcable to summer pruning, and that is the only ti-ue way for pi-uning in summer, because then new wood would heal over the wound in a short time. I cannot now refer to No. 2, for it is at the other side of the paiish ; if the wood-cut tliere is meant only for summer pruning, my objection falls to the ground. Now for authorities. In the last edition of Lou don's Encycloi^asdia of Gai-dening, the wood-cuts for general pi-uning are given like yom-s, and, therefore, are wi-ong in principle, without the shadow of a doubt. I Idow, liowever, that when that immense work was first written Mr. Loudon was in very ill health, and that many things had to be altered in the otiier editions, but the wood-outs for pi-uning were never altered. In Loudon's " Suhm-bau Hor- tioultmist," a work on which he spared no pains, he corrected tlie mistake in the Encyclopaedia, at p. 454, and assigned the same reasons as above — thei-efore, Mr. Loudon is fi-ee fi-om tlus en-or. Now turn to tlie " Gai-deners' Chi-onicle" for 1847, p. 19, the latest authority, and there you will see that Dr. Lindley has given sis wood-outs, shewing tlie good, bad, and indifferent modes of cutting young slioots. No. 1 he caUs the best, and, as fai- as my memoi-y seiwes me, tliis No. 1 is exactly the same as yours ; therefore, according to my -view of the ques- tion, it must be wrong. The flung is so fanifliar to my mind and eye, that I am as satisfied that both au THE COTTAGE GARDENER. Dr. Lindley and you ave wi-ong, iu t]iis instance, as I am of my own existence. I am equally satisfied that Dr. Lindley never meant it for geueriil pnming, but only for summer pruning, although he did not say so. His fig. i> is the tiiie way for winter priming, but lie must have meant summer pruning, since he says distinctly, " in some ti-ees it (No. 1) ^"ill, in fact, lieal over iu a few weeks," and if it did not, and had to remain from November to June, it woidd assiu-edly kill the bud right out. Farther on, in the same volume of the Gardeners' Chronicle, Mr. Thom- son, fruit gardener to the Horticidtiual Society, one of the best and most scientific primers of the age, has given wood-cuts showing how to piime most of our fi-uit-trees, every one of which are true. He leaves full half an inch beyond the liud, and in the raspberry more than that, with the bud as I insist on ; but iu summer, he cuts close under a bud, to my own knowledge. I never allow a close cut in winter pnming, and I always insist to begin the cut on the same side as the bud is on, except on wall trees, where we make all cuts next the wall, and on the opposite side fi'om the bud, Imt a half inch above it. Therefore, the question stands thus: — In summer, jirune close under a bud, in order that there may not be any snag to prevent the woimd healing over im- mediately ; but iu winter pruning, cut from a quarter of an inch to an inch in advance of the bud, to pre- vent the wound from destroying the bud ; and by making tlie cut on the same side as the bud is on, you give a gi'eater length of living wood beyond the bud, without increasing the length of the snag ; and by cutting on the ojiposite side from the Imd, the snag nuiy be the same length as in the other case, but the living wood beyond the bud will be lessened, ac- cording to tlie angle of the cut. Therefore, it is jjlain enough whicli is the'best side to cut from. In all gardens and nurseries, in my time, cutting off the snags left at the wnnter pruning fonns a cldef item hi the summer pruning ; and, with all our philo- sophy, we cannot possibly vary our practice ^vitbout running the risk of doing infinite mischief You can form no idea of the mischief and confusion I shoiUd make in this garden if I was only to act for one season on the plan of close cutting in October and November; and, whether I have convinced you or not on the point, you will see that I had my rea- sons for pointing out to you what I consider to be wi'ong. We are all seek- ing after the ti-uth. We cannot always escape er- rors of the press ; but principles founded in er- ror must do no good. Now, recollect, all this is merely for your own use, and an cxjdanation be- tween two fiiends; and sec that it does not shp througli your fingers, in the hurry of business, and get into the hands of the printers. D. Beaton. [There is too much sound information iu the foregoing communication for us not to ask Mr. Bea- ton's permission to pub- lish it; and, with some reluctance, he has con- sented. We were the moro anxious to publish it, because he furnished us with the ac- companying illustrations of his mode of making the cut iu pruning ; and because, with all that he says we must fully co- incide. In these outlines, No. 1 re- presents the winter pruned shoot, aud No. 2 the summer pruned. If Mr. Beaton had had our second number to re- fer to at the time he wrote, he would have seen that the mis- take was with the engraver, for we recommend the cut in win- ter pruning to be " half an inch above the bud." When we wi'ote, we did not contemplate cutting ott' the snags in the summer, as mentioned by Mr. Beaton, but which is a most ex- cellent practice. — Ed. C. G.] MISCELLANEOUS lATFORMATION. MY FLOWERS. (No. 1-.) The gem of February is the crocus. Our borders ai'e now glittering — or about to glitter — with the golden, cup-like flowers of this lively jdant. and also %vith those of snowy white and pui'jile, forming a gay and early inti'oduction to the richer and rarer beauties of the advancing spring. The bunches of the graceful snowdrop have long been our sole com- panions. Vei-y early in this mild season they stole forth from their long sleep, and spoke of the bright aud beautiful sisterhood so soon to follow in their steps. The crocus is the fii-st that comes gaily to meet us: it is a native of the south of Europe, and especially abounds on the hills of Greece. Even in some parts of India, the yellow, and also a jiink crocus, has been found in a vrHd state. This is another instance of God's wondi'ous power and love, that in our cold and northern climate the lovely natives of warm and sunny lands should be %^nlling and able to cheer and delight oiu' minds, as the first harbingers of spring. They have been called, by the voice of the Creator, to brighten our dark and wintry days, wlule other flowers are absent; and although many reject then' simple beauty, yet, to the iDifashioiiahle garden lover, they are very dear. The crocus was first brought into England about the time of Queen Elizabeth, aud thus marks a most interesting and important period in the histoiy of Protestant England. I seldom see the feathered crocus in gardens; it is a lovely variety, aud should be generally encouraged. The Pontic Daphne is an exti-emely pretty ever- green shrub, and is at tliis time displaying its co- ronal of delicate gi-een flowers among the dark, polished leaves. I remember when first I saw this jdant I mistook it for a rhododendron ; there is some simUaiity in theu- appeaiunce, but tlie Daphne gi-ows on rough, uncidtivatcd ground, on banks, and under trees, and is, therefore, a far more useful shrub. In my dark, shady gai'den, beneath the boughs of a spruce fir that sweep the gi-oimd — where nothing grows but the luxuriant i^'y — there stands a self-sown Pontic Daplme, as ricli in foliage, in colour, aud iu flower, as any of its more brightly seated brethren. This is worth knowing, because in gardens like my own, screened fi'om the south, THE COTTi?GE GARDENER. 225 and overhung with trees, some ladies may be wish- ing to find a shrub that will form a variety with the laurel, and the Pontic Daphne is well suited to do this. I cannot tell to what lieight or size they will attain ; those I have seen are small, but then they have grown in hard, unlHendly soil, and this may have checked then- growth. Ranunculus roots ought now to be planted. These flowers are veiy rich and handsome, when somewhat attended to, and I do not see them so generally culti- vated as they ought to be. They should be planted together in beds, and the efiect, in the blooming season, is beautiful. The soU they thrive best in is a fine, rich, and loamy one. Where the gilt-cup gi'ows luxuriantly, the soil wiU be best adapted for the ranunculus ; and if you can have it mixed with ]nanm-e, do so by aU means. Rake the bed till the eai-th is fine, and then, with a dibble, plant the roots separately, one inch deep, provided you can cover them to the depth of another inch with fine, rich soil ; if not, the holes must be made two inches deep at first. In examining closely the crown of a ranun- culus root, some small protuberances will be found, fi-om each of which a shoot will spring; the root may, therefore, be divided by a sharp knife into as many parts as there are protuberances. This will lessen the danger of losing any favomite variety. The beds which these plants occupy shoidd not, if possible, be fiUed with any other plants after the roots are taken up, but be left to pulverize and sweeten tOl they are replaced in it. To contrive this, without disfiguring the garden much, two or three small beds should be set apart for them, and so placed among the other beds and borders as least to oflend the eye when left empty ; and if each bed was neatly edged with thi-ift, or some later flowering border plant, the unpleasant appeai'anoe of empty beds would be much lessened. We shoidd now begin to make our gai-dens look neat and dressy. Leaves may he swept up, with something Uke success, and added to the heap accu- mulating for our futm'e wants. Weeds will be spring- ing up thick and fast arormd us. The warm, sensi- tive, and balmy shower, that nourishes the good seed, causes, also, these troublesome intiniders to in- crease, which lay very quiet dm-ing the cold and dreariness of winter. Our own hearts respond to this. In prosperous days, how many evil thoughts and passions awaken, that dm'ing the depi-essing in- fluence of trial, or the absence of temptation, which poverty may cause, nestle so quietly within us, that, till sunshine arouses them, we would not believe dwelt in or even near us ! " Is thy servant a dog, that he should do this great thing?" is the indignant exclamation of our hearts, as it was of Hazael. Let us carefully weed and cleai- our beds and borders ; but let us use equal diligence, at least, to clear that weedy, stony soU, where the fruits of the Spii-it ought to spring up and flourish, but which too often bring forth tares alone. It is deUghtful now to see the cottager beginning to work, once more, in his peaceful garden. A death-like stOlness rests there during winter, and, too often, the labourer's beds and borders then ap- pear- neglected and untidy ; but when we hear the spade at work as we pass along the lane, and smell the sweetness of the newly-dug soil, we know that cheering times are coming on, and that not one horn" in the lengthening day need now be idled away — every sti'oke of the spade tells. It is pleasant to see the ploughman whistling on the back of the fore- horse, as he paces slowly onwards to the field, while the lark soars, and sings merrily, to welcome the reviving spring ; but it is even pleasanter to watch Mm at the evening hour busy among his cabbage beds, his children playing rormd him, and his wife joining in his toil. An English cottager is an im- portant part in England's frame-work A foreigner may say to us, " Come and look at oui' vineyai'ds, our olive groves, our boundless tracts of grain, our silver mines, — aye, oiu- gold fields, where you may grow rich in a day." What says old England's sturdy son? — " Come and look at o\n' farmers, our cottagers, our tillers of the soU, — these are, under God's blessing, the gold fields of the Biitish mocai'ch, her jewels, and her strength. The humblest of her subjects have done more for her than aU her anny could. They rose, as one man, to uphold her, when thrones and scepti'es went to wr-eck ; and while they ai'e encouraged and protected, the crown sits lightly and fii-mly on her head." Yes — while the Protestant institutions of om- land are preserved — wliile the agriculturist flemishes — and The Cottage Gardener thrives — above all, while the feai- and love of God dwells in om' hearts, and the Bible lies open before us — England may sit quietly behind her wooden walls, and say, " The Lord is my light and my salvation ; whom shall I fear ? The Lord is the strength of my life ; of whom shall I be afraid?" BUDDING ROSES. In answer to many inquiries, we offei' the follow- ing instructions : — Having procured yom- stocks and planted them, the next thing to attend to is, to pro- cm'e a proper budding knife, and some white, soft, worsted string. Roses do not graft well, or succeed well, when gi-afted. The gi-eat rose growers always bud their roses. The best seasons are Mai'ch and •July; pei'haps, so far north as some of our ques- tioners are, the latter season might be preferable. The best time of the day is either early in the morn- ing, at least as early as seven o'clock a.m., or after three o'clock in the afternoon ; cloudy, moist days are most suitable. Cut ofi' the head of yom stocks, and all the side branches to three, tliat is, for standards. For dwarf's, cut off to within six inches of the ground ; tlien, with the knife, make an incision on the upper side of the young side branches, as close to the main stem as possible. This incision should be about an inch long, lengthwise on the branch. Cut a cross just at the top of tins incision, in a direction somewhat more slanting than in the annexed di-awing, (fig. 2). Then take ofi' the bud, previously cutting ofl' the leaf, leaving part of the leaf-stalk. Cut away with the bud a portion of the bark from the pai-ent stem, which is technically called the shield of the hud, and a portion of wood \vith it. This bud, and the bark and wood with it, should be, altogether, rather more than f of an inch long. Turn the bud over between your finger and thumb, and dexterously take out the gi-eater part of the wood, but be careful to leave the wood full in the eye of the bud. Then raise one side of the bark of the incision, in the shape of a T made in the stock, and, with the ivoiy handle of the budding knife, slip in one side of the bark attached to the bud, then tui-n yoiu' knife, and lift up the other side of the incision, and the bud will drop into its place : press the bark of the bud to the fai-ther end of the incision, and, if any projects beyond the cross incision on the stock, cut it off. Then tie with the worsted neatly, and the operation is complete. We feel it almost impossible to give insti-uction, to be understood, in 220 THE COTTAGE ftARDENEE. words only, for such a complex operation. We have, thevelbre, given the following woodcuts to shew all tlie sevevai parts of this interesting operation. 1. The bud, with the wood taken out, and ready to be put into the stock side branches. 2. The branch, or stem, with the incisions made, previously to raising the bark. 3. The bark raised for receiving the shield of the bud. 4. The bud fitted into its place. 5. The bandage put over the parts. It is here represented as done with a shred of bass-mat, but stout worsted thread is better. T. AprLEBY. TO CORRESPONDENTS. AcAPANTHDS (W. H. IsUiigton). —Yow say, that "when your plant had done flowering, as it appeared to consist of two offsets, you divided them, and put them into separate pots, keeping them in a cool, airy room during the winter, and watering them sparingly." — It would have been better to deter the operation of dindlng your aga- panthus till the end of March ; such plants, although they may tlower in summer, will not finish their annual growth till late in the autumn j therefore, you must have checked its growth, in some measure, by dividing it during the growing season. The proper time to divide this plant, and indeed almost all plants, is just at the time they begin to grow in the spring. Your winter treatment is right : allow it plenty of air in fine weather, and water sparingly till it begins to grow. You will not see much change in the size of its stem till it makes a fresh growth. Gladioli [Ibid). — Your bulbs of these, potted as we directed, and kept similarly treated with your agapantnus, have been managed fairly. After the frosts are over, you may then put them out in the sun all day, meantime give them plenty of air and light, and water them more freely as they advunce ; we shall often allude to them in our weekly notices. Fruit Trees for Walls (T. Picton). — Against yoiu- wall facing the north-west, plant morello cherries ; against that facing the south- east, Moor-park apricot, any of the peaches you may prefer in our list at page 209, and a Pitmxston orange nectarine, and an Elruge and early Newington nectarine. If you are residing in any of our southern counties, your east wall, having half a. point to the south, will also ripen peaches very well. Plant a Morello cherry against the end of your house facing the north, if you wish for fruit ; or ivy, if you wish only for shelter and ornament. Vegetadlk Marrow (S. F.) — We prefer sowing the seed in pots plunged in a gentle hot-bed, early in April, and planting the seed- lings out in May, when they have four rough leaves, on a rich soil, in a \yarm, sheltered situation. The roots need not be disturbed when turned out from the pots, and a slight shelter at night for the first week will be sufficient. In dry weather, they require a daily supply of water and ruiuid manure alternately. The training required is the same as for the cucumlier. Ink for Ziac Labels (An Amati'iir). — The receipt we gave at page 201) is the onlv one that we know. We have used it ourselves, lait we certainly did not jiut the writing out into tlic rain immedi- ately after we had written on the zinc. Try pain, and let the writing remain in the dry fur three or four days, before exposing it to the weather. The Mouse and the Pea (T. Ji. L/07/(/).— The mouse will not be checked from attacking your peas by your soaking tliem in onion water ; even asaftttida docs not offend them sufficiently for such ])urpose. The only effectual guard for your rows of peas is, to cover over each row, eight inches wide and one inch deep, with coal-ashes. The mice will not burrow through this covering, and its black colour, by absorbing more heat, you will find to hasten forward the growth of your peas. Rhododendrons (.-In Emiuirer, Bank of Englnjid). — You ask us " for the best time and mode of propagating " these. — Now, as we do not know for what purpose you wish to propagate them, we are at a loss whether to recommend you to sow their seed, or to graft, layer, inarch, or to plant cuttings. If you will state your object, we will give you all the information we can. Improvement of Soil (/. C. Smith). — Your, soil, according to the specimen sent to us, is deficient in alumina (clay) — so very de- ficient, that if you put on 100 tons per acre of clay, or of clayey marl, or even of brick earth, from any pit in your neighbourhood, you will not give it too heavy a dressing. We do not know the depth of your soil, nor the nature of your subsoil, or we should be able to advise .you as to trenching it. You will find three or four slight dressings of salt, at the rate of five bushels per acre each, put on at intervals of two months, will assist your crops, but no permanent improvement can be effected without claying. Spade Husbandry {W. T. Loudon), — The advantages of this, when pursued on a large scale, are not topics exactly suited to our columns. We may enter upon it, however, when we have an oppor- tunity, being well aware of its advantages. In the meantime you can obtain abundant information relative to it from the volume on Flemish Husbandry, written by the late Rev. Mr. Rham, and pub- lished in the Library of Useful Knowledge. Another work, equally cheap, and even containinir more information, is Dr. Yellowly's little publication "On Spade Husbandry." Lemons and Oranges (J. N. S.).— These will live in your con- sen'atory, which has no artificial heat, and, with a slight shelter, would not be killed by a severe winter, but they will not thrive. The most successful cultivators of these fruits never allow the heat in which they grow to fall below 50'^ in the winter, and in the summer they keep up a moist day-heat of from 80° to 90°. Camellia SniFTiNC {Ibid). — These, which are now growing in the l)orders of your convervatory, had better not be moved until the young wood of this year has ripened, and the blossom-buds of nest year can be seen at the ends of the shoots. Potato-Planting (A Novice), — You will have seen full particu- lars on this subject in our last number. Grow early-ripening sorts, such as Walnut-leaved Kidneys for the first, Ash-leaved Kidneys to succeed them, and London Early Round for your main crop. The earliest will be fit for taking up in June, and the last early in August. Plant the two first kinds in rows, is inches apart, and 12 inches from set to set ; and the third kind 2 feet by 18 inches. Onions {Ibid). — Apply charred refuse to these, by sprinkling it a little thickly along the bottom of the drills, before j'ou sow the seed ; but both for them and turnips, two barrow-loads may be dug into everj' square rod. Manure for Potatoes {J. Rector), — You will have seen in our last number, at p. 2l6, our opinion as to manuring with soot and salt. Do not add any lime to th»m, as it would only help to drive off the ammonia in the soot. You had better spread this compost over your ground just before you dig it. Filberts and Cob-Nuts (T. Lindsay). — You may move these with success during the present month, if careful to injure the roots as little as possible, and to keep them moist until again planted. Your hint about the heading shall be attended to. Roses [J. M., Dublin). — You say that your roses against a paling 100 feet long, facing the north, and' on the top of a turfed bank, do not thrive.— We recommend you to take off the grass, next the paling, the width of two feet. Examine the soil. If not dry and good, drain it, and procure some good loam and dung ; remove the old soil to the depth of 15 inches, and replace it with the new. If dry and good, add two bushels of super-phosphate of lime, and of either rotten dung or leaves one cart-load ; mix them well with the soil. Roses will grow on grass after they have been established two or three years. You might mix a few honeysuckles with advantage amongst the roses. The following roses arc very hardy, and will thrive in the coldest situations, if the ^il is good and dry : Ayrshire Queen, Thoresbyana, Dundee Rambler, l\Iiller's Climbing Purple, Queen of the Belgians, Ruga, Crimson Boursault, Elegaus and Red Boursault. Felicite Per- petual, and Madame Plantier.^ M'e are not surprised that China Roses do not succeed. Your situation and aspect are much too cold for those tender roses. [Correspondents who arc not answered will be pleased to under- stand that their communications will be inserted in our double num- ber, or that we are waiting for information, to give them a more satis- factory reply than we could without prcWous inquiry.] London: Printed by Harry Wooldeidge, 147, Strand, in the Parish of Saint Mary-le-Strand ; and Winchester High-street, in the Pariah of St. Mary Kalendar ; and Published by William Somerville Obr, atthe Office, 14/, Strand, in the Parish of Sttint Mary-le-Stxand, London.— February 15th, 1819. THE COTTAGE GARDENEE. WEEKLY CALENDAR. 007 M w Plants dedicated to 1 Sun Sun Moon R. Moon's clock Day of 1) 20 D Th. FEBHUARY 22—28, 1849. each day. Rises. Sets. and Sets. Age. bef. Sun. Year. Sun's declin. 10° 7' s. Lesser Periwinkle Common Daisy. i2 a. 7 26 a. 5 6 40 29 13 45 53 23 F. Earthwonus lie out. [blooms. Apricot. 27 sets. ® 13 37 54 U a. St. Matthias. Ds. Cambuidge b. 1"74. Eoyal Fern. VI 29 7 a. 24 1 13 28 55 25 Sun. 1 Sunday in Lent. Rinj-dove coos. Peacli. 56 31 8 40 2 13 18 56 20 M. Goosebe.i'iT leaves open. Lesser Periwinkle. 54 33 9 54 3 13 8 57 27 Tu. Red CiUTaiit leaves open. Lungwort. 52 34 11 9 4 12 58 5S 28 W. Ember Week. Alder flowers. Pui'ple Crocus. 49 36 morn. 5 12 46 59 St. Matthias was chosen by lot fActs i. 26) to fill the apostlestip, vacant by the death of the apostate Judas. He was murdered by the Jews, E:m3ER Week. — See page 105. Phenomena of the Season. — The time for sowing has arrived, and we will detail, from week to week, according to our space, the changes which so secretly and so wonrlrously occur to the seed, after it has been placed within the soil. To enable these changes to be effected, or, in other words, to enable the seed to germinate or . sprout, there must be a certain degree of warmth in the soil, ami to this point, for the present, we must confine ourselves. If we except the snow mushroom {Uredo nivalis), we know of no plant, certainly of no cultivated plant, the seed of which « ill sprout, either lielow or at the temperature at which water freezes. A temperature above 32° of Fahrenheit's thermometer, tliereforc, is requisite. Hut, on the other hand, the temperature must not be excessively high. Even no tropical seed, probably, will germinate at a temperature much above \2\'f \ and we know, from the experiments of M.lVr. Edwards and Colin, that neither wheat, oats, nor barley, will vegetate in a tem- perature so high as 113°. Every seed, differing in its degree of excitability, consequently, has a temperature without which it will not vegetate, and trom which cause arise the consequences that differ- ent plants require to be sown at dilferent seasons, and that they ger- minate with various degrees of rapidity. The gardener should always bear in mind that it would be a very wrong conclusion, be- cause a seed does not germinate at the accustomed time, that, there- fore, its vegetating powers are gone. No two seeds taken from the same seed-vessel germinate precisely at the same time ; but, on the contrary-, one will often do so, while its companion seed will remain until another year, and will then grow. jM. dc Caudolle relates an instance where fresh tobacco seedlings continued to appear annually, for ten years, on the same plot, though no seed was sown after the first sowing ; and the same phenomenon usually occurs for two or three years, when the seed of either the peony or hawthorn are sown. \\'hy one seed is more easUy excited than another is, as yet, unex- plained ; but the wisdr^m of God, in this one of many provisions for avoiding the accidental extinction of a species m any given locality, is readily diseenied. An ungenial spriug may destroy the plants from those seeds which first germinated ; but this could scarcely occur also to those of the second and third year, or even to those which were only a few weeks later in their vegetation. Insect. — TheBrindled Beauty Bfoth {Bis- ion hirtiiriiis) does not usually appear untU ^^^ April ; but. as it has been proA-iflentially or- dered, when the winter has been very mild, it appears, like the leaves on which it feods, during l^farch. we are not much out of order to introduce it in our present Number. We are indebted for the following particulars to that most beautiful and accurate work — H umphrey's and Wcstwood's '^'^ British Moffia.'" Wlien the fore-wings are expanded, they mea- sure from 1.J to nearly 2 inches across. They arc of ;i lUirk yellowish- grey or brown colour, thickly spotted with fine, dusky atoms, and three or four dark streaks, generally equi-distant, but sometimes run- ning into each other, on the hind margin. Of these streaks, one beyond the middle is the broadest and most curved. The hind- wings are similarly coloured, having, generally, three nearly imper- Feb 1841. 1842. 1843. 1844. 1845. 1846. 1847. 18J3. 22 Cloudy. Cloudy. Showery. Snow. Snow. Cloudy. Cloudy. Cloudy. 42°— 38° 50°— 34° 52°— 41° 40°— 19° 37°— 31° 57°-47° 46°— 39° 51°— 39° 23 Cloudy. Cloudy. Fine. Cloudy. Snow. showery. Frosty. Fine. 44°— 32° 50°— 40° 53°— 37° 50°— 33° 44°— 31° 58°— 50° 42°— 27° 55°— 41° 24 Showery. Cloudy. Cloudy. Fine. Cloudy. Showery. Frosty. Cloudy. 40»— 36° 47°— 33° 43°— 34° 51°-27° 43°— 28° 59°— 49° 41°— 37° 53°— 44° 25 Cloudy. Showery. Shower\'. Showery. Cloudy. Fine. Frosty. Shower^'. 42°— 35° 45°— 23' 38°— 32° 5I°— 37° 49°— 37° 58°— 34° 40°— 21° 54°— 13=' 26 Rain. Showery. Cloudy. Showery. Cloudy. Fine. Cloudy. Rain. 48°— 35° 4S°— 30° 40°— 31° 52°— 26° 52°— 35° 60°— 39° 39°— 25° 51°— 39° 0- Showery. Rain. Rain. Frosty. Cloudy. Sho\ver^-. Frosty. Rain. 45°— 32° 44°— 36° 4n°-37° 40°— 32° 50°— 35° 62°— 38° 35°— 28° 55°— 42° 28 Fine. Fine. Cloudy. Fine. Cloudy. Pine. Cloudy. Fine. 47°— 32° 51° — 12° 41°— 31° 51°— 29° 31°— 23° 64°— 42° 38°— 32° 56°— 35° ceptible, duslty, equi-distant, slender streaks (strigae). The female has more transparent wines ; their broad transverse bands are less distinct, and the colours less bright. The horns (antennie) in the males are not quite feathered to the tips. The caterpillars appear in May ; they are usually greenish-brown, w ith greyish marks, pale stripes, and numerous pimple-like knobs {tubcrclesj. The eater- pillars feed on the Icayes of yarious fruit-trees, especially those of the plum family, as well as those of the privet, lime, and elm. They change to the chrysalis state in July, and remain in that state until the spring following. If anytliiug warm is covered over by auotlier, it cools fast if the covering takes tbe heat from it rapidly; and slowly if the covering talces the heat from it less quickly ; we aU ai-e aware of this, tliere- fore we put an extra blanket on our bed in winter, because woollen takes away heat slowly, or, in other words, is a bad conductor of heat: and ladies wear- muslin dresses in summer because "they are cooler," that is, they conduct the heat away from their persons more quickly than the thicker fabrics which they adopt in winter. For precisely similar reasons the gai-deuer is content to let Ids frame plants have no other cover than a film of glass in Jlay, but in winter he covers over this such worse conductors of heat as double matting and asphalted felt. It is very easy thus to control the cooling of a body, which cooling arises mei'ely from the heat being taken or conducted from it by another body touching or covering it; but there is another mode of cooling, by radiation, with wliich the gardeut-r is still more interested, and to prevent this is more difficult, for it takes place by day as well as by night, and, during the first-named part of the twenty-four hoiu's, the gardener must admit the light while he shuts in the warmth. By radiation is meant, that the rays of heat dart TTIK COTTAGE OAUDENER. iiivny into llio air ns the sun's rays do to our eaitli, iiiid as tliey do i'iv)iii any liot Lody, such as tlie soil of a bowl.'i- at uiijlit aftcv biiii;-; exposed to a briglit snui-liiue by dav. Tlie surface of a soil thus exposed ol'teu becoiiies heated to i)0 degi-ees duriug the day, fi'oni mere exposure to the heat radiated upon it by tlie sun, and it' this heat could be retained, as it would be if the soil coidd be protected from cold winds, and if the heat could he prevented radiating from it at night and during cold days, then might many plants be kept all the year in our borders that now require to be wintered iu greenliouses ; and many crops could be obtained early and with certainty, which, at present, can only be grown in ex])ensive buildings, and with imminent peril of total failure. It is curious how very slight and even very distant coverings will prevent the heat radiating fi-om the earth. Evei-y one must have noticed that a clear starlight night in winter is usually colder than a night that is overcast, and this arises from the clouds checking the radiation of heat from the eaith. We have often tried the great power to prevent radiation jiossessed by very shght screens; for example, a thei'mometer, placed upon a grass plot, exposed to a clear sky, fell to :io degrees; but another thermo- meter, within a few yasxls of the preceding, but with tlie radiation of the rays of heat from the grass cheeked by no other covering than a cambric pocket biiiidkercbief, di'clined no lower than -t'-J degrees. No diflerence of result occurs, whether the radiating surface be parallel or perpendicular to the horizon; for when the mercury in a thermometer hung against an openly exjiosed wall fell to 38 degrees, another thermometer, against the same wall, but beneath a web of gauze stretched tightly, at a few inches distance, shewed a temperature of 4;) degrees. A knowledge of these facts suggested to H. B. Tver, Esq., of Chesliuut, that, now glass is cheap, peaches, nectarines, and other fruit trees, may be cultivated under a screen made of that material, without any wall or other exjiensive structure, so as to be within the means of cultivation possessed by those who have only a few sliilUngs to spare upon garden- culture annually. The following is a sketch of the structure Jlr. Rivers, the highly intelligent nurseryman and florist of Sawbridgeworth, Herts, aftSw has erected for the puiqiose.-:: The posts and rafters Ijcing made of larch poles sawed in half, and the frames for tlie glass of unplaned deal, made without any dovetail joints, but merely as repre- sented in Fig. 2, the cost is very trifling.f Tlie lower ends of the posts are charred before tliey are put into the ground, and for a few inches above its surface, to preserve them from decaying, and the whole is to be painted over with gas tar, which Mr. Rivers truly and emphatically describes as "one of the most useful gil'ts bestowed on modern gardeners;" or, with what is still better, "yellow pine varnish.'' To increase the warmth and drj'uess of the stiiicture, we think that the ends and sides might be atlvau- tageously closed by means of bundles of furze, reeds, or other similar materials, and the surface of the earth, beneath the screen, covered with coal ashes. It has also been suggested by Mr. Ker that, at the back of the frame supporting the lights, but under * It oiifrlit to he known as "Ker's Protective System." t It will he seen that the joints are nailed topethcr, and tlie narrow strip on the har where the plass rests (called the rebate) is only fa>itened on by brad-nails. The ends of each bar are utiiik into the frame, for the sake of the glass lying level. In the above cut it is drawn ns if only nailed on. THE COTTAGE GARDENER. mo their slieltev, that is hetween the 2J feet posts in FiS- 1 , cheiries and phims may he trained. " They will get light enough." says Jfr. Ker, "and will not stop Teutilation. In order to vrirm the hoixler of the peai'heg I have put two feet of leaves, having hitherto kept the border dry." Upon this suggestion, Mr. Rivers ohse'ves: — " Dung or leaves, not 2)laced undoi- the glass till !^^arc]^. will, I think, do well." Yet we still think coal aslies on the soil under the glass, and leaves or dung over the roots of the ti'ees of the out side horder, will be found a move benelicial practice. We thiuk there will be no deficiency of heat under the glass, and that a vigorous niovenaeut in the roots, to keep pace in'ith that in the branches, will be formd desirable. ilr. Rivers plants his peach ti'ees in a slanting position, so that their branches lie, without being bent, upon the trellis; to this, wliich is made of common laths, they may be fastened by means of string, or narrow strips of very thin sheet lead ; the latter are veadUy twisted and untwisted as required, and last for yeai's. Mr. Rivers has planted his trees six feet apart, so that he may be able to remove every alternate tree after three or four years, when he pm-poses to move them to another trellis twelve feet apart. "No space," as he justly observes in a letter now before us, "is thus lost, and the trellis looks furnished at once." The only magic iii doing this, is by a careful attention to root-pnuiing, in which Mr. Rivers is an adept, so that by keeping the roots within certain bounds the ti'ees may be removed with little iujui^y. The posts of the ft'ame supporting the glazed liglits are six feet apai't, and the posts supporting the ti'ellis are tlu'ce feet apart. The cost of these posts is only about threepence each, and that of each light is stated by Mr. Rivers as follows: — "Each light is (i feet 8 inches by 3 feet 2^ inches, and contains 2 bars, 2J inelies by 1 inch ; 2 sides, 2i mches by 1 inch ; 1 cross bar at bottom, 2^ inches by 1 inch ; 1 cross bai- at top, 2^^ inches by 1 inch; and 1 cross bar in the the middle, 2i- iuches by 1 inch ; this will give somewhere about li cube foot of timber. This, cut for one light, •will then be. li foot of timber, at Is. Gd 3 3 rows of glass, 20 feet, at 3(7 5 Sawing, about Labour and nails 1 Glazing and putty a. 3 n !) Total 9 9=;< "Pine varnisli is the cheapest and most durable for rough , nnplaned wood ; Sd. will bo the outside of cost of two coats." ilr. Rivers employs sheet glass, one foot wide and about two feet long ; this brings us to the considera- tion of the kind of glass most eligible for use by * Jlr. Rivers employs a carpenter permanently, and he can finish the wood-work of five lights in a day. gardenei-s, but this must be deferred until our next number. Vfhv much jdeasure is afforded to us, by being en- abled this day to benefit many of our readers by the first of a series of monthly communications on The Managemest of Bees, fiu'nished by J. H. Payne, Esq., of Bury St. Edmunds, author of "The Bee- Kee]iei''s Guide." These communications will be, as much as possible, calendarial ; that is. will supply at the end of each month the work required to be attended to by the bee-keeper diu-ing the month next coming. In the case of bees, this work is regulated by seasons rather than hy months ; but each paper written hy Mr. Payne will contain infoiination ap- propriate to the time at which it appears ; and will be information fi'om a man of sound judgment, who has been a bee-keeper for upwards of fifty years on the depri^'ing system, ■with, as his chief motive, a desire to induce cottagers to follow his example. To promote this object, 'Mr. Payne has disti'ibutcd some hundreds of ti'acts, giving instructions on the subject; and has invented the hive — etficient, yet simple, and therefore the more valuable, of wliieh more than one engi'aving mil appear in our columns. " The result," says ^Ir. Payne, in a letter now before us, " I am happy to say, has been vei'y satisfactory, for many of the cottagers ai'ound me are making five, six, and seven pounds (in money) annually, of their honey, and that without destroying the bees. !My plan of managing them is, I beUeve, the most economical of any, and the best adapted for the cottager. My hive, wliich is called " Payne's Improved Cottage Hive," costs here (Bm-y St. Edmunds) only 14d. ; the price of a swarm is 10s., which, in a tolerable season, will afford fi'om twenty to thirty pounds of honey-comb, after leaving a supply for the bees in the winter, making a profit of, say a.Os. for honey, and 20s. for tho stock of bees, amounting to 4")s. — from an outlay of lis. 2d.; and this, in about four months." We need say no more, we should tliink, to induce many of our readers to become bee-keepers : we re- commend every one to do so ; and all who become masters of swarms cannot follow better directions than those which will he given by ^[r. Payne ; for they are, to use his own words, "founded cntu'ely on my own experience, \vithout any speculation as to the Natiu-al History of Bees, but sirajily inl'or- mation Itow to nhtuin the lanjest quantitij of honey at tlie Imst possible exjn'iise." THE FRUIT-GARDEN. Grafting. — As many of the readers of The Cot- tage Gardener are somewhat inexperienced in this art, it may be well to give some instructions con- cerning it. We here mean gi'afting by means of detached scions or shoots, which are generally chosen ft'om the preceding year's wood; although, in some eases, it is expedient to use two years' wood, in addi- 230 THE COTTAGE GARDENEE. tion, as we shall presently shew. This is a different process from hiih-cliitu/. which is sometimes termed graftinr/ hi/ uppivach. lu the latter case the scion, or shoot, is not cut away, hut left attached to the parent plant until the union hetween the scion and stock is complete. It is hy some considered proba- hle that the idea of grafting was at first suggested hy the curious phenomenon we sometimes meet with, of two shoots iu tlie same tree, or of two adjoining trees, forming a perfect junction, so that they become to all appearance one shoot. It appears that the art was known in most remote times, and we find it ailirmed that ^'arro, amongst the ajicient Romans, was acquainted with at least twenty diiiereut modes of performing it. The objects of grafting, as bearing on that portion of the gardening world for whom oiu' labours are intended, ai-e as Ibllows: — 1st. To increase choice kinds. 2nd. To increase the vigour of kinds over- delicate. 3rd. To reduce the vigour of those winch are too gross. Ith. To accelerate the period of fruiting. 5tli. To ada))t kinds to soil for which they would be unfitted on their- own roots. 0th. To renew, or renovate, old kinds. These six points comprise all that we think it necessary to say on tins head for ordinary gardening purposes. We cannot go into a thorough explana- tion of each of these lieailings at the present moment, but will return to them, and deal with each as occasion serves; for to understand them completely is to have mastered some very impoitant points in gardenbig afJiiirs. We now proceed to give a series of cuts, illustra- tive of such modes of gi-afting as may be suitalde to the amateur and tlie cottager ; they are all the iiii ides which are absolutely essential iu general horticul- ture. Many others are practised, as we are aware, by our continental neighbours, whose lively imagi- nation fro(|uently leads tliem to outstrip John Bull in matters of this kind. The modes wc have to notice bear the following titles, viz: — 1. Whip, Splice, or Tongue Grafting. 2. Crown Grafting. 3. Cleft Grafting. 4. Saddle Grafting. 5. Side (jrafting. (i. Chink or Shoulder Grafting. 7. Root Grafting. S. Peg Grafting. 1, Whip Gn.iraNo, called also npUce and tongue ijniftliici. — This is the most common mode of all others, and is that almost luiiversally adopted in our nurseries; and, indeed, when the stock and scion are about equal in size, is ])erhaps the handiest ])lan of all. Tlie head of the stock is pruned oft' at the desired height, and then a slip of bark and wood removed at tlie upper portion of the stock, with a very clean cut, to fit exactly with a corresiionding cut which must be made in the scion. A very small amount of wood mnst bo cut away, and the surface made quite smooth ; care must be taken that no dirt be upon tlie cuts in this, and, indeed, in all the other modes. The scion must now be prepared; this should have at least three or four buds, one of which should, where jiossible, be at the lower end. to assist in uniting it to the stock. A sloping cut must now ho made in tlie scion; this cut must correspond with that on tlie stock, ^i and a slit made to fit iu a cleft made in the stock when heading it This slit serves to maintain the scion steaddy in its place until properly fastened, and is more a matter of convenience than anything else. Care must be taken that the scion fits hirh to hark, on one side at least, for it is not the old or e.\isting portion of wood that forms the union, but a tissue which has to be produced, just as when the sides of a wound have to be reunited. This power exists in the alburnous matter, which lays next the inner bark; and the substance which forms the union, and which is secreted by the returiring saj-), is termed cambium. ^^'here the stock and scion disagree in point of size, of course only one side can toucii, and great care shoidd be taken in this part of the operation ; and, in the case of a young scion on an old tree, some allowance must be made for the ruggedness of the bark. The scion being thus adjusted, the whole is bound close, but not too tightly, with a shred of bass mat, cai'e being taken that the inner harks coincide. The clay is now ap])lied, iu order to keep the parts moist, and some iiractitioners pde soil over the gi'afted part, when near enough the gi'ouud. In all the modes of gi-afting it may here be observed, that the vliief yroiiiid of xKccesx lies in nieeli) fitting together some Corresponding portions of the inner bark of the scion and stuck. •2. Ceown, called also Chft, or Wedge Orafting. — This is apphed to various plants as well as fiiiits, as, for instance, the rose, cactuses, &c. Vines, also, are fre(pieiitly grafted by tlds mode. I.il;e as in wlii]j grafting, it accelerates tlie union if the bottom of tlie scion has a bud or two. In tlie case of the vine it is considered necessaiy to let the stock grow a little before graiting; care must be tal;en, however, to keep some gi'owing portions on the stock, above the graft, or severe bleeding would ensue. As the name indicates, a cleft, or division, is made in the stock to receive the scion, which is cut like a wedge; again tidcing care, iu casi! of inequality of size, to make one side lit hark to liark. When llie scion and stock are unequal in size, both sides of the scion may he brought to fit by cutting the cleft nearer to one side of the crown than the other. 'I'lie wound is bound over, as in the other processes, with bast, and covered over with clay, or grafting-wax. The camellia succeeds well when grafted this waj'; even a single bud will make a plant, provided the stocks are kept in a damp and shady atmosphere for a few weeks alter grafting. Tlie stock here, also, should be slightly in advance, that is, should be fonvardcr in growing than the gi-aft or scion. Tlie best time is just as the sap is rising. :l. Cleft GnAFTixo, as represented in this sketch, is only a kind of crown graft- ing, and is ]iractised on stocks one or two inches in diameter, and, therefore, too lai'ge for wliip gi'afting. Cut or saw off the head of the stock in a slo]iiiig form: with a knife or chisel cleave tlie stock at tlie to]!, making the cleft about two inches dee]i : keep it open hy leaving in thi^ chisel ; cut the lower end of tlie scion into the form of a wedge, one inch and a half long, and the side that is to he towards the middle of I lie stock sloped olf to a fine edge; the bark of the thickest side of the wedge end place of the THE COTTAGE GAEDENER. 231 scion so as to covrespond exactly with the bark ot the stock; take away the chisel, and then the sides ot the stocl; wOl pinch and hold last the scion, iwo scions may he inserted, one on each side ol the clett; hut iu this case the top of the stock _^ must not be cut oil' slopiug. Bast and clay must be put on as in the other modes ol' grsifting. 4. Saddle Grafting.— Tlie top of the stock is cut to a weds:e shape, and the scion or graft cleft up the middle, and placed astride on the wedge of the stock ; hence the name. The binding and clay- ing is performed as in the other modes, cai-e being taken to make at least one of the sides meet havk to hiiH\ A modilioation of this mode is practised iu some of our cider counties, where they do not hesitate to practise it iu the middle of summer, wlien the young wood has become somewhat mature. The sciou is chosen smaller than the stock, and is clelt about three inches at the lower end, so that one side is rather thicker than the other. The rind of the stock is then opened or "ue side, and the thick side of the scion introduced between the bark and wood; the thinner portion is carried astride the stock, and down the opposite side, a slight cutting bavuig ben made to receive it, on the ]n-inciple of making corresponding parts meet. This, though tedious, is a very safe mode of grafting, inasmuch as it presents a greater expanse of alburnum for etl'ecting the junction. S. Side Grafting.— This, in general, is performed on trees on which the top is required to remain, and is well adapted for the insertion of new kinds of pears, or other fruits, on estiiblished trees, in order to increase the collection, or to hasten I'riht-bearing. It is also adapt- ed to furnish naked portions of old shoots. It is, however, not so safe a mode as some of the "thers. Little description is needed tlie cut \vill sulBciently explain it. 6. Chink or Shndikr Oreif ting. —Tins is not much iu use in this country, and, indeed, we see little occasion for its practice. When the stock and scion are equal in size, however, it offers an op- portunity of gaining the advantage of an extra, aviiouut of alburnous luiion. Tlie cut will explain it. 7. Root Grafting. — An old practice but with regard to deciduous fruit trees it offers no particular ad- vantage over the ordinary whip grafting, when ]ierfornied near to tlie gi-ound. It is, perhaps, better adapted for very large scions, for in many trees such may be used when two or three inches diameter. When strongly bound they may be soiled over head, merely leaving a hole for the bnd of the scion to come through, which in this case will rise like sucker. 8. Peg Grafiixg, — This mode is now never pra tised in England, and we only insert the annexed engi-aving because it com- pletes oiu- catalogue of all the Imown modes. Of these eight modes there are many modilications, but they are all derived from the eight enumerated. Peg grafting, never having been prac- tised by ourselves, we shaU only make this extract relative to it: "The scion must be of the exact size of the stock ; bore a hole into the centre of the stock, one and a half inch deep ; cut the bottom of the scion to fit; the edges of the barks must be very smooth, and fit exactly." General Observations. — For ordinary garden jRU-poses, we tliiuk the whip, the cleft, the sadclle, and the crown, the most eligible modes by far. These may be said to be the nde, the others are merely exceptional cases. In all these proceedings a few axioms or main principles must be kept steadily in view : of such are tlie following: — 1 St. The scions of deciduous ti-ees should be taken from the parent trees some weeks before the gi'afting season, and "heeled" (the lower ends put into the soil) in some cool and shady place; this causes the stock to be a little in advance of the gi-aft, as to the rising of the sap, a condition admitted on all hands to be essential. 2nd. Let all the processes be performed with a very clean and exceedingly sharp knife, taking care that nothing, such as dirt or clups, gets between the scion and the stock. 3rd. Let the bandage be applied equally and firmly ; not so tight, however, as to cut or bruise the bark. For this reasou, hroacl sti-ands of bast are exceedingly ehgible. 4tb. In selecting grafts be careful in choosing the wood, avoiding, on the one hand, exhausted or bad- barked scions, and, on the other, the immatiu-e, watery spray which frequently springs from the old trunks of exhausted or diseased trees. Grafting Clat, to make.— Take some strong and adhesive loam, approaching to a clayey chai-acter, and beat and knead it until of the consistence of soft-soap. Take also some horse droppings, and rub them through a riddle, of half inch mesh, until thoroughly divided. Get some cow manure, the fresher the better, and mix about equal parts of the three; kneading and mixing them until perfectly and ouiformly mixed ; some persons add a little road scrapings to the mass. A vessel with very finely riddled ashes must be kept by the side of the grafter, and after the clay is closed roimd the scion the hands should be dipped in the ashes; this enables the person who applies the clay to close the whole with a perfect finish. It must be so closed as that no ah can possibly enter ; and it is well to go over the whole in three or foui- days afterwards, whoi, if any have rifted or cracked, they may be closed finahy. Grafting AV.ix. — The following recipe has been recommended by a first-rate authority. Take com- mon sealmg-wax, any colour but green, one part; mutton fat, one part; white wax, one part; and honey, one-eighth part. The white wax and the fat are to be first melted, and then the sealing-wax is to be added gradually, in small pieces, the mixture being kept constantlv stu-red; and, lastly, the honey must be put in just before taking it olf the fire. It should be pom'eci hot into paper or tin moidds, to preseiwe for use as wanted, and be kept shghtly stirred tiU it begins to harden. B- Eeeington. 2:« THE COTTAGE GARDENER. THE FLOWER-GAEDEN. Small Villa Gaudkns. — Near to huge to^TOS tlie laud is so valuable for liuiUling ]mr]ioses, that the owners of such property sseklom afford much ground for gai'doning purposes. It is to be lanieuted that such is the case. If the gardens wei'e larger, the dwellings would be much healthier, and the means of recreation in the open air more ample. Yet even a small garden is greatly to be desired ; and it is alwavs a recomnieudatiou to a house, if there is " a bit oi' garden" belonging to it. Gardens of this l;ind have cither a walk in the centre, or on one side, leading nji to the door. This walk is mostly paved with Hag stones, and this is done, generally, in tlie worst possible manner ; we shall commence, there- fore, ora' gardening instructions, for villa gardens, with describing the best method of laying down the Hags. Flagged Walk. — In the first place, take out all the soil imder where the walk is to be, and four or six inches wider than the flags. The soil cau be used to improve the borders. Then lay a good drain in the centre, and till up with open rubble of brick ends, or broken stones, or veiy rough ashes. I'ill up the drain to the general level of the ground with this material. Upon this lay a coat of fine gravel or sand, or coal ashes, thi'ee inches thick. Beat the whole firmly down with a pavicr's beetle, and then have the flags laid down, with lime or cement at the joints. Employ a good mason for this part of the business. The flagged walk will now be completely raised above the level; and, in consequence, will he always clear of moss, and quickly dry after rain. Every one that thinks at all ou the subject must perceive that a tia-gged path, laid in this manner, must be drier and more easily cleaned than one laid in the common way. BoriDERs AND liEDs. — Thcse gardens are generally laid out with around or oval bed in the centre; a narrow gi-avel walk, edged with box, round it; and the rest forms a border, in which, as well as in the centre bed, are grown trees, shrubs, and flowers. Now this plan is very simple, and if judiciously planted, and neatly kejit, is, perhaps, the best way of arranging such small plots. Some such gardens have a square or round grass-plot, M'ith a border round it ; but grass, in such a situation, is excecdingl}' trou- blesome. If it is not freipiently roUed and mown, it soon becomes tliin of gi'ass, mossy, and out of order, besides taking up tlie room which might be occupied with flowers. I'or small gardens, gravel walks, with beds and borders edged with box, are more suitable; more easily l;ept in order; can be nniuaged by the occupier, withoiit so nuicb assistance from a day-gar- dener; and atlord more sjiaee for ornamental shiubs and flowers. The great difficulty is to choose, out of the host of good kinds which are now in the nurse- ries, such as will suit a garden of this class. We shall give a list of trees, shrubs, and flowers, that will furnish a small villa garden, such as are connuon about large towns. There are, liowever, manv beau- tiful things that will not thrive near smoky"^ towns. These we reluctantly omit. Ok Thees, we would renunk that they are useful in su(di gardens, to shield ott' in sultry weather the hot rays of the sun; and, as villas are generally tiear a highway, they partly shelter the lower gi"owing flowers from the dust, and serve also as ii screen from llie jiassers by. Those trees, then, ouglit to bo planted close to the boundary fence, and should bo kept iiruned in, so as not to hang over either way. Deciduous (losing their leaves in winter) trees are most ])roper. '['he following we conceive to be the best for this jnirpose; — the Lime-tree, Laliurnum, I'latanus, or Plane-tree, and Robinia pseudo-acacia, or, as it is commonly called, the Acacia. ( )ne of each of those will be sufticient. The price depends upon the si/.e, trees Irom four to six feet higli are Is. each ; ten feet high, x's. (id. each. Shrurs. — We woidd bj' no means have a garden, however small, without some shrubs in it. These may lie planted between the trees, and to servo as a division between such gardens. In this class is the queen of flowers — the rose, of which every garden cau scarcely have too many; at least, we have no fear that villa gardens will ever be overstocked with this universal favourite. lu very smoky parts of towns, such as London, JMaucbester, Birmingham, &o., we are reluctantly obliged to confess that the rose will not thrive; but at short distances from such towns, it will do moderately well. Shrubs may yi;t be planted ; therefore, if you do not possess any of the tbllowing list, procure tliem without delay. Let your gi'ound be previously prejiared by digging in the manner described in our ;i(ith ntuu- ber, then plant your shrulis, giving theni. if the wea- ther is dry, a good watering at the roots. Evergreens may be jilanted till April with success, it they are put in with puddle, that is, earth and water mixed together till of jiaint-lilce thickness, in the hole where the tree is to be planted. The shrub is then put into this puddle, and filled up with earth, mixing again with water till the hole is filled u]) level witli the ground. We have removed large evergreens in a hot dry Jidy, and by using ]iuddle they have all succeeded well. Now, as we liave proved the great use of ]iuddle in planting large trees and slu'ubs, it is surely not too much to expect that it will answer as well, or better, for smaller ones. LtsT OE Select Shiiubs for a small villa garden: — Amj'gdalus ]iumila flore pleno (Double Dwarf Al- mond), three feet, pink. "■Arbutus unedo (StrawbeiTy tree), eight feet, creamy white. =^'Aucuba ja])onica (.lapan Aucidia), fom- feet. Berberis a.(piiiblium ( Holly-leaved Barberry), two feet, yellow.'! Cotoneaster microphylla (Sinall-loaved Cotoueaster), two feet, white. Dapline Mczereum (Connuon Mezereon), two feet, pink. " Kricaherb.acea (Dwarf Ileatli). six inches, ]iink. Tliere are several other low growing iLcaths, very ]U'ctty and desirable, but, like this, they all require peat earth. =::Hex aquilblium variegatis (Variegated common Holly). The silver and gold- edged varieties are tlie freest growers, and most handsome. Lavendula spica (Lavender), two feet, liglit blue. '^T-'oeonia moutan (Tree Peony), for the centre bed, three feet, pink. Pruniis lauro-cerasus (Common Laurel), five feet. -i^Uibes sanguiiieum More jileno, (Double red-blossomed Currant), three feet, crimson. Rliododendrou ponticum (I'ontic Pose-bay), three feet, purjde. R. Catawbienso (Catawba Rose-bay), deep pink, two feet. Tliese rhododendrons require pent earth. •::S]iirrea aria^- folia (.Aria-leaved Meadow-sweet), three feet, white. -Sjiarlium multiflorum (Many-flowered white Broom), four feet. --Syriuga Persica (Persian Lilac), lour feet, lihic. ■:A'iburnuin tinus (Common Lauru^tinus), three feet, white, v;Weigelea rosea ( Kosey Weigelea), tbrec feet. The above cost fioni (id. to ;.'s. (id. each. If tlie borders will not contain the whole of the above, take those only that are marked with a star. t Tliifl 13 now made, with aome others, into a srparatc genus, and is called Miihonia Aquifuliuni. THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 233 The entire number are well worth growing, either for tlieii- flowers, leaves, or fragrance. We should have brcu s'lad to have added the Scarlet Tlioru and tlie Weeping Willow, both elegant plants, liut for small gardens tliey ai-c of too spreading a habit; and to paine them into small heads, completely destroys then- peculiar character and beauty. Roses are a distinct class of shrubs, and are deserving a separate notice and list. A row of standard roses, not very tall, on each side of the walk, is very desirable. One standard might lie planted in the middle of the bed, with smaller ones round it, and dwarf imes in front, in which case the tree peony must be placed elsewhere. These shoidd not be jilanted tliickly, but at such distances as will allow room for flowers. Some roses may also be planted in the corners of the border, where it is widest AS STANDARDS. Provence or CabbaRe Rose, Adri- tjunc dti Cardoviftc. Moss Roses, Cctina, rich crim- son. Crested Moss, bright rose. White Bath, white French or Gallic, Reine de Fran- eaia, rich rosy crimson. Tliese cost from 2s. Hybrid Provence, Blunehe Jlcur, white. Of other Classes, Chenedole, lar^e, vivid crimson. Fuf^ettx, scarlet, fine. Paul I'erras, pale rose. finest beautiful. Austrian, Persian yellow, yellow. to 2s. (id. each, and ten standards, as the above, will ftn-nish a smaU garden sufficiently. Those we have named are select, good, showy Icinds. DWARF ROSES. Provence, Ujuque, pure white. Moss, Cnmjnofi, pale rose. Criittsun, rosy crimson, ^—^^ Lntieii, rosy crimson, tinted with purple, and fine, 7s 6d, e.vtra kind, rather dear. Damask, Lerf«, blush, edged with cherry. Pulchictre, pure white. White, Aiifretiqfie, tine bluish. WTiite, Madame Campan, vivid blush. French or Gallic, Fleur d',4mo«r, light crimson. Hybrid Provence, Duchesse d^Or- lean, wax-like. Other Hybrids, Beauty of Bit- lard, scarlet. . Coai) d'Hette, deep pink. - Great Western, crimson Hybrid Pcrpetuals, Baronne Pro- vost, pale, superb rose. Clementine Seringe, fresh rose. Dactor Marx, carmine. — Duchess of Sutherlandt pale rose, magnificent. Edumrd Jesse, dark pur- ple, shaded with crimson. Louis Buonaparte, Ver- million, glowing. Bourbon, Cardinal Fesc/t, fine violet crimson. Madame Souchet, blush. tinged with crimson, fine. Paul Joseph, dark velvet crimson. . Souveytir de Malniaisou, clear flesh, edges blush, extra fine. and purple. The above kinds are all very fine. The hybrids thrive best if budded on very dwarf stocks. If the . garden is too small to hold the whole number, choose any number yon may think sufiicient, varyhig tlie colours as much as possible. We must, for want of space, defer the selection of flowers tiU next week. BiENNi.