Hit 5 5'} HIhiII WaI\\ 8!i!l» i »]!)mbs, to grow .. .. .. 143 Cold Pit sunk below the Level . . . . 263 Coniferous Trees and Shrubs , . . . 241 Conifers at Sew ' . .. ., ... 25 Crystal Palace Blower Shows . . 125-124 Cucumber deed .. 71 Cucumber and Melon Culture .. .. 82 Cuero Guano 103 Cultivation of Annuals .. .. .. 64 Culture and Training of the Raspberry .. 31 Custard Marrow, to tirovf .. .. .. 82 Cuttings, how to Make, and how to Strike them 202-213-215 Cuttings, Propagating pot for .. .. 152 Daddy Longlegs 142 Dahlia Culture .. .. .. .. 107 Dahlia Show, Great National . . 217-221-200 Dahlias, List of Winning Flowers .. 260 Delphinium formosum, and ilendersonii 239 Daodara cedar . . . . . . . , 245 Dielytra spectabi lis seed .. .. .. |02 Dioscorca Battatas . . . . . , . . 81 Draining an Orchard, necessity of . . 28 PAGE Drying Plants and Flowers .. .. 83 Dung-bed too hot .. . . .. .. 119 Early Planting, its advantages . . . . 250 Edgings for Gardens 42 Editor's address I Embothrium coccineum 12? Eugenia Ugni .. .. . . .. 47 Euphorbia Fulgcns 108 Evergreen Flowering Shrubs . . . . 15 Evergreens recently planted .. .. 240 Experimental Vine Pruning .. .. 33 Exhausted hot-bed, to manage .. .. 141 Fairy Rings, cause of .. ., .. 118 Ferns — British and Exotic . . . . 8 Ferns in a Wardian Case .. .. st Ferrassier's Patent Wheelbarrow . . . . 69 Fig Tree in Fruit &W Floral Pyramid .. .. .. .. Iflo Florists' Flowers -the Cineraria .. . . 14 Flowers in the City 251-268 Flowers to Dry .. .. .. .. 47 Flower-pots, newly invented .. .. 152 Fruits, New Varieties of Merit . . . . 261 Fruit-room, Management of .. .. 860 Fruit-trees, improving collections of .. 28 Fruiting Vines in Greenhouse . . . . 94 Fuchsias, to bloom Seedlings .. .. 179 Fumigating, Simple Mode of .. .. 264 Garden and Greenhouse Work : — January .. . .. .. .. 21 February ., .. .. .. .. 44 March 70 April 90 May 113 June 139 July 101 August 189 September .. .. .. .. .. 212 October 236 November .. .. .. .. .. 256 December . . . . 271 Garden Plans .. 70-85 Garden Tools, improved 46 Garden Statuary, to clean 143 Gardener's review of the past year . . 3 Genista Canadensis .. .. .. .. 55 Geographical Distribution of the Pine Family 241-242 Geraniums for Winter blooming .. 202-213 Glasses for Hyacinths 206 Grapes, Shrivelled 203 Grape Vines in pots .. .. .. .. 273 Grasses, Grass-plots, and Lawns . . . . GO Green- fly on peaches, June I Purple ) * „ Massoni ... ( ^ed & I July to Oct. ( Green ) J Gardenia radicans ...White ...Mar. to June *Genista canariensis Yellow. ..May to Sept. Jasminum odoratissi- mum White.. .May to Nov. Nerium splendens ...Pink ...June to Oct. * „ oleander ...Bed August „ ,, album White... June to Oct. Pultensea obcordata Yellow May to July *Salvia fulgens Scarlet May to Sept. * ,, patens Blue ... „ CLIMBERS AND TRAILERS. ""Bignonia grandiflora Orange July to Aug. *Cobea scandens Purple May to Oct. Erythrina crista-galli Scarlet May to July Gompholobium poly- morphum Yellow Mar. to Aug. Jasminum revolutum Yellow Mar. to Sept. Kennedia prostrata... Scarlet April to June „ nigricans ...Purple Mar. to June *Maurandia Barclay- ana ,, .Purple April to Dec. Lophospermum Var. ...July to Nov. *Mandevilla sauveo- lens White. ..June to Aug. *Passiflora ceridea ra- cemosa Purple June to Oct. Sollyaheterophylla...Blue ...July to Oct. *Thunbergia alata ...Yellow... May to Sept. „ alba ...White ...May to Sept. *Tropeeolum tricolor- um Orange-purple. . . May to Aug. „ azureum ...Azure ...May to Nov. * „ brachyceras Yellow. ..May to Sept. * „ majus flore pleno Orange Aug to May T .... (Scarlet) T » Jarrattu 1 Yellow }June SELECTION OF FRUITS FOR SMALL GARDENS. Any of the following may be selected with safety, according to the space of ground to be planted. The list contains only such sorts as are most renowned for merit, and, generally speaking, adapted to the greatest variety of soils and situations. They are all obtainable at moderate prices, with the exception of the Salway Peach, which was lately let out by Mr. Turner : — Apples. — Blenheim Orange, Nonpareil, Lord Sufrield, Cornish GiUiflower, Bibstoue, Pippin, King of Pippins, Court of Wick, Kerry Pippin, Golden Beinette. Pears. — Jargonelle,Williams'BonChretien, Bergamotte, Marie Louise, Pas Colmar, Winter Nelis, Swan's Egg. Plums. — Greengage, Chapman's Prince of Wales, Coe's Golden Drop, Victoria, Wash- ington, Jefferson. Cherries. — Bigarreau, Black Tartarian, Elton, Downton, May Duke, Morello. Apricots. — Moor Park, Breda, Boyal. Peaches* — Grosse M ignonne, Boyal George , Noblesse, Old Mewington, Late Admirable, Salway. Nectarines. — Elruge, Early Newingtou, Roman, Orange, and Downton. Grapes. — For open walls : Dutch Sweet- water, Black Esperione, Miller's Burgundy, White Frontignan, July Black Cluster. Grapes — Requiring heat: Golden Ham- burgh,CannonHallMnscat,BlackHamburgh, Chasselas Masque, White Tokay. Currants. — Black Naples, Monstros de Berry, Red Victoria, White Grape, White Dutch. Raspberries. — Carter's Prolific, Fastolf, Red and White Antwerp, Rivers's Double bearing. Strawberries. — Black Prince, Kitley's Goliah, Keene's Seedling, British Queen, Sir Harry, Filbert Pine. 24 CLIMBERS FOR NORTH WALLS. Stauntonia latifolia. Jasminnm officinale. Clematis Montana. Common Fig. Irish and variegated Ivv Virginian Creeper ROSES. Filicite perpetuelle, and any of the Ayrshires. Cotoneaster mycroyhylla, Chimonanthes fragrans. C. Grandiflora. The three last named are the least hardy, and will only do in a north aspect in the south of England, or in positions well sheltered. METEOROLOGICAL CALENDAR FOR JANUARY. 3 DAI WEATHER NEAR LONDON, JAN., 1857. 1 3 WEATHER NEAR LONDON, JAN., 1857. rs. BAROMETER. THERMOM. WIND. RAIN. DATS. BAROMETER. THERMOM. WIND. RAIN. MAX. M1N. MX.MN. MN. MAX. MIN. MX. MN. MN. F. 1 30.063—29.908 53 40 46.5 VV .10 s- 17 30-295-30.J61 46 36 41.0 W .00 S. 2 29.722—29.684 51 35 43.0 W .06 M. 18 30.277—30.232 50 44 47.0 W .00 s. 3 29.266—29.110 50 37 43.5 sw .04 i Tu 19 30.256— 30.1S7 4S 25 36.5 NW .02 M. 4 29.374—29.119 42 33 37.5 sw .12 VV. 20 29.730—29.308 44 29 36-5 SW .17 Tn r> 30.043—29.781 35 28 31.5 NE .00 Th 21 29.679—29.447 39 24 31.5 w .00 W. 6 30.279—30.032 36 25 30.5 NE .00 F. 22 29.791—29.510 43 32 37.5 sw •13 Th 7 30.346—30.304 35 28 31.5 NE .00 s. 23 29.355—29.145 45 31 38.0 w .04 F. 8 30.308—30.221 42 35 38.5 E .11 S. 24 29.126-29.062 42 33 37.5 NW .17 S. 9 30.143—29.797 48 40 44.0 SW .71 M. 25 29.594—29.229 39.30 34.5 NK .05 s. Id 29.589—28.989 51 38 44.5 W .27 Tu. 26 29.805—29.613 36 30 33.0 NE .13 M. 11 29.292—28.940 45 24 34.5 w .07 W. 27 29.865—29.847 36 19 27.5 NE .00 Tu 12 29.215—29.096 45 29 37.0 w .00 Th 2S 29.839-29.766 37 18 27.5 NE .00 W. 13 30.338-29.193 37 2S 32.5 E .00 F. 29 29.872—29.778 32 14 23.0 N .00 Th. 11 30.141—29.944 38 18 28.0 N 00 S. 30 29.841—29.615 38 30 34.0 NW .00 F. IS 30.06?-29.954 42 29 35.5 8VV .10 s. 31 29.S49— 29-597 39 8 23 5 SW .00 s. 16 30.217—30.047 45 26 35.5 W .00 AVERAGES FOR THE ENSUING MONTH. During the past sixteen years, the average temperatures near London have been : — Max., 43° ; min., 33°; mean. 3Sa; the average reading of the barometer, 29,907; and the fall of rain 1.9 inches. The highest temperature observed during thirty-two years past occurred on the 19th, 1828, when the thermometer registered 60s ; and the lowest on the 14th, 1838- 4°. PHASES OP THE MOON FOR JANUARY, 1858. C Last Quarter, 7th, 12h. 47m. a.m. C New Moon, 15th, 4h. 28m. a.m. J First Quarter, 22nd, 4h. 57m. p.m. O Full Moon, 29th, 8h. 49m. a.m. TO CORRESPONDENTS. Preserving Fruit. — B. B.— Your plan of packing apples and pears in damp hay, and shutting them close down in a box, caused a brisk fer- mentation, and it is not surprising that the greater part are now proved to be rotten. Sort them over at once, set apart for immediate use those that are only partially spoilt, and pack the rest in some dry straw, out of the reach of frost and light. Fruit should be quite dry when stored, and the cooler the place assigned to it the better, so that it is safe against frost. Names of Plants.— Since naming plants gives much trouble, and the replies occupy space for information uselul only to the parties Bending them, we beg our readers not to expect us to assist them in a task which a reference to a botanical work would, in most cases, render un- necessary. S. E. D. Burnley. — Heating by Gas, Training the Raspberry, and Improving Collections of Fruit, next month. Keeping out Frost. — Harry. — You may keep the frost out of your pits by a free and judicious use of matting; thatched hurdles are very con- venient for the purpose, because easily lifted off and on, and creating no litter. We have many a time put a lighted rushlight into a small pit, on a sharp night, and with a mat or two kept all safe. In a greenhouse, or small conservatory without a flue, a large stone bottle, painted black, and filled at night with boiling water, will be found to radiate sufficient heat to keep tHe temperature from sinking to freezing point. Frozen Plants.— Hyacinth.— To recover plants touched with frost, it is best to thaw them as slowly as possible, and in the dark. Light and moisture at such a time are ruin to plants of delicate constitution, and, if they recover at all, it can only be by thawing them gradually, as in a cool cellar, or some place only one or two degrees warmer than freezing point. *#* Our readers will please to consider all coloured illustrations as gifts. We do not pledge ourselves to give them at any time, though we hope occasionally to do so, THE February, 1858. O one who has enjoyed an hour at Kew Gardens, but must ever after take a lively interest in all that relates to the maintenance of that splendid establish- ment, the interests of which have for so many years been most zealously cared for by that eminent botanist, Sir William Hooker. Professional gardeners and students of horticulture, to whom it is a place of frequent resort, have long ^l been aware of a fact which the public i generally have scarcely yet become ac- quainted with — that the choicest part of that unrivalled collection has entered on its decline, and will, perhaps, be I speedily lost to the nation, for want of a little pecuniary help from the public purse. More than two years ago, Sir William Hooker called the attention of Sir Benjamin Hall to the condition of the stately Conifers of Australia and New Zealand, and the splendid palms and shrubs of the tropics, as " suffering beyond recovery for want of suitable winter shelter ;" but though the matter was named in the House of Commons, the First Com- missioner declined to render the least help, because the estimates were heavy, and the nation could not afford to provide shelter for a few of its choicest botanical pets. Sir William is not the man to be disheartened by trifles, and he appealed again — that though many of the Chilian, Mexican, and Norfolk Island trees and shrubs — " for the possession of which the Royal Gardens of Kew have long been celebrated" — had suffered beyond recovery, and could only be mentioned "in the past tense," others might " yet be restored by the needful amount of space, light, and temperature," which would be afforded them in a conservatory constructed especially to meet their wants, for " during sixteen years of NO II. — vol. i. c 26 THE FLOEAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. my directorship no addition has been made for the accommodation of these kinds of plants." This appeal was as unsuccessful as the former ; and specimens of the finest trees in the world, which need only slight protection from the frosts of winter, are now to be seen huddled together in the houses they have outgrown — perishing in darkness, or compelled to brave out the trials of an English winter, every blast of which hastens their ultimate demise, because the nation cannot afford them simple house room. No expensive constructions are asked for, no new palm-houses requiring costly arrangements for ventilating and heating, but a plain conservatory, in which they can enjoy the daylight, secure from winter frost, and which, as a winter garden, would be a new source of pleasure to every visitor to Kcw ; and if this is not afforded them at once, the remnant of the noblest collection of plants in Europe, still including gems of priceless value, which have not yet succumbed, Avill be sacrificed for ever. The nation readily provides salaries, bounties, grants, and dowries ; but, as repre- sented by the •administrators of its means, a quarter of an acre of glass stands between it and bankruptcy. For the sake of our name and fame, as well as for the interests of horticulture, with which every phase of our national progress is identified, we do hope that another session will not be allowed to pass without a fair consideration of the claims of Sir "William Hooker on behalf of his family at Kew. The year 1858 is to be crowned with a garland of roses, and the vexed question of rose catalogues, and the well-fought battle of the new and old roses, so differently conducted to that of the historical flowers of York and Lancaster, will have a profitable issue. On the first of July we are to have a " grand national rose show," open to all exhibitors in their respective classes, in London ; the object being to give fair play to all exhibitors and all roses ; and if some of the leading points in rose con- troversy are not then cleared up, it will be no fault of the promoters of this truly national undertaking, which will be literally a " feast of roses," worth the sacrifice of time and railway fare, and will afford the best opportunity ever yet offered of comparing varieties and making selections. Subscriptions in furtherance of the design, are earnestly requested from all lovers of the rose, and will be received by Mr. Rivers, of Sawbridgeworth ; Mr. Paul, of Cheshunt ; Mr. Turner, of Slough ; and the Eev. S. Keynolds Hole, of Caunton Manor, Newark, Notts. The last-named gentleman is open to communicate with rose growers interested in the exhibition. The Horticultural Society has announced the following meetings and exhibitions: — On the 2nd of February, a meeting at Regent-street, when eight prizes will be awarded ; five for Camellias in threes and sixes ; three for miscellaneous groups of flowering plants, in sixes ; and certifi- cates for other objects. On the 2nd of March, there will be an exhibition of Hyacinths, Rhododendrons, Cinerarias, Primulas, and forced vegetables, with a liberal list of awards. On the 21st and 22nd of April, the grand spring meeting will take place in St. James's Hall, the chief items in the schedule being Hyacinths, Tulips, Marcissi, Fancy Pelargoniums, Camel- lias, and Roses, Foliage Plants and Fruits, and an additional prize of £5 ottered by a V. P. H. S. tor the best Pine Apple of any kind. The Grand Garden Show will take place at Chiswick, on the 9th and 10th of June, THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 27 ■when there will be a brilliant display of Orchids, Stove and Greenhouse Plants, Eoses, Azaleas, Pelargoniums, Cut Flowers, and Fruit. On the 8th, 9th, 10th, and 11th of the same month, so as to include the two days of the Grand Flower Show, there will be an exhibition of Horticultural Manu- factures, including apparatus for heating, mowing machines, garden tools, cutlery, pottery, objects of decoration, philosophical instruments, pro- tecting materials, bee hives, &c. The grand autumn meeting will take place at St. James's Hall, on the 17th and 18th of November, when Fruit, Chrysanthemums, and Foliage Plants, will be the chief objects of attraction. Arrangements are in progress for the formation of a jury, to meet monthly, for the examination of all new fruits that may be submitted to them. Among the announcements of local shows, we may mention that two will take place in the Bristol Zoological Gardens, on the 2nd of June, and the 8th of September ; and the Brighton and Sussex Floricultural Society will hold two shows of two days each, the first on June 30th and July 1st, and the second on the 15th and 16th of September. Three Horticultural Exhibitions are announced to take place at the Crystal Palace, as follows: Wednesday, May 19th; Wednesday, June 16th; and Wednesday and Thursday, September 8th and 9th. On the 4th of this month, the Pomo- logical Society will meet to consider the merits of fruits submitted, in accordance with the schedule noticed by us last month. Sub- scribers to that useful charity, the Gardeners' Eoyal Benevolent Institution, will hear with pleasure that Michael Quigley, Martha Gar- diner, Elizabeth Pope, and William Jackson, were elected pensioners on the loth instant, when an election of officers for the ensuing year, took place as follows: — Eobert Wrench, Esq., treasurer; J. J. Mechi, Esq., vice-president; Mr. J. Veitch, jun., trustee; Edward Bosher, Esq., arbitrator ; Messrs. Charlwood, Lea, and Forsyth, auditors ; Messrs. J. A. Henderson, Rivers, Atlee, Shereard, Page, and Bruce, committee ; and Mr. E. B. Cutler, re-elected secretary. Death has snatched from us two names of eminence in the annals of Horticulture — the Duke of Devonshire, and Dr. Eoyle. The Duke of Devonshire was a munificent patron of horticulture, and, with a liberal hand, gave encouragement to all the higher departments of plant-culture, and its associative architectural accessories. Chatsworth had a world- wide renown, both as a school which has sent many a brave spirit into the world, and as an example of the refined tastes of its noble possessor, who, in every sense of the Avord, was a man of science, and a gentleman. His Grace died on Monday, the 18th of January last, aged 68 years. Dr. Royle's death occurred on the 2nd of January last. He was one of the most distinguished botanists of this present century, and the first authority on the agriculture and plants of the East. His " Materia Medica " is, in itself, a splendid monument of diligent research, and high ability in generalisation. ^O-OCOCKj* 28 THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. IMPROVING COLLECTIONS OF FRUIT. N most cases of complaint about fruit failures, people have themselves to blame only, and, per- haps, there is no one department of horticul- ture in which more mistakes are made than in the management of hard}' fruits. Four j'ears ago, I came into the possession of a piece of ground of about thirty acres, at R , near Southampton. For distinction's sake, the place is called a fruit garden, but about one-third of the ground is devoted to rotation cropping, and we find mangels, swedes, Italian rye-grass, and market vegetables, to pay best ; and we keep five cows, and generally half-a-dozen breeding pigs. When I took pos- session, there was an immense stock of apple, pear, plum, and currant trees on the ground ; they had been well planted originally, but for ten years, at least, had been going steadily to ruin. The trees were cankered ; the bush fruits had grown into a wilderness ; the apples were eaten up with American blight, and their trunks were blotched all over with running sores ; it was truly disheartening to go over the ground and see the havoc that time, assisted by neglect, had made. The ground varies a good deal as to level, and there is scarcely half-an-acre that can be called flat ; the higher parts are a rich loam, resting on clay, and these shelve down in trowel- shaped slopes to the river, where the land gets more clayey, and is occasionally flooded. On one good piece, lying towards one of the lower levels, there were originally five hundred orchard apple trees, mostly Keswick and Manx Codlings; and on another piece, placed rather higher, a large stock of Ribstone and Golden Pippins, all terribly cankered, and seemingly unable to produce another fruit as long as they should continue to linger. By cutting a few trenches, the first autumn, we made acquaintance with the nature of the sub-soil, and saw what was the first thing to be done ; the trees were, on the lower piece, perishing of cold feet ; they had, in fact, sent their roots down into a bog, and had but few surface fibres. There were six acres on one slope with a good fall, and here we made our first step in draining. We drained the whole with four-inch pipes, putting a row of pipes between each row of trees, at thirty-five feet dis- tance, and then proceeded to dress the surface soil. On one part of the ground was an immense heap of rubbish, chiefly road-scrapings and turf; this was turned over and wheeled on to the ground, and with it all the manure we could scrape together. We then spread this mixture of manure and turfy rub- bish under the trees, about four inches thick, and forked the ground regularly all over, and round every tree cut a trench, so as to shorten in all the roots. A few of the worst at the lowest part we treated differently, for at one side of each we worked away till we got to the tap roots, and these we cut through with a chisel, so as to cut off all connection between the tree and the lower stratum of the soil. On the ground higher up, we contented ourselves with waiting till December, and then we removed the top soil from around every tree, and ridged it up, so as to expose the roots to the frost. At the end of January, during mild weather, we commenced a general cleaning and pruning. We made an immense quantity of lime-paint, as follows : — To every bushel of lime we added four pounds of flower of sulphur, mixed the whole with water into a thick paint, and, after scraping off" the loose bark, painted every tree with it. Those that had been bared to the roots we painted as low down as possible, and then returned the earth that had been ridged up. THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 29 When we came to the pruning, we cut clean away every dead branch, and made only a moderate thinning where the trees were crowded, for I determined that a too severe use of the knife might prove injurious. All the wounds in the stems were stopped with clay and tarred over, and a week afterwards we went over the stoppings, and repaired any that had cracked, and laid on a fresh coat of tar. Many of the trees that appeared scarcely worth the labour were felled, and a few, for experiment's sake, were grafted, in the following March, on the old stocks ; but as few of them have come to any good, I shall say nothing about it beyond this — that, if a tree decays owing to inefficient root- action, re-grafting the stock is just a waste of time and labour. In dressing the pears — of which we had a hundred Bon Chretien, and about two hundred and fifty other kinds — mostly Standard Beurre Diel, Swan's Egg, and Catillac — we made a regular thinning of the branches, but not to the extent that they required — for I never like to deal rashly with anything, and prefer summer pruning as the safest. But the greatest trouble we had with these was owing to the suckers, which formed a sort of little forest round every tree, and in some cases had started up between the rows at fifteen or twenty feet distance from the stems. But, as the trees were generally healthy, and, to all appear- ance, had done well, we determined to take a little extra trouble with them. We had a stack of turf burning at the time, and we carted up from the river-side an immense quantity of sedge and clay, and burnt this with the turf ; and when we had got a good stock, I had all hands to work at the roots of the pear trees. We took off the top spit, cutting away all the suckers at the same time, but doing as little injury as possible to the surface fibres ; and then, at a distance of five feet from each tree, cut a deep circular trench, and cut in every root to that boundary. We then filled in the trenches with rubble, consisting of brick- bats, old mortar, and other dry rubbish, which we rammed in as hard as pos- sible ; and over the surface of the exposed roots, within the circumference of the trench, we laid down six inches of turf, and over that a layer of the charred rubbish, and then some of the original surface soil, to the same level as it was before. As for the bush fruits, we literally slaughtered them. The currants had been originally planted at only three feet distant each way, and had all grown together into " bush ; " but, in spite of that, the long rods, which, the previous season, had not been shortened, were splendidly covered with fruit buds, and the black currant and gooseberries had abundance of young stems, as well as a wilderness of watery spray. The red and white currants we cut to skeletons, taking out from their base every ill-placed shoot, so as to leave the bushes open ; and in shortening in the previous summer growth, respect was paid, as much as possible, to the clusters of buds at the base of each — so characteristic of the fruiting of these useful trees. We at the same time took out every other bush all over each plantation, forked in some half-rotten dung over the whole surface, and burnt about a thousand of those that were removed. In February we planted between every thirty-feet row of fruit trees, black currants, which like partial shade and a moist bottom ; on the higher and drier portions we made plantations of gooseberry ; and on the low, flat clay near the river, we planted red Autwerp and Fastolf raspberry. I then made up a nursery — got plenty of Paradise and Quince stocks, and the next spring took scions from all the best sorts of apple and pear, adding scions of other sorts not in the collection ; and now I have such a stock of young stuff, that I shall be able to plant twelve acres with young apples, pears, and cherries, and, having raised a few thousand young red and black currants from the best canes taken at winter prunings, shall soon have a fine collection to replace those that have become old and useless. I expected a good result from draining and dressing, and was not dis- appointed. The trees have ever since borne well, and are getting their gaps well filled up with new wood, and are pictures of health. Last season, our 30 THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. crops were enormously heavy, but there was a good deal of blight on the apples. Instead of painting them, however, I shall, before they break this collection of Peaches and Cherries, but no vines, I shall syringe with ammo- niacal liquor from the gas-works, diluted with six times the quantity of water, and used quite hot. I shall do this just as the buds are opening, and I know that all their enemies will be settled for at least a season. G. 'J'. ;v;jo;:-:ckcj; :■:■: NEW STOVE AND GEEENHOUSE PLANTS. INTRODUCED LAST YEAR. Selected from the "National Garden Almanack, 1858. GREENHOUSE AND COOL STOVE. Achimenes rosea magnified. A desirable addition to the plants of this class ; flowers large, rosy purple, the eye spotted with yellow. A garden hybrid. Mr. Parsons. Achimenes splendens. (Illust. Bouquet. 