172 THE FLORIST. 



FLOWER-GARDENING. 



I OFTEN feel greatly annoyed at seeing flower-clumps in such a state 

 as to be any thing but pleasing or interesting; and this notwithstand- 

 ing that there had been bestowed upon them a sufficient amount of 

 time and expense to have rendered them as beautiful as they should 

 be. It is not at all uncommon to see a number of half-hardy plants 

 stuck into spaces amid a thicket of annuals and strong-growing plants, 

 and the latter allowed to take their own course, which is speedily to 

 smother the former and then one another; and when they have done 

 this, they are removed to allow the half-hardy plants to display their 

 beauty ; but instead of healthy specimens clothed in the gayest colours, 

 it is found that they are one- half dead, and the others useful only as 

 a source of grumbling ; and we frequently see persons neglect the 

 propagation of half-hardy plants until the season is too far advanced 

 to allow of their being rooted and sufficiently hardened to resist the 

 effect of the damp and sunless months of winter under the circum- 

 stances in which they are placed. I also ver)?^ often meet with in- 

 stances in which the plants are so misplaced in planting, that their 

 beauty and effect are sadly marred for the whole season. Now I 

 imagine that a few hints as to how these things ought to be done 

 might be useful, especially to some of your fair readers, of limited 

 gardening knowledge and means. 



If by the time that the October Number of the Florist is in the 

 hands of the subscribers, the frost has not done its work among the 

 flower-beds, it may be expected that they will soon be stripped of 

 their beauty ; therefore let no time be lost in examining the present 

 arrangement, and noting its defects and deciding upon a system for 

 next season. The want of a decided plan by which to work in the 

 busy season of planting, is perhaps the greatest cause of failure ; and 

 I don't think that I can give any better directions as regards this part 

 of the work, than to advise ladies to study the arrangement of the 

 bouquet with which they are in the habit of daily furnishing their 

 sitting-room table, and gentlemen amateurs to copy from the same; 

 for I have often been amused with the contrast of the arrangement of 

 these two, when both were the work of the same head and hands — 

 the arrangement of the bouquet being such as to produce a perfectly 

 beautiful whole made up of the individual objects, which in the 

 flower-clump formed only a disagreeable mass of confusion; and this 

 entirely through their having been misplaced in planting, and after- 

 wards not attended to so as to maintain order and neatness. Now I 

 admit that it is much easier to arrange a bouquet than a flower-clump, 

 in so far as the different objects of the former can be placed and re- 

 placed as often as such may be necessary until the eye is satisfied 

 with the position of every individual sprig, and with the effect of 

 the whole ; but if this cannot be done with the subjects composing 

 the flower-bed in exactly the same way, it is nevertheless easily 