\LS. — The weather being so open and mikl, biennials may now be removed out of the bed into which they were transplanted last summer. Plant them in the borders where they are to flower, placing the tall growers at the hack of tlie border, and the dwarfer kinds ui front. They generally consist of — • Tai.i, Growers. — Anehvisaitalica (Ilahan Bugloss), Canterbury Bells, DigitaUs alba (White Foxglove), French Honeysuckle, Scarlet Lj'chnis, and Red Valerian. Dwarf Growers — Catananche bicolor and C. cce- rnlea (two-colom'ed and blue Catananche), Indian Pinks, Sweet-rocket, Sweet-scabious, Brompton Stocks, Sweet-williams and WaU-Uowers. These are all, or nearly aU, old favomites, and are worth cnltivatinff where there is room for them. We mentioned about our cottage friends forming a kind of society, to exchange flower-roots every spring. We trust they will not lose sight of this friendly design. We are quite sine it would lead to the best feeUngs amongst them being developed. There is nothing so pleasant as being on social terms with neighboin-s; and we heartily wish that every village in Great Britain may soon have in each a Cottager's Horticultural and Floricultural Society. As we have seen the good eflfects of such combinations, we shall endeavour to give some rules shortly, by wliich such societies may be advantageously governed. FLORISTS' FLOWERS. D.\HLiAs. — The season has now anived to look over your stores of this splendid autumnal ornament of the flov, er garden. Examine the roots well, and all that are alive place in a pit, or fi-ame, or some other place where a gentle heat is at work. Too much heat is very injurious, often rotting the roots just at the part where the buds are, namely, round the old stem. If you have a large stock of roots, it woidd be better to let them have a frame of two or three hghts or more, if necessary, to themselves. The reason for starting them thus early is, to have them strong plants by the time for planting out, and also for propagation pui-poses, of which we shall say more hereafter. Tulips. — Be sure and keep a stii<:t look out after yom' tidips, especially if you intend to have blooms for exhibition, or even lit for a florist to look at with pleasure. Protect the bed from severe weather, wliether frosty, or snowy, or rainy, especially after such mild weather as we have experienced lately. — weather such as the oldest of us can scarcely remember to have seen equalled for mildness in any former February. We may indeed say — " Beware of the ides of JMarch." Watch, therefore, the signs of the change of weather. Cover up every night, and shade from sun during day, to make yom- pets all safe at all times. T. Appleby. GREENHOUSE AND WINDOW GARDENING. Scarlet Geraniujis.— The du-ections given last week for the management of these, after their winter's rest, was meant to apply to those in good preservation, as in ordinary cases : cases may occur, however, where the plants are all but dead, and'if this has been brought about by too mucli damp, they had better be freed from tlio soil at once, and every dead portion cut out; after that, let them be we'll dried for two or three days before tliey are potted agaui. If the plants, on the other band, have suS'ered from over dryness, and arc shrivelled up veiy much, their case is more bopefid, but tliey must be carefully watered before they are brought into heat; these are the three stage's which usually occur, and the damp stage is the worst, and requires a longer time to overcome it; drying the plants well, and to be very sparing of the watering pot, with a very tight compost, and small pots, are the best means to recover them. 'The very dry ones may be found out Ijy this rule: after cutting oft' the tops down to the Uve wood, if the edges of the""cut or the cut end of the shoots are contracted much after a day or two, it is a sure sign that their sap is too far gone to be able to break the buds, and therefore they' must be watered, but not turned out THE COTTAGE GARDENER. of the wiuter soil. Those tliat have been wintered without pots will come in luider one of these heads, and may bo treated accordingly. Of all the plants that can be used for fiu'uishing small gardens, tliere are none more respectable than scarlet geraniums. Yon can never have too many of them; a whole bed of them looks as rich as any flower-bed the Queen can have; and for tilling up corners anywhere, no- thing is better: but I am trespassmg on my next door neighbour, and I only meant to say how beautiful they look in boxes outside tlie windows, or in rustic baskets at each side of the door, and indeed every- where ; and for growing in pots, for such pmposes, one of them called Tom Thumb is the best. But. tlieir ,gi-eatest merit is, that they can be kept over the winter as easily as potatoes. When I wrote the first letter in "The Cott-4ge Gardenek," I took a bundle of cuttings of different scarlet geraniums, cut them into foot lengtlis, and taking all their leaves off, i laid them on a shelf in a room at the top of the house; admitted air to tlie room: looked over the cuttings tmce a week for the next month, they were then in a tolerable dry state for jjacking up to winter. I rolled them up in rough brown paper, so as that no two of them touched each other, then put them in a box along witli himber. About ('bristmas, 1 looked over them, and a good many of them were beginning to rot at botli ends, and a few had black spots here and there; the whole of this was cut out, and the cuttings were laid on the shelves again to dry. After ten days the most of them were packed up again, and some were left on the shelves; both lots are now a tolerable samjilc of very good cuttings, and I lifive given orders to iiave them potted this week, but they would do a month lience. Now, if cuttings can be thus Icept from October to March, tlien potted, and be ready to flower next summer, who that lias a wmdow, or a single flower-knot or bed, would be at a loss to fill them u]) at the proper time? to say nothing of the quantities of old plants tliat may be jireserved bj' good management in a garret. I made this expe- riment on purpose to enable me to speak positively on the point in tlieso pages, and in order to dispel a very common idea, that only good gardeners can manage to keep these things through the winter: there is no gardening at all required in llie matter, only resolu- tion and plain common sense, — an article, by the way, much scarcer than scarlet geranirmis. If one was to write about a. mysterious expensive process, to do this, that, or the other tlnug, many would be temjited to try it, who now think it :^11 Greek, or fi'eemasonry, to preserve these beautiful flowers through our winters. Greenhouse CLUiBEns, — A neat little greenhouse without climbers is almost a misfortune ; all the jilants in it may loolv lienlthy and bloom as well as one could ivish, and yet if it lacks the gay tracery which a. good selection of climbers alone can aflbrd to the practical eye it will produce that indescribable feeling wliich you have exjierienced, if ever you had to sleep in a room from wliicli all tlie furniture bad been removed, except the bare skeleton of the bed itseli'. Climbers are to thegreenhouse what the finish- ing strokes are to a flue painting. About the end of l''ebruary, or veiy early in March, is the proper time to prune and dress up these climbers for the season. The only exception to this ride, tliat 1 can recoUect now, is wlieu the greenhouse is lai'ge enough to contain duplicates of some favomate sort ; therefore, when two plants of the same kind are iu one house, to treat them alike, in respect to pruning, would be like making a good feast in order to fast afterwards: prune only one of them now, and the other one six weeks hence. Where climbeis are trained up between the front sashes, it is best to run them up to the top of the upright glass with a single stem, and then train them right and left ; or up under the rafters, not to allow them to s]nead so iis to inter- cept the side light. A parti:d shade along the roof is often of great service to plants on the stages in sun>- mer, but no interruption of the side light should ever be allowed. The great fault iu the management of climbers is, that they are never pruned close enough, unless they come under the hands of a gardener who has liad good experience ; and if one has the courage to exit in last year's growth to two or three eyes, two to one but double the quantity of old shoots ai-e left as you generally see vines pruned. If Jlr. Krrington were to see our out-door vines in Suti'olk, he would say of us — no matter what. The majority ol' the best climbers flower on the current year's growth, like the gra]ie-vine; and all such ought to be cut to within two or three eyes of the old wood annually; iniless one or more shoots were wanting, occasionally, to fill up a naked space : but I am writing about such as are of full age and growth. Yoinig plants will not be pruned so close tiU they fill up their allotted spaces. Climbers that flower on the last year's wood must have a ditt'erent treatment. Tlie healthiest of the last year's growth must be selected ami left at full length, unless they are very weak, when they ought to be sliortened a little, according to their strength, and all the inferior shoots to be cut to two eyes, and from these two-eyed spurs shoots are to proceed this next summer, to flower the following season; also most of the long shoots which bloomed last season are now to be cut back to one or two eyes. When Jilants thus regularly primed get too crowded, as most climbers will do under the best treatment, tliey shoidd never be checked by cutting the roots. The way to manage them is this: those spins that have been cut to two or three eyes must be thinned, by cutting out oue or two here, and another there, all over tiie plant. C^ut them ofl' close by the bark of the old branch, but not now at the spring pruning, because the wounds might injure the whole plant when the growth is slow in the spiring: leave them till next INIay, and when the jilants are in full leaf such wounds do no barm ; besides, you will then sec winch of them jiromise to flower best. The very strong ones wiU occupy too much room, and the very weak ones will not flower strong enough, there- fore cut them oft', and leave the intermediate ones as the most likely to flower best. When you want a long shoot of last year's growth, to fill up a space with, as a jirincipal branch that is to remain for years, it is an excellent plan to jiick out two-thirds of its buds with the point of your knife, and that may be done at any season; cutting out buds oltcn does away with the necessity of making larger wounds in after years. The spring is not the right time to plant out greenhouse climbers, otherwise I would give a list of the best sorts, but I shall do so before the time arrives. About the middles of May is the best time to turn them out of the pots, and from that to the middle of July will do; but at any other time they are as likely as not to sulk, and remain dornumt or stiiuty, unless in the bauds of jirofessed gardeners for a year or two — and the reason seems to be, that the change is too great for them; but when (hey are in active growth in May, and the growing season is before them, they can hardly fail to go on as if no- thing particular had happened to them. New Pl.vnts. — The charms of novelty are nowhere more irresistible than in the gsu'dcu, and this often THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 235 leads to some blimdcvs; you licav or read of such and such fine plants " coming out," as tlio phrase goes, and your very Angers itch to possess them, but after laying out a handsome sum to procure them, you soon tind that they are no better than they sliould be. I sliall pledge my word, however, that no one who wUl buy the two plants that I shall name to-day will ever feel a disapporntmout respect- ing them. The one is from the far east, and the other h-om nearly as far to the westward; one is from the island of Chusan, on the coast of China, and is called riumhat/o Larpanhc — -Plumbago means leadwort, and the word is so near plumber, the man wlio works the lead, that no one can forget that name, at any rate; the second is a complimenta-iy name to Lady Larpent, who was so lucky as to raise this plant first, from seeds sent to her ladyship by a British officer: one of those clever Englishmen who trightenod tlie Chinese almost out of their senses and prejudices. We all know what L.I^.D. means, and L.L.L. may staud for Lady Larpent's Leadwort, so tluit there is very little fear of our forgetting this new name. 'J'his new Leadwort, then, is a charming, low, bushy, blue liowering pot plant, that will flower as easily as a fuclisia, from June till the frost comes ; and, in less than two years, will be in eveiy cottage garden in tlie kingdom. Although it sold last August as high as forty-five shillings each plant, it may be liad now for lis (id, and before the end of ne.\t May I shoidd not wonder to see them advertised at nine shillings the long dozen, and all this because it comes from cuttings as easily as the new Verbenas ; and no doubt Mr. Appleby will be advising us by aud by to buy it in quantities for flower beds, but we are not quite sure yet how it will answer that way. The second new plant is from Upper California, that ■\vild country lying on the Pacific, where the gold dust has lately been discovered, which they say the Ameri- cans are now collecting to pay the " repudiated loans " with. When I saw this most beautifid plant for the first time, last July, I tooli it to be a new kind of fuchsia,, with the flowers turned the wrong way: the idea was sufficiently ridicirlous, I own ; but it is the best description of the plaut, nevertheless; it is not at all unlil;e a close-growing, small-leaved fuchsia; the Ilowers, which are of a rosy red colour, looking just like those of a fuchsia, only with their mouths turned upwards. It grows up to two feet or more, and is close and very bushy from the bottom ; aud although we sliall have it in the windows for the first season or two, till the novelty wears off, it is perfectly hardy in our climate; aud, more tlian that, after it is once well established in the ground, no drought that we are accustomed to in England will affect its beauty — for, as is well known, hardly any rain falls hi tipper California from May to October; the rainy season there is in winter, when the climate is much warmer than with us, along the coast ; but up on the mountains snow lies for some months, and all the plants from hence are hardy with us. The Yellow PJsohsoholtzia and Blue Nemophylla come from the same place. The name of this beau- tiful plant is anytliing but easy to mind, or even to ]ironounce, by English tongues: it is Zauclisneria C'dli/ornica. This is a German word, and the audi part of it is a strong guttural with them, wliich a Welshman or Scotchman can easily pronounce, but few English peojile can; saugh and haugh are two Scotcli words which sound exactly as the Ger- mans pronounce the first part of tins strange name. The Scotch gardeners mil therefore sound tlus name as if written Saughneria, putting a sti-ong accent on the e; while the English, who cannot sound this guttm-al, nmst change the ch into an x, thus — Saux- neria; or follow the old way of pronunciation, as in fuchsia, thus — Sauchsneria. Tliis is only domestic pronunciation, but it gives me a good opportunity to say, that it is the duty of our great classical scholars, at the head of botanical literatiue, to give the expla- nation and accentuation of every hard word of which they write ; how else are we to foUow or understand such outlandish words? D. Beatox. THE KITCHEN-GAKDEN. Cet.ery. — Niuuernus are the modes of cultivating this wholesome and useful vegetable; indeed, it is grown to a great extent as a second crop. Sow the seed on a slight hot-bed, or in pans to place in a hot- house, frame, or pit, or some sheltered warm spot, from the middle of February to the middle of Aju'lI. For years past, at Bicton, we have adopted sowing the seed for our general crop of winter celery the first week in April, on a shght hot-bed, generally where the last asparagus has lieeu forced. We encourage the young plants' growth by waterings of tepid water, aud pricking them early ou slight hot-beds; and again, afterwards, to maintain a healthy sturdi- ness and abundance of fibrous roots, we transplant on rich borders, or on weU prepared rich soil in some open situation. Then, as the spring sown or planted crops come, such as cauliflowei'S, peas, spinach, eaidy cabbage, &c.. the preparation is immediately made for planting fidl crops of celery. Our general system is to cast out a shallow trench, .'i feet wide, and, as the soil has been well trenched and manm'ed in winter, we put into it but a moderate quantity of any avail- able well-rotted manure, but prefening cow or pig manure, or the manure fi-om a sheep-fold, or deer jiaddock, witli a jiortion of chan'ed refuse. This we foi-k in aud iu(^orporate with the soil. In those trenches ive plant rrossurn/ii, six plants in a row, and the rows fB inches apart — in order to secure a convenient and ready means of hoeing, watering, and applying the earth for blanching, witliout ti'eading amongst the plants. By this means, a large crop of celery, of good quality, is secured on a small space of ground, with moderate expense in the whole manage- ment. Besides, it is so easily and moderately secm-ed from the consequences of a severe winter, by the ap- plication of a little fern, stiaw, or any siuular mate- rial, a]iplied on each side of the ridge, which it wUl then have become, by earthings up to blancli. The foUowiug is another system we adopt, by which we obtain hea\'y crops of excellent celery: — At this season of the year, as soon as oiu- Brussels sprout crop is past, which we consider is as soon as the sprouts begin to burst and fly open, we pidl them up, mark out our 5 feet bed, cast out the eai'th on each side to the depth of 15 inches or thereabouts, and into tliis we cast the stumps of the Brussels sjn'outs, aud any other vegetable refuse, sweepings, rakiugs, &c. On to this we wheel the worn-out fer- menting materials from the sea-kale, to the depth of 10 inches or one foot, if it can be spared; casting over it, as we proceed, about fi inches of the soil which had been thrown out of the trench, and leav- ing the other portion to form a shelter for an Early Potato Crop. — The sets for tliis we take care to have already prepsu-od, with sprouts vegetated to a length of :3 or i inches, planting them 15 inches from row to row, and about half that distance apart 23G THE COTTAGE GARDENER. from each other iu tlie row. Some poles or saw-pit scantlings are placed across, and a slight covering or protection of sonic kind is contrived. By this mode, an iihundant crop of early jiotatoes is olitiiiued to succeed the frame; and a good prejiaration is also secm'ed for a trench oi' celery. To amateurs and cottagers, to whom groiuid is of consequence, and where it is iutoided to make the most of space and time, the two foregoing systems arc worthy of consideration. Single-row trenches of celery requii'e more room ; besides the plants in them being more exposed to the influence of frost. SuEi.TEEixG. — After so mild and moist a winter season it is not imlikely that we may, as spring advances, get cutting weather; it is, therefore, ad- visable to look a little to the protection of young and fresh-planted vegetables, by the application of a Uttle saw-dust, or other thy dusty material, more par- ticularly about the shanks of young lettuces, pens, cauliflowers, &c. Stick the forward ^jras, and protect the north and north-east ends of the rows well with spruce fir. or other boughs. Draw a httle of the liglitcst mouldy earth up to the shanks of the earliest beans. Routine Work. — Full crops of caullfloucrs and spring cahbarjes should bo planted, and successions of them sown; a little brocnU should also be sown. Continue to jilant out successions of lettuce plants, and encourage those which have stood the winter by hoeing and surface-stirruig often. A fidl crop of parsleij should be sown ; soot and charred vegetable refuse are famous manm'cs applied to encomage its vigorous gi-owth. ' Jajies Baenes. MISCELLANEOUS INEORMATION. ALLOTMENT GARDENING. So numerous and so pressing are the objects be- longing to tliis period above all others during the year, tliat we scarcely know at what jioint to begin. In the first place, a few words on The Potato. — There can be no doubt that, on tlic ■whole, the condition of the potato has amended in regard to disease; such is our impression — backed, we believe, by facts iu the aggregate. We therefore say, do not by any means give up this crop, but ])lant freely. As, however, the cottager and allotment holder can 1\y no means afibrd to lose even one crop, it may be necessary, luider present circum- stances, to pursue a system of mixed cropping, iis advised in our previous supplemental number. Some caution is now necessary to tlie cottager in this re- spect; and, as a vast amount of information, I'rom various parts of the kingdom, has come to hand as to tlie ]irogress of the disease, we would fain attempt to place the residts iu so compact a form as to be of use oll-l)and to tlie allotment cultivator. "Much cry and litthi wool" is an old saying; it applies to the potato case most aptly. Nevertlieless, the numerous investigations and experiments which have b(^en carried ou over tlie kingdom liave not been willimit their use. They have left an impress behind them, out of which a few strong fiicts may be gleaned by those who, being thoroughly versed in vegetable culture to begin with, can appreciate the relative value of tlie facts in ([uestion. If, then, there be anytliing determined with regard to reco- vering the potato out of its present precarious positiou, such may be classed, we thinlc, under the following maxims: — 1st. Careful preservation of the seed. 2nd. Planting in fresli soil without manure. 3rd. Very early ji! anting. Jtli. Judicious selection of kinds. We now proceed to advise on each of these heads. 1. OarefiilPreservationof the Seed — Although the time seems past to ad^-ise on this head, yet, as it bears on the whole subject, we must indulge in a few remarks. Fermentation or heating in liogs or pits, whether or not the original cause of the disease, is very destructive, and at least provocative of dis- ease of some kind. Such is, moreover, the cause of the seed sprouting much earlier than it should; when the best buds, of course, get rubbed away or otherwise damaged. We, therefore, say, reject" all seed which lias been thus injuriously treated. 2. Plant in Fresh Soil uithout Manure. — Tliis needs little comment; the world is pretty well persuaded on this head. Indeed, such, with sensible cultiva- tors, was a maxim before the disease commenced. What we urge, however, is, that where a choice of ground offers, tlioso which are termed "maiden sods," and unmannred, should he chosen. Manures, if not one of tlie circumstances helping originally to induce the disease, have been, beyond all question, tierce aggravators of it. .3. Vcrif Earhj rianling. — The Horticultur.il Society of London has had evidence ou this head from hundreds of jiersons, condensed into very narrow tables: by wliich it ajipears that autumn planting, when rightly caiTied out, is by no means to be con- demned; and that January and February are far superior to March, April, or May. Indeed, iilanting in the last-named mouths, under existing circum- stances, is absurd. Those who do so must be totally unobservant of what has been passing during the last four or five years. We would, therefore, advise the cottager to jilant every one he intends, whetlier of late or early kinds, immeiliatchj ; not to lose a day, if possible. One caution is necessary ; and tliat is, to plant at this e.arly period a couple of inclu'S deeper than usual; not for fear of their fi-osting, but in order that they may not thrust their heads through the ground too soon, which they may do if shallow. Whoever plants with the idea of having them (tliuic ijround earlier than their neighbour will lie mistaken. None arc safe which appear before the last week of April, or, indeed, nearly the second week iu JIay. -1. Judicious Selection of Seed. — For the earliest, nothuig exceeds the AshJeaved Kidney. It is of no use planting them, however, if the first sprout has been rubbed oil'. The Kemps, the Radicals, &c., ai'O capital: also the Forty-folds. For keeping purposes, some of tlie second forward Pink Eyes may be eliosen, hut on no account jdant any of tlie Old Keds, of the Red Apjile class. I'lvcry district, however, 1ms kinds peculiar to it: and it is well to adlicre to those which have hitherto ]iroved successful. By referring to our diagram selicmc of cidture. at page IRl. of .Ian. 2.")th, it will be seen that one division is for winter potatoes, without manure. We there suggested that llie early kinds might he grown on slopes or borders. Tliis plot, however, might be made to contain liotli early and late, alternately: first one kind, and llieii the other. In this case, the rows may he closer tugether. ]'-ightecii or twenty inches would suffice this way, whereas nearly thirty would be necessary when all are late kinds, 'i'lms. Kidneys coidd he taken U]i, and part sold, about the midiUc of June, leaving a THE COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 237 crop of Iceepiug Pink Eyes for winter use ; aud if the Ast-leaved Kidneys were set in Eebruaiy, six inolies deep, never soiled or earthed up, hut ouly lioed through, aud tlie Piulc Eyes set the early part of March, eight inches deep, the latter would not have spread to tlieu- full exteut wheu tlie Kidneys were taken up ; after which, the Pinlt P^yes would enjoy abundance of room. Tliis plan we have often prac- tised, and can recommend. The rows where tlie Kidneys grew would then do well for some forward kale plants, or the Thousand-headed Cabbage, of which more by-and-by. It ought to be more gene- rally known, that soiling or earthing iqi earhj imUt- tocs alwKi/s throws them a fortnight later. Gardeners who gi-ow them in frames know tliis well. Keeping Winter Eoots. — As the time is at hand to sow most of these, we hope to render some ser- vice by offering a few remarks on eacli ; remarks foimded on long experience and close observation. We refer to the carrot, the Swede, tlie parsnip, the mangold-wurtzel, and the Jerusalem artichoke. The order in which they stand pretty nearly indicates the ijrefcrence which is given them by the cottager ; we shall, however, have to take another view of the affair, viz., which is most profitable to the cow and pig? The CAnnoT. — There are tlu'ee very profitaI,)le kinds adapted to small holders, viz., the 1-Iorn, the Green-top or James's, and the Altringham. The White Belgian we think better adapted for tlie farm. The Horn, above all others, is most eUgible for gene- ral purposes, as it forms its root so ewly. This carrot may, therefore, be sown at any period from the end of January to the middle of July. When- ever any of our readers have a small bed which they do not know what to crop with during that period, let them sow Horn carrots, we say. The Horn will grow six times closer together than the larger carrot, and is, therefoi-e, one of the most profltable crops in existence ; for when sown very early, they will be in use by the beginning of May, and the thrifty house- wife may pull a good bunch every day, if necessary, for six weeks, aud leave a nice regular crop to ripen afterwards. As the season advances, however, they must be sown a little thinner, or they would run too much to top. The Horn, therefore, will come inider the bed cidtnre ; the Altriughaui and Green-top may go in drills in the other compartment. Tbi.^ only drawback in the cultwe of the carrot is its liability to the grub; and were it not that our cottiers are in general predisposed to this root more than to any of the others, we should feel in duty bound to place them in a second-rate position. Their feeding quaU- ties are very considerable, as is proved by their analysis, as well as their known elf'ects in practice. They can never be given wrong to cows in milk, or feeding ; for swine, we cannot say that we have derived the same amount of benefit as from the parsnip or the mangold; the latter of which, indeed, we have used in the main for the last fifteeu years. Let it be remembered that, whatever manure may be con- sidered necessaiy for the carrot, it should be dug down deep. Not a particle should be nearer the surface than eight inches for the larger kinds ; below that, it matters not how good the soil is made ; manure near the siuface will cause them to fork and grow rubbishy. The Horn dehghts in a rich black humus, or old vegetable soil : the depth need not be more than eight inches. The Horn, therefore, is peculiarly eUgible for sliallow soils, where, indeed, the Altringham would never succeed. The Paesnip. — We pass by the Swede, which comes next in order, perceiving that our space will not permit us to go into the various bearings of the whole of the roots ; we therefore proceed with those which demand immediate attention. Parsnips re- quire to be sown early ; the mangold and Swedes win do in the middle of April. Of all the roots adapted to the cottager, or, in fact, any one who keeps pigs, and perhaps a cow, we know of none which can excel the Guernsey parsnip. In recom- mending this useful root, however, as well as the others, we woidd advise all parties to consider not only the amount of produce, as related to quality, but the character of the soil. Thus, a thin, clayey soil would, with some manure and plenty of culture, be best in Swedes or the Orange Globe mangold ; the carrot is here out of the question, or nearly so. Ou a deep loam, somewhat adhesive, Init well drained, all but the carrot would be highly profit- able ; whilst on deep, mellow, sandy soUs, the carrot, jn'ovided the grub does not make liis appearance, would, perhaps, excel all the other roots. Our advice, consequently, is — he sure to suit ijour crop to the soil, for quarter or half-acre men may not in- dulge in speculative matters. A deeji aud rather unctuous or greasy loam is the soil for the parsnip, and it is known "to thrive exceecUngly in chalky loams, but these are not in everybody's hands. Parsnips slioidd be so^vn in drills at the end of Fe- bruary or beginning of March. The drills must be half a yard apart, and the jdants singled out to about six inches in the row. Whatever manure is used, it should be jilaced out of all contact with the upper portion of the roots, as — like the carrot — the de- scending tap root, on which the amount of produce depends, will, in the event of its coming to the manure near the surface, branch off into innumerable fibres. This useful root has the merit of resisting a very severe winter, if left in the gi'ound; indeed, we have kept them for years in this way. The Jerusai.eji ^Vbticiioke. — We must endeavour to say a few words about this singular root, for it is planting time. W'e woidd certainly not plant these where the carrot, the Swede, the mangold, and the parsnip thrive, iuasmuch as the produce, both in ipiality and quantity, is decidedly superior in the latter roots. Nevertheless, on inferior soils, and in nooks or corners, the Jerusalem artichoke is a cot- tager's root. Swine eat them most greedily, when onee they are accustomed to them, and their huge tops are capable of adding much to the comjiost- yard. They do not require any particnlar cidlnre ; they need much room when planted whole. The best plan is, we thmk, to cut them into single eyes, of which, every tuber contains many. By this comse they may be set much thicker. Wo succeed well in this way at thirty iuclies between the rows, and sixteen inches between the sets in the rows. AVe must now pass on to other busuiess jiecidiar to the season. On referring to our diagram, at page 18-1, it will be found that we have disposed, lor the present, of oomjiartments Nos. 1 and '2. Let us see what can be done in the other two cUvisions. lu the bed culture, one of the first things is to sow a good bed or two of the Horn carrot: if the soil is poor, it must have some very old maniu'e and a little soot, with a slight sprinldlng of salt, or any charred mate- rials may be strewn over it, and the whole well dug a common spade's depth. Another bed or two for onions must be prepared : if any fresh manure is used, it should be dug in deep ; and here, again, we woidd add the salt and soot mixture. The carrot beds may be raised above the ground-level four 238 THE COTTAGE GARDENER. inches, and the onions twice that height. Tliis causes tlie crop to lipeu earlier by a couple of weeks, and that couple of weeks is most important, as we sliall plant a thicli crop of coleworts on their ground at the end of August. Let the onion seed be sown when the ground is very ihy, and the beds trod as liard as tlie human foot can make them. A few itidish seeds nuiy he spriulded witli the carrots, and some Piiris ens Lettuce, and lirnini Dutch riihhaije lettuce, amongst tlie onions. These will he liandy to transplant, when strong enough. A small bed of .•ijiiniich may ho immediately sown, the seed being soaked in lukewarm water for six hours previously. The spinach, however, had better go to the division No. 4, as No. n ought to be wholly occupied with sucli things as tlie Horn carrot — in succossional sowings, onions, or other usefid keeping roots, wliicli are best under bed cidture. In No. 4, a bed should he sown directly with r/reen-lcale, savoi/n, Brussch ajirout-i. matchless cahbitge, and the thousund-hearled cahhiiije. These will all he wanted in due course. X pincli of leek seed, also, at some end. If the cot- tager likes hrocoli, lie may sow a little. of the WOl- cove. and Jlelville's supeiior late white, for next March and April; the autunni and winter brocolis must not go in for a mouth yet. Above all, let plenty of Uie ('iitF,i:x-K.\i.E he provided; these ai-e invaluable for either man or beast. Of course the sowing of peas and beans will pro- ceed according to former directions. As soon as these things are completed, the cottager should ]iay every attention to Ids Swede and mangold plots, whenever breathing time occm-s : for, in ;uiother fortnight, tlie spring weeds wiU require attacking; and sliortly ou the heels of these, the voimg rising crops will require constantly weeding or hoeing. If any curled kale, or Brussels sprouts, at this period, stand in tlie way of a well-planned scheme of crops, they may be dug up with a hall of soil, and " heeled," or placed very tliii-k togetlier, on any spare portion of tlie miscellaneous division : here they will yield sprouts for some time. E.MU.v York CARB.M;ii. — Under this liead we class the early Hope, the Matchless, the Nonpareil, &e., which are, ior the most part, improved Yorks. We woulil wish to ])oint here to the great eligibility of these for iutrodueiug. at any time, between standing crops. A bed slioiild always be sown in the end of Fehniarji, another bed in tlie early part of June, and a third in the end of ./«/;/. or beginning of Aur/ust. If the cottager does not want them, be can dispose of them to his neighbours, or perhaps exchange them for something else. This ti'ibe of cabbages may at all times he planted within nine inches of each other — provided they arc not intended to stand for sjirouts. The cabbage plants which were planted out in September or October shoidd now have the hoe ]ilied tlirough them, drawing a little soil to their stems. If any have been "pricked out," or are still in late, seed-hvds, they should forthwith be jdanted out on some spare bit in the miscellaneous section ; or they may he introduced ui any other but the root jiortion, if to s]iare. Pigs. — A cottager with nearly half an acre of ground will, of course, feed !i good hog or two ; and as lie can scarcely atibrd to keep a breeding sow, this is a good time to purchase a good store or two. The prick-eared breeds are by far the best, or a cross between the Berkshu'e and Cluiia. A coujile may be piu'chased, at oiu- spring fau's, for something over a sovereign ; and if they are spayed, and not hide-hound, and, moreover, possess some length of carcase, with a well-set pair of shoulders, he may look to kill one, in the early part of Ctctober, weigh- ing at least a dozen stones ; and another in the end of February, weighing, perhaps, sixteen stones. To do this, however, he must have plenty of the roots before alluded to, and piu'chase a little Indian corn- meal, which, in the present state of afiairs, is, perhaps, the most economical. A sjiayed sow, which has had only one litter of pigs, is the thing for a cot- tiigcr, and, indeed, for anybody to lunx-liase : these are not to be had every day. It is astonishing how soon a sow of this character is fattened, if it can be obtained about the end of August, when plenty of garden refuse comes to hand. ^Ve need hardly remark, that swine require to be kept as ideau as other animals; their skin is, in like manner, sensitive, as is evidenced by their ruli- liing against posts or v.'alls. in order to dislodge the dirt they have accitlentally or stupidly accumulated. The Cow. — Those who have land enough for a cow, as well as swine, may esteem themselves as exceedingly fortunate. There ai'e a few points we would here advert to concerning this most useful of ail animals. Those who keep but one are too often temjitcd to milk her to within a near period of her calving. Tlus is loss in the end. We think that nearly eight weeks of rest sboidd be allowed in the average of cases; and the drying oH' is easily accom- plished by natural means, without recourse to drinks. A change from good hay to sti'aw, and the withliolding of all roots — com, of course, out of the ijuestion — will soon begin to etlect this object. After tliis, very ordinary food will suffice, provided the cow is guarded from inclement seasons. It has been stated by very good authorities, that the relative value of hay, and the various roots, seeds, &c., is about as follows: — I cwt of good hay is about equal to 1 cwt. of parsnips, 41 cwt. carrots, 5 cwt. Swedes, o cwt. mangold, 7 cwt. common turnips; also one part linseed is equal to ten of green food in gcner.al ; and one of good oat straw is equal to tlu'ee of ordinary green food. Such statements must, liowevcr, be received with caution, and re-examined ; so much depends on the jiiirposo for which they are required. In all these matters, it must be remembered that lueic hulk is a Ijuestion not to be entirely lost sight of Hay, in this respect, has an advantage. THE BEE-KEEPEB'S CALENDAP..— Mahch. Bij J, H. Paijne, Esq., Author of "The Bee-Keeper's Guide," tCc. In page 'iO of The Cott.vge G.\p.dener, under the title " Bees," I observed two excellent rules : the first, "never kill your bees;" and the second, "never allow tbeiu to swarm." Now, to enable the cottager to carry out these very important rules, and to in- struct him fully in tlic managcinent of liis bees, will be the chief object of this, and, pcrhajis, of some fu- ture papers. I have, for the last iifty years, never been without six or eight hives, that both by precept and cxam]de I might be able to enforce such manage- ment ; and year by year, I am more fidly convinced of the advantages of the system I have pursued, and of its adaptation especially to the cottagers, and indeed to all those who wish to obtain a large supply of the finest honey at the least possible expense and trouble ; but, although my first object will be to give instructions to the cottager, I shall, I trtist, be able to offer to the amateur a few remarks worthy of his notice. THE COTTAaE GAKDENEK. 233 Aspect. — I will commeuce by giving the aspect best suited for tlie bees to be placed in : I liave tried aU aspects, and have now no hesitation in saying that the soutli is the best. Bee-houses of all kinds I very much dislilce: many hives are ruined by them ; they are expensive in tlie first phice, and tliey form a shelter for then' worst enemies, mice, moths, spiders, &c., and not the least, dampness, wliich is ruinous to them. I would recommend the hives being phiced south, or as neai'ly so as may be convenient ; if at all vaiying from it, give them a little inclination to the east, and be sure to place them so that th.ey have the morning siui : for the honey-gathering for the day usually finishes by two o'doclc, therefore an hour in the morning is of much importance to the bees, as well as to their proprietors. Another inconvenience arising from bee-houses is, that several hives being placed upon the same lioard encom'ages pilfering, and renders it almost impossible to operate upon one hive without distmbing the whole. St.vxd for Hive. — Having, therefore, for these rea- sons, recommended the abandonment of bee-houses altogether. 1 would say — place each liive upon a separate board, supported by a single pedestal, fotu' or five inches in diameter — a piece of w-ood -nith the bai'k on does remarkalily well — place it firmly in the gi'ovmd, and about fifteen inches from its surface ; upon the top of this post should ho nailed iirraly a piece of board eight or nine inches square, upon which should be placed the board the liive stands upon, but not imited to it, so that the hive may be removed whenever required, without disturbing the bees. Clay or mortar should never be used to fasten the hive to tlie board ; the bees will do that in a much more eti'ectual manner themselves, with a substance they collect from resinous leaves, called propolis. Mortar or clay tends very mueli to decay the liives ; and hives managed on this principle ai-e expected to stand for fifteen or even twenty years. Let the hives be placed about three feet apart from each other, and in a right Hne. The best covering, as a protec- tion from raia, is a large ilat earthen pan (a milk pan), suflieicntly large to prevent the drip from falling upon the board. It would in all eases be well to give them the shelter of a wall or fence from the north, but on no account place them close to it, but leave a space of ibur or five feet, at least, for a ]"iath ; for, the ojierations of taking oft' small hives, glasses, or boxes of honey, are much moi'e conve- niently effected at the back than in the ti'ont of the hives. It would be well to clean the boards on which the hives stand fom' times in the year ; namely, in .Tanuary, March, April, and November. January and March are the most important. The place wliere the liives are fixed should be kept clear of weeds; and j'lants winch rise in height equal to or exceeding the entrance of the hives, should not be suffered to grow near them. PuECH.\siN0 STocKs.^Should these sunple instruc - tions meet the eye of any persons who are wishing to commence bee-keeping, J woidd say to them, this is the best time to jnirchase stocks ; they may be re- moved with safety from the middle of Febmary tiU the middle of March, much better than at any other time : they have passed in safetj" through the ^vinter, the combs are empty of brood, light of honey, and the i-emoval safe and easy. In piu'chasing stocks, the weight alone must not be relied on ; a swarm of the preceding year should be selected, and one that contains not less than twelve poumls of honey. The coinbs must be looked at. and if they are not of a yellow or straw-colour, and il' at all approaching to blackness, it is not a swarm of the last j'ear, and must be rejected. The next best time to purchase is May or .lime, at the time of swarming; but of this hereafter. Hi\n;s. — ^^\'ith regard to the materials of which hives are made. I believe it to be a matter of indif- ference whether straw or wood be used, but the facility and economy in the construction of sti-aw liives must always be a recommendation, especially to the cottager. Ha-(-ing. therefore, decided upon the materials for cottagers' hives, their form must now lie considered. For sti'aw hives I would recom- mend the following size : — nine incites deep, and twelve in diameter; straight at the sides, and flat at the top ; in shape like a half-bushel measiu'e. A hole slioidd be made in the top four inches in diame- ter, and a piece of straw-work, like that of which the hive is made, large enough to cover it, must be fastened over the hole, not to fit in, but to cover occr it. It is better to cut a piece out of the hive for nii entrance, than to have a groove made in the floor board. The entrance should be two inches wide by one inch high, to which attix a piece of copper or zinc, about si.\ inclies long by three inches wide, having a groove to admit two sliding plates, one per- forated, and the other having a hole large enougli to allow but one bee to come out at a time. un THE COTTAGE GARDENEE. Groat advnntiigrs arise from tliis little iipparatus ; the perforati'd slider is used to confine the liccs to tiieir hive when snow lies iijion the ground, wliieli entices tliom out, and they perish ; it is useful, also, when feeding becomes necessary, to exclude all in- truders. The other slider is used both in spring and autumn, preventing cither robbers or wasps i'rom entering ; for three or four bees, with the help of this slidci', can guard the entrance more efl'ectually than ten times that numlier witliout it. Feeuing. — I must not close this paper without giving a caution to those who have bees, to examine thi'in, and immediately to feed those that ai-e weal; ; and a hive that has less than five pounds of honey in it at this time may be considered a weak one. Feeding at the top of tlie hive is very much the best method, and an excellent apparatus for that purpose was given by the liev. Mr. IJyron, at page l.'ili of The Cottage OAnuENEn ; but in common stra,w hives it is impossible, and they must be fed at the bottom of the hive. The best kind of food that can be given to bees is honey liquified with a small por- tion of warm water ; but where honey is scarce and dear, an excellent substitute will be found in lump sugar; three pounds of sugar to a pint of water, boiled for two or three minutes, and then mixed with a pound of honey, will make five pounds of excellent food, which the bees appear to Like quite as W'cll as honey idone. From the bad honey season last year, the mildness of the present winter, and tlie jirobability of a cold spring, a great numlier of sto(04 hours. During this time the wax is secreted as transparent as talc. No tnith has made its way in this world slower than this i'act — that wax is made from honey or sugar, and not from farina or bee bread. Phopolis. — Besides honey and farina, bees collect what is called propolis ; it is a tenaciovis, resinous substance, generally of a dull grey colour, gathered from the buds of the alder, ]ioplar, and birch, in early sjiring, and afterw.ards from the tacam.ahac, liorse-ehesnut, and hollyhock. It is soft, and will pull out into threads, is aromatic, and imparts a gold colour to white polished metals. It is used to fasten down hives, and begin combs, and it becomes harder by using and age. Dead toads, and large snails, have been found in hives covered wdth jiropolis. This shews gi'eat ingeniuty on the part of the bees, as they could not remove the toad, and if tliey had left it, without doing anything, the stench would have destroyed the liive. Tlie bees also use this sub- stance occasionally to narrow the mouths of their Irives, as a protection against intruders. '■ If the part of a tree fi'om which the bark has been removed be painted with a cement comjiosed of bees' wax and turpentine, the bees will cany it away, and use it instead of propolis." — Knight, Phil. Trans., 1807. Honey. — Its natural history is imperfect, as stated at the beguming of the lecture. According to Proust, honey consists of two kinds, and they may be sepa- rated by mixing honey with spirits of wine, and •J42 THE COTTAGE GARDENER. pressiu" the mixtiirp lliroiigli linen. The liquid part passes tbvongli the linen, and the solid honey is left upon it. Honey, mixed with water, reaihly under- goes vinous fermentation. The ancient IJritons made their methegliu with honey, so eelehratcd hy the hards. No ])erson who inspects a hee hive can avoid observing how well the honey is jiacked up in the comb, to prevent fermentation taking place. Paley asks, " What could the bee do with the honey it' she had not the was ; how. at least, would slie store it up for the winter ?" Agiun he observes, " The food of bees is tlie nectar of llowcrs ; a ib-oji of this syi'up is lodged deep in the bottom of the corolla, in tlie recesses of the petals, or down the neck of a monopetalous glove. Into these cells the bee thrusts its long narrow pum|i. through a cavity of which it sucks up this precious fliud, inaccessible to every other approach. Bees will also pierce and perforate the base of a corolla, which is too deep foi' theii' pro- boscis, and suck out the nectar, as in the common garden bean, columbine, and other ilowers ; but never the honeysuckle or red-clover, though both so fragi'ant, and copiously stored for the humble bee, whose jiroboscis is so very much longer. (To he continued.) AN EFFECTUAE METHOD OF PROTECTING TREES, &e., FROM BIRDS. In the spring of last year I came into possession of a garden well stocked with fruit-trees, and at the same time I found the currant and gooseberry bushes nearly stript of their buds : some of the young shoots were bared of every bud from the foot to near the jioints, an\m\; if so, 1 should be glad that he would favour your readers with some fnrtbei- observations, as I think it a ver/i important matter //' tanks could be elieaj)ly nuule." The following is the reply of " Senilis :" — "With reference to the above conimmncation, allow me to remark, that, " a pit of a convenient THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 243 depth aud form, and to puddle the bottom with clay," takes just as mucli time to execute as a tank with concrete sides and bottom: that where clay abounds, a mere pit dug into it will hold liquid manure as well as the best tank that coidd be made: that where a cover is not requisite, any common labourer can exe- cute the work, if he has time and materials: that any dimensions wiU do, and that it is not necessary to tinish off the woi-k at once; the work of a very small tank may run over three moutlis or more, with- out any detriment to the work itself. The last tank I made liolds 0050 gallons, reckoning fii- gallons to the culie foot, which is near enough for a rough calcu- lation. That tank took us nine weeks to finish, notliing being done to it except at spare times. I eauuot say exactly what it cost, but 1 know the whole expense, except luudiug the lime and gravel, was under one- third of two estimates 1 had for doing it in lirick and cement, the brick-work to be nine-ineli work. I have made many of such tanks chiefly for rain water, and one of them, now seven years old, will last as long as the new Houses of Parliament, to all .appearance. I never allowed fi'ost to eflect them, and should not lilie to trust them to a veiy hard frost ; but a friend who has used them for many years, and to whom I wi'ote ]iurposely for this communication, says, " if they are but slightly covered, or with a stone coping, the fi-ost Would not hurt them." Any size or aiTangement for drains which is ap- plicable for a, brick tank is equally so for a concrete one; and, in most instances, the price of a concrete tank maj' be put down at one-thii'd of that of a brick one. The labour of casting out tlie soil is the same in both instances; the lime is about tttice the quan- tity for concrete: the rest of the expense is the price of gi'avel against bricks, and labourers' work in place of the bricklayers ; besides the convenience of doing a few hours' work- at the concrete as opportunity oc- cmTed. "An owner of cottage allotments" misunderstood the dimensions I gave in my former article. They wei'e meant as the extremes ibr width and depth ; two feet deep, or even less, and three feet wide, would be a good jjroportion for a small cottage; tlie length may be anything we want, and that is the best way to give capacity, as formerly stated." [To tlie foregoing, we wiU only add, that the state- ments of '■ Senilis" and of his friend, whose letter lie quotes, may be implicitly relied upon. They are the head gardeners of establishments distinguished for their horticidture. — Ed. O. rem«.— Delicate white waxy tube, corolla fine verxuil- lion.— ii.v. (if/. Beauty of Letrfi.— Tube and sepals light pink, cnrason corolla.— •is. tirf. Brilliant.— Vevy large light crimson tube, rich dark crimson co- rolla. — 'is. 6d. Criterion.— Dark crimson tube, rich deep purple corolla.— Os. J>r. Smith. — 'Viihe and sepals dark crimson, corolla line violet purple. — 2s. Eliza fict/i.—Tuhc white, slightly tinged with purple, fine rosy purple corolla. — '2a. Jetmii /,(«(/.— Tube short, waxy, light pink, corolla rosy red.— 2s. Massena.—hQW)^ clear white tube and sepals, corolla lavender. Nonpareil.— ¥\nc large bright crimson tube, corolla reddish, purple dwurf. — 2s. Queen of the llV/Z/e.?.— Tube white, waxy, slightly tinged with rose, corulhi liriuht rose.— 24-, Scarlet inu reffe.i a.— Tiiich crimson tube, sepals very much reflexed, corolla line rich jmrple. — Is. Gd. Spanish Infanta.— Wii^iy white tube and sepals, tinged with red, carmine lake corolla. — 2s. Twelve distinct Fuclisias, of good qualities. Atrosanguinia.— Dark carmine tube, with long reflexed sepals, crim- son corolla. — Is. 6rf. Conf/MtTor.— Bright carmine, dark purple corolla.- Is. 6il. Coratlina. — Fine crimson, dark purple corolla. — Is. Duchess of Suthertund.—'Vnh^ white, with lilac corolla.— Is. Exonieiisis. — Dark crimson tube, and purple corolla. — Is. Etoile dc Versailles (Star of Versailles).— llich bloody-coloured tube, rich purple corolla. — Is. (irf. La Sylphide. — Corolla lavender rose. — Is. Napoleon. — Tube pure white, corolla crimson, purjile dwarf.— Is. Nicholsii.—Vme dark carmine tube, rich purple corolla. — Is. Une-in-the-ring. — Waxy white, tine vermillion corolla. — Is. Purity. — Tube and sepals pure white, corolla a beautiful rose ver- million. — Is. Nepius ultra. — Tube bright reddish crimson, sepals well reflexed, rich violet puiple corolla. — Is. PIG-FEEDINa IN LANCASHIRE. The young pigs ure taken from tlieir mother at aliout six. 01- eight weeks old, the price at that age varying ii-om fifteen to twenty sliillings each, accord- ing to the size. The cottager takes care to provide tlieni with plenty of straw to keep them warm and clean ; and if they do not feed well at once, which is often the case, some porridge is made from the wash and leavings of the house, adding a little coarse wheat-flour or oatmeal, and given to them warm for the first few weeks. The refuse of the cottage and garden heing then considered sufficient food for them, and the rich often giving the refuse of their houses to the cottager in preference to throwing it away, no further expense is incurred for the pig until the com- mencement of fatting, and for this purpose oatmeal is far superior to anything that can he given, not only as the most wholesome food for the pig, hut also the most profitahle to the feeder ; in proof of which, a fatted yearling pig should weigh about 400 lbs., which, at 5Jd. per pound, amounts to ill Os. 5d. ; and tlie usual time for fatting such pig is six weeks, during which time it will consiune about 3(i0 tbs. of oatmeal, the present price of which is £\ 10s. ; and about '300 tbs. of potatoes, which cost at this time 10s. These potatoes are boiled to a pidp, mixed with the oatmeid, and made into balls, with a little wheat bran occasionally added, and plenty of clean water to drink durmg the whole time. Thus, the expense of feed- ing the pig is about .i'2 (is., to which add the ISs. which it cost at first, and deducting <£3 Is. from £\l. Os. 5d., it leaves a balance of nearly .4'S to the cottager. The best season for curing bacon is from November till March. M. Saul, GarsUmij. GOAT KEEPING. As you recommend cottagers only to hold a rood of ground, would you think it advisable for tliem to keep a goat ? I can assure you, fi'ora the experience of four years, that no animal will answer better for " house feeding." When I got mine she had had kids twice, and was parted with for being too mis- chievous. I have her now so trained that she woidd not remain out; in fact, last March, when within three weeks of her time, I wished to give her exer- ci.se by tethering her out, and she hurt herself in en- deavouring to get back to her cot, and cast her kids (!). but still gave milk throughout, but not so much as in the previous year. To this date slie is milking ajiintdaily. She takes a mash morning and even- ing : a bunch of Iccile and hay tied up tiglit, and left hanging within lier reach, by which she does not waste much ; she does not like any of the heading cabbages. 1 have a few drills of lucerne, which is greedily devom'od (this is a most valuable crop if properly cured, superior to any for green feeding ; by proper care it gives six cuttings IVom April to Novem- ber). The greater the variety ol' ibod you can have for goats the better; they will eat taini])s, mangold, carrots, parsnips, potatoes, &c. &c., iftheij are siqjpl'wil ill mtatioii. Two or three quarts of goats' milk would bo a most valuable acquisition to a cottager's family in tlie day ; tlio expense is only a i'ow shillings at the first; its cot takes up less room than a pig-sty; a dog's chain will keep it secure, and it would make no small addition to the dung-heap. J. M. [We think a goat, kept as recommended by our correspondent, would be an acquisition to any family not having sufficient conveniences for a cow. We know the excellence and value of the goat's milk, from being supplied by one, for nearly fom months, on board ship. — Ed. C. G.] AMERICAN BLIGHT. By this name is known that insect which appears in the spring and summer iqiou the stems of our apple-trees, covered witli a white, downy substance, so as to look like patches of cotton. It is called American, because introduced iqiou apple-trees im- ported fi'om the United States ; and is, really, a species of plant-louse, known to entomologists by the scientific name of Eiiosoma laniijcra. We shall give a di'a-\ving of it before long. On the subject of destroying this pest, we have been favoured with the following note from W. G. Cherry, Esq., of Buokland, near Leominster : — " At page 42 of No. 1 you recommend coal-tar for destroying American blight ; and I think it but right to state that, some years ago, I applied this to 20 young apple-trees infested with tlie blight, and it totally destroyed them. When the stem was cut tln'ough, I found the gas-tar had penetrated nearly through the ti'ees. Common tai' woidd be beneficial, and equally destructive to the American blight. A wash of lime is equally destructive to the blight and beneficial to the trees." [If our coiTespendent applied the coal-tar exten- sively over tlie stems of his young apple-trees we are not surprised at its ktlliug them ; but we have ap- plied it ourselves to the patches of bliglit only, with perfect destruction to the insect, but no injury to the trees. Common tar, we think, would be equally effectual, but a washing of limo we have tried with- out success. — Ed. C. C] ■ua THE COTTAGE GARDENER. HOLLYHOCKS. In* No. 16 of The Cottage Gardeneb is an aiticle ou the propagation of liollj'hocks, from ^Fr. Rolierts. who states, "tliat from seed there is no dependence either in tlie colour or shape of the flowers." 1 beg to state that, for the last two seasons. I liave jiropa- gated by seed, and hare foimd them to come coiTect both in shape and colour, (they are of the Scotcli vaiieties, which are far superior to what liave been usually gi-own.l and, what is more surprising, all have come double ; two of my friends, to whom 1 sent some of the seed, have proved them the same. Tliis last season they have ripened but very little seed, although I have noticed the old sorts have ripened seed ft-eely. I am glad to see that the hollyhock is having that attention paid to it which it so richly deserves, and hope that no one will di^scnrd the pro- pagation of them by seed, but only bear in mind to purchase seed of good varieties. R. Hicivs, Hareliilh Xiaseri/, Leah. SCRAPS. Pio JIanthe. — -A.t a late meeting of the Frome Agi-icultural Society. Mr. S. Pocock, of Thoulstone Farm, made the following statement : — " ^\'ell know- ing the excellence of pig manure, live years ago 1 was induced to try it solely for turnips. " 1 tested it against guano and hone dust. The result was quite equal to the guano, and beat the bone dust hollow. My faiTu is one jiart clay, and auother sand: 1 found tlie same result on hotii. 