10.) Also called Tapina splendens. A beautiful dwarf trailing stove perennial, adapted for baskets ; flowers numerous, separate, from the axils of the broad crowded tufted leaves ; rich glowing scarlet, gemmate with warts around the throat. New Grenada. Messrs. E. G. Henderson and Son. Aii&otochilus Veitchi. A handsome dwarf stove orchidaceous plant, for bell-glass cul- ture ; leaves very handsome, green, beauti- fully streaked and veined with silver. India. Messrs. Veitch and Sons. ' Arduina grandiflora. An evergreen green- house shrub, with sweet-scented white blossoms, also bearing crimson fruit, which are said to be richly flavoured. South Africa. Messrs. Eollisson. Bovardia Hogarth. (Illust. Bouq. t. 3.) A handsome greenhouse or half-hardy sub- shrub, with Ixora-like bunches of flowers ; deep salmon pink, with a paler tube. A garden hybrid (longiflora X leiantha). Messrs. E. G. Henderson and Son. Bouvardia Laura. (Illust. Bouq. t. 3.) A fine greenhouse or half-hardy sub-shrub, with large Ixora-like bunches of flowers ; pale pink. A garden hybrid (longiflora X leiantha). Messrs. E. G. Henderson and Son. Calythrix virgata. A neat and elegant, though not showy, greenhouse evergreen shrub, of slender, spreading almost pendant habit, with heath-like branches, and nume- rous white starry flowers in bunches. N. Holland. Messrs. A. Henderson and Co. Camellia reticulata flore-pleno. (Bot. Mag. t. 4976.) This differs from the common sort in having the flowers loosely double ; they are of the same, or even a brighter rich rose colour, and larger, sometimes 5^ inches in diameter. A magnificent conservatory bush. China. Messrs. Standish and Noble. Cyancphyllum magniflcum. A fine-leaved nielastomaceous plant, the leaves being very large, a foot long, and nearly half as much wide, and beautifully stained with purple on the under surface. New Grenada. M. Linden. Doronicum Baurgcei. (Bot. Mag. t. 4994.) A branched erect greenhouse sub-shrub, with purple cineraria-like flowers, the leaves lyrate pinnatifid ; a showy and free- growing plant, intimately related to cineraria. Canary Isles. Kew Botanic Gardens. Echeveria canaliculata. (Bot. Mag., t. 4986.) One of a set of curious and pretty succulent greenhouse shrubs, with a short upright stem, oblong, tapering, fleshy leaves tinged with purple, and racemes of flowers of a bright brick red, orange within. Mexico. Kew Botanic Gardens. Epigynmm acuminatum. (Bot. Mag., t.) 5010.) A beautiful vaccinaceous evergreen shrub of dwarf habit, probably requiring only a greenhouse ; flowers abundant, coral red, in drooping corymbs from the stem below the leaves. Bhotan and Khasya. Mr. Nuttall. Eucharis amazonica. (Flore d. Serres, t. 1216 — 1217.) A charming evergreen bul- bous stove plant, with broad deep green leaves and large white flowers, the central cup tinged with green. The flowers are upwards of 4 inches in diameter, pendant from the top to an erect scape, and having a slender curved tube ; related to and closely resembling E. grandiflora, of which it is, perhaps, a large flowered variety. Para. N. Linden. Gardenia citriodora. (Bot. Mag., t. THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 31 4987.) A neat stove or warm greenhouse evergreen shrub, remarkably free flowering ; flowers pure white, deliciously scented, numerous, in short clusters from the axils of the leaves. Natal. Chelsea Botanic Gardens. Grevillea alpestris. (Bot. Mag., t. 5007.) A pretty greenhouse evergreen shrub, bear- ing copious showy bright red curved flowers, merging into yellow in the upper half. South Australia. Messrs. Rollisson. Grevillea Drnmmondi. A fine evergreen greenhouse shrub, interesting and distinct- looking, but not showy ; habit erect ; leaves finely divided; flowers in racemes, cream coloured. Swan Eiver. Messrs. Veitch and Son. Hydrangea (japonlcd) aureo-varlegata superba. A fine-looking vigorous green- house shrub, bearing large foliage, with bold straw-coloured variegations, quite distinct from the white variegated kinds. A garden variety. Mr. Salter. Monochietum ensiferum. (Must. Bouq., t. 8.) A charming greenhouse soft-wooded shrub, of remarkably neat bushy habit; foliage small, cheerful ; flowers vivid rose colour, like Chironia, the scarlet claw-like stamens remaining gay after the patals have fallen. Oaxaca, Mexico. Messrs. E. G. Henderson and Son. Statice macrojitera. A handsome green- house perennial, with the habit of S. Halfordi, but with the leaves lobed at the base ; the flower-stems very broadly winged ; flowers violet and white. Probably a gar- den variety between S. Halfordi and S. imbricata. Mr. Glendinning. Veronica decussata Devoniana. (Must. Bouq. t. 3.) A handsome compact grow- ing evergreen greenhouse or half-hardy shrub, the growth resembling a miniature Crassula, the flowers in globose heads, pure white. A garden variety. J. Luscombe, Esq. CULTURE AND TRAINING OF THE RASPBERRY. This useful fruit is but too often very carelessly grown, not by cottagers only, but by gardeners of some pre- tentions. Its luxuriant productive- ness, even when the least care is bestowed upon it. leads to its almost total neglect in some places. It is common enough to see the canes left till spring impruned, and tied up in close bundles to stakes, in which position they get neither light nor air sufficiently, and, for want of short- ening in, the produce is far inferior to what might be had if a little cultural skill were exercised. In planting the raspberry, a damp situation, in which many other things would perish, may be chosen. It likes a deep rich moist loam, and an anuual dressing of half-rotten manure. We have grown the raspberry with much success in trenches, cut one foot below the general level of the ground, and which were speedily rilled with water during heavy sum- mer rains. In autumn, the end of each trench was opened to carry off the surface-water into the regular drainage of the garden, and after the canes came into leaf in spring, they were closed up again to allow of the trenches being filled with liquid ma- nure, and to give them the full benefit of rains. On dry sandy soils, this plan would obviate the difficulties attendant on raspberry culture, be- cause the trenches could be filled to a depth of two feet with a compost of loam, leaf-mould, and rotten dung, or the top spit of a shallow soil could be turned into trenches cut four feet apart. The raspberry may be planted any time from October to March, and as it is one of the few things that may be moved late with safety, we gene- rally defer planting till the end of February, when they do as wrell as if planted in autumn. In making a new plantation, we prefer taking up the old stools and removing the plumpest suckers, rather than merely drawing away suckers from stools still in the ground. If planted three in a group, each group four feet apart, and the rows six feet asunder, there will he plenty of room for a system of open training, and if they enjoy plenty of moisture all the growing season, the fruit will be as fine as the sort grown, and that particular soil are capable of producing. Whatever mode of training be adopted, it should be remembered 32 THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. that the canes which bear fruit this I fruit, and four others were allowed to present season will die in the autumn, rise in the centre. At the end of the and have to be cut away, and while ' they are in bearing condition, others will rise from the stools to take their place next season, hence the bearing canes should be so trained as to allow the suckers to rise without obstruction in the enjoyment of a free circulation of air and plenty of light. If a plantation of raspberries gets crowded, the old canes choke the young ones, and the stocks get more lean and feeble every year, and at last cease to be profitably productive. season, the canes trained out were cut away, and the new canes tied out to take their place for the next season, thus giving the bearing canes free exposure, and keeping the centre of each stool always open. Another method that has been described is to plant in rows six feet apart, and the canes three together, four feet apart in each row, and exactly opposite each other all through the piece. At the end of the first season, the year old canes are pruned away, and the young ones are bent down and made to meet each other so as to form arches Another mode of planting is to put in single canes along a rough espalier fence of hazel rods, or against a wire trellis, the canes two feet apart, so as to allow two or three bearing canes to each, to be trained in at equal distances as they rise. Training on hoops, supported on light stakes, is a good plan in the open ground, but the prettiest raspberry plantation we ever saw, was managed thus : — They were planted in rows three and a half feet apart, and five feet from each other in the rows. Each stool was allowed to send up only four canes, and these were trained out to short stakes, put in at equal distances from the centre of each plant; the canes, when tied out to the stakes, being shortened in to two feet and a half each. During the summer, the canes trained out bore across the six-feet space, and the four feet space remains open for tillage, and the growth of suckers, and may, of course, be used for crops of small things, such as lettuce, cabbage, &c, which will not rob the raspberries if the ground is kept in good heart, and the rows well watered during dry weather. The next season the old canes would be cut away, and the young ones bent over the four-feet space, and shortened so as just to meet for tying together, and through that season the six-feet space would be cropped with vegetables and salads just as the four- feet space was the THE FLORAL WOULD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 33 previous year. Other modes of train- ing in arches have been adopted, but none are equal to this plan of changing the space covered every year. The figures represent six different ways of training, either on walls, trellises, hoops, or in arches, and as they are all simple and unattended with ex- pense, we strongly advise every grower of this much esteemed fruit to aban- don the injurious practice of planting the canes or tying them in bundles as if they were osiers for basket making. Among the best sorts we may name the good old red Antwerp, and the Fastolf as still taking the lead ; Carter's Prolific is an excellent sort for fruit- fulness, but we are not sure that its flavour is equal to the Antwerp. Rivers's double bearing is good for a late crop, and should be cut down to within three or four inches of the ground in spring. Cutbush's Prince of Wales is a raspberry of immense strength. BEATON ON VINE CULTURE. In my review of the late glorious season, I referred to Mr. Beaton's ex- periments in vine pruning, the results of which were made known at the October meeting, at Willis's Rooms, in the exhibition there of the experimen- tal bunches. I will now briefly state the conclusions arrived at by Mr. Beaton, and as communicated to the pages of that best of the weekly horti- cultural journals, the Cottage Gardener; and as the Floral World is not pro- jected for poaching enterprises, but for the communication of original intelli- gence on gardening matters, I shall not trench on Mr. Beaton's outline of gene- ral culture, which is given in his usual hearty and explicit way, but confine myself to the subject of pruning, solely in accordance with my promise. In 1852, Mr. Beaton planted, on an open Avail, at Surbiton, expressly for experimental purposes, a Black Espe- rione vine. It was allowed to bear a few bunches in 1856, and in 1857 was submitted to the experimental pruning. " There were," he says, " three prin- cipal young shoots and some smaller ones. I pruned them all with a view to the experiment ; but, to make my question more simple, I shall only mention one of the strong shoots. I pruned this one down to five good promising buds. One of these buds, but not the top bad, was intended to make a long shoot this season, and the other four buds, each to produce one bunch of grapes, and to bs cut or stopped at different lengths before the bunches. The top bud, which was, and ought to be the strongest, I stopped at the third eye before the bunch ; number 2 was stopped two eyes before the bunch ; number 3 was stopped at ten eyes before the bunch ; and number 4 at fifty-two eyes before the bunch. The question was then submitted to a number of eminent practical horticulturalists, which of the buds ought to carry the heaviest bunch, the best coloured, and the soon- est ripe ? " In answer to this, Mr. Beaton re- ceived numerous replies, and, as show- ing how men of equal experience may differ on a point, which at first sight seems resolvable by theory alone, the replies were of the most varied charac- ter, and "out of seventeen returns in writing, only one hit the mark; and out of five by word of mouth, one, a nurseryman who never forced a vine, decided the right way, and four, the contrary." The uncertainty existing H THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. iu the minds of practical men on this j space, recommend me to number 1, point is, however, easily explained by | trained horizontally," In another the fact of the vast difference which communication, a very practical hand, exists between tbe best mode of treat- \ after describing how an old vine had ing the vine under glass and with j been renovated, by replacing tbe old heat, and that which applies to it when branches with young shoots from be- grown out of doors. In the one case I low, said, "I thinned the bunches close pruning and stimulating manures freely, allowed one bunch only to bring about tbe same result as a com- paratively poor soil, and tbe entire absence of manure, and the adoption of long rods do on open walls, that is, the production of fruit, the ultimate ripening of which is more a matter of temperature than of feeding. English gardeners having a general, but un- justifiable contempt for out-door grapes, are not ready to perceive how different are the circumstances under which they are produced, and as close pruning is found essential in the forcing-house, the same rule is applied to the vine out of doors, and this application is the great error so strikingly evinced in the several ex- pressed opinions. But what was the fact as to the bunches ? Number 4 bunch weighed 1 lb 1 oz. ; this was the bunch on the fifty-two joint shoot ; numbers 1, 2, and 3, stopped at one, two, and three eyes beyond the bunch, weighed 40 oz. between them, or say lo^ oz. each. Mr. Beaton says, "I had five other main shoots of last year's growth in fruit under the experiment, and each of them turned out exactly like this one. The longest shoot of the five was thirty-five eyes long, and the bunch weighed 15 oz. full." Among the communications sent to Mr. Beaton on the subject, the follow- ing has a special interest, as illustra- tive of the management of vines on open walls : — " I have twenty examples, merging from four to thirty buds, stopped be- yond the fruit ; thirty examples, from one to ten buds stopped beyond the fruit, and upwards of forty examples, stopped at three buds beyond the bunch. The kinds are the Sweetwater and the Black Esperione. According to the best of my judgment, the ear- liest by a few days, and the best coloured, are those with thirty eyes shoot, stopped a few at a few eyes, from the bunch, and the rest were not stopped till the end of August. Those shoots which were not cut back, pro- duced the best berries, and the best bunches decidedly." The sequence in- dicates itself. In the open air but few of those conditions are ensured to a vine which it can enjoy in a vinery. In the latter case an equable tempera- ture, entirely under control, so as to meet all its wants, a rich border and moisture both in tbe soil and the air, as may be requisite, are conditions very different to the full exposure to the seasons, and the absence of any special root stimulus — for too rich a soil only loads an out- door vine with more sap than it can elaborate — under which the former has to produce its fruit. In fact, the out-door vine has to feed largely from the air, and to take its own time and season to do so. and a certain amount of leaf surface is essen- tial to the elaboration of the secretions out of which the fruit is made. Here, then, are Mr. Beaton's conclusions; let every grower of out-door grapes give heed to the horticultural magician. " When we grow on the long-rod system, which is the best of all out-of- doors, and is that which I practice, but is not the best under glass, we are safe if we stop the long shoot from the 10th to the 20th of August; but on the spur system out-of-doors, the spur ought to be stopped just when the vine is in and out of bloom, for it is at that moment that rivalry begins be- tween the berries and the extending shoots, and all that I gained by the last thirty-five joints above my largest bunch, was one ounce ; but the vine is much strengthened by the large sur- face of working leaves. " To sum up in a few words, what I recommend is this : — Plant vines in before them, and trained vertically ; j good sandy soil, such as would grow but for size of bunch, or for the quan- good cabbages, not more than twenty tity of fruit to be grown on a given | inches deep ; stop every shoot on the THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 35 15th of August, or not later than the 20th, nor earlier than the 10th till you come to fruit. The fourth year is time enough to crop, but prove your sorts by a bunch or two as soon as they offer. Stop all spurs on the spur sys- tem when the vine is in bloom, and not till then ; but choose the long rod if you can manage it, as being a much better system out of door?, and with the long rod you may stop before the bunches as they do hot-house grapes, at the first, second, third, or fourth joint before the bunch, according to your room, and if you have more room do not stop till the vine is in bloom. Laterals do as much harm as they do good by shading the wall. I never allow a lateral leaf out of doors, but I only take oft' the leaf and the growing point after two joints are made. Late- rals are indispensable in forcing. Prune any day in October — the sooner the better. Tread your vine-border very hard, and rake it over, and keep it raked in summer to save the ground from cracking A coat of gravel would be better." An Old Gardener. HEATING BY GAS. I send you a sketch of an arrangement I have adopted for heating a green- house, and which answers to perfection. Some time ago I gained the hint from a gardening journal, and on putting it into practice, I found it advisable to make one or two alterations of importance. The apparatus consists of an iron boiler, a, through which passes a hot air funnel, g. The boiler is sup- plied by a small is carried along under a shelf against the back wall, and then out of the house at the other end. On this shelf I have this season forced French beans, and struck cuttings, and it answers well. The only precau- tion necessary is to prevent an accumu- lation of air in the boiler or pipes, and every time the gas is lighted, the stop- cock at c should be opened to allow of its escape. The heat should at first be very slight, and may be in- creased as the cir- culation is estab- lished. A com- pulsory and fre- cp^ent absence from home led me to adopt this plan, having had many losses through not keeping my fire in regularly. Now I find that the house may be left any length of time without fear of' frost, and according to the thermometer and the state of the weather, we can increase or decrease the temperature to a nicety by means of the stopcock which regulates the supply of gas. — [A plan similar to the above was engraved in the Gar- dener's Chronicle about a year ago. — Ed. F. W.] pipe from an open cistern in the house, entering the boiler at the bent arrow, The heat is de- rived from a small furnace formed of a circular hoop of iron with a bottom of wire gauze. The furnace is filled with lumps of pu- mice stone, and is supplied with a gas burner placed below the wire gauze, and the gas passes up through the pumice stone and is there lighted. There are two dis- tinct sources of heat, one by the flow pipe, c, which passes round the house and returns to the boiler at d, and the other by means of the hot air pipe, g, which 36 PLAN OF A TOWN GARDEN. BY SHIRLEY HIBBEKD. Imaginary plans for gardens are, gene- rally speaking, a waste of engraving and printing ; they are of little use to readers, and where they may chance to be useful to one, the may lead a dozen others quite astray. The fact is, every garden has its own peculiarities, and must be laid out in accordance with them ; and though an amateur may find some assistance to his invention in referring to plans designed by men of sound views and correct taste, he must not, therefore, abandon himself to them, but consider carefully how far the outlines that look so pretty on paper are applicable to the garden he wishes to improve, taking into account the nature of the soil, the flatness or diversity of its surface, and the several accessories of the surrounding scenery. Now, the designs here subjoined are not imaginary ones, intended to catch the eye, but actual reductions from the working plans of an amateur, who, in consideration of the health of his wife, has lately abandoned a garden in the country, and taken a villa at Stoke Newington, where the air suits her better than the marshy spot in which he, years ago, pitched his tent. Its general configuration is that of the stereotyped London garden — a long, narrow slip ; and as it combines many features of a desirable character, I have determined to represent its original condition, side by side with the altera- tions now being made in it, feeling assured that the plans of one who has had much experience in the produc- tion of gardening effects, will prove acceptable to many readers of the Floral World, especially, as, at this time of the year, alterations and im- provements demand a good deal of attention everywhere, and nowhere more than in the suburbs of large towns, where, for the most part, the gardens more or less resemble this, both in proportions and extent. The situation of this garden is just \inder the shadow of the pretty old church at Stoke Newington, and the look out is free and uninterrupted, right away across the meadows, to Muswell Hill, with the Lordship-road Reservoir, like a silvery mirror, in- tervening ; and the view is the pret- tiest and most open of any I know of so near to town. The plan, No. 1, represents the garden, as it stood when the tenant took possession lately. Its actual con- dition then it is impossible to describe, for from one end to the other it was a perfect ruin. In length it lies south- cast and north-west, but, to simplify the plan, I have marked the four boundaries S. W. N. E. From the front wall, at S, to the rear fence, at N, the measurement is 280 feet. Its width varies from 35 to 38 feet. The superficial extent may be reckoned at about a quarter of an acre, and the plans are on a scale of 88 J feet to the inch, or thereabouts. Looking at plan No. 1, it will be seen that a large space on the north side of the house is laid out in turf, with a winding walk, and fruit trees. The front of the house is on this side, the entrance being at the back, on the south side from the gate, at S. Beginning, then, from this en- trance-gate, we have, as we enter, a picture of a wilderness in little. The walk up to the house, and on through the extent of the garden, is four feet six inches wide. From the entrance gate, as far as a, adjoining the hall door, it is edged with dwarf box, and the same round the lai'ge bed, as far as b, where there is a cistern, which the previous tenant constructed ; — it is of wood, sunk to the level of the ground, and is supplied direct from the main, with a ball-cock to regulate the flow. This cistern strikes the eye as an ob- ject it would be most desirable to get rid of, and as the box-edging is delapi- dated, and the borders, c, d, are glorious examples of confusion, the entree is lamentably dreary. To make it worse, the narrow space under the win- dow, e, is completely blocked up with delapidated lilacs, laurels, and aucubas, 38 THE FLOEAL WOELD AND GAEDEN GUIDE. all of huge size, very wild, very dingy, and nearly dead. The other side, (/, is filled up with a mixture of lilac, elderberry, lime, and evergreens, all mixed together, as if the}' had been originally thrown there, and had taken root as they fell, all in a lump. From a to f is a continuation of the border, with not a leaf to cover it, backed by the high wall of the stable next door. Then, going on to g, the garden sud- denly becomes pretty, even in its ruin, for at this point there are two or three picturesque apple trees, some tree- box, and mixed shrub. The fence, from this point, as far as /;, is covered with ivy, of many years' growth, and on the east side of the path, there are three old orchard trees, i, i, t, the first next the house being a New-town Pippin, the next a SwanVegg Pear, and the next a Golden Knob. Then at k, h, k, k, are four more apple trees, of fine growth. In plan, No. 1, the turf extends as far as the first pair of these trees, A, A, and behind them, next the fence, on each side, are a couple of magnificent aucubas. Now, as there is a good sprinkling of shrub along the borders, and a considerable space of turf, the view from the drawing-room windows, looking north along the ex- tent of the garden, is of a ver}' rustic character. It has fullness, for every- thing is old, and the apple trees are mostly twisted and bent a bit ; and as there is no interruption to the view, and the neighbouring gardens abound with fine, deciduous trees, the scene is as truly " countrified " as one can expect anywhere within a sixpenny ride of the Bank. The good and bad conditions are pretty equally balanced. Good turf, good fruit trees, deep rich loam, and a very pure air, in which roses thrive. On the other hand, a clay sub-soil, the lower prrt, at n, completely water- logged, and the gnarled, Hawthorn- den apple tree, at ??i, going to ruin, through having got its roots into the water, and everything, from one end to the other, showing evidences of many years' neglect. Now, a garden ought to be beauti- ful every day in the year, and in lay- ing out or improving a piece of ground, its appearance, every future winter and spring, must be thought of, and hence you cannot get far without plenty of evergreens and bulbs. Then, to make a blaze from May to October, you want room for bedding plants ; to keep your borders gay, you want a reserve plot, and a space for a few frames, and a cold pit ; and to complete the com- missariat, and ensure stock, a green- house must be added. After this, you can enlarge your plans as you please ; a stove, an orchard-house, a forcing- pit, a conservatory, and other such things, are very delightful, if you have room for them, and if your heart is in your work, you will .manage to have them, even if they are piled one on the other, or economically blended into one. But here we are dealing with a little garden on the skirts of the town, and for one of the dimensions here figured, we want to stock the ground with as much as it will hold ; Ave want variety, and, as far as possible, we must preserve consistency and harmony of arrangement. Now, the object sought in re- arranging this garden, was to make the most of all its good points, and to introduce a few pleasing features, at the least possible sacrifice of the fruit trees and other established character- istics of the ground. Everything about the ground is old and picturesque, therefore, high style is here out of the question, and the only place for any- thing of an artistic character is the little fore-court, measuring some five- and- thirty feet square; and as the house on this S. side is stuccoed, and the steps down from the hall as im- posing as it is possible for them to be in a small villa, it was determined here to make a pretty arrangement of shrubs, masonry, and flowers. For the present we will deal only with the gar- den proper, and, referring to the plans, let me say, that No. 1 shows its origi- nal condition, No. 2 its altered state, and No. 3 is a key to both. The first thing done, was to trench up the piece n, which had been used as kitchen gar- den, and had never had a spade in it more than eight inches deep. A trench was then cut along it, next the path, right way to the ditch, o, and a row THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 39 of two-inch pipes laid down, to drain it into the ditch, which was widened and deepened to improve the fall. An open water-course was then cut along the fence, from /, to the ditch, o, and the piece, n, was planted with three rows of hush fruits ; raspberries next the trench, /, then a row of black currants, and in front of these, nearest the walk, a row of gooseberries. A May Duke and an Elton cherry were added in a line with the two apple trees; they were planted on hard plat- forms, and the holes filled in with loain and turf. The other side of the walk, where there is a pair of apple trees, was already stocked with old red currants, very much grown together. These were merely thinned and pruned, but next year they will be grubbed up, and the piece replanted. The next thing was to lay out a piece for roses, which thrive everywhere about Stoke New- ington ; the turf was removed from the two sides of the bed, marked 2?, the house, the trees were found to be fit only for fire-wood, and, excepting one nice Blenheim, down they came, for the admission of sunlight from the south-west side. The turf will not be disturbed further, except for half-a- dozen pincushion beds for standard roses and bedding plants, and the three fanciful beds on plan 1, will be turfed over and extinguished, for though these do not look amiss on paper, they have a most ungainly and cockney sort of appearance at present, and so their days are numbered. In spring, the border, a, f, g, will be planted with the best evergreens, in groups, and with a selection of showy, herbaceous peren- nials. Now, from the front windows, look- ing north, the view consists of a low, ivied fence to the left, above which tower some fine acacias, elms, and maples in the adjoining gardens, so that until you have really examined the details, the garden that way seems of boundless extent, for the eye readily the ground trenched and manured, the I scales the green fence, and rests on the central bed enlarged, and a couple of Chinas, with immense heads, that stood originally at q q, and which had long been out of the perpendicular, were taken up, pruned head and foot, and cleared of suckers, and planted at s s, and their places sup- plied with a pair of standard Duchess of Sutherland's. Some climbing roses were then planted on each border, at t ; and in the spring these will be trained over an arch, across the path. The central bed is planted with dwarf hybrid perpetuals, with a standard white rose in the centre. The border round each way, from s to q, is also planted with roses in three rows, as to heights, with standards and tall growing dwarfs towards the fence, where spaces are left for some holly- hocks to tower up above them on each side. At p p, a pair of pillar roses completes this