THE FLORAL WOELD AND aAEDEN GUIDE. 



27 



watei- alternately. I begun to use the 

 mixtui-e when the plants had filled eight- 

 inch pots mth roots, at the latter end of 

 June. My last shift was in the latter end 

 of May, fi'om 32 size pots. Diu'uig very 

 hot weather (which we were not favovu-ed 

 with last year), I shoidd recommend the 

 use of cow-manure for solution instead of 

 sheep's-dung. 



I hear with much pleasiu-e that Mr. 

 Shh'ley Hibberd intends to give a set of 

 meteorological instruments for the best 

 set of chrysanthemums of varieties recently 

 introduced, at the next Stoke Newingtou 

 Exhibition. The schedides of chrysan- 

 themum societies have been too much 



modelled m the same groove, and this is a 

 move in the right direction to get out of 

 the groove into a new and practical march 

 of improvement. It is to be hoped that 

 the local societies will establish classes for 

 pyramids and standards, so as to give 

 encoiu-agement to all the modes of cidture 

 with wliich we are at present acquamted. 

 Above all, the Eoyal Horticidtural So- 

 ciety ought to set an example, especially, 

 by encovu'aging pyramids, ^vhich, I beheve, 

 will eventually be pronounced preferable 

 to squats. J. Monk, 



Gardener to J. C. Heath, Esq., 

 Balham Hill. 



EVEEGEEEX BEDS. 



At different times and in different ways 

 the attention of om' readers has on several 

 occasions been dii'ected to the subject of 

 evergreen beds, and any one diligent in 

 searching for usefid information may find 

 in past volumes some considerable amount 

 of information, especially on the kinds of 

 plants best adapted for this kind of deco- 

 ration. In one sense we are in this matter 

 only deaUng with the "clump" system, 

 under which American plants first took 

 their proper high place m ornamental gar- 

 dening. But the cliunj) system does not 



suit everybody ; for instance, it does not 

 suit me, and, as there are thousands of 

 enthusiastic gardeners situated as I am, 

 the plans I adopt generally prove inte- 

 resting to those in the like predicament, 

 that is, with an enthusiasm a good deal 

 too big for the place. Tlie idea of the 

 clump system is the grouping of plants 

 of a sort in large masses, and in pubh'c 

 groimds and large private gardens it is 

 in this style of planting we visually see 

 the rhododendron used, and during the 

 blooming season the beauty of such clumps 