1 have also the manage- ment of a farm in Hampshire — a poor, thin soil, aiul there the manure was equally good. I have continued to use it ever since, with the same benefi- cial results. To cany out my plan, convenient farm buildings are necessary. I have a large ih'y shed, in which, first of all, 1 put a layer of dry coal-ashes, about a foot thick and four feet wide, to which the deposit of the pigs is taken, hotli liquid and solid, and as soon as it begins to ooze out 1 jmt on more ashes, and so on till it gets to about Ibtw feet in thickness. I then again commence a fresh layer, and so on ; after laying some time it is turned two or three times, and then it is fit for drilling. I have put in, this year, -to acres of turnips, with nothing but this manure, and the result is now open for the inspection of any one who may choose to see it. I find the droppings of three pigs, carefully preserved, to 1)0 ample for two acres, and quite equal to three sacks of bone dust per acre. I am not speaking theoretically, but from experience ; and I consider, if we can get such valuable manure for nothing but the labour, it will he much better than putting our hands in our pockets and paying 28s. or SOs. for ai-tificial manure." — Felix Farieijn Joiininl. [\\'e entirely coincide with all that Mr. Pocock has said in favour of pig ui.anure, and coidd add much more from actual e.xpeiience, if we did not in- tend to enter more fully ujion the suliject. We will only say, that whoever has room to keep a jiig may always obtain its manure as his clear profit, even under the most unfavourable circumstances of having to buy all its food and the straw for its bed. Tliat manure, too, is one of the best for kitchen-gardcu crops. — Ed. O. O.] Experiments on Potato-ghowinu. — Mr. R. Thomp- son, one of the superintendents of the Horticultural Society's gai-den, at Cliiswick, lias reported a number of experiments tried there under liis superintendence, having for their object to ascertain the nature of the potato murrain and its jireveution. We regret to find that the success has been mostly of a negative character. The ex]ieriments chiefly shewing that various suggestions which have been made are use- less. We may epitomize the results as follow : — 1. The soundness of any variety in one season is no assurance that it will, next season, be equally exempt from disease. ■i. Laying down the haulm of the potato, with its head pointing to the S. W,, and covering it with earth to within a few inches of the to]), veiy early in their growth, as proposed by Mr. Meyer, gave seven times more sound potatoes than rows on each side not so earthed up. 3. Seedling potatoes ap])ear as liable to be attacked as the old kinds. I. Planting on hills, as recommended by Messrs. Hardy and Son. ])roved ihsadvantagoous. ij. Pinching off half an inch of the tojis of the luiulm, when from six to nine inches liigh, and repeating the stoi)ping in ten weeks, as recom- mended by Dr. Klotzsch, seemed slightly bene- ficial. li. Pulling up the luuilm, when much decayed, ou the !lth of Augmst, and consolidating the earth over the potatoes by beating and rolling it, jiroduced rather less potatoes, "but the quantity diseased was uot hidf so great in the rolled portions as it was in the unrolled." 7. Dusting the leaves with sulplmr increased the amount of diseased potatoes. 8. Amongst all the remedies, none appear to have b«en completely effectual. While the cause of the malady is involved in mystery, any remedial application must be considered as an alli\ir of chance. i). !Mr. Thoni])Son suggests that tlie cause of the disease may be some change which has taken place i)i tlie solar light. — Horlicultiinil Sueieti/'s Joiinuil. [There is no doubt that such c.ha.nges do take place : but before the theory can arise above a mere guess at a possibility, two questions must be answered in the affirmative. — Has uny such change occurred'.' Is such change inimical to vegetable health?— En. C. Cf.] BEAtrriFui. British Plants. — Ci.em.vtis Vitalba. — Traveller's Juij. — A beautiful half shrubby climb- ing plant, well adapted for covering arbours, old walls, or any other unsightly object in the flower garden. It is extremely iuteresting even after the flower is gone, because of the beautiful long white feathery awns attached to the I'ruit. It thrives well in almost any soil or situation, though in its native habitation it appears to luxmiate in a calcareous soU. This plant, though local, is not uncommon in many pai'ts of the country. Anemone Pcls.viilla. — Pasque Flower. — An in- teresting herbaceous plant, with doubly pinnated leaves, and — for the size of the plant, which is only three or four inches high — with large violet puiple Howers, the outsides of each bloom having a beauti- ful silky covering. It thrives in any soil of open texture, and is principaUy met with in dry upen chalky pastures. ANK>roNK Nejieuosa. — Wood Aiietiitiiw. — Who has not in an early spring ramble admired the beautiful leaflets and white or purpleish flowers of this truly THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 247 interesting plant ? From its thriving so well under the shade and di'ip of trees, it is desirable for shrub- beries, and there is also a double variety, whicli is an ornament in the most select parterre. Anejioxe Afj'Ennina. — Blue Wood Anemone. — This plant, though only naturalized in this country, is pretty abundant in some woods and jjarlvs in the south. It should find a place in ever}' flower-garden, i'rom its beautiful bright blue flowers appearing at such an early season. Ranunodi.us Ficahta.— P(7«'«'o/-(, or Buttercup. — Of this early harbinger of spring there is a double variety in cultivation, which shoidd be in eveiy select collection ; also a single white variety, well worthj' the attention of the curious. liANL'NcuLus AcRis. — Uprhjld Meadow Crovfoot, or B utter Jioiver. — Of this jilant, which decks our richest jjastiu'es with its dazzling yellow flowers, there is also a double variety, locally known as yellow Bachelor's Button. It is of easy cultivation, and a beautiful plant for the edge of a shrubbery. Caltha Palusteis. — Marsh Mariffohl. — A splen- did plant with large yellow flowers, found adorning oiu' marshes and snndl watercourses in the early spring months. There is a double variety of this plant, which should be in every collection of early sjjring flowers. Trollius EtiROPiEus. — Glole Flmoer. — A splendid plant, growing about two feet high, witli palmated five parted cut-leaves, and large glol)ular yellow flowers; found occasionally in moist woods and damp moun- tain pastures, and makes an excellent jilant for a shady bonier in the flower-garden. Ekanthis Hyejialis. — Winter Aconite. — This fine early flowering plant, though only naturalized in England, seems to have taken such possession of the different localities where it is met with, as not to be easily eradicated. It should be grown in ever}' gar- den, as it is now, January ir)th, carpeting tlie ground with its briglit yellow flowers. It thrives under tlie shade and drip of trees. We have seen it blooming beautifully for two feet up the stems of trees among moss. Helleborus ViRiDis. — Oreen Hellebore. — An ele- gant eai'ly bloomiug plant, with gi'eenish yellow flowei-s, and digitate stalked leaves, well adapted for the shrubbery edge, and blooming in March. It is found in thickets on a gravelly soil. Aquileoia VuLGAi'.is. — Columliine. — An elegant plant of upright habit, found occasionally in woods and thickets, but rather local. It should be grown in every garden, from its sportive character in the colour of the flower, which it produces in every shade and variegation, from the clearest white to the darkest chocolate. — S. — Dwrluim Advertiser. Biographical Memoir of the Late Thojias GiBBs, Esq. — Mr. Gibbs, who died on the ;iUh of January, has been well known to the agricidtural world daring the last half century, in counc-don with the late Board of Agriculture, and tlie Sniithfiekl Club. He was born at Amptbill, in Beilfordsbire, on the 8th of August, 1771, and was the son of Robert Gibbs, of Dunferndine, N.B. Having re- ceived his education at tlie then well-luiowii Asplay School, he became a pupil of the lute Wm. Alton, Esq., of Kew, the celebrated botanist, and author of the " Hortus Kewensis," &c., under whom he studied botany and the sciences of agriculture and horticul- ture. He tlien founded the firm of Thomas Gibbs and Co., the seed-merchants, at Half-moon-street, Pic- cadilly, at the head of which firm he continued for fifty years. In conjunction with the late Lord Somer- ville, Sii' John Sinclaii-, Sir Joseph Bank's, &o., he took a prominent part in the ]iroceedings of the Board of AgTieulture, from which institution he re- ceived not only its honoraiy medal for his researches in conducting agricultural e:speriments, but also the appointment of seedsman to the Board. He was one of the original members of the Smithfield Club, of which he has been for some years past the father. He also co-operated with the present Wm. Alton, Esq., the late Mr. Dickson, and others, in the esta- blishment of the Horticidtural Society of London, and he, for many years, added much to the interest of tlie meetings of that society, by exhibiting lai-ge col- lections of apples and other fi'uits grown by him at Amptbill, in tlie cultivation of wlrich he took much interest. Most of the more imiiortant green crops owe their introduction for agrieiiltural cultivation to Mr. Gibbs' experiments and cai-e ; and the study of the grasses, imtil then almost entirely neglected, opened a wide field for his constant attention. It was I'roni the grass garden formed by him in the year 1800 that the one at Woburu Abbey was supplied, and it was on its produce that the late Su- Hum- phrey Davy made his valuable e.xpej-iments on the nutritive properties of the various kinds. In 1799, i\fr. Gibbs mai'ried Sarah Prosser, the youngest daughter of the late Thoswihan Brandreth, Esq., .I.P., of Houghton House, Bedfordshire, who survives him, and by whom he had a large family. Most of these died in early life. His eldest son died at the age of ';.S, lieuig at that early period instnuuental, with the late John Frost, Es(]., iJr. Bree, and others, in establishing the Medico-Botanical Society of Lon- don, and which Society at his death placed a marble tablet to his nienioiy, iu the eluiucel of the parish church of Amptbill. Mr. Gibbs leaves fom- children, viz., Humjdirey Brandreth, the present High Slierifl' of Bedfordshire, wlio took the name of Brandreth in lieu of Gibbs on succeeding his uncle to his mother's family estates ; Robert Gibbs, of Compton, Surrey ; Rebecca, the wife of John B. Bergne, Esq.; and Ben Thomas Brandreth Gibbs. the Honorary Secretary of the Smithfield C^lub, and Dh-ector of the Royal Agii- cultural Society of England, and, since his fatlier's retii'cment, the head of the firm of seed-merchants to that Society. From what Mr. Gibbs accomplislied in agricultural improvement, it must be evident that he j)Ossessed great jierseverauce, and still greater talents, and although ill health has for some time jirevented his attention to his favourite j)ursuits — thatof agi-icul- tiu'al experiments — still the death of one who has iu Ibrmer years done so much to promote the agriculture of the couulry cannot be regarded in any other h'glit than a national loss." — BelVs Weekly Messenger. TO CORRESPONDENTS. Plums Good whrn Shrivelled {W. H. Ctiiselhurst). — The Alibuchai-i, a purple pluni, ripe in September ; Coc's late Red, not ripe until late in October ; White Iniperatriee, ripe in September ; Blue Inijjeratrice and Ickworth Iniperatriee, purple, ripe in October ; St. fltartin's Quetschc, yellow, also ripe in October ; Coe's Golden Dro|), yellow, ripe end of September. These are all good when -shrivelled, .ami will keep either on the tree or after gathering until late in October. Crops roii newly-planted Feuit-borders (R, M. R.). — On your ten-foot border, ne.\t the wall, you may grow all the salads ex- cept celery. Spinach, .ilso turnips and strawberries, in beds from annual runners. We grow these and many other things, but we never dig above three inches below the ordinary level. We grow all in beds, elevated many inches above that level. On the six-foot border, not near the wall, you may have similar crops. Such may be in a drill, about half way between the tree-stems and the edgings. Adopt similar culture, however, — no deep digging. Your newly-planted trees will require pruning : you will lind advice in our columns. All jiruning must be performeil within three weeks. Do not tie your espalier branches till the ground settles, or they will becomesuspended, and receive damage. Walk-making will be handled in due course. ■US THE COTTAGE GARDENEB. Peas for a given space (nn-ims).— The statements nt p. 9, find at p. 185, are only apparently inconsistent. We sow Scimetar peas full an inch apart from seed to seed ; and then a pint ^vill be tnougli for 96 feet of rows. Mr. Kmngton sows them at about three quarters of an inch apart, and tlien a pint ^\\l\ only be enoufrh for 8f» feet. These statements are always only ntur the exact truth, for seed i)eas dilTer in size. Raspuf.rries (Ittid), — fllr. Barnes states that the raspberry canes of last summer's growth should be cut down to the trround in April ; and that the canes which succeed them will, if treated as he directs, bear fruit the same autumn. \^'e think that old raspberry planta- tions must bear similarly to those recently made, if similarly treated, but we will in(iuire of fllr. Karnes. Early Pea Sowino (FusfjoXy Blnninghmn). — It often happens, if the weatlicr which follows immediately after sowing early peas proves cold and wet, that those sown a month later, and followed by genial weather, produce a crop as early. But if the earlier peas have a mild month, after being sown, like the February now closing, they will have jiods ready for gathering ten days before those sown a month later. For example, Earlj' W'arwicks sown on the 14th of December, 1844, were gathered from on Blay 18th following: hut the same pea, sown on the 4th of January, 1845 (21 days later), were not gathered from until Blay 28th. Arrangement of a small Flower-garden {A Subscriber from the cotmnfnrement). — The garden is a parallelogram (oblong square), with a narrow border under the four walls ; next to these borders a path, \\'ith another path down the middle, and between this and the other paths two long flower-borders. At the further end of the gar- den, against the centre of the wall, is a summer-house, with a circular bed in front.— You are right : a mass of low evergreens, on either side of your summer-house, would look well from any one of the walks : both sides should be planted with the same kind ot plants, s.ay a couple of laurnstinus at the back of each corner, and three l)l;tnts in front of them, the middle one to be of a darker foliage than the two side ones ; two variegated box, or hollies, and a low bushy philleria would do ; and we tliink an Irish yew, in the middle of each cluniji, would relieve and vary the outline of the whole. The borders next to the walls are so narrow that no effect could be produced by rutting or dividing them into shapes. The eight beds on one side the centre we would form into triangles, in place of the squares, and, in planting, fill each triangle with one kind of plant ; verbenas and yellow calceolarias would look well that way, and you have an excel- lent opportunity to contrast the colours properly. Geranium Cuttings, Portugal Grapes, and Hybridizing ft'H Fraiwais, Cbeitevhum).— It is full early yet to make cutrings of your oak-leaf geranium in a room ; the second week in March will "be time enough. The seedlings of the Portugal grapes will never pay for a tithe ofthc trouble. If you have space on a south wall, you might 7)otr plant out those in the cold room ; but the plants that are now budding will not stand out till the sjirhig frosts are over. It is questionable if ever they flill produce fruit in your room, and those against a wall would not ripen well at Cheltenham. Full directions for hybridizing will be given when plants come more into flower. Construction of a Pit (A. B., Ea-eicr).— You say that you arc feart'ul that we cannot, and will not, consider or advise on so many of your petty questions. On the other hand, we consider all your ques- tions of the very greatest importance to a large number of our readers as well as to yourself, therefore we shall endeavour to meet yo\ir wishes. First, then, there is no book, that we know of, which goes into such minute details. The best gardener in England, with the most comjilete pit and mode of heating, could hardly etlcct what you propose, viz., " rearing seedlings, and propagating in the sjiring," in a pit for wintering, calceolarias, cinerarias, verbenas, senecio, iS:c. K'C. A pit for such a purpose would require the lights to be pushed off for a few hours every fine day from the middle of February ; and you could hardly venture to turn out the plants till the middle of April. Nothing could be struck or reared, therefore, in such a pit till you could keep it close, after the middle or end of April. We would advise you to build one of Fortune's pits for keeping your plants in, and a one-light division at one end of it for j)ropagation. Tan well dried, then put together under some cover till it heats, and put into this division for bottom-heat, will be an excellent bed for cuttings and seeds, and for growing melons in summer. The size of the flue and fire-place we gave for a small greenhouse will be appli- cable for your pit ; smaller flues can hardly he managed, they choke up with soot so soon. Prices we cannot give. The best glass, and size of glass, we shall remark upon shortly. Have the pit on the surface by all means, and let the flue run round, as we advised for the greenhouse. We will give a plan of Mr. Fortune's pit. LiLiDM Lancifolium lluBRUM (H. S. S.).— You say you planted your bulbs and offsets of this in rough peat, mixed with loam and silver sand, towards the end of October, in No. 16 pots, in which you intend to bloom them ; you have protected them from excessive wet and cold, and have lately placed them in a cold dry frame. — 'I'his management is perfectly right. L. L. rubrum will push earlier than light-coloured ones some seasons, and sometimes it is later. The grand point in their management is to give them as little Abater as possible in the spring, yet the soil must be kept imiformly moist. We keep our pots of them plunged to the rim in coal-ashes, in a cold pit, with a slight covering of moss ; we potted at the same time as you did, and have given no ivater yet. Wlien the mould begins to get dry we water the ashes between the pots liberally, and, with the moss, this will do till late in April, when the roots will be strong enough to stand regular watering. Gladioli (f« Frntiniis). — Open the soil with your finger to the bottom of one of the bulbs, and if it is ]nishing roots give them all a slight watering. The reason of their slow growth is that the roots were probably too drv in the seed-shop; you need have no fears about them. " IVIany people have not yet finished planting the late gladioli, but thev ought to be in now. The first week in March will he time enough to sow your heartsease. Under your circumstances never think you give us trouble. Fuchsia Spectabilis {A Snbsrriber, M't^fnnshire). — There is no fear but you can keep the fuchsia s]tectabilis perfectly safe over the winter without a greenhouse. It will keep as easily as any of the Peruvian fuchsias, in a dry state, from November to March, in a room where frost can be kejit from it. Cacti (F. Giles), — Your cacti, which v.ill not bloom, should get no water from October to fliarch. The best thing you can do is to shake them entirely out of the present soil, and re]}lant them in as small pots as you can get the roots into, using from one to two inches of drainage, according to the size of the pots. Make the soil rather light for them, as their old roots cannot be in a healthy state, and add one-thinl old lime rubbish, or a brick poinided to the size of large jieas : water sparingly till you see the toji of the shoots turn greener ; they are then growing. Water regularly till the end of June, or till they have done growing, then more sparingly; turn them out of doors early in July, and place them in the sun, and house them early in September. A good sprinkling of dissolved bones will benefit your flower-borders. Australian Seed {Rev. Jas. Proctor^ Norfolk). — Your 15 varie- ties of flower-seeds are all hardy, except the balsam and amaranthus. The two latter we shall treat of soon, the other thirteen will do in the open borders, sown from the middle of March to the end of April. The rest of your list are greenhouse plants, with the exception men- tioned below. The best place to get them up would be a moderate hot-bed, and, as soon as the seedlings come up, to give them plenty of air, or to remove the pots to a greenhouse. Light sandy loam two parts, and one part sandy peat, is the best compost to sow them in. Use small pots, with an inch of cinder ashes for drainage, and no more water than will keep the surface soil moist. They are not all Australian seed ; they were taken to the Sydney Botanic Garden chiefly from the Cape, some also from India, and some from Italy and England [ The t«o Psidiums, or Guavas, and Laurus Indica, retiuire a stove, and are not worth much. Pinus longifolia is a tender Indian fir, that will not live out with us. Pinus halapensis, a hardy fir, and Pinus pinea is the Stone pine of Italy ; these two are useful, and will grow if sown in the open border any time in April. Pea Sticks (Brookland Gardens). — We have never yet seen any good substitutes for these, but we are having a string frame made, which we think will do. We will gi>'e a drawing of it. Creepers against a Tarred Wall (Ibid). — The heat accumu- lated by the black surface of the wall will not be too great for them. We are having some peach walls similarly blackened with coal tar, and anticijiate that, with projier screens, we shall have better and earlier fruit ; and we are quite sure we shall destroy legions of insects that harboured in the old nail holes and mortar cavities. Mulbf-rry-tree on a South Wall (H. E. M. 0.). — We should think that over luxuriance is the cause of this being unproductive and shedding its fruit. If the leaves are large, and the young wood abundant and gross, lay bare the roots at a distance of three or four feet from the stem, and cut through some of the principal. Guano for gardening purposes shall receive an early notice. Horse-Radisii Planting (L. R., Ipswich). — The horse-radish delights in a deep, rich, moist soil, therefore the side of a ditch is a good situation. You may plant now or in October. The crowns or tops of sticks of horse-radish are best for jjlanting, but the entire stick or root may be cut into lengths, each having two eyes ; insert these in a row 18 inches apart. Dig out a trench two feet deep, put the cuttings along the bottom, throw over them a little leaf-mould, or other well-decayed manure, and then return the soil, taking care not to tread upon it, but to leave it as light as possible. Fig-Tree Suckers (Ibid). — If these have roots you may remove them at once. They will require no other particular care than to plant them with their roots spread out, about six inches below the surface where you wish them to remain. Propagating by cuttings produces the most fruitful plants. Protecting Peas {J. B.). — Draw the earth up in a ridge, about six inches high, on each side the rows, and stick a row of fir, or heath, or furze twigs thinly on each side. You have done quite right to stir the ground and sprinkle coal ashes on each side of the rows. We have no doubt by continuing to do so, and giving the protection as directed, you will have a very early crop ; it will then be your turn to laugh. Your idea of a substitute for pea-sticks somewhat re- sembles our own. which we will publish shortly. If you intend to stick your early peas, put in the sticks at once ; this will give them additional protection. Black Currants (7Airf).— Your soil being sandy and dry will scarcely be made to produce this fruit without much care. Instead of making a pebbled basin round them to receive a mixture of the house-slops, as you propose, remove the soil for a yard all round, put into its place some heavier soil, and over that some mulch ; cover this over with a little earth, and make a hollow in it to receive the slops. This will probably make your black currants productive, and keep them from shedding their fruit. Historical Flowrrs (ReiK G. I. HI., A. 72.}.— We arc not ac- quainted with the author of this book, quoted by us ia our ];th Number. It may be obtained of Messrs. Orr and Co. Cucumber Shows {Homo).— Can any one inform our correspon- dent of any cucumber shows about to take place this season ? Mr. \\'ild, Tavern- street, Ipswich, will be able to tell you about that of the Ipswich Cucumber Society. London: Printed bv Harry Wooldridge, 147, Strand, in the Parish of Saint Marv-le-Strand ; and Winchester High-street, in the Parish of St. Mary Kahiidav; and Published by William SoMEHViLLK OaR, at the OiUce, 147, Strand, in the Parish of Saint Mary-le-Strand, London.— February 22nd, 184y. THE COTTAGE GARDEXER. 249 WEEKLY CALENDAR. 1 M w MARCH 1—7, 1849. Plants dedicated to Sun Sun Moon R. Moon*s Clock Day of L> D each day. Rises. Sets. and Sets. Age. bef. Sun. Year. 1 Th Da-rid. Heath Snail appeai-s | Leek. 47 a 6 38 a 5 m24 6 12 35 60 2 F Chad. Botanical Society*s Meeting. | Mouse-ear duckweed. 43 40 1 34 3 12 22 01 3(S Rooks build. [pears.; Golden fig Marigold. 43 42 2 40 8 12 10 62 4' Son 2 SnND. IN Lent. Lady-bii-d ap-, Common Chickweed. 41 43 8 38 9 11 56 63 5, U Whii-lgig Beetle appears. Green Hellebore. 38 43 4 27 10 11 43 64 6,Tu Linn, and Hort. Soo. Jleetings. Daffodil or Lent Lily. 36 47 3 9 11 11 28 65 tIw Perpetua. Sweet Violet flowers. Single or early Daffodil. 34 48 5 43 12 11 14 66 St. David, patron of ^^'ales, a son of a prince of Cardiganshire, was devoted from early life to the priesthood. His labours for the promulgation of Christianity were among the Britons ; and he retired, at length to solitude and penance in the Isle of Wight. Heie he lived upon the simplest fare, and became famed for his sanctity and learning — acquirements which rendered him a powert^ul opponent to the heresies of his age ; to oppose which he readily came forth from his retirement. Finally, he was raised to the Archbishopric of Caer- leon (now St. David's},' and died in 544. It is impossible to assign a positive reason for the leek being worn by Welchmen on this day ; but St. David, who, like all the early ecclesiastics, was fond of gar- dening, and the only introducers of new vegetables, may have first made his Welch flock acquainted with this native of the south of Europe. St. Chad, first Bishop of Lichfield, died in 673. It is an old verse : — *' First comes David — nest comes Chad, Then comes the wind as though it were mad." Perpetua, a Roman virgin, was martyred by order of the Emperor Severus, in the year 205. Phenomena of the Season. — "March many weathers" and " March ^nnds " are household proverbs descriptive of this month, whichseems to be the battle- time between advancing spring and winter unwillingly retiring. Dryness is the prevailing characteristic of the month, and renders it particularly favourable for the gardener sowing the seeds of the chief out-door plants that are to be either the ornaments of his borders during the year, or his chief harvest at its close. Last week we remarked upon the warmth required for the vegetating of those seeds, and we will now obsen-e upon the moisture^ which is Insects. — The Orange Under- Wing {Brepha Parthenins)* is a moth found during the whole of this month, but most abundantly towards its close, fly- equally necessary. As no seed will germinate unless a certain degree of heat is present, so also does it require that a certain quantity of wafer is in contact with its outer skin ; and this is required not only to soften this covering, and thus permit the enlargement of the cotyledons (lobes of the seedi. always preceding gr-rmination, but also to afford that water to the internal components of the seed, without which the chemical changes necessary for the nutriment of the embryo plant which the seed contains will not take place. As water is essential to germination, and only a certain quantity is required for its heidthy progress, so it is by no means a matter of indifference what matters that water contains. Until germination has commenced, no liquid but water at common temperatures will pass through the skin of a seed. So soon as germination has commenced, this power possessed by the skin to exclude foreign fluids ceases ; but the organs starting into activity, the radicle 'young root) and the plumule 1 young stem) are so delicate, that the weakest solution of any salt is too acrid and offensive for them. It may be noted as a warning to those who employ steeps for seed, with the hope of promoting the \-igour of the future plant, that they must keep the seed in those steeps a very few hours. In forty-eight hours, if the temperature be Gu° or more, putrefaction commences, and germination is weakened, or entirely destroyed. Bf . Vogel, of i\Iunich, has published an extended course of experiments upon this subject, and they fully confirm our opinion, that salts, which do no harm to a plant when it is of robust and advanced growth, are fatal to it at the time of germination. It is impossible to decide the exact amount of moisture most desirable to be in a soil for proraoring the healthy germination of any seed, but, in generrd, it is very small. The seeds of aquatic plants will endure exposure to water only; but a slight dampness in the soil is the state most congenial to the seeds of the great majority of our cultivated plants. IMabch 1841. 1842. 1843. 1844. 1845. 1346. 1847. 1848. 1 Highest & lowest temp. 2 Showery. Bain. Frosty. Showery. Fine. Cloudy. Cloudy. Rain. 41°— 27° 51°— 34° 40°— 23° 55°— 36° 42°— 28° 60°— 45° 42°— 24° 46°— 30' Show'erv. Rain. Frosty. Showery. Cloudy. Fine. Cloudy. Rain. 49°— 3?= 52°— 49° 42°— 24° 5-2°- 37° 42°— 33° 60°— 41° 45°-37° 46°-36° 3 Fine. Cloudy. Fine. Fine. Frosty. Cloudy. Cloudy. Fine. 50°— 29° 57°— 41° 42°— 30° 50°— 37° 44°— 25° 60°— 47° 43°— 24° 49°— 23° 4 Fine. Cloudy. Fine. Rain. Snow. Fine. Fine. Cloudy. 46°— 33° 48°— 29° 41°— 18° 4 1°— 28° 45°— 19° 52°— 40° 43°— 37° 48°— 32° 6 Ram. Fine. Fine. Frost. Snow. Showery. Showery. Rain. 50°-36° 54°— 27° 46°— 31° 43°— 19° 34°— 13° 55»-34'° 42°— 31° 42°— 36° 6 Fine. Fine. Fine. Fine. Frost. Fine. Showery. Fine. 52°— 41° 54°— 26° 440—20° 43°— 30° 31°— 23° 53°— 41° 41°— 34° 46°— 28° 7 Fine. Fine. Cloudy. Fine. Frosty. Fine. Showery. Fine. 6l°— 42° 54°- 46° 46°— 2'4° 44°— 26° 39°— 26° 53»— 28° 45°— 32° 46°— 22° ing about the blossoms of willows and sallows, especially in woods. It measures rather more than an inch across its upper wings when fully opened. These are brown, marked with seyeral obscure whitish streaks, but the two streaks furthest from the body are more distinct ; between these two streaks and the body is a whitish oyal spot, with a dusky margin. The hind, or under, wings are of a dull orange colour, Ayith black margins, and an imperfect streak in the middle, of the same colour. The horns of the males are set with bristles, in a comb form, on both sides (bi-pectinate), but the horns of the females are smooth. The caterpillars appear in May ; are yel- lowish-green, with a blackish line do\yn each side; and are often very destructive to the leaves of poplars and willo\V3. * Koctua Parthenias of some. If ever there was a self-evident axiom in gardening, it is that glass should intercept as few rays of light as possible from the plants which they protect. It is quite true that there may be periods of the day, season, and growth, when it might be beneficial to intercept the rays of light — that is, to shade the plants ; but shading is the exception, and as much light as possible the rule. All the plants reqiuring us to protect them with glass are from regions with brighter skies and longer days than we enjoy; and to imitate these sources of increased light as much as possible, we must employ squares as large and as good in quality as we can, within certain limits im- posed by price and the risks of breakage. The larger the squares, the fewer bars aj-e required ; and the better the quality of the glass, the fewer rays are reflected by it ; consequently, these circumstances render the house glazed with glass of good size and quality more light than if a greater number of bars, and glass less transparent, were employed. We be- lieve sheet-glass of the best quality, in panes 2 feet long and 9 inches wide, are those which in practice are found most advantageous. We ai-e quite aware that such good authorities as No. XXII.. Vol. I. 250 THE COTTAGE GARDENER. Mr. Mcintosh, gai'dener at Dalkeith Palace ; Mr. Speucer, gardener to the Marquis of Lansdowne; Mr. Drewett, gardener to Sir W. Heathcoate, and some others of equal merit, are in favour of " the good old plan" of small panes and crown-glass. But, if we examine the instances of injuiy arising from " the new order of tilings," we shall find such admissions as these : — " Houses, when glazed with large panes, and overlaps cross-puttied, become, as it were, her- I metically sealed, and may he considered as Wardian cases on a gigantic scale." Now, in such houses, no one need be surprised that scorching and blotch- ing occur to the plants within. Similar injuries would occur in such " Wardian cases on a gigantic scale," even if the glass had been inferior, and the jianes small. It is quite evident that, in proportion to the im- provement of the light in which our greenhouse and hothouse plants are gi'own — or, in other words, the nearer we approach to giving them the light of their native skies — so must we similarly approach nearer to an imitation of the freedom of air, and the degi'ee of moisture, the ready evaporation, and the tempera- ture, both to the roots and to the leaves, which they revelled in at home. Not providing, proportionately, these to the increased degree of light, has been the cause of the few cases of injury reported as being owing to the employment of better and larger glass. Its employment entails upon the gardener much more anxiety, and a much gi'eater amount of atten- tion — circumstances which ought to be duly consi- dered by their employers; hut they are ch-cumstances no gardener will shrink from who is desirous of all- attainable excellence in plant-culture. We might fortify our opinion in favour of the better and larger squares of glass, by quoting a long array of first-rate authorities ; but we shall content ourselves with the following extracts from letters now before us : — Mr. Appleby says, — " I am favourable to the use of large squares of sheet-glass, provided the glass is of good quality ; that is, perfectly even, without specks or wavy lines on it. Wherever it burns or scorches the leaves of plants, it is the fault of the glass being of indifferent quahty. I consider British sheet-glass better than foreign. I should avoid pro- fessed cheap dealers in this article. Every builder of hot-houses ought to buy his own glass. I do not think the weight, or thickness, or colom', has any- thing to do with the scorching quality." Mr. Barnes says, — " Respecting sheet glass made use of for horticultural purposes, I have had no prac- tical experience, as we have none of it here. I ob- served at tlie large new consei-vatory at Kew, and at other places, in October last, that the plants were scalded or scorclicd considerably ; but what is that more than was years ago observed where crown or the old-fashioned gi-een glass have been made use of, and where ventilation was insufficient, or had been neglected in due season. By all that I could ever observe in respect to tlie use of large squares of sheet glass, the real fault does not lie with the glass itself, but with those who have planned the buildings glazed with them : they being deficient in means for quickly and methodically giving proper ventila- tion to allow the condensed evaporation to escape; or in those who, where a sufficiency of ventilation convenience is provided, are not expeditious enough in applying it. This is where the real mystery and mischief of the matter lies, depend on it. Let the sun shine of a morning ever so early on a struc- ture of glass, it should have ventilation given pre- viously ; and those who are not early enough of a morning for attending to such matters, should, to be on the right side, leave air all night. The stagnated and condensed evaporations confined in those stnin- tures are sure to furnish, if not actual scorchings, certainly the origin of disease and vermin. That there is a great difl'erence in the quality and scorch- ing propensity of sheet-glass there can be no doubt; and the same has been well ascertained with other kinds of glass long since; but this is no reason why an invaluable and noble-looking article should be con- demned, and considered by some people a scourge on the improvement of hortieidtural structures. There may be a difference as to scorching effects in respect to various coloured glass, but in tliis I have but little faith ; for, possibly, if glass were coloured to the extent to prevent the scorching effects upon plants, an evil fully as extensive might occur in the obstruction of the natural light, so essential in good culture. The coloured glass so highly spoken of at Kew, as a sure preventive of the scorching effects, has proved as great a failure as any I have seen; and, as that occurred in a dark cloud}' summer like the last, what may be expected in future, should we have bright fervent weather for a considerable time together? I may observe, however, that there is more danger of scorching after a long occurrence of dull weather, when the sun makes a sudden fer- vid appearance, than there is after a bright spring." Mr. Errington writes thus, — ■" I feel tolerably per- suaded that the principal failure in regard of the British sheet-glass is owing to the want of a vastly increased amount of ventilation in tliose structures where it is used. I feel little doubt that, when it is free from foci, clear, and uniform, it will supersede all others. One thiug in addition: it will probably lead to tlie general adoption of shades, which will also constitute night-coverings, when these things are sufficiently understood. As to size of squares, it is a matter of convenience." The last authority we shall quote is Mr. Beaton, who says, — " The size of glass for plant-houses is merely a matter of fancy, provided you keep above six inches width between the bars, and make the laps of tlie glass as narrow as possible. The larger the size between the sash-bars — say above 10 inches — the more difficult the readers of The Cottage Gardener will find their plants to manage; but I would put no limits to the length of a pane, in order to get rid of laps ; and yet long panes are only safe in fixed roofs. Tlie front glass for a greenhouse, however, need be under no kind of rule : the larger it is the belter; even if each sash was in one pane, I thiuk it would be better. Side-light is always agi-ee- able to plants, without any danger to them. It is a great misfortune that some inferior glass has got into circidation, which, without doubt, scorches the foliage; and this scorching, or burning, or scald- ing, or whatever we may choose to call it, seems to liave no reference to the state of ventilation. I believe 1 have the best proof of this. A large con- servatory here has the roof-sashes screwed down a» THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 251 close as possible ; the glass is let into grooves in the sash ; and it has a great improvement invented by Mr. Paxton, vrhioh renders it still more air-proof; the panes are forty-five inches long, and only six inches wide ; the roof a span — that is, with glass on both sides of the ridge. This I'oof is nearly air proof, with British sheet-glass, l(5oz. to the foot; and has been up seven years. Climbers with the thinnest and softest leaves, as those of japonicas, often get in contact with the glass on the roof; others, with the smoothest and most leatherly-textured leaves, as those of the stepha- notus, and every degree of texture between the two, come veiy close to this glass, and also at different distances from it, and not a single leaf has been hurt in this air-proof roof these seven years. But, one afternoon last May, a citron plant on the back wall had a line of scorching across its leaves, about half an inch wide and a yard in length. These leaves were 16 feet from the glass, and grew where a con- stant ventilation was going on. Therefore, any in- ferior glass that will burn leaves I think will do so with or without a cuiTent of air passing through." THE FEUIT-GARDEN. Peoteoting the Blossoms of Fruit Trees is one of the most important duties belonging to this department. The vicissitudes of our climate are so great and so frequent at this period of tlie year, that, had not the internal organs of the blossom, which appear so delicate and tender, been endued with a very considerable amount of hardihood, and furnished with calyx (flower-cup), and the corolla (blossom), at once their protection and embellishment, little would be the produce. When we take into consideration how little expense is incurred in protecting the blossom of fruits, especially those on walls or trellises, it seems astonishing that matters of this kind are not carried farther ; for a little manual labour is the principal part of the affair. There are various materials used for this purpose, Buch as canvas, bunting, woollen netting, &c. Many persons use the fronds, or large leaves, of fern, or boughs of trees, such as of the spruce fir, or of the beech or hornbeam. Canvas. — We have used this material extensively for the last twenty years, and we could never find anything to answer the purpose better, when rightly applied, and preserved with care. As, however, localities difl'er, and expediency in this, as in many other things, goes before principle, we will mnke a point of describing the whole of the materials enu- merated, with their mode of application. The canvas we allude to is made in many parts of Lancashire, and the character of it much resembles what is known by the name of cheese-cloth, only it is a much thinner and ligliter fabric ; it is most frequently fui-nished in widths of nine feet, which is sufficiently deep or wide for the majority of garden walls ; it may, however, be obtained of other widths. The price depends on the thickness of the material, but ranges from about three-pence to five-pence per square yard ; so that every yard of a wall ten or twelve feet high may be protected for a shilling or less. But, then, it must be remembered that, with due care, it will last for about seven years; so that to cover a yard of walling in this way may, as far as this material is concerned, cost less than two-pence a year. Who would loose a fine crop of peaches, nectarines, apricots, grapes, &c., for the sake of this small outlay? To be at once efiicient, and, we may add, economical in the end, it must be made to draw up and down. We use poles for this pui'pose, which are generally larch thinnings, being about three inches in diameter at tlie lower end, and tapering to about a couple of inches at the top. The walls being 10 feet high, our poles are required to be about 11 feet, as they are placed sloping, 16 inches away from the wall at the base, whilst the upper part of the pole is flattened, and fastened to the facing of the coping; the end of the pole is let into the soil an inch or two, in order to steady it. These poles are placed about eight feet apart, and at the bottom of every pole, or rather at a foot above the bottom, an auger-hole is made, and a wooden peg driven in : this peg projects about a foot outwards towards the border, and when the canvas is lowered, in order to admit the sun's rays, the whole body of it rests in a line on these pegs ; this preserves it from becoming dh'tied, and from liability to rot in continued wet weather. The canvas being requu'ed to slide down, a staple becomes necessary at the top of every pole, or, ratlier, near it on the wall ; this, once driven, remaining there permanently. Cords are fastened on the edge of the canvas, opposite to each pole ; the ends of these cords are passed through the staples, putting them through the under side of the staple, and bringing them through on the upper ; and thus the canvas is made to slide up and down with the utmost ease. To uncover the trees, the canvas is lowered from the top of the wall ; and to cover them at night, it is re-drawn up to the top. It is necessary to make a noose in the cord, so that when the canvas is drawn up for the night the noose is merely hung over the wooden peg before described: thus all is safe from the wind, &c. Our practice is to fix up the canvas in the end of February ; indeed, this spring we put it on in the first week, the bud being so much advanced. There can be little doubt that very much harm is done to wall trees in early spring by intense sun light, by which the buds are hurried beyond their natural habit. It should be taken into consideration what a vast accumulation of heat takes place on a south wall in the beginning of March ; and this, coupled with an extreme amount of dryness in the air, has a tendency to exhaust the juices of tlie trees faster than the roots can supply fresh sap. We therefore suffer our trees to remain covered the whole day during weather of this extreme character. Woollen Netting. — This is too well known to need description. It is an excellent material for ooveiing trees in blossom, but is more expensive than the canvas. There is here another consideration bearing on the subject, which is, that covering of some kind frequently becomes necessary in summer to protect fruit from the wasps. Now, woollen netting is much recommended for this purpose, the wasps having an aversion to pass through it, probably on account of the numerous straggling fragments of wool which cross each other in aU directions. It is, therefore, a consideration with the proprietor whether he will use one material for both purposes ; the only objec- tion to the woollen netting being its cost, at least as far as we are aware, for we have never used this material. Bunting. — This is much used about the meti'opolis for protection purposes ; and a very good thing it is, when its price is taken into consideration. We have never used it, and can therefore say little about it. Fronds {Leaves) of the Common Fern. — These are used in some districts where the plant abounds; and a very good covering they make, when of strong growth, obtained at a proper period, and stuck in 252 THE COTTAGE GABDENER. properly. Such should be obtaiued of as luxuriaut a character as possible ; sJioiiM be cut in the end of August, when solid, but not ripe ; as the leaves shed iu the latter case with handling, and then their pro- tective character is lost. The}' should be perfectly dried, and stowed away in layers or bundles in some dry and airy place. In placing them over the tree, it is necessary to complete the priming and nailing first. They nnist then be stuck in by the stalk end, with the frond or leafy part downwards ; beginning at the bottom of the wall or fence, and continuing up- wards to place them in a regular series. They should not be put too thickly ; no two need scarcely touch sideways ; but the rows should slightly overlap each other, iu order to throw off rain or snow. Towards the middle of May they must be removed altogether. Boughs of Trees. — Of these, the best, according to our practice, is the spruce fir. These have long been recommended for protecting the fig during the win- ter ; for tbey possess a rather peculiar character iu this respect. The spray, or rather the leaves, fall ofi" progressively during the foliation (leafing) of the fig, thus inuring gi-adually the tender shoots to the liglit, and to a i'ree circulation of air. Where exten- sive fir plantations exist, these can generally be ob- tained during the tliinning season ; and they should be stuck iu (using small fragments) after the manner of the fern. Beeeh Spraij. — This we should think next in im- portance to the spnice for protection pui-poses, as it has the property of retaining its leaves until late in the spring, although a deciduous tree. The Hornheam, also, has been used for this pur- pose, and is a very usefid covering; but not quite equal to those before named. In placing these boughs, the same course may be pursued as with regard to the fei-n, beginning at the bottom of the wall, and placing them thinly. The shoots of trees must not be used of too thick a character, and the ends should be pointed with a knife before sticking them in, or fastening them to the wall. Care slioiild be taken that no loose dangling ends or points flutter in the wind, or they will whip and lash the blossom buds, to their gi'eat injury. We need scarcely add, that the boughs, or rather spray, will have to remain on altogether until finally removed ; this, therefore, is an argument for not placing them very thickly ; for we have known blos- som buds much weakened by their obsti'ucting the light when too thickly applied. A few words on the management of the canvas or bunting, when made to take off occasionally, may here be accejitable. As before observed, we have always found it good practice to put it on very early, iu order to somewhat retard the bud, in hopes of a more genial atmosphere with the increasing length of days ; and also, iu order to enable the bud gradu- ally to unfold itself, according to Nature's own course, which can scarcely be said to be the case when the buds are powerfully excited, after duU and cold wea- ther, by a bright March sun. Besides these argu- ments, let the amount of dryness iu the atmosphere thus occasioned be duly considered ; and the wonder will be, that our tender fruits do not, at such periods, receive a gi-eater amount of injury still. Dr. Lindlcy states, at page 131 of his valuable " Theory of Horticulture," that, " In this country the changes of moisture are said to extend from 1000, or satvu'ation, to '^SO, or even so low as ■ liO, luider a soiith wall, for a short space of time, — a state of dryness which is certainly not surpassed by an African harmattan." It will thus be seen that the ajiplication of coverings produces a compound effect. Severe winds are also exceedingly prejudicial to the blossom-buds. The covering or uncovering, therefore, must be conducted with reference to all these extremes. It should, however, never be suffered to remain on altogether j for above a couple of days at a time : the removing it for even two or three hours only will prevent the developing bud from becoming weakened. When the trees are actually in blossom, a great amount of sunshine should be permitted ; for the various bees and flies which then abound should have free access to the blossoms, as they much facilitate the impreg- nation. Whilst the blooming process is proceeding, great care should be taken to cover up, whil.st the sun is shining ou the trees, early iu the afteruoon — say tlu-ee to four o'clock. A vast amount of solar (sun's) heat is thus enclosed ; and the radiation or departure of it again to the atmosphere, is so much arrested by the covering, that the wall is warmer during the whole of the night than any uncovered walls can possibly be. Some caution is necessary as to tlie mode of uncovering when the young shoots begin to expand. All the sunlight possible now be- comes necessary, in order to elaborate the juices, and preserve a corresponding amount of action between the root and branch. Towards the middle of ^May, the canvas, or other covering, must be removed altogether, choosing a mild time, with a gentle south or south-west breeze, and a moist atmosphere, for the operatiou; and now care must be taken to get the material immcdintely dried thoroughly, when it may be rolled up, and [uit away in a dry place. We are aware that some very respectable authorities are against the covering of fruit-trees at all. We must, however, from a long experience, strongly advocate it ; indeed, if we could, we would cover every tree and bush in the garden. Protection of Dw.\rf FRrix-TnEES, Bushes. &c. — Where the thinnings of plantations, or of coppices, are available, they can be rendered of much service as protectors to ft'uit blossom. It was for this reason that we recommended, in an earlier number, the occasional planting of goosebemes in the line of dwarf standard fruit-trees, both in the garden of the amateur and the cottager ; for we have repeatedly known a crop saved by means of the overhanging branches, when those totally exposed were destroyed. Such a reserve, therefore, iu a small way, becomes very acceptable under these circumstances. We have a gi-eat many Flemish pears, trained on what we call table trellises, or, at least, trained horizon- tally, at about one foot from the surface of the ground. T\'e have, in trying periods, generally stuck boughs of forest trees through tliose which were most in esteem, and we have found the jirotection thus afforded worth consideration. Such boughs of beech or spruce as would he large eunugh to stick marrow-fat peas witli, are the sort of things we use, merely pointing the ends, and sticking them down per]>eudicularly. It must be remembered that our April frosts, which are calculated to injure tlie blos- som, are seldom accompanied with winds ; and tluit, for the most part, such frosts act iu a perpendicular direction. Tlie interposition, tlien. of such branches, placed thin enough to admit the flickering rays of sunshine, serve at once to break cold winds, to intercept the hoar-frost, and to prevent too rapid a radiation. Prunixo. — At the risk of being tedious, we beg to say that, whether with the amateur or the cottager, all" pruuiug must be closed forthwith, more especially THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 253 with fruit-trees, which, iu the hmgiias'e of our mone- tary gentlemeu. are " below par" in point of strength. Planting. — What we have urged in regard to pruning may be said of planting, and, we may add, of Gr.\fting. All these matters must at once be carried out. or twelve montlis must be lost — a great blank in the gardening history of any person. Mulching, — "We must again advert to tliis most important process — so important, indeed, that we think a first rate system of fruit culture, specially adapted to our British clime, v/ill never be canied on without it. Let the immense benefits of this process to newly-planted trees, also, be taken into consideration. The time is at hand when "March suns and March winds" will tell with peculiar force on the latter. R. Erringio.n. THE rLOWER-GARDE:V. Small Villa Gardexs. Dwarf Roses. — In the last number we gave a pretty long list of desirable dwarf roses. If the garden will admit of it we would recommend a few China roses, such as Archduke Ch/irUs, ])ale shaded rose, changing to crimson ; Cramoisie Supcrieiire, I'ich velvety crimson ; Duchess of Kent, white, edged with rose ; jMadame Dcprez, pale lemon; and Mrs. Bosanquet, delicate, pale flesh. These roses are well worth growing, liaving a con- stant succession of flowers. Even the common monthly China rose is beautiful. Tea-scexted Roses. — Thou<:jh rather tender, yet this class of sweet-scented beautiful flowers ought not to be entirely omitted. Dm-ing winter they will require a slight protection. A i^"^ branches of fir or furze, or even the fronds of the common feni, will be a sufficient shelter fi'om the winter frosts. Stick three or four of them round each bush, so as to form a kind of rude tent, but removing them as soon as the weather becomes mild. The following are a very hv^ select kinds : — Adam, blush rose, beaiitifid, very sweet, large, and full ; Bride of Ahijdos, creamy white, tinted with rose ; Devonieiisis, pale yellow, very large and full ; Eliza Sauvage, yellow, centre orange, large and full ; Nina, blush rose, fine, lai-ge, and very double ; Fragrans, bright rosy crimson. ])retty, small, very double, and sweet. We are afraid we have given too long lists of roses, but they are all good, and the piu'chaser cannot do wrong in taking any of them. Perennlvl FLOWER-RooTs.^In town gardens these plants, properly selected, are very desirable. The great consideration is to have such as will thrive moderately in a smolcy atmosphere. It is wise not to e.Kpect too much success in their cultivation. In the second number of this work you may see some remarks on this subject, to which we refer you. The selection is made with especial reference to town gardens. Tbere are a gi-eat number of beautiful plants that would not exist in such situations. These are, in consequence, omitted. Campanula persicifolia (Peach- leaved Bell-flower), 18 inches, blue, also white. Centaurea motitana major (Larger mountain Centaurea), blue, 18 inches. Plant this in quantities, as it is very pretty, growing under trees, and flow- ering abundantly and early. Ficaria rujiitnfu/oides phno { Double ranunculus-like Pile- , wort), yellow. 6 inches. ■ Ht/ianthifs vudtifloriis pleno I ( Double Many-flowered Sun- Aromtum miJgaris (Common blue Monkshood). 3 feet. Anemone Appenninn (Apennine Anemone), blue. 3 inches. An'kencum (Czackia) ItlUiistrum, white, 9 inches. Antirrhintun majns (Great Snap- dragon), various colours, 18 inches. Aster amellns (Blue Star Wort). 18 inches, blue. Cartha pulastris flore plena (Dou- ble Marsh Marygold), yellow, 1 foot. flower), yellow, 3 feet, very handsome. HeineyuciiUis ceerutea (Blue Day Lily;, 1 foot. ftava (Yellow Day Lily), 2 feet. ^•utilans (Red Day Lily), 6 inches. Ifin grtnnhtea fGrass-leaved Iris), 18 inches, blue. Gtrm'inUa (German Iris), 2 feet. blue. sambnc'ma (Elder-scented Iris), 2 feet, white. L'lthi/n/s- lati/ofiirs (Everlasting Broad-leaved PeaJ. This plant is very ornamental, and Arill an- swer well tn plant against paling, walls, or the stem of a tree. The Li/simac/iia verticUlata fWhorled Loosestrife;, yellow, 18 inches. Ptnt^temon ffentiunoidea .Gen- tian-like PenstemonJ, purple, ■2 feet. cocciiiei f Gentian-likescar- let Penstemon), scarlet, 3 feet. P/ilfKc Brlghtoniana (liright's Phlox), red. 2 feet. Van Houtt'd (Van Houte's Phlox), striped. 2 feet. omnjfiora (All-flowered Phlox), white, 1 foot. Rhodiola rosea (Rosy Rhodiola\ 6 inches. Sa.rt/raga rettisa (Retxise Saxi- frage), red, 3 inches. ped'it'jld'L (Foot-cleft Saxifrage), white, 3 inches. two last form green tufts, and thrive well under trees iu the very heart of towns ; we have seen them iu such situations in a smoky mauufacturiug town iu Yorkshire, growing in large patches, where almost no other plant would e.xist. Saj:ip-aga crussifoUa (Thick-leaved Saxifrage). Tins plant also thrives in the midst of smoke, but not iiuder the drip of trees or shrubs. Spir(£a tJtipcndHltL fiore pUno I TrolVms Europesus (European (Double Dropwort), white, 1 ft. | Globe-flower), orange, 1 foot. BfLEors-RooTED Flowers. — The above are quite sufficient for a small garden with the addition of some bulbs; the latter thrive pretty well in gardens situated as the one above described, especially Scilhi campitnulata (Bell-flower Squill). This plant will also thrive well in shady places, under trees, near large towns ; we have seen large patches of it flower- iug beautifully in such situations. Iu cultivating bulbs, such as crocuses, snowdrops, jonquills, nar- cissus, squdls, &c., you must always remember that the crop of flowers will be less or more iu proportion to the crop of leaves ; without fine large leaves, con- tinued on the bulbs till they gradually decay, they will produce little if any flowers next year. For the sake of neatness, too, mauy persons out oft" the leaves of bulbs nearly as soon as the flowers decay : this is a gi'eat mistake. Upon the maturity of the bidbs the ]iower to produce flowers the following season depends. The bulbs cannot mature themselves if the leaves — the gi-and organs of the plants, and only ne.x.t in importance to the roots — are prematurely destroyed. You must, then, bear with the rather untidy appearance of leaves turning yellow, in order to mature your bulbs, and so induce abundance of bloom. FfCHsi.is. — These most lovely plants are fit objects to ornament the beds or borders of amateur and cot- tage gardens. Mr. Beaton, in the 20th number, has given ample and judicious instructions how to manage them for the window or gi-eenhouse. The management for fuchsias to plant out of doors, and to propagate them, are exactly as Mr. Beaton de- scribes, but they will require inuring to the open air as soon as they begin to grow, by giving plenty of air, and even di-awing oif the lights of the frame or pit. Those that are just struck iu the cutting pot should be potted off singly into small pots, and kept pretty close in the frame for a foxtnight or three weeks, when they should be subjected to the same hardening process as the last year's plants. Fuchsias are exceedingly ornamental in gardens of all sizes aud descriptions, and are fit alike for the costly gardens of the nobUity, the neat viUa garden of the amateur, and the lowly cottager's flower border : they are not out of place in any of them. Chrysanthemums. — These very ornamental au- tumnal flowers will now require looking after. Such as have been left in the ground all winter, may now 25i THE COTTAGE GARDENER. be taken up and divided ; potting the divisions into as small pots as the roots will go into without crowding or cramping. Place them in a cold frame, or on a shady border, plunged in ashes ; and protect them from heavy rains and frosts until the warm weather arrives, when they may be repotted, and plunged in a more open situation, to cause them to grow bushy. To propagate them by cuttings, the method has been described at page 67 ; as also by layers, in the same place. Cott.