part of the plan. From the windows and along the path, the view will in future be very gay, and with the large evergreens at I I, the arch at t, and the pair of standard Chinas at s s, will be pretty well shut in, as a scene distinct in itself. On the west side, between the rosary and intermixture of branches beyond it. Then, in front, there is a winding path, quite of a piece with the turf and the old trees ; and looking forward, there is just enough of picturesque confu- sion, and yet a clear view for at least two-thirds of the entire length — in fact, as far as the bee-house, u. In that direc- tion, the garden blends itself with the meadows beyond, the rear fence be- ing old privet, and not a stick of wood- work or paling visible. On the right hand, E, the boundary, is another hedge of mixed privet, elm, lime, etc., with a fine fir tree breaking the straight line at z, so that though closely bounded, the boundaries are green and every way the picture is agree- able. Now, the way to spoil this garden would be, to adopt precise forms, and introduce a few bits of very white statuary. Everything about it is rus- tic, and the bee-house, at u, is of rustic wood-work, with a thatched roof, so that rustic baskets will come in very fitly to stand about on the turf. To make the border, v, next the house, as gay as possible, without verbenas and geraniums, the old aucubas, that 40 THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. blocked up the windows, have been moved, and the border planted with roses, rhododendrons, and fuchsias, and herbaceous perennials, such as delphiniums, phloxes, aquilegias, etc. The large bed, .t, which measures fourteen feet across, will remain as it is for the present, and in May it will be planted with fuchsias. My own opinion of it is, that it is too large ever to look proportionate; but we shall see. At g, there -will be a rockery, with abronias and showy trailers ; at y, another, with ferns and alpines ; at a, under the shadow of a fine lime tree, which stands like a sentry beside the doorway, there will be another, not visible from the gate entrance, and, therefore, between g and a, the wall, at present bare, is to be covered with ivy, Virginian creeper, and Stauntonia latifolia, the latter in- tended to run to the top in no time. The border will be planted with deci- duous trees and evergreens ; the trees at /, to be cut down and grubbed up, and their places supplied with birch, holly, and rhododendrons, with the choicest perennials in front. Across the path, at the corner, /, it is intended to carry a wire arch, to be covered with Aristolocliia si'pho, one of the most lovely of deciduous climbers. The wide border, d, will be wholly replanted before this month is out, the back ground with deci- duous trees, to hide the wall and all beyond it; and the front, next the path, with a selection of showy ever- greens, with a breadth of two feet, for specimen geraniums and fuchsias. The space, c, now green and sour, and sprinkled with half perished roses and snowberries, will be left till April, then all the rubbish that blocks up the window, and the dark corner over the cistern, will be rooted up and burnt, the soil removed, and concrete laid down to form a large space of gravel for a jardinet, and a set of flower boxes. The box-edging will be moved to edge the path from the rosary to the ditch, and its place supplied along the whole line, bounding rf, and the new line, bounding b, with edging tiles. The border, b, is for the choicest floweriDg 6hrubs, or for very fine specimen geraniums, though there is room but for a few. The wall here is well ivied, and the gate guarded by a pair of horse chestnuts. This forecourt is, however, so distinct a thing in itself, that I shall wait till it is planted, and then describe it with the help of a figure. I believe it will prove a model worthy of attention by every possessor of a town plot ; but we had better wait a bit and see. A few other points require mention, and we may leave our friend to pursue his agreeable task. At the corner, between the drawing-room and the hall, there is a space of gravel and bare walls ; here a greenhouse is to be erected, and as the space measures only 7 feet by 7, the house will be carried forward two or three feet more towards the grass- plot. At the lower end the ditch, o, and the water-courseshave been put into regular order, and a cistern constructed at the bend of the path near the bottom, to receive the drainage from the underground pipes. This is to save the trouble of carrying water from the cistern in the forecourt for wateringthe roses in summertime. Erom the cistern to the trench at m, a narrow path is formed of coal-ashes on a bottom of rubbish, and here a three-light pit will be built to face the north, with another narrow path of ashes in front, and then a row of American Cranberries in a trench parallel with the ditch, to turn to good account the wettest part of the garden. The situation of the pit is not a happy one, on account of the exces- sive dampness of the spot, but my friend says he'll have it as dry as a bone before next winter ; and the chief of the water will be carried down to the extreme N.E. corner. On both sides of the garden, at this lower part, there is a space of bare fence. On the east side a narrow border will be formed on a raised platform of lime rubbish, and a rustic shed, built partly for ornament, and partly as a pot- ting and tool house. On the other side at ?i, the fence is to be covered with morello cherries, and in the bor- der in front of them a good place will be found for herbaceous plants that love shade, and between it and the narrow path, a bed of ashes for THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 41 plunging plants in pots. Many would | would be a good way of turning the rail off the whole of this lower piece, water to account, for there are no and build a duckhouse at n, and that I means of getting rid of it entirely. TYSO ON THE RANUNCULUS. It is impossible ever to think of either the Eanunculus or the Anemone, with- out, at the same time, connecting them with Mr. Tyso of Wallingford, Berks, who has long been the leading grower of these lovely flowers, and to whom Ave are indebted for many of the splen- did seedlings which of late years have brought these flowers to such a high perfection. Many years ago, Mr. Tyso published a little pamphlet on the cul- tivation of his favourite flower, and this having been long out of print, is now reproduced by him with such additions and improvements as his ripe experience suggested. It is published by the author, and may be had direct from him for seven postage stamps.* For the benefit of such of our readers as ma}7 be about to plant this month, we subjoin the following instructions, premising that the soil for the Ranun- culus should be a rich hazelly loam. PREPARATION OF THE BEDS. Having chosen an open, but not exposed, part of the garden, -which will admit of the beds being laid down about east and west, remove the earth fifteen inches deep, and from three feet to three feet four inches wide, and fill the bed with the prepared compost, to within two inches of the surface ; leave it thus for a month, and then add the reserved top soil. These operations are best done in autumn, that time may be allowed for the earth to settle. Another method, where the sub-soil is light and very porous, may be adopted. Excavate the bed fifteen inches deep, lay in the bottom three inches of min- gled manure and loam, and then saturate it with manure water. Cow-dung, well-stirred in water, will answer the purpose. Next add three inches more of compost, and satu- rate that layer ; proceed to add two more similar layers, making a foot deep in the whole, and, after a week's settling, add three inches of good healthy pulverized loam, with but little manure, in which to plant the tubers. The surface of the beds should be level, and not more than an inch higher than the paths, in order that the root3 may be kept regularly cool and moist ; and, as the ranun- culus thrives on a firm bottom, the compost should not be disturbed at the time of plant- ing, more than is just needful for that opera- tion. During winter the surface may be pointed up rough, to take the benefit of frosts, but in no case should this be done more than two inches deep. The beds may be neatly edged with inch boards painted lead colour, and in case named sorts are planted, should be numbered with white paint to correspond with the numbers en- tered in the Amateur's list. As a bed well constructed at the commencement will admit of several successive plantings, with an an- nual addition of fertilizing materials, it is worthy of the particular care of the culti- vator, though the preparation at first may involve some little trouble and expense. PLANTING. The best season for general planting is the last fortnight in February — the plants have not then to contend with the severities of the winter. In some favourable seasons roots may be planted with advantage in October; they will have more time to vegetate, and establish themselves; will make stronger plants, and will bloom more vigorously, and about a fortnight earlier than if planted in spring. Considerable hazard, however, at- tends autumn planting, and it is not recom- mended, except by way of experiment, to those who possess a large stock, and can afford to risk a portion. In fine weather, towards the close of February, rake your beds perfectly level, and divide them into six longitudinal rows for mixed roots, allowing four inches from the outside row to the edge ; or for named sorts, mark your rows transversely at dis- tances of five inches asunder, and plant six roots in a transverse row. Draw drills with a small hoe one inch and a half deep, and plant the roots with the claws downwards, with pressure to secure firmly in the soil, so as to be one inch and a half from the crowns to the surface. When planting on a small scale, a dibble with a shoulder at the precise depth may be used ; but in large quantities it is an incon- venient method, and planting at the bottom " The Banunculus : how to grow it, Ac." By Carey Tyso, Florist, &c, Wallingford, Berks. 42 THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. of a drill with moderate pressure, and with- out disturbing the subsoil, is attended with similar advantage to the use of a dibble, and in practice will be found to have some points of preference. If the top soil is light after planting, it may be gently beaten with the back of the spade; this operation, how- ever, must be only done in dry weather, and may be repeated just before the plants come up. >c«xxx>*cooc>oooo< PROFITABLE GARDENING. CHAPTER II. EDGINGS AND PERMANENT PLANTING. Now the garden will be in skeleton. The next thing is to determine on the edging, for without some kind of edging a kitchen garden has an untidy look, and I hold it incumbent on the diligent gardener to preserve neatness and order, as one of the elements of success. The eye is not to be annoyed because the garden is devoted to mere eatables. Strawberries are often recommended as a fit edging for a kitchen garden. Many would like a border of flowers and box edgings, and a very pretty arrange- ment this is. Daisies, hepaticas, parsley, and even lettuces are used as edgings, just to mark the line occasionally; but to give a neat finish, and preserve a clean line on each side of the walk, there is nothing like stone or tile. In some districts the mere carting and putting down, is the whole expense that attends the use of stone, but in the neigebourhood of London every kind of stone-work is expensive, but a tile that will last for ever, and look as well as stone, may be had at one-third less the price of dwarf-box, and that is the one invented by Mr. Hogg, and sold under patent by Mr. Blackett, of Witham, Essex. I have put down a quantity of these lately, and, from their clean appearance, durability, and the firm support they give the walk, even when the spade comes near them, I should like to see them very exten- sively used. They cost 4^d. a yard ouly, and serve to drain the path and border, as well as forming a strong edging that will last for ever. Any amateur, or unskilled labourer can lay them down, and that is an additional item in their favour. I lately put down two hundred before dinner, on a broiling hot day, and in a curved path, where the gravel had been rolled as hard as flint, so if a thousand or two are wanted, no one need fear the task of placing them.* The annexed cut shows, a mode of using bricks as an edging ; it is cheap and eifective. In the planting of such a garden as we are considering, the stock will naturally assort itself into two great divisions ; namely, those that are to occupy the ground permanently, and those that shift and change, appearand disappear, according to the seasons. Among the first, fruits have the first importance, and unless there is a good open space, in which justice may be done to all things, it is better not to grow fruits at all. But to have a little of everything should be the motto ; and a very good plan of growing fruits in such a garden, is, to have plenty of bush fruits, and espalier apples, pears, plums, and cherries, borderiug the in- ner plot, next the walk all round. The walls offer sites for fruits of higher class — peach, apricot, grape, and cherry —and by having none but trained trees, except, perhaps, an occasional standard, in a good spot, to diversify the scene, very heavy crops may be taken, with- out shading the ground at all ; indeed, such shade as espaliers produce, will be found very useful for many crops that need shelter from the full blaze of the sun in summer. Have a lot of * The manufacture of these tiles has been discontinued. Any plasterer would mould au edging of Portland cement to any pattern. Messrs. Bazley, White and Co., of Mill- bank, exhibited a neatly-moulded tile at Chiswiek, last June, the object being to show the applicability of Portland cement for such a purpose. The tile exhibited was, we believe, moulded by Mr. G. Spurway, Tufton, Westminster, who would supply them in quantity, at 6d. per foot run. — Ei>. THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 43 huge orchard trees, and at once give up all idea of crops beneath them. The digging and dressing of the ground will ruin the trees, and the trees will u draw " everything beneath them; but set out your espaliers, and every tree is reduced to a flat surface, easily managed, creating little shadow, and occupying the smallest possible amount of room. These trees ought to be two feet from the edging, and twenty feet apart, and between every two trees there will be room for three gooseberry, cur- rant, or raspberry bushes, but these ought to be set back one foot farther from the walk, on account of their spreading nature. But unless the cir- cumstances are very favourable, it is better to have bush fruits only, for they thrive on any soil, are easily managed, and are the most serviceable of any for family purposes. Where there is a central or divisional walk in a kitchen garden, espalier trees and bush fruits may be planted on each side. Apple and pear are always the best for such a mode of culture, because they can be trained in any way, but stone fruits are difficult to manage so, on ac- count of the abundance of young wood they produce if the knife is used to them at all freely. A central walk arched over with rough open timber lattice, and a row of apple or pear trees planted on each side, and trained over, is a very pretty ornament to a profitable garden, and one that pays well in its produce, because the fruit is well exposed, easily managed, and it wants but little skill to build " the bower " in the first instance. It should be high enough for a tall man to pass along with his hat on, and some good eating apples should be found in some part of it for the enjoyment of visitors. The other kinds of permanent stock are such things as strawberries, rhu- barb, seakale, asparagus, &c. ; all these Miould be in one quarter, properly divided from each other, and should have a good aspect ; indeed, asparagus ought to have the best bit of ground you have, for it is a most valuable thing, and if not wanted for your own table, will, if well grown, find a ready market at a paying price. I have already remarked that I am quite mindful of the various circumstances under which gardening ma}' be pursued by the readers of this work ; — climate, soil, situation, the shape, extent, and otherwise of the ground, may render it impossible to adopt the scheme I propose in every case, for every gar- den must be considered on its own merits ; still, in every alteration, it is well to know what is the best end to aim at, what is the most advantageous way of gaining space, and making the best of ever}' square inch of surface ; and, as most people find their gardens ready made for them in some measure, it is only to a certain extent that they can avail themselves of the suggestions here offered. But there are few places but are capable of improvement, and I have laid down a plan which may be safely followed under the greatest variety of circumstances, either in im- proving an old garden, or laying out a new one. In an allotment plot, a regular plan is quite out of the ques- tion, but a systematic mode of crop- ping is very necessary, and to that we shall come presently. But we will not pass from this men- tion of old gardens, without just a word or two. The best time to " move," as regards gardening, is at Michaelmas, because then you have the whole season before you for every kind of tree and shrub planting, and for alter- ations of all kinds. At this time, too, you can look over the ground, and ascertain exactly what it contains, for herbaceous things will not have quite died down, and most of the trees being in foliage — some, indeed, in fruit — will indicate their respective characters and values. Determine, as soon as you can, how much of the stock deserves to be preserved, and how much is to be destroyed, but be not in haste to annihilate anything. If the bushes are old and straggling, take up the worst and trim them to one good stem, and replant in order ; prune soon after the fall of the leaf, whatever may require it, and set in clean order any patches of strawberry, seakale, asparagus, rhubarb, &c, that may prove useful the next season, and as soon as the pro- per time arrives, secure new stock of such things as seem to be worn out ; 44 THE FLORAL WOULD AND GARDEN GUIDE. take good cutting9 from the bush fruits, set out new rows of asparagus and seakale, and do not get rid of any ex- cept the evidently worthless stuff, until you have new to take its place. Re- member the laundresses' motto, about " throwing away dirty water." The next thing to look to, is the drainage and walks, and the winter storms will soon enable you to judge if the ground needs help to get rid of superfluous water. Where the soil remains damp, and sour, and soddened after rain, no good can be effected in any kind of gardening. Then, as to the walks, see that they are conveniently disposed, and if you mean to alter them, do it at once ; put down a good rough bottom, and wait till spring before you give them a final coat of gravel, for there will be much heavy wheeling, and this will settle the new foundation ; but if they are gravelled at once, the barrow will cut them to pieces speedily. But the working soil should be the subject of chief attention. Ten to one, it has never been dug more than one spit deep ; the top may have been well ma- nured or cropped to death, but it is almost certain that as to digging, it has merely been played with. Here, then, is a field for your energies; use the pick, the fork, the spade in earnest; ridge up every bit of it that is not occupied ; be careful not to go too near the roots of trees, but make up your mind that daylight and fresh air shall make acquaintance with that hard, impervious stuff that lies just ten or twelve inches below the surface. It seems almost idle to say anything as to the proportions of ground to be allotted to various kinds of crops, be- cause the wants of families and the tastes of individuals differ so much. As a general rule, however, where there is ample space for growing every thing, one half will not be too much to assign to permanent standing crops of all kinds. Say one-sixth for fruits generally, another sixth for raspberries, and another for strawberries ; another sixth for seakale, rhubarb, artichokes, and asparagus, — the latter deserving quite a twelfth of the whole ground, on account of its high value, whether for home consumption or market. The other half is for routine cropping, as potatoes, cabbage, turnips, and the various other things that come in re- gular rotation, the culture of which will be described in future chapters. FEBRUARY WORK IN THE GARDEN AND GREENHOUSE. We have had some beneficial frosts, and those who "took time by the fore- lock," and got their shrubs planted before Christmas, have the advantage of the two months' rooting they have made since ; for newly- planted trees and shrubs work vigorously under- ground, however hard it may be freez- ing on the surface, and, if well mulched, produce immense masses of fibres be- fore spring. There is still time, how- ever, in the intervals between frosts and rains, to complete planting, and alterations. Finish fruits and roses before you move a single evergreen; and, in filling in the holes, take care not to throw in any frozen soil or snow, which would do great injury to the roots, and, for a long time, keep the trees back. Indeed, if the soil used contains a little fibrous matter, not quite decayed, the stirring will cause a slight fermentation, the warmth of which will promote a vigorous root- action. Plant firmly. Put stakes to such things as are likely to be shaken by March winds, and, in all cases, plant not quite so deep as before — certainly, not an inch deeper. Go over orchard trees, prune where neces- sary, and scrub, with a brush dipped in strong brine, any that were effected with American blight last year. During open weather, edgings of all sorts may now be made, both live and dead ; new beds maybe prepared, and the borders forked, to sweeten the soil, before new perennials are planted. During frosty weather, wheel out manure on kitchen plots and allotments, char rubbish, get in clinkers, or flints, for rockwork, and complete any other jobs that necessi- tate wheeling, as the barrow does less harm when the ground is frozen. THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 45 Look over the stock of seeds, and de- termine what will be required for this season's sowing, and, in good time, fix upon the style and method of bedding- out you will pursue, so as to raise stock for the purpose, for the season of propagating is now at hand, and, for the next two or three months, the chief work of the whole ensuing season will have to be got through. Kitchen Garden. — Sow the main crops of peas and beans at the first favourable opportunity ; a few of the earliest sorts, on well-drained slopes, facing the south, to come on quick ; or, if a small successional supply is required, get in a few rows of the earliest sorts of each, and sow again as soon as the first come up, and so on, to the end of March. Sow spinach be- tween the rows of peas. A little of everything in the edible way may be got in now in good positions — small sowings of Cabbage, Brussels Sprouts, Carrots, Turnips, Parsley, Radishes, and Lettuce, but the main sowings of most things should be deferred. Get one pan of celery forward in heat, and some lettuces for planting out. Where ground in good heart was ridged up over win- ter for potatoes, the whole may be planted now. Trench them in, in preference to using the dibber ; but if the weather should be wet, or the ground frozen, get in a few early sorts only, and also some early kidneys in frames, for the first supply. Prepare, by trenching and manuring, the plots intended for seakale and asparagus next month. Turn out potted cauli- flower-plants on well-manured stations, four plants under each hand-light, choosing a very sheltered position. Edgings and plantations of strawberries may now be made, and old beds must be dressed. Prune and tie raspberries, leaving but three or four shortened canes to each stool. Heap half-rotten dung over the old stools of rhubarb, to promote early production. Flower Garden. — The old direc- tions for sowing hardy annuals and pe- rennials in February, do not altogether suit our seasons of late, and it is seldom advisable to sow any before March, ex- cept in frames and hot-beds; but, with artificial heat, sowings of most things may now be made, both for blooming in pots in the greenhouse and conservatory, and for turning out into beds and borders. Do not forget Phlox Drummondii, Delphinium for- mosum, cinerarias, Chinese primroses, stocks, asters, auriculas, and balsams, for all of which a moderate heat is sufficient. Most perennials, and even Chrysanthemums and Dahlias, sown now, and hardened off as soon as pricked out, will flower the present sea- son. Top-dress auriculas, polyanthuses, and pinks, if not done last month, and make up dung-beds for propagating, as the demand for bedding stock is frequently greater than the room de- voted to wintering them can supply. Soft-wooded and free-growing plants maybe multiplied rapidly with the help of a frame. Fill up to within twelve inches of the glass with dung that has been previously turned, to remove its rankness, and upon it spread four inches of dry sandy soil, and put in the cuttings as fast as the plants supply them. Greenhouse. — The stock here will now be starting into spring growth, and though air must be given as much as possible, cold draughts and frbsts must be guarded against, as, during this month, most greenhouse plants are more susceptible of cold than at any other period of the year. Shift such things as require it; see to the drainage of plants well established; give water pretty freely to such as are making free growth ; azaleas and camellias must have plenty. Camellias done blooming should be put into a temperature averaging 65 degrees, with a moist atmosphere, and partial shade, by means of tiffany, or canvas, over the glass, to promote the growth of new wood. Epacrises, correas, les- chenaultias, polygalas, &c, should have a little extra warmth, and be brought into free growth for flowering; the latter like a little old mortar mixed with the peat in potting them. Houses devoted to collections of plants should now be carefully looked over, as some things may be doing badly, owing to too low a temperature, while others may require it to be reduced. A free increase of fire-heat for a few hours at 4f> THE FLOEAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. mid-day, sinking to the old point at night, is sometimes advisable, to keep mixed collections healthy ; and in the arrangement of the stock, orchids and New Holland plants, and exotic bulbs, should be placed at the warmest end ; pelargoniums, calceolarias, and cine- rarias, intermediate ; and ericas at the coolest, with a free circulation of air. Put Deutzla scabia, Weigelea rosea, and Forsythia viridissima, into mode- rate heat to bloom well, and they will make a beautiful display for some time to come. Look out sharp for green fly and red spider, and fumigate with sulphur and tobacco, as may be necessary. Average tempera- ture this month : — 45 degs. at night ; 50 to 55 degs- by day, with a rise of 5 degs. more with sun-heat. Stove. — Pines should be kept at a moderate bottom-heat, or many may fruit prematurely ; from 85 to 90 degs. will be quite sufficient; anything be- yond 90 is a positive injury to them. In houses where vines are in leaf, air must be given at every opportunity, but with great caution. Beware of un- due heat at night ; it is better to let the temperature sink a few degrees on sharp nights, than to drive the vines on in an unhealthy air, which is a fre- quent cause of failure in setting and ripening. Keep evaporating pans at work Avhere syringing would be inad- visable, to keep down spider. In the Forcing Pit keep the ther- mometer at 80 degs. for bottom-heat, and on sunny days increase the atmo- spheric heat to the same point for an hour or two, to give an opportunity for syringing. GIDNEY'S GARDEN TOOLS. The many improvements effected of late years in the implements used in gardening and agricutlure, mark, very definitely, the nature of the progress made ; for, while there is a tendency to the diminishing of labour, by the introduction of machinery and tools •which give full effect to the power employed, there is also a more perfect end attained by them, as witness the deep digging, which has resulted from the use of digging-forks. Mowing machines are fast abolishing the slow ■work of the scythe ; while, for those who still depend upon it, we have the self-adjusting scythes of Boyd and Anthony, which may readily be set to any angle, while the poor man's scythe proves itself a welcome friend to the cottager, and the amateur of the most humble means. For the general routine of gardening woi-k, the im- proved tools manufactured by Messrs. Gidney, of East Dereham, Norfolk, commend themselves to the entire gardening world, for their simplicity and efficiency. They are not mere devia- tions from old-fashioned models, but real helps to the diligent hand, con- structed with an intelligent view to the nature of the work to be per- formed by them. Gidney's Improved Prussian Hoes not only cut and destroy the weeds, but leave the ground per- fectly level, without the use of the rake. In the Horizontal Hoe, the blade is set at the same angle, and cuts up the weeds, without destroying the evenness of the ground. The Norfolk Hoe is fastened to the handle by a strong ferrule, so made that it is impossible for it to become loose. The Improved Garden Bakes are peculiarly adapted for ladies' use, being lighter, and j'et stronger, than the common rake. Gidneys Self- Acting Fmntyatur THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 17 entirely obviates the unpleasantness of contact with the smoke, as it merely requires lighting, and it performs the operation, delivering the smoke in a dense body, without further attention ; a result which no other fumigator at- tains, without constant blowing. These implements are sold at the prices ordinarily charged for the old- fashioned ones in common use, and may be had direct from the makers ; or of Messrs. Burgess and Key ; or Messrs. Dray and Co., London. STRAWBERRY PLANTS AS EDGINGS. Hautbois, and particularly the Red and White Alpines, are very suitable for edgings to alleys, and even to the principal walks in the fruit and kitchen gardens. They combine beauty and utility in no ordinary degree. Such edgings need no more attention than those of box, and they certainly make a better return. I have also used the stronger growing kinds with advantage. They may be planted from four to eight inches apart, and well manured. An objection may be urged, on the ground that such edgings do not keep the soil from the walks ; but the bor- ders need^not be higher than the walks ; and box, and other edgings, are liable to the same objections. I have tried them for many situations, and am satisfied of their efficiency, profit, and general adaptation. In autumn, I have made use of Alpine strawberries in fruit, to aid in giving character to the flower-glasses, vases, &c, when flowers were scanty. Groups of artificial fruits, as well as flowers, are not void of charms, when appropriately situated, and arranged. — McEioen on Straw- berry Culture. TO CORRESPONDENTS. To Dkv Flowers. — N. K. — The easiest to begin with, are yellow flowers, as ttiey retain the co- lour best. Spread them as Hat as possible, and without altering their natural tonus, on clean dry blotting-paper. Cover them with three or four thicknesses of the same, and apply a very slight weight to flatten them gradually without rupture of the vessels. After five or six hours, take other sheets of now blotting-paper and warm them at the (ire, and while they are warm chanse the flowers into them ; apply more pres- sure than before. Let them remain till the next day, and change again in the same way, and you ■will have them perfectly dried and the colours beautifully preserved. Blue are more difficult. Proceed in the same way, and at the first change cover the blotting-paper with two thichnesses of flannel, and apply a moderately hot iron to hasten the drying process. We have dried all sorts of flowers with a tenth part of the trouble, by merely placing them between blotting-paper in a book, and piling a few other books on it, but only those of thin texture and that do notjjbound in sap, can be treated in so slight a way. In all cases, dry quick ; never crush the stems or cause the juices to exude, and avoid laying one leaf on another, which causes discoloration. Detailed instructions, including directions for drying fungi, without destroying their shape, may be found in "Brambles and Bay Leaves," published ,by Longmans. Stkiking Ivv.