82 THE FLOEAL WOELD AND GAEDEN GUIDE. 



most rustic or most refined of situations, where a bright and lasting 

 edging may be required. 



The following are capital edging plants, less generally useful, 

 perhaps, than the foregoing, yet requiring enumeration here to give 

 this article something like completeness : — Ac(je}ia nova Zelandica, a 

 small tufty hardy plant, like a cushion of moss, dotted with tufts of 

 red drosera. Antennaria tomentosa, a pretty little woolly plant, 

 hardy, and best adapted for dry sandy soil. Saxifraga umhrosa, the 

 well-known " London pride," a most beautiful plant at any season. 

 Seditm acre fol. var., the golden-leaved stonecrop, well adapted for a 

 dry, sunny place. Sempervivicm californicum. — This is quite hardy, 

 the leaves have bright brown points. If it grows out of order, it is 

 very easy work to take up and replant it. Sempervivum tectorum. — 

 The common houseleek. It makes a fine, bold edging. As for 

 edgings in general, there are hundreds of plants suitable, but we 

 have only now souglit for such as may be planted to last for years, 

 requiring no glass, and no particular skill to keep and cultivate 

 them ; and such as have been named above are undoubtedly the 

 best. S. H. 



THE VILLA KITCHEN-GAEDEN.— No. IX. 



BY J. C. CLAEKE, 



Head Gardener at Cothelston House, near Taunton. 



'AEEOTS. — The first sowing of these very useful roots 

 should be made about the beginning of March on a dry, 

 warm, south border, and if sharp frost sets in, the seed 

 bed should be protected with thatched hurdles, or some 

 long dry litter from the stable, to be removed again im- 

 mediately the weather is mild and open. The ground should be rich, 

 and deeply dug, and the surface quite dry at the time of sowing. 

 The best sorts for this early sowing are the French Horn, a small 

 and sweet carrot; and the Short Sor;?, whicb is well known. All 

 the crops of these roots should be sown in drills, one inch deep and 

 twelve inches apart. The early sowing may be left very much thicker 

 in the drills than those for the general crop, as being pulled in a 

 young state, they do not attain the size of those required for the 

 winter supply. They require careful hand weeding in the first 

 stages of growth, until the plants become large enough to enable the 

 cultivator to see the rows distinctly. AVhen the drills can be seen 

 from end to end, the Dutch hoe may be advantageously plied 

 between them once a fortnight to keep down weeds, and to open the 

 surface of the ground, especially if it has been battered down by 

 heavy rain. 



The principal crop should not be sown until the middle of April, 

 and the best sorts for this purpose are the Long Surrey and Altrincj' 

 ham. The first of these is the most elegant, the second the most pro- 

 fitable. Choose an open rich spot of ground that has been well 

 pulverized by the action of frost and air during winter, and see that 