\ger's Flower-garden. — We saw in a cot- tage garden, a few days ago, several plants in Hower, which, at this early season, delighted us greatly. Wallflowers, in goodly numbers, were shedding tlieir sweetness on the soft air, for it was a fine, sunny morning. Polyanthuses, too, were opening their pretty flowers ; they were but common ones, 'tis true, but they pleased the eye of the admirer of the beau- ties of the floral creation quite as much as the more highly cultivated florists' varieties. Crocuses, snow- drops, and a patch of the double pink liepatica, made this humble garden look really gay and joyous. The cottager, during his breakfast halfhour, was appa- rently as happy as his flowers. He was turning up the soil of one of liis beds, and the smell of the earth was quite refreshing. We hope a great number of our cottage friends are every day taking advantage of the fine weather, and diligently making use of their leisure minutes — for minutes now are of gieat value. Dig. sow, and plant all things in their proper season ; and the efl'eots of your industry will soon be seen, and will he a source of inward satis- faction to your own minds, and a delight to all your friends. Your example will also have the effect of stir- ring up your more indolent neighbours to imitate you ; and thus the circle of industrial habits will be extended more and more, till the Englisli cottage gardens will be the means of bettering the condition, habits, and gardens of every cottager in the three kingdoms of Great Britain ; and may extend tlieir good influences, under the Divine blessing, to every country of the world. So, you see, your industry may have agi'eater moral power than you may be aware of While you, perhaps, are only thinking of keeping your garden in good order, and making the most of it for your family, others, seeing tlie good effects of your industry, may be induced to forsake evil ways, and strive to be as good and happy as you are. Ponder these remarks over in your mind ; they are given in the heartfelt desire to increase the well-being and happiness of all cottagers. Aknual Flowers. — It will soon be time to sow these pretty plants ; such as are hardy, in the open border, and the more tender kinds in a gentle hotbed. If you have not purchased the seed for your annuals, do so at the earliest opportunity ; and if your hotbed is not in a state of forwardness, set-to in good earnest to make it, in order that the violent heat may have time to moderate previously to the seed time, which is fast approaching. This last paragraph is for both amateurs and cottagers ; and we trust they will attend to the instructions given in the 18th Number, about the methods of forming hot- beds. FLORISTS' FLOWERS. Anemones and Ranunculuses may yet be planted, but had better be thrown into water for a few hours previously to planting, to cause the bulhs to swell, and prepare to put out fresh roots as early as possi- ble. (See pp. 71 and 2iO.) Tulips. — We hope your choice tulips are now looking out of the ground, strong and healthy. Pay particular attention to preserve them from frosts and biting winds ; stir the earth occasionally when the surface becomes crusty. On warm, mild, sunny days, you may allow them now to enjoy a full exposure to the light and air, and also any gentle showers that may fall. " March lamb storms," as cold sleety weather is called in the north, you must especially guard against, or you will have, very soon, spotted sickly leaves, which will make the plants weak, and cause them to produce poor imperfect blooms. Pro- tect them, then, fi-om such weather with untiring assiduity, by all the means in your power. Pansies. — The choice ones, that have been kept in pots through the winter, may now be planted out in the place or places where they are to bloom. Unlike most other florist flowers, these favourites may be planted in patches in the borders amongst the more common flowers. In jdanting them in this situation, take care to make'the soil, for at least a foot diameter, and as much deep, rich and light : this is what they delight in. See p. 77, for the pro- portions of loam, vegetable mould, &c., that they require. Do not plant these good varieties on a north border, or other very exposed situation ; they love the light and heat of the sun in the spring months of the year, as you may soon perceive. If you observe the natural arrangement of the flowers on each plant or patch, you will see that every flower exposes its beauty to the rays of sunlight ; therefore, to plant in a situation where the sun cannot shine upon them is a great injury, and deprives them of tliat light which they enjoy. T. Appleby. GREENHOUSE AND WINDOW GAEDENING. The next six weeks will be the busiest time in the year with gardeners, and writers on gardening; and also the time to try the temper, the patience, and the abilities of the new recruits, which the commissioned officers of "The Cottage Gardener" have been enlisting into our ranks all over the country for the last few months. The grand secret, to get on well at the beginning, and to keep out of the awkward squad, is, " not to be in too great haste about anything." A good servant is never in a hurry : and any one who does a thing properly at the proper time, and will not put off till to-morrow what can be done as well to-day, will never be far behind. The greatest dan- ger that I can foresee in tlie spring, likely to happen to my young recruits — of whom I am very thankful to be able to say, that I never exerted my pen for more grateful readers — is, that their hot-beds for raising seedlings and striking cuttings will be made in too great a hurry ; and if they ai-e, depend ou it we shall lose mucli time. Hot-Beds. — One-half long stable dung, and the other half oak, beech, or cliesnut leaves, mixed, and turned over and over and over again, till they are almost half-rotten, are the best materials for hot-beds. Make the bed a good tliicliuess at once, so that it will keep a steady heat for a long time. If you could get a good thick layer — say ten inches or a foot — of tanner's bark, in a dryish state, to put over this bed, it would add wonderfully to its efficiency, and effectu- ally keep down the rank steam of tlio dung, and also enable tlie bed to keep a steady lieat much longer. Besides, the tan itself is an excellent thing to heat mildly, and the best thing in the world to plunge THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 255 pots in for bottom-lieat. If you keep it pretty dry on the surface it will last a long time ; too much wet will soon perish it. The nest best covering to keep down steam, and yet let up the heat, is any kind of sand, only it must not be more than three or four inches thick ; and the worst covering is sawdust, for when the first flush of dampness is driven out of it by the heat it gets quite diy, and is then a powerful non-conductor of heat ; and if you keep it wet, so as to be a medium for conducting heat, it soon rots. The most perfect way, however, to reai- a lot of young things, with little trouble, is by a small tank bed, covered with Welsh slate three-foiu'ths of an inch thick, which slate is sold from sevenpence to nine- pence per square foot. Slabs of stones ai-e the next best covers ; and wood is the worst, because it is, like the di-y sawdust, a non-conductor of heat, and soon rots. The cheapest way to heat such a tank is, by a small iron pan boiler, that would hold eight or ten gallons ; and that kind of boiler is sold at so much for every gallon it will hold. I had a very good one last autumn, with two flanges cast on it to receive the pipes, for less than a shilling per gallon ; and they are set like coppers for a wash-house or back kitchen ; and as they have wide open mouths, there is never any trouble about them, either as to cleaning or getting out of order. Stout wooden lids are made for them at an extra cost. It would occupy too much space at this busy season to go into details on this subject. Ahuost all ii'onmongers are well ac- quainted with the ways of an-anging this apparatus, and so are the different nurserymen all over the kingdom ; and there is hardly a good gardener any- where who would refuse to give his advice on the subject, for there are no secrets kept about these things now-a-days ; nevertheless, I shall return to the sub- ject some day, and go into all the minutiae on the whole subject. Meantime, let us suppose that a hot- bed of some sort is ready to receive seed-pots, cutting- pots, and newly-potted-ofl^ little plants — no matter how hardy they may be. It seems to be a universal law of Nature, that the young of all plants and animals are much benefited by comfort and wannth during the early stages of their existence; a mild hotbed, therefore, seems to be the best means to allow this warmth to young plants ; and it is well known to gardeners and nur- serymen, that young " stock," as they call then- nurs- ing plants, will make a better progi'ess in less time, in a gentle hotbed made of well-prepared dung, and covered with tan, than in any other stinicture or kind of heat whatever. You may have the same degree of heat, the same amount of light and air, and give exactly the same kind of culture in evei-y respect to your ])lants in any other kind of hotbed or pit, but the plants will never obtain that uniform degree of health and luxui-iance as they would in a close dung bed. The worst of it is, that without some experi- ence it is very difficult and dangerous for one to manage a hotbed of dung properly. A good cover- ing of tan, or sand, lessens this danger, it is true, by keeping down the strong ammoniacal gas, or steam, which is always disengaged from fennenting dung. When the bed, however, is just at the proper degi'ee of strength, this gas seems to be the life and soul of nursing plants, and no doubt it is the sole reason why they succeed best in that kind of bed. There is oue observation I often made on this subject, which may be worth recording while I think of it, as I never saw it in print, but I am sure it might lead to some curious experiments. It is this : whenever ammonia- cal gas, arising from a hotbed, or any other source, affects plants injm-iously — witliin certain limits — the youngest and most tender leaves svffer far less than the older leaves. Just as if an infant in the cradle could escape something that affected the little sister who rooked the cradle, and to which they were both equally exposed. This is a singular property in leaves. Any other kind of stimulating or scorching, as, for instance, from too strong a dose of tobacco- smoke, will afiect the yoimger leaves first. How is this to be accounted for ? I think I could explain it, but I would rather invite criticism on the question, which is perfectly original as far as I am aware of, and may be stated thus : How is it that a deleterious gas will kill all the old leaves on a plant, without affecting those leaves that are newly fonned on the same plant? Dung beds, when once you understand how to manage them, are the best contrivances for nursing young plants ; but for striking cuttings and raising seedlings a tank-heated pit is preferable, and more easy to manage at all times, and therefore better suited for young beginners. Now, instead of telUng you to do such and such things on certain days, as if I were noting a prediction of the weather, after the manner of Francis Moore, the physician, I shall rather teU you the plain truth, which is, that all seeds of greenhouse plants, and of such tender annuals as may do for a window or greenhouse, will succeed equally well, and be in right good time, if sown any day in March. So there will be ample time to prepare a bed for them; and I might almost say the same thing for cuttings in any department. Of course, such cuttings as are wanted for the flower- garden do not come under this comfortable rule. Before you sow any seeds from foreign countries, you ought to ask the advice of the nearest gardener as to their merits : a great deal of time and room is often taken up with such seeds, that would be better spent on old-established good kinds, that are to be had easily and in abundance at home. A plant is not at all the worse for being old, if it is really a good sort ; and novelty can never compensate the want of fine bloom in a new plant. Without attempting to name particular plants of which seed may be sown in March, it will be better to lay down a few simple rules for seedlings in general. Raising Seedlings. — Seed-pots should be perfectly clean ; and they require at least three times the quantity of drainage that would do for an ordinary plant. The reason is, that young seedlings are very impatient of too much wet or damp, and if the water does not pass off quickly through the drainage, it will soon turn the earth sour ; for the tiny roots of seed- lings cannot take up much of it. Coal-ashes make the best drainers for seed-pots, though not well suited for all plants. Small pots are better than large ones for seeds ; and, whatever the size, one-thnd of it should be filled up with drainers. No dead vegetable matter, such as leaf-mould, should be used in the seed compost for tender or delicate plants. Of course, cockscombs, balsams, orange gom'ds, and the like, may be said to be tender in regard to tempera- ture, but they are not so in respect to constitution, and sifted leaf-mould would be very good to sow them in. It is those of a delicate habit that require poor sandy soil to raise them in. Seeds that are very small will only require to be covered with earth ; and the pots for them should be watered before they are sown, as for calceolarias. Seeds of the sizes of turnip or onion seed should be covered one-eighth of an inch, and all above that size should have less sand in the compost, and be covered one-fourth of 2J6 THE COTTAGE GARDENER. an iuch. The more uniformly damp the pots are kept, and the less water tliey get till the seeds are up, the hetter; and for tliis purpose, it is a good plan to place sheets of dry brown paper over a lot of seed- pots, till the seedlings are seen pushing up the soil, and then they must have light. Covering seed-pots is like killuig two birds with the same shot — it keeps the soil more uniformly damp ; and it is well known that seeds sprout readier in the dark ; and, although I have recommended a good hot-bed for them, I hardl}' know a gi-eenhouse-plant whose seed may not be reared in a good window. If it takes a longer time that way, it often is the safest plan after all, for the air is always more pure for them that waj'. Auotlier very good way of raising seedlings, is to sow the seeds in pots in which jjlants are growing, scattering them very thinly, and leaving a little part without seeds ; to give the watering over that part so as not to disturb the seeds ; aud the spare part might be marked off with two little pegs, so that you would not forget where the seeds were, in case the pots were turned round. I once knew an old gardener — a very honest man, as all gardeners are, or should be — and he made a regidar practice of stin'ing the sm'faoe-soil of all his pots about this time, and then scattered several kinds of seeds over them. His capsicums, tomatoes, and, indeed, many of the common kinds of plants, he used to get up that way ; and his philosophy was better than his practice in this respect, for he used to say that any packet of seeds contained some which would produce stronger plants than the rest, and that by sowing them in this rough manner the strongest ones would only succeed, and these were always easier to manage afterwards, just as is the case with self-sown seeds in the borders. He even went so far as to assert, that the whole animal and vegetable kingdoms would have dwindled do^^ii to mere abortions, had it not been for a wise law of nature, which ordained that each strongest of its kind would take the lead and keep down the weakest ; and I dare say he was not far wrong. Now these sorts of anecdotes are never out of place when we are giving long details of minute practice — if only on the principle that " all work and no play makes Johnny a dull boy ; " there- fore, to relieve this subject, I shall introduce another one without any apology, and very likely it will be new to most of my readers. That gifted young lady. Mademoiselle Jenny Lind, who is making such praiseworthj* use of the gi'eat talent entrusted to her care from above, is as fond of plants, and her garden, as any of our readers can be. She has a villa on the west side of London, which is regularly furnished with pot flowers by a nursery- man — a friend of mine : he says he never brings her a lot of fresh plants without her expressing her fear that he is taking too much trouble about her jilants, and charging too little for them. How different from the general rule ! Poor fellow ! he was taken very badly with the influenza a few mouths' since, and this charming lady would steal away from the great world, and sit in his lonely chamber, as if he were the great- est man in London; and after her soothing consola- tions, and other marks of her great kindness of heart, when he would tell her how such and such plants should be managed till he got better, she would express herself as the party most served. I hardly know how this simple tale will read in print, but it seems to do one good to write about it ; and yet it hardly exceeds the kindness which has been extended to myself, from many of our readers ; and of which I would only remark, that praise, even if well-merited. is a species of flattery : and flattery itself is the shar])est weapon, in the bands of the great enemy of mankind, to lop oft'om- best bearing branches. PoTTixG. — If the weather holds up fine in March, such as we have experienced through the month of February. potti-.:g of plants may become general ; but it is never a good plan to begin veiy early when the weather is against us. All our laboui's in the spring, and particularly potting, should be regulated by the state of the weather. To do justice to plants that have been a long time in the same pots, all the looser parts of the okl ball should be carefully shook off, the drainage crocks picked out from among the roots, and, if the roots themselves appear either un- healthy or dried up, portions of them must also be removed, even at the risk of giving them a temporary check; so that between one thing and another, the plant must be somewhat crippled for a time, and if bad weather intervenes, it will aggravate the case; there- fore I am not an advocate for very early spring potting among amateurs. With gardeners it is veiy diiierent : if the weather does not suit their operations, they have recourse to artificial climates; but we, in our quiet ways, must cut our coat according to our cloth ; and if we make a strait-jacket of it, we shall be ham- pered in our movements. It is a good plan to look over the different ]iots a day or two before shifting the plants, and any of them that may ajipear dry should be well watered, as it will never answer to put an old dry ball of earth into fresh mould. The water could not penetrate the diy soil afterwards, but would pass off through the new soU, without any benefit to the poor starved plant; neither would it do to water the plant, and then pot it the same day. lu that case, the water could not part freely from the old ball, aud might endanger tlie life of a delicate plant. No doubt there are many plants that can hardly be killed by bad treatment, but it is always the most prudent course to keep to the safe side of a question. The proper nde in this instance is, that the old ball be as near as possible of the same degree of moisture as the new soil; and that degree is a non- desci-ipt — neither wet nor dry, but something between the two, for which we have no proper name. GER.\xit;7is. — These are among the first green- house plants that should be potted in March ; but those that are to bloom early in May are usually in their blooming-pots early in October. If you have stopped some last January, to succeed the May ones, after aunt Harriot's jilan, they also should have their final shift before the middle of the mouth ; aud a few more might be stopped shortly for a thml suc- cession, but they ought first to be potted, and have a fortnight or three weeks in the fresh soil, before they are stopped. It is a very bad plan to pot and stop them at the same time. Give them very rich soil and good drainage : broken bones in a small state is excellent drainage for them. Give all your gera- niums a slight shower with the syringe, if you have one, about twice a week, all through the month of March, if the weather is fine and sunny. Early in the afternoon is the best time to give this shower, and shut up the house directly aftei-wards. This treatment will not hurt any greenhouse plants in March and April, when they are growing fast; but on all these occasions open the house very early next morning, to let out the damp before the sun will steam it uj), and thus force the jilants. Thei'e is a wide difference between assisting aud forcing nature. Gl.\dioi.i. — With plenty of air and sun, and a moderate degree of moisture, these will make a rapid THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 257 progress after once they are well in motion. My own latest ones will be tbi-ee inches above the ground on the first of March, but I potted them early in November. I put them in a cold pit, plunged in coal-ashes, with a thin layer of moss over them; and they have had no water since, yet the soil is dampish still. I ought to say, however, that the pit faces the north, behind a garden wall; for I want them to flower late, say from the middle of July to September. But no doubt there are thousands of them not yet above ground, all over the country. D. Beaton. THE KITCHEN-GARDElSr. Parsnips being one of the most nutritious roots of the earth's produce, we know of no root at all so wortliy of cultivation for the amateur and cottager who has a cow or a pig. There is not a root at all ey seed, but it is a tedious method, and requires a great deal of attention. Proceed as follows : — Fill a wide- mouthed pot with light sandy earth, very nearly full ; then, with a round flat piece of wood, or an empty flower-pot will do. press the earth gently down level; then sow the seed evenly all over the pot, rather thinly. It is very small seed, and will require some finely- sifted earth to cover it. It must be covered very thinly ; the tbicit- ness of a shilling will be enough. M'ater with a fine-rosed watering- pot ; and set the pot in your window, facing the morning sun : water whenever the surface becomes dry. If the seed is good it will soon come up. and will require attention in watering, or the plants will fog off' if kept too damp. As soon as the plants have four leaves each, transplant them into pots five inches diameter; five or six plants in each. Allow them to remain in those pots till they become nice stocky plants ; then, if you have a garden, make a small bed of rich light earth. Plant them in it, four inches apart every way. Let them remain in this bed till the autumn, when they will be strong plants ; and several of them will flower the following spring. Take the strongest, and pot them in a rich light soil, in pots 7i inches wide. The weaker plants may remain in the bed, and should they show^ flowers, nip off the stems, and the plants will fnrm three or four heads each ; and if put into twelve-inch pots the following autumn, will form splendid specimens. Keep those flowering plants, whether one or two years old. in a cold frame, sheltered from frost with mats ; or, if you have no frame, place them in your window in pans, and give moderate waterings through the winter, increasing the (juantity as the flower stems advance. By Cuttings. — Take these oft the old plants as soon as you can ; put them in five-inch pots of light sandy earth, three or four in a pot. If you have such a thing as some light silver-sand, put about one inch on the surface of the soil. This will help to prevent the cuttings damping off. As soon as they arc rooted, pot them singly into three-inch pots, or plant them out in your garden, as directed for the seedlings. If you have no garden to "plant them in, let them remain in the three-inch pots till they have tilled the pots with roots ; then pot them at once into their blooming- puts, eight-inches wide, in rich earth, and manage as dcj-cribi-d above for the seedlings. These plants are easy to grow, with moac- rate attention ; and are as handsome window plants as any. Early Ki.\d of Potato { J ■ A. Brcicty;.— Plant A*-h-U-avtd Kidneys, and London Early round. If there is any otlu^r variety in your neighbourhood that ripens very early, you cannot do wrong by planting it. London: Printed by Harry Wooldbidge. 147, Strand, in the Parish of Saint Ulafy-le-Strand ; and Winchester High-street, in the Parish uf St. Mary Kalendar; and Pub!i>hcd by William Somerville Orr. at the Otfice. 147. Strand, in tlie Parish of Saint Mary-le-Strand, London.— February 22nd, 1849. THE COTTAGE GAEDENEK. 259 WEEKLY CALENDAR. M D MARCH 8—14, 1849. Plants dedicated to each day. Sun Kises. Sun Sets. Moon H. and Sets. Moon's Age. Clock bef. Sun. Day of Year. 8 Th Frog croaks. Ever-blooming Rose. 33 a 6 50 a 5 6 12 18 10 59 67 9 F Gossamer floats. Petticoat Daff'odi]. 30 52 rises @ 10 43 68 10 S Brimstone Butterfly appears. 3-leaved Chickweed. 27 54 7 a 46 15 10 28 69 11 Sto 3Sun.inLent. Creeper'sspringnoteheaid. Cornish Heath. 25 55 8 52 16 10 12 70 19, 1\T Gregory. Spring Bulbocodium. 23 57 9 56 17 9 55 71 ia Tn Peach blooms. Pansy. 20 59 10 59 18 9 39 72 14 W Peacock screams. Mountain Soldanella. 18 VI mom. 19 9 22 73 Gregory, named The Great, was made Pope in the year 590. He deserves to be remembered by every Briton, for by him was the monk Augustin sent to England, for the purpose of evangelizing our ances- tors. These are not the pages to examine religious errors ; therefore we need do no more than remind our readers of the gratitude due to the pontiff, who was instrumental in imparting to us islanders the tidings of salvation. May his words be abundantly prophetic — "It becomes such to be co-heirs with the angels in heaven." Phenomena of the Season.— Some of our readers, upon seeing the statement above, that the gossamer floats this month, may re- mark, that autumn is the season for its appearing; and it is quite true that in the autumn gossamer is most abundant ; but it is to be seen gliding away upon the air in this month also. It is so charac- teristic of autumn's arrival, that in Germany they poetically call it " the departing summer." It is curious to think that even men of Insects.— The March Moth {Ani- sopteryx aseulaiHa) is called Geometra science, in by-gone years, have thought the gossamer to be "scorched dew;" or, that "those great white clouds which appear in summer may be of the same substance." Passing by these and other errors we will state, for the information of such of our readers as are not acquainted with the fact, that the gossamer is voluntarily darted forth by a particular spider (Aranea obtestrh), for the purpose of being borne by it speedily aloft, and to a distance. Ulyriads of these little voyagers in the air have been taken during their passage ; and many naturalists have seen them throw themselves upon their backs, " spread their light sails," and pass away. We may also observe, in explana- tion of the " Peacock's scream" we have mentioned, that this does not refer to its ordinary cry, but, as Mr. Jenyns observes, to a pecu- liar note uttered only by the male bird at this time of pairing ; and which note, or scream, is very characteristic of the first warm weather occurring in early spring. Maech 1841. 1842. 1843. 1844. 1845. 1846. 1847. 1848. 8 Cloudy. Fine. Fine. Fine. Snow. Fine. Showery. Cloudy. Highest & lowest 61°— 35° B7°— 35° 45°— 28° 49°— 35° 41°— 30° 54°— 24° 49°— 35° 50°— 41° 9 Fine. Showerv. Cloudy. Cloudy. Fine. Fine. Showerv. Cloudy. 6o°— 30° 48°— 37>= 38°— 24° 58°— 34° 45°— 32° 56°— 27° 42°— 22° 53°— 36° 10 Fine. Fine. Fine. Rain. Showerv. Fine. Frosty. Showery. 63°— 27° 47°— 31° 44°— 28° 44°— 31° 45°— 32° 58°— 29° 40°— 7° 49°— 38° 11 Fine. Cloudy. Fine. Rain. Frostv. Fine. Cloudv. Showery. 64°— 30° 50°— 27° 47°— 40° 63°— 35° 40°— 24° 57°— 28° 36°— 26° 47°— 35° 12 Fine. Fine. Cloudy. Showerv. Frostv. Cloudv- Fine. Showerv. 67°— 31° 58°— 40° 50°— 32° 47°— 31° 4.3°— 21° 48°— 26° 46°— 25° 44°— 34° 13 Cloudy. Fine. Fine. Fine. Frost. Showery. 51°— 39° Cloudy. Rain. 59°— 37° 57°-37° 52° — 13° 47°— 32° 25°— 13° 47°— 25° 44°— 36° 14 Fine. Showery. Cloudy. Rain. Frost. Cloudy. Fine. Fme. 57°— 33° 49° — 15° 56°-45° 49°— 39° 36°— 18° S6°— 47° 52°— 24° 49°— 24° by some naturalists. It appears about the middle of the month. The females are wingless, as represented in the annexed drawing ; but the males have wings, and measure nearly 1^ inch across them, when fully opened. The fore- wings are pale, glossy, ashy-brown, A\-ith a central, broad, slightly dusky band across them, edged outwardly with a white toothed line, and an oblique brown line extending to the tip of the wing from the outer angle of the band next to it. The hind-wings are paler than the fore-wings, with a dusky central dot, and indistinct bands. The caterpillar feeds on the leaves of the horsc-chcsnut and other trees; it is green, with pale lines lengthwise of the body. It is to be found in June. — Humphrey's and Westwood's British Moths. A LOVE of one's home and a love of one's country are the same blessed feeling ; the golden band is identi- cal, only more extended in the one than in the other. On the existence of this feeling, deeply and generally in the hearts of a people, rests the best and only enduring strength of any national government. Our forefathers understood this better than we do ; or, at all events, they acted as if they felt and ac- knowledged the importance of strengthening and riveting on of that " golden band." They knew that before a thing could be loved, it must be made love- able ; therefore, they endeavoured to secure that the peasantry of England should have good and gardened dwellings. Many laws, now either repealed or neg- lected, appear in our Statute Book having that object solely for their aim. Among them was one as far back as the year 1276, in wliich, among other things, an enquiry was directed as to the state of all the cottages of England, the extent of ground at- tached to them, and the rents paid ; and in 1489, another law was passed inflicting penalties upon the lords of the soil, for allowing cottages to decay, and for not appropriating to them " convenient lands." This was enforced by other laws, needless to quote, until we come to that passed in the reign of " Good Queen Bess ;" which enacts, that no one shall build a cottage without attaching to it " four acres of ground at the least, to be continually occupied and manured therewith." Other statutes might be quoted, all sustaining as their object the maintenance of respectable cottages ; and without ofi"ering as our opinion that those statutes were wise, yet we applaud and admire, to the fullest extent, their object and their intention. If that object had been kept in view in England, to say nothing of the events lately and for centuries disgracing Ireland, wo should have had none of those painful details which have rendered " Dorset labour" a synonyme of misery and neglect. We are no advocates for statutes like that of Elizabeth, or for inquisitorial visits like those sanctioned by the other laws we have mentioned ; but we are advocates and agitators for the erection of neat, comfortable, well-lighted, well-drained, well- ventilated, and well- gardened cottages ; — such cottages as then' tenants may be proud of, and may take a pleasure in adoi-n- ing; cottages at least as comfortable as a beer-shop, and more profitable. If cottages were oftener such as we have described, their tenants would be far more healthy, more domestic, and more thrifty than they are. This is no mere vision of things to be wished for, but never to be realized; for we challenge contradic- tion to the assertion, that every district remarkable for its superior cottages, is as remarkable for supe- rior cottagers. We could go farther, if we chose to No. XXIII., Vol. I. 2 a 200 THE COTTAGE GAEDENER. state other resiilts of our observations ; for we could point to adjoining parishes, where in the one the cottages are well-built, and the tenants respectable and well-to-do ; and where, in the other, the cottagers and their dwellings are correspondingly bad. Entertaining these convictions, we are glad to welcome such a publication as Weaver's Cottage Architecture.* If our space pei-mitted, we would extract fi-oni it a large portion of its sensible preface ; and especially that portion which presses upon at- tention, that education loses half its efficacy since, under the present system of building labourers' hovels, "the instructor of youth inculcates lessons of morality and habits of modesty at school, which an overcrowded, inconvenient, and filthy dwelling precludes the possibility of practising at home" — that " comfortless dwelling which furnishes the ale- house with its victims." The object of the work, and the way in which the author, with great judgment, has endeavoured to promote its attainment, are told in two sentences. He "shews that dwellings, with many modern con- veniences, combined with some degi-ee of picturesque effect, may be erected at but little greater cost than those uiion the old and imperfect plans hitherto usually adopted ;" and " his plans and designs are made so jjlain and distinct, that a comitry builder, of avei'age intelligence, may be able to work to them, imder the instructions of any gentleman who may employ him." This is literally ti-ue, and we can, without any reserve, recommend this veiy praise- worthy volume, not only to be placed on the desk of every landed proprietor, who, in the best sense of the phrase, desires " to improve his estate," but also on the table of the ch-awing-room ; for its extremely neatly -lithographed sketches ai-e pleasing to the eye ; the brief account of the structures, and for whom erected, are not devoid of interest; and we would have it on that table, because it would thus gain more attention fi"om those best of all advocates — the ladies of many households. THE FKUIT-GARDEN. The ApnicoT. — This is one of the most usefid and luscious of fruits in cultivation ; and as its proper cul- ture equally concerns the cottager and the amateur, we must endeavour to make our information con- cerning it fuU and complete. No tree is more profit- able to the cottager ; none so extensively planted against the house-fi'ont or end, when presenting a good aspect; at least, in this part of the kingdom (Cheshu"e). Some twenty years since, when the question of over-luxuriance in fruit-trees began to be busily mooted (very much, as we think, in consequence of a bold and solid-reasoning paper, which appeai'cd in Loudon's Magazine, by a Mr. R. Hiver), we could not help being struck with the contrast which ex- isted between these pampered gluttonsof our kitchen- gardens, and tlie lean yet fruitful apricots of the cottager, which had stood, it may be, for more than a score of years against the chimney-end of his house ; seldom missing a crop, and seldom requiring to be pruned. As for digging over their roots, that is out of the question ; most of the cottagers' trees alluded to are bound down with a stone pavement. What inference coidd bo di-awn fi'om such facts, otherwise than that gardeners over-cultivated their trees ; and that this over-cultivation had been in- duced, in the main, by the supposed necessity of * Hints on Cottape Architecture, by H. Weaver, Architect. Pub- lished by H. Pope, Budge-row, London. growing vegetables on the borders which ouglit to be appropriated to the roots of the ti'ees ? Kot only were a host of luxuriant shoots engendered, which had to be cut away, but also a serious inequality in point of strength of the shoots produced ; to which, we do think, may principally be imputed tlie dying away of whole shoots, to which both the apricot and the red cm'rant are equally liable, when they have originally been planted in veiy rich soil. Another consideration comes in question, as afl'ected by the over-luxuriance of fruit-trees, viz., how far it affects the " setting," or, in more scientific language, the impregnation of the blossom ? We have taken much pains, for many yeai's, to investigate these things; and we have very fi-equently found the blossom pro- duced by gi-oss apricot-trees, either totally deficient in the female organ of fructification, known by the name of the pistil, or tlie same partially existing, but in a much debilitated state. This is, probably, neither more nor less than what our learned bota- nists term a raorjihological case, in whicli the pistil has become transformed, or merged, into the corolla or blossom part; for we have very frequently foimd a kind of monstrosity in that part on such occasions. Be that as it may, barrenness is now very geuarally known to be one result of over-luxuriance ; and we, therefore, beg to warn om- apricot cidtivators on this head. We wiU now ofler a descriptive list of kinds ; and then make some remarks on soil and general cultin-e : — 1. Early Masculine. — End of Jidy. This is the best of the very early apricots, which, be it understood, are not the most profitable kinds. Fruit rather small, round, and of a yellowish colour, tinted with red on one side. 2. Large Early, or Precoce. — This ripens next in order, and is usefid as a connecting link in tlie chain of the dessert. An oblong ii-uit, of a paUsh orange colour, with a very agreeable juice. 3. Blenheim, or ShipUy's. — This we consider one of the most useful apricots in the kingdom ; for, although inferior in flavour to the Moorpark — as, indeed, which is not? — it is a much greater bearer, and a sure ripener. The latter is an important quality ; for slow ripeuers are liable to a host of depredators, in the shape of earwigs, wasps, bees, and even ordinary flies: these, piercing a little hole, furnish an opportunity for water to lodge ; and then the decay of this luscious fruit is most rapid. An oval fruit, middle-sized, and of a palish lemon colour ; ripening about the first week in August. 'This kind is doubtless allied to the celebrated Moorpai-k apricot ; possibly, a seedling from it. 4. Heinshirhe. — Another of the Moorpai-k section, but ripens somewhat earlier. This fruit is of very old standing in England ; yet little, in general, is known about it. One thing is certain, it ripens safer than the Moorpark, and this is a weighty consideration, especially with northern horticultu- rists. A roundish fi-uit, somewhat flattened at the crown ; colom-, orange and red. 5. Breda. — A well-known preserving fi-uit, and the most eligible of any in oiu' list for growing as an ordinary standard, or on any ti'ellis device, for which we should think it well adapted. 'This fniit is also called " Brussels " by some. It is a small fruit, generally of a cramped or angled appear- aiice ; of an orange colour, and very rich flavoured. 0. Royal. — A good fruit, of very rich flavour, ripen- ingjust a little before the Moorpark. Of a large size, and of an orange complexion. THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 261 7. Moorparh. — This we may term the first apricot in the kingdom, taken altogether. It is so well known as to need little description from us. We have now given a list of all that are truly- essential, ia the present position of horticulture, whether to the amateur or the cottager. For the amateur who, in a small garden, has room for tlu-ee only, we recommend Nos. 3, 5, and 7. If four, then take Nos. 1, 3, 5, 7. If five, then Nos. 1, 3, -5, 6, 7. Four cottagers, we say Nos. 3 and 7. Above aU, we would recommend the " Shipley's" to the cottager, as being a hardier and a larger tree, and a much si.u'er bearer. Of course, when addressing ourselves to the cottager, we think of profit only; for we know those who make a considerable retm-n annually out of a single tree. Soil. — Apricots do not love a fluctuating character of soil ; whether through its innate hghtness, or dry- ness, or through the action of spade culture, allowing them to form nice young fibres at one period, only to be destroyed in another. A good sound loam be- fits them best, — o-6 which, although somewhat ad- hesive or greasy, wUl yet, by the action of weather, readily crumble to atoms. Indeed, there are few of our fruit-trees but will thi-ive in a soil of this character. Much more may be said on this head, but our weekly limits will not permit it ; we there- fore promise to return to all such matters in due time. The soil, of whatever kind, must be prepared about half a yard deep ; or, if a light soil, let it be two feet. Let a substratum of brick, or other im- perishable material, be placed below each ti-ee, according to our platform directions ; and see that the soil has some turfy matter mixed with it. As for manure, we prefer using a few half-rotten tree leaves, in the proportion of one part leaves to four or five parts soU. The Choice of Teees must be ruled by the same principles as those for the peach and nectarine, in the first instance. Like them, they may be pur- chased from our nurseries in the character of either " maiden " or " trained tree ;" and, again, the same criterion, as to the disposition of the shoots, the absence of gum, &c., must also guide the judgment. More must, hereafter, be said on all these points, some of which have a special bearing ; in the mean- time, we shall render more service by oftering a few remarks on spring pinaning, which, it will be remem- bered, we advised to be left until the blossom-buds were advanced, in order to be able to distingiush them with ease ; for the apricot does not suti'er so much loss by spring pruning as some other fruits. As off-hand maxims, then, we advise the same tying down of those young shoots wliich are eligible, precisely as in the case of the pear and the plum. All fore- right " snags," of a watery character, must be pruned back to natural or embryo fruit spurs, for such will only produce shoots of a wild character, if suffered to remain. No part of the principal slioots, which were trained originally, should be left bare, if any lUiely spray is at hand to tie down. Above all, let them have some protection from our spring frosts ; for no fi'uit sutlers more than the apricot during hard weather in spring. They are somewhat precocious in habit, and thus become particularly liable to such damage. The Gooseberry. — We will suppose that all the gooseberry and currant bushes are pnined ; and now the nest thing is to see if they requne top-dressing. It will be well for those amateurs, who have a little leisure time occasionally, to pay some regard to the visits of the Gooseberry saw-fly, caUed by om' ento- mologists, Nematus trimaculatus. It is scai-eely ne- cessary to state, that the caterpillar produced by the larva of this fly is a great pest in our gardens ; and it is not uncommon to see whole plots of both goose- berry and currant bushes completely stripped of their leaves; on which, we need scai-oely add. all de- pends, both as to the present and the ensuing crops, as also the stability of the bushes. Perhaps a few words on the natural history of this insect may not be out of place. The fly escapes from a cocoon (which, in general, is imbedded in the soil beneath the bushes,) about the end of March, or the early part of AprU. The female directly pro- ceeds to deposit her eggs along the midrib of the leaves. In the course of a week or two the larvte (caterpillars) are hatched, and great is the devastation produced by them in a short time. After the lapse of a few weeks, and when they are become nearly an inch in length, their seems to occur some little change in their character, or a crisis in their history. However, successive broods make their apijearance even until the month of October. When arrived at maturity, then general appearance becomes some- what altered, and after a sort of rest they descend into the soil, spinning yellowish cocoons ; fifom these the broods of flies spring forth in a few weeks ; but it must be home in mind, that another batch re- mains in the chrysalis state, waiting the return of spring, when they in their turn produce flies. And now for remedies against these depredators. The ordinary mode is, to shake the bushes and col- lect the caterpillars. Some persons use hellebore powder, which is said to be very eflicient ; others use foxglove, or digitalis, which, at the time the fly pi-evails, is abundant on our lane or road-sides. This is made into a strong tea by boiling it in water, and the bushes are watered or syringed with it. It is also stated, that fresh slaked-lime is completely destructive of the caterpiUar, if the leaf be wet at the time of applying it; some persons, as we have known, applying it as early as three o'clock on a dewy morning. Hunting for the flies, and searching for the eggs, also is practised : likewise hand-picking the caterpillars when very small. Prevention, how- ever, is allowed to be better than cure ; and we would, therefore, advise as a precautionary measure, the opening a trench one foot in depth at the extremity of the roots, and then scraping or shovelling the sur- face soil from over the roots, for nearly three inches in depth, into the trench, in the hopes of buijing and destroying the chrysalis, which probably are not imbedded much deeper. The paring of soil should be well trampled down, and the occasion may be seized for manuring the roots in the cu-cle or line excavated. Salt and soot might be used to cover the parings before ti'ampling them down, or other sti'ong matters, which are at once fatal to insect life and a manure to the bushes. We throw out these hints with a view to induce the ingenious amateiu- or ootr tager to try their hands still further ; as we tnist the time will arrive when this destructive pest will be as easily removed as the ordinary green-fly, by the fumes of tobacco ; more especially as its ravages very frequently dishearten the cottager, and, indeed, much aflect his profits. R. Erbington. THE FLOAVER-GAEDEN. Layi.n'g out SuBrRB.\N Villa Gardens. — In the 21st number we described these gardens as they are generally laid out, but we would not have our readers run away with the idea that we think they cannot be 263 THE COTTAGE GARDENER. improved. Gardens in such forms are generally doae by a builder's gardener, and the cheapest and simplest method of doing the job is what is mostly aimed at. Now, all this is decidedly wrong, and the occupier of the dwelling is often obliged to be at more than double the expense, to make his garden at all passable. We shall endeavour, this week, to give a few general principles that should be attended to and acted upon, in forming villa gardens, whether large or small. The first grand point is, to make the garden dry. Without this, your garden will lose half its compost; your trees, shrubs, and flowers, will be unhealthy, and stinted in growth and bloom. What- ever you do, then, have your garden well drained. Employ a man of skill and integrity, that has been used to the business, to do this important work for you. If the ground is strong wet clay, the centre drains, if the outlet for the water will allow it, should be fully three feet deep, and the cross drains to com- mence at their exti'cmities with two feet, and gra- dually slope down to the main drain. These cross drains, in extreme cases, should be placed within four yards of each other ; if the ground is not very wet, they may be at greater distances. In whatever state the garden may be, whetlier not formed at all or laid out ever so neatly, if imperfectly drained, this operation is imperatively necessary. Proceed, then, at once to have it done. The first expense will be the least, as, if it is well done, it wUl last a lifetime. Walks. — After the drainage is completed, and the ground levelled, the next grand point is the direction of the walks. If the garden is of small dimensions, the main walk should lead straight up to the entrance door. Nothing can be more ridiculous than to at- tempt a winding walk in a short distance. All natural paths, where the surface is level and no ob struction in the way, are straight. In staking out a walk, if the distance is short, you cannot put any- thing in the way without manifest impropriety ; therefore, in small gardens, let your main walks be straight. In large gardens, such as are 80 or 100 feet in length, winding walks may be introduced with good eftect, but for every bend there ought to be a reason. . The projecting part of the bend ought to be planted with shrubs, pretty close to the margin, so that if you would attempt to go straight, those shrubs would prevent you. The shi-ubs, also, will be useful to prevent the walk, in its entire length, being seen at once, thus causing the garden to ap- pear much larger than it really is. Whenever there is a walk branching out of another, the three points should also be planted in such a manner as to con- ceal the turning off of the branch, and to conceal also the entrance to the branch walk from the win- dow. In such a garden as we are describing, at a distance fi-om the liouse, there may be introduced a straight walk, with an avenue of shady trees, to walk under in the shade, sheltered from the burning rays of a summer sun. This walk, in such weather, is cool and pleasant; and, if there is a seat or two, wiU be a comfortable retreat in the hot days of June, July, and August. It should always be remembered, in laying out walks in level situations, to form them even. The straight walk either level, or on an in- clined plane, and of an equal breadth the whole length. The winding or serpentine walk should have its curves of an easy graceful turn, excepting you have a rustic corner formed into rock-work, a small sheet of water, and a grotto. Here the curves of the walk may be more sudden, as the rock-work and water will be a reason to prevent the lounger from going straight, even for a short distance. The manner of forming and draining walks was described very full at the 200th page, to which we refer you ; and the subject will be continued in a future number. Routine M.^nagejient. — By the time this paper comes into our readers' hands, a week of the bluster- ing month of March wUl have passed over, and during the week following, if the weather is at all moderate, a good deal of work ought to be done. Winter shelters, used to protect plants nearly hardy, may now be removed, and put by, in a dry place, for the next season's services. Of course, reference must be had to the weather before this is done ; should it be frosty, they must be replaced during the night. The sooner, however, they can be dispensed with the better. Rose Pruning. — Pillar roses, and those against walls or trellises, must now be pruned in the manner before described. Should any standards or dwarfs in the open borders have been neglected from any cause, do not delay a single day longer to perform this necessary operation. Ample dii'ections how to prune all the different classes of roses are given in the 6th number, pages 5(5 and 57. Study these instructions carefully, and put them into practice, especially with the climbing roses. Those that have been planted lately had better not be pruned until the sap is in motion, wliich you mny easily' know by observing the buds. If they are swelling boldly, and preparing to shoot strongly, you may be sure the roots are drawing up food for the plant ; you may then safely prune, according to the foregoing direc- tions. It occui's frequently that roses newly planted, and late primed, produce late flowering plants, pro- longing the season of blooming of the summer-blow- ing roses. Mulching. — By this term is meant the laying over the roots, as far as they extend, a coating of littery short dung. Tliis was necessary and useful even to trees and shrubs planted in autumn. It served, during winter, to keep the fi'ost fi'om the roots, and encouraged them to keep on growing, and gathering nourishment for the buds to push forth strongly, when the wai-m days of spiing ai'rived. If it were useful to apply miuching to early planted things, how much more needful is it to apply it to late planted ones ! It serves now to keep the soil moist, and to pi'otect the roots from the sudden changes of spring weather. That laid on in autumn may now be removed, at least in grounds that are kept neat and dressy ; but the somewhat slovenly appearance of litter on late planted trees or shrubs must be borne with until they are fairly established. General Neatness. — All gardens that have been well managed in autumn — that is, that have had the shrubs pruned, the gi-ass edged, and the beds and borders dug — should now have a spring dressing. First, look over all the trees and shrubs, and cut off unsparingly all dead branches. See that all your stakes and their ties are right, and if not, make them so. Fill up any gaps in your borders if any plants are dead, then remove all the rubbish or litter you may have caused. When all this is finished, choose a fine morning after three or four dry days ; go out with your rake in hand, and a basket by you; take a deter- mination with you to do a good day's work, if the weather permit; commence raking your beds and bor- ders, those that are nearest to the house, beginning at that part of the bed or border the fai-thest from the grass or walk, bringing the small stones, leaves, and twigs (if any), with the rake, to the edge of the border. Take these up at once into the basket, and finish one bed neatly off as you go on. Lay it down as a law, like THE COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 263 those of the Medes and the Persians, " that aJtereth not," never to leave any heaps, however small, of rubbish on the ground behind you. Leave your work, then, when you will, you leave all tidy — to use a comfortable old Enghsh word. Proceed fi'om day to day, as the weather permits, till all the beds and borders are put into nice spring order. Gkass Lawns. — After the borders are raked, pay attention to the state of your lawn. If any part of it is bare of grass, and you can procure some good short turf, now is a good time to obtain it. Remove the old turf, and sprinkle a little fresh earth on the surface; then lay down the new turf, packing it closely, to prevent the joints being visible ; beat the new turf well down with a turf-beater, to make it smooth and even. A turf-beater is a flat thick piece of heavy wood, with a handle three feet long — a most eiScient tool for the pui'pose. If you cannot jjrocure turf, proceed as follows : — Rake your plot over, and in the places that are bare of gi'ass, make a pi'etty strong impression with the rake-teeth, so as to leave it rough ; then procure a sufficient quantity of the grass- seed mixture mentioned at page 62 ; sow it rather thickly over the bare places, and then sprinkle some fine-sifted soil over it, just enough to cover the seed ; level it very gently with the rake, and when it is sufficiently dry, roll the whole plot over with a heavy roller. Nothing more is wanted but warm weather and gentle spring showers, with frequent rolling and mowing, and your lawn will soon be in excellent order, exhibiting that beautiful gi-een so pleasing and refreshing to the eye. FLORISTS' FLOWERS. Of all the seasqns of the year, the pleasant cares of the florist are most caUed into requisition during the cheering season now approaching. Every class of these beautiful flowers are either shewing flowers or producing cuttings, the one to be sheltered from spring frosts and cold easterly winds, and the others to be propagated either by, division or cuttings. The amateur- and cottager must be on the alert, as a single night's neglect in protecting the auricula, polyanthus, and tulip, would gi-eatly injure, if not totally destroy, the bloom this year. In propagating verbenas, fuchsias, petunias, and dahlias, no time must now be lost, as the finely flowering of these lovely ornaments of the summer and autumn flower- garden chiefly depends upon obtaining early strong plants to be ready to plant out as soon as the mild weather arrives, to allow us to place them in their blooming situation. Dahlias. — If the directions given at page 233 have been acted upon, some of the shoots will be pushing forth. Keep a good look out, and be ready to take oflp the cuttings as soon as they are three or four inches long. Have some pots ready fiUe.d to within one inch of the top, with light compost of loam, leafmould, and sand. Fill up the other inch with silver sand, or the purest sand you can get. Give a gentle watering previously to putting in the cuttings. This will settle the sand, making it firm, so as to hold tlie cuttings steadily in their place. Then take off the shoots, as soon as they are long enough, with a sharp small knife. Do not cut them off close to the bottom, but leave the two lowest buds to shoot again. If, however, you observe a great number of buds clustering round the present shoots, you may then gently puU off the forward yoimg shoots, leaving the others to spring forth. Smooth the bottom of the shoots so pulled off with your knife. Then put in the cuttings with a small stick, pressing the sand to each cutting ; place them close to the edge of the pot. Fill up any holes you may leave with some dry sand. Put the proper number to each kind as you go on; then give a very gentle watering, and plunge the cutting-pots into your hotbed, where tliey will soon put forth roots. T. Appleby. GREENHOUSE AJVD WINDOW GARDENING. I BEGIN this letter with a full conviction that our lady readers will not thank me for my subject to- day, when nothing else is thought of in the garden- ing way but flowers. This is a sad damper. But The Cottage Gardener has made such a stir among a new class of readers, that thousands of our rouglier sex have consented to incur the expense of erecting suitable pits to keep plants in over the winter ; and, as I have abeady said, the spring is the best time to do such woi-k, I am urged, on all hands, to give some directions about the best way of arranging and heating these pits. It is only natural enough, then, to suppose that I am in duty bound to respond to these calls. I may ask, how- ever, can all these gents have come forward of theii' own accord, and proposed all this outlay? I very much doubt it. Indeed, I know too well how these things are generally brought about, not to be aware that much coaxing and persuasion have been expended before many letters on the subject reached me ; therefore, having got them so far in the hu- mour, if we do not hit the nail at the right time, perhaps we may go without our pits for another year : besides, these letters have been couched in such kind and friendly terms, that they are irresist- able. Sam Slick would call them " soft sordur;" but depend upon it, if we are ill at ease with ourselves, or with those around us, we cannot wiite very softly. One of the most economical and useful pits for wintering small plants, that I recollect to have seen, goes by the name of " Fortune's Pit ;" a figure and description of it, as annexed, are given in the Gar- dener's Chronicle for 1842, page 53. a, stages, and back and front shelf; b. passage along the middle ; c, proposed bank ; d, proposed ventilators. " The width of the pit is nine feet ; and, as the sketch is drawn fi-om measurement, any one may easily ascertain the different proportions. " The two stages are made of wood, having cross bars, as seen at a, and upright bearers on each side of b. The small shelf in front is supported by a bracket, which also supports the hot water pipes; and the back shelf might be supported in the same manner, although, in this instance, it is formed out of the thickness of the back wall. The only improve- ment in its constiTiction is, to have a large tank in some convenient place in front, as at c, to receive the rain which falls on the roof; and also some wooden ventilators in the back and front waU at d, wliich could be opened at those times when it is not prudent to draw down the sashes. By having the door in the back wall, and the passage along the 264 THE COTTAGE GARDENER. middle, a person can go in at any time without pushing down tlie sashes; and by reaching from tlie hack to the front, he can water or do anything else the plants may requii'e. " This pit is extremely useftil for raising seeds, or for growing small greenhouse plants, and keeping such things as verbenas, petunias, and scarlet pelar- goniums, for turning out into the flower-garden during the summer months ; or by dividing it into two paits by a partition, having a door in it, one half may be used for striking cuttings, raising seeds, or keeping plants which have been newly potted off, and the other filled with well-established plants, requiring more light and aii'." All greenhouses and pits of this description shoiild be built on the surface of the ground, not sunk as those for forcing generally are : the best aspect for them is due south, but south-east or south-west will do ; and where neither of these can be had, a west aspect is the next best. Indeed, an east aspect can hardly answer at all, as in the spring, when much air and moisture is needed by the plants, the cold easterly winds, prevalent with us at this season, woidd chill and i-uiu many plants. If the situation is at all damp, I would strongly urge the necessity of cutting off the damp fi-om below, as recommended for the greenhouse ; and also a good di'ain under the path, into which the surplus water from the rain- water tank should be discharged by a waste pipe. The situation of this tank is shewn by Mr. Fortune imdtr the front stage, but that is not the best place for it, as it would there interfere with the flue, and even \vith hot water pipes, unless placed so low as to be awkward to get at it : indeed, it would be incon- venient at all times to stoop down so low for every potful of water : but a good rain-water tank in a con- venient place, inside any plant stinaotm'e, is half the battle over in growing plants. When hot water pipes are used, the best place for the tank is at one end of the passage, and sufficiently high to get out the water without stooping, and wide enough to allow the largest-sized watering-pot to be used, if necessary, without inconvenience. The boiler, in that case, would be at the other end of the pit ; and the pipes would reach to the side of the tank at the front, and there return. Where a flue only is used, the fire-place would of coui'se be placed at one corner of the back wall outside ; tlie flue passing across the end with a gentle rise to the front wall, then on a level under the front shelf, and within three inches of the front wall, and across the other end, to a chimney in the corner of the back wall ; a door from behind should be placed at this corner, as near the end as the flue will allow, so as not to interfere much with the back shelves; therefore, the only place left for the tank, by this ai-rangement, is under the back shelf or stage. Here I must regret that I cannot give the difier- ence in price between a tank made with bricks and cement, and one made with Welsh slate ; b\it the slate one is by far the best ; and they are made so firm now, that they will last for ages, and they are in general use about London. All that I can do on this head is, to recommend to any one who contem- plates the erection of a slate tank, to write on the subject to Mr. Beck, of Worton Cottage, Isleworth, near London, who manufactui'es slate tanks very largely ; also plant-tubs, shelves, paths, walk-edgings, and many other things useful iu a garden, out of slate. Mr. Beck is also one of our keenest garden amateurs, and would, therefore, be a safe guide to con- sult on such matters. In the case of any change or removal, then slate tanks might be undone, and carried anywhere, like the sashes of a pit, where brick and cement ones can- not be removed. The back wall of this pit is built nine inches thick as far as c, where it breaks ofl" to four and a half, leaving a nice shelf The bottom of this shelf should be " headers," that is, a course of bricks laid across the wall, and set in the veiy best mortar, and very close in the joints ; or, what would be better, laid in cement : the reason is, to keep the wall from getting damp by watering the pots on the shelf That would be the shelf to summer the ama- rjdlises on. The wooden ventilators at d, in the back wall, should stand immediately under the wall plate, and be hinged into it, with a good wide ledge iu the frame for tlie lid to fall against, so that there would be no tight fitting, or anything to get out of order; a wooden button would fasten the lid ; and for hold- ing it ojien, nothing is more simple than a piece of wire, of the size of a pen-holder, fastened to the lower side of the frame with a small staple, and long enough to open the hd ten inches or a foot wide, and with a hook-end to fall into another staple in the lower part of the lid — all inside; or thus — when you wish to open the ventilator, you first turn the button, ojieu the lid, and place the hook-end of the holder in the staple, and the thing is as finn as Gibraltar. As the rafters wOl stand four feet, or thereabouts, apart, you may allow two feet or 30 inches in length, and a foot wide, for each ventilator at the back ; half that size wiU do for the fi'ont ones, as we always reckon an inch of air in the front equivalent to two inches at the back, in rough calculations. To open and shut the fi'ont ventilators, nothing is more sim- ple than what I mentioned for gi"eenhouse front lights ; and all that is said about the flue and fire-place will do here also; no smaller flue than that should be made where there is room. As the pit is given nine feet wide, and as it is the cheapest and the best way to have the rafters and the sashes as liglit as possible, I woidd advise that a sup- port should be placed under each rafter, and resting on the edge of the back shelf, which must be sup- ported from below at the same place; these supports to be round, and two inches in diameter. Besides supporting the roof very firmly, they would be capital to train delicate climbers to ; and by running a small copper wire between them, the whole length of the pit, and a foot or so from the glass, these climbers might be ti-ained a long way. A Maurandya, or Eocremocarpus, or Passion-flower, or indeed any half-hardy climber, that woidd do out against a wall in the summer, might be taken up and potted at the end of September, and trained along this wire its full length, without taking up more room than was necessary for the pots ; and no one need be told how handy it is in May, when we are planting out our store plants, to have a full-grown climber at our elbow, to train up at once by the side of a door or window ; whereas, by the ordinaiy way of planting little young things in such places, the half of the season is over before they come to anjlhing. !Mr. Fortune speaks of parting this pit, if neces- sary, into two divisions ; but that would never do. He is one of my personal friends, or I would not use this liberty with him; but he was too much accus- tomed to gi-ow jilauts on a large scale, and was never put to hard shifts, like many of us, and, therefore, not always the safest guide iu matters of close detail ; but, between us, I fully believe his pit may be made the best and cheapest that has ever been recom- THE COTTAGE GARDENEE. 