— R. G. — Ivy should not be struck where it is to remain. It is better to strike it in very sandy loam, and transplant when well rooted. It will strike all the summer, but most readily in spring. Leave your ivy alone for a month or six weeks at least for the present. Phloxes. — R. Burnley.— Tike Abbe Boy, Amatis- sima, Annie Salter, Countess of Home, Einilio Mehl, May Queen, Mdlle. Ermine Lauible, Muta, Princess de Wagram, Socrates, Virgo, and Louis BJcarde, and you will have a splendid dozen, none of them too tall for your purpose. Canci- dissima nova and umbellata arc. beauties for bedding, very early and dwarf. We do not re- commend dealers. Annuals.— Bob.— In our opinion nothing is gained by sowing annuals out of doors in February. Wait another month, and wo will gis'e you some hints. You may sow now in a Waltonian Case, or dung pit, any annuals intended for bedding out. We have not yet seen a bed of Veronica syriaca, which was let out by Hendersons, last year. Wc should not hesitate to try it in the position you mention. Eugenia Ugni. — A. L. P. — This is a myrtle, and must be treated as such. Good rich loam suits it, plenty of pot room, and exposure to sun and rain, from April to October. When grown under glass, it blossoms in Spring, and ripens its fruit early in Autnmu. The chief difficulty is to get the fruit of a good colour — those exhibited at Willis's Booms last October, were generally poor as to colour. The flavour is delicious. All the myrtles produce edible fruits. Pomegranates in Pots. — Buxin. — You give too much water, and get too much young wood. Bring your plants into growth in April ; in May, turn them out on a south border, water regularly till August, and then let the sun burn them as long as it has power to do so, giving only just enough water to keep them alive, and you will not complain of [shyness in bloomiug the next season. 48 THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE Evergreens for a Balcont. — Henry.— Six hardy and good Laurus nobilis, Viburnum , tin us, Cotoneaster mycrophylla, Buxus sempervirens, Andromeda floribunda, Gaultheria shallon; to these may be added Rhododendrons, Azaleas, and Kalmias in pairs. Daphne odora and cneorum, Ceanothus azureus, and Desfontania spinosa, are lovely dwarf evergreens, that need a little protection in winter, though, in the climate of London, we have had them winter out of doors safely along with old myrtles. P. F.— Leyland.— Can't do it at the price. — H. G. — Bristol. — Yes, write, direct to Messrs. Groom- bridge. — Gas Heating.— F. J. L. — Thanks. Our readers shall profit by your kind communication. — Setting Vines. —Amateur. — Your queries are so vague, we find it impossible to answer them. What heat can you command ? How were the vines treated last year, and when do you break them ? We cannot give particular answers to general queries, though willing to oblige when- ever we know, definitely, what is required of us. Waltohian Case. — This is a small frame heated with an oil lamp and [boiler, and of dimensions to suit any ordinary room or green- house. It serves all the purposes of a hot-bed for raising seeds, or striking cuttings, and is the best contrivance for propagating an amateur can use. It was figured and described in "Rustic Adornments." We believe Mr. Hib- berd's figures are the only accurate ones that have been published of the invention as it is now used. You may raise in such a case whatever seeds or cuttings require a heat of from 60 to'90 degs. ; the only precaution necessary is to keep the sand always damp. Of course plants cannot be grown on in such a contrivance, which is merely a pro- pagating pit on a small scale, heated by a lamp, instead of pipes or dung. Variegated Plants.— S. S. G. — We understand that Mr. Lowe intends shortly to bring out a work on the subject, with coloured figures. It will be published by subscription, at a low figure. METEOROLOGICAL CALENDAR FOR FEBRUARY. 28 DATS. WEATHER NEAR LONDON, FEB. 1857. 28 WEATHER NEAR LONDON, FEB. 1857. BAROMETER. THERMOM. WIND. RAIN. DATS. BAROMETER. THERMOM. WIND. RAIN. MAX. MIN. MX. MN. MN. 1 MAX. MIN. MX. MN. MN. M. 1 29.906—29.853 35 14 24.5 aw .00 ' M. 15 30.112—30.066 48 26 37.0 E .00 Tu f. 29.601—29.512 38 24 31.0 sw .00' Tu. 16 30.073-30.049 55 26 40.5 S .00 W. 3 29.964—29.611 I 35 24 29.5 sw .00 1 w. 17 29.992—29.966 56 34 45 0 s .01 Th 4 30.245—30.106 34 13 23.5 E .00 ! Th. IS 29.999—29.964 55 33 34.0 sw .00 F. 5 30.146—29.934 42 36 39.0 SW .14 1 F. 19 30.145-30.093 48 30 39.0 sw .01 8. fi 29.875—29.836 49 33 41.0 SW .01 S. 20 30.180—30.129 52 30 41.0 sw .01 S 7 29.783—29696 45 32 38.5 sw .00 s. 21 30.278-30.227 55 33 43.0 sw .00 M. 8 29.651—29.637 38 36 37.0 sw .02 M. 22 30.255-30.230 55 25 40.0 SW .00 Tu 9 29.591—29.475 46 35 40.5 s .06 Tu 23 30.264-30.230 52 24 38.0 sw •03 W. Ill 29.753-29.643 51 83 42.0 sw .01 W. 24 30.154-30.039 53 22 37.5 sw .00 Th 11 30.009-29.821 52 27 39.5 sw .03 Th 25 30.280-30.128 42 22 32.0 sw .03 F. 12 30.348—30.262 50 23 36.5 w .00 F. 26 30.461—30.451 51 23 37.0 sw •00 S. 13 30.291—30.262 46 25 35.5 \v .00 S. 27 30.453-30.392 53 29 41.0 sw .00 s. 14 30.249—30.187 47 22 34.5 w .01 S. 28 30.498-30.465 59 28 43.5 sw .00 AVERAGES FOR THE ENSUING MONTH. The observations of sixteen years, show the following averages for the month of February : — Max, temperature, 44° ; ruin., 33° ; mean, 384° ; so that, as deduced from these observations, the month of February is J° far warmer lhan January. During the same period, the average fa'l of rain has been, 1.5 inches. The highest reading of the Thermometer in the month of February during thirty-one years past, occurred on the 10th, 1831, 65Q; and the lowest on the 17th in 1855—2°. A partial eclipso of the Moon will occur on the 27th, at 47m. past 7, evening, visible throughout Great Britain. PHASES OF THE MOON FOR FEBRUARY, 1858. (C Last Quarter, 5th, 9h. 16m. p.m. • New Moon, 13th, lOh. 12m. p.m. J First Quarter, 20th, 12h. 58m. a.m. O Full Moon, 27th, 10h.5m. p.m. Hybrid Orchids. — Among the memoranda of the horticultural world the certainty that mule orchids may he artificially produced is now definitely determined. Under the care of Mr. Dominy, at Messrs. Veitchs' Exotic Nursery, Chelsea, a hybrid Calanthe has been obtained by crossing C. masuca with C'.furcata, and the result is a combination of the best qualities of both, the mule having the lobed lip of furcata and the violet colour of masuca. MEETINGS AND EXHIBITIONS, FEBRUARY, 1858. Tuesday 2nd, Horticultural, Regent-street. — Thursday 4th, Pomological, St. Martin's Hall. — Saturday 27th, National Floricultural. * Secretaries will oblige by forwarding Announcements, Schedules ,<£#., of forthcoming Exhibitions. THE H §Uf©E. March, 1858. ' 30.005—29.932 40 30 35.0 SW .01 F. 26 29.870—29.636 56 31 43 5 SW .00 Th 11 29.089—29.875 40 25 32.5 SW .00 S. 27 29.986-29.973 55 36 45.5 NW .00 F. 12 30. C02— 29.990 45 28 36.5 SW .00 S. 28 29.974—29.915 55 41 48.0 E .01 s. ia 29.806—29.519 45 33 39.0 s .00 M. 29 29.816-29.537 54 43 48.5 s .18 s. M 30.096—29.051 57 40 48.5 sw .10 Tu 30 29.239—29.144 55 42 48.5 SW .04 M. IS 29.805—29.311 58 27 42.5 SW .00 W. 31 29.447—29.187 57 35 46.0 SW .02 Tu 16 29.995—29.949 54 25 39.5 SW .00 AVERAGES FOR THE ENSUING MONTH. The observations of sixteen years, show the following averages for the month of March: — Max. temperature, 50° ; min., 35° ; mean, 41-J" ; so that, as deduced from these observations, the month of March averages 3" Fah. above February, and 3i° above January,— a very small increase when judged by its effect in rousing the vegetable kingdom into sudden activity. During the same period, the average fall of rain has been, 1.4 inches, being less than either of the preceding months. On the 15th of March there will be an eclipse of the sun, only partially visible in London, where, however, the greater part of the sun's disc will be obscured. The eclipse will commence at 41m. past 11, morning ; the middle of the eclipse will be at 1 p.m. ; and the close at 17m. after 2 p.m. The highest tempera- ture observed in the month of March during the past thirty-one years, occurred on the 20th, 1830 — Thermometer 75°; and the lowest on the 10th, 1847— Thermometer 1°. PHASES OF THE MOON FOK MARCH, 1858. (£ Last Quarter, 7th, 6h. 10m. p.m. • New Moon, 15th, 12h. 12m. p.m. J First Quarter, 22nd, 7h. 42m. a.m. O Full Moon, 29th, 12h. 7m. p.m. MEETINGS AND EXHIBITIONS, MARCH, 1858. Tuesday, 2nd, Horticultural Society : Exhibition of Hyacinths, Rhododendrons, Cinerarias, Primvdas, Forced Vegetables, &c, at Regent-street, London. — Thursday, 4th, Anniversary Meeting of the National Floricultural Society. — Tuesday, 23rd, Exhibition of Hyacinth, and other Spring Flowers and Shrubs, Early Vegetables, and Gardening Implements, at the Music Hall, George-street, Edinburgh. — Thursday, 25th, Meeting of National Floricultural Society. %* /Secretaries will oblige by forwarding Announcements, Schedules, fyc, of forthcoming Exhibitions. THE OARDEW 6U1DL *JQS Apkil, 1858. PRING has set in this season with much less of that fickleness which we are wont to assign as one of its chief characteris- tics in this variable climate, and, from the general appearances of things within oiu- own range of observation, and from the accounts which reach us from various parts of the kingdom, a splendid summer may fairly be anticipated. The mild temperature and bright sunshine, which, while we write this, awakens within us the mosthopeful feelings — shared, also, we trust, by our readers generally — may, however, by the time this meets the public eye, have given place to those threatened returns of winter with which our summers are so often ushered in. The experienced cultivator is always on his guard against sudden changes of temperature until the month of May is fairly over ; but it needs many years of experience, and that often dearly purchased, to in- duce in the mind of the cultivator the habit of caution, on which it so much depends whether the sudden return of cold and wet shall utterly cut off or materially injure plants that have been too hastily committed to the ground, or pushed into too forward a condition for the season. A backward spring gives far more peace of mind to the majority of gar- deners than the advent of May weather in the month of March, and when we remember how often we are visited with severe frosts, snow, hail, and cutting north-east winds even up to the very dawn of June, it can be no matter of surprise that at this season of the year there should be some real satisfaction in seeing things " kept back." Rumour says that the Earl of Rosse has predicted a long, hot, and dry summer for the season 1858, and that by no mere guess work, but by logical inferences from true scientific data. Whether Lord Rosse has really entered on the hazardous vocation of a weather prophet, we do not know for a certainty ; but this we do know, that gardeners, whether professional or amateur, pay far less attention to meteorological studies than they should do, for, ex- NO iv. — vol. I. F 74 THE FLOEAL WOELD AND GAEDEN GUIDE. cepting the mariner, none have a greater need for such knowledge than he who tills the ground. The glorious summer we enjoyed last year may not have a parallel again in the lifetime of any of us, though, judging from the meteorological annals of the last hundred years, a succession of such seasons is possible, for such have occurred for three or four consecu- tive years at a time. It is the business of the cultivator to adapt his operations to those circumstances over which he has no control. In dis- tricts where such soils as are required for particular plants are unat- tainable, composts resembling them are resorted to with more or less success, and, in like manner, many plants that would prove too tender if exposed to the full action of the atmosphere, are found to thrive when planted against walls. But these are instances of adaptation which in- clude some amount of control, for the circumstances are altered, so as to bring about conditions resembling those which it would be desirable to enjoy without the necessity of calling in the aid of invention and ingenuity. The changes of the weather are utterly beyond our control, however much we may obviate injurious effects by the use of glass and other con- trivances, and the only means Ave have of realising every benefit which favourable weather may offer, or of avoiding losses by the opposite, are directly dependent on our capability of estimating the probabilities of the future. Though the anticipations of the most accurate observers will frequently be falsified by events, it is, nevertheless, certain that he who takes an interest in observation, will, in the majority of cases, be better prepared to cope with difficulties, and profit by genial influences, than he who trusts to guess work and the invitations of the hour. At no sea- son of the year is the gardener so thoroughly at the mercy of the weather as in spring ; continued cold rains and late frosts may prevent -the completion of operations that may have been delayed beyond their time, and the sudden outbursts of summer sunshine, which are so frequently followed by the rigours of January, may start many things into prema- ture growth, only to render them the more susceptible of the untimely check that follows. We recommend all who take an interest in the culture of plants, no matter wdiat may be the extent or special nature of their operations, to study the weather. Accurate instruments for registering the density of the atmosphere, and the relative amounts of moisture sus- pended in it, or falling from it ; the temperature of the air and the soil ; the direction and velocity of the wind, &c, are no longer confined by their expensiveness to the means of the few, for the prevailing cheap- ness of the age has effected in this branch of trade changes similar to those which have occurred in others ; and manufacturers of the highest scientific eminence have successfully taxed their ingenuity to meet the demands of the times. It would be found a source of pleasure as well as of profit, for the cultivator to adopt a regidar system of meteorological observation, and if no great result Avas obtained by the regidar entry in a weather journal, and a periodical determination of amounts and averages, much useful knowledge would, nevertheless, be gained, and the mind would be trained in that best of habits — the habit of observing with accuracy. There is nothing difficult about it ; regularity of observation is all that is necessary ; anyone can read off the barometer and thermometer twice a day ; anyone can measure the rain fall by the aid of a proper THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 75 gauge, and with the self-registering thermometers and cheap barometers of Negretti, Cassella, or Cox, even the cottage home might be furnished with a set of meteorological instruments, and the simple use of decimals would render the task of making periodical averages as recreative as it is simple. A gardener unskilled in meteorology, has learnt but half his business. So many miscellaneous matters call for notice this month, that we must touch on each but briefly. As the season advances, the activity of the Horticultural interest manifests itself in exhibitions and other transactions in which the world is advertised of feats accomplished, in progress, or in contemplation. The Crystal Palace is very gay, and has long been so with camellias, hyacinths, primulas, tulips, divlytras, narcissi, cinerarias, genistas, and variegated plants, all of which are admirably forced, and the successions liberally kept up. On the 1-lth, loth, and 16th of the present month, a Floral Bazaar will be held in the Palace, for the exhibition and sale of flowers. Messrs. Cutbush, of High- gate, have again cut a brave figure in hyacinths, and their show-houses have been the resort of flower-loving people, not only from the metropolis, but from distant parts of the country, for many weeks' past, and as the show is not yet over, there is time for those who have not seen it, to make acquaintance with the best collection of the best grown plants anywhere to be seen in the south of Englar.il. Messrs. Chandler, of Wandsworth, are exhibiting their splendid col- lection of camellias, now in their full glory of crimson and snow white, many of the specimens being of immense size. At Exeter, Messrs. Lucombe and Prince invite the lovers of spring flowers to their large camellia house, which is now filled with magnificent specimens of the most noted varieties, loaded with thousands of blooms, and tastefully arranged with bulbous flowers, variegated plants, and azaleas, so as to produce a charming scene. We passed through the nursery of the Messrs. Sutton, during a driving snow, on the morning of the 3rd of March, and a rapid glance at the houses sufficed to convince us that the good people of Reading need not go far any time this month, to see camellias and azaleas in perfection. Next season the glory of the camellia shows will be enhanced by the addition of the new variety, reticulata ft. pi., of which Mr. Standish, of Bagshot, is preparing a large stock to meet the great demand for it, but none will go out till next autumn. It was figured last year in the ''Botanical Magazine," and in Van Houttes "Flore des Serres," but though its high character was unmistakeably indicated in each of those works, the flower from which the first sketch was made was past its prime, so that it may fairly be expected to surpass either of those representations. We have seen another unpub- lished drawing, which we believe is in progress of engraving, and as therein re- presented, the flower measures six inches across, the form such as to satisfy the nicest connoisseur of properties, and the petals, of a bright, rosy carmine, are of great substance. It will be one of the finest of conservatory plants, and a feature at exhibitions for many years to come. Lovers of the chrysanthemum will be pleased to hear that the Horticultural Society purpose combining with their next autumn fruit show, an exhibition of this truly metropolitan flower. Stoke Newington need be in no alarm ; its old society, the first of the kind established, has parted at the root into two divisions, and each division will have its own exhibition, and still leave room for a dozen others in London, all in the same week, if need be. Indeed, the Newington exhi- bitions are fixed for the 9th and 10th of November*, respectively, and the gather- ing at St. James's Hall will take place on the 17th and 18th. Chrysanthemum growers should one and all procure the March number of "The Florist," in which Mr. Salter's two new beauties, Aimee Feriere, and Progne, are beauti- fully figured by Mr. Andrews. Aimee Feriere belongs to the same class as Hermine ; the silvery white petals are tipped with delicate rose pink, and the symmetry of the flower and regular incurving of the petals, give it the 76 THE FLOEAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. highest qualities of a show flower, for which purpose it leaves every flower of its class far behind. Progne, considering its dazzling brightness and depth of colour, is undoubtedly the most brilliant chrysanthemum yet raised, and it be- longs to a class in which even a poor flower has hitherto been acceptable. It may be compared to the finest of our dark perpetual roses, such as Jacquemi- not or Lord Raglan, for the purity and liveliness of its tint, and though it reflexes, its colour will render it a famous chrysanthemum. Among the horticultural news of the month, we may name the election of Prince Albert as President of the Horticultural Society, in the room of the late Duke of Devonshire. Dr. Royle's office has been accepted by Dr. Lindley, who has given up his salary of £500 a year, in order to occupy an honorary position, and still give the society the benefit of his "admirable judgment and practical good sense." At the March meeting it was determined to institute a Permanent Fruit Committee, to whom will be referred the consideration of the claims of new fruits, and the determining the relative values of established varieties, and other matters of a kindred kind. We have received the schedule of prizes of the Stamford Floral Society, which is one of the most successful horti- cultural associations of the Midland Counties. The first show will be held, as Usual, in the grounds of O. Edmonds, Esq , on the 7th of July, and the second show on the 8th of September. The list is a liberal one, and judiciously framed ; it includes, besides all ordinary subjects, prizes for devices in flowers, and for collections of British wild plants in flower. While we are speaking of Stamford, we may mention that Mr Newcomb, of the High Street, has pub- lished a cheap and useful work, called "The Midland Counties' Almanack, and Rural Hand-book for 1858." It contains a vast mass of most useful information on gardening, farming, &c, and hundreds of domestic recipes, and is altogether one of the most useful works of the kind we have ever seen. The Sleaford Horticultural Society will hold its annual exhibition, open to all England, on the 22nd of July. The list of prizes includes stove and green-house plants, fruits, roses, and cottagers' produce. The arrangements for the Grand National Rose Show progress most satisfactorily. The subscription list will shortly close, and the schedule will then be issued. The amount received up to the 20th of March was =£100 14s. The Royal Botanic announce three ex- hibitions of plants, flowers, and fruit, to take place on Wednesday, the 12th of May, and the 2nd and 23rd of June. Mr. Fortune has once more sailed for China, in the service of the United States' Government. The principal object of his voyage is to procure tea plants for experimental culture in some of the warmer parts of the Union. PELARGONIUM LA BELLE ALLIANCE. The Pelargonium, of -which we give a [ form, ever yet produced, La Belle coloured portrait, is one of a set sent out Alliance takes the first rank among show last year by Messrs. Henderson, of the i geraniums, and will doubtless keep it for Wellington Nursery, St. John's Wood. It [ many years. The warmth of its colouring belongs to the new and fashionable race of renders it a special object of attraction in a spotted Pelargoniums, to which it is a splendid collection, and its habit is so free, that it is addition. In habit and colouring it will one of the best for specimen culture, making please the most precise connoisseur, and j a splendid object, when well done. Our though surpassed in the symmetry of its > figure is from the plate by Mr. Andrews, and proportions by " Empress Eugenie," which may, therefore, be relied upon as true to is, perhaps, the most perfect model as to | the life. 77 THE CULTIVATION OF THE CHINESE PRIMROSE. BY ME. THOMAS LATTER, NURSERYMAN, OF BRAMFORD. This very useful and interesting winter flower has been a great favourite of mine for many years. To keep up a good succession of bloom from November till May, I sow- in the first week in April, and the last in May, using a light soil, and a close warm frame, till showing the rough leaf; then harden them off by degrees, and prick them out into pans filled with soil composed of equal parts of decayed leaf-mould, and silver-sand. In a few weeks they will be large enough to shift into small GO-size pots, in fresh soil, as above, which place in a frame, and shade from the mid-day sun, giving an abundance of air, in order to keep the plants stocky and robust. A common frame, in a shady sheltered situation, is the best place for the summer months. In very hot weather, shade all day, and take off the lights all night. As they advance, pot on, adding a little more substance to the soil, with turfy loam and cow-dung, being very particular to give plenty of water, and plenty of drainage, but avoid heavy rains. About September, the first lot re-potted will now have arrived at that stage when it will be necessary to give them their final shift into 24 or 16-size pots — that is, according to the size of the plants — observing to pick out every blossom then appearing. To prepare the soil for this shift, I recommend — one part turfy loam, one rotten cow-dung, two leaf-mould, two silver-sand ; remembering to give plenty of drainage, as before. Do not plant deep ; but, in order to keep the plants steady, insert three pegs round the stem. After a few days, they should have all the light and air you can give them, till October, when they should be removed to a shelf in the greenhouse or conservatory, as near the glass as possible, watering them once a week, when, — about November — they will again be showing bloom. Manure-water, composed of sheeps'-dung, cow-dung, and soot, stirred well for a week; when clear, use sparingly once a week. The May-sown plants I have generally found produce the best flowers, having heads of bloom eighteen inches in height, and the same in diameter, each semi-double 'bloom upwards of two inches in diameter, of great substance, and bright distinct tcolours. I need not say they have been seen every season by many of our best judges, ;and highly spoken of ; or that they have, for many years, been in the hands of Mr. Wild, of Ipswich, who is now sending out the true stock, carefully saved by myself, from the plants selected by him this spring. NOVEL CONTINENTAL FRUIT AND VEGETABLES TO BE IMPORTED INTO ENGLAND. Although Covent Garden Market may be justly considered as one of the wonders of modern skill, where produce of every season is to be seen in every season, yet there are a few fruits and vegetables cultivated on the Continent which deserve the attention of the English gardener. The first and most important are the Teltauer Rubahen (the Teltauer turnip ) They are of exquisite flavour, so much so that Goethe had them every winter en his table, sent to him from Berlin; they are not larger than a large radish, but more elongated. They grow in the sandy and peaty soil of the Marck, which is to be taken into account — A fruit unknown here is the Vienna Cardinal ApJ el (the Cardinal apple.) It is one of the latest of its sort ripening, and of a dark blue colour, whence its name is derived. Besides this striking colour, which becomes still more apparent in peeling them, they are a juicy sort of apple, of pleasant flavour. — The third sort of vegetable produce not general known in this country is the Forellen Salat (the trout salad), which comes early to the markets in Dresden, &c. It is a head salad of smaller size, but very crisp and delicate. Its name is derived from the leaves being profusely marked by spots of a ■dark red colour, resembling those on the body of a trout. We think that any gardener introducing any of the above would derive advantage therefrom — Illustrated Inventor. 