265 mended to an amateur, and in many cases will be found as useful as a greenhouse. There is a large room for stowage below the back shelf; dry fuchsias, soai'let geraniums, dahlias, and many other things might be kept there through the winter : the little water that would be spilled, in watering the plants above them, could hardly effect them much. Instead of dividing off a part of this pit for propa- gation and nursing, by far the best plan would be to make a one or two-light pit at one end of it, six feet wide, and half that in depth : or, say a two-liglit brick box : the glass of the two should range on the same slope, so that the end rafter of the large pit would do for the smaU one, and the brick end would form one side of the smaller pit — so that this would be a cheap and very convenient one ; but I lay more stress on the arrangement, as I j)ropose to make it. The thing is as familial' to me as cracking nuts ; and I am well satisfied that in all our books and maga- zines on gardening, you will not meet with a better arrangement, or a more simple and easy one to manage; and, as for the dm-abUity and cheapness of the whole concern, I shall venture a prediction, that nothing to excel it in aU these points shall be brought forward for the next ten years ; and I am fuDy aware of the responsibility of the assertion. It will be seen below, that I have discarded the tank system altogether for plant culture, such as the generality of amateurs may be supposed to possess. I may say, however, that I think as highly of the tank system as any one, notwithstanding all the blunders it gave rise to. The gi-eat difficulty about tanks, is the almost impossibility of getting common bricklayers to consti-uot them properly. If Fortune's pit is made nine feet wide, according to the plan, and a small pit at one end of it, as I suggest, a recess of thi-ee feet wiU be left behind the small pit. In the angle of this recess I propose the fire-place to be ; and to have an open pan boiler over it, large enough to hold eight gallons of water. These boilers are cast at almost aU the iron foimderies, and cost fi'om 9d. to Is. per gallon. I believe, for a shilling per gallon, you may get one cast to order with two flanges ; one of which to be at the top for a flow-pipe of two inches diameter, and the other flange as near the bottom as they can get it, for a return pipe. The boiler is intended only to supply a constant and uniform bottom-heat for the small propagating pit, by means of a circuit of two-inch ii-on-pipe, under a covering of slate half-an-inch thick. This way of supplying bottom-heat is fully as good for propagation as a tank ; much cheaper, and ten times more simple, for it is impossible it can get out of order. The only question, therefore, with the public will be, will the slate bear- this heat ? and will the dry-heat so produced be as congenial to the plants as that from a water-tank? There is not the shghtest danger on either of these heads, as I shall presently shew. But first let us take a glance at the history of the tank system. In May, 1842, plans and sections of two contiguous houses, which I had heated by the tank system here (Shrubland Pai-k), were inserted in the Oardener's Chronicle ; and six weeks afterwards, a paper on the tank system was read before the Horticultural Society of London, from Mr. Rendle, nurseryman, Plymouth ; both of us having hit on the plan about the same time. Mr. R. wrote a nice book on the subject soon afterwards, and the thing soon spread over the country like wUd- fire. The nurserymen took advantage of the tank system for their propagating-houses, using the tanks with steam-tight covers ; and the gardeners applied it for bottom-beat for all their forcing; some using close covers, and others allowing a little vapom' to arise be- tween the joints of the slates which covered the tanks; and the two parties carried on a rattling cross cor- respondence in the papers and magazines for the next year or two ; and the bricklayers increased the confusion by leaky tanks. Cast-iron tanks were then substituted, also wooden ones, some of which were lined with lead ; then galvanized iron tanks, which brings down their history to the present hour. In all these cases, hot water was made to cu-culate in covered troughs or tanks, divided into two parallel divisions, to represent two pipes ; but in no case could the heat from these tanks be used for heating the atmosphere of a house or pit and for bottom- heat at the same time, because, if the tanks were heated so as to be sufficient for the house, they must needs be too hot for the pots. Bottom-heat is never wanted above 90 degi'ees ; and even to keep out the frost, an ordinary tank would require to be much hotter than that at the surface ; therefore, flues or hot water pipes must always be used where the tank is a medimn for bottom-heat. I wish to lay pai-ti- cular stress on the above explanation about top and bottom-heat from tanks, as thousands of pounds have been squandered away on tank experiments. To my own Iruowledge, a vei-y good new tank was covered with a close wooden cover this very spring; good mould placed on the boards, and good cucum- ber plants put in at once ! ! ! Of com'se no heat could pass through deal-boards. If this number of The Cottage Gaedenee had been in existence last December, my fiiend might have saved ten pounds by sim))ly reading this letter; for he intended to clear that sum with selling early cucumbers, after paying for the expense of his new house, which is an excellent one, with a span roof; for I went to see it, and prescribed the necessary alterations for another stai't. Now, I think I shall be able to make my plan more clear to those who know nothing of these matters, for that is the point that I have been aiming at by this digression. It will be plain enough, therefore, that, if bottom-heat is quite regular aU over a hot-bed (and seeing that, for the pm-poses of propagation, the bottom of that bed may he hermetically closed with- out in any way diminishing its usefulness, but rather the contrary) — it does not signify in the least degree how that heat is supplied — a diy-baked flue would be just as good as an open tank of water under a sealed slate covering; as the eft'ect of diy or moist heat woidd be the same after the heat passed through the slate. But would the flue be as effectual as the tank? It would not, because the flue would be hottest at one end, whereas the tank would give the heat unifonn, or nearly so — besides the inconveni- ence of getting it cleaned ; therefore, a tank is better for bottom-heat than a flue ; but any other mode that will supply bottom-beat uniformly, and with as little trouble and risk as a tank, wiU surely be as efficient in every respect as a tank. The question, therefore, is reduced to this, what is the cheapest mode to supply bottom-heat, which at the same time will be as uniform and efficient as a tank. I have answered this question in 1S43, but not quite in so simple a form ; I had no chance, how- ever, of proving the thing experimentally till last autumn, when a boiler which heated two of om- stoves here had worn out, and it was resolved to re- model the houses under a new boiler — if you will allow the phi-ase. The two houses were converted into one, and a bed in the middle, about 40 feet long and 6 feet 266 THE COTTAGE GAEDENER. wide, tbat was formerly filled with leaves or bark for bottom-heat, was to be heated from the new boiler in any way I chose. A tank was suggested ; but I said no, all I want is steady bottom-heat ; I have ample means already for moisture or damp heat when wanted ; tanks often leak, and sometimes sediment or dust gets into them, and fi-om them into the boiler (which in this instance is a close one, and cannot be cleaned out every day) ; so, if you please, I should prefer hot water pipes. But the diy heat will crack your slate coverings, "wont it?" No, if they are not hotter than I want for bottom-heat ; and I must keep that down to my own standai'd by stop- cocks. And sm-e enough, there they are ; and nothing in the world answers better. The flow-pipe is about sis inches below the slate, and two inches fi-om the earth ; the return pipe dips a little towards the bot- tom of the boiler, and may be a foot or so from the slate at one end ; the slate is an inch thick, to stand the weight of large pots, and is laid across the pit, each end resting on a course of bricks ; a pier, made with three or four bricks, is set under the centre of each slate. There is no mortar used to set the slates, but merely laid on dry ; and they are a quarter of an inch apart on the edges. Heat rises through these openings as well as through the slate ; and to get this heat diHused under the pots, a layer of rough cinders is laid all over the slates, two inches thick : then nine inches of sand to plunge pots in ; the sand is watered occasionally, as the heat passes through it readier when damp. Nothing can answer better, and in simplicity beats all the tanks that ever were thought of; for there is nothing to get out of order, and the pipes are a good deal cheaper than a tank of bricks laid in cement. Now, this is the sort of thing I wish to introduce into amateur's' gardens, for raising their seeds and striking then- cuttings, and for nursing all their little pet plants till they are strong enough to stand the greenhouse; two-Lnch pipes, and half-inch slate for a bottom, will be quite sufficient. That sized pipe will cost about 9d. per foot, and the slate 6d. or 7d. per square foot; and with an eight gallon boiler, at 9d. per gallon, you may heat a much larger pit than I contemplate; and by leaving a couple of inches not covered at the back and front of the pit, heat will rise sufficiently for top use ; besides, the boiler being in the angle behind the bricks wiU be hot there more or less, and the division wall between the two pits will always be hot when the flue is going; and when heat is not requii-ed in the larger pit, it must be turned into a shaft over the boUer. All this, or any part of it, may be so modified as to suit any situation. D. Beaton. THE KITCHEN-GAEDEN. S.woTS. — A sowing of this most useful winter vegetable should be made about the middle of JIarch, and again in the first week of AprO, so that a succes- sion of good plants may be secured for pricking out when the early potatoes, peas, &c., have been cleared away. The hardiness of the savoy, which defies the severest frosts, and its excellency for the table, at a season when other white-hearted cabbages are scarce, render it one of the most useful of the winter vege- tables. It is also excellent food for the cow; and swine are remarkably fond of it. For brood sows and store pigs, mL\ed with a little warm pollard or meal, it makes a most substantial food. There are several varieties: — the Drumhead (excellent for cattle) ; the Glohe and Yellow vai-ieties ; the Green- curled, very dwarf; and the Sprouting, or Feather- stemmed. The last named, we succeeded in raising by crossing the dwarf Green-curled savoy with a good variety of Brussels sprouts, wliich has proved a very superb, hardy, prolific vegetable; producing a thicket of little firm-headed sprouts upon the stem or stalks, and a good-sized savoy kind of head on the summit. We recommend the extensive culture of the savoy to both amateur and cottager. T)ie dwarf curled Green, and the sprouting-stemmed, are the two varieties to which we have of late years confined ourselves, on account of their- hardmess and prolific- ness. SpiN.icii. — The round-leaved spinach is a good vari- ety for spring and summer sowing; the prickly-seeded and Flanders' vaiieties for winter sowing. Where spinach is only required in small quantities, the Flanders' variety will answer for botli summer and ^vinter. All these varieties are fond of well-pulve- rised, rich soil, and should be sown thin in di-ills, from one foot to eighteen inches apart. Keep the rows well thinned out, and if the surface of the earth is kept well stirred with the hoe between the rows, a fine and abundant crop of leaves will be produced. Tetraijonla, or New Zealand spinach, is also a useful article where spinach is required in succession throughout the year. One or two plants raised in heat, and potted in AprO, when the ridge cuoiunbers are sown, and put out the first week in May, and treated in the same way as the ridge cucimibers, will produce an abimdance of healthy leaves, all through the summer and autumn — heat and drought exactly suiting this variety ; whDst the other varieties are troublesome to produce fine in dry hot weather, on account of their inclination to run to seed at an early period. Tomatoes, capsicums, chillies, sweet mai-joram, and sweet basil, should be sown on a gentle heat ; bumet, winter savory, and thyme, should be sown in any spare corner or border ; and new beds of tarragon, spear- mint or peppiermint, should be planted as soon as the shoots of tlie old beds have made stems above ground from two to three inches high, wliich may be pulled up : these breaking off with young fibrous shoots wiU ensure their gi'owth, if planted on well-pidverised soil six inches apart each way, in rows ; and will esta- blish beds of luxuriant plants in a few months. General Work. — Do not allow winter vegetables to gi-ow at random at this season, to rob the soU and prevent more useful summer crops from being sown or planted, for the sake of a few spring sproutings, &c. If coleworts or early cabbages are not plentiful to succeed such ai-ticles, they may easUy be removed and laid in thick by the heels in any odd corner, to produce sprouts till they can be spared. Full crops of carrots may be sown where the soU is at tlus time properly pulverised ; the seed should be well mixed and parted by the ajiplication of dry wood-ashes or chaiTed dust of any kind, and sown thin in drills one foot apart at least ; with lime slaked by exposiu-e to the air also drilled separate from the seed. CucDMBEEs AND Melons IN Frames or pits sliouH now be well encouraged, by maintaining a brisk, kindly heat. By whatever means applied, it should be augmented as the season advances and light in- creases. Caution is necessary in the application or admission of external air ; cold cutting draughts must be carefully avoided, as sudden checks lay most sm'ely the foundation of disease and vermin. The admission of external air may be softened by various means ; by placing strips of very thin coarse canvas, woollen netting, coai'se bunting, dry fei"u, heath, THE COTTAGE GAKDENER. 267 furze, spnice-flr, or other boughs or mats, at or near the aperture where the ah' is admitted. We like to maintain for the next fortnight, for gi'owing plants of either cucumbers or melons, a temperature of from 68^ to 72° ; and for either, that is setting and swelling fruit, from 72° to 76°, or thereabouts. I need not state how necessary it is to keep up a suc- cession of healthy young plants of both, where there are means for gi-owing them after early potatoes, forced asparagus, &c., &c. Potato Dise.\se. — Those who have an idea that this pest is caused suddenly by atmospheric influence and electricity, &c., &c., as we often observe by the public press, and may have any suspicion that their crops have been affected, may convince themselves by now searching the base of the young shoots — where they may readily discover the commencement of this, as some would state, mysterious pest (though not exactly mysterious to us), by observing brown punctured spots, which have swelled and burst ; as the shoot proceeds, it puts forth young roots, is again attacked, swells and bursts. It is the sudden change of atmospheric influence afterwards which causes so many to suppose their potatoes to have been in the most perfect health up to a certain day or night, and then to have been suddenly struck seriously with the disease : these facts we have for several years been well acquainted with. Though this season, we are happy to state that, the in-door early crops have not been so free from disease for these four years ; but by close in- spection, among the crops now coming on under the pi'otection of mats or slight hotbeds, and among those in the borders or field, I find, to my sorrow, the old enemy ; but not, at the present time, an eighth part so serious as I have observed it for the last thi'ee years, in the month of Februaiy. It is certain that we shall again be visited by this serious pest ; but to what extent, the variation of atmosjjheric influence will decide. Ja:mes Babnes. MISCELLANEOUS INTOEMATION. MY FLOWERS. (No. 19.) As little delay as possible should be permitted in all planting operations now, as the vigour and strength of ti-ees and shi-ubs will be materially checked, and their beauty injured, by being moved when vegeta- tion is much advanced ; and we cannot expect that such mild and open weather as we have hitherto revelled in can continue through the ever-ungenial month of March. The dry, nipping winds of spring — so wholesome in their general efl'ects, and so merci- fully given to disperse noxious vapom-s and purify the atmosphere — are not favourable to newly-planted shrubs, which require moisture at their roots until they have seated themselves securely in their new residences; and water given by the hand is never so enriching and beneficial as that which the soil and clouds convey. Let everything be now done that has been left undone, therefore ; or else wait patiently until the autumn, for little good wUl arise from disturbing the roots late in the season. The hornbeam is a very useful and beautiful tree in gai-dens, and not much considered. There are some situations that might be improved, and made to appear more extensive than they are, by the judicious introduction of this tree, planted and clipped in the form of hedges, and allowed, at the same time, to grow to any height required, with more ease and grace than hedges usually do. I have seen a most beautiful pleasure-ground laid out in this way, and consisting only of a wood of hornbeam, through which straight walks were cut, crossing each other, and all terminating in one broad walk, which ran round the enclosm-e. The description sounds formal, but the appearance was almost perfect: the walks were covered with a kind of short grass, that seemed never to need the scythe ; the shade and shelter appeared to keep evei-ything in order ; and there were no rank weeds or luxmious briers to be seen ; all was neat, and close, and beautifid ; and it seemed to me that neither eye nor foot could tire of those verdant secluded walks. The ground thus planted was a three-cornered piece, and could not have been made into anything bearable without the hand of unusual taste; and very probably, for the first few years, it may have been the ridicule of the neighbourhood ; but now it is indeed lovely, and shews what may be done with a little time, a little taste, and a little trouble. Layers may now be made of roses, evergreens, &c. It is well to keep up a constant succession of useful and beautilul plants, when it can be done with so little trouble ; and if we do not ourselves require them, we shall often find neighbom's who will be glad to possess a few young plants. Cottagers would sometimes Uke to decorate their little gardens with a laurel, box-tree, or laurustinus ; and they cannot do so tmless these plants are given to them ; for the poor have nothing to spend upon pleasures; at least every penny ought to be very differently employed in these times of poverty and pressure. If a space in a lady's garden can be spai-ed for the purpose, she might remove the layers, when rooted, to remain till wanted, and there would then be a little nursery of stout, healthy plants, always ready for use. Perennials and biennials may now be planted for flowering this season. Among the most showy of these useful and beautiful tribes is the hollyhock. In borders, among shrubs, to screen unsightly walls, to fill up spaces where height is wanted, to stand grouped together in a conspicuous spot where sti-iking efiect is desirable, these tall, gay, richly- flowering plants are of great value ; plant, therefore, judiciously, as many as you can. The colours are bright and various. Crimson, and pink, and prim- rose, look lovely when clustei-ed together, with here and there a deep, rich, dark variety, to give tone and contrast to the group. They should never stand singly, nor should they be placed m little beds, or among smaller plants ; but let them enrich and beau- tify the back ground, and glow among evergi-eens and trees. Select the colours well : some are fi'ight- fully nondescript in hue ; but the more decided the colour is, the more pleasing and striking will be the effect. I have frequently been disgusted with holly- hocks ; but I know it has arisen from their being stuck in anywhere, without regard to situation, never properly staked, and left to straggle and blow about in wretched desolation, giving an air of wildness and disorder that affected the flower itself. When stand- ing erect, in full leaf and bloom, there is dignity and grace in the hollyhock. The scarlet lychnis is another gay autumnal flower. It should be planted too. The rose-campion is a very brilliant httle flower, and well deserves honom-able mention, especially as it blooms kiudly in my cold garden, and cheers me when many others refuse to blow. I love its bright blossoms and downy leaves, and recommend it to all who do not disdain the more simple treasm'cs of the border. Sweet-williams, rockets, campanulas, waUfiowers, &c., should also be planted now; pinks and carna- 268 THE COTTAGE GARDENER. tions too. These last are generally considered so much as florists* flowers, that ladies sometimes feel fearful of attempting their cultivation, unless they can produce fine flowers ; hut let them not deprive their gardens of these fragi'ant ornaments in their simplest form. A large tuft of the common white pink, and a group of the rich and spicy clove-carna- tion, may stand fearlessly in any border. Nothing can be more fragrant, and they need little culture. A cottage garden sparkling with these simple but exquisite flowers ever delights the eye; and my untutored taste enjoys a rich cluster of common pinks and carnations far more than the rare speci- mens I see, treasured singly, screened first from sun and then from rain, too precious to be gathered, and too delicate to touch. I delight in looking at the wonders of distant climates, displayed in the stove and greenhouse ; they give enlarged ideas of the splendour and multiplicity of the works of God. The hand that has *' weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance," has moulded eveiy bud, and painted eveiy flower; and the rich and gorgeous creepers and plants of every size and shape, that are cherished in our hothouses, astonish and delight our minds, as the varied gifts of an Almighty Parent. Still I turn to my own simple flowers — to those of The Cottagk Gardener too — -and I never feel one wish to give them up for the brightest beauty the hothouse can afford. No ! let us cultivate the O'easures of our own dear Biitish soil, with thankful and contented hearts. We may, perhaps, see a smile on the countenance of some man of ** science," but a rose, a honeysuckle, a clove-carna- tion, and a sweet pea, will, I am sure, in an instant soothe and silence him. TO CORRESPONDENTS. Erection of a Greenhouse {E. H. J., Gravelye). — Our corres- pondent wishes to know the name of acme one who will undertake to put him up a greenhouse, in Sussex, at a cheap rate. Our columns are open for an advertisement in reply. A Novice will find his wishes met. as much as we can, by a Calen- dar for the ensuing month being printed on the cover of each of the future parts. Labels {Amy), — Wooden labels painted white, and written upon with a lead pencil, are the cheapest at first ; but sheet-zinc is cheap, and we recommend the latter as much neater, far more durable, and accompanied by no difficulty. We shall give more information next week. Large Rouen Leek Seed {Ibid). — Has any seedsman this for sale? Size of Flowee-pots {Ibid). — When we speak of a nine-inch pot, or a three-inch pot, or of any other size in inches, we mean that that is its diameter across the mouth. Thumbs are the smallest pota made, and are about 14 inch in diameter. 3-inch pots are the old 60s 5 — — 48s 6 — — 32s 8 — — 24s 9 ] 1-inch pots are the old 12s 12 — — 83 13 — — 6s 15 — — 49 18 — — 28 Fuchsia Coccinea {Aynietis). — Our correspondent wishes to know where " this first of the family introduced into England can be obtained." We should think of any London florist. Index {W. R. Smith). — You are quite mistaken as to this. We are thinking of having half-yearly volumes, and shall give a fresh and uniform index for each. Coping of Walls (T. /f. ;i/.).— Two or three inches is a sufficient distance for this to project beyond the face of the wall. Much that we have said about the peach-tree applies to the apricot ; but you must be more particular in your questions before we can answer decidedly. Raspberkies {Arthur Greenhorn). — Your heavy soil will be im- proved for this fruit by mixing it with coal ashes. Your gardener is right in saying the raspberries should be planted forthwith. Cab- bage leaves, or any other vegetable refuse, when thoroughly decayed in a dry place, will form leaf-mould. Sow calceolaria seed now. Convolvulus Major {M. T., Glnwestershire). — To grow the best varieties in perfection, the seed should be sown about the middle of this month, in a gentle hotbed; the secdiiii-s pricked out three or four together in small pots, and placed in l cAd frame, or other shelter, to harden them for finally planting in a warm border at the end of May. They like a rich, light soil, and plenty of water to the roots in dry weather. Buck-wheat and Canary {Ibid). — Tlie proper time for sowing the first is early in May, and for the canary early in March. Longest Cucumber (G. M., Gateshead).— Duncan's Victoria, and Allen's Victory of England, have both been grown more than two feet long. You can get them of any London seedsman. Soap-boiler's Ashes (J. L., Preston). — There is not much good in these as a manure. They contain a iittle charcoal, less saline matters, and much earth. Spread it over your ground thickly, and dig it in, chielly to add to the staple of the soil, but thickest where you purpose planting potatoes. CupHEA Platycentba {An Amateur). — You may cut down your plant, taking care to leave a few young branches, with leaves on, towards the bottom. The cuttings you may put in pots, in the same manner as the cuttings of the campanula ('see p. 258), only they will require a bell-glass over them ; a goblet, or tumbler glass, would answer nearly as well. You might try a few in glass phials, in the manner described by Mr. Beaton, in the 20th number of this work. Coal-Ashes (0. /., Hampstead). — Your clay soil will be greatly benefitted by the application of coal-ashes, if they be thoroughly niLxed with it. They certainly have no tendency to promote canker in fruit-trees, and are not prejudicial to vegetables, if incorporated with the soil. Coal ashes are composed chiefly of sandy matter (silicia), chalk, gypsum, oxide of iron, with salts of potash, soda, and magnesia, most of which are beneficial to plants, and all help to render heavy soil more open and friable. If you drain your garden you will adopt one of the best preventives of canker, and one of the best means of securing good crops. To Cover A Tabbed Paling {U71 Ami, Deptford). — You cannot plant anything against this that will look so well all the year as Irish ivy. You need only put in some plants close to the fence, and about three feet apart, and nail them to it at first. Afterwards they will take care of themselves. You cannot grow anything between your rows of potatoes, which are 18 inches apart; but you might put a broad bean here and there, not nearer than two feet from each other, in the rows. Between your rows of peas, 30 inches apart, you might put a row of spinach. Spade Husbandry {W. T.). — You will find, we think, the pith of Dr. Ycllowly's statements in the British Farmer^s Magazine^ No. 4, New Series. Rhododendron Cuttings {An Enquirer). — These will not always succeed — it is the worst mode of propagating the rhododendron. The wood of the cuttings should only be half ripe. Plant them in a large pot, only two-thirds filled with sand, and the leaves so deep down in the pot that they may be covered with a sheet of glass placed over its mouth. Put the pot mthin a frame, or other place, where there is a gentle heat. Wipe the glass dry every morning, and keep the sand moist. If this be neglected, the cuttings alwiiys perish. Layer- ing is a much safer mode of propagating the rhododendron, but graft- ing the best of all. Climbers Round Tree-stems {L. B.). — At the foot of each of your two trees on your lawn plant two climbing roses. At the foot of one put Ruga and Felicite perpetuelle ; and at the foot of the other Inermis and Princesse Louise. Graft your crab-tree with the Kerry Pippin and the Lamb Abbey Pearmain. They are two of the beat flavoured and best keeping apples, and are good croppers. Lime (S. M.). — Do not mis this with your compost; it decomposes the ammoniacal salts contained in all dungs, and thus drives off some of their most valuable coaiponents. Lime mixed with tanner's spent bark will hasten its decay, and help to break it down into vegetable mould, which will be a good manure. Mix the lime and bark well together : one bushel of the lime to four bushels of the bark, and turn the heap over three or four times. Evergreen Roses {A Mendiponinn Subscriber). — As you wish to cover the sheltered east end of your house with these flowers, plant, close to the wall, Brunonii, reddish crimson; Felicite perpetuelle, and Princesse Louise ; the two last have creamy white flowers, but are very different in character. Very fragrant roses, suited for the border before your windows, are Riego, a hybrid China, carmine; Rose du Roi, a damask perpetual, crimson ; Prince Albert, a hybrid perpetual, red-lake ; Jaune Desprez, a noisette, reddish yellow. Do not be mis- led by the name to think '* evergreen " roses have their leaves on all the year ; and do not expect, with an east aspect, to have roses in such perfection as when they enjoy a better exposure. SoW-BREAD AND M ANGOLD- WUBTZEL {A Dutch Tlllip). — OuT correspondent says, that " Sau-brod " — for our name appears to be a corruption of the continental one — is sometimes called by our north- ern neighbours Wa/d-rubi, or Forest-root; and that Mmigel-umrzet means "poverty, or want-root." If "A Dutch Tulip" knew the kind-hearted gentleman who sent us the brief comment he refers to. he would never have fancied, for a moment, that he wrote sneeringly. Don's Gardener's Dictionary (Cniciferts). — It is imperfect. Paxton's Botanical Dictionary will be of more use to you, and is cheaper. It is not the largest book that always has the most useful information in it. We will consider about the vitality of seeds. Super-phosphate of Lime for Roses {Art Enquirer). — You will have seen an answer as to the proportion of this salt you should use in compost. By itself, a tablespoonful sprinkled round each bush will be enough. Lancashire Pig-feeding {W. X. Gtpnde). —The statements relative to this subject, at p. 245, were sent to us by Mr. Saul, of Nutby Cottage, Garstang, Lancashire ; and we believe him to be a practical man. We have communicated with him on the subject, and wc will publish his reply. Many Other Questions have their answers ready, but must be postponed, from want of room, until nest week. London : Printed by Harby Wooldridge, 147, Strand, in the Parish of Saint Mary-le- Strand ; and Winchester High-street, in the Parish of St. Mary Kalendar; and Published by William SoMERviLLE Orr, at the Office, 14", Strand, in the Parish of Saint Mary-le-Strand, London.— March 8th, I849. THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 209 WEEKLY CALENDAR. M w D D 15 Th 16 F 17 S 18 Son 19 M 20 Tu 21 W MARCH 15—21, 1849. Red Ant appears. Frog spawns. [heard. St. Patrick. Pied Wagtail's spring note / 4 OR Mid. S. Prs. Louisa born 1848. \ Edward K. W. Saxons. Black Currant leaves. Linn. &. Hort. Soc. Meet. Benedict. Snn's declin. 0° 19' N. Plants dedicated to Sun Sun Moon R. Moon's Clock Day of each day. Rises. Sets. and Sets. Age. hef. Sua. Year. Coltsfoot. 16 a 6 aa6 20 9 5 74 Sodding Daffodil. 14 4 57 21 8 47 75 Shamrock. 11 6 1 51 (!T 8 30 76 Great Leopard's Bane. 9 7 2 39 23 8 12 77 Yellow star of Bethlehem. 7 9 3 23 24 7 54 78 Dog Violet. 5 11 4 2 25 7 36 79 Bulbous Fumitory. 8 12 4 37 26 7 18 80 St. Patrick, the tutelar sjdnt of Ireland, was by birth either a Welchman or a Scotchman ; but being seized and carried into slavery by some Irish chieftain, he by that means became acquainted with the ignorance and heathenism of " the green island." Escaping by the aid of certain sailors, he was by them landed in France, and thence travelling into Italy, he was admitted into holy orders by Pope Celes- tine about the year 430. He was commanded to evangelize Ireland, and no man ever addressed himself more earnestly or unwearyingly to his allotted work. He ordained clergy, preached in every district, founded schools, and was charitable even beyond his means. He died on this day about the year 464. The legend accounting for the sham- rock being worn on this day is, that when St. Patrick could not make the Irish believe in the unity of the Trinity, he plucked a sprig of shamrock, and won their assent by asking — " Is not the unity of the Trinity as possible as for these three leaflets to be united on one stem ?" It is usually believed that the trefoil or clover is the sham- rock, but we rather incline to consider it identical with the wood- sorrel. This is gratefully acid and eatable, but that is not the case with trefoil; yet Spencer, writing in 1596, says, when the Irish " found shamrocks, there they flocked as to a feast for the time." Edward, King of the West Saxons, was stabbed on this day, in the year 978, at Corfe Castle, in Dorsetshire. The murder was perpetrated by command of his step-mother, but her " sin found her out" whithersoever she fled; "her days brought a aeries of mental horrors, and her nights were more fearful than her waking hours." St. Bennet, or Benedict, was an Italian ecclesiastic of great austerity, chiefly famous for founding the order of Benedictine Monks. He died in the year 543. Phenomena of the Season.— Resuming our notes upon the cir- cumstances attendant upon the germination or sprouting of seeds, and having shewn how essential for this are warmth and moisture, we will now proceed to shew how equally necessary is the presence of air. No seed will germinate if so enclosed that the air, or at least one of its gases, oxygen, cannot get to it. When healthy seed is moistened and exposed in a suitable temperature to atmospheric air, it absorbs from it the oxygen only. This power of separating one gas from the others appears to reside in the skin of the seed, for old seeds lose the power of absorbing the oxygen, and, consec^uently, of germinating ; yet they will frequently germinate if soaked in a solution of chlorine in water;* chlorine being a gas which has the power of attracting hydrogen from water, and releasing the oxygen, doing so in the case of seeds within their skin, as well as withoutside. Humboldt and Saussure have also shei,vn that the application of chlorine to seed accelerates its germination ; and cress seed, which, under ordinary circumstances, requires some days to complete the process, they found effected it in no more than three hours, when moistened mth chlorine. This absolute necessity for the presence of oxygen is the reason why seeds will not germinate if buried beyond a certain dis- tance from the earth's surface ; and why clayey soils often fail of having a good plant, an impervious coat of clay enveloping the seed, and preventing the air's access. How oxygen operates in aiding the seed to develop the parts of the embryo plant we cannot even guess — we only know that most seeds have more carbon (pure charcoal) in their composition than other parts of their parent plant ; that the oxygen absorbed by the seeds combines with a portion of that carbon, and is emitted in the form of carbonic acid. These are the attendant phenomena ; but we can penetrate the mystery no farther. March 1841. 1842. 1843. 1844. 1846. 1846. 1847. 1848. 15 Fine. Fine. Fine. Fine. Frost. Showery. Fine. Showery. Highest & lowest 66°— 30° 64°— 46° 65° — 15° 63°— 30° 36°— 27° 57°— 15° 58°— 34° 52°— 30° temp. 16 Fine. Fine. Fine. Fine. Snow. Showery. Fine. Rain. 65°— 35° 56°— 44° 57°— 29° 53°_38° 34°— 19° 55°— 31° 59°— 12° 44°— 36° 17 Showery. Cloudy. Fine. Cloudy. Frost. Frosty. Fine. Rain. 56°— 41° 56°— 43° 64°— 31° 44°— 30° 42°— 16° 48°— 26° 61°— 26° 42°— 36° 18 Fine. Fine. Fine. Pine. Frosty. Frosty. Fine. Fine. 56°— 40° 52°— 35° 67°— 36° 46°— 35° 43°— 27° 47°— 23° 6l°— 27° 54°— 27° 19 Showery. Showery. Cloudv. Cloudy. Frosty. Frosty. Fine. Showery. 54°— 34° 46»— 40° 55°— 41° 51°— 36° 44°— 25° 47°— 23° 59°— 37° 6S°— 29° 20 Showery. Showery. 48°— 38* Fine. Rain. Frosty. Snow. Cloudy. Rain. 57°— 39° 63°— 45° 48°— 23° 40°— 16° 4j°— 20° 67°— 41° 53°— 30° 21 Cloudy. Showery. Fine. Fine. Fine. Cloudy. Fine. Showery. 54°— 48° 49°— 34° 59°-47° 60°— 31° 49°— 31° 46°— 35° 69°— 26° 50°— 25° Insects. — Let our readers take a candle and lantern, and look out late of an evening during the remainder of this month, and in April, for the Red-legged Garden weevil {Otiorhynchits tenebricosus), by some naturalists called a Curculio. They are found feeding upon the blossom-buds of apricots, nectarines, peaches, and plums. They devour the centre of those buds ; and then, if numerous, which they frequently are, and pressed for food, they will eat the leaf-buds, and even the bark of the young shoots. They bury themselves by day in the earth, close to the foundation of the wall to which the trees are trained, likewise round the stems of the trees, and, most probably, in chinks of the bricks, and other dark hiding-places. When recently hatched they are clothed with a delicate vellow down, formmg little irregular spots upon the elytra or wing- cases ;t but the spots soon disappear, when the weevils become of a shining black, inclining to a pitch-colour. The antennae or feelers are twelve-jointed, long, thin, and bent so as to form a knee or angle ; the feelers have a slender club at their ends, formed of four downy rusty- coloured wings. The thorax or breast part is sometimes of a dark chesnut colour, and covered with fine granules or bumps. The legs are of a reddish-browD colour. Our cut represents this insect of its natural size (five or six lines long), as well as much magnified. The larvfe, or maggots, of these weevils are nearly as destructive as their parents. They are buried at the foot of the fruit-tree walls, and especially in the earth just round the stems of the trees. This earth, and that along the foot of the wall, should be stirred with a fork in the autumn, covered thickly with salt, and then well soaked with ammoniacal liquor from the gas-works. Mr. Curtis, in his British Entomology, says that these maggots were so abundant in 1836, in Lord Eldon's garden at Encombe, in Dorsetshire, that they extended their ravages from the roots of the wall-fruit-trees to those of every vegetable ; as well as those of the currants, gooseberries, strawberries, and raspberries. * Chlorine is an unbreathable gas, obtained by pouring oil of vitriol upon common salt. This gas has the power of taking hydrogen gas from water, and thus producing oxygen ; for water is composed of hydrogen and oxygen united together, t This insect has no wings ; and the wing-cases are united together by a fine membrane. The insect world is much more active than is usual at this early period of the year. Some weeks since, we saw the Peacock and Sulphur Butterflies gamhol- ing in the sunbeams, and in a few weeks we may find their caterpillars — those of the first-named upon the leaves of the stinging-nettle, and those of the Sulphur Butterfly upon various species of the buckthom. The Skipjack Beetles (Elater sputator and Slater lineatusj have also been seen — those parents of some of our worst garden foes, the wire- worms ; and the young shoots of some of our China roses, on a south aspect in Hampsbii-e, were thickly No. XXIV., Vol. I. 270 THE COTTAGE GARDENER. infested with the Green Fly (Aphis rosa) as early as the last week of Febniary. Now, these are all admo- nitions to us that we must be more than ordinarily watchful, and early in adopting measures to meet and vanquish our insect foes ; but before we pro- ceed to give some directions on this point, let us record that God has set us an example even here, and well illustrating Paley's observation, that "our's is a world of compensations." Though the Aphis has been pennitted to be with us thus early, equally unusually early in its coming has been the Lady- bird (Ooccinella). This friend of the horticulturist — this devourer of the Green Fly — was rather nu- merous in our garden on the 22nd of February. For one of the modes of getting rid of the Green Fly, we refer our readers to Mr. Errington's direc- tions under the head " Fruit G.ieden," in our this day's columns. It is a mode equally applicable to plants in stoves, greenhouses, and frames. In these, however, it has the disadvantage of causing much extra labour, by the cleaning afterwards required for the glass, which is sprinkled and stained, unavoid- ably, by the liquor employed. Fumigation is the remedy to destroy the Green Fly, the Red Spider, and the Thrips, usually adopted under glass stnictures ; for in these the smoke or fumes employed for the purpose can be confined and kept about the insects until it has done its work of death. The same may be effected, though less perfectly, with plants gi-owLng out of doors, if these are covered closely with matting down to the ground, and the fumigating matters are then placed underneath the covering. In all fumigating operations it must be borne ever in mind, that if carried to excess they wlU kiU the plants as well as the insects. This warning seems to be particularly necessary to enforce on our readers just now, since one amateur, in a let- ter just received, informs us that he considered fumi- gating with sulphur (brimstone) meant burning it, and confining its smoke within the hothouse. He has jHirchased more accurate knowledge dearly, for he adds, " The gi-apes had set very well, and had attained some size, but the leaves shewed symptoms of the disease we had last year. Supposing this disease to be caused by some insect, I thought fumi- gating would prove a remedy. Accordingly, we gave them an atmosphere of the best sulphm-ous acid ! It has killed every leaf and bunch ; destroying, be- sides, all the tender plants I had in the house. I have heard since of more than one person who has done as I did, with the same result." We certainly did not think this possible; however, so it is, and we can scarcely add more to the warning afforded to the above record of the error. Our con-espondent is quite right in stating that, by burning brimstone in his vinery he placed his gi-apes in an atmosphere of sulphurous acid; and if any one wishes to see its consequences upon vegetation, let him put a few green leaves and a red rose under a tumbler, and then put within it a common brimstone match previously lighted. The leaves will speedily have their colour changed to a yellowish brown, and the rose will be- come white. Even dead vegetable matter is violently acted upon by the acid thus produced ; for we all know that straw bonnets are bleached by shutting them up in a box in which some sulphur is burning. Sulphur fumigation is employed chiefly for the destruction of the Red Spider, and it is the most effectual remedy known at present. In the vinery, peachery, or other houses liable to the appearance of this insect, sulphur fumigations should be applied three or four times annually. For a house thirty feet long and sixteen feet wide, six ounces of flowers of siilphur are sufficient for one fumigation. The best mode of proceeding is to dissolve a lump of soft soap, about the size of a walnut, in warm water ; adding to this some clay-water, made by working a lump of clay in wai'm water until it becomes of the tliickness of thin paint, and then mixing in the sulphur. When aU are well blended together, apply the mixture, by means of a brush, upon the side of the flue, or over the return pipe, if hot water is used as the means of warming. This must have been previously heated. The best time to apply it is late in the afternoon, just previously to closing the house for the night. Tohacco Fumigation is adopted to destroy the Green Fly and the Thrips. The two best modes of proceeding we have found to be the following — the one being the suggestion of Mr. Mills, the excellent gardener of Baroness de Rothschild, and the other of an innkeeper at Ipswich : — " According to the size of the place to be fumi- gated," says Mr. Mills, "one or more pieces of cast iron, one inch thick and three inches over, are made red hot (pieces of old tiles, such as are used for covering smoke flues, would probably answer equally well) ; one of these is placed in a twenty-four sized pot, on which is put the quantity of tobacco con- sidered necessary to charge the structure with smoke sufficient to destroy insect Ufe. To fumigate an ordinaiy-sized eight-light house, I use three heaters, and thi'ee twenty-four sized pots, which I have placed on the front flue or walk ; one pound of strong to- bacco is put on the three heaters in equal parts, and this I find sufiicient to fill the house, so as to destroy all the kinds of insects that perish by fumigation. The system has these advantages : the tobacco is so quickly consumed, that the house is completely filled in a veiy short time, and but little smoke can escape before the insects are destroyed ; the pure heat from the iron heaters prevents injury from gas, and as no blowing is requu'ed there is no dust, it being only necessary to put the tobacco on the heaters, and leave the house." — Gardeners Chronicle. The irmkeeper's is a very simple mode of fumi- gating jilants, and especially adapted for those in frames, and under hand-glasses tiu^ied over them for the purpose : — " Dissolve a table-spoonful of saltpetre in a pint THE COTTAGE GAEDENER. 271 of water ; take pieces of the coarsest brown paper six inches wide and ten inches long; steep them thorouglily in the solution ; dry them and keep till wanted. To fumigate, roll one of the pieces into a pipe like a cigar, leaving the hollow half an inch in diameter, which fill with tobacco; twist one end, and stick it into the soil ; hght the other, and it will burn gradually away for an horn- or more.'' Tobacco smoke should not be admitted to fruit- trees when in bloom, nor when the fruit is ripening, as it imparts to them a flavour. Another excellent authority, Mr. Cameron, has given the following very useful directions how best to proceed in using this fumigation : — " If the house is not filled too rapidly with smoke, and is allowed to reach the glEiss without coming in contact with any of the plants, it then descends as it cools, without doing any injury. Plants fumigated in frames, or under hand-glasses, are most Hable to be injured by the heat of the smoke, if not done cautiously. Fohage should be perfectly dry when a house is fumigated, and should not be syringed till next morning. If plants are syringed immediately after fumigation, many of the aphides wiU recover even where they have dropped off the plants, a fact which any one may soon prove after fumigating a house." Several correspondents having complained that the ink for writing on zinc labels, of which we gave the recipe, washes off, we think it best to state thus prominently, that the fault must be theirs, for we know it to be indelible. The fijst thing to be done is to scorn- off all the oxide from the face of the zinc to be written upon : the best mode of doing this is by means of sand paper ; and the scouring should be continued until the zinc is quite bright : it is then ready for the writing. A correspondent (S. C, Pres- ton,) describes, as follows, the mode in which he brightened his zinc for labels ; and the one he in- closed had the name of a flower upon it, in slightiy raised characters, as black as printers' ink : — " More than two years ago I was using several galvanic batteries, and wrote upon some of the zinc for labels with ink similar to yours, but the writing soon washed off. It then occuned to me that the zinc was used as it came from the shop, and the writing had been upon the oxide that covered the surface, and not on the zinc itself. I then held the heads of some of the labels in one of the battery jars, containing sulphuric acid vei-y much diluted, until they were well cleaned ; shook them in a Httle clean water, and when di-y wrote upon them. In- closed is a piece of one of the labels, which has been exposed two years in the open air : on scraping it with a knife, you will find a chemical action has taken place between the zinc and ink, and produced a raised manuscript, which would probably be legible for ten or a dozen years. The only secret, is to have the zinc perfectly clean when written upon." in cheap abundance. A very different condition of affairs exists in the neighbourhood of many great towns, and even in some rural parishes. We have known the pea-sticks for a moderately-sized garden cost thirty s hilli ngs ; and these, we know, will be only in part available for a second season. For the pm-pose of obtaining a more durable, and, therefore, less expensive supporter for peas, we have had a kind of hurdle made, with only a top and bottom bar, and these bars pierced with holes, six inches apart, as represented in the annexed drawing, No. 1. To prevent confusion in this, we have only NuMEBOus have been the inquiries made of us for a substitute for pea-sticks. To the dwellers in most cormtry districts such an inquiry may appear very unnecessary ; for in these, the underwood of hazel plantations (the best of pea-sticks) may be obtained shewn one of the hurdles as pierced with holes, and with string passed through them, but in practice both are strung alike. Each hm-dle is five feet long, and three feet wide between the two bars; for taU-growing peas the width might be more. The upright ends are made of deal, and are four feet long and two inches square. Eight in- ches of the lower ends are charred and pointed, because they have to be fixed in the groimd. The side bars ai'e two inches wide and one inch thick, also of deal, sunk into the up- rights, and then nailed. The peas are sown in double rows, with a space of nine inches be- tween the rows. The hurdles are strrmg with stout wetted string, because when dry it becomes tighter, and rain does not slacken it afterwards. A hurdle is put outside of each row of peas, and is made steadier by being tied to the one next to it, and the whole made firmer by being united to those opposite, by pieces of wood about one foot long, tied as shewn at No. 2. The plan may not answer, or the string may re- quire to be put on differently, so as to support the peas more effectually ; but we state the experiment we are tiying to enable others to do the same this season if shey please. We pay sis shillings per dozen for our hurdles, unplaned; and we have painted them over with coal-tar. We are glad at being obliged to give four extra pages this week, for the purpose of answering our numerous correspondents. THE FEUIT-GAEDEN. Peaches (Dbessings for). — We hope that those of our readers who cultivate the peach have attended to spring-dressing the shoots, as advised at P- 157 of this work. We deem it necessary, in addition, to apply a Mttle sulphur at this period ; and om- prac- tice is, to beat up three ounces of soft-soap in a 272 THE COTTAGE GARDENER. gallon of warm water, and thicken it with as much sulphur as it will carry, or nearly so. With this, by the aid of a bnisli, we draw a band or stripe on the wall between every two shoots, or, at least, up every vacancy, fi'om the bottom of the wall to the top ; taking care to apply a very broad band at the foot of the wall all the length. Now this, although appearing tedious, is soon accomplished. One man, in half-a-day, vriJl go through the trees of most ama- teurs, which, in general, do not extend beyond four or Ave. This treatment we have proved, for several years, to be an almost complete antidote against the red spider ; indeed, we may safely affirm that this destructive pest has never been worthy a consider- ation after carrying out this plan. Green Flt. — Whilst on the subject of peaches and nectarines, we may as well advert to the period of foliation (leafing) which is fast approaching. We mean not here to discuss the process of disbudding ; that must be defen-ed for a week or two ; but it is to the approach of another insidious enemy, which is at once to be dreaded and most cautiously giuu-ded against, viz., the Aphis, or green fly, as it is more commonly called, to whicli we would now draw attention. People often make great lamentations over the nakedness of their peach or nectarine trees ; and often we may see some long, stalky, besom-look- ing things called peaches, with nothing but a lettered label to give them significance. The idea immedi- ately strikes the mind, that it is scai'cely worth while to build such an expensive thing as a wall for the purjjose of producing a few terminal clusters of fi'uit. Now, if the manager happens to be a mere rule-of- thumb practitioner, people say that his proceedings have not been conducted on scientific principles ; if a bookish person, why then, of course, theory has I'liined his peaches. However, " wisdom is justified of all her children." About two summer's since, we were looking over some of the best gardens near the gi-eat metropolis; and, in the course of our trip, called on an old friend — a practical gardener of some forty yeai's' standing. Now, tliis man was, in most respects, a good gardener ; yet, strange to say, had not learned fully to recognise the immense amount of mischief of which the aphides are capable, as to the peach and nectarine. On our remarking to him that his peaches and nectarines were very foul, he, to our gi'eat astonishment, answered that it was only the common green fly. We coidd scarcely bring ourselves to believe that such an experienced person, as we knew him to be in most other respects, could so lightly esteem so powerful an enemy. For our own parts, we can say, that we have known several cases in which a fine wall of peaches and nectarines were so injured by the aphides in three or four days, that not even the most experienced gardener could restore them, and clothe the nakedness caused by this insect's devastations, without having recourse to budding. Now, it is pretty well known that this insect is sure to make its appearance, in a greater or less degree, at the time the young wood shoot begins to fully develope itself. This, then, occurs immedi- ately on the heels of the blossoming period. To- bacco, either by its smoke, or in the form of tobacco- water, is known to be totally destructive of this fly, if applied judiciously. Tobacco is somewhat expen- sive, and this is a misfortune for gardeners, for in the present imperfect state of horticulture we grieve to admit that nothing more efficient is known ; for great is the grievance of a thorough fumigation to the ladies of an establishment; their organ of smell, somehow or other, being more sensitive than that of the male sex. But we must give some good points of practice in this critical juncture. We have for years adopted a practice of applying tobacco-water the moment we can discern one green fly. Half a pound of strong and fi-esh shag tobacco will make one gallon of poweiful liquor, provided some soap- suds, instead of water, be used. We dress our trees two days successively, and, to this end, we brew enough at first to carry out the two applications. The tobacco-water, then, is made with as small a quantum of water as can be managed; the remainder is made up with common soapsuds, when the liquor is cooled down, and strained. As to the mode of application, we merely choose a still afternoon, if possible, but, above all, a dry one, for rain would caiTy away some of the properties of the mixture. Read's syringe is the instrument touse, and it requires some nicety of handling to economise the liquor, and to dispense it equally to all parts of the ti-ees, taking care that the shoots near the collar ai-e well soaked, for the fly is generally most injiu-ious here ; and this point, the collar, constitutes, as it were, a niu-sery of succession gi-owths, whereby