78 PROFITABLE GARDENING. CHAPTER III. EARTH- WORK AND PREPARATION OP THE SOIL. DRAINING. What sort of stuff have you got to work upon? Settle that first, and act accordingly. I am so used to deep, fertile loams, that I am particularly partial to deep digging and trenching, but there are some soils that will not bear this sort of work. Where a shallow mould lies over chalk or gravel, it may not be wise to send the spade too deep, but wherever there is a fair depth of soil, the deeper it is stirred the better. Even where it would be inadvisable to bury the top spit, and bring the second spit into its place, it will still, in most cases, be good, especially on ground that has been cropped for any length of time, to open a trench by removing a breadth of the top soil, and give the under stra- tum a good loosening, for deep tillage secures good drainage, keeps the win- ter crops dry, and enables the summer ones to stand drought better, because their roots work deep into the stuff that has been loosened and sweetened, and so escape the drying action of hot sun and east winds. Wherever you really can do it, practise deep culture; a mere turning over of the surface mould is but child's play, and in the end does not pay. Good soil bears knocking about well, and every expo- sure of the under layer to air and sun- shine increases its fertility, brings into action a larger bulk for the roots of plants to search through, and is, in many cases, actually better than heavy manuring. It has been proved in the Lois Weedon system, as practised by the Rev. Mr. Smith, that on a suitable soil the tillage maybe carried on with- out manure for almost any length of time without exhausting its fertility. Mr. Smith has practised on a piece of stiff, absorbent ground, well furnished with the mineral ingredients of vegeta- tion. He has it well dug, and then plants it with wheat in rows of three together, one foot apart; and with a distance of three feet between each row. As soon as the wheat is up, the one foot rows are well forked and air admitted to the roots of the wheat, and weeds eradicated, and as the wheat meets across these rows, the digging is discontinued. But the three feet rows are treated as fallows, and all through the spring and summer are thoroughly turned over and well exposed to the air, until the wheat meets over these rows. When the wheat comes off, the spaces which were fallowed are cropped, and the stubble rows are fallowed, and so on every year ; and thus one half the ground is always in fallow, but thoroughly exposed by repeated dig- ging to the action of the atmosphere, and it amounts to the same thing as if the whole field were planted with wheat every alternate year, except that he takes a full crop every year, namely, from thirty to forty bushels per acre. He uses no dung, no guano, no manure of any kind, }Tet the land is manured by the very act of digging, which ena- bles it to absorb from the atmosphere the principles which maintain its fer- tility. It is not merely that the ground gets well pulverized and broken up by a free working of it, it is abso- lutely enriched by its power of absorb- ing ammonia and other ingredients from the air, and the influence of rain and sunshine in dissolving those mine- ral ingredients of the soil which plants require, but which are useless to them until brought to a proper condition by atmospheric action. Depend upon it, unless you have a very peculiar soil indeed, you cannot knock it about too much at every season of the year. Now let every reader of this work take a leaf out of the Rev. Mr. Smith's book; dig deep, dig at every opportu- nity, never let the ground rest, except when crops are upon it, and even then keep the surface frequently stirred with fork, hoe, or rake, and you will find your account pay for your work in double and treble crops ; you will be astonished what measures the agi- tation will bring you. Manure well also, and carry the day against all comers. Now, supposing you to be quite a beginner, I will just describe the seve- ral modes of digging ground. The jobbing gardener works with an old THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 79 spado, the blade worn down to six inches, and with this he tidivates the top soil, jnst deep enough to hide the green mould and weeds that have grown upon it. That is the expensive mode of gardening, by which the cab- bages cost five shillings each, and are then very small for the money. Ano- ther, and better way for plain digging is, to work with a good No. 2 spade, nearly new. Begin at one end of the piece, aud throw out a straight trench of one spit deep, then work back very regularly, turning each spit clean over, so as to bury the surface weeds, and turn the spadeful quite upside down. If it is in good condition, say two days after rain, the mould will crumble down of itself, if not, give each lump a side cut with the spade, so as to rather shake it in pieces than to chop it up. Go on in this way, always keeping an open trench before you, for without that, and very regular working of spit after spit, the labour will be doubly fatiguing, and very inefficiently per- formed. Most people think the}' know how to plain dig a piece of ground ; well, if you are not quite sure of your experience, just take note of the easy way in which a labourer goes over a piece, and you will see that the secret is to work regularly, and to keep al- ways a good trench, into which every spadeful is easily overturned. This sort of digging is much practised in spring, in preparing seed beds and in making up loose ground, and in put- ting on manure for various crops, but if no other mode is adopted all the year round, the ground has no chance of showing you what it is capable of producing. Where there is any depth of soil, trenching ought to be practised at least once a year over every bit of it that is not permanently occupied, but the diligent gardener will not be con- tent with one annual trenching, but Avill take every opportunity to shift the soil to the depth of two feet at least, and on deep, rich loams even to three feet. Now this operation is performed in two different wa^'s. If the subsoil is poor, or in any way un- fit to be brought to the surface, it may be bastard trenched, which loosens the under spit, and keeps the top one where it was. But double digging or two spit trenching causes the under spit to take the place of that which is now at top, and at the next trenching that original top spit comes up again, and so on, and on each occasion, some portions even of the third spit get mixed with the other two. To per- form either of these operations, pro- ceed as follows : — To bastard trench, mark off a piece right across the ground, one yard in width, take oft' the top spit one spade and the shovellings deep from the whole of this piece, and wheel it away to a yard or so beyond where you mean to finish. This will leave an open trench of a yard wide in front of the piece ; the soil of this trench is to be well dug and manured. Now dig another yard in the same way, throw- ing the top spit and the dung and weeds into the open trench first made, and then the next digging, previously stirring the bottom as before, into the second trench, and so on till you come to the end of the piece. Trenching is managed in the same way, except that the under spit is brought up to the top ; in fact, the first and second spit change places. First take out a trench, two spades deep and twenty inches wide, and wheel the earth away to fill up the last trench. Then mark off another breadth ot twenty inches, and regularly dig the breadth one spit deep, and throw the earth into the first trench. Then dig the same breadth a second spit deep, and throw this on the top spit which is at the bottom of the trench, and thus work piece after piece regularly, till you come to the last trench, when the first wheelings will fill that up. In throwing out the second spit of each breadth, it is right to leave it ridged up, as by this plan a much larger sur- face of earth is exposed to the air. There are other and simpler ways of doing this, but it needs a little expe- rience to adopt them. I generally take out a breadth of one spade wide, throw it forward a little, then a second spade from the trench so formed, which is thrown the other side ; there is a narrow, open trench, ready to re- 80 THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. ceive the next top spit, on to which the second spit is thrown, and every spade breadth is worked forward a little, so that there is soon plenty of room for working, and a breadth of two spades wide always open. This saves wheel- ing, and raises the ground at one end, and is an easy way of preparing a piece of sloping ground in autumn for early spring crops. Or, if a slope is not wanted, the second digging, which it should have in spring, when seed-beds are made up, may be commenced at the end which is lowest, and by working a little for- ward again, you bring it to a level, this time, of course, digging one spit deep only. This sort of work should be com- menced in the autumn, as the various compartments become vacant. The ground always works best in fine weather, just after rain. If the top is wet and soddened, it is more harm than good, even to tread on it, but as the weather at the fall of the year is un- certain, every opportunity should be taken to ridge up every yard of land not occupied, for if it lays for a week only for sun, rain, and air to get upon it, its fertilising power is vastly in- creased. Where you do not intend to have a winter crop, let the ground lay in ridges till spring, and in ridging it up for the frost, break it as little as possible, but throw it up on the ridges in large blocks or cakes, each block will then get frozen through, and in spring will crumble down as fine as potting mould. If you are not afraid of work, you may, after there has been a few weeks' frost, turn these ridges over, so as to change them, the top of each ridge being put into a fur- row, and the furrow made into a ridge, so that every fragment, for two feet deep, if possible, shall be crumbled by the searching fingers of Jack Frost. The result of this thorough digging and shifting will be, that your root- crops will be finer than you ever saw them before ; carrots and parsnips will dart straight clown, as deep as your spade has gone, and produce crops of immense weight, and the labour be- stowed in winter digging, will, the next summer, be rewarded by the little need you will find for the watering- pot, while everything will be finer, earlier, and more abundant. One thing you must guard against. If your neighbours catch you bringing up the hazelly loam from underneath, they will tell you it is madness, for folks have a strange horror of such deep digging ; but try it for yourself, and you will thank me for so strongly urging the matter on you — at the same time, it is not every soil that should be so treated, and your neighbours and labourers may give you many whole- some advices, as to what the soil is fit for, and how best to manage it, for all of which be thankful, for a bit of prac- tical knowledge gained on the spot, is worth all the generalities that ever pen committed to paper. This Winged Pea. — This pretty annual is a favourite of mine, and as it appears to be little known, 1 shall be happy to distribute seeds to the readers ef the " Floral World." Last year 1 ,500 packets were distributed to readers of the " National Magazine," but I saved a few for myself, and have now about a pint. As half-a-dozen are as many as I want, it is a pity for them to become a prey to mice or mildew, epecially as it does not yet appear to be entered in any seed lists. It grows very dwarf and bushy, and must be sown four inches apart. The blooms are rich crimson and black, and the pods being winged, are as curious m the flowers are pretty. I will enclose h ilf-a-dozen in every stamped envelope that may be forwarded to me till they are all gone — "first come first served." — Shirley Hibbeed, Stoke Newhujton. Value of Leaves. — Payne and Boussingault give analyses of leaves from several difterent trees. Taking the average of all their analyses, leaves contain 1T3 per cent of nitrogen, together with a large amount of mineral and carbonaceous matter. Common barn-yard dung, according to the same chemists, contains 0-41 per cent of nitrogen; and it may be confidently asserted that leaves are worth, therefore, three times as much as common barn- yard manure. Every good gardener makes them into a compost with weeds and other rubbish of the garden or orchard. 81 THE CHINESE POTATOE.— THE CUSTARD MARROW. Like all the rest of curious and enquiring folks, I have grown these two new esculents, and with such satisfactory results, that 1 gladly take this opportunity to commend them to readers of the Flok.vl World, as no time should now be lost by those intend- ing to give them a trial. Whether the yam (Dioscorea Battatas) will ever supersede the potatoe is to me very questionable ; but, when well treated, both as to culture and cookery, it is a really valuable addition to our kitchen-garden stock, and it is so thoroughly hardy, that it may be grown anywhere in the three kingdoms. As it is new, large roots are only to be had by paying a good price for them, and as the majority of growers will trust to little sets of the size of hazel nuts, I must caution them not to expect a very substantial dish the first year ; in fact, unless large sets are used, it would be vain to hope for any for cooking purposes the first season. By the annexed cut, the reader will observe that the yam grows with its thickest end downwards, and as a matter of cource, it requires a deep well-worked soil, but it need not be rich ; indeed, good loam, without manure, produced me a better crop than a prepared rich compost which I used the first year the yam was made public property. It likes a deep rather sandy loam amazingh-, but a wet clay is quite unfit for it. There are several modes of propagating the plant ; namely by the buds in the axils of the stem, just as you would increase a valuable new kind of potatoe — for let me tell you potatoes are as easily propagated from cuttings as dahlias are — by suckers from below, and by whole or divided tubers. It is now so cheap and accessible a thing that there can be no temptation to cut the root into very small sets, for as they lie dormant for some time, small pieces are apt to decay, hence the roots should not be cut up too small, and if large specimens are expected for cooking next autumn, good sized whole sets should be used. Plant any time in April, but the earlier the better; the beginning of May is the latest time they can be planted. Let the ground be well dug, and at least two feet deep, and if the soil is naturally shal- low, throw the earth in ridges, and plant on the top seven inches apart. At the end of the season, when the foliage begins to get shabby, they must be taken up by trenching out the rows ; the tuber being thickest at the lower end, they cannot be drawn even when well loosened, without wounding them. The way to cook it is to boil it but a few minutes, according to size ; if boiled as long as a potatoe it is waxy and insipid, 82 THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. but when the proper mode of cooking is once hit upon, the yam is deliciously white, mealy, and of a most agreeable flavour. The Custard Gourd, one of the most curiously-formed of the interesting family of squashes, is the Lest of all the marrows for a summer vegetable. The ordinary cul- ture of gourds is all that it requires — a rich loam and plenty of rotten manure; or better still, a sod formed chiefly of pond scrapings, which is the best of all for every kind of marrow, encumber, and melon. Sow in a moist hot bed anytime from March to June, and grow in frames in the same way as any other marrow. If you have no frames, make up a bed of warm dung, with six inches of loam on the top, and sow the last week in April under hand glasses. There will be sufficient heat to start the plants, and by giving air by degrees, the glasses may be removed by the time the plants have three or four rough leaves ; after which time they require plenty of water in dry weather. I have long been in the habit of growing fine cucumbers, marrows, and me- lons on this plan, using a lot of litter mixed with dung, leave=, &c., to cause a moderate and continuous bottom heat, and protecting the plants with hand-glasses only, or even with bottomless flower-pots, with a pane of glass laid over the top till the summer was sufficiently advanced to allow of their full exposure. The custard marrow should not be allowed to grow to its full size for cooking purposes ; I prefer them when not larger than a half-pint beer measure ; they then require but a few minutes' boiling, and when mashed up with butter and pepper, are a dish in every way fit to be " set before a king." An Old Gardener. HINTS ON THE CULTIVATION OF THE PELARGONIUM. BY ME CHARLES TURNER, OF THE ROYAL NURSERY, SLOUGH. The successful cultivation of the Pelargonium very much depends upon its treatment in the autumn : it is not possible to have fine plants in bloom in May or June, unless due attention has been paid to them in the previous autumn. This is especially the case with young plants ; they should have prompt and constant attention, and every assistance that they can have from the moment they are struck. Any delay in potting when needed, allowing them to be a prey to aphides, or neglect in any particular, will surely tell injuriously upon the bloom. The following hints are, therefore, offered in reference more especially to new plants from the nurseries. First, as soon as the plants are received (and the earlier they are received the better), let them be made as clean as possible ; stir the surface of the soil a little, and place them in a light airy situation to recover the effects of the journey; two or three days will generally be sufficient for this. Then examine the roots, and, if needed, (which will- usually be the case) repot them into the next sized pots ; good mellow loam, enriched with an equal bulk of stable litter laid together a twelve- month previous, and occasionally turned, will, with the addition of a little silver sand, be a suitable compost. Put a stake to each plant, and let them have regular attention to water- ing, air, and light ; in three or four weeks they will be ready for another shift into the next sized pot, in which they may remain until the end of January or beginning of February, when they should be put into their blooming-pots, using pots suited to the strength of each plant, and bearing in THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 83 mind that as it is necessary that the pots he well filled with roots by the time the plants come into bloom, care should be taken not to overpot. As soon as the lower leaves turn yellow in the spring, a little clear weak ma- nure-water may be used with advan- tage, and be continued until the bloom is nearly ready to expand. Anything like forcing should be avoided, but a little fire-heat will be beneficial in damp, dull, and foggy weather, and also whenever the temperature sinks to near 40 degs. Cleanliness is also a very important thing to attend to in the culture of the Pelargonium. No dead foliage should be allowed to remain on the plants, and if the green leaves become dirty or dusty, they should be carefully washed, and the glass of the house, both inside and outside, should be kept quite clean. Fancy varieties require similar treatment to the large kinds ; they will, however, hear a little more heat with advantage through the winter and early part of spring, taking especial care to avoid "drawing" of the shoots. As a general rule for both classes of Pelargoniums, health and cleanliness must be attended to, airing well even in winter, but avoiding cold draughts of air, and keeping them free from damp. No flower is more easily culti- vated than the Pelargonium, yet none is more generally mismanaged. Immediately after blooming, the plant should be placed in any situation not exposed to heavy rains, where the wood can be well ripened, and water be sparingly used. Hard well ripened wood is most essential. After cutting down, the plants should be placed in a greenhouse or frame by themselves, and kept dry, and exposed to the sun and air, using the lights only to pro- tect them from rain. In about a month afterwards, the buds will have pushed sufficiently for repotting the plants ; they can then be shaken out, removing all the soil, and the roots pruned. The plants should then be potted into small pots, and be kept in a close-shaded frame for a few days, and be gradually inured to the light, when more air may be given. AVater but sparingly, and avoid wetting the foliage during the winter months. Yf hen the growing season has arrived, water them thoroughly when they re- quire it. A good head of fine bloom can be obtained by attending to the foregoing few brief remarks. DRYING PLANTS AND FLOWERS. Your excellent directions, given to " N. IC, ' in page 47, if properly attended to will secure success. But I wovdd suggest an improvement. It is what I practised from twenty to thirty years ago, and my collec- tion is as fresh and beautiful as at first. Prepare several tablets of plaster of Paris, of the size of the book in which you intend to mount your collection ; they should not be less than an inch in thickness. The plaster should not be mixed very strong. The lighter they are, the more absorbent. Any plasterer would prepare them to order. When they are thoroughly dry, lay the blotting-paper on the plaster, then the plant, covering it with more paper, as you direct, and then plaster, slab, and so on, forming a pile. The plaster absorbs the moisture from the paper so rapidly as to hasten the process, and thereby preserve the colour. Before the tablets are used again, the moisture must be dried out be- fore a fire, taking care not to expose them to a greater heat than the hand can endure. They will then last for many years. Hanley. L. J. Abingdon, CULTURE OF BOUVARDIAS. Having growa these succesfully for many y< :i . I bi .: to offer my brother cultivators my mode of culture, it is thus: March being a good time to propagate it. by the roots, I proceed to shake them out of their pots, and cut as many pieces of roots from the plants as are required, placing them round the sides of the pots, in sandy peat, giving them a gentle heat, and in about a fortnight, or three weeks at the most, the^e will have become a famous lot of young plants. As soon as they are strong enough, I pot them off, using peat, loam, and sand; giving a little more heat, and then hardening them off. By attending to the above mode, hun- dreds of plants may be produced in a very brief space of time. J. C. 84 NEW FRUITS.— THE The annexed woodcut represents in out- line the new apple, " Stamford Pippin," which has now established itself as a first- rate variety, having twice received the commendations of the Pomological Society. The fortunate producer Mr. John Lax- ton, jun., F.H.S., who furnishes us with the outline, informs us that it was raised STAMFORD PIPPIN. and larger size of leaf evinced by it over all its fellows. The fruit is supposed to be the offspring of the Orange Pippin crossed with the Ribston ; it is chiefly remarkable for its rich vinous flavour, its firm, yet digestible flesh, and the highly prolific quality of the tree. The fruit is a large size, ripens about the last week in October, and will keep well at Stamford in 1840, and is the result of a natural crop. — He states that, out of a considerable number of seedlings trans- planted from a flower-pot, the subject of our engraving was the only one after three years' growth selected for preservation ; this preference being shown to the " Stamford " from the much stronger habit of growth, until the months of February and March following. In colour, it is a fine yellow, with a slight orange tinge on one side, and the surface is here and there a little russetted. The stock, we understand, is in the hands of Messrs. Wood and Ingram, of Huntingdon, who intend letting it out in the ensuing autumn at a cheap rate. 85 GARDEN PLAN. Gardening was the occupation of Adam and Eve before sin entered the world — " The Lord God planted a garden in Eden." — Into this garden our first parents were introduced " to dress it" and "keep it." But it is to be regretted that by means of a fruit, man's fall was accomplished, and in a grove of trees, he first hid from an offended God. His first garments (necessitated by sin) were of fig-leaves. However, we see that sinless beings could derive pleasure from the cultivation of plants Cannot, indeed, to guilty man restore Lost innocence, or cancel follies past; But it has peace, and much secures the mind From all assaults of evil." In planning a garden, the proverb, " It is art to conceal art," must in many respects be considered a false one. Neil is much nearer the mark, when he says " our art lies in endeavotiring to adapt the ]>roductions oj nature to human taste and perception, and if much art be used, do not attempt to hide it: — s — although thorns and thistles are the results of the Fall, still much happiness is yet de- rivable from a garden. " I cannot but think," says Addison, " the very complacency and satisfaction which a man takes in these works of nature, to be a laudable, if not a virtuous habit of mind." "Oh bless'd seclusion from a jarring world, Which he thus occupied, enjoys ! Retreat "Yet just arrangement, rarely brought to pass, But by a Master's hand, disposing well Tho ?ay diversities of leaf and flower, Must lend its aid t' illustrate all their charms, And dress the regular, yet varied scene." The accompanying arrangement is not given as a specimen garden plan, but it has been arrived at by successive alterations, and its advantages appreciated by many ; it may, therefore, convey useful hints to those who 86 THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE., intend laying out an enclosure, of whatso- ever shape or size : — In the formation of a garden plan, one of the chief requisites, a good supply of water, must be considered — and within reasonable limits the more watering places the better. Such are marked (w) in the accompanying plan. With the aid of conuectable lengths of gutta percha pipe they are found sufficient. The front garden being only separated from the high road by light iron railings, is principally stocked with evergreens, the border being filled with geraniums, ver- benas, calceolarias, fuchsias, and common annuals. In sowing these latter, a rule often overlooked, must be regarded— it is, that border plants should be arranged in the order <;/' their height. This principle, recog- nized by Cowper, is constantly neglected in the present day, small and delicate flowers being hidden by shrubby plants in front. Arrangement as to height, well attended to, will produce effects otherwise unattainable. " Plant behind plant aspiring, in the van The dwarfish, in the rear retired, but still Sublime above the rest, the statelier stand." It will be seen from the accompanying plan, that a screen of trees effectually divides the vegetable garden (k g) from the flower parterres and lawns (i,) ; g n the gardener's residence ; H, a ha-ha, separating field and plantation from flower garden ; e, in the centre of the plan is a rockery, (surrounded by dwarf roses fuchsias,&c.) encircling a basin containing gold and silver fish, a raised cen- tral vase, and fourteen grouped fountain jets. This rockery contains upwards of eight}' varieties of dwarf plants.* A summer- house (s) is situate at the bottom of the garden next the field ; this is of rustic oak- work and open in the front and at the sides. From hence a view of the distant railway, viaduct, and open country is obtainable, s u is a bed devoted to standard roses, which are freely scattered over the other beds. Here we may remark on the beauty of the standard roses of the present day, and at their marvellous prices, placed as they are within the reach of most of their admirers. — Nero would now have a difficulty in spending £30,000 f on rose plants for the decoration of one banqueting hall — and the Cleopatras of a.d. l.So.s, will find it no easy matter to lay out £200 at one time in pur- chasing these flowers. The old Greek poet, Anacreon, was alive to the beauties of the rose when he sung : — " Nymphs who hannt the embowering shades, Poesy's enchantin? maids Woo thee, Rose ; thy charms inspire All the raptures of the lyre. — Cull we straight the inviting Hose; Shielded by the thorn it grows. Cull the rose : what boots the smart ? Countless sweets regale the heart." To return to our plan, d g, shows a Dutch garden situate near the greenhouse ; f, is a fernery with rock-work arches. The circles on the lawns denote positions of favourite trees : O, is an octagonal greenhouse, painted Crystal Palace style.J In the centre are tables and chairs, and the gas being laid on, it is a favourite resort for summer evenings. At the side of this conservatory is another fountain and fernery, the former being sup- plied from a tank hidden among the trees. A waste pipe in the upper vase, forms the means of supply to a small overshot water- wheel in the rockwork. From this wheel the water flows to a lower basin, g, is a greenhouse in connection with the residence — at one end is a collection of exotic ferns, ten jet fountains, miniature cascade and tur- bines— at the other end is an ironwork foun- tain, with ornamental basin. The forcing and orchid houses are to the extreme right, and hidden by a screen of trees and shrubs. In this garden, I am in- formed, there are 2G varieties of thorns. A shows the position of American beds stocked with rhododendrons, azaleas, and bordered with heaths. In conclusion, let me observe that much is to be learnt from a flower garden, however small it may be. Among other things, we are reminded that — Mankind are fleeting as the flowers — Grief is their tempest — tears their showers ! Hearts, like buds, are nipp d by cold, Ere they their tender leaves untold : But though they fade 'neath falsehood's blight, Kind Heaven shall shed restoring light. Let dark despair oppress thee never, The setting sun is rising ever .' Bellefield, Essex. E. A. CorLAND. * A list of these shall appear if desirable.— [Very desirable. Ed. P. W.] t Sec Suetonius. Concave surfaces, blue; convex, yellow; horizontal planes, red; vertical planes, white. : 87 MR. BROOME ON THE CULTURE OF THE CHRYSANTHEMUM. The Chrysanthemum is one of the " border culture. most fortunate of flowers; its popu- , - The plants having been kept over larity increases, and keeps pace with winter in a sheltered spot, in March or its steady improvement, and it is a ! April they are to be divided, and favourite" everywhere, even in the ^ planted for flowering; the ground murkiest of otherwise flowerless cities, having been well turned over pre- There are now as many separate | viously to the depth of eighteen inches societies established for the encourage- 1 Qr two feet with Parkes's fork, and ment of its culture, as ever the Tulip dressed with rotten dung or other had in its palmiest days, and the j manure. "With those, however, which annual Exhibitions are thoroughly i break later, and whose suckers are established as the most popular of , but just appearing above the ground, floral fetes. Coming at the very close \ great care should be taken ; they of our season, its grandeur is, perhaps, ; should not be disturbed until later in more conspicuous than it would be the season, but should be completely were it a competitor with our summer flowers, and it is indeed a noble finale covered with finely sifted ashes, saw- dust, or leaf mould, and allowed to to the annual festival of the bright j remain so until the time for planting, goddess Flora. An immense number j "When the youngplantshave reached of treatises on Chrysanthemum cul- j the height of eight or ten inches they ture, have appeared within the last must be pegged down, which not only three years, and now Mr. Broome, who prevents them from growing too tall has done so much to vindicate its claims as a London flower, gives us the result of his twenty five years' experience in a neat little pamphlet. The tone, getting up, the style, and and overrunning the other flowers which bloom during the summer and early autumn, but preserves the foliage around the lower portion of the ilower- stem, and saves a good deal of labour the actual information conveyed are i m tying up; of course, this treatment all alike worthy of him and his es- j need not be applied to those plants pecial pet.* There is, too, in Mr. j which are intended to form back rows, Broome's book, much that is positively | or to bloom against walls or palings. new, and that which is not new, is | When, after this, they again reach the agreeably told, and every direction is j height of one foot or eighteen inches, conveyed in the plainest language. ; commence tying them up to slender This work may be compared with any | sticks, which can be procured in bundles previous publications on the subject j for the purpose, and continue doing so without detriment, and we commend | until they show their flower- buds. it to the Floral World at large as a "In the heat of the summer, when the valuable contribution to the literature , plants begin to flag and the fibres to ©f the garden. In reading it, we sh0w themselves on the surface of the marked a number of passages for ground, a top-dressing of dung or mould quotation, but we find that we have should be given them, and great at- room only for a few, and these we tention paid to their watering. The offer as specimens of a work which plant being of a succulent nature re- we should hope, everyone of our quires a great quantity of fluid nour- readers will at once become possessed of. Mr. Broome recommends as the best compost for the Chrysanthemum one half stiff loam, one third decayed frame dung, and one sixth pit or river sand. For the growth of plants in the open-air border he gives the following directions : — ishment, which should be given to it regularly twice a day, in the evening and at early morning, before the sun has got any great power. Manure water, without copious doses of Avhich fine flowers connot be insured, and which can be made by adding water to horse, : Culture of the Chrysanthemum, as Practised in the Temple Gardens, with lists of plants, &c, &c— By' Samuel Broome, F.H.S. The Lodge, Inner Temple Gardens. 88 THE FLOKAL WOBLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. cow, or sheep tiling, (about a pound by guess, of the first, and half that quan- tity of either of the other two, to the two-gallon watering pot,) should be used at least twice a week, but oftencr if possible, until the flower-buds begin to show their respective colours, when it should be discontinued, and plain water only be given until the au- tumnal rains render even this unneces- sary. "large flowers for exhibition. "Cuttings should be taken in the be- ginning of November from the suckers, or from the laterals of the flowering stems. These should be rooted in small pots, and placed in a cold frame for protection through the winter : shifted, as soon as the roots are fairly formed, into larger pots ; and kept on shifting from stage to stage until they are ultimately settled in their blooming- pots, which should not be less than ' number sixteens,' and in the bottoms of which, to the depth of four or five inches, should be put layers of broken potsherds or pounded oyster-shells to insure good drainage. Care should be taken not to allow the fibres to rise round the pots too much before shifting, as this very much injures the plants, and their progress will he materially retarded if they are not repotted at the proper time ; moreover, the fibres must be as little disarranged as possible in the operation. "In April and May a south aspect is desirable for the plants, but from the middle of June to the Middle of Au- gust they should be removed to a shady 6pot, where they will only get the morning sun until eleven. Manure water of a weak and cooling nature should be used in the former months, but its strength should be afterwards increased until the flower-bud begins to give indications of colour ; in no case, however, should it be given until the plant has been previously well soaked with plain water. When the crown divides itself, take oil' all la- terals; and when the flower-buds are well grown, disbud or cut out all but the brightest and most shining, leaving but one to each stem. Should any of the blooms on breaking, show an eye, it is a sign that the plant has been over- done with kindness. If the early blooms are too soon for the late ones, they may be retarded for a week or nine days, and their back petals be pre- served from decay, by gathering them into a ball and tying them up with some wadding, and then putting them into a bag made up like a sugar paper. Another plan is to pass the bloom through a flowerpot, of which the bottom has been previously chipped out, and to cover it with a piece of glass. This has the effect of not only preserving the back petals, but of bringing the centre ones up to the light. In fact, it will make an incurved flower of a reflexed one. "Many florists recommend, as arule, for the increase of flower and foliage, the growing in every instance of stan- dard plants, which are formed by planting the young shoots singly, and stopping them when their stems have reached the height of five or six inches. By this means an increase of flower is certainly gained, but always at the expense of a A'ery slovenly and bare appearance around the lower part of the plant. Stopped specimens are very well for filling up gaps here and there, but flower-beds completely filled with them look unsightly. " FOMPONES. "Pompones should never be stopped at a greater height than six or seven inches above the mould in their pots, and should be treated as follows : — Carefully take out the leader, (but avoid above all things taking more than you can possibly help,) by so doing two or three extra breaks are gained ; then when there are, say, six or seven breaks to each shoot, commence peg- ging them carefully down, in the same manner as Verbenas and plants of that description are pegged, taking care not to snap them in the operation, as they are very brittle, especially in and after wet weather. Continue stopping their laterals until the first of August, then cease doing so, and place every branch in the position in which it is intended to flower. Avoid a preponderance of sticks in the flowering-pots, hoops of wire-work being far more graceful. THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 89 " VARIETIES FOR EXHIBITION. Mr. Broome enumerates the following Pompones as the best for exhibiton in eight-inch pots : — "Adonis, Aurore Boreale, Apollon, Bijou de l'Horticulture, Bob, Brilliant, Cedo Nulli, Dr. Bois Duval, Drin Drin, Durufflet, Giralda, Helene, La Vogue, Madame Foule, Modele, Mus- tapha, President Deeaine, Riquiqui, Sainte Thais, Vicomte de Caumont, Zebra, Polycarp, Croesus, Donna Alba, Ida, Ascanie, Alexandre Pele, Trophee. " Large specimens for show in 11 -inch pots may be grown on one stem, the same as the Pompones, except the peg- ging down; this, of course, must be dispensed with, and the plant sup- ported with sticks put in the ground on the outside of the pot. When the buds shew themselves, you must thin out to one or two blooms on a branch ; in all other respects treat as the Pom- pones, by stopping early to get a large head with a good foliage, watering and keeping the outside of the pot moist, and protecting in autumn from the frost, cold winds, and rain. The sorts best calculated for this purpose at present are : — Alfred Salter, Auguste Mie, Cardinal, Christine, Christophe Coloinb, Golden- clustered Yellow, Hermine, Lucidum, Lothario, Madame Comerson, Mount Etna, Phidias, Pilot, Princess Marie, Plutus, Queen of England, Ruth, Trilby, Vesta, Zephyr, Eugenie, Madame Domage, Augustine, Progne (extra fine), Madame Leo, Aimee Fer- iere, Louise Constaiitine, General Havelock. " CUT BLOOMS FOR EXHIBITION. " The best incurved flowers for cut blooms for exhibitions, to grow in nots or open borders against walls, &c.:— " Large varieties. — Alfred Salter, Anaxo, Annie Salter, Arigena, Auguste Mie, Beauty, Campistroni, Cassy, Christophe Colomb, Delight, Dupont de l'Eure, Elizabeth, Etoile Polaire (extra fine), Hermine, King, Leon Leguay, L'Emir, Lothario, Madame Miellez, Marquis de Molleville, Nonpareil, Pio Nono, Phidias, Queen of Eng- land, Rolla, Rosa mystica, Stellaris globosa, Themis, Two-coloured In- curved, Trilby, Vesta, Zephyr, Aimee Feriere, Madame Leo, Ad- mirable, Golden Queen of England,* Baron Scalebert, Louisa, Pius VII., Aristee, Madame Andre, Plutus, Clus- tered Yellow. " The work contains copious classified lists in which all the best varieties are ar- ranged according to colours ; other lists in which they are arranged according to relative heights ; and a full alpha- betical list of the varieties growing in the Temple Gardens. IIAYTHORN'S HEXAGON GARDEN NETS. The old plan of sheltering wall trees by means of spruce be-aghs, is one that finds favour with few modern gardeners, for though such a protection is very effectual against spring frosts, it keeps the youDg growth so dark and coddled, as to be almost as hurtful in another way. It is astonishing how frail a medium will suffice to keep off those sharp night frosts that commit such vast havoc with our tender early blooming fruits. A light net of even a quarter- inch mesh we have found to effectually pro- tect the bloom on peach walls during spring frosts that have been severe enough to cut off the greater part of those not protected, and it is now well known that the falling of fruit, even after it has begun to swell, is, in the majority of cases, attributable to a chill endured by the trees when in bloom, or, perhaps, eveu before the bloom had opened. At this season of the year, the value of netting can scarcely be over-estimated, and we commend to the immediate consideration of all who are looking forward for a good crop of fruit, the best of all protectors, Haythorn's Hexagon Garden Net. This material not only excludes frost, but admits as much light as glass; there is none of that roughness of character which most other protecting materials have, and which often prove destructive by snapping off fruit- spurs, and otherwise injuring the trees in being put up or removed, and the closeness of the mesh renders it protective against storms of wind, hail, and rain as well as against frost. When done with for the walls, it will be found useful as a shading for pines, and for greenhouse plants, and Golden Queea of England will not be let out till next season.— Ed. F. W. 90 THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. when the fruit ou the walls is ripening, it may be replaced to protect it from wasps, which do much havoc with choice fruit when they have free access to it. It would also be useful as a retarding material for fruit bushes; indeed, it is capable of so many uses in and about a garden, that it may be fairly set down as one of the necessities to the successful prosecution of the art. Mr. Haythorn makes a variety of patterns and sizes ; we have in use three kinds, namely: — No. 1, No. 5, and No. 20 ; the latter is a new kind, called the Chiswick net, the texture of which is very close, as indicated in the engraving. The nets are made in various widths, from 3 feet to 17 feet, and of any length, so that it may be ordered so as to fit a whole range of trees. The prices range from 3|d. to 2s. per square yard. The lightest and cheapest patterns are sufficient to repel any ordinary spring frosts. APRIL WORK IN THE GARDEN AND GREENHOUSE. The month of April is one which generally tests severely the cultural capabilities of the gardener, as well as his ways and means. The weather may be summer one day, and winter the next ; and inexperienced hands may easily be led astray by the temptations of warm showers and sunshine, to re- gret, afterwards, the havoc caused by sudden frosts, storms, and even snow and hail. Since the 12th of March, the weather has been unusually mild, and the severe check given to vegeta- tion by the frosts early in the month, were most salutary, as tending to check the readiness most plants have to make a start at this season, on the advent of even a few days fine weather. By the time this reaches the reader's hands, we may be glad of protecting material to keep out frosts, or parching winds may be committing havoc with things that have been unduly exposed by the temptations of the first dawnings of spring, which, in this climate, are al- ways more or less deceptive. In the general work of the garden, many of the directions — especially as to sow- ing— given last month, apply to this, and more particularly to those who live in exposed districts. We write for a London climate, and our directions are based on the general practice of gar- dening in and about Middlesex, Surrey, and Hertfordshire. Those who live far south, in the almost Italian climate of THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 91 Devonshire, will often have things up at the time we are instructing them to sow ; while residents on the bleak Northumberland coast, or in the east- ern parts of Scotland, will always be a fortnight, sometimes a month, behind us. This is a difficulty inherent to all calendarial directions, but it does not interfere with such a form of informa- tion. The order of doing things is still the same, let the peculiarities of climate be what they may ; and it is for every one who looks to this article for a re- minder, to take it cum grano salts, that is, to make the proper allowances for their own districts. Many plants which southern growers would describe as hardy, wTould be found far from hardy in the bleaker parts of the island ; and no remarks of a general kind can be expected to meet every individual case. Kitchen: Garden. — Successional sow- ings may be made of all leading kitchen crops, and where the work of the last month has been delayed, seeds got in early will not be much behind those sown last month. Sow Windsor, longpod, and Johnson's won- derful beans ; marrow and Prussian-blue peas, and a few rows of the earliest sorts, to come in before the late peas are ready. In small gardens, the dwarf kinds are always to be preferred. Sowings should also be made of horn carrot, Savoy cabbage, Brus- sels' sprouts, Scotch kale, brocoli, cauli- flowers, and cabbages, for autumn use ; a succession of such things being preferable to a glut all at once for the private grower. Among cabbages, collard's, Atkins's match- less, Shilling's Queen, early York, and West Ham are good sorts to sow now, but the main crop of cabbages should be up by this time, and must be hoed between, when the ground is in a fit state. Beet should be sown in the second week, in ground deeply dug, but not manured; the main crop of celery should be sown on a rich waim bor- der, the surface to be made light and fine ; sow thin, and merely dust the seed over. Sow, also, onions, lettuce, radish, small salad, sea-kale, and asparagus ; the two last, in drills, one foot apart, and one inch deep, for asparagus, and two inches for sea-kale ; another mode of raising sea-kale plants is to sow in four-feet beds, the seed to be in patches of eight inches diameter, and two feet apart, and about eight seeds in each, the plants to be thinned to three plants in each patch : the ground should be rich, well drained and deep. Beds may also be formed now by planting roots, but the best planta- tions are those raised on the spot from seeds. Those who purpose raising seedling rhubarb plants, should sow about the middle of the month, in shallow drills, eighteen inches apart, dropping the seeds in patches, six inches from each other. All the varieties of the gourd family may be sown out of doors this month, in turf or brick pits, according to the instructions given at page 70 of our last number. Potatoes not yet planted should be got in without delay, and towards the end of the month scarlet runners and French beans may be sown ; the runners should have a warm dry position until the first of May, when they may be sown in almost any soil or situation without risk ; but, like most other things, yield the best crops on ground well dug and manured. The main crop of carrots should be got in towards the end of the month, and there is still time for a crop of parsnips, if none have been sown yet, and as a small crop of so useful a vegetable is better than none at all, those who have dela3'ed may still secure one. Slips of kitchen herbs may be put in any time this month, and will root quicker if planted in a rather dry sandy border. Peaches, apricots, and nectarines should be carefully disbudded, and as soon as the bloom is set, give the walls a shower from a garden engine, to clean the trees and dislodge the pests that arc ready to make havoc with the young fruit. Grafting may still be performed, but not a day should be lost. Flower Garden. — Seeds of hardy an- nuals and perennials are to be sown early, and towards the end of the month the more tender kinds may be safely committed to the ground ; but very small seeds of choice things had better not be sown till next month, as heavy rains may wash them down into the soil, and they may be lost. Peren- nials may be planted out, and old stools of phlox, chrysanthemum, sweet William, &c, may be parted. Dahlia roots may also be planted, and if the shoots appear before night- frosts are over, they may be protected by flower-pots inverted over them, and the holes stopped withpiecesof tile. Where early bedsof dahlias are required this plan may be adopted in the putting out of young plants, and if well hardened first, the beds may be filled about the middle of the month, and inverted pots, litter, or netting, used to protect them during fits of cold wind or frost. Box edg- ings should be clipped, and ivy may be cut in and trimmed, and fresh plantations made of last year's roots. Cuttings of ivy may also be taken and planted in a sandy bor- der, only partially exposed to the sun. The cutting should be short-jointed, and trim- med of the lower leaves. Tigrida bulbs 92 THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. may be planted two inches deep. A light netting, or some similar protection will be found useful now as a protection to tulip beds, and if the foilage gets frozen, water them with cold water before the sun gets on them. Walks should be turned and rolled, and grass plots dressed, so as to give an air of neatness and order to the whole of the ground. Greenhouse. — If bedding-stock is still in request, cuttings should be struck in a brisk heat, even as high as 90 degs. ; they will bear much more heat now than they would a month ago. China roses may be propagated in pots by taking off young shoots close to the old wood when four inches long, and plunging in a moderate heat. General collections should only have a mode- rate heat, and a strong healthy growth should be promoted by giving plenty of air, with a view to putting out the fires for the season. Many specimen-plants will want liberal shifts, and all subjects not immediately re- quired in flower, should be regularly and frequently stopped to induce bushy growth and form good heads. Water and liquid manure must be more freely given, and vigi- lant efforts must be made to keep down green fly and thrips. Many of the less tender things may be removed to cold pits, to increase the room for other things that want continued protection to make fine plants. Young stuff from the propagating house should be potted as fast as rooted, and kept close till started afresh, and then be gradually inured to air and light, so as to be strong by the middle of May. All tropical plants required for summer blooming in the house, should be got on without delay, and a quick growth promoted so as to allow them as long a season as possible for bloom- ing, and ripening their buds for next season. Average temperature this month 55 degs. by night, 60 to 65 degs. by day. Where desirable, the house may be shut up with sun heat to render fire unnecessary. Stove. — Vines in bloom must be kept close, and with a little extra fire-heat to prevent injury from damp setting on the berries; melons should be encouraged to make quick growth until established, and then kept cooler to encourage the production of fruitful wood ; but do not stop the main shoots till they have extended as far as the space allowed them, and then they may be stopped to promote the growth of lateral*. Pines will want shade on bright days, and air as often as possible, but the atmosphere about them must be kept moist, and the roots well soaked whenever the soil about them is dry. Red spider will now be getting active, and must be kept dewn. Keep also a good look- out for green-fly. especially among young stock. Average temperature for pines, 70 degs. at night, 80 degs. by day, for general collections, 65 degs. by night, 75 degs. by day. THE PLEASURES OF A KITCHEN GAEDEN. BY SHIRLEY HIBBERD. However refined may be the pleasures attendant on the culture of flowers, and the production of scenic effects in ornamental gardening, a few rows of well grown edibles have special charms for most people. What can be more jolly in appearance than a well stocked kitchen garden in autumn, when the potatoe ground has been cleared and planted, when many of the summer crops still linger to say " good bye," the bowery "runners" still holding their blooms, and weighing their sticks down with thousands of tender pods ; the kale and brocoli and winter cab- bage dressed up in their hearty green, like files of riflemen, full of strength and suggestive of knife and fork battles before good fires, when the beef will have its right flavour, because honour- ably accompanied ? Peep into the shed or store-loft of the good gardener, and see the rosy-cheeked and russet apples stored away all shining with ripeness,, and beating the sweetest flower bed in their perfume ; the onions drying ready for the very goose that is wad- ling yonder; the potatoes swelling their sacks tight, every tuber of them ready to transform itself into a snow- ball ; all reminding you of baked and roasted delicacies, that butter and pepper are to make additionally savoury on winter nights, or that at Christmas — the- grand feast of the year — are to pro- claim gardening to be the homeliest, the prettiest, and the most profitable of arts. Then in early summer, what among gardening scenes more attrac- tive than the rows of peas laden with snowy blossoms, like clouds of butter- flies, or trying to topple their stakes over with their weight of plump pods, that make your mouth water as you involuntarily conjure up the smell of the mint that goes before them to the THE FLOEAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 93 table, and the mingling of the green marrowy smoking things, with the brown gravy, that compels you to chuckle "delicious ! " as the palate re- vels in their flavour. See, then, the pretty lettuces in their clean drills, so delicately green and vigorous ; see the tender spring onions, silvery at the root, and ready for pulling ; the coral radishes, the cheerful small salads that seem to grow as you look at them, all of them hurrying towards the salad bowl, crisp, and cool, and relishing, and ready to enchant the appetite on the very first warm day that shall make a radish, or lettuce, or cucumber the very completion of table enjoyments. Then think of the beautiful gourds that always astonish you and every- body else, at their size and rapidity of growth, and that admit of half-a-do- zen modes of cooking, yet, always delicious ; the fresh summer cabbages that take one leap from the morning dew to the bubbling pot, and above all things, who can know the real flavour of peas but those who grow them within sight from the kitchen door, and who eat them an hour after the gathering ? These are very material considerations. The elderly dames say, " the way to a boy's heart, is through his belly," but it is the case also with most boys of large growth, for who can sneer at a cucumber with the bloom on, a fragrant mushroom hot from the gridiron, a basket of straw- berries to dip in the breakfast cream, or even a dish of marrowy green kale with a savoury joint on a frosty day ? And there are higher pleasures, too, in