the fabric of the tree, in case of damage, is repah'ed. The liquor, then, is darted right and left, until every portion of the tree, or nearly so, is wetted ; but, as some portions will of necessity escape, we repeat a similar dose on the suc- ceeding afternoon, with equal care ; and few are the portions that escape by this practice, as we have proved by many years' experience. This, then, with the sulphur mixture previously described, will secure any peach and nectarine trees from their two greatest enemies, during a whole summer. It must not be inferred, that these things are of necessity very tedious, — the tedium will be found principally in om' long detail ; but we were unwilling to leave any point open to misconception on a subject of such great interest to thousands as well as ourselves. Apricots. — We trust that every protection has been aftbrded to the apricot blossom, as well as to that of the peach. It is now high time that all pruning of this valuable fruit (which had not been comjjleted on account of the difficulty of distinguish- ing the blossom-buds) should be completed. We find it the only permanent plan to tie down on the main shoots all short-jointed young wood, instead of the old plan of spurring hack, which is notorious for causing barrenness in the end. On examining the older shoots of the apricot at this period, with a searching eye, small circular patches of eggs, about as large as the middle section of a mariow-fat pea cut in two, may be found. These, we have always understood, are the eggs of that most destructive caterpOlar, which gathers the apricot leaves in bunches to form a shelter, and thence commits great devastations, doing more injury to the apricot, pro- bably, than all other causes together. Everybody must be familiar with this cateiiiillar ; and we advise the trees to be closely searched directly, and the eggs crushed. They ai-e of a whitish cast, about the colour of the materials of a wasp's nest ; and they look precisely as if they had been pasted on. DouBLE-BEARiNo RASPBERRIES. — Thoso who have not spring-dressed this useful autumn fruit should do so forthwith. Such dressing consists in weeding or spudding out all superfluous suckers which are spreading too far from the original stool, taking away all the weakest. Indeed, a couple of strong shoots are enough for this kind ; for as these have to be cut dosvn witliin about fom' inches of the ground, each will produce a strong sucker or more ; and out of THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 273 these suckers, in May, about a couple of the strong- est must be selected to produce the autiunnal crop. Of this course we shall speak in due time. They should receive a slight top-dressing as soon as the pruning is completed. Strawberries. — Those who have not yet dressed their strawberry-beds must immediately do so, out- ting away aU dead or decaying leaves, in order to permit the new crown to develop itself in freedom. Any weeds which may have become mixed up with the crown should be carefully cut out with an old knife ; and aU waste runners which may have escaped last season's operations must be cleared away. If weeds exist between the rows, let them be hoed and raked off; but on no account dig between them. This is always wrong in spring, and but a doubtful operation, at the best, in the autumn. Our plan is, after thoroughly cleaning them, to give a good dressing, two inches in thick- ness, of half-decayed leaves between the rows ; and if the plants are rather wealdy, some soot wUl be of great benefit : this might be strewn among the leafy material previously to application ; and the mass turned and broken thoroughly. Alpine Strawberry. — Some prefer raising and treating this autumn fi-uit as an annual; for our parts, we think it quite as eligible to gi'ow them by the runner system, prorided the runners are very young, and receive high cultivation. An elevated bed or row should be selected, in a thoroughly open situation ; and as permanency of moistui-e is one of the great essentials in their cultiu'e, some old cow mamu'e may be incoi-porated with theii- soil. If the soil is sandy, it will be well to apply some sound loam also. They should by no means be planted too thickly, or the fruit wDl not be worth eatiug : much prejudice has been created against them in this very way. To have them fine, no two plants when full grown should touch ; they will, therefore, require to be at least fifteen inches apart. We plant three in a patch, six inches apait each way, and then allow half a yard between the patches. Apples : The American Blight. — All applications of a general character, that is to say, administered by the engine or syringe, should cease after this period, provided any strong materials are used in the liquor. We have some trees infested with this insect, and we have applied, by means of the syringe, a mixture composed of soft-soap (six ounces to the gallon), plenty of sulphur, and as much lime as it could carry, adding plenty of urine. Every chink in the trees appears to be filled quite fuU with the mixtm-e ; and having given three distinct appUcations, we feel flattered that these insidious enemies have all died in prison. We now cannot see the least vestige of them, but if any should accidentally peep forth, we shall at intervals use a little train-oil on the top of a narrow-pointed brush, and this we trust will exterminate them. THE FLOWEE-GARDEN. Laying-out Villa Gardens (continued). — Third principle — Appropriation. By this word is meant, in laying out grounds, the making use of scenery in the immediate neighbourhood of the garden, but not be- longing to it. In the country, this principle may be made use of to a considerable extent, with the hap- piest effect; especially where the villa is situated on rising ground. A part of the gi-ound of the garden, the farthest from the house, should be considerably raised, and a covered seat placed on it, so as to com- mand the best and most pleasing views. At the same time, the observers of such views should not be exposed to the gaze of neighboui-s or passers by ; therefore, the rising ground should be planted with shady trees and shrubs, leaving open only such points as will display the desired objects to the best advantage. This principle of appropriation may, in such happy situations as wiU admit of its use, be applied so as greatly to increase the attraction of the garden, by appropriating the surrounding scenery and objects to your own gratification. Bear in mind, also, in planting, to make the most of the views from the windows of the dwelling-house, as well as fi'om the seat on the mound; concealing, by planting, all unpleasant objects, and leaving opeu the views that are pleasant and agreeable. An old tower, the dis- tant village church spu-e, a peep at some man- sion embosomed in woods, a noble single tree, or a lofty moimtain, — and, above all, a view of the ocean, a river, or a lake. These are all objects, a view of which ought to be religiously preserved open as much as possible. The eye of true taste will never be weary of dwelling upon them, varying as they do under the different lights and shades. Some of these objects look best during the rising of the sun ; others when he is in his meridian glory ; whilst a thii-d class delights us most during the mild lustre of the decline in the heavens of that som-ce of Hght and heat. For ourselves, we most admire scenery bathed, as it were, in the beams of the setting sun, burnishing as they also do the mountain tops, tlie windows of the mansion, and throwing a refulgence over the whole appearance of Nature ; leading the mind to look up with thankfulness to that Divine Being who has given us such a beautiful world to Uve in. To realize such scenes, and to make the most of them, is an ai-t well worthy of yom- careful study. Observe them well from every point before you plant a tree, and arrange accordingly. The above observations relate chiefly to villas in the counti-y, far from noise and smoke. In or near large towns, alas ! the great object is, generally, to shut out all views whatever; and for a very good reason — because the views are too often so confined, blocked up, and inten-upted, tliat the eye is glad to rest upon the more pleasant sights at home in the garden. In such cases, seclusion must be the order of the day. Yet there are exceptions ; as, for in- stance, where a viUa is so situated as to command a view down a street, or into a square, or of a hand- some chui'ch. It would be unpardonable not to take advantage of such favourable situations. Fourth principle — Lawn : its extent and form. Though the use of a grass lawn in very small garden plots was objected to, on account of the trouble and expense of keeping it in good order, yet, in large gardens, it should be introduced pretty freely. The owner or occupier of a moderately-sized villa gai-den is supposed to have the means to keep his flower- garden and the lawn, forming the greater portion of it, in perfect order The extent of it depends partly upon the taste of the occupier and the situation of the garden. If the owner is pai-ticularly delighted with shrubs and beds of flowers, the lawn may, with perfect propriety, be reduced to meet that requii-ement. On the contrary, if he prefers a more open space, the breadth and length of the lawn may be extended with equal propriety. In both cases its extent may be apparently made greater, by judiciously concealing its extreme boundary with clumps of shrubs, beds of roses, or other flowers; causing it to steal away out of sight fi-om different points of view. To do this 274 THE COTTAGE GAEDENER. well, requii-es considerable tact and foresight in the designer of the plan. The foiTa of the lawn, to have the best effect, should be iiTCgular ; leaving the walk here and there, and running into and under the shrubbery. In other places it should be brought close to the walk — nay, leave it entirely to allow the shrubbery to jut out boldly into it ; thus breaking its monotony, and concealing it from the eye of those walking round the grounds. Next week we propose concluding our remarks on laying out villa gardens, and shall afterwards give a few hints on laying out cottage flower-gardens, whether those close to the cottage, or those in allot- ment gardens. We shall also give some instructions on the best mode of forming a gai'den for florists' flowers, all of which we tnist wiU be acceptable and useful to some of our readers. Haedy Annuals. — Should the weather be favourable — that is, warm and di-y, and you have got your beds and borders nicely trimmed — you may venture to sow some of the hardiest annuals, such as those of which we give a Ust below. Proceed thus to sow them : — With a small rake draw a portion of soil from the places where you intend to sow, commencing at the farthest side of your borders, or in the centre of the beds. Make as many of these hollows as you can conveniently reach to sow at once, without unneces- sarily treading upon the ground; for the less it is trodden upon, the better your flowers will thrive. For large seeds, such as sweet peas, lupines, and the like, make the hollows a full inch deep ; for smaller seeds, a quarter of an inch will be a depth sufficient. Having made as many hollows as you think right, then take two papers of the tallest annuals of different colours, canyiug also with you as many short pieces of wood as you judge there may be patches of flowers in the two packets of seeds. The two sorts may be sown near to each other. Sow of large seeds from four to half a dozen seeds, and of those that are smaller from 12 to 20 in each place. Stick one of the short pieces of wood in the midst of the seeds, leav- ing them uncovered till the whole of the tall kinds are sown. Then with the rake cover them in, and put out all footmarks, making the ground neat and level. Proceed then to open other hollows with the rake, and, if your beds and borders are not veiy wide indeed, you may with this second batch finish the sowing for this time. If yoiu' soil is heavy and wet (which it ought not to be, if you have been able and willing to follow the instructions previously given), you had better, for the small seed especially, have some light soil sifted moderately fine, and cover those small seeds with it. Do not forget to leave spaces for the half-hardy annuals you are raising in your frame or pit. Hardy annuals to be sown in March, in the open gi-ound : — 1. — Such as grow from 2 to 3 feet high. Bartonia aurea (Golden Bartonia), orange, branching, 2 to 3 feet. •Clarkia elegans rosea (Rosy Elegant Clarkia), ligHpmk, branching, 2 feet. Chrysanthemum, double yellow (new variety), 3 feet. •Larkspur, branching, blue, 2 to 3 feet. Lavatera, white, 3 feet. Lupines (large Dutch), blue, 2 to 3 feet. * „ rose, 2 to 3 feet. ,, yellow, 2 feet. Malra Zebrina (Striped Mallow), striped blush and crimson, 2 feet. *Poppy Carnation, various colours, 2 feet. French, ditto, 2 feet, Persicaria, red, 4 feet. *Peas, Sweet, either in mixture, or the varieties may be had separate. 2. — Such as grow 1 foot high. *Clarkia pulchella (pretty Clarkia), deep pink. -^^— ^— ^— „ alba white. Eutoca viscida (Clammy Eutoca), blue. ♦Candy Tuft, purple Normandy. -^-^ white. Godetia rubicunda (Ruddy Godetia), light rose, with pink eye. Lindleyana (Lindley's Godetia), various colours. •Larkspur, dwarf. Leptosiphon densiflorus (Thickly-floweTed Leptosiphon), rosy lilac. Lupinus nanus (Dwarf Lupine), blue. *Nemophila insignis, deep blue. (Enothera, white. Evening Primrose, bluish, with white centre. •Viscaria oculata (Eyed Viscaria), pink, with dark eye. Burridgii (Burridge's V.), wljite. 3. — Such as glow less than 1 foot ; to be sown in fi'ont of the others. •CoUinsia bicolor (Two-coloured C), white and lilac. *Kaulfussia amelloides (Amells-like K.), deep blue. •Leptosiphon androsaeea |Androsace-like L.), rosy lilac. •Convolvulus minor, new dark variety ; dark blue, white, and yellow. If your garden is small, choose those marked with a star only. Mignonette sow in quantities where- ever you have room. You can hardly have too much of this sweet favourite. FLORISTS' FLOWERS. Auriculas and Polyanthuses will now be shewing their trusses of flowers. Cover them well up every night, and keep them rather warmer during the day than you kept them before the trusses appeared, giving air only on very fine days. This will draw up the foliage and blooms strong. Water freely now, but do not wet the leaves of auriculas. Carnations and Picotees. — Prepare your com- post for potting into their blooming pots; it is time to perform that operation. Place the soil for them in some place where it will become moderately dry. Protection. — Take care to protect all kinds of florists' flowers from cold rain, sleet, and night frosts. We are obliged, for want of room, to omit any further remarks this week. T. Appleby. GREENHOUSE AINTD WESTDOW GARDENING. Cockscombs, Balsams, &c. — No one knows to a certainty, I believe, of what country the cockscomb is a native. In our catalogues, it is said to be a native of the East Indies, but real cockscombs of the vegeta- ble kingdom are only met with in gardens in the East Indies ; and it is more probable that they came originally ft-om China or Japan. Very likely the Chinese system of dwai-fing plants, and teasing them into strange contortions, has given rise to the pecu- liar-crested flattened appearance of the inflorescence, for which we call them cockscombs. The wild cockscombs have flowers like the Prince's-feathers and Love-lies-bleeding, — two plants that are hardy annuals, known everywhere, and very nearly related to the cockscombs. It was from such flower-heads, which we call pannicled spikes, that the crested form has been stamped on the cockscomb, either by some strange way of culture, or fi-om accidental mon- strosity, or perhaps by both. In regard to stature, cockscombs vary fi-om two feet high down to sL\ inches; and the more dwai-f they are, the more highly they are prized by fanciers; for, as in other things, there are keen fanciers of cockscombs : and why not? They require as much heat, attendance, and even skill, to flower them in perfection as the large Indian moth-Uke air plant, which is deservedly reckoned the finest plant in England ; and for which one of oiu' noble dukes paid one hundred pounds a few years' since, being then so rare that it could not be bought for less money. Now, the cockscomb is every whit as good a thing as this aii' plant, for those THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 275 who like it. A cot, with three or four frisky rabbits in it, is as gi'eat a preserve in the eyes of a school- boy as the largest game-cover is hi the estimation of those of maturer age. Let no one, therefore, despise those beautiful and useful summer plants ; but let all those who possess the means set about their cultivation, by sowing the seeds any time between this and the middle of AprU ; for I have no gi-eat faith in the old rules, which prescribe certain days for particular operations. Any rich light com- post wiU do to sow the seeds in : but one-half rotten leaf-mould, with the other half equal parts of good garden loam and very old day cow-dung, will make a better compost when it is desired to bring them to an extraordinary size. If they are intended to produce the largest combs that high cultivation can obtain, and that in a few months, there is no time to be lost ; and they ought to receive the highest stimulus ft-om the first moment of then- existence. Yet very good combs can be reai-ed without all this trouble, a good deal depending on the seeds. All the gardening in the countiy will fail if the seeds are not of the very best sort. They have already reached the highest degi-ee of perfection, and, like many other plants under simi- lar conditions, they evince a strong tendency to degenerate. Seeds should, therefore, be saved only from the best flowers ; and of these we shall speak when they are in flower. Sow the seeds thinly in a small pot, and cover them slightly; place the pot in a sti'ong bottom-heat — a cucumber-bed wiU do ; and as soon as they ai-e up, keep them within a few inches of the glass ; the nearer they are kept to the glass without touching it until the flowers appear, the dwarfer they will be in the stems, and the wider across the combs. Plenty of air and a strong moist heat are also necessary to their full development. When the seedlings are two inches high, they will require to be most carefully parted, and to be each potted in very small pots in the richest compost, to be watered with warm water, and to be shaded from the sun the first three or four days, till they take a fresh hold : veiy little air, indeed hardly any, is necessary for them during these few days ; after that, if all has gone on well, they will stand the most nutritious diet in the shape of strong liquid-manure, wliich had better be kept in a little watering-pot, or bottle, inside the frame, to be always ready at the same temperature as the bed. It is found in practice that liquid-mamtre made by mixing three or fom- kinds together, is better than either alone : say pigeon or fowl-dung, cow and horse-dung, a handful of guano, and two handsful of soot — all gi-eat stimulants singly, but much better when mixed. Of course it is not necessary to get all these for one mixtm-e to water any plant; I only mention the articles in a general way, to shew that gardeners put much stress on a variety of diet for particular pet plants. A small cask for holding liquid-manure would be of the greatest use for many garden water- ings ; and if the sti'ong odoitt were kept down by a little sulphuric acid, as mentioned at page 189, it would be both more agreeable to use and richer for the plants. The strong pungent smell produced from manures is then- spirit, just as alcohol (pui-e spirit) is that of wine. This dung-spirit they caU ammonia ; and it stands to reason, if the spirit is retained it wiU make the manure so much the stronger. Therefore, they salt down this ammonia with the sulphuric acid, as we do the bacon with common salt ; and this they call fixing the ammonia. This is a beneficial discovery of recent date, and of which there is no doubt at all about the result. Now, liquid-manm'e, with the spirit retained in it, wUl make cockscombs grow as large again as if these were grown with rain water only. But here a great difficulty arises, for no one can say how sti'ong liquid-manure should be, because there is no standai'd for comparison, and some plants take it as strong again as others. Cockscombs and balsams, after once they are fi-eely gi'ow- ing, will take it as strong as most pot plants ; but, to be on the safe side, it is best to reduce the strength by adding one-half rain-water to it, and to let it first settle, so that no thick sediments get into the watering-pot ; and it should be of the colom- of weU-made coffee, which is perhaps the best criterion that can be given of its strength. The colouring matter is part of the dung used in a finely-divided state, and wUl add much to the richness of the soO, after the effect of watering is over ; and to prevent an accumulation of this small sediment from clog- ging the sou too much, the general rule is to give alternate waterings with plain soft water. This is a good rule, but, like many other good i-ules, it has been of late years earned rather too far, by drawing off the liquid-manure in a clear state, and leaving some of the best parts of the nourishing matter along with the thick sediments ; as if the cleai-est could not be made strong enough to IdU any plant. It is not the colouring matter of liquid-manure that is apt to hurt the roots of plants, but the essence or salts of ammo- nia, when in excess ; and these may be drawn off as clear as you please, and yet be more dangerous than the brown liquor. Anotlier wi-ong idea has got abroad on this subject, owing to some Hi-directed experiments, as to the capabUity of plants to take up oolouiing fluids by their roots. Some are of opinion that roots can only take up water in a clear state ; but there never was a greater mistake. Some plants have an extraordinary capacity in tliis respect, and wUl take up water in such a thick muddy state, as no one could believe who has not tried the experi- ment. To prove tliis, take a balsam full-grown, a gourd, or, indeed, any thii'sty coarse-growing plant in a pot, and in the height of summer withhold water fi'om it till the leaves will di-ain it of all its previous fluids, which you may know by their drooping for want of the necessary supply ; for it is of little use to ti-y to get water into a plant or vessel that is already full. Then give it a good dose of muddy water, or water colom'ed with some dye, and watch tin the leaves ai-e distended and quite erect — a sign that they are in possession of your fluid, whatever it may be. Now cut off a branch, and ten to one, if the wound will bleed at all, but it will drop fluid of nearly the same colour as that just given to the roots. This I have seen over and over again ; and, therefore, I am quite satisfied coloured liquid-manure is highly useful to plants ; and no refined philosophy will ever make me act, or advise others to act, against the evidence of my senses. So let our cockscombs be watered in the good old-fashioned style at any rate, and you need have no misgivings about using nothing else tiU the combs are fuU- gi'own. You win then have arrived as far as art can go with them ; and after that, plain soft water wUl do to keep them on their legs. But we have got them only in their first little pots yet, and just strong enough to stand the sun without a shade. As soon as theii' roots appear on the outside of the baU, they must have another shift immediately into the next sized pot. If their 276 THE COTTAGE GARDENER. roots are once aUowed to mat together before they are shifted, they will push up thek flower-heads pre- maturely, and come to nothing. The grand secret to get them to full perfection is, never to allow them to suffer any check. A chill from cold water, or too much cold air, or to suffer from want of water, if only for a few hours, to stand too far from the glass, or their roots getting too confined, will assuredly prevent a full development of their crested heads, for which only they are admired. To guard against ac- cidents, therefore, it is a good plan, where there is room for them, to grow a lew more than you intend to flower, and keep the hest only. Balsams. — These do not require half the care needed for the cockscomb. If you have seeds of good varieties, they are as easily reared as any plant we have ; and in a good window as well as anywhere. They will come into bloom sooner in a hotbed, and make larger plants if grown in a warm pit till they come into blossom ; but there is no occasion to put off their growth for want of such conveniences. Besides, they are apt to get up weakly in a close warm pit ; and if the seed-pots were put into a cucumber-bed, they would require to be removed as soon as the balsams came up, or, which would be better, to be placed behind where the air is admitted. They are great feeders, and, after they are half-grown, wUl take rich liquid-manure three times a week ; and should be shifted into larger pots as soon as they fill their present ones : but they are not so particular in this respect as the cockscomb. Balsam seeds are of the medium size, and may be covered oue-fourtli of an inch thick. They will come up in any light rich compost, and ought to be thinly sown, say an incli between the seeds each way, otherwise the seedlings woidd be too much crowded before they were fit to bo potted separately into small pots. A kitchen window will be a good place to get up seedlings of many plants, after this time ; and the balsams will do very well that way. By sowing them early — that is, before the month is out — tliere will be full time for them to make fine plants ; and the slower they gi'ow at first, provided they do not want for nourishment, the more likely they will be to make good specimens. When the seedlings are two inches high is the time to pot them into single pots. The soil for the first potting ought to be one-half very rotten dung or leaf-mould, and the rest loam. At the other pollings they may have the dung not so rotten : and I have seen beautiful bal- sams and cockscombs grown in almost one-half fresh horse-droppings, and green turf chopped quite small with a spade. However, without strong heat to keep them fast growing, such very rich compost would he too strong for them. Therefore, the best way is to give them high feeding with liquids alter they fill their pots with roots. Thei'e is another way of as- sisting them, which would kill many plants, and that is, to pot them each time one inch deeper than they were before ; and the stem will push out fresh roots each time, and so feed these stronger, and take larger pots. Cockscombs would do the same under very good treatment, but they are so easily checked that I did not recommend it ; and it is never a safe plau to try experiments with plants that are of this ticklish nature. Potting Plants. — After this time, all plants that require it may be potted with safety. Spriug-])otting is done very difl'erently from summer-potting, for now the old soil is to be shaken off, the roots looked to and pruned, &c. ; whereas, in summer, we merely turn a plant fi-om one pot to another. But on both heads I shall enter more fully in my next. D. Be.^ton. THE KITCHEN-GARDEN. The Turnip. — Any one having a small warm sheltered spot to spare, may obtain early tunips by now sowing some of the small-grov.'ing sliort-top varieties ; such as the early Dutch and early Stone, or American Red-top, the latter being generally con- sidered the best, and coming on the quickest at this season of the year. For succeeding as a second crop any of the sum- mer crops, such as peas, beans, &c., those who have a pig to feed should always sow in May, on any spare spot of ground, a good variety of Swedish turnip, as a seed bed, to transplant from. It is a most valuable food for either jiig, bullock, or horse, particularly if boiled before it is given to them. There are many other good varieties of turnip for those who have stock to feed; but for the amateur and cottager there are none better for general purposes than those we have named. Salad Herbs : American Cress. — A prolific, hardy, wholesome annual, worthy the attention of all who are fond of a well-flavoured salad. A small spot sown about the middle of August wOl furnish abun- dance of leaves all the autumn, winter, and the following spring. The Normandy Cress. — A good curled leaf, hardy variety, also succeeds well in the open air ; and, if sown in a sheltered spot about the middle of Septem- ber, will produce leaves throughout the later months of autumn, the winter, and early spring. Both this and the American varieties should not be cut like small salad, but should be gathered by picking the leaves. The seed should be sown thin, and the bed kept well hoed out. The American is a very wide-spreading variety ; on a good soil from six to nine inches should be allowed from plant to plant ; and the Normandy, from tlu-ee to four inches apart. The common mustard and cress are so easily culti- vated, and so well known, that it is hardly necessaiy to mention them. Persons without any garden at all may grow salads for the table all the year round, by sowing the seeds of these in small pans, or even on flannel or cloth, and jjlaoed anywhere, so that it is kept moist, and brought to the light when about an inch high to gala its natural colour, without wliich it would have but little flavour. Badishes, in addition to the foregoing, may be pro- duced both in spring and autumn, by sowing first the early short-top frame radish, and then the red and white turnip radishes to succeed them. Endive, too, is a plant of easy culture, and worthy the attention of those who are fond of winter salad ing. If a pinch of seed is sown in July, and another in August, it will furnish plants to put out in suc- cession, at intervals, until the end of October. The close short-leaved curled variety and the new hardy Batavian are the best; the latter seems to stand through any winter, and turns in close and white- leaved, like a Siliciau lettuce — indeed, we find it a good substitute for lettuce in winter and the eaidy sju'lng mouths. The red beet, as an addition to salads, is also much esteemed by many on account of its saccharine flavour, either baked or boiled. It may be eaten with other salads, or alone. It is a root of easy cid- ture ; but should not generally be sown eaa-Uer than THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 277 tlie midJle of April, on account of its liability to be- come sticky and of a bad colour. We are now fuUy entered on a most busy and interesting pai-t of tbe year ; much of the future season's produce from the earth depends upon the energy and persevering industry of the present time. We must adopt a good systematic plan, and con- tinue it on the most favourable opportunities. Delays are dangerous when once all matters are pretty well prepared for sowing and planting. We always find there is a time or opportunity for performing all things, if it is duly embraced. Some degi-ee of watchfulness is now necessary for insming a healthy prohfic produce. The depredations of birds, slugs, snails, wire-worms, and other vermin obnoxious to the cultivator, must be duly attended to, or disap- pointments will take place, although a good prepara- tion has been made, by procuring healthy seeds or plants. Sow successions of caulifloivers and celery ; the main crops of onions, parsnips, carrots, parsley, and pot-herbs. Re-plant and re-arrange herh-heds, earth up and stick peas, embracing evei7 favourable opportunity of hoeing and scarifying the surface of the earth. Sow everything in drills, which tends to much conve- nience for early surface-stirring. Capsicums sow in a gentle hot-bed, under a frame ; they will even do under a hand-glass on a warm border, but then the seed must not be sown until tbe beginning of May. The seed must be covered a quarter of an inch deep. When the plants have attained six leaves, in about a month after sowing, they must be thinned to four inches apart ; and those removed planted also in a moderate hotbed at a similar distance, being shaded fi'om tbe meridian sun, and moderately watered until tliey have taken root. During tbe whole of their continuance beneath a frame, air must be admitted freely ; and, as May advances, they must be accus- tomed gradually to an uncovered situation, by length- ened absence of the glasses dm'ing the day, and by degrees leaNdng them open of an evening: this pre- pares them for their final removal at the close of tliat month or early in June. Those raised in a border, beneath hand-glasses, must also be thinned as dii'ected above ; and those removed planted in a simOar situation, or, in default of hand-glasses, be- neath a paper frame or matting. The same may be adopted for the plants from the hotbeds, if all other conveniences are wanting. When planted out finally, they are to be set two feet asunder, screened from the sun, and watered every other evening until they have taken root. The watering must be continued in dry weather throughout then- growth, which greatly improves then- vigour and the fineness of the fruit. Liquid manure is highly beneficial to them. In hot weather they can scarcely have too much moisture. G. W. J., & Jajies Babnes. MISCELLANEOUS INEOEMATION. MY FLOWERS. (No. 20.) However cold and comfortless the month of March may be, we know that spring has opened ; and we can wait with hope and patience for the soft showers and balmy gales that come with this cheering season. We know that sunshine — delightful as it is — wUl not bring forward the bud and bloom, without some clouds and storms, some drenching rains to reach the deepest roots, and thereby to enrich and beautify the highest bough. How often we stand at the window, enjoying the rushing sound of heavy rain, wliile we listen to the wild note of the blackbii'd, and feel the delicious scent of the moistened eai-th ; and we say, " Oh ! what a beautiful rain this is for my garden ; how my plants wUl grow ; and I am sure I shall find my seeds up in the morning." We see and feel the benefit of the stonn among our plants and trees ; let us reflect that tee also are trees in " a garden enclosed;" that we also need dark and cloudy days, and pelting storms ; that continued sunshine would perU our souls ; and that the wisdom of the great Husbandman caUs forth the north wind and the south to blow upon his garden, "that the spices thereof may flow out." The lovely blossoms of the nut-trees have come forth very early this season. The female blossoms are so small, that unless we look closely we can scarcely see them ; but the little scarlet flowers ai'e bright and glowing on the dark brown leafless twigs, and they give an early interest to the copse and hedge- row. Every hour we see something new and beau- tiful springing up around us ; and we can scarcely step without pressing down a sprouting herb or plant. The soft silky buds of the " palm " (sallow) are beginning to glitter ; and there is a peculiar red- ness in the appearance of the woods and planta- tions, that foretells the opening of the buds. In all open, sunny, dry situations, hai-dy annuals may be sown. My garden is so dai-k and damp that I cannot touch it yet with spade or rake ; and even the commonest annuals never thrive kindly in it. But the time is come to prepare the gr-ound, to refi'esh the borders, trim tbe edges, and give a neat and pleasing look to each department of the pleasiu-e- ground. The soil should be raked finely where seeds are to be sown ; there shoidd be no rough lumps of earth ; it should be opened with a small hand-fork, so that the under soO may not be hard and dry, and then the surface broken as small as possible, and raked tOl it is smooth and even. In cold situations) annuals had better not be sown till April; little is gained by putting them into the ground before it is wai-med by the sun; and they are frequently de- sh'oyed by slugs, if they lie long in the gi-ound. I have often been so anxious to get my seeds in, wheil other friends were thus employed, that I could not wait till the proper time amved, and my seeds con- sequently seldom grew ; and when they did, they gave birth to seedlings poor and weakly. Even now I have little inducement to cultivate these lovely' varieties, for they requu-e sunshine and waimth much earlier in the year than I possess them, and this I ever regret. With the new and beautiful annuals, whose Latin names I can neither pi'onouuce nor understand, I have nothing to do. Mj deUght is in the old- fashioned, sweet, and glowing flowers of my child- hood, whose names are as simple and familiar to us as those of our brothers and sisters ; and whose real and genuine loveliness and fi-agrance few of the more lughly-prized varieties can possibly exceed. Sweet peas and mignonette should abound in every garden; their sweetness is umivalled; and they are often associated in oiu' minds with days and circumstances that give them a double chai'm. A very few yeai-s ago, these lovely annuals were the pride of the lady's garden. Our mothers loved them ; and they seem, like the rose and honeysuckle, to belong to the home of our chUdhood, and to 278 THE COTTAGE GAKDENER. twine round the memoiT' of those whom we see no move. Very beautiful are the new aimuals I some- times see ; hut the dehght with which I turn to the old ones, convinces me that they are the sweetest and pi'ettiest after all. Mignonette shoidd he sown " broadcast " over every bed and border, and hghtly raked in ; so that it may come up in every vacant spot, and not in patches only. It grows even iu gravel, and though not so rich in flower, it is sweeter than when placed in better soil. In towns, where there are gi-avelled enclosures befoi-e the houses, mignonette would do well; if scattered over the loose untrodden parts, and if turned under ground with a fork, when the flower- ing season is over, will spring again without further care. I have seen and enjoyed mignonette in these situations ; and when the windows are opened in summer evenings, we may feel something of country sweetness even in a street. It also does well in pots and boxes ; and is extremely well adapted for towns on this account. Let it be sown as early in the year as possible, because it is very slow in coming up. In cold situations this must not be done till April. Continue to sow occasionally till the beginning of July ; and this wiU secm'e a long succession of bloom. Sweet peas should he sown in circles, when placed among other flowers, with the sticks planted firmly in the middle of the ring. A fortnight or three weeks after sowing the first ling, let an outer one be sown ; so that each clump of peas may have a suc- cession of flowers. Sow sweet peas round every tree and stake ; against every bower, and wall, and hedge- row. Twine them round the pillars of the porch ; and place them as near as possible to eveiy window : their fragrance never overpowers. If mice or slugs are apt to attack the seeds, lay a little soot on the sui'face of the soO, when they are planted. Our gardens are now becoming fuU of interest. Every day we shall find something to do, to watch, and to delight in. It seems but yesterday that we were making all things ready for frosts and snows ; and now, in a few short days, all is ghttering, cheering, sunshine ! The birds are again preparing their rich summer songs ; the rooks are once more quaweling over their comfortless nests ; and the stUlness and dreariness of winter has ended. Let us consider this. We have all seasons of trial, of depression, of diffi- culties; when the futm-e seems dark and hopeless. We are too ready to say, " AU these things are against me." But if " our eyes waited upon the Lord our God," as those " of a maiden look unto the hand of her mistress," oiu- times of trouble would soon pass by ; sunshine would gladden our hearts again; and we should realize that comforting assm-- ance, that " though weeping may endure for a night, yet joy cometh in the morning." While we stand gazing on the reviving beauties of the natural world, let us remember that the winter and summer of our earthly com-se are hut the varied workings of a Parent's love, intended for oiu- good ; and that the storm and the sunbeam are each as necessary to our spiritual growth as they ai'e to the growth of the tree and the flower. most economical mode of constructing liquid-manure tanks. If he is situated in a calcareous district, he wiU naturally prefer lining them with flints, set in mortar, or with concrete (made of one part hme and three parts of gravel). If he is dwelling in a clayey district, he cannot do better than follow the directions given by a Middlesex farmer, Mr. W. Dickenson, who remarks [Journal B.A.8., Vol. 8, p. 580), " Having well considered where the liquid is to be used, as well as where it is made, and resolved upon the most convenient situation, I have a hole dug full seven feet in diameter and twelve feet deep, the bottom being shaped like a basin, and weU rammed with a httie water into a good puddle. The con- struction of the tank is commenced by the bricklayer forming a circle with bricks (fom--inch work), round an opening of five feet, leaving a space behind the brickwork to be fitted and rammed well in with clay puddle by the labom-ers, as the building is worked up ; no mortar being used with the bi-ioks, or any- thing else, till the dome is to be formed. M ortar or cement is then required ; the arch is then arched in, a man-hole being left iu the centre of each tank, and covered with a three-inch yellow deal cover (two-inch oak would be better)." One of these tanks, containing 1000 gallons, costs £2 17s 6d, in the following items, the calculation applying to those persons who em- ploy their own horses and carts : — £ s. d. 2 Fai-m labourers, each half a day 2 2 Labouring lads, each one day 3 IMan, oneday 2 2 Others, one day 5 1 Bricklayer, one day 4 6 1 Labourer, ditto 2 6 3 Horses and carts, drawing away quar- ter of a mile, half a day 4 6 8 Feet three-inch deal for cover, at 5| 3 8 Labour and naOs 10 Lime and sand for man-hole 2 6 900 Place bricks 1 7 ON LIQUID-MANURE TANKS. BY CUTHBEET W. JOHNSON, ESQ., F.R.S. The situation in which the cottager or fai-mer is placed must, in a great measure, determine the £i 17 6 I have, in one instance, made a tank of rough bricks, set in a compo made of one part of melted pitch (this is worth about 7s per cwt.), mixed with six parts of dry sand, and apphed hot. In some parts of Bedfordshu-e they use this compo only as a hning to their hquid-manure tanks (they make this lining two or three inches thick) ; it is quite water-tight. There is, in truth, little difficulty in forming a tank for this purpose, for even porous bricks speedily become saturated with the fine mechanically-suspended matters of liquid manure; and then the escape of even the mere watery portion entirely ceases. TO CORRESPONDENTS. Gladiolus to Plant now (S.B.B.). — The beat to buy in a dry state now is Gladiolus Natalensis, but you may purchase any other sort established in pots, at a little higher price. Cactus (A Young Inquirer). — You say that this (but you do not name the species) looked green in the winter, but that it now looks " sadly," you not having given it any water for the last three months. There is no fear of your cactus ; you treated it perfectly right ; the best way to moisten the soil gradually is to place the pot in a saucer of warm water now, and keep the saucer supplied as fast as the soil draws off the water, till you observe the dry soil on the surface turning damp ; then the ball is uniformly damped throughout, and will not reqmre any more water for the next week or ten days, and by that time the plant will be getting full of juice, and turn stiff as formerly. THE COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 279 To Make a Standard of a Teained Nectarine {Amateur, Endfield).—YouT nectarine will require the flattened shoots to he placed in the form of an ordinary standard, by means of sticks ; this done, the only pruning necessary will he to thin away crowded shoots, whether young or old, and to shorten back the young wood of last year about one-half its length. If any of the points are so long as to he unwieldy, they may be cut back to a couple of eyes or buds. Good staking, however, is the chief point. Peat Soil (J. Hunter, Rochester, Northumberland). — You ask us " how to make most productive " your garden, the soil of which is peat ? but you should have said whether your peaty soil was of a fresh or sphagnum character, or old black decomposed peat. WTiatever it be, thorough drainage must precede all planting and cultivation. The peat, if of a raw character, should be burned over first. It should be cultivated in a sort of *' lazy bed." that is, elevated much above the ordinary level. Animal manures will be little required until the staple is corrected ; the main business will be to correct its acidity by lime, and to solidify the staple by adding plenty of sand, or sandy soil, or even burnt ashes of any kind ; and when sowewhat mellowed, and the superfluous water passed away, an application of marl, or pulverized or burnt clay, will be highly beneficial. After these processes, almost anything may be grown well on it, provided it is cultivated in high beds. In thus ad\'ising, we have assumed that it is a damp half-decomposed peat. Half-haedy Annuals (E. B. and A. Z.).— You may save the trouble of transplanting your annuals, by somng the seeds thinly in small pots, and as soon as they come up giving air on all fine days. As the season advances. p\ill off the lights entirely in cloudy weather, until the plants are hardy enough to bear the full sun ; then, at the time you finally plant them out, divide the ball of earth in each pot into four quarters, without breaking the earth. Plant them out in moist weather, and they will soon establish themselves. Zauschneria Californica may be had at the Pine-Apple- Place Nursery (Messrs. Henderson's). Phlox Drummondii, the Portulaca's, and such like half-hardy annuals, should be sown now in a gentle hot-bed ; and as the seeds of most of these are rather dear, and you may wish to have as many plants as possible, you had better sow them in shallow pans in hght sandy soil ; and when they come up, and have got four or five leaves each, transplant them three in a pot four inches wide ; and as the seedlings advance in growth, gradually harden them to endure the open air previously to planting them out. If you wish to grow some of them in pots, and flower them either in a window or green- house, you must repot them into larger pots, and keep them in the frame till they show flower. We cannot conceive the reason why you have hitherto failed, unless you have sown them too deep, or kept them too far from the glass, or watered them too freely, any of which mistakes would be fatal to your seeds ; or, perhaps, your soil has been too heavy, and your seeds have rotted in consequence. Avoid those mistakes ; procure your seeds from a respectable London nurseryman ; sow them in shallow pans placed within six inches of the glass ; transplant early, and water carefully, and only when they are dry, and you will certainly succeed. Climbers for N.E. Wall (M. D., a Subscrilier).— The following creeping perennials will thrive and flower against your N.E. wall: — Lathi/rus latifuliits (Broad-leaved everlasting Pea), pink and white varieties; L. grandiflorus (Large-flowered everlasting Pea), pink; L. Californica (Californian everlasting Pea), purple ; Convolvulus inflatus (Inflated Bindweed), rose ; Clematis vitalba (Traveller's joy), white; C./am;nM/a (Sweet-scented Clematis), white ; C. Viti- cella rubra (Red vine-bower Clematis), and a double purple variety ; Ercremocarpus scaber (Rough Eccremocarpus), scarlet; Jasminum o^c(n«^e(White Jessamine!; Earli/ Dutch Honeysuckle, red. Twelve kinds \vill cover this wall (6o feet long) ; some of them are shrubby, but all hardy enough for your purpose. To hide the washing ground, plant the tallest Lombardy poplars you can procure ; plant them thickly, and they will soon block up the unpleasant view ; you may trim off all the branches as high as the wall, and cover it with ivy. MouLDiNESS IN HYACINTHS {Alfred). — We never saw the hya- cinth rot ; but, from the dread in which the Dutch florists hold it, and from your own account of it, it must be most destructive. The sum of all that has been recommended for a cure, in Holland, is to cut out all the diseased parts, and to keep the bulbs dry, but they seldom flower afterwards, and are only kept to produce offsets. The only way likely to arrest the progress of the disease in your case, is to cut out all the diseased parts, and apply hot sand immediately to the wounds, repeating the process three or four times in succession as soon as the sand cools; the heat of the sand to be, that you could hardly bear it on your hand. The mouldiness is a kind of fimgus, and this may kill it. How TO Treat Seeds of Unknown Plants (G. T. Spool). — Pedlar's Basket is a local name unknown to us ; we never heard of it, and cannot say how you must treat it. Sow half the seeds in any light soil in a well drained small pot, and cover them according to their size — half an inch being deep enough for the largest seed in pots ; keep them in the warmest place you have got, and if they come up they will soon tell what temperature they like best ; if the place is too hot for them they vrill grow slender and spindly ; and if too cold, they vnll look pinched, and will hardly grow at all. This is the rule with gardeners when they meet with seeds of which they know nothing. When they thus find out the nature of the plants, if they think well of them they sow the other half of the seeds, and give them the proper treatment. The musk seed we take to be a Slim ulus ; if so, it is quite hardy, and the seeds are very small. Manage them exactly as we recommended for calceolaria seeds. Although tlus musk — for there are many kinds of musk plants — is the easiest to manage when once established, it often dies in a seedling state. If you rake a damp shaded patch in an open border, and scatter half the seeds on the surface, and sprinkle some dry soot round the patch to keep off the slugs, you will be as likely to rear the musk plant that way as in a pot. It is an excellent window phiUt, and will grow in any soil, and takes abundance of water when gro\ving. When it dies down, keep it dry for awhile, and with the heat of a kitchen window, and water- ing, you can force the roots to grow again any time in the year. Driving Bees (J. Marcer).— You ask our advice as to driving your bees from a straw hive into one made of wood, and we reply : — Keep the bees in the straw hive, allow them to swarm, and put the swarm into the wooden hive. Removing bees from one hive to another is a very difficult process, and always attended with great risk ; by doing it, the brood must certainly be lost, and probably the bees also. Manure Tank {An Amateur Farmer). — ^The best answer how to make this most economically, will be found in a communication given in a preceding column, from Mr. C. W. Johnson. Parsnip-Sowing (iT. White, Haifeftam).— We beg to return our thanks for the pumpkin seed. For information respecring parsnip culture, see pp. 237 and 257. Good-holding rich land, well trenched and pulverized, and the seed sown in drills, is the best known system. For long carrots, open sandy, loamy soil, well trenched, the seed well incorporated and parted, by rubbing together, with wood ashes or drv charred dust, and a small portion of air-slaked lime sown in the drills, is the best treatment at sowing time for this useful root. The distance of the drills should be one foot apart at the least, and two inches deep, if the soil is dry and healthy ; but if cold and damp, one inch, or a little mo re, is enough to cover the seed. Surplus Sewage {Rev. C. W. L.).~W\iy not make a larger tank ; or sink an old hogshead into the ground, communicating by an overflow pipe with your tank, which you find too small in wet weather? If you cannot do this, you had better pour the surplus over your compost heap, rather than give it to your crops in wet weather. Old Orchard Ground {Ibid). — This, which has not been before broken up for 60 years, you have now planted partly with potatoes ; and you ask what you shall do with the remainder, " either for the family or the pig?" If not overshadowed with trees, sow half of it with carrots and the other half with parsnips. If shaded, nothing will do well ; but we should try cabbages. Poisoning Birds, &c. Llbid). — We never could find this answer in the summer time, the birds are then too well fed to eat poisoned wheat. It is not the noise, but the glittering of pieces of tin tied to a string on an easily-bending stick that chiefly scares birds ; there- fore, we fear that your iron links will be useless. Your hints about the index and table of manures shall be considered. You cannot grow strawberries between your pyramidal trees six feet apart. You say you have already planted a currant-tree between each two ; and even this will interfere \vith the necessary root-pruning. Super- phosphate of lime is best applied to any plant whilst in a growing state. Pots for Tuberoses (C G.). — Pots four inches wide by four inches deep, inside measure, are the proper size for a tuberose. The flowering depends more on the strength and ripeness of the root than on the size of the pot. Light rich soil, or indeed any good garden mould, will grow them. Coral or Lobster Plant {G. O. if.).— You can manage to flower this {Erythrina laurifoUa) just as you propose ; viz., keep- ing it dry and from frost all the winter ; and, any time in March or April, taking it to a light warm place, where it can be steamed occa- sionally ; not actual steam, we hope, but soft warm vapour from some apparatus. Agapanthus (76(rf). — This requires no more heat than will keep the frost out. Rich soil, and plenty of water in summer ; to be placed in a warm situation out of doors'. The Amaryllis formosissima is the only one of the family that could stand your treatment with im- punity. We said we never saw one of them dead. Weekly Numbers (T. H., SAe/^e/tf).— These are alwayspublished a week in advance of the directions they contain. That published on the 1st of March contained the gardening applicable especially to the seven days after that day. Seeds for Emigrants (Cri«:i/er(c). — The length of time during which seeds retain their vitality is exceedingly different in different kinds. The seeds of raspberries have grown lately, after being buried deep in Cornwall from the third or fourth century of the Christian era. Some will keep a thousand years ; others, not so many days ; but for all pracrical purposes, and especially in reference to emigra- tion, they will retain their \itality long enough ; and may be removed from one country to another, and keep well for a year or two after arrival. By all means take as many kinds of our best ft^t, vegeta- ble, and flower-seeds to Australia as you can find room for. We packed seeds for the first settlers of Adelaide, which went safe. They were well dried, and put in dry brown paper packets. The peas, beans, and other heavy seeds, were put into stout cotton bags ; and the whole were put in thin layers between the folds of blankets, in a rough box, and never looked at till after the voyage. The grand secret is, to have them and the paper completely dry, and not to exclude the air altogether from them, except when in the tropics. After you are beyond the Cape of Good Hope, they ought to have abundance of air. if you could give it them. Many seeds wiU perish soon if hermetically closed, as in bottles, jars, &c. Orchids for a Greenhouse {I. P. C.).— There are no air plants that will live in a greenhouse. By " air plants " are meant orchids, that will live suspended in baskets or on logs ; hut there are some that will live in greenhouses in pots — such as the cypripediums (ladies' slipper plants). Pot these in rough peat and sandy loam, watering freely in summer, and very moderately in winter. Also, the British orchids, which are very interesting, may be cultivated success- 2S0 THE COTTAGE GARDENER. fully in those houses ; taking care to use a similar soil to that in which they are found growing in their native localities. Zauschneria catifomica is a very fine use& plant ; as also Epiphyllum splendens. The price of the first is 2s. 6d., and of the other, 5s. Vou may obtain them both by applying to Mr. Appleby. Lttpinus affinis is not yet to be had of any nurseryman, that we faiow of. FocHsiA SpECTABiLis (Ibid).— Tius has been exhibited at the exhibitions at the Botanic Garden, Regent's Park, and at Chiswick, and at the Horticultural Society of London's meetings, in Regent- street. It is a first-rate species, and is very desirable. We are glad to find you have such a good collection of geraniums, and shall be happy to receive your list, and adrise you what you ought to add to it. Price of Flowee-pots (A Constant Reader, Brio-ton). — The size of the pots you mention for carnations to bloom in(l6's) is the proper one. The price of sixteens is about 4s. the cast. A cast is the number of pots made out of a certain quantity of clay. Sixteens is the number of the cast you inquire about ; so they will cost about 4d. each. If you go yourself to the pottery, you may perhaps obtain them a little cheaper. Any respectable pottery will serve them for you. Ashfords, of Stockwell, is near your place; and they will let you have them as good and as cheap as anybody else. Coverings FOR Wall-tebe Blossoms (W. N.). — The coverings are to be kept on only at night, and during cold winds or sleety weather in the day-time. Aloe (Ibid). — We cannot tell what aloe you have received in blossom from Madeira: there are more than forty species. You cannot do wrong, however, by planting it in a tub, as you propose. Put plenty of drainage at the bottom ; six inches of broken crocks will not be too much. Let the soil be two parts sandy loam, one part sand, and one part peat-soil, adding and thoroughly mixing with the whole a little leaf-mould, or thoroughly decayed manure. Poetey (T. Martin). — This is not an imaginative age; and we find the majority are against the admission of poetry ; but it will not be excluded altogether. Best Soil foe Potatoes (Beta). — A light, well-drained, well- pulverized, moderately fertile, and not recently manured soil, is that which produces good-flavoured mealy potatoes. Your soil is too rich : dig a coating three inches deep of your road- scrapings into a plot, and see how the potatoes do there. Why grow late varieties ? We have given them up. Liquid Manure (Mary Marshall). — Any fertilizer dissolved in water is a liquid manure. The best we can recommend to you are the three following : — One ounce Peruvian guano dissolved in a gallon of cold water ; sheep's dung a quarter of a peck, and water seven gallons ; sulphate of ammonia a quarter of an ounce, water one gallon. Accept our thanks for your refreshing, kindly- spirited note. Common Clematis (Ibid). — This can be propagated by cuttings, but it is much more easily done by layers. Bend one of the last year's shoots down to the ground, peg it three inches below the surface, so that a joint be thus buried, and cut half through the shoot just below the joint on the side next the stem. Keep the earth moist, and it will soon root. The best time for this layering is in July, when the yoimg shoots of the year are about five inches long. Do not break that off which comes from the joint pegged under groimd, but let two inches of it appear above the surface. Ivy Pruning (Ibid). — You may prune this now. Do not ever clip an evergreen ; you mutilate the leaves, and the wounded parts be- come brown and unsightly. Rose Pruning (W. H. G.). — We will insert your note next week. Chloroform foe Stupifying Bfes (M. P.). — A teaspoonful upon a piece of blotting-paper, placed for five minutes flat under the hive, and the entrance stopped, would probably be enough ; but you would soon find out whether the stupefaction had been brought on by that quantity ; and if not, might repeat it. We advise you not to play unnecessary tricks with these colonists ; and the opinion we give is not founded upon experiment. Seeds of Annuals foe Maech Sowing (J. W. Lloyd). — See our " Flower Garden," in this number. CuTTiNG-DowN Raspbeeet Canesin Apeil (E.G.). — This is applicable only to the autumn -bearing variety. Manuring when Teenching [Ibid). — if you are going to sow tap-rooted vegetables (carrots, parsnips, and beets), turn the manure in with the bottom spit. If you are about to sow or plant fibrous- rooted vegetables (cabbages, &c.J, dig the manure in with the top spit. Soot and Salt foe Potatoes (Ibid). — The best mode of applying this compost now would be to sow it over the surface, and then hoe the ground over. Your other questions shall be answered in our next number. Monthly Calendars (Novice, Kimber^s Cottage). — We will consider your suggestion as to printing this not upon the cover of the parts. We may transfer them to the last page of each month's last number. Thanks for your note on bee-feeding ; it shall be pub- lished. Rhubarb (P. Wallingf or d). —To check this running to seed, make the soil about it very rich, by means of pig or other strong dung. The more leaves you can make a plant produce, the less inclined is it to form flowers. Break the seed stems down as fast as they appear. Stove foe a Small Greenhouse (J. B. H. Abergele). — The best stove for heating your greenhouse (12 feet long and 10 feet wide) will be a small Arnott's stove, made of brick instead of iron, several of which we saw at work in some small houses for propagating roses, &c., at Mr. Rivers' of Sawbridgeworth. His description of them is as follows : Height of stove 2 feet 8 inches, and t feet square; foun- dation, common bricks and mortar ; the part surroundmg the fire- box, which is formed of four "lumps," is built with fire-bricks, set in fire-clay. On the top of the stove is placed a Welch tile, two feet square and three inches thick. The fuel, or feeding door, is about the centre; a small sliding draught and ash-pit door at the bottom; a pipe, about 18 inches long, leads from the stove into a small chim- ney outside. A stove of this kind requires feeding but once in eight hours. The best fuel is coke. On the top of the Welch tile is placed a shallow iron pan of the same size, which can be filled with water, and thus the air in the house be kept moist. Cost of the brickwork, 30s ; bars, iron doors, &c., 15s. Before cleaning out the ashes in the morning, soak them with water ; this prevents dust. Mr. Rivers has had his stoves constantly employed for five or six years. Salt, Lime, and Ashes (Ibid). — This compost, which you say is well mixed, will be a good manure for all your kitchen -garden crops, but especially for potatoes, carrots, and cabbages. At the rate of 15 bushels per acre will be enough. Mangold-Wurtzel (Joseph Richard). — In your garden near Nottingham you may sow this any time in May. Dibble it in in rows two feet apart, and one foot apart from hole to hole. Make the holes not more than two inches deep. . Plants Requiring Protection (A Constant Reader). — You misquote us ; — and we are right in saving (p. 249) that " all plants requiring us to protect them with glass, are from regions with bnghter skies and longer days than we enjoy." The annual amount of day- light is much greater at and near to the Equator than in England. Heat Endurable by Plants (Ibid). — We have no precise in- formation to give you in answer to your query, "into what degree of heated air may plants be put without injury — first in dry air, and secondly in moist air?" You think this "might assist in the dis- cussion of plants burning under glass ;" but we do not consider that such a benefit could arise from even an accurate answer — because if the burning arises from the concentration of the sun's rays in an uneven piece of glass that happens to have become lens-form, we are quite sure that the rays so concentrated would be hot enough even to set fire to dry vegetable matter, the same as a pocket lens is used by smokers sometimes to kindle their tobacco. The heat which certain parts of some plants will endure without injury is very great. For instance, raspberry seeds boiled in syrup at 230^^, (eighteen degrees above the temperature of boiling water), have afterwards germinated. Peas put into water heated to 200'', germinated more readily than other peas not so treated; and the seeds of Acacia lopantka produced seedlings after having been boiled for five minutes. We know that the leaves of Kidney beans have been uninjured by exposure to dry air heated to 167^, but they died in a few minutes at the same temperature when the air was moist. Yet some plants will endure a very high moist heat, such as plants growing in hot water springs, and on the edges of the crater of volcanoes. Autumn-bearing Raspberry (Jmfj-). — This is quite a distinct variety. We believe it is also called the Double-bearing, the Sibe- rian, and the Late Cane. Artificial Manure (M. H. J.). — Your manure, consisting chiefly of sulphates of lime and soda, we do not think would be an antidote for the potato murrain ; and it certainly would not kill the wire-worm in the small quantities in which it would be possible to mis it with the soil. It would, probably, be better for potatoes than for any other garden crop. Drawing Ground Plans (.4 Youn^ Gardener). — There is abook called, we think, Williamson's " Mathematics Applied," which will aid you. Liquid-manure foe Roses (A Subscriber).— This is best applied so soon as the blossom-buds appear ; and may be given once a week. If the trees appear weak, it may be given to them as soon as the leaves begin to expand. A quart to each is enough. Seeds (C. A.). — You can get youi Jiower-seeds of any first-rate seedsman in London. Try Mr. Hairs, 109, St. Martin's-lane, Charing Cross. If you enclose postage stamps to the value you require of celery seed, and send them to Mr. Turner, Neepsend, Sheffield, he will send you some post free. Pine Varnish (A Subscriber from the Beginning). — Any oil and colour dealer in London vnM get it for you. We believe it to be easily made by mixing common rosin and spirit of turpentine together. We never used mineral paint, but always, for out- buildings, employ coal-tar, mixing a little grease with it. It is the cheapest and most protective of paints. The fat or grease gives it a glossy face. Shade for a Geeenhouse (C. W. E., Neu.'port).—We think the gauze you enclosed will be quite sufficiently close for the purpose. TuENiNG Window Plants (Sf(c/r in the iWud}.— If this is done daily, or even every second day, moving them half round, it keeps their growth uniform, and does not injure them. GuTTA Peecha for GRAFTING i./ifrf). — Flat sttips of this would answer for binding over the union of the scion and stock ; but it would not cover the top of the stock in some modes of grafting, so as to do away with the necessity for grafting clay. Drainage from a Stable (A Subscriber, Chertsey). — This is a very excellent liquid- manure. It will be quite strong enough if mixed in the proportion of one bucket of the M Dog's Mercury flowers. Lurid Henbane. 51 21 8 53 2 5 46 85 27 T Six-cleft Plume Moth appears. Jonquil, [pard'sbane. 49 23 10 1] 3 5 28 86 28 W Domestic Goose liatclies. Plantain-leaved Leo- 46 24 11 25 4 5 10 87 LaBY-DAY is a cintracti'tn of the older designation, ••Our Lady's day " and is i*ie (estival on which is commem-iraffd " the Annuncia- t oi. to the Virgin Mary," that she was the chosnii mwther of the Me-.(iiah ( Luke i. ^^6). The oldt'si and most authentic of our ecclesi- a^-iical writers hand down the tradition iliat Marj was an only child, esi-ou'sed t> Joseph when hut flffefn vears old, and 'hai she died A.D. 48. Oup church ha* a service appropriat*'d to the celebration of tse Annunciation; hut the day is nore associated ifi the public mind with the payments of rents ami the covenants of leases. " Rplenlless, undelayinp: quarter-day I Cold, thoush in summer; cheeries-, tbouRh in spring j In winter, hleak ; in autumn, withering: No quarter dost thou give, not foi one day; But rtnt and tat enforcp.h us to pay; Or. with a qunrter-stnff^ ent'reih our dwelling. Thy ruililBss minion our small chattels selling, Ana empty-handed sending us away I " Phenomena of the Season.— It is a common opinion that exposure ni a seed to the light checks its g»rmination or sprouting; but w** have trit-d experiments to ascertain this tact, and have deduced from thetii a contrary conclu-ion; for inthost- experiments apparently proving tlie conlrat-y, due care was not taken to prevent the seed heinR exposed to ft greater degree of dryness as well as to light. If seed tie placed on the surface of a soil, and other seed just below that euiface, and care he t«ken to keep thn loiraer com-tantly moisr, it will germinate just ai speedily as the buried st^ed ; and if nxposfd to the blue rays only of th« upectrutn, by b ing kept under a glass; of ihat colour, even more rapidly. Therefore, the object of sowing the seed below the surface, seems to be for the purposes of keeping it in a state of equable and salutary moisture, as well as to place the young root into the medium necessary for it-j growth immediately it emerges from the seed. Tlie (acts narratt^d here, and in previous numbers, hold out sotne beacons wirthy of being attended to, as guidt-s in sowing Th*^> point out that every kind of seed has a par- licular depth below the surfat'e it which it germinates most vigov ously, as securing to it the loosi appropriate degree of moisture, of oxygen gas, and of warmth. From a quarter of an iuch to two inches beneath the surface, appear to be 'he lin.its for the seeds of plants; but they usually vary for the same sweds in different grounds and countries. It must be tiie least in idayt-y soils and dry climates. In general, sowing should be performed in dry wealhtr, especially on heavy soils, net only because of the greater saving of labour, but because it pre- vents the *ieed being enveloped with a coal of earth impermeable ly the air. "which," says H. Davy, **is one cause of the uniw ihe class to dr"p mside ii a little; tins is liuw the slip should hive been treated at fir-f. Never remove the glass, except to give wat-r, until kpw If^ave-J are maiie, and then only at night, for a week or two, until i\\^y are firm enough to stand the air Figs, Pruning. &c. (Somersetshirf J??r/or).— Plant your fig directly; your aMgle. shelttretl Irom the X. and E., is good. We advise you to plant tlie Brown I-chia, or Lee's Perpetual; we wonld ]i]ant .-neof each. No plum yet quite equals the greeBgace in flavour. Plant the British Qcieen strawberry by all means. The pinchim; systt-m, as you term it, adopted by ourselves and Mr. Rivers, in con- junction with other gO'id principles oi" culture, will be f>und cnrtect for your pears- Blue-apron, who cut back your peach's long shoots lo 6 inches, was not so far wrong as you imagined; without pruning bark, how is .he bottom nT iIih wall to b^• furni-^hfd ? the bnst thing is til take care and prune close enoui^h The pinching system is for spur bearing fruits. CANVASS FOR COVERINGS {Rev. J. Pratt and A Consfftnt Render). — We are not quite assuied that wp qnoteii ihe in ice of tlie canvass hieh enough ; we wrnro from memT-y. Be that as it mny, we have purchased many hundreds of yards within the lust twenty years or" Mr. N. Hidme, Paradi<"-grei'n, Kimtsford. at something very near the pricp we quoted. There may be many other dealers. Wu iiever saw Hwythorn's hexagonal garden net. Pruning Recently planted Trees (C. W. L.)-— You say that Mr. Bi-cham advise* you not to prune those plums and cherries planted last November, but te wait until next autumn. Mr. B.'a advice is based on sounfl principles, as regards forest trees, and, in- deed, trees in general, so far as health is concerned. It, however, becomes necessiry to adapt trees to iheir new situation bet'me=, and the coursp pursued is som<»times slishtly inimif.-al to high culture for a very short ppriod. If, however, your tret's are ordinary 6tandar*!8, and symmetry is not important, why th^n Mr. B.'s advice is correct, Old Espalier Apple Trees {Rei\ T. D W.).— Your old espalier apples, which appeared quite worn out. should have been replaced by fresh lieps. No amount of root-cutting can ever renew a worn out tree. Something may be done by a generous coui-se of ireutmeut, such as rich top- dressings; they are, however, but temporizing in this case. Under your circumstances, we should thin out, but not shorten; they can never make useful espaliers, or dwarf standards. Disease in PcARSfT. Griffin). — You state that the fir^t black spots appeared en the leaves, and that in a few days after nearly all the fruit fell off. This is certainly a serious case. Probably a fungus, but what kind we cannot say ; '* ih-'ir name is legion." We have escerienced a similar attack on the Chaumontelle pear, but know of no remedy Your peach case appaars to be what is commonly termed "blister," and which arises, as we think, from badly constduled soils (in reference to ih»ir mechanical structure), or from stagnation of moisture at the root. Your potatoes exhibit precisely the same phenomena as others in a variety of districts. Double Violets becoming Single {M. H.,Bo7/ne-water).—To prevent this, take runners of your violets as early in May as they are rooted, and plant ihein on a west aspect, where the sun cannot reach them till late in the afternoon from September to March. Enrich the Bidl with rotten manure, and watrr orcasionally till the plants are well established. We have often seen the violets cist their leaves in winter when planted in the full sun. The tree violet is much hardier in that respect. Mignonette (Ibid). — Early sowjns is the best remedy where the mi noneite dues not thrive well. Now is the best time to sow; make shallow drills, sow thickly, and cover, say one-fourth-of-an-inch, with peat or wood ashes, screened through a coarse sieve; and after levelling the bed or row, scatter a little soot all over the ground. Zinnias Damping Off (Ren, George Grijfilh). — Zinnias often damp off at the collar, as you say; the cause of which is not well known : but this disease is aggravated by raising the seedlmes in a too c 1 09*' atid hot atmosphere. As soon as the seedlings are just above ground they ought to have abundance of air, to bring them up with firm st<'in«. Gladiolus Cardinalis (Ibid). — May be watered over the leaves when jj|:iritHil in beds, oi er«)wn in pols, ani so may all the gladioli with advantage. This kind of watering is to be done in the after- noun. Balsams in a Window (An Amateur, Manchester).— To rear balsams in a window, it will be time enough lo sow the seeds about the end of April. See the proper culture, p. 276. DiANTHus (/At'rf).— This is some kind of hardy pink or s^eet- wiliiara; the seeds may be sown now in the open air, and when the plants are a few inches high transplant them where you intend them to flower, six inches apart every way. The sickly plant is probably acacia armata, with yellow globular flowers; it will aim recover if you water it sparingly and keep it in the window, Havin* flowered 80 long is the cause of its losing its leaves. Keep it ani) the rose in the window till the May frosts are over, when you may place them in the open air for the summer. They are two good window plants. The acacia will not stand the frost, but the rose will. Pruning Beauty op Billiard Rose (W. H- G). — In extreme cases of great vigour, and an uncommon good soil and favourable situation, the Beauty of Billiard rose might, as you say, produce shoots •* of a y/^vy great length;" but that would be the excep- tion, not the rule. The rose-grower you name is well kno*n, but we hold to our directions being correct as to Ihtf mode of pruning this and similar rose-trees. Of course, if a tree pushes forth strong, we would advise longer shoots to be left, but the rose in question is not in the habit of doing so; and, therefore, we say, thin hard and prune shoit, and you will have muchj?ner roses, though perhaps not so many. Garden always Shaded (Gardenia) — You say you have a plot of gtound at the back of your house that has no sun on it all day, yet you wish to make of ii a gard^^n; but you do not say whether it is in a town or m the country. If it is in a town, which we suspect it is, very few things would live in it. I' you do not mind a little ex- pense, try to cultivate terns, by forming a rockery, as we directed some numbers hack. As to sowing seed=, your's is a hopeless case. Procure some plants of the following, if you are not disposed to make the roclvwork; — Sweet-williams, rockets, wali-flowers, Canterbury bells, French honeysuckles, white and blue periwinkles, coramsn Irish ivy, and Lon ion pride. Plant these in a little fresh soil, syringe the leaves frequently, and you will succeed during the summer mof»ths to make your plot gay and interesting. You may try a patch or two of the following animals:— Candy tuft, white and purple, yellow lupines, double marigold, mignonette, double French poppy, Virginian stock, ten-week stock, and sweet alyssum. You may plant a laurol or two, a southprnwood, and an aucuba japonica. Do not, however, attempt any fruit trpes or vegetables. Under-Gardener's Place (A. B., Linrnlnshire).—Y»ur best plan to obtain wh;it »ou want, would be to get somegarderer of note and long standmg to apply for you to some respedable London nurseryman, or to advertize in The Cottage Gardener, staling your age and qualifications. Pears for Westmoreland {E. G).— You say that yonr wall is lfi2 feet long, and with a south-west aspect You should have named the height of your wall. We plant dwarf trees as permanent ones; rainy introduce standards as temporary trees, trained between and over the dwarfs. At six yards apart, it will require a*>out nine trees; we will, howHver, name mere, and you can select : pears — Loui« bonne of Jersey, Marie Louise, Jarg melle, Hacon's Incomparable, Beurre Diel, Glout Morceaux, Beurre Ranee. Plums — ReineClaude Violelle, Golden-drop You also ask for oiher fruit for the same situation, and we answer : of cherries — Horello and Mav-duke; of the peach — theRoval George; of nectarines — Murray and Pitmaston O-ange; and of apricots— the Shipley. These are dwarfs, and in- tended to he permanent. If yon are inclined to plant standards, or "riders," between, take the following: — Fondante d'Automne pear, Ensler Beurre pear. Winter Neilis pear. Greengage plum, Morocco plum, Morelln cherry, Elton cherry, Moorpark apricot, and Early Admirable peach. Tnese should be chisen with tall stems. The main yroiind 'if success must be sought in the formation of ihe soil. Look back to our aovice on stations; and in your damp and nor- therly county, the pears must be on quince stocks. Be sure to drain well, and try and plant above the ground level. Size of Pots (Amateur). — It is quite true that Mr. Beaton speaks (It a 48-sizvd pot being six inches wide, asd we, in another page, have spoi-en of 33s as being of that size. This is only one illustration among many of the absurdity of the old system of speak- ing of flower-pots as so-many to the cast. It is evident that in Suffolk -i'Js are six inches wide at the mouth; in the neighbourhood of London, 32s are of that width; and at the Farehara potteries, in Hampshire, 249 are six inches wide I If you use a pot of this width, it 'loes not signify much whether it is a 48, 32, or 24. It is too late for planting Gladiolus Psittacinus. Rhubarb Planting (J. W. Ashtnn-under-Lt/ne). — The crown should be two or three inclies below the surface. Ail the Ea'ly Reds are crimson-stalked; hut the "scarlet-stalked" of large size, men- tioned by your friend, was probably the Tobolsk. You pre quite right in trenching deeply for ihubarb, and pulling in the road- scrapings, &c., to rendt-r your heavy soil more friable. LiquiD Manure (G. M. LeucA).— Six gallons of drainage from your stable, and three gallons of hen-dung, will require about 60 gallons of water to make a liquid manure of beneficial strength. SOIL for Fuchsias (il/ariu). — See p. 22'. Myrtles flourish well in any light garden soil to which one-iourth peat has been added. Beet-Sowing (L. fl.).— Early in April i-. a good time. Spring frosts, if sh-irp, kill the young plants. For out-buildings and rough palings we always use gas-tar, adding to it a Utile fat. London : Printed by Harry Wooldridge, 147, Strand, in the Parish of Saint Mary-le-Strand; and Winchester High-street, in the Parish of St. Mary Kalendar; and Published by William Somekville Orr, at the Office, 147, Strand, in the Parish of Saini .Mary-le-Strand, London.— March \22nd, 1849. THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 291 WEEKLY CALENDAR. m' w Dl U 'io' Th MARCH ;20— APRIL 1, ISi!). , Plants dedicated to each daj'. 1 Sun Rises. Sun Sets. Moon R. and Sets. Moon's Age. Clock bef. Sun. Day of Year. Large Bloody-nosed Beet'e appears. 0x1 ips 4;J,a4 20 a G morn. 5 4 51 88 :W F Ciimb. T. ends. Cowslip Flowers, Hairy Ladv's-Smock ; 49 27 3i 4 33 SO 31 S Oxford T. ends. Domestic Duck halclies. Smaller Daft'odil : 30 20 1 34 @ 4 14 00 1 Son P,\L^[ Sc-V, Ivy berries ripe. Annual Mercury 1 37 31 2 a 20 8 3 50 91 2 M Peacli-leaves opening. White Violet 1 .",:) 32 3 3 38 02 3 T Hort, and Linn. Soe, meetings. * Evero:reen Alkanet 1 33 34 3 44 10 3 211 93 4l W St. Ambrose. Plum-leares open.. Red Crown Imperial 1 30 30 4 17 11 3 2 94 Palm Sunday is so called in cnmraeraoration of our Saviour's entrance into Jerusalem, at the coraraenccment of liis last week of suffering. On iliat occasiou his disciples strewed palm branrhes before liira ; and as in this country, at this season, tlie blossom- bearing Iwigs of the willow tribe are the most conspicuous amon^ our trees, these have Iieen subslituted. This is also appropriate; for those blossoms, springing from a trt-e which is the emblem of sad- ness, well typifies the ji-y to which the suflVirings we commemorate gave birth. "A willow," says Fuller, "is a sad tree, whereof such as Iiave lost their love make their mourning garlands ; and we also know who the exiles were who hung up their harps upon such doleful supporters," St. Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, died on Ihis day, a.d. 367. He is to be remembered as one of the most exemplary of the Bishops of the Kalian Church. He was claimed by ihe people as worthy to be their Cliristian teacher, and Ik? resigned the gown of the lawyer to j-eceive the pontifical robe. His writings, especially one on "The Duties of the Clergy " {De Officiis), are well known, bulhis memorable reliukti of the Emperor rheodosius is still more generally remembered. Theodosius had been Euilty of a most cruel and unjust massacre of the inhabitants of Thessalonica, and then, without any apology, or declaration of repentanc, came to the Cathedral of Milan to com- momorate our Saviour's sacrifice. But St. Ambrose met him at the gate, and successfully opposed his entrance, dismissing him with the stinging reproach, ''flow can ynn receive Iho holy body of our Ljrd in such polluted hanclF, or touch his blood with lips that commanded. in your passion, the blood of thousands to be unjustly shed? Depart, and do not iiggravale your former guilt by new provocations." riiENOMENA OF THE SEASON.— "When a Seed is sown so as to receive the most favourable supplies of warmth, moisture, and air, it soon germinates; and Malpighi, one of the most accurate observers of vegetation, thus details the visible clianges wliioli, under such favourable circumstances; occur in the seed of a gourd or pumpkin. At ihe end of (he first day the see-^ had swollen considerably, and its skin had becoa:is so moistened that a tluid oozed from it when pressed between the finger and Hiumb. A small hole also was perceptible at one end of the seed, through which moisture seemed to be conveyed to the lobes of the seed (cotyledons), which had already begun to assume the foim of seminal or seed leaves. At the end of the second day the inner skin of the seed was somewhat torn, and the plantlet, or embryo plar.t, somewhat enlarged. On cutting it across the middle, the fibres, sap vessels, air cells, pith, and bark, were discern- ible. The radicle, or embryo root, could also be seen. At the end of the third day the outer skin had become brownish, and the plantlet and radicle had enlarged. At ihe end of the fourth day little lumps on the sides of the radicle shewed the points from whence the fibrous roots would issue. The leaves had not quite burst their inuer wrapper, but their nerves were perceptible. At the end of the sixth day the leaves had escaped from the seed, though still within, and shielded by the cotyledons; and they thus remained, but increasing in size and gradually bernming green, until the twentieth day, when the plant was fully developed. Insects.— The Seven-spotted Lady- Bird {Coccinelht Septcm-punctata) re- presented magnifieJ and of its natural March 1341. 1842. 1S43. 1344. 1845. IS4S. 1347. 1343. 29 Fine. Pine. Fine. Cloudy. Fine, Fine. Fine. Fine. Hijrhest N; lowest 58°— 40° 59°— 48° 56°— 29° 63°— 3;° 58°— 27° 57°— 35° 49°— 26° 61° -32° temp. 30 Rain. Showery. Fine. Fine. Showery. Rain. Fine. Showerv. 55°— J 1° .i9°— 42° 54°— 42° 57°— 40° 56°- 36° 54°— 30° 50°— 20° 62°— 39° 31 Cloudy. Showerv. Fine. Fine. Fine. Fine. Fine. Fine. April 56°— .11° 56°— 4:t° 58°-46° 6o°— 38° 63°— 30° 62°-4l» 45°— 22° 71°— 35° 1 Cloudv. Rain. Rain. Fine. Fine. Fine. Showery. Fine. 52°— il° 51°— 32° 69°— 50° 65°— 29° 59°— 29° 63°-45° 46°— 23° 72°— 38° 2 Fine. Showerv. Showerv. Fine. Fine. Showery. Cloudv. Fine. 66°-26° 47°— 31° 59°— 48° 72°-29° 6o°— 33° 59°— 10° 44°- 28° 75°— 40° 3 Fine. Cloudy. Showerv. Fine. Fine. Fine. Cloudv. Fine. 5-°— 25° 47°-35° 6l°-46° 72°- 32° 69°— 30° 55°— 39° 41°— 32° 78°— 36° 4 Fine. Fine. Rain. Fine. Fine. Rain. Cloudv. Fine. 65°— 39° 4/°— 27° 5/°— 41° 68°— 38° 69°— 35° 53°— 40° 50°— 37° 75°— 41° sizd in the annexed drawing, is one of the gardener's best friends. It is the insatiable foe of the plant louse, aphip, or green fly, for by all llicse names is this pest of our plants known; and Mr. Stephens gives the tribe no more praise than is its due when be say?, " uni- versal, and rich in numbers, the lady-bird Keeps within due limits the aphides of every climate from polo to pole." The havoc lady- birds, or lady-cows, make among these stickers of the life-sap of our plants, may be conceived from the myriads upon myriads seen in years when the aphis abound. In 1807 the Susses coast swarmed with lady-birdB, to the alarm of some of the inhabitants, who were ignorant that their Utile visitors were emigranfs from the neigh- louring hop-plantations, where, in their larra state, each had sla'n his tliousands ond ten tliousands of the aphis, which, known locally as the fly, so frequently blasts the hopes of the hop-grower. With us they are held as sacred as the robin, and in France they are equally regarded as especially under the protection of tlie Virgin Mary.* We have selected Ihe seven-spotted species because it is the most familiar to every one, and we will conclude by just .oketching its history. If we examine the under side of the leaves of roses, turnips, or other plants very liablo to plant lice, we shall generally find there little clusters of orange coloured eggs, sticking by their ends to the leaf. In May from these comes the first brood of the lady-bird; thiy are then little black insects, hairy, and with six Ugs, aid the boriy projecting beyi.-nd these. The head' is orange-coloured. They feed voraciously upon the lice. They pass the winter in this form, and in the spring, after remaining in the pupa state about 12 days, lliey are transformed into the perfect lady-bird. In this stale they alio prey fiercely upon the ophis, and Mr. Curtis says thai he has seen them cat three or four in a minute of the little wingless lice upon a pelargonium. • Hence, probably, their proper name; which, at first, being "Our Lady's Bird," has been shortened lo "Lndy-bird," in the same manner as "Our Lady's Day. Several correspondents, signing themselves respec- tively "Alpha," "T. W." "A Clerk/' and '* Sylva," have written to iis for advice how they may best es- cape from their present sedentary employments, and profitably devote their money and labour to the cul- tivation of the soil. Such a desire seems natural to man, and the sentence passed upon our first parent, " In the sweat of thy face sbalt thou eat bread," has been kindly converted to a blessing. Worldly occu- pation is essential to the happiness of our worldly nature, and God has so beneficially arranged tliat the contest against *' the brier and the thistle," to which man is condemned, is a contest and a labour in which lie chiefly and uuiversaliy delights, One chief object of our pages is to aid and to pro- mote our fellow-countrymen's progress in this their No. XXVr., Vor. I. % o ogo THE COTTAGE GARDENER. )iiost pleasant of labours ; and we have the remu- nevating knowledge that we have largely attained to tliiit object. But we feel that it is our duty sometimes to restrain as well as to cheer on our readers in their efforts to mal;o progress in the cultivation of the soil; to check them when we see then- energy misdirected, and to warn when we see them urging along a course beset with shoals and rocks. Our foiu- correspond- ents are in this predicament, and we bid them be- ware. T3ut before we enter upon any commentary — before we offer any advice — let us produce our text ; let us publish one of their letters, for the others are of similar character. Tt is dated from Brixton, and signed " Sylva." " I have often thought that many like myself may derive most important assistance in carrying out their views, in the cultivation of small plots of land, by a publication like your's. At present I am in a counting-house, but expect to have nu aniniity of say i;20 a year, when I think of quitting the desk, and taking to gardening and I'ai'ming on a small scale. Will you inlbrm me (and, perhaps, in asking for myself I am asliing the favour for many others) what is the extent of ground I could cultivate so as to get a comfortable livelihood, and the way I ought to set about the business ? and what part of England would be most advisable to settle in '.' and such oilier particulars as you might deem useful for persons somewhat in my position in life? I am 3R years of age, married, but liave no family. My present in- come is about i/O a j'ear. I cannot expect you, of course, to lose your valuable time in replying to tliis letter; but allow me to suggest that, in your articles on the allotment system, you might kindly give such infoi ination for the assistance of those situated as I am ; and in doing so, I think you would be rendering an essential service to a numerous body of men who must be subscribers to some extent to your publication ; I mean valioiud school-inasters, as tliey generally have a piece of ground attached to their school, and could tints get practical information at a small price." Now, before " Sylva," and the thousands like him who similarly linger for country occupations, ought to venture upon taking a plot of ground to cultivate, they should have some capital to buy tools, a cow, pigs, &c. ; and, after having done this, have, over and above, enough money remaining to suppoi't them- selves and pay their rent and taxes for twelve months. If they arc not thus provided, tliey will be in that worst of all positions for a cultivator of the soil — obliged to sell their produce to meet the demands upon thcra. Pressures come upon such parties ad- mitting of no delay ; and they sell, not because they have been able to await the best market, but because they must have the money. Then, again, men of " Sylva's " class are not usually the sturdy sons of the spade, best calculated for the labours of the garden and tlie field. They have not the sinew and the muscle devclojied by exercise from early youth, neither have they the superior ]n-actical knowledge of the art of growing the best crops, at the least expense, which can compensate for their deficient bodily power. Let none such be deceived by our narrative of " Britton Abbot." He was "happy in his own industry and good management ; in tlie beauty and comfort of bis cottage, and in the extreme fertility of his gai-den;" but, tben, Britton Abbot was a day-labourer on a farm. His own plot was only cultivated at his leisure hours ; and if any clerk or schoolmaster, or other bondsman to indoor emjiloy- ment, can thus devote his leisure hours, it will be all profit to him — profit to his pocket, and profit to his health. But making the spade ids foundation, in- stead of his buttress, is quite another matter. Resolving, on so important a point, not to rely on our ownjudgment alone, we consulted Mr. Errington, as a man of much exjierienoe among cottage gardeners and the cultivators of allotments. This is his answer, and it shall close our reply to our four friends. " There are hundreds no doubt situated as 'Sylva;' many of them worthy members of society. They, of course, should look beyond the poor-laws. \Vliat, then, is to be done? Book-keeping is at an end witli them. Now, I quite agree witli you, that tliey are not the sort of men, in general, for land. No man can thrive on the small holdings within reach of such as ' Sylva,' without considerable labour. How can we expect this from persons of that class ? "'Sylva's' annuity we will call X'Jii per annum. Now this, to men of his grade, should be increased to .£00 or .ilO, by some means. Forty or fiity pounds of jiroflt, tlien, has to be realised. Cominerci.al gar- dening, carried on near a thriving town, and close to a railway, will sometimes do as much on three or four acres as ordinary gardening — or call it small farm- ing, if yon will — can accomplish on a score of acres. Men of ' Sylva's ' calibre, liowever, cannot hope to aeeomplish this : there is, indeed, no royal road to gardening, any more than there is to geometiy. " Men of ' Sylva's' ca.?te had, perhaps, better aim at as much land as will keep a cow and tlirco or four pigs. If, in addition, he can procure his bread-corn from his plot, so much the better. liCt him, how- ever, first secure a winter's hay and jdenty of store- roots. All this The Cottaoe Gardeneh can teach, and 'Sylva' can practise; provided, always, that such persons are willing to Labour. If such holdings are, as before observed, near a thriving town, and carriage is very cheap, and manure easily obtained, why then I should not despair of seeing such men as ' Sylva,' who appears to be an earnest character, and one who is willing to ' count the cost before building the house,' creep out gradually into a sort of market- gardening system. 'J'he present position, however, of the lauded interest, afi'ords no guarantee that such miniature farms will hereafter be rendily obtained." THE FRUIT-GARDEN. Copings to GAnnEN 'Wai.i.s — Amongst the garden- ing questions which have been raised during the last twenty years, the subject of copings has received its fair share of disputation. We dare say that the eligibility of a nightcap to a person in bed, once fairly mooted, would raise just such another contro- versy. The opponents of copings say, that they shut out the dews of heaven, besides dripping on tlie trees, &o. That some of these matters may be, at times, THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 293 trifling evils, we admit; but beliokl tlie vast amount ol' benefit copings confer, as tbe preservation or arrest of absorbed lieat ; and this, in two distinct ways. l''irst, by preventing what scientific men term radiation : this means, that the wall having become warmed by the sun during the day, parts with the boat again dming the early part ot' tbe night, owing to a law of nature inherent in all bodies, that they shall give out beat to those which arc colder than themselves. Now, it has been repeatedly proved, that any bodj', however thin, which comes between the sky and the object in question, aceoniplisbes this in the most certain way. Indeed, to digress for a moment, all our mat or other coverings are based, in the main, on this principle ; the object being not only to arrest the departure of the heat by a body of some kind, but by one which our learned folks term a non- conductor of beat. The preservation of the beat thus acfpiired by walls does, indeed, seem to us tbe great desideratum. We have frenuently known an intensity of sunshine on a south wall which, we need scarcely say, was highly e.xciting, and in some cases positively injurious ; especially when the ti'ee in question laboured under a sluggish action of root, or tbe soil was too dry. Under such circvnnstances, then, bow great must be the extremes of temperature to shoots near the wall during a frosty night, in the end of March, after a briglit and glaring sunshine ; especially on a wall with neither coping nor covering. There is another and important point to refer to on behalf of copings. With a coping projecting some eight or ten inches, the wall will be preserved Jri/ during two-thirds of our s])ring rains ; tliis is used as an argument against coping by some : with us, it is a strong recommeudatiou. Moisture is well known to be a heat carrier; and the amount of solar heat stored up in the wall, under a good broad cop- ing, where everything is dry, becomes entirely dissi- pated on those walls possessing no coping. Now, tbe frequency of such drenching showers is in some seasons very great: great, therefore, is the loss of heat in the aggregate under such circumstances : and loss of heat is surely a question w-orthy of con- sideration. As bearing on this point of the question, we have a fact to relate. Some twenty years since, our practice was to ply tbe barrow-engine every fine afternoon on our south walls. It was a practice ac- quired under tbe tuition of a most respectable and first-rate gardener of those days, whose character stood so high, and deservedly so, that his pupils never doubted liis proceedings. We, however, found that, with all our pumping and " cleaning the trees," as we then termed it, they did not, by any means, succeed better than some of oin- neigbbom-s, who totally dispensed witli this washing. At last, light began to dawn in our minds, and the bonds of our master's spell became somewhat relaxed. The prin- ciples of absorption and of radiation were looked into, and it soon appeared tolerably plain that the engine was neither more nor less than a machine to get rid of the heat acquired during the day. From that period to the present we have been much more cautious in the use of our engine; which, by the way, is a useful thing to disturb insects and lodg- ments of e."ctraneous matter; and we may fairly and certainly date our improved course of cultru'e, with a corresponding increased amount of success, from that very period. Whilst, however, strongly advo- cating the use of copings, wo wordd not be under- stood as advocating gi-eat extremes in point of width. Neither would we endeavour to urge the imiversal adoption oi fixed copings. The ciuestioii is, we con- sider, still an open one here ; and we are willing to concede, that the total removal of copings during the months of July and August may possibly lie bene- ficial. Let them, however, be restored by all means in September ; for Ibeii' agency in the preservation of heat is as much needed then as in the spring. We think, that from nine inches to one foot will be found most eligible. They must be wide enough to throw the drip clear beyond the leaves of the trees; but beyond a foot would indeed intercept too much those atmospheric influences which are accessory to the general welfare of the tree. The favourite plan witli those who advocate moveable copings, is boards on brackets, either built or driven iuto the wall. These are good : they are, however, rather expensive. Perhaps slates might be successfully adopted. Top Dressings, 1\[t]i.ching, &c. — We have before adverted slightly to the propriety, not to say neces- sity, of mulching fruit-ti-ees generally. By muk-hing, we mean such an amount of either balf-i'otten nianm'e, or vegetable matters, or both in combination, as will at once ward oif extreme drought, encourage the fibrous roots to the surface, and act by forming a weak liquid nianme diu'ing every shower of rain, or application of water. There is little difference be- tween mulching and top-dressing ; the difference is more a matter of degree than of piiuciple. Tlius, when we speak of top-di'essing gooseberry and cur rant bushes, we nu'an as much manure of some kind as will enable them to carry their crop of fruit. For since we cannot, on every occasion, introduce such a needful appliance at the ends of the fibres, we must be content to place it on the surface, and leave the rest to the dews and rains. In speaking of mulching newly planted peaches or other teu^f r fruits on walls possessing warm as))ects, we must try to be iiuder- stood as meaning something more than a manure ; that is, in point of bulk. All materials of this charac- ter, thus applied, may be termed, with some accuracy, regulators. Thus, plant two ]ieacli-trees side by side on a south wall, on a properly prepared border : midch the one and leave tbe other unmulchcd; the iniuudched one will make, it may be, an earlier start into growth, on account of its receiving to its roots warmth from tlie sun, with a greater facility. Let, however, a hot June occiu', with a great amount of dryness in the atmosphere, and then mark tlie dif- ference. Tbe unmulched tree will require the water- pot, and if such is neglected the tree speedily becomes stationary, or indeed loses ground. The mulched tree, on tbe other hand, will be found to endure ; and if the mulch has been laid on some three or four inches thick, and is of a proper texture, no watering will be reqiusite. Behold, then, the safety of the plan ! the mulcliing may be termed a self-acting aflair : and not only this, but the mulched tree will be found, after ordinary summers, a very superior plant ; and it would scarcely be too much to afflnn, that very frequently a whole year is gained by it, which is a most important item in fruit cidture. Having pre- mised thusmucli to illustrate the matter, we have now to recommend a very general mulching, where material for the purpose and time can be spared. We do not say mulch all trees ; but what we do mean is, to assist the weak, and protect the newly planted. Now is precisely the period at which to perform this most useful operation. It should not be done earlier, for we do think it far best to wait until the retm-niug warmth of spring has restored a little of what we gardeners term bottonr-beat to the earth ; and in all drained or mellowed soils, this may be counted on by the middle of April. I3!J4 THE COTTAGE GAPiDENEB. On liglit or sandy soils, too, mulching is of im- mense benefit ; and as not every one can command sutfic'ieut strong loam, of a sound texture, when planting liis trees, but is obliged to use soils of a ligliter and inferior cast, mulcbiug, in such cases, becomes more essential still. Jlulcb if you can, then, old trees exhausted by bearing, in order to re- cruit their condition ; mulch trees or bushes on hungry or porous soils, in order to retain a perma- nency of moisture during droughts; and mulch newlj'- planted trees, in order to control or regulate botli heat and moisture. Willows. — We would now attempt to persuade the cottager, and, indeed, every one who jwssesses a garden, to endeavour to discover a small jilot where he may plant a few willows. These things are useful everywhere, and, wo may add, exceedingly ]n'olUable ; as it is well known they meet with a ready sale in most parts of the kiugdom^ Some time since we suggested to the cottager the ])lanting any spare nook with the Jerusalem arti- choke ; such would be suitable in di'y corners. ^ If, however, any rushy or damp corner can be i'oiuid, which would hardly repay the outlay necessary for draining it, why then, we say, there plant wil- i lows. We had intended to name this a month since; such a multitude of objects, however, have ' suggested themselves as matters of advice to ama- teurs and cottagers, that we liave been obliged to defer this, and a host of otlier matters as well. Willows may yet be planted, and, before naming a few kinds, we would wish to dispel a few mistaken \ ideas concerning their culture. i It is sometimes supposed that the willow will ! thrive with any amount of stagnant moisture ; such is not the case. Wo could never get them to answer, for instance, in an uudrained bog, composed in the ■ main of sphaginmi, that white moss which thrives most over head in water, and which, when taken out and wrung by the hands, looks like a binidle of ' coarse wool. The fact appears to be, that the willow perishes merely for lack of food : for it is only in the gradual rotting of such substances that food is given out ; and whilst they are water-logged, mosses are wliat are termed antiseptics, that is to say, substances resisting decay. Willows answer very well in cold clays, if a reason- able amount of soil can be scraped together to plant them in, where clays are shallow, or what farmers term " thin skinned." They may, therefore, be thrown into what are called lazy beds; tlie furrows tlius formed will serve to carry oft' superfluous mois- ture, and may be deepened if necessary. Peaty soils, if wet, may be served in a similar way, elevating the beds a greater height still ; and when tlio peat has niellowed, any sandy or gravelly soil may bo mixed on the surface. Tlie sides of boundary ditches, too, may be put in requisition ; where a broad facing exists, a row or rows of willow truncheons may be planted on the facing, about a foot above tlie water level. We have known such assist in keeping up a powerful fence against cattle, and a som-ce of much profit. Of kinds, we are not aware that any will be better for the cottager than tlic common willow or osier ( SaJi.r vlmiiuilis ) ; the small golden willow is very tough, but rather delicate. "Where much room exists, the large Huntingdon is found to be very pro- fitable. These, however, are only cut about every third year, and are used for barrels, tubs, &c., as hoops and staves. They may be planted about half a yard apart; and it is well to plant good sized trua- eheons, or cuttings, say upwards of a foot in the soil, and about nine inches out. It, Ehrin'gton. THE FLOWER-GARDEN. Laying out Vilt..\-Gardens (conchided ). — Flow- ers. — In the confined space of a villa garden, the situation and arrangement of the flower-beds are matters requiring considerable taste to make the most of the limited plot of groiuid to be devoted to the culture of those beautiful and fragrant ornaments of the earth. And here we might, with great pro- priety, launch forth in the praise, and expatiate on the beauties of Flora, but we need not. The love of flowers is deeply impressed upon the himian heart, in infancy, in youth, in manhood, and in old age: whatever our rank, or station, or circumstances may be, we all admire flowers. Didl, and callous, and depraved, indeed, must that heart be, that the sight and scent of a flower-garden in all its glory does not cheer, gladden, and fill with pleasant grateful emo- tions. In placing the flower-beds, we ought to bo guided by the manner in which we purpose to lay out the garden. If the beds are divided frour each other by grass lawn, they should be jilaced near the gravel walk. They should bo of lengthy forms, rather narrow, so as each flower plant can be distinctly seen. Those long narrow shapes can be more easily managed than broad heavy masses. Weeds can be removed; the beds hoed and raked ; the flowers tied up or pegged down, as they require; water can be applied more easily ; and the flowers gatliered more i-eadily. Also, by liaving beds of such forms, there is, in performing the necessary operations, less need to set a foot upon them — a pressure always to be avoided. Another point to be attended to is, to form the beds of different sizes, some of smaller dimensions than others. The lesser beds will then conveniently serve to receive one kind of flowers, such as groups or masses of scarlet geraniums, verbenas, ])etunias, calceolarias, heliotropes, and other dwarf flowers, which do not associate well with tall-growing kinds. These small plots of flowers should be placed in such situations as to be well expt)sed to view. A very good place for some of them is on the parts of the lawn between the shrubbery and the main walk. They may be chiefly of the two beautiful forms — the oval and the circle ; these are more graceful than straight-sided beds, and, on account of their size, are equally as convenient to manage as tlie lai-ger lengthy forms. Flower-gardens laid out in this style will allow a large unbroken space of lawn to be seen from the windows, or from the covered seat on the mound, alluded to under the head " appro- priation ; " whereas, if the clurajis of flowei's were placed more in the centre of the lawn, they would lessen its apparent size, breaking, as it were, the grouud into two parts, and thus destroying its unity as a whole. We must now briefly notice the method of do- signing flower-beds, known as the "French parterre " and " Dutch manner." These are very suitable for villa-gardens of small extent ; and when well laid out in suitable figures, not too large, of easy curves, or neat straight lines, and kept in good order, they have a pleasing effect. They are formed with gravel walks, box edging, and beds for flowers. Here, again, as in the former method, the sizes of the beds should be varied ; the smaller ones for the same THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 293 kinds of flowers, and the larger ones may either be of a mixed eharaeter, or in masses of the taller- growing flowers : yet none of them should be so large as to require tho gardener to tread much upon them to perform the necessary operations. These kinds of flower-gardens require to be kept exceedingly neat and trim to be effective, and are very proper for the ladies to exercise upon, and keep in ordei-, as tlie gravel walks will be more frequently in a dry state than the lawn ; not but tliat a garden with grass between the beds may be partially managed by its mistress, as well as the other. Kock-woi'k and water are both ornamental in tolerably-sized gardens, if judiciously planned. We have already described the mode of forming these beautiful additions to the pleasures of the garden, at pages 8i) and 16s, to which we refer the reader. Wo have now brought our remarlcs on laying out villa gardens to a close ; we trust they will be usei'ul to numbers of our readers, and interesting to all. We are sensible, from the confined nature of the svd.iject, that to our scientific friends, who may now and then glance over these pages, the instructions and ideas may appear of tlie smallest calibre ; but wo would beg them to remember we write for ]iarties and gar- dens of small order, and our remarks must be of a corresjionding nature. If the instraotious we have written be useful to the uninformed of our readers in any degree, we shall be jjerfeotly satisfied. Layeiung Evergbeen Shiiubs. — Now is a good time to do this work. If you have any choice ones you wish to increase, the following is a good and certain method to raultijily them : — Procure a sufli- cieut number of hooked pegs ; some of them should be pretty strong, as thick as one's finger ; others may be smaller. The strong ones are intended to hold down the strong branches closely and firmly to the earth. Have ready also a portion of the same kind of soil the shrubs thrive in best. Then take such of the branches that are nearest to the soil, and, with a sharp knife, make, on the other side of each branch intended to make a plant of, an incision sloping uj)- wards, about one inch long. The depth of the inci- sion will depend upon the thickness of the shoot. If your knife at the inner end of the cut 'ouches the pith, the cut will be deep enough. As . on as the incision is made, hold the brancli with the left hand firmly down, and, with the riglit, thrust into the ground a hooked peg, strong enough to keep the layer down. Place the peg a little below the cut, that is, between it and the stem of the shrub, or the branch will be in danger of snapping off. Repeat this operation upon every branch you may wish to convert into a plant, that is conveniently situated for that purpose. As soon as you have done this, lay on upon the branches so layered an inch of the soil, leaving uncovered the ends of each shoot, with as many of the leaves on as possible. When the leaves are very large, as are those of the Magnolia, five or six will, in general, be sufficient. If the leaves are smaller, leave them on each layer the whole length. The length of each layer to be left out of the soil depends upon its age. Old shoots do not emit roots so readily as younger ones, conse- quently, if the young shoots are short, you should only allow short lengths to be left out uncovered ; if long, the contrary. There are some deciduous shrubs that also requu-e to be layered, in oi'der to increase them. Use the same method for them as for evergreens. Some small shrubs have such small twiggy branches that it is almost impossible to out them to make incisions,. neither is it necessary. Such small twiggy-branched shrubs, hardy heaths, Ghent azaleas, &c., will root as layers without cutting, or, as it is technically termed, ■' tongueing." All which these need, is to have the layers covered with the soil they require. Routine M.^NAGEitENT, — Our amateiu' and cottage friends must remember that this is the grand month for propagating the various things to plant out in May and June. We recommend you to procure, as soon as possible, additions to your stock of bedding- out flowers. There is a plant introduced by Mr. Hartweg, from the iauious country California. Mr. Beaton has already alluded to it. We mesin Zauclis- neria CaUfornica. This is a jilant well adajited for planting out in the flower-garden, either as a single plant or in masses. It is propagated very easDy by cuttings of the young wood, in sand, under a hand- glass ; they will strike without heat, but quicker with it. If you procure a plant now, you may, before planting out time, make half-a-dozen or more of it, if you manage well. The smaller the cuttings the more easily they strike. As this is a scarce plant as yet, you must exert all your patience and skill to increase it. A^'hen the cuttings are rooted (an event you may easily ascertain by turning the pot containing them upside down), give it a very gentle stroke on the edge of the frame or striking pit, holding the piot with one hand, and with the other receive the ball of earth out of it; if the cuttings are rooted, you will perceive the roots at once; if not rooted at all, or not sufficiently so, p>it the ball of earth into the pot again, disturbing the cuttings as little as possible ; turn the pot the right way up again, and give it a gentle stroke at the bottom upon some firm substance, to settle the soil, sand, and cuttings into their place again ; replace them in tlie frame a while longer until they are well rooted. This method of finding out when cuttings are rooted applies to all sorts of fi-ee-rooting things, such as verbenas, petunias, geraniums, and fuchsias, as well as to the new plant zauchsneria. This is a name ratlier difficult to pronounce ; it is very like the sound of " sauce nearer ye." Grass Lawns. — The weather has been so mild that the lawn will now, in most gardens, have grown so much as to reqiiire mowing. Let it first be well rolled the day before the mowing takes place : this will level all the little heaps of earth that the frost may have raised or worms cast up, aud by tlie next morning the blades of grass %\'ill have risen so as to stand against the scythe. Pick up all bits of stick and stones, or they will take the edge off' from the scythe ; then in the moi-ning, very early, before the dew flies ofl', the mowing should be done. Mow it twice over; tliat is, forwards first, and then backwards; the latter, if neatly done, takes out all the marks the scythe leaves, and gives the lawn the beautiful even smooth appearance it ought to have. After the mowing is finished, rake ott' the grass and take it away. If you have hotbeds at work, place the grass round them ; it will renew the heat. Then sweep the lawn with a half-worn broom ; clip the edgings, and rake the borders as far as needful. Clear all your sweepings and rakings away, and your garden will then have that neat appearance so delightful to view. If you roll the lawn frequently, it will cause the gi'ass to grow short and thick, besides making it better to mow. FLORISTS' FLOWERS. Cuttings. — Amidst all your cares do not neglect your cuttings. Water, shade, and pot them off when struck, all in due season. There must be no delay or 29 THE COTTAGE GARDENEB. neglect iu this matter. Some of the more early stnick ones may now lie hardened oft'. A good jilaii to do this is to have some hoops strelfhed over a hed, with long pieces of wood lengthways, and cover up with mats from botli cold and too strong simlight: both, in e.xcess, are injurious to tender newly striuk plants. AuRiCfL.t AND Poi.v.vNTiiis. — These are the earliest in bloom of the florists' I'avourites, and, to bring them out in capital style, must now be carefully tended ; cover up very securely every night. An old florist, who flourished twenty years ago as a successful gi'owi'r of these beautiful flowers, used to cover them up with thick woollen stuff, commonly called bhinki'ts, and he always considered this covering as one of the gi-and points that led to his success. Be that as it may, if you have no blankets, cover up with some- thing as good. C.^p.N.wioxs .\ND PrcoTEEs. — We suppose you will, by the time these directions reach you, have finished potting these plants. But, as yet, it is too early to place them on the blooming stage; and your frames will be wanted for other purposes. They also take up more room now. The weather is yet too uncertain to trust these valuables ex-iiosed to its changes. ^Ve advise you, therefore, to adopt the same method as I'ecommended for hardening off verbenas, petunias, and such like ; that is, with hoops and mats. To suc- ceed in anv pursuit, two qualities of mind arc neces- sary — patient industry and unremitting perseverance ; qualities, perhaps, more needful to the ardent admirer of florists' flowers than any one else. T. Applebt. GREENHOUSE AND ^TINDOW GARDENING. I..\sT week I intended to write a long letter detail- ing the whole process of spring potting, striking cuttings in vai'ious ways, and then to wind up with stating many things that ought to be done about the middle of March, and also things that should not be done ; but having been earnestly requested to give the treatment of the oleander, that subject occu]>ied my space, and is only now concluded. Some of these topics must, therefore, stand over for the present. Spring Potting. — All plants in windows, pits, or greenhouses, may now be safely repotted as conveni- ence may permit. Spring potting is as different an operation from summer potting as winter pruning is from the summer pruning, and yet thousands pot their plants all the year round just in the same way; that is to say, they turn the plant out of a pot and place it in one a size larger. Gardeners, however, find it necessaiy at this season to put a great number of their plants "into smaller pots than they were iu through the winter. In some instances the old soil is found to be so poor and exhausted that it would almost seem cruel to retain it ; iu other cases, drips, bad or insuflicient drainage, or long standing in damp cold pits, have soddened the old soil so much that many of the yi>ung librous roots have perished. Other plants may have grown too much at the roots ; some of which must therefore he pruned oti', as young roots are always more active tiian old ones ; and it is only when plants are beginning to grow that it is safe to reduce old roots. After these come a host of plants that have been kept half-dry since last Octo- ber; and others, such as the scarlet geranium, that have been kept quite dry since tlie beginning of llecember. All tlieso have lost their small outside roots, that is, outside the hall ; the size of the balls of such plants may, therefore, be reduced without any harm. There are many other cases that will present themselves at the potting-bench that need not be enumerated, but all go to prove the necessity of reducing the old halls, more or less ; and once the ice is broken, or rather these same balls, you may as well pick out or shake oft' as raucli of the old mould as can be done without making an absolute clear- ance of it, or endangering the safety of the roots. Now, if you comprehend the force of this reason- ing, let us begin spring-potting with pen and ink as if we were doing tlie real thing at the potting-bench. The outer sill of a window, a four-legged stool out- side the back-kitchen door, or the head of an old beer cask, if ever made use of for shifting plants on, are, in the language of gardeners, called '■ a potting- bench." Now, take that scarlet geranium to begin with, and turn it out. ^^'here are you going with it '? Oh! I did not mean to turn it out of doors; but never mind — don't blush ; the best of us knew as little about gardening once. I recollect I used to pull up my fiist cuttings of the Balm of Gilead regu- larly once a week, to see if they were rooted, instead of turning the whole ball out of the pot entire, to see if the roots had appeared through it. So you see there is little cause for blushing. "We must all live and learn, as the old saying is. Now strike the edge of the pot on the side of the potting-bench, and let the ball rest on the palm of yoiu' left hand; separate from the ball the drainage crocks, and lay them on the bench; they will do to drain with again. You see the bottom half of this ball is quite dry and pow- dery : this is bad gardening ; you did not wet the ball right through, as I directed, when you brought the pots from the winter quarter. Pick off this dry part of the ball with your fingers ; now give a gentle squeeze to the other half to loosen the mould ; not so hard as that you may crush the old roots; shake the ball a little. You see, now, this soil is so poor and gritty it could not support a rush ; you had better shako it all off; take hold of the plant in your left hand, and with your right hand pat, pat, on your wrist, and the gentle concussion will cause all the mould to separate from the roots without hurting them. You see these white pointed little things along the old brown roots, they are the rudiments of new roots, and are only pro- duced so far down as the water reached. These are the real feeders, and, if we had not shaken off" that old exhausted soil, poor feeding they could only have till they had reached the outside of the old ball, and had got into fresh soil, if we had put the old ball entire into a larger pot, as some people do, for want of knowing better. Do you see that large coil of roots? Y'ou are right, it is only one root after all ; we must cut him oft' at the first bend, as be takes up too niuch room, and these dry old roots do not take up nourishment themselves, only the feeders which issue from the sides do that; but when we have cut him off, three or four strong white roots will gi-ow from the part left, and these white roots will be capable of sucking up food with their whole surface till their bark gets too hard to let the water through, then they can only suck with the tips of their points. So you can perceive that one good young root is worth ten old ones in a pot. Besides, these old roots are, at this season of the year, the best things possible to get a stock of young jilants from ; for it would tell sadly against our ingenuity if we could not make these roots glow afresh. Cut them into four-inch lengths, and plant them round the sides of a small pot, iu a very sandy compost, and leave about half an inch of their tops THE COTTAGE GARDENEB. 