this department of gardening. If our wits are not exercised in the arrange- ment of figures and colours to please the eye, or our ingenuity taxed to acclima- tize and bloom choice varieties, there is much to employ thought, and not a few pretty spectacles, as the sea- sons work their changes, now smother- ing the fruit trees with snowy bloom, and now loading their branches with the lovely fruit ; the very beet is pretty as its richly bronzed foliage meets from row to row ; and as to most crops in full luxuriance of growth, there is much real beauty in a well disposed, and well kept profitable garden, the charms of which are much enhanced the enjoyment of them. One would not be in haste to condemn a poor cottager for striving to excel in the growth of flowers, but there would be greater interest in his success if we saw that his cabbage and potatoe plot were not neglected, and that in the aching of his heart for something beautiful, he did not forget the kale pot, and the appetites of his little ones. Nor would the thriving citizen, who takes a pride in his beds of asparagus, his trellises of tomatoes, and his creamy cauliflowers ever need to fear the criti- cism of his friends and neighbours, for that which is really useful has a dignity peculiar to itself, and makes its own assertion of its right to en- couragement. Whoever turns his skill and patience to account in the creation of the material necessities and luxuries of life, finds a source of special enjoyment in the work, as well as a welcome addition to the family means, and, to some extent, adds to the re- sources of his country, so that in profitable gardening a national end is served when personal and private benefits are aimed at only. To be sure there are people who say that a kitchen garden is an expensive affair, for "the cabbages cost five shillings each," but whether it shall be a gain or loss depends entirely on how it is managed, whether the owner tills the ground with his own hands, or, leaves it to a jobbing gardener to dig the ground six inches deep oc- casionally, and charge his own price for worthless seeds and plants that are incapable of attaining a profitable per- fection. By right management," on either a small or large scale, the cul- ture of edibles is immensely profitable, as everybody knows who is practically used to it; but it is quite an easy matter for folks, who take no real interest in a garden, or who have foggy notions of economical tillage, to pay very dear indeed for their luxuries, and at last to get tired of the attempt to fill a basket at its fair market value. The great enemy of gardening in the suburbs of towns is, not the smoke or the blight, or the exhausted soils, but the jobbing gardener, who fuddles away his employer's time, and his own earn- ings in the low enjoyment of beer. Out by the idea of utility that accompanies | of any hundred of such men you will 04 THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. find it difficult to select a dozen that may be trusted ; they take no interest in their work, for casual jobbing is at variance with a man's pride in his craft ; and between what your ground may produce, and what you may get, there may be the difference of many a parcel dropped over the wall to be converted into beer ; and as to the work generally, it is of a kind that leaves the surface of things neat for a day by a sleight of hand — there is no soundness, no heart in it. I know, from an experience of more than twenty years, that vegetable culture pays well when skilfully accomplished. I could grow cucumbers and celery fit for exhibition before I was fourteen, and though I have, between that time and now, been engaged in many various pursuits, the fertile soil has always been the anchor- ing of my sympathies. I like to see the well-planted rows following the " right line " of the geometrician ; I like to see the loam crumble from the' fork ; the pleasure of fruiting strawberries in pots, is worth ten times the market value of the fruit they give me, and if I were condemned to choose between flowers and vegetables, one department only to be allowed me, I should cling to the profitable garden, and give up the laughing Flora for the matronly Pomona, with a sigh of course, but not with a regret that would embitter me for ever. De- pend upon it, it is no mean art that enables a man to take off potatoes at the rate of five tons to the rood, to gather a thousand cucumbers from one vine, and then strike cuttings, and go on again without the help of seed, or to manage a succession of crops, so that there shall always be plenty and variety, and not a single waste leaf to cumber the ground. It is not a sor- did feeling that stimulates a man to cultivate such things as shall increase the enjoyments of his family, and prove welcome as gifts to friends ; and the task of rearing handsome crops of eatables, each in perfection at its sea- son, and some thrust out of their season, to gratify an honourable caprice, is one that has its rewards in many ways beside the profit; or, rather, the profit should be understood to include the pleasure attendant on the exercise of skill and industry, the source of health which a garden always proves to a man who loves it, and the per- manent inducements it holds out to exchange the excitements of the tavern, the theatre, and quarelsome debates on politics for fireside peace, and true home comfort. And this is equally true whether a man be called to the hurry of commercial life in town, or be blest with country air and singing birds in the midst of farms and gardens. I write as I feel on these matters ; I cannot bring myself to harsh prosing, when the subject in- vites one's heart as much as one's head, and the world is never more ready to pardon enthusiasm than when it is the sign and token of a love of out-door pleasures, and has for its end and aim the improvement of the social ties that bind the human family together. TO CORRESPONDENTS. Vines, with other Plants. —Amateur.— Vines may be, and are frequently fruited very suc- cessfully in houses containing mixed collections. The best system of pruning is the one you adopt; and the vines ought to give you a good crop this season. Carry a rod up each rafter ; let them break at about 50 degs!, aud syi-inge every day, taking care to keep the floor of the house as dry as possible, and to give air fre- quently, to prevent injury by damp to other things. If the roots are in the house, they will be sufficiently active to maintain the progress above ; but, if out of doors, they ought to be mulched over with litter, aud protected from heavy cold rains, by thatched hurdles ; though, if the border is warm, and well-drained, a little mulching with dung and leaves may be suffi- cient. Give as much moisture in the air, by syringing, as is consistent with the health of the other plants, which will now bear a mode- rate increase of heat aud moisture, without in- jury, if they have plenty of light. Increase the heat gradually to 65 degs., as the vines come into bloom ; and to set them well, syringing ought to be discontinued, and the house kept close and warm till the berries are formed. This is the time when greenhouse plants are apt to suffer, and the chief source of what little diffi- culty may occur in fruiting vines with other plants. As soon as the berries arc set, the syringe may be used again, and air admitted plentifully, to swell the berries, and keep down pests. In a house not artificially heated, good grapes may be grown : and, of course, the natural progress of the season will determine the order of their growth ; but where heat is at command, even to any amount, we should never force early, unless the house were appro- priated entirely to grapes, and then the vines may be broken from September to April, accord- ing as the fruit may be desired — early or late. A gentle heat should be used at first— not more THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 95 than 50 clegs. — to be gradually increased ; and the secret of setting the fruit well is to keep them close and -warm from the moment they begin to bloom, till the berries are actually formed, when moisture, and a gradually in- creased heat to 70 degs. may be used, with air at all seasonable opportunities. Of course, a great deal will then depend on the kinds of grapes grown, and, if with other plants, on their particular constitution. With general green- house collections, we should never break vines very early, but it would be even better to wait till they showed signs of breaking naturally, as the forward state of other plants at that time would allow of an increase of 10 or 16 degs. of temperature. — The calceolaria will have early attention in our pages. The placing of the calico under the sash is to allow thatched hurdles to be slid on and off all the winter, without damage to the frames. As soon as severe irosts are over, the frames are easily reversed, and when we used such frames, that was the way we managed them. Now, however, that glass is so cheap, we would nut ourselves give room for a single square yard of any substitute. Plants fob. a Cool Greenhouse. — /. R. says, " I am often absent from home, and my greenhouse is rather neglected, and generally no lire lighted unlets frosty, the thermometer often falling to oj degs., but never lower. I, therefore, want plants that will stand this low temperature, and be none the worse. I grow Azaleas, Camellias, Plumbago Capensis, Tacsonias, Fuchsias, Gera- niums, dec, very well, but want others tor variety, particularly in April." — If the management of a collection in a house which never descends below 35 degs., is judicious, selections may be made almost at random, from catalogues of greenhouse plants, and the taste of the grower, not the temperature of the house, may determine the nature of the stock. The family of Ericas alone would furnish flowers for every month in the year, and there are none better adapted for such a cool house. Even Choi ■ ozemtis, which we generally consider to require a temperature averaging 50 degs. all the winter, would do if kept nearly dry, and that is the turning point of the whole affair, for a temperature of 40 degs., which we take to be the winter average of the house, will keep any greenhouse, and many stove plants, and to have something to look at all the year round, there are hundreds of really choice things that would grow all the winter at that average. We should not hesitate to trust Boronias and Hoveas in such a house, provided the alternations of temperature were not sudden ; and the list given at page 23 may be selected from according to your taste, excepting only Adenandra, Epacris, Pultenrea, Gompholobium, and Thunbergias ; for early blooming, you should have Orobus vermis, Bossiwa buxifolia, cordi- J'ulia, and ovata, Cytisus atleeana, and proli- ferus, Coronilla emerus, Crotaluria argentea (subject to green-fly), Daviesia ungulata, Urevil- lea acuminata, Indigofera uustrulis, alopecu- roides, and amcenti. Anemones, Dielytras, Doronicums, Erithroniums, and things of that class are far lrom despicable to make a spring show in a cool greenhouse, The following are ad- mirable for suspension : Hibbertia grossulari- folcea, Rliodochiton volubile, Maurandia Bar- clayana, JEschynanthus, Abronias, Hedera cullisii, Davallia penla/jhylla, and Adianatum setulosum. A description of new and last year's fuchsias would take the whole space of a number. Yours is the Lady Fern, Moore's five-shilling Hand-book is an admirable work. Send a little parcel of the roots offered to 5, Paternoster-row, carriage not paid. Hoot-stumps, &c. — Vega. — To use roots on a lawn, it would be best to combine them with mounds of rock, well covered with ivy, to w evergreen shrubs, and such trailers as the major periwinkle, Abronia, convolvulus, &0. They are also useful about rockeries, and, if the hollows are filled with sandy peat and leaf mould, ferns will grow in them to perfection. Indeed, a picturesque fernery is nothing without plenty of well-planted roots. In "Rustic Adornments" jou will find very ample instructions for the uses of roots and rocks as garden ornaments.— Cuttings of Dielytra may be struck under a hand-glass all the summer, and at this present season in a moist heat in a propagating house. They root quickly in any light sandy soil. Though we never wanted plants from cuttings, having plenty by division of roots, we have struck them ail sorts of ways for experiment sake, and find that young shoots, nipped off clean and trimmed of the lower leaves, root readily, if shaded and kept moist, in ten to fourteen days. You may have hundreds of plants if you wish it, by striking them in a shady border, from the middle of May to the end of August. Any of the seeds- men who advertise in the Floral Woeld will supply you with either seed or plants of the Pampas grass, safe by post, but it is against our rules to specify dealers. Planting Rhubarb, &q.—Aii Ignorant Gardener — Your gardening friends may be a little preju- dicedtfco their own ways of doing things, but you may profit by their advices, nevertheless. Practical men differ as to their methods, and yet arrive at very similar results ; the grand thing is to know the principle on which an opera- tion is to be conducted. If you are bent on planting potatoes early, stick to your text, and if you plant them properly, you need not fear the consequences. But if your lriends give you a reason for deviating from an established rule, you may then judge of the value of the advice. Some years ago we astonished the most noted cultivator in a certain district, by trenching up the second spit of yellow loam on a piece for potatoes, and planting the crop on the first of February. But we had the crop up a mouth before the astonished veteran, and they weighed at the rate of one-third more than the piece on which he prided himself as the perfection of culture. Nevertheless gardeners are, generally speaking, an intelligent and thinking class; those who hold to the rules of their forefathers are the few not the many. Those who truth and wisdom heed, May gather knowledge iroin a weed. Ornamental Foliage Plants.— A Practical Gar- dener.— Mr. John Salter, of the Versailles Nur- sery, Hammersmith, has an extensive collection of hardy plants, with variegated foliage. His new catalogue, contains a selection of Wl distinct varieties of the highest merit. The subject will receive our earliest attention, for we are great admirers of this class of plants, and have long en- joyed the pleasure of their cultivation. We thank our correspondent, " a Practical Gardener," for his kind encomium on the Floral World ; he says— "I congratulate you upon the taste and judgment displayed in the first three numbers of the Floral World, and shall, I trust, continue to peruse its pages for a long time to come, with the same interest and gratification." Skeleton Leaves.— Adah wishes to know how to prepare these beautiful objects ; will some correspondent help her ; tor we know but little of the art. When preparing holly and other such leaves for the microscope, we have mace- rated in distilled water, with a drop or two of muriatic acid added to hasten the destruction of the soft parts, and then bleached with sul- phur. We have lately seen some admirable examples very tastefully mounted under glasr 96 THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. shades ; the objects selected were, fruits of the winter cherry, magnolia, holly, elm and oak leaves, and some thistle like heads that looked like a species of teazle. Perhaps our friend, Mr. B., of Reading will oblige us with some short practical hints. Dielytra Spectabilis.— Zinnia. — This lovely herbaceous plant is quite hardy, and does well in the open ground. We planted half-a-dozen stools in a border some three years since, and they have so increased that we might make hundreds of strong plants by dividing them. Now is a good time to turn them out of pots, and though they will grow in any kind of garden soil, a light rich loam is the best. If you want them to bloom well this season, turn them out without breaking the ball, but if you want to increaseyour stock, divide the root so as to pre- serve a crown to each division ; plant in deep rich soil and mulch with old dung, and they will grow as freely as peonies. Slugs, fyc.—E. R. G. — Your only hope is in a vigilant system of trapping, and if you perse- vere you may get rid of every slug and wire- worm in one season. Put little heaps of brewer's grains about near their haunts, and examine these every morning, and destroy every one you find. Or lay cabbage-leaves under tiles, and every morning take them up, and make away with the spoil. The best traps for wire-worm are slice3 of potato, or carrot, buried six inches deep, and a stick put over each, to mark it. These should be taken up once a week, and well examined, and the worms will be found feasting on the pulp. Thunbergias.— Rose may ensure germination if the seed is good, by sowing in peat, and plunging in a rather moist strong hot bed, or if in a Walto- niau case, a temperature of 80° may be given till the seeds come up ; then to be reduced a little. The stove is the proper place for Thun- bergias, the soil, leaf-mould, peat, and a little old dung, and a plentiful admixture of crocks and old mortar. Summer temperature 65° to 85°, and the plants to be destroyed in Autumn, to save the trouble of keeping them, or even of preserving cuttings No young hand can expect to keep Thunbergias over winter. Cacti.-/. D.—l. Probably a Cereus, 2. An Opuntia, 3. Eohiuocactus, 4. Epiphillum. This is mere guess work of course, and until they flower it will be impossible to name them accurately. Vine Culture. — Hoare's first treatise. "Lind- ley's Guide to the Orchard." There's an exel- lent short treatise in the Cottage Gardener's Dictionary, article "Grape Vine." Gourds.— Squash.— You Should grow the Mam- moth, the Peturion, and the common Pumpkin. For delicacy of flavour, the Custard marrow. METEOROLOGICAL CALENDAR FOR APRIL. 30 DAYS. WEATHER NEAR LONDON, APRIL, 1857. 30 WEATHER NEAR LONDON, ArRIL, 1857. BAROMETER. THERMOM. WIND. RAIN. DAYS. BAROMETER. THERMOM. WIND. RAIN. MAX. M1N. MX.MN. MN. MAX. MIN. MX. MN. MN. Th 1 29.460—20.279 56 44 50.0 SW .02 F. lfi 29.886-29.763 51 27 39.0 SE .13 F. 2 29.379—29.113 58 42 50.0 SW .14 s. 17 29.925—29.911 CO 45 52.5 SW .00 S. 3 29.772—29.495 58 35 46.5 SW .02 s. 18 29.944—29.844 69 39 54.0 8 .00 R. 4 29.758— 29.714 54 48 51.0 SR .4S M. 19 30.131-29.878 68 32 50.0 SE .00 M. 5 29.641—29.548 67 49 58.0 8E .06 Tu 20 30.229-30.215 67 31 49.0 SW .00 Tu 6 29-785—29 558 63 38 53.0 SW .00 W. 21 30.239—30.196 62 42 52.0 NW .00 W. 7 29.949— 29. S8G 63 43 50.5 SW .12 Th 22 311.065—29.952 52 38 45.0 W .20 Th 8 29.916-29.758 60 87 48.5 SW .11 F. 23 30.022-29.927 48 24 36.0 NE .02 F. 9 29.602—29.501 63 32 47.5 s .04 S. 24 29.974—29.810 49 35 42.0 E .00 S. 10 29.465—29.370 65 39 52.0 SE .00 s. 25 29.726—29.632 48 33 40.5 SE .02 s 11 29 523—29.417 50 30 40.0 NW .09 M. 26 30.011—29.838 46 35 40.5 E .00 M. 12 29.463-29.038 54 32 43.0 SW .06 Tu. 27 30.061—30 011 50 32 41.0 IS .00 Tu 13 29.444—29.976 47 32 39.5 w .16 W. 28 30.051-30.021 47 23 35.0 N .00 W. 14 29.465—29.273 52 24 38.0 NW .00 Th. 29 30.049-30.010 60 27 43.5 NW .00 Th 15 29.680-29.563 55 25 40.0 SW .09 F. 30 30.098-30.040 55 33 44.0 N .01 AVERAGES FOR THE ENSUING MONTH. During sixteen years past, the average temperature of the month of April has been : — Max. 57° ; min., 39°; mean, 463"; so that April is 5Q warmer than March, S* above February, and 84° above January. During the same period 1.6 inches was the average fall of rain, being little different to the average fall of the three preceding months. The highest temperature observed in the month of April during thirty-one years past, occurred on the 28th, 1840: thermometer, 81°; and the lowest during the same period, on the 24th, 1854 ; thermometer 18S. The sun rises on the first of April at 5h. 38m., and sets at 6h. 31m. in the latitude of London. On the 30th he rises at 4h. 37m., and sets at 7h. 19m. ; the length of day in London on the 15th is 13h. 47m., and on the 30th, 14h. 40m., the length of day is therefore increased 6£ hours. Saturn will be the evening star during the ensuing month. PHASES OF THE MOON FOR APRIL, 1858. d Last Quarter, 6th, lh. 42m. p.m. • New Moon, 13th. llh. 15m. p.m. J First Quarter, 20th, 2h. 26m. p.m. O Full Moon, 28th, 2h. 56m. a.m. MEETINGS AND EXHIBITIONS, APRIL, 1858. Wednesday 14th, Thursday 15th, and Friday 16th, Floral Bazaar at the Crystal Palace, for the Exhibition and Sale of Flowers. — Wednesday 21st, and Thursday 22nd, Horticultural Society : Grand Spring Meeting at St James's Hall ; Exhibition of Hyacinths, Tulips, Narcissi, Orchids, Pelargoniums, Roses, Fruits, and Miscellaneous Spring Flowers.— Wednesday 28th, Oxford Floral Society's first Exhibition : Hyacinths, Pelargoniums, Camellias, Annuals, Foliaged Plants, and various Florists' Flowers. — Thursday 29th, Royal Horticultural Society of Dublin ; First Spring Meeting, and General Exhibition. *#* Secretaries will oblige by forwarding Announcemeni<, Schedule?) n of a frame, or to take up and p >t for early blooming in the greenhouse. Lovers of the Chinesa primula should sow now for the next spring. Late planted roses should have plenty of water, and the surface mulched, and similar treatment given to hollyhocks and chrysanthemums put out last month. Car- nations and picotees should be staked with- out delay, and their shoots thinned. Part and pi int polyanthuses and primroses that have done blooming, and give them a rich loam and a shady aspect. Where it is in- tended to have new gravel, it would be ad- visable to defer it till the beds are filled, and the whole garden acquiring its full sum- mer gaiety, a coating of fresh gravel then will add much to its fresh and bright appear- ance. Greenhouse. — Continue to strike bed- ding stock for late blooming. Fuchsias, ge- raniums, verbenas, and petunias make beau- tiful specimens for pot bloomingin the autumn, if struck now and kept regularly stopped till July. They should not have a high temperature, fuchsias especially, which like shade and moisture. Cinerarias done bloom- ing should be cut down and planted in rich soil, in a cold frame, to furnish offsets for potting. Camellias and azaleas that have made their young shoots should have a little more ventilation to prepare them to go in the open air next month to ripen their wood. AH growing plants, and especially hard wooded ones, must be regularly stopped, and have plenty of air, to insure a sturdy short- jointed growth, and tiffany, or the canvas called '• strainer," put up inside the house, where moderate shading may be necessary. Pelargoniums out of bloom to be cut in and allowed to break before repotting them, and the syringe and fumigator kept in use. as may be neo ssary, to de-troy red spider and green- fly. Fire heat should be dispensed with as much as possible, preparatory to clearing and cleaning out the house. Stove. — Pines must be shaded on bright days, and the soil about them kept regularly moist, and liquid manure use J frequently. Suckers should be removed as soon as they make their appearance, except so far as they may be required for stock. Queens never produce good fruit unless the suckers are re- mov< d early. Young pines, for winter fruit- ing, should be in a rather light soil, to pre- vent excess of moisture from stagnating about them. Vines that have their roots in inside borders should be liberally sup- plied with water, and the shoots should be tied in, in good time. Vines in pots will re- quire frequent supplies of liquid manure, and stopping of laterals mu«t be attended to, to regulate the growth. Red spider must be kept in check by the use of sulphur, and the best method of using it is to paint the pip^s with a mixture of sulphur, lime, soot, and water. Go over the bunches occasionally, and thin them regularly, to promote their beauty and the size of tbe berries. Melons just planted must be kept close and warm till the roots get to work, and then a short-jointed growth should be encouraged by moderate ventilation and abundance of light. Average temperature for pines 7.5 dogs, at night, 85 to 00 degs. by day; for general collections, 65 to 70 degs. at night, and 75 to 85 degs. by day. THE CULTURE OF THE CALCEOLARIA. Many enquiries having been made as to the treatment necessary for the Calceolaria, we have preferred to introduce the subject by way of review of one of the numbers of a work which has been in progress during the past fourteen months, and a volume of which, under the title of " Garden Favourites,"* is now completed. The work has been pub- lished in sixpenny number.;, each number being devoted to some favourite flower, and is profusely embellished with wood-cuts and coloured portraits of noted varieties. The botany and literary associations of the several flowers are copiously treated of, and the chapters on culture embody the author's experience during many years practical cle- * Garden Favourites and Exhibition Flowers, their Hi>tory, Properties, Cultivation, Propagation, and general management in all seasons. By Shirley Hibberd, author of "Bustle Adornments for Homes of Taste,' &c. London: Grocanbridge and Sons. THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 115 votion to floriculture, so that its completion adds another volume to the class of hooks in which our literature is already so rich — iv viable books on practical horticulture. After some remarks on the use of the Cal- ceolaria for bedding', and an account of the. in - traduction of the original species to this country, the author gives the following in structions on its •' GESEHAL O0I/TIVATIO2T. " The whole code of Calceolaria-culture may be deduced from the recorded natural habits of the plant. Dryness, heat, a close atmosphere, and 'coddling' in any way are death to it. Green fly, thrip, red spider, and constitutional debility make friends with the Calceolaria whenever it is denied fresh air, a cool, moist soil, and abundance of light. Pot plants, therefore, whether shrubby or herbaceous, are not to be so exposed to the sun as to get their roots heated ; nor must they ever flag for want of moisture — even in their young st.ite damp is less injurious than drought ; and, above all things such a degree of hardiness as they do possess is to be encouraged, and this even in winter, so long as they do not get positively frost- bitten. " Calceolarias may be readily divided into three divisions, two of which are striking and distinct ; the third is a recent blending of the other two. Herbaceous Calceolarias are most strictly florists' flowers; they are more tender than the shrubby kinds, less easily propagated and preserved, and belong to the gre?nhouse and the exhibition stage rather than to the garden. Their large blooms are produced on long foot-stalks, and usually have more character as regards floral development than the flowers of the shrubby sorts. Unlike the latter, they do not bloom continuously, but in a series of separate efforts : whereas, when once the shrubby kinds begin, they keep gay for the rest of the season, and their flowers being smaller and less perfect individually, but more profuse, coming from all parts of the plant, while the habit of the shrubby kinds is closer, more bushy and compact ; and hence for bedding they necessarily take pre- cedence. "The third kind is the result of successful crossing of the other two ; they are semi- herbaceous, combining the more hardy habit of the shrubby kinds with the larpe spotted or self-coloured flowers of the tender kinds. These latter are in much request, for the strictly herbaceous kinds are so apt to die off the first or second year after being raised, that growers become weary of purchasing them ; and to obtain their fine flowers on woody-stemmed plants, having the habit of continuous blooming and easy propagation, was a triumph of no small import. We have yet to learn how far this crossing will effect the selection for bedding ; the true shrubby kinds, having for the most part vividly- coloured flowers and strong constitutions, keep the lead that way, while the new inter- mediates are much esteemed for pot-culture. "The soil for Calceolarias should be a com- post of four parts yellow loam, one part leaf mould, one part very much decayed cow- dung, and one part sharp sand. In the earlier stages of growth more sand and less dung may be used. "The comparative hardiness of the Calceo- laria must never be forgotten. Though it takes a gentle heat kindly, and especially in propagating, its strength can only be pro- moted by a fair exposure at all seasons of the year, except during severe frost. The shrubby bedding kinds winter well in cold pits, or in the coolest part of a greenhouse ; and where there is neither of such contri- vances, a simple board on hinges in a shel- tered corner, to keep off storms and intense sunlight, with a bed of coal-ashes beneath, will carry them safely through all the four seasons, except when severe frosts prevail." Omitting Mr. Hibberd's instructions on hybridising and saving seed, the following may be useful to many who would like to raise a collection from seid. "propagating by seed. " It maj' seem a loose way of treating the subject, but it is really true that you may sow when you like, grow them in any way you please, and bring them into bloom at almost any season, if you have the aid of a greenhouse, and observe these principles of culture which arise out of the habits of the plant. " Suppose you begin in March. Sow in pans, when the plants are up and strong, prick them out round the edges of pots an inch and a half apart. Keep the surface always moist, and as soon as they touch each other, pot them singly in three-inch pots, with loam, pi at, a little sand, and veil-rot- ted dung, and as soon as they fill the pots, shift into four-inch ones, and th^n bring them into bloom. They may be made liner still by another shift into six-inch pots, and it may be necessary to pinch out the trusses as they show, to increase the size of the plants; and when their roots fill the pots again, they may be allowed to bloom, and, if carefully tended all through, will not need tying up, which, in nine cases out of ten, is an ac Ithat testifies of careless culture. 