207 free above tlie mould ; all the watering tbey recjiuire, is merely to keep the soil from becoming quite dry. They will do in any warm, dry place, and alter ten days, or a fortnight, you will see them pushing out leaves, and beginning to grow freely. There are many plants whose old roots could be made to pro- duce plants in the same way, as well as those of the geraniums. Cutting off tliat large coiled root has reduced the bulk so much, that instead of giving this plant a larger pot, we must put it into a smaller one ; and you had better recollect a usefid rule which gardeners follow under similar circumstances, and that is, when roots arc reduced, and a plant is to be put into a smaller pot, they take the very smallest pot that will hold the roots without doubling them in or cramping them ; and, whatever the plant may be, a lighter compost is used for this potting than what the plant, under ordinary treatment, grows best in. This is to make it more easy for the very young roots tu extend themselves freely. In the course of another mouth, this plant will require another shift, and as the roots are young and active, and the growing season very favourable, you may pot it into one two sizes lai'ger. Let us now suppose the next plant to be one that has the roots much decayed, owing to the soddeniug of the sod. Sour or soddeued compost is ruinous to all kinds of plants, therefore, we must shake all of it away at once ; aud if we meet with a largo old root we shall be glad enough, to I'ctain it, as it is ten to one that most of the small ones are decayed up to the older roots. (Jut away every morsel ot the dead roots, and pot this plaut also in a very suiall pot and iu light soil, and be very careful not tu over water it ibr a long time, as its general health is very much im- paired. The third plaut looks just like one a gardener would like to )iot ; turn it out, and let us see how the roots stand. How healthy, to be sure ! You cannot get the point of a knife into tliat ball without cutting a bealtliy root; wo cannot even get the crocks dis- engaged without iujuriug all the roots iu their neigh- bourhood. When roots are very healthy like these, they delight to insinuate themselves among oyster- shells or whatever other thing foruis the drainage; and it is not at all requisite to separate the crocks from each healthy root. Take a pot two sizes larger, and put this plaut into it just as it is, aud deep enough tliat the fresli soil may cover the top of the old ball, but no more. One more pot, and 1 must leave you: take that one iu the corner, it looks nearly as well as the last; turn him out, and you shall see what no good gardener ever likes to see : I mean a worm, fori see the worm- casts on the surface, and if ho has been there long wo shall see his tunnels and galleries through and through in all directions ; out with it, and let us see the worst ; bless mo, what a monster he is, as fat aud sleek as any aldernum, and nearly as long as the sea- serpent ! How is it you did not get him out sooner? You might have easily known liy the worm-oasts that he was at work, and you had only to turn out the ball and if he should escape throuR'ii this tunnel into the heart of the ball once or twice, you would be sure to get hold of him at last. These worms are very destructive in pots ; not that they eat the roots except to clear a passage, but they eat the soil and afterwards discharge it, aud after some time the whole ball is rendered sour and stifl'; aud the roots get deranged, and a whole train of evUs soon follow. Before I leave you, until next week, let me oiler a few general remarks on spring potting. Let the plants be well watered two days before potting, that the surplus water may have ample time to pass otf, and leave the ball in a uniformly moist state, not icet nijf dry, and let your compost be in as near the same state as possible. As we shall soon have the sum- mer and dry weather, when much watering will be requii'ed, leave a good half-inch space free on the top of the pots to allow of perfect watering. If the pots are too full you will never be able to keep the plants alive iu summer, but in the autumn it is a safe plan to have the pots pretty full, so that if any careless person has to water them any time iu winter, the pots will not hold too much of it at once. It will hardly be necessary to insist on good drainage after all that has been said about it already; but a good tale or a good precept is never the worse for being twice told. After a good drainage aud a layer of moss or fibrous roots from the compost, put in an inch or so of the fresh soil, and try how the old ball will fit in. If it is too deep, add more soil at the bottom ; and if not deep enough, the pot is too small, as one inch is the least that can be put under an old ball. When you hit on the rigbt fit, the surface of the old ball is f inch below the rim of the pot ; then put in about an inch of the fresh compost all round tiio ball, and rap the bottom of the pot sharply on the bench. This will settle down the soil, and cause some of it to enter such cavities as you may have formed iu removing part of the old soil. Then put iu a few bits of charcoal or broken bones, or lumps of turf out of the compost, and another inch of tlie soil ; then another rap, a layer of rough stuff, and so forth, till the pot is full enough. The rough pieces act mechanically in ] form the hook. Props are made by cutting oft' all the small twigs, leaving the top something like a hay -fork, only the prongs should not be above 1 V inch long. The form of the tree to be trained should be wliat is ge- nerally termed a " table trellis." 'The branches should be trained horizontally from the bole, so that the tree should be .hs near as possible flat on the top. This is done in order that the fruit may hang down on the under side of the tree, without being in danger of being injured when growing by hanging against the branches, or being injured by the thorns growing on the trees. Great care ought to be exercised, in placing the hooks and props, that the buds be not injured or destroyed. When a shoot gi-ows nearly u|)right, and it is necessary it should be brought down, to make it uniform with the others, it should he done by a little at a time : for, if is it done all at once, it will be in danger of breaking. This bring- ing down is etl'ected by thrusting the hook a little I'iU'ther into the ground every now and then, till the shoot be brought to its proper position. Insect Enemies. — In April and May, when the trees begin to grow, the trees should be regularly looked after, as the gooseberry has many enemies, in the form of the Borer, Red Spider, Green l'"ly, and Caterpillar. The borer, or white caterpillar, is very destructive to the fruit : as its name indicates, it bores or eats little round holes in the fruit. It is easier to destroy than any other insect that the goose- berry-tree is infested with : its jircsence is detected by observing some of the leaves curled up at the edge ; on examining these, the little insect will be discovered. The only way of effectually destroying these is to look over your trees, take off such leaves as have the appearance of its presence, and crush them. Tlie red spider (see p. iVi) infests the tree, or the leaves near the bole of the tree. It is only to be discovered by a close observer, and tliat only when the sun is shining, as these insects, when the sun is down, remove to the under side of the loaves ; but when a tree is infected by red spider, the leaves will have a yellow and sickly appearance. An old tree is more subject to the red sjiider than a young one. 'The way 1 destroy these is to water them when the sun is shining (but not too hot) with a solution of tobacco-water, for three or four days consecutively, I'rom a syringe or rose watering-i)an. The green-fly {Aphis (/rossiiliirise)iil, Shejiieh!. THE BEE-KEEPERS CALENDAR— Arnn.. By J. H. Payne, Esq., AiitJtor of the " Bee-keeper's Guide," iCv. Feeding. — I must again press upon aU persons who have weak stocks the necessity of feeding. The bees are beginning to bestir themselves when the sun shines warm ; and inexperienced bee-keepers are apt to think that their stocks are now past danger, and so take no more care of them. But, the trutli is, that the early spring months are tlie most dangerous of all ; many stocks that have stood the winter die iu the spring, which a few ounces even of Ibod would prevent. There is nothing to be gathered iu the fields till April, and in cold late seasons not much before even May. Stocks should be watched well iu spring, aud weak ones fed liberally. As soon as they begin to stir, a little food should be given them every other day, or thereabouts, until they refuse to take it, for they will neglect the food given them as soon as they can gather honey. Method ov Feeuing. — The best manner of giving food to bees in a common straw hive is to put it into a dinner-plate, cover it with a piece of writing-paper thickly perforated, and to place it under the hive; but should there not be sufficient room for the plate without touching the combs, the hive may he raised upon a wooden hoop the exact size of the hive and about two inches deep, or upon a piece cut from the bottom of an old straw hive. Tlie food must he given after sun-set, and the plate removed by sun- rise the next morning. The entrance must be stopped while the food remains in the hive; a piece of soft piaper answers remarkably well for this purpose. Supply ov Hives. — To those persons who are dis- posed to adopt the very simple method, of managinc their bees, that I have for so many years successfully followed, I would say, procure a supply of the Im- jiroced Cottage Hives, a drawing of which is given in page •J-l!) ; also of small hives eight inches i n diameter and seven inches deep, flat at the top, with a hit of glass in one side covered by a shutter. This hive is in shape the same as the large one, and with a hole iu the top, covered with a piece of straw- work iu the same manner. Boxes and Bet.l Gr.ASSEs. — Sfiould boxes he pre- erred, those which I use are made of inch-thick deal, nine inches square, and eight inches deep — inside measure; with a piece of glass, six inches by seven aud a half let iu on one side, and covered by a shutter to exclude the light. But glasses may also be used with equal success if the light be eflec- tuallv excluded. I usually put on a bell glass first, and when partially filled raise it up aud jilaco between it and the parent hive the small hive ov box above described. I say ^vir/fV;//// filled, because, if allowed to remain till filled, the bees would very proliably swarm, which the additional room and ventilation given tliem, hj" placing either the box or small hive between the glass and parent Idve, will prevent. Adavtin(s Board. — A good supply of adapting boards luust also be in readiness. They should be made of mahogany, foi- it will allow of being worketl very thin, without the risk of waijiing when used. They are a quarter of an inch iu thickness (this is j/HJ9o^•^^)Ji), twelve inches square, with a circular hole in tlie middle, four inches iu diameter. Fi.ooR-BOAiiD. — The floor-board (on which the hive stands) may now be cleaned for the last time before the honey-gathering season commences. Water. — This must be supplied to tbe bees im- mediately, foi' it is iu the spring that they have the greatest occasion for it. The plan that I have adopted is to have a trougVi of wood, or stone, eighteen inches long, twelve inches wide, and six inches deep, sunk iu the ground in theimmediate vicinity of the apiary, with a piece of thin wood, thickly perforated with small holes, made to fit loosely into it. This perfo- rated wond, when the trough is filled with water, will float upon its surface, and save the bees from drown- ing, a mode of death causing the loss of numbers, should they, for want of this little accommodation, be obliged to go to an open cistern or pool. Queen Wasps. — The destruction of queen wasps, which are uow beginning to make their appeai'auce, will prove the best security against their progeny, those formidable enemies of the bee. In April aud May they are very easily captured, and every one now destroj'ed would probably have been the founder of a nest, which may be computed at 30,000, at the least. ifoTHs. — But moths are by far the most dangerous enemies the bees have to contend with. It is the caterpillars of these moths which gnaw and destroy the combs; and they would soon be rniued by these insects, if the bees did not oft'er the greatest oppo- sition to their ravages. The perfect insect (Oalleria nor, THE COTTAGE GARDENER. cerreana and OuUerln aJietirin) maj- be seen flut- teriiiff about tbe bivo at sunset, from April to Octo- ber, and sbould be in'omptly destroyed wbenever observed. Am.vtkurs' Hives. — Having thus far given my plan for managing bees in tlic Imjiroi-ed Cottage Hive, I would now address a few words to the ama- teur, for the purpose of recounnending to bis attention one of tlie best amateur's bives tliat I bave ever seen. It was invented last year by Mr. Taylor, author of " The 15ee-keeper's Manual," and is called " Taylor's Amatevn-'s Bar-bive." It is made and sold liy Geo, Neighbour and Son, 127, High Holborn, London, witli directions for its use. Ry the introduction of bars each comb is made available, whether foi- separate extraction or for ex- perimental purpo.ses. Indeed, in this hive, both the bees and their store are at all times completely under the conmiand of their proprietors. From this hive, fine honey-comb may always be obtained, swarming effectually prevented, and artificial swarms, when required, insured. I was kindly favoured witli one of tbe above hives from tlie inventor last spring, in time to bave a swarm hived into it on the -^sth of May. In about three weeks from that time, I found it necessary to put on the upper box; and early in September I took it off, containing thirty pounds in the finest honey-comb, yet leaving a full supply in the lower or stock box, for the bees during the winter and spring. The stock is now in the finest healtli and vigour; and, should tlio ensuing season prove a favourable one, will, in all probability, aflbrd a much larger quantity of honey. Another great advantage from this hive, above all others, is, that a comb imii/ be extracted at any time, which, where glasses or boxes are used, caunot bo done ; tliese must be filled before they are removed, or much loss of time is occasioned to the bees. BEE-EEEDING. I NEVF.n could succeed in feeding at tlie hottn/n of tlio Jiivp, or with the apparatus attacliod to 'Nu/t'n bu.rea,' an.l I luive, therefore, for some years past, fed theui with coarse sugar placed under a boll-glass at tlie top; the glass standing in a circular zinc trougli, four iuclies in diameter across tbe inner part, about three quarters of an inch deep, and one incli wide, whicli I have found to be an effectual preven- tive of dampness in the boxes. The moist exhala- tions ascending to the glass, and there condensing, descend into the zinc trougli, wliicli can be emptied at pleasure. I have not lo.U a stock since I adopted this plan, and if tbe information is worth noticing, it is at your service. Tlie circular dotted line shews wliere the rim of tlie glass rests. The inner circle measured across, as shown by the straight dotted Hue, is four inches wide. After the feeding becomes unnecessary, a flat top of any sort can be substituted for the trough, &c., and wlien needed, the beU-glass serves for tbe bees to work in iqiou the depriving system. The glass and trough for draining and feeding are reiilaoed at the latter end of September. — W. Orowe, lumbers Cot- tage, Muitleiiheuil. [In addition to tbe above testimony, and that of Mr. Payne, in favour of feeding bees at tbe top of the hive, we have the following from the Rev. J. Byron, of Killingholme, Lincolnshire, wlio even cuts out the top of the common straw hive for the pur- pose. — Ed. C. G.I " I am rejoiced to find Mr. Payne, whoso name is so well known to tbe bee-keeping world, amongst tbe contributors to Thk Cottage G.VEDEXEn. In jiage 240, alluding to the feeding apparatus which I de- scribed on a former occasion, he says, that to feed bees at the top of tbe bi\e is, in common straw hives, impossible. I do not know wliat dilficulty Mr. Payne sees in tlie case ; I find none. At this present time, I am feeding two last year's swarms in common straw bives. I take the crown-pin out of the top of the hive, fit the feeder with its glass over the bole, then turn an cmjity hive over tlie i'eeder and glass, and, on the toji of the hive, place an earthen pan, to keep it firm, and to shoot ofl' the rain. The liquid with which I am feeding tliem is Spanish honey (which costs Gd. per lb), and ale and THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 307 sugar (a poimd of sugar to a quart of ale, boiled fire minutes), iu about equal quantities." GARDEN PLANS.— No. I. Having in previous numbers given a detail of tlie principles and objects which ought to regulate the A^i'filt formation of our gardens, ive now proceed to offer a few illustrations, commencing with the garden such as is usually couneoted with small liouses in the neiglibourhood of our large towns, and which may- be called appropriately, THE SJFALL SUnCRBAN GABDEN. Hiisi 1. Pceonia horbacea and P. arborea. 2. Scarlet Pelargoniums. 3. VL'i'benas, 4. Pansies. o. Roses. G. Fuehsias, Calceolarias, and Annuals, mixed. I 7. Climbers— as Clematis, "Wisteria sinensis. Climbing Roses, &;c. 8. Shrubs, intermised witli herbaceous plants, Dalilia^, and, near the edge. Annuals. g. Grass. W. Walks. !<■. Walls. CALCEOLARIAS. Mil. Be.vton's concluding remarks in Number 18 have set me to work again to write to you. I have read his essay on calceolarias, and as I have seen many tliousauds of them grown, I am tempted to say a few words on that subject. I formerly worked for an amateur gentleman ibr abont ton years, and he used to grow about two thousand a year from seed. I will just name what I remember about the treatment, &o. I shall begin with the crossing, as it is sometimes called. When the calceolarias were in flower, there was my master in the gi-eenhouse with his book, and balls of cotton or worsted of all colours, and a short piece was tied by him round their necks, until a bit of each colour had been used, then he began again with two bits of colours, and so on, until all that he thought well was worked on, and all noted down iu his book. Then, when the seed was ripe, each pod had its little paper bag, and was marked. As soon as dry, the seed was sown in (I think) 48 pots, the earth being partly black bog, or peat, and his plan was to sow the seed in small drills in the pots, and a piece of flat glass was laid on the top of each pot, to keep the earth from drying fast, and, for the same purpose, they were put in a cold frame, on the north side of a high broad feuce, and a thin canvass, tent-like, over the top, to prevent the sun shining on to them, but quite open to the north. I do not remember the e.x.act time of sowing, but it was early enough to have the seedlings pricked out from the seed pots, and then each was put into small OO's, and then into 48's to winter in, in cold frames or pits with earth banked round them, and rolls of mats over the top. Then, when in spring the seedlings filled the pots with roots, they were repotted, and when the weather got warm, and they began to get tall, they were placed in halfsuuk pits ; the plants above the level of tlie ground were like four-light boxes, and when the sun had gained power, the boxes, or other pai't of the pit, were turned round to face the uorth. There the seedlings remained until they were in flower, when the best were picked out for the greenhouse ; the next best for beds and baskets, and the remainder turned out to the rubbish-heap. My master never made cuttings of any of them, and only a very few of the best were saved. Regarding an observation at page 10.2 oufxaze, I 308 THE COTTAGE GABDENEE. ben' to say that if small plants ean be obtained, say six or eiglit inches high, tliey will bc-ai- transplanting and grow well with a little watering in the spring. I by ehanoc bad some I'lU'ze oll'ored to nie about this time last yenv ; it was some that had been left after thickening the bottom of a garden fence, but which all died ailerwards. The little ones which T picked out, and jilanted in a row, made shoots IK and .-iO inches long during the last sunnner; so that if furze niaj' he required, and can be obtained young, a de- ])endanoe may be ])laced on its growing. J enclose a few grains of what is called si.v-roircd lihicl; harleij. I do not know if yon may have seen it bef ire or not. I sent some to my brother in Ox- fordshire, who has his half-acre: he planted it. but it did not ripen, wliich led us to suppose that it should be sown or jjlanted in autumn. I put my grains, three each, in OO's pots, forwarded them under glass (cold frame), and turned them out in spring, when I soon found there ought not to have been but one in a pot, for they stooled, or shot out so very thick all round the bottom. ^ly brothers did the same, which led us to tliink tbey oiight to be dibbled in at least sis inches apart. Well, I think 17 of niine grew and brought forth fruit, not 30, (id. and 100-fold, [lecording to Scripture, but I think full COO-fold ; for there wei-e more than iOO ears, and many of the ears had near 00 grains in each ; and I have no doubt if they are ])lanted thinner it will be still more pro- ductive. I sent the greater ]iart of my seed again into O.<;fordshire, in order that the little farmers there might try it in the autumn, f did not plant Uiine then, hut purpose to put a few grains one in a pot as before, t have thought it would be very suitable for the cottage farmers, if it can be brought into cultivation. I had many people in to look at it, and all considered it very fruitful. W. W. TANKS. [Our correspondent, " An Owner of Cottage Allot- ments," writes to us for further information, which, as we cannot obtain it for him. induces ns to insert his note entire. AVe shall be obliged by his sending us his Cottage Allotment Rules. — Ed. G. O.] " I hope you will not think uie very troublesome, if I invite a little further explanation on the subject of tanks, nor "Senilis" think me uncourteous, if I say that his answer to my objections is not satisfactory to me. He only tells ns that the cost of con- structing a t.ank with concrete is one-third less than with brick, but he gives no estimate of the cost, by which one might judge whether such a tank would be within the reach of a cottager, (if it is of cottagers that we speak), or whether it would bo useful to him when constructed. 1 have great doubts upon both points A concrete tank could only, of course, bo made in a locality were gravel was procurable. I thiuk a little clay to jiuddle the bottom of such a pit as I spoke of, would bo much more generally found than the gravel. Senilis says that it would take "just as much time to execute as a tank with concrete sides and bottom;" and afterwards, that "the work of a very small tank may run over three months or more." The pits I speak of may be made by any labourer in as many hours, if he had a load of clay carted for him; and, I need not say, that the carting of the clay woidd not cost more at any rate than of the lime required for the concrete. I wish that Senilis woidd have been kind enough to explain the advantage of the walls battening inwards — how the interior soil was to be thrown out after the covering arch was formed — and bow the sewage was to be drawn ofF by the discharge pipe; in other words, how he proposes to get access on a level below the bottom of his tank, wliich is four feet or even two feet beneath the surface. Again, I doubt whether a cottager would ever have sewage in (piantity to need the tank, even at the dimensions Senilis now gives, wliirh are half those which he before proposed. Cer- tainly his former expression led me to imagine that he was proposing not an " extreme of width and depth," but rather the contrary. If you will do me the favour to publish these observations, they may draw from Senilis, or from some other correspondent, some exjjlanations or further suggestions on a matter in which not only F, but I believe several persons, feel much interest. 1'hnngh I do not estimate the sewage of a cottager at anything like the number of gallons Senilis sujiposes, I thiuk there is very great loss by their wasting what they do supply." VERMIN ON PIGS. In The Cott.\ge Gardener, p. ;i5S, I see you recommend the application of Scotch snuff to kill vermin in pigs. [ have never tried the application myself but I am convinced such an apjilication is decidedly objectionable : should there be no more than one pig in the stye, it is almost certain the snuff would get to the eyes and nostrils of that one and cause great irritation ; and should there be more than one, then it woidd be ([uite certain to have a very injurious effect. Pigs, when nuich irritated, become very violent, and are likely to injure themselves by breaking over or through the fencing of their cote. Hogs' lard, Russian tallow, or kitchen stuff, well rubbed on pigs afiected with lice will infallibly de- stroy them ; so wdl train-oil, seal or linseed-oil ; but these latter as they dry will cause the bristles of the pig to become matted and stiff, and on that account they are ohjeetionable. Olive oil will kill lice instan- taneously, and it wUl have the same effect on bugs ; besides killing the lice, these greasy applicatious are very beneficial to the pig's healtli ; it loosens the sciu'f, softens and cleanses the skin. I have seen so much im])rovenient made in the appearance of pigs that have suffered from poverty and neglect, by well greas- ing them two or three times, and then thoroughly washing it off with warm-water and soap, as to be hardly recognised as the same animals. To wash a pig requires some little patience ; the animal is not to be seized and thrust into a tub, but rather to bo supplied with some good food in its trough, and while it is feeding the washing may be efl'eetually accomplished. W. H. Bosso:ii. [We have no doubt that oil would desti-oy lice, as our correspondent states, and, for the reasons he gives, it is to lie jn-eferred to Scotch snuff for the pur- pose. We have seen the latter, however, enqiloyed successfully. — En. G. C] TWELVE VERY SUPERIOR CINERARIAS. Beauty of St. John's Wood— wtiite, bordered witli tight crimson, 'is. Oil. Amanda — beautiful porcelain blue, with white round, a dark disc, 73. Od. Bellinii— fine purple, self; of ex- cellent shape, 7s. 6d, Coronet — very large, wliite and rose, 3s. (Id. Grandissima^larje dark blue, very dwarf. 8s. (Jd. Favorite — beautiful light sky blue, a free flower of excellent liabit, 2s. Od. Maritana — purplish red, with a white circle, Ss. fld. Newington Beauty— flower large, white centre, and purple crim- son margin. Rosy Circle — light centre, deep rose margin, of excelleiil pro- perties. Royal Crimson — a pood self; of a deep rich colour, and a tno flowerer. Tom Thumb— white centre, edged with purple crimson. Yernalia — shaded blue, with a red circle ; a good variety of good habit. THE COTTAGE GAUDENEPi. 309 EXTRACTS FROM CORRESPONDENCE. Protection- from Mice and Birds. — Have you ever seen a cat chained to a small dog-house, and kept in tlie gai-dcn to keep the mice off peas and beans at night, and the birds in the day-time from small seeds'.' Any one tbat- tries, will find it to an- swer well. The house can easily be caviicd fiom place to place as may be required. A young cat is tbe best to train ; and, if kept for a few days near the dwelling-house, and well fed, pussey soon gets reconciled. J- ■"^• Scares.— To prevent hai-es destroying plants, as complained of by your able contributor at p. •210, the best plan is to place four white stakes, about ten inches higli, so as to form a square or a lozenge shape round tbe plants to be )n-otected ; then tie round tbe tops, from one to tlie other of these stakes, a strong white cotton thread, and a second tiiread about the middle of tlie stake. Tins makes a kind of fence, into which haves and rabbits do not seem disposed to venture. I have also found this same thread plan effectual in preventing the thrushes and blackbirds getting tbe young peas out of the gi-ound ; and rooks may be detevred Iroin destroying tlie pota- toes on the moss land hero in Lancashire by the same system ; the thread being suspended over the ridges on stakes just above them. A clieaper pre- ventive can scarcely be vccommended, thread being ])rocurable at the rate of yOO yards for a penny. — 11. Saul. Growing Cacti in Rooms. — I have a small mis- cellaneous collection ofeacli, shipelia, &c., in all about •10. These I keep during summer in a tall i'raine under glass out of doors, and during winter in my parlour window which looks to the south. Under this treatment, with an annual sliift in the spring, the jilants do very well, and are tlie objects of much interest to many passers-by. Sometimes people even knock at tlie door to know if I sell plants I Cactus Flaijel- Vifiirm'is. C. Mrillisoni, being of a pendant habit, are suspended by wires from a rod attached to the ceiling for the purpose;" the Echino-cacli, in small CiOs. being placed in narrow shelves parallel with the window sashes. I liave been at tliis liohJuj lour ov live years. I have had blooms on ccreus rjiecipshsiimm five inches across in my parlour window, without artificial licat, and on a plant many years previously in my possession. Jfy [iractice, therefore, you see is of a kind to popularize the culture as window plants of this wondrous tribe. — A Poon Man. [We have the address of the writer, and he promises us an account of his mode of growing cactaceous plants.— Ed. O. C] Frame for Rhubarb. — Wlien I saw the drawing at p. 003 of a frame for forcing rhubarb, it brought to my mind directly the fj'ames in which glass is packed and sent to plumbers and glaziers. I got one from my tradesman, and as they arc higher and nan-ower than wliat is recommended in The Cottage Gar- DENEE, I got my labourer to stretch it a little, and lie divided it into two, so as to make two good covers, which, though not quite so light as you recommend, will still be useful. Economy in ^Ianure has for many years been my aim ; but it would be useless to repeat my plans, oince they are nearly allied to your own instructions. Thus much I may add : I keep three heaps ; one I am using from, one rotting, and the tliird making. Acting on the principle wbicli I hold good, that ' These two plants are now called Cereus flageUi/ormis and Cefeus malliiom. every small garden attached to a house will manure itself, if the vegetable matter discarded from that house be thrown on the heap, I invariably sell the dung of my old hot-bed. This remark may perhaps be worthy of your insertion. For the information of your readers, I may also add that, in my gi-een- house, I grow Lycopodium Ccesium and Denticulata, Campanula Japonica and Lobelia Gracilis, in flower- pots, suspended from the rafters by copper wire, with great success. They always produce a most graceful effect, and answer better than those on the stages : and there is also room for so many more plants in the house. — T. E. M., Stake. Puzzle for Planters.— Mr. Editor, will you be so kind as to insert the following geometrical puzzle, which I have seen, some thirty years ago, in an old book. I recollect there was a woodcut, showing how the trees were to be planted, but I have forgotten it Ion" since. Some of your numerous readers may find it out ; at any rate, it will be some exercise and amusement to the young branches of the large family you call " our readers." It is, " how to plant nineteen trees in nine straight rows, and nine trees in every row ? " The puzzle was in a kind of verse ; but I fear I have forgotten it,— but here it is to the best of my lecoUection. " I am desired to plant a grove Gf myrtle trees, for her I love. This ample grove I must compose Of nineteen trees, in nine straight rows ; Kine trees in every row must be, ^ Or else her face I ne'er shall see." Seiiili.^- SCRAPS. Beadtifitl British Plants. No. IT.— 15elphi- num Consolida.— Field Larkspur.— A beautiful an- nual, occasionally met with among corn. About two feet lii"h, with deeply cut leaves, and flowers oi a vivid aild permanent blue ; plentiful in Cambridge- shire and adjoiniug counties. , . . „ AcoNiTDM NArELUus.— Monkshood.— A free flow- eriu" herbaceous plant. Rather rare m thickets and bv the banks of streams. Two feet high, with lignt blue flowers; a good plant for the shrubbery or mixed parterre. . , t-, , » .. Pfoni .\ CoKALi.iNA— Pxony.— A splendid plant tor the slirubbery border, witli large crimson flowers and yellow anthel-s ; said only to have been met with on the Steep Holmes Islands in the Severn. AA e recol- lect botanising some years ago on the banks ol the Yore, below Mashani, and meeting with a pffiouy in some quantity, probably an escape from a garden, but not being in flower we could not with confidence refer it to this species. The principal varieties ol the common garden per with clay. Other drains will soon get choked up with roots. The cost ought not to be more than .£0 per acre. Unless liie well in the centre of your lawn is very deep, and never containing much water, it would be of little or no use for draining purposes. Y'ellowly's Spade Husbandry (IF. T.). — We cannot give you any further information. *' The British Fuimers' Magazine " is pub- lished at 20, Xorfolk Street, Strand. Surface of a Plot of Ghouxd {Andrew Moffat).— ^e cannot, from your rough sketch, answer your question, nor is it quite within our province. Y'ou may get, second-hand, for four or five shillmgs, *' Davis's Complete Treatise on Surveying." Iron Stakes for Roses (ir. tr.).— Y'ou need not be afraid of using these, they will not injure the roots. Thanks for the Black Barley, which we have distributed. We accidentally mislaid your letter, or we should have noticed your query before. Ole.\nders {A Young Beginner, Ipswich). — Wc think you will have, from Mr. Beaton, all the information you require oti this subject, Hfaths, we have no doubt, will soon be noticed by the same good authority. The name of your plant is Cineraria Peta- sitcs. It is a native of Mexico, and Urst introduced here in 1813. Do not hesitate to ask questions; whatever a co-respondent may want in'ormation upon is important to him, and we make that the chief consideration. Fuchsias, &c., in Beds (R. D.).— Do not plunge these into your beds whilst remaining in the pots. It will not save you any trouble, but rather increase It, for the roots of the plants will fill the pot», ond grow through the hole at the bottom, rendering repotting In the autumn unavoidable. Besides, the plants will neiiher grow nor biossom 80 well. Tuberoses (H. R.). — Keeping these in on outhouse must be too cold and dark for them. Put them into your kitchen window, and treat them exactly as is directed at pp. 181 and 183. Flower Seeds (15'. J.). — Y'ou can get those you mention of any of the Seedsmen or florists who advertise in The Coitaob Gar- dener, Hot-bed (A Xew KecriiiO.— If you only require this for plunging seedling pots in, you need not put on it any eanli, but merely a layer eitlier of sand or'of coal ashes, sufllclent In deptii to bury the pots In doiru to tbelr rinia. Aniwera to your other queries ntxt week, I agricultural paper, " Bell's Weekly ifessenger," say I that he has cultivated the parsnip for more than l.j i years, and adds : — " 1 fully believe one acre of pars- nips will give more weight of bacon or pork, than one acre of barley; though, mind, I am not advocat- ing the feeding pigs or cattle with parsnips alone 1 when fatting, ^fy mode has been to boil the jiars- nips and mix in a small quantity of meal when hot; though, of course, where fatting liogs to a large extent is carried on witli them through the summer and ! early autumn months, the parsnips must all be boiled ' and put away, in casks or vaults, liy the eud of April, ' and mixed afterwards with meal as wanted. They will keep many months when boiled, and well pressed and ratnmed into casks ; and they are most excellent as food for 1 torses, sliced raw ; and I venture to nflirm that any one giving them to farm horses or hacks during the winter, needs little or no corn, and will have them look in the coat equal to the middle of summer, and equal to any fair work that m.ay be required of them." Earthinc. up Celery. — Mr. W. Cole, gardener to H. Coyler, Esq., at Dartford, says, that not earthing up celery until it has acquired a considerable size, is certainly the cause of its being stringy. J^ong ex- posure to the air and light, makes the tissue of the leaves harder than if they are grown in comparative darkness. — Horlicullural Society's Journal. THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 311 Feeding-Trouoh for Bees (,1 Young Recndi).— In answer to your query about tlie size of that described at p. 136, the Rev. Mr. Bvron stales :— " In the feeding-trough which I use the diameter of tlie hole A, through which the bees ascend, is l^^ inch; and that tlie width of the trough BB, running round the bole A, is also I J inch; and that the diameter of the Rlass with which I cover it is rather more than five inches. I would recommend Iiira first to procure a glas?, and have the grove CC made to receive it; andth^n the trough BB can be mada as wide as the distance between A and C will allow. If he has the feeding-board made first, lie may find a difficulty in procuring a glass that will fit accurately." Mr. Taylor's hires will be described by Mr. Payne in this and following numbers. Pine Varnish (J. M., L(mcastey).— See p. 28U. Amaryllis (J. E. J., Liverpool).— 'The cause of its leaves turning yellow is probably your giving too much water, and on the surface. Follow exactly the plan directed at p. 131. Put it in the window of a warm room, and do not disturb llie root by breaking the pot as you propose. Cyclamen Seedlings (P. J}.— You rtceived these lately and potted them half an incU deep, and now you say Ihey are "dying oft"." These seedlings should not have been potted till they had finished their annual growth next May. They are going to rest, ih'-'refore, without being ripe, and that will delay their flowering a season linger, and you cannot possibly do anylhirg with them liow but let them dry oft'. When the leaves are decayed plunge the pots in soil out of doors, so that the rims of the pots are just covered, and there let them remain till the autumn, and thoy may begin a fresh growth earlier than usual. When the leaves appear take up the pols, and encourage tlieir growth in a window or pit. Oleandeks not Flowering {Ibid). — There can bo little doubt about the oleanders you speak of as casting tlieir flower-buds, being stinted for want of water. Ae soon as the flower- buds appear set the pots in saucers of water, and those in the tubs should have large doses of water every day ; and if the water runs down fast, the most of i*, probably, runs down between the tub and ball of earth. To prevent this, run a seam of soft clay round the tub and on the edge of the ball, thus forming the surface into a cup shape, and this will compel the water poured into it to pass all through the ball. This is a common practice on ths continent, and it is astonishing in what small tubs they keep their oleanders, oranges, and myrtles in good iiealth by lhi> simple process, and a constant use of liquid manure. As the oleander is a strong feeder, it is best to have them in pots, so that they can be amply supplied by liquids through their flowering seison, and they will take rich liquid manure all thattiaie. If you were to plunge the pot six inches deep in a horse-pond wliile the p'ant is in bloom, it will do no harm, but the contrary. Name of Pla>'t (jl/. P.). — The little blue flower which you sent U9, and say has been in your garden thirty years without any increase, is a little bulb, a native of England, and called squill (Scillabifulia). When the leaves die down next June, take up the bulbs, divide them, and plant theoa again immediately, putting three bulbs in a patch, and about three inches deep in fresh light sandy soil. Young Geranium Slips {Young Recruit), — It is a common case for rooted e;eranium slips to turn yellow in the leaves when they arc parted out of a store pot like yours. They will soon recover and make fresh leaves. Cut away all those leaves that are yellow or drooping much, and keep the plants well supplied with water; when they are in active growth again nip off the top ends, and the buds below will grow into shoots, and make the plants bushy. Agapanthvs {Henry Freeman).— Yo'ir plant is the agapanlhus without a doubt. It only requires to be kept from the frost, and to have very little water from October to March, and as soon as the spring frosts are over, the open air in a warm sheltered spot is the best place for it, and to be abundantly supplied with water through the summer. A nine-inch pot is large enough for a plant with fo-ir crowns ; strong rich loam suits it best, also liquid manure twice a week in the height of summer. Thia is the best time to divide them, which is a severe operation, and is done thus:— turn the plant out of the pot, and with a strong sharp tool cut the ball right through between two crowns or divisions ; we cut ours with a spade, and always divide the ball into as many pieces as there are crowns; we then pare down the corners, and after that pull out as many of the cut roots as will teparate without injurinc the vest, and we pot them according to the size of the pieces. They make an enormous quan- tity of roots, and once they are established we only pot them once in three or four years. They make beautiful flower-beds if the soil is deep and rich, and not too wet at the bottom, and will remain out for years if they are well thatched in the autumn. We have this week dressed our large bed of them, and cut all the old leaves oflf, and the new ones are pushing out in the centre already. We keep a wooden cradle over the bed, and throw a few mats over it on a frosty evening. About the middle of April we shall plant some of the larjje blue campanula among them, and when the frost is over we shall turn out several plants of the old scarlet lobellia and some gladioli in the same bed. The effect of the whole will be unique and very gay. Camellias {J. S. C).— Your four camellias, if true to the names by which ihey wore sold, viz:--Ochroleuca, Queen Victoria, Sweetil, and Punctu'a, are nearly, but not qu'.te, flrst-rato. Spring is not the best time to pot camellias; the true time is when the flower-buds are well formed. If you bought them at a sale of foreign plants they are potted in pure peat, with hardly any sand, and thq balls probably as hard aa cannon balls, and you will find; some difficulty !n getting them to start in our English compost of loam. Pot them into pots only one size larger than those they are in, and let the compost be two-thirds good peat, the rest loam and sand ; this will inure them by degrees to take to the loam. These foreign plants are got up, like Peter Pindar's razors, to sell* Your stove plants are not within our province. Hyacinth Seeds (ff/n7irf«/a).— Hyacinth seeds saved in this "country are not «orth sowing. An amateur near us has some beau- tiful hyacinths that he bought in Holland in ISSS; he raised we know not how many seedlings from them, but after following up the plan for 18 years he never got a single one worth looking at. He flowers Ihem from the fifth to the seventh year of their age, but he has given them up altogether. Alpine Primroses {Rev. E. Lemans). — We know of no one who cultivates bulbs merely "botanical" for sale; the only meana of finding out these rarities is by an advertisement. The Alpine prim- roses do best in pure loam and sand, what we call liclit loam, to be well drained, and the pots plunged in sand, in a cold pit with a west aspect; pure soil and air, uniform moisture, and never to be drenched by rains, are the chief requisites lor these plants. Your compost of "equal parts of heath-mould, leaf-mould, and loam," is far too rirh /or them, and the roots perish (rem the exposure of the pols. We know little of the culture of ground orchids; an experiment is now in progress, at the garden of ilie Horticultural Society of London, on this subject. These are curious subjects, foreign to our publica- tion, therefore we are oMiged to avoid them. Driving Bees {J. N., Bri.vton). — We never recommend trans- ferring bees from one hive to another; you cannot remove the combs ; see pa^e 279. We do not know of any hive-makers near London. j Sellers of hives are Messrs. Neighbour and Son; see their adver- tisement. Sliding Plate to Hive (A Young One) — Mr. Payne says that for wooden hives, tliey being flat-sided, one sliding-plate for regu- lating the size of the entrance, as recommended in Taylor's " Bee- Keeper's Manual," does better than two plates; but for straw hives, being round, two plates are required. They fit within the slides so that they may be always kept there, as represented at p. 239. Salt as a Manure (Clericus). — Never let salt touch the loaves of any plant but those of weeds ; it almost always kills them. Those of the asparagus and sea-kale are the only exceptions we know. Pea Sowing {W. H. Vain,Ju7i.).— 'We sow peas usually in single rows, putting a double row of the seed in each, and an inch apart every way, thus, •.*,*.' This year we are trying double rows, as stated at p. 271. Fuchsias (.-1 Subscril/er and Constant Reader). — Your Fuchsias in leaf and covered with buds are too forward to be treated as directed at p. 2Jl. The lilac being in flower on the 3rd of this month, was early evsn for the neighbourhood of Falmouth. Poi'E Gregorv (Clerims Rusticus). — We quite agree with this extract from your letter ;—" Not questioning his (Pope Gregory's) benevolence in desiring that the Angli should become Angeli, nor his conscientious belief in the message sent by his envoy Austin, I venture to remind you tliat we had British Bishops centuries before his visit, representing us in Church Councils, and that we Protes- tants consider the preaching of Grepry's raessenaer to be that 'other gospel which is not another,* described by Paul. Canvass for Covering (J. IK. J.).— See p. 290. Old Grass Plot (J. W. G.). — This you say j.s covered with weeds and bad grass, and you wish as quickly as possible to convert it to a bowling green. Pare off* two inches in deplli of the whole sur- face ; charr this, and vrl.ile it is charring get some turf sufficient to relay the whole, and then sow over it the charred matters. This is the quickest mode of getting a bowling-green, and an eff't.ctual mode of destroying the weeds. If you cannot get turf charr the surface as above, dig the plot, spread the charred matters over the top, and then sow and rake in the mixture of grass seeds detailed at p. 62. Steep for Potatoes {Walter Sheppard).—'\Ve have no expecta- tion that any sleeping of the sets will prevent the disease occurring. Epsom salt (sulphate of magnesia) has long been known as a good manure for potatoes. Best Soil for Potatoes (Be^a).— You will have seen, at p. 280, an answer to your flrst note on this question. You now ask for an analysis of a soil known as producing good mealy potatoes, and we give one that did so In Essex, but we do not think this of much use. Any light soil, moderately supplied with decomposing matters, and well-drained, not containing any noxious eoustituent, and not defi- cient in any of the usual earths, will grow good well-flavoured pota- toes. Any slight difiference in the relative amount of Its earthy components is of no consequence. One hundred parts of the above soil contains, stone s and gravel, principally siliceous, 27.0; vegetable fibres, 1.0; soluble matters, chiefly vegetable extract, 3.0; carbonates of lime and magnesia, 18.0; oxide of iron, 4.0; animal and vege- table matters, 1.0; alumina, 4.5; silica, 40.0; loss, 1.0. Lucerne (J. M., Uwi/m).— ThaLks for the extracts, we will use them the first opportunity. Names of Plants.— .4 Cottage Subscriber writes thus;— "I con- stantly hear it as a matter of complaint, especially among ladies, that gardeners will continue to use ' those nasty Latin names.' What, then, must be the diflSculty of the cottar, of children, and even that of 999 out of every 1000 otherwibe ignorant but practical gardeners?" We quite agree with our correspondent, and we can only Gay that we recommend no one to buy a plant or a packet of seed on which the English as well as Botanical names are not written. It would give but little additional trouble to the seedsman, and is useful as well as (air to the purchaser. We knew a party last year who bought a packet of seed marked "Ibebis," and who was astonished as well as vexed lo find that it came up "Candy-tuft," of which the firat Is the botanical name. Phenomena of the Season CRev. E. J. Howman and Rev. J. Byron).~-We are much obliged by your notices of occurrences among our native flowers and animals. They shall be published next week, and we shall be glad to receive similar notices from any correspondent. , „^ , «.,... Fuchsia Maoraktha (R. G, B.).-The price of this In some nurserymen's catalogues is Is. 6d., in others 2s. Od, Estimate for Building a Pit, &c., (^non).— We find we can- not give this so as to be tf any service. If you will show our draw- ing of "Fortune's Pit" to any builder, he will tell you for how much he will convert your present pit to that form. '• Hand-glass culture," until May arrives, ie nothing more than gheltering plants 812 THE COTTAGE GARDENER. witli hand-glasftes ; and without fermeDtin^ materials, hot-water, or a fire, we can no more tell you liow ta keep up "a gentle lieat," than Gulliver*s pliilosoplier could exiract sun-bennis from cucum- bers. We never name more variHtios tiian are good, and it is easy for our readers to select Ihence such as they need. Wall Supvohtisc; a Bank iAffotrnfiit). ~ It is true that the earth behind your wall will keep it damp, but if you use as you propose a trellis to traiu your fruit-trees upon, wo do not thiuk that the dampness will injure them, especially as your wall has a godd (south) aspect. Residing, as you do, in Devonshire, any poach, nec- tarine, or apricol, will thrive aeainst your wall. CoNCRETK Tanks (i6*(/).— Small fp&gmonts and dust of your " clay-slate " and " killas" will probjbly answer for mukinj con- cretp as well as gravel. Try a liitlp first. Make it into a block, aud you will see in a few days whether it sets or hardens. Watering CALfEOLAitiA SRjcDLiNrjs (T. Thorpe). — Having made a gutter by ju'e-^sing down the earth round the rim of your pots, and filling this gutter with water, is a very good mode of kt-ep- int; the surface moist. But the best mode is to put each pot within another about two inches wider, tilling with moss the space between the two pot«, and watering the mo33. See p. 213. Common Ulackberbv {R, C.).-—l( this is cuUivaied like the raspberry its fruit is much increased in size, and we know of no reason for its being neglected. Both are natives of I'ncland, and both belong to the same genus. The blackberry might he improved, probably, by cross impregnation from the raspberry. As it is tli*?re are four varieties of the blackberry; the white-fruited, the thornless, the downy leaved, and the gland-heariiig. New VARigTi" OP ItmiiVRB (./. Uilfi/, Birkfti/, Hnihlersfteld).— This is small but excellently tliiroured ; lUe colour it imparts to Ihe syrup of puddings is a more brilliant crimson than any we have seen from other varieties. Mr. Riley, writing early in March, says, " It is the earliest sort my garden produces. With merely the protection of a pot, without manure or anything to force it, we have bei u cut- tine it for a montii past." Rhubarb without forcing in the first week of February, and in Yorkshire too, is certainly valuable. We should like to have a plant of it. PooLTRV-FFEDiNG (Eleufwr). — A busliel of barley ought to sup- ply your nine fowls for a month. Influence of the Moon {O. B.).— On this curious subject we shall make simo observations before Ion?. Your mode of removing the Green Fly from pots in rooms shall be inserted. House Sewage (Itei*. T. G. Shnco.r). — Do not apply thig to your potatoes planted upon a newly broken-up pasture. All authorities agree that they are injured by stimulating manures; or, in other words, that these exasjierate the disease by which of late years they have been rava^etl. Your stable and pig stye drainage can h\i applied with the most advantage between the rows of your spinacli, celery, asparagus, and rhubarb. One gallon to live or six of water will be strong enough. CALENDAR FOR APRIL. GREEXIIOUSE. Admit atr daily on fine days, but puard against cold draught?.— Camellias, water freely, ami sow seeds of. — Earth in Pots, stir the surface freiiuently, and add IVesh, if not done in March.— Green FLV.or Amis, usually attack young growths, and must be kept down by tobacco smoke. — HAuniEST Plants, keep in the coldest parts of the house, near the ventilators.— Head-down or phuxe straggling shoots and irregular growths.— Heat, increase (he nalund heat, by closing the house early in the afternoon.— lNARCU woody plants for increase.— Leaves and wood decayed, remove as they apj-ear, and clean with sponge and syringe.— Liquid Manure apply to plants in free growth, but not to sickly plants.— Pot planls as they begin growth, and water them immediately. — Propagate by sped- roois, cuttings, and inarching, as the species permit.— Prune or PINCH OFF free growths, to form bushy plants.— Succulent plants, water now more freely, and increase by cutlingTt. and leaves.— Water regularly as the plants get dry. J). Beaton. FLOWER GARDEN. Annuals (Tender), prick out those sown in February and March in a hotbed; water gently but often; sow in hotbeil ; (Hardy) may be sown in borders, ice, to remain; thin those advancing. Auri- culas in bloom, shelter. (See Hyacinths), f^upply with water often; those for st'ed, plunge pots in a sheltered border, where they can have sun until It o'clock; plant ot^'sets; propagate by slips; seedlings shade during mid-day. Auriculas done flowering, place out of doors, and separate otiVts. Box edgings may be mate and old taken up, slipped, and replanted; clip box edgings. Biennials, linish sowing, h.; plant out those sown Ust suriug. Bulbs, in water glasses, done flowering, plant in ground after culling down stalks, but not leaves; autumn Ilowering. take up and store. Cab- nations, in pots, give liquid nimure every third time, v«ry weak, and water often; stir the earth; sow e. ; plant into borders, b. Climbing plants, train and regulate. Layer Rhododendrons and hardy Azaleas. Dahlias, plant to remain, b.; or in pots to forward in a frame until May. Dkess the borders, Jcc, indL- fatiKably. Kvergreens, plant, h. The Evergreen Oak rarely Rucceeds at any other time. Frames, raise, by supporters at the bottom, as the plants witliin grow t^iil. Ora'ss, mow once a week, and roll oftener; trim edges; dress with earth if poor; and sow seeds, especially white Clover Gravel, turn and lay afresh in dry weather; roil in rainy weather often. Hoeing and Baking are still the standard ofierations. Hyacinths, shelter (rom sun by an awning or matting over the beds, from nine to four; give the same shelter in bad weather day and night; those done flowering take up as soon as .the leav^^s decay ; separate oflTiets ana store. Insects, destroy with tobacco smoke or dusting of Scotch sniift'. MifiNONETTR, SOW lu any warm border. Mulch, pvit round trees newly planted. Pinks;, sow. Polyanthuses, sow; plant out and propagate by offsets, b. ; last year's seedlings now in bloom, mark best for propagating. Potted Plants, give fresh earth to, if not done last month; shift into larger; water freely. Pbrbnnials, - those sown last spring may still be planted, and propagated by ofi'iets ; finish sowing. Stic_;k3 are required to blooming plants. TuLivs, shelter from sun and wet ; take oft' pods to strengthen bulbs. Watering is now required more Irequently, yet moderately; give it early in the morning. Ranunculuses, water freely, and press the earth very hard between the rows. Roses, thin buds where very abundant; watch for grubs in the buds and crush them. Tobacco water use to destroy the aphides by dipping the shoots ir> it where the insects are. T, Appleby. ORCHARD. Ar-PLES may be planted although full late.— Blossoms of wall fruit, protect. — Budded (Trees), last summer, remove inso-" from buds and shoots from stock below, also head back the stocks. — Cherries may be planted.— Pisnuw wail trees and trained espaliers of superfluous buds, in a progressive way —Forcing fruits, in hot- house, at'end to, on similar principles, — Grafting (late kinds of Apples, Pear,', and Plums) may be done still, b.— Grafts, lately inserted, see that th? clay is fi rm, and rub off shoots below the scion. Heading-down Wall and Espalier trees, finish, b., if not done last month. Insects, search for and destroy. LniE (early in the morn- ing), dust over the leaves of tht- trees affected by Caterpillars. Mulch over the roots of newly-planled trees to keep in moisture. Peaches may be planted, but they rarely succeed. Pears may ba planted. I'LANTiNO in general may yet be tried to prevent a season being lost, muih care must be taken. Plum^^ may be planted. Propagating by layers, cuttings, suckers, and seed, fini-h, b. Pruning, finish, h. ; stop young shoots if too luxuriant. Stake trees newly-planted. Strawberries, remove runners from, as they appear, and top dress, water daily in dry weather those in bloom. Vines, propagate by layers and cuttlngi:, b. ; summer dress; in Vineyard stake and hoe frequently ; old borders manure. Wall- fruit, thin generally. Wasp, destroy ; every one now killed jirevcnts a nest. Water abund- antly fresh planted trees, FiG-TCEEs may have their winter covering partially removed at tho beginning of this month, and entirely by the commencement of May ; and they may then be pruned and trained. Newly-Ga \fted trees are bent filed by being sjirinkled by the water engine during dry weather. Watch for the Caterpillar on ilie gooseberry bushes. Observe tho dircclions about Peaches in "The Cottage Gardener," and use the sulphur mixture; also the tobacco water when the trees are fairly done blossoming. Watch the development of the American rlight and use the brush. Apply soft-soap water to Ihe stems of Pear treks infested with the scale. Top dress Raspberries, also all bush FRUIT, if requisite. Remove all Suckers from tilberts; also from all bush fruit, wall trees, espaliers, &c. L^t all Fruit borders be dressed and clged as a finish to the garden, taking care to make sound walks. R. Erhinoton. KITCHEN GARDEN. Alexanders, sow, Angelica, sow. Artichokes, plant, b. or dress. Asparagus, sow; plant; force, and dress beds. Baltic, plant. Basil, sow. Brans, sow, hoe. Beets (three sorts), sow, b. Borecole, sow; prick out; leave for seed. Brocoli, sow main crop; prick out; leave for sceJ. Borage, sow. Bubnets, sow and plant. Cabbages, sow; pick out; p'autout; earthup. Cap- sicum, sow. Cardoons, sow. Carkaw'av, sow. CauroT'^, sow; weed. Cauliflowers, sow in open ground, b.; priekont; plant from glasses. Celery, sow; earth up; leave for seed. Chamo- mile, plant. CniVEs, plant. Chervil, sow; leave for seed. CoLEwoRfs, plant. Cl.\ry, sow. Cress (American), sow. Cu- cumbers, suw ; prick out; ridge out; attend advancing crops; thin laterals. Dill, sow. Dung, for hotbeds, prepare. E\rthinc-up, attend to. Fennel, sow or plant. Finochio, sow. Garlic, plant, b. Horse-radish, plant, h. Hotbeds, make and attend. Hyssop, sow; plant. Jerusale:u .Artuiiofces, plant, b. Kale (Sea), sow and plant, b.; dress beds. Kidney Beans (dwarts), sow; (rimners), sow, e. L.vvender, plant. Leeks, sow, b. e. ; leave for seed. Lettuces, sow weekly; plant from frames, but they now do belter without movinj;; prick out; tie up. BIarigolds, sow. Mar.torams, sow and plant. Melons, sow; prick out; riilge out; attend to advancing; thin literals gradually; day temp. SO^, night 70°. Mustard aud Cress, soiv; leave for seed. Musii BOOM Beds, make; attend to. Mint, plant. Nasturtiums, sow. Onions, sow, b. e.; weed; leave for seed ; (Hamburgh), sow. Parsnips, sow, h.; hand weeil. Peas, sow; hoe; stick. Penny- royal, plant. PoMFioNs.sow, b. Pot.atoes, plant; attend foreine. Purslane, sow. Radishes, sow; thin. Rape, sow. Rhubarb, plant. Rocambole, plant. Roe, plant. Sai.safy and Savory, sow, e. Savoys, sow, b; prick out. Scohzonera and Skirrbts, sow, e. Shallots and Sage, plant, b. Sorrels, sow and plant. Spinach, sow; thin; leave for seed. Tansy fud Tarkagon, plant. Thyme, sow and plant. Tomatos, sow. Turnips, sow, b. c. ; leave for seed. Turnip Cabbage, sow. Wormwoods, sow. G. W. J.. LoKnoN : Printed by Harrt Wooldridge, U7, Strand, in the Parivji of Saint Mary-Ie-Strand ; and Winchester Hiph-street, in the parish of St. Mary Kahndar; and Puhlishud by Wtu-Iam SOMEKVii.LK Orh, at the Ofilce, H7, Strand, in ihe Parish of Saiut Mary-le-Strand, London.- March Sdth, 134U. # r i-y ff:\ - ^^ r ^.<;;r-A--v.: f ,■