116 THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. During the hot season when they blossom, thej' must have an abundance of water, liquid manure occasionally, and, if placed anywhere so tint the sun beats on the pot, let them be plunged inside larger pots, and the space between the two pots tilled in with moss kept constantly moist. "CDXTUKE FOR EXHIBITION. "To grow them for exhibition, it is best to sow any time in August, but it is quite possible to bloom fine plants in twelve-inch pots in May, by sowing as late as the first week in September. At this time of year it is best to sow them out of doors, and the procedure is as follows :— Select a shady spot, strew it with salt, and cover it with a laver of coal-ashes; then mark spaces for handlights, and lay another three inches of coal-ashes where the lights will stand, and another sprinkling of salt within and with- out the coal-ashes. This plan will give a quietus to worms and slugs. Then take some seed-pans or six-inch pots, half fill ■with drainage, on the drainage place a few lumps of tough peat or moss, and then fill up with a fine compost of leaf-mould, loam, and sand; water well, and leave them to settle ; the next day sprinkle on the soil some dry mould very fine, press smooth, and sow the seeds thinly, giving them a covering of sand; put a square of glass over each pot, and then cover with the handlights. "If properly managed, the pots will not require watering till the seedlings are up, but if they do, dew them by dipping a hard- brush in water, and then drawing the hand across it, so as to scatter a fine spray with- out washing up the seeds. As the plants show, tilt up the squares of glass by degrees, and at last take them away, and give air by degrees by tilting the hand-light. At this stage there is a liability to damping, and to prevent that, lift the plants tenderly in little patches, and prick these out into shallow pans, and treat as you would cuttings for a few days, watering by means of a brush, or surfacing the soil by pouring the water on a pieee of tile held close to the spot. Water- ing overhead is a bad practice with young seedlings. In about three weeks, prick out again separately, an inch or so apart, and then note which take the lead ; but it will be worthy of notice that the backward plants are likely to turn out the best. " The next shift will be to three-inch pots, though some of the forward plants may have four-inch, to be shifted again about the middle of October into five-inch for blooming in May. The weak ones may be pricked out once more, giving them clear three inches every way. After this shift, prepare them for wintering; a cool frame doe3 well for them, indeed, they may be raised under frames instead of hand-lights. All they need is to be kept moist and secure from frost, say in a temperature for herbaceous kinds of from 38 to 46 degs. The shrubby sorts will bear exposure even to 32 degs., if kept hardy by a good circulation of air pre-^ viously and during every intermission of frost ; and though all are fond of moisture, it must not stagnate much about them when wintered at a low temperatur;. If in a greenhouse, give them plenty of air, and guard against close heat and dryness. Plung- ing in moss is always a safe plan for Calceo- larias in a greenhouse. If any are wanted early, they may be hurried into bloom at a temperature of from 50 to 60 degs., if kept plunged and well supplied with air. "After the winter frosts are over, they make a rapid start, and to keep pace with their growth, shift them as they fill their pots; and if large specimens are required, pinch off any flower-stems that appear, and give them another potting. In this way the shrubby sorts will fill twelve-inch pots by the end of May, and bloom superbly at the end of June or the beginning of July. Herbaceous kinds bloom best in six-inch pots, but if kept from flowering, may be pot- ted on and bloomed in eight-inch pots to advantage ; indeed, the first-blooming stems frequently come very irregular, and if pinched off when about three inches above the sur- face, and the plant shifted to a pot one size larger, they throw up several stems of equal strength, and if they require it, may be neatly staked so as to enable them to expand regularly. "Although shrubby Calceolarias may be grown successfully in one uniform compost of sweet fibry loam four parts, sand, leaf-mould, and old cow or stable-dung one part each; it is advisable in the final potting of the shrubby kinds to adopt Mr. John Green's method, the value of which is proved in his great success as a raiser of first-class varie- ties. He first secures good drainage by a layer of potsherds, then a quantity of bog- mould and cow-dung in lumps as big as a hen's egg, then potsherds again, filling up with a mixture of loam and well-decayed cow-dung. The plants are then placed where they can be shaded with gauze or tiffany, and the house being closed early in the after- noon, the leaves are syringed all over, and the temperature kept at 45 degs. at night I and GO degs. in the clay, giving air as much as possible. As soon as "the plants make fresh root, they may have abundance of water, and, iu addition, once a week liquid manure from well-fermented sheep's-dung." The author recommends propagating the THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 117 herbaceous kinds by division, the plants after blooming to be placed in a cool frame, and earthed up, to cause the side shoots to make roots; he then describes the following me- thod of propagating the shrubby kinds. PROPAGATING BY CUTTIN'GS. " To secure abundance of cuttings of the shrubby kinds, plant them out in the garden borders as soon as they have done blooming, and stop the leading shoots. As soon as these shoots show a little woodiness of texture, slip them off, trim away the lower leaves, and then insert in a cutting-pot, with an inch of pure white sand on the top of the compost. In a cold frame they will root in three weeks, when they must be potted off in small pot*, kept shaded for a week in a cool frame, and then set out in the open air on a bed of coal-ashes till the pots are filled with roots, and from that time the culture will be the same as detailed in the previous chapter. On a north border in autumn, shrubby Calceola- rias may be easily struck in almost any quantities from a few strong plants that have flowered. Pascall's patent cutting-pot, which is made with a rim to receive a bell- glass, does admirably for such propagation. Though generally used in the culture of ferns, these pots are very convenient for cut- tings of all hard-wooded plants ; we can keep them close with a glass, and at the same time have the cuttings next the side of the pot, where they always root most readily. Since autumn-struck plants grow very fast in the sprinsr, there is little need for keeping old stools through the winter, unless to take more cuttings from in spring. Mild bottom- heat makes them strike rapidly then, but the grower must be cautious not to cut off stems that are setting for bloom, for these will never strike. A blooming stem may be known by the space between the joints becoming longer than in young growing wood ; and if cuttings from plants in which the space between the joints has begun to lengthen be desired, it will be necessary to top them ; they will then throw out side- shoots, and every one of these will make good plants if struck with bottom-heat in spring, and then grown on quickly in the way already described. There is nothing- like young plants ; old ones are seldom worth their keep ; and for bedding out, the shrubby stock ought to be struck in autumn." LIST OP VARIETIES. In the work from which we are quoting, the following are accompanied with descrip- tions of habit, colour, &c, which, for want of space, we are compelled to omit, giving the names only. The * indicates suitability for bedding purposes. " Tweloe New Calceolaria/, liaised by Mr. Cole, of the Keyjield Nurseries, St. Albans. ''Gem, Indispensable, King of Yellows, *Yellow Prince of Orange, *Lady Middle- ton, *Yellow Dwarf, *Rubra, Snowflake, *Dropmore, Canary Bird, Clown, '"Cali- fornia. "Fifty-seven Older Varieties. " Those marked for bedding are good for pot culture, but not vice versa. "Albira (Cole), Ajax (Pince), *Aurea floribunda, *Amplexicaulis, Attraction (Perkins), Brunettia (Henderson), *Beauty of Montreal, Camden Hero (Barnes), *Crimson King, Corr.ggio (Henderson), * Cleopatra (Cole), Comet (Cole), Con- spicua (Cole), ^Desirable (Perkins), Don Satumio (Henderson), Don Francisco, (Henderson), Eclipse (Rollison), Ethel Newcome (Henderson), *Erecta, Emperor Napoleon (Youell), General Canrobert (Henderson), "'General Pelissier (Hender- son), *Goldfinder (Cole). Golden Cap, *Golden Chain, *Hawk (Cole), Harlequin, (Cole), Hebe (Cole), Kayi, *King of Sar- dinia (Cole), Lady Grenville (Cole), ^Lemonade (Cole), Lady Isham (Perkins), Maggiore (Henderson), Minnie (Hender- son}, Norma (Henderson), Negro (Nelson), Noveltj- (Cole), *Orange Perfection (Cole), *Orange Boven (Cole), *Pallida (Cole), Pilot (Cole), *Prince of Orange (Cole), Purity (Cole), Rosy Morn, Red Rover (Henderson), Surprise (Henderson), Sultan, *Sulphurea splendens, Shirley (Henderson), Shankleyana, *Superb (Turner), Tamber- lik (Cole), Vezzoza, Viscosissima, Welling- ton Hero (Henderson), Wildfire (Hender- son." Considering the beautiful manner in which these treatises are got up, both as to typography, and the beauty of the illustra- tions, it is the cheapest series of the kind ever attempted. In the number before us, the coloured portrait of Cole's " Gem " is worth more than the sixpence charged for the num- ber. The work has had a large sale in its serial form, and will doubtless sell still more extensively when presented to the public in the form of a handsome volume. 118 TO CORRESPONDENTS. The Wlngkd Pea. — The applications for seeds of the "Winged Pen were so numerous— numbering nearly Ave hundred — that it would have been im- possible to have supplied all the applicants, unless the number of seeds sent to each had been reduced. For the first few days after the April number was published, six seeds were enclosed in every envelope sent, but the arrival of heaps of letters by every post, compelled me to reduce the number to four, and I think some of the later applications were answered with threes only. As it is a mo-t prolific plant, those who like it when they see it in bloom, may save plenty of see.l by leaving the pods to ripen, so that in a second season, tney may have plenty. The re- mark of a correspondent that winged Peas ought to go further than any other kind, is sniewhat borne out in this: ease, for letters have come from very distant puts for them, and the applicants include people of all ranks ;— titled dignitaries, nurserymen, gardener.-, and humble cottagers. It is a pleasure, therefore, to know that the Floral World is winged and takes its monthly flight 1 1 many a remote comer of the world, as well as to the thousands of green nooks nearer home. Having to travel much during the past month, and my engagements being unusually nu- merous and pressing, I could not attend to the distribution myself, but those friends who sent me seeds ia exchange, and others who asked for information, or expressed kindly regards — and the number oi the latter was agreeably many — are desired to accept this general acknowledg- ment of their welcome favours. Such letters as seemed to require my attention, were handed over to me, and I believe every one has bad ac- knowledgment. Hut among so many, something may have escaped me, and should it so happen, I bog those friends who may think me neglectful, to believe that I have no greater pleasure than in receiving their letters, and answering them to the best of my ability, but leisure is au enjoy- ment I know nothing of, and occ.tsional absence from home compels me often to deter replying to the many letters I receive until they have accumulated to a tremendous pile. " Better late than never," is then the motto, and " first come, first served," the ru.e of practice. The Winged Pea is quite hardy, grows from four to six inches high, and branches very much, so as to require at least four ii dies from plant to plant. It likes a deep moist loam, and may be planted any time from the lirst of February to the first of June. As a matter of course, it does not re- quire sticks. It is quite au old thing, :md its bo- tanical name is Tivtragonolobus purpureus, for- merly classed with Lotus, as Lotus tretragunolo- bu.s.-S. H. Faiiiv Rings.— A Kentish Amateur asks for in- formation as to those rings of grass which grow above the ordinary height in meadows and iu woods, popularly called "Fairy Circles," and supposed to be the haunts of the Curies, Our correspondent is in error, in supposing that the question has never been satisfactorily answered. for this is one of the many pretty fragments of folk-lore which science has robbed of its poetry, by a very clear exposition of the facts of the ease. In a work on country scenes and occupa- tions, called "Brambles and flay Leaves," lately published by Messrs. Longman there is a full account of tne superstition itself, and an analysis of the natural phenomena attending it. The author states that the origin of every fairy ring is a fungus, and the agarics are those which most commonly give rise to them. In the decay of a fungus, a large amount of phosphates is returned to the earth, and the grass which was originally displaced by it, takes possession of the spot, and the phosphates deposited there, furnish it with a rich manure, in which it grows more luxuriantly trail elsewhere. In the mean- time, the fungus has distributed its spores in a circle, and when this circular growth of fungi passes away, the grass take's possession of the first ring so formed, and its \igorous growth gives it the rich dark colour by which it is dis- tinguished from the surrounding herbage. The fungi which formed the first ring decay in their turn, and scatter a fresh ling of spawn ou'si le the first ; their growth being always towards the soil on which there have been no lungi, while the grass regularly follows, and thus the riug grows larger year after year. It would occupy many of our pages to follow the explanati in into all its details, and we must therefore beg our correspondent to remain content with this brief reply, unless he should refer to the work from which we gather these particulars, in order to study the subject in all its bearings. We may, however, add, that edible fungi are very commonly found on fairy rings, and are asso- ciated with them in the minds and experiences of those who hold to the ancient notion of the faiiies dancing at night on these, their magic tirc!e3. The best champignons wo ever gathered were from a fairy ring on llampstead Heath, some fifteen years since. Culture of Hydraxgeas.— Li. — "We grow a great number of Hydrangeas in the same way as fuchsias, coccinea, and such things out of doors. We plant in deep loam on a shady bor- der, and give abundance of water all the summer. In autumn they are cut over close and mulched with leaves to protect from frost. In spring they throw up strong shoots, and flower as freely as a Monkshood or a Dielytra. The shoots re- quire a little thinning, to give shape to tho plant, and strength to the bloom. For pot cul- ture, hydrangeas may be struck at any time, and nothing roots with more certainty, if young side shoots are taken and put in sand, with a little bottom heat. Old ripe shoots will strike in the open air, but take longer. The best soil is one third peat, one third leaf mould, and one third strong loam ; the pots to be well drained, and the plants to have plenty of water. Weak manure water promotes the formation of fine heads of bloom; cuttings struck iu summer and grown in a greenhouse, and stopped iu the autumn, will flower early the next season ; and there is no plant more certain to bloom freely, if the wood is well ripened in the autumn. The production of blue hydrangeas depends entirely on the nature of the soil; there is no specific to be relied on, though a solution of alum is often used for the purpose. When the blue colour is ooiaiued, it is not permanent, and it occurs only with young plants at their first blooming. For bedding plants, the shoots containing bloom-buds may be taken off, and struck with a moist bot- tom heat, and then bedded out to bioom ; they manage them this way at the Crystal Palace, but we cannot say that we admire such beds, or think the hydrangea at all a tit subject for masses, though trufy bemtiful in pots, and iu good spe- cimens in borders and shrubberies. Plants for Conservatory. — R. E. — Without knowing the sort of structure you wish to stock, it is impossible to advise. For instance, Camel- lias are fine conservatory plants, but it would be absurd to plant them in a Wardian case. From your note, we cannot tell whether yours is a Fern case of the dimensions of a few square THE FLOKAL WORLD AND GAKDEN GUIDE. 119 feet, or of the size of the Crystal Palace. We cannot give specific answers to vague queries. Write *gain. Bowing Tuunberglas.— A. B. ('. — T hunbergias, Daturas, #e., may be raised without ahot-t>ed in a greenhouse, but it would be better to wait till June, unless you can place the pan containing the seed on the top of a bober, or on the flue to give, them a start. Xne Waltoniau Case is a capital invention for such thing?, as by means of au oil lamp, costing only a shilling a week, hun- dreds of seedlings of stove and greenhouse plants may be raised either in a greenhouse or sitting-room. We once saw an old gardener, who was pressed for room, starting seeds of stove plants in a shallow zinc pan on the top of a kitchen boiler, where the soil was kept at 80 or 90 degs. till the seedlings began to rise, when room was found for them in a house where they could have sun and fire heat, as well as light, to keep them going. Persons whose means are limbed, should defer sowing seeds of tender things until the season is a little advanced ; after Midsummer the ground is a natural hot bed. and by shutting a frame close in the lull blaze of the sun, many seeds that ordinarily require artifi- cial heat, may be started during .May and June. Ornamental Grasses. — Gramjnee. — Wo quite agree with you that this subject deserves special treatment, and we shall endeavour to fulfill your wish. At present our anxiety to meet the ex- pressed wishes of many readers, prevents u^> devoting any space to the subject, but your sug- gesiion shall not be forgotten. We have just sown oa a border appropriated to botanical rather than ornamental subjects, the follow- ing very pretty grasses, namely : — Agrostis stolonifera, brown bent Agrostis; Annual Poa; Festuca ovina (useful for edgings), Festuca duriuscula, Festnca darnel rum, Meadow Fescue, Evergreen Perennial Bye, Sweet Vernal (An- thoxanthum). Meadow Fox-tail, Everlasting Yellow Suckling, Crested Dog's tail, and Cock's foot. The noble sedges of South America will some day find their way into our collections, and the Pampas Grass will have a rival in the beauti- ful Schizolepis Geitneriana, the Selena, and others of its c!as9. The Goldeu Arundo australis is a beauty not often seen, and the European Cla- dium Germanicum, deserves a place in collec- tions of Gramma?. The increasing love of ferns and grasses, is an evidence of greater refinement and taste, lor in the gradations of the beautiful form must certainly take precedence of colour, or sculpture would have to play second fiddle to painting. The Floral World will certainly take iu hand the whole stock ol ornamental grasses. Plants for a Sootkby,— Rusticu* will find just the information he requires in Mr. Copland's article iu the present number, and he may also refer to page 95 of last mouth's number of the FjjOBal World, where Vega is advised as to the use of roots on a lawn. To hardy ferns and ornamental grasses, dwarf growing conifers, such as Junipers, Finns humilis, &c, with Gatd- theria procumbens, and double Furze may be added. For gay effects, such traillers as Ver- benas, Abronias, Tormentillas, Vinca major variegata, convolvulus, and -the variegated varieties of Ivy will be found useful. In the drier parts of rockeries, Sedums, Houseleeks, Variegated Alyssum, Variegated Daisies, Mountain Pinks, any species of Chieranthus, and Antirrhinum, with hardy Heaths, and Salvias would be useful. The Golden Stonecrop, of which we have, through the kindness of the original possessor, obtained a few plants, will soon be used extensively, for the sunny sides of rockeries, and during winter will make .them as gay as Sedura acre does, when it is blazing with bloom. STRAWBEERr Culture..— Major General G ■ offers a hint to the growers of strawberrie3, apropos of our recent review of Mr. Mc Ewen's viluable work' on the subject. He says, if old tan is used to fill up the iutervals between the strawberry plants, snails will avoid touching the fruit, ana it will grow perfectly clean. The General also suggests, that we should attach prices to plants noticed in our pages. This would be trenching somewhat on the dealer's depart- ment, but we know not but what it might be done fairly, and as a matter of information. If, on further consideration, we conclude that it may be done, we shall attach the average prices to our notices of new plants. Iu reply to the General's query as to the price of Berberis Japonica, we beg to inform him that the prices range from half- a crown to fifteen shillings. We paid Mr. Stanriish twelve and sixpence for a strong plant, with seven fine leaves thoroughly hardened, which is now breaking beautifully. We should recommend no one lor the next twehe months to pay less than half-a-guinea or seven and sixpence, so as to ensure specimens that will stand the open air at once. Dung Bed.— Noi-ire. — You made up your bed too quick, and the heat burnt the cuttings : quite a common accident for a novice, and not altogether a rare thing with practical men. A lew days ago we met one of our most eminent market growers, with a face as long and uninviting as a barn door— he had just lost the best of his stock of encumber plants in a similar way. You should have turned the new dung twice at least, and have got it a little dry after such a soaking, but like many other people, yon were in too great a hurry to do the thing properly. When we speak about the beat neces-ary for cuttings, it must be understood as bottom heat, andtroin the end of Mareh to the end of ApriL cuttings of the majority of bedding plants will stand 90q till they get rooted, but it must be a sweet moist beat. Green Fly.— A B.—To fumigate your small pit, take a twenty-four sized pot and tit within it a piece of old tile, such as is used for covering smoke flues, or, better still, a piece of iron one inch thick and three inches over. Get a quarter of a pouud of strong shag tobacco, and soak it in a strong solution of salpetre, and when quite dry, make the tile or iron red hot, drop it into the pot, place the tobacco on it, and shut the pit close so that none of the smoke can escape. Leave it so all night, and in the mor- ning syringe the plants. A week after, repeat the process if it appears to be necessary, and you will be free of fly for months afterwards. Two smokings are better than one, because there is usually a second crop of fly produced by such as escaped the first smoking. Waterln-g Plants.- Z- Z.—T&0 wonder your plants look chilled, if you dose them with abun- dance of cold water. Our plan of watering greenhouse plants, especially when they are growing or blooming freely, is first to throw into the water p:jt a small nugget of soda or pearlash, say as large as a pea to every gallon. On that we pour about a pint of boiliug water, and then fill up with cold. It is then just tepid, and if the plants want water, a drench over head and suffi- cient to soak the roots, makes them grow heartily and vastlv improves their healthy green colour. We frequently use water quite hot, and have syringed blooming cytisuses, geraniums, pri- mulas, cinerarias, &c, with it all this season. Cool Greenhouse.— /. J?.— Your explanation of the defects of the house alter the case consider- ably. You should grow plenty of herbaceous spring flowers and Cape and British bulbs, for which, bare protection from frost is sumcient. 120 THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. Thanks for the fern roots : we will not tax you for more. Trumpet Lily — Li. —This lovely plant is one of the easiest to manage. In many places of the south of England, you see them in every cottage window, whore they nourish as well as gera- niums. The warmth of a room during wintef, is sufficient for it, with plenty of water when it begins to throw up its bloom, and when going to rest, to be kept nearly dry. Fibry peat, with ricli loam in lumps, is the best soil lor it. It is not a Lily, but an Arum, and its botauical name is Calla JEthiopica. Various.— T. H. 2?.-Stocks and Asters like good loam, with a little old dung and plenty of water all the summer. Most other annuals do best in poor soil. Rus in wrAe— Calceolarias require a compost of loam, four parts, leaf mould, one part, one part decayed cow-dung, and one part sharp sand. Young plants like a little peat and less dung. Plants or seed of Pampas grass may now be obtained of any respectable nurserymen. Apply to any who advertise in the Floral World. Amateur. — Carnations thrive best in a soil composed of rotted turf, very old dung, and turfy peat, equal parts ; with one half part of clean gritty Fand. Your plants should have ful exposure and plentiful watering. Those for bloom this season should have been in their blooming jots by the middle of last month, at the latest Pot them in pairs and give plenty of pot room, and as the flower stems rise, give a weekly dose of manure water. /. Sweet. — Thank you for your kind letter and its suggestions. We have had similar thoughts. — J. C. — Next month. — H. D. P.— Pour boiling water round the sides of the frame, or strew old tan over the surface of the bed between the plants. METEOROLOGICAL CALENDAR FOR MAY. 31 DATS. WEATHER NEAR LONDON, MAT, 1857. 31 DATS. WEATHER NEAR LONDON, MAT, 1857. BAROMETER. THERMOM. WIND- RAIN. BAROMETER. THERMOM. WIND RAIN MAX. M1N. MX.MN. MS. MAX. MIN. MX. MN. MS. S. 1 30.037—30.070 56 37 46.5 N .00 M. 17 S. ? 30.073-30.016 56 26 41.0 E .00 Tu. 18 M. 3 30.133—30.115 57 31 41.0 NE .00 VV. 19 No Returns. Tu 4 30 169—30.105 56 23 39.5 NE .00 Th. 20 W. 30.230-3ii.210 i 55 29 42 0 NE .00 F. 21 fi 30.219—30.184. 55 25 40 0 E .00 S. 22 29 846—29.793 60 47 53.5 NE •20 F. 30.135-30.111 | 56 28 42.0 E .00 s- 33 29.598—29.462 66 49 57.5 E .23 ft 30.029-29.90S 60 32 46.0 E .00 M. 24 29.623-29.472 70 40 55.0 SW .00 S. M 29.805—29.731 65 $4 49 5 E .00 Tu 25 29.492—29.384 69 40 54.5 E .05 Hi 29.691—2H.626 60 46 53.0 E .01 W. 26 29.629-29.520 70 33 54 0 8 .00 Tu 11 29.765— 29. fi23 72 38 65.0 E .30 Th 27 29.780—29.646 73 36 54.5 SW .00 1', 30.027—29 934 75 31 53.0 SW .04 1 R 28 29.835-29.573 74 50 62.0 E .00 13 30.054—30.002 72 49 60.5 NE .00 1 8- 29 29.984-29.881 66 49 57.5 NE .00 F. l'l 29.975—29.950 71 40 55.5 E 00 ft. 30 30.027-29 985 63 39 51.0 NE .01 15 iM. 31 30.062-30.023 08 32 50.0 E .00 S. 16 No Returns. | 1 AVERAGES FOR THE ENSUING MONTH. Tub month of May, 1857, was unusually cold, the temperature of the flrst week being, 9" ; anl heat ot 'the second week, nearly 2° below the average: frost occurred on eight nights, and dry cutting east winds were prevalent throughout the month. During sixteen years past the averages have been as follows Thermometer, max. 64°; min. 42 J ; mean 53° ; Barometer at sea level, 29.934, and the fall of rain 1 9 inches the same as the month of January. During thirty- one years past, the highest tem- perature observed occurred on the 23rd, 1847— Thermometer 89° ; and the lowest on the 2nd, 1855— Thermometer, 20°. PHASES OE THE MOON TOR MAY, 18o8.