285 



A CiAT CHIMXEY AND A PEAaEANT GAEDEX WALK. 



The following directions " To dress up a 

 chimney very fine for tlie summer-time, as 

 I have done many, and they have liked it 

 very well," is extracted from a curious 

 work, entitled, " The Queen-like Closet, or 

 Rich Cabinet," by Hannah Woolly, 1 681 :— 

 " First, take a pack-thread, and fasten 

 it even to the inner part of the chimney, 

 so high as that you can see no higlier, as 

 you walk up and down the house. You 

 must drive in several nails to hold up all 

 your work ; then get good store of old 

 green moss from trees, and melt an equal 

 proportion of beeswax and resin together, 

 and while it is hot, dip the wrong cuds of 

 tha moss in it, and presently clap it upon 

 yeur packthread, and press it down hard 

 with your hand. You must make haste, 

 else it will cool before you can fasten it, 

 and then it will fall down. Do so all 

 round where the packtln-ead goes, and the 

 next row you must join to that, so that it 

 may seem all in one. Thus do till you 

 have finished it down to the bottom ; then 

 take some other kind of moss of a whitish 

 colour and stiff, and of several sorts or 

 kinds, and place that upon the other, here 

 and there, carelessly, and in some places 

 put a good deal, and some a little. Then 

 any kind of fine snail shells, in which the 

 snails are dead, and little toadstools, which 

 are very old, and look like velvet, or any 



other thing that was old and pretty. Place 

 it here and there as your fancy serves, and 

 fasten all over vvitli wax and resin. Then 

 for the hearth of your chimney you may 

 lay some orpine sprigs in order all over, 

 and it will grow as it lies. And, according 

 to the season, get what flowers you can, 

 and stick in as if they grew, and a few 

 sprigs of sweet-bi'iar. The flowers you 

 must renew every week, but the moss will 

 last all the summer, the orpine will last 

 near two months." 



Oue phrase in the above should 

 particularly recommend it to such of 

 our readers as, in the nice language of 

 tbe day, have a love of propriety. " Lit- 

 tle toadstools, etc., and anything old 

 and pretty." Was ever antiquity so 

 smoothed over? The culinary recipes 

 have nothing remarkable in them. Every- 

 thing, to the meanest meats, is sipped in 

 claret, steeped in claret, basted with claret, 

 as if claret were as cheap as ditch water. 

 I remember Bacon recommends opening a 

 turf or two in your garden walks, and 

 pouring into each a bottle of claret, to 

 increase the sense of smelling, being no 

 less grateful than beneficial. We hope the 

 Chancellor of the Exchequer will attend to 

 this in his next reduction of French winea, 

 that we may once more water our gardens 

 with right Bordeaux. 



NOTES FOE DECEMBEE. 



KITCHEN GAEDEN. 



Plantations of rhubarb, seakale, aspa- 

 ragus, and horseradish, may now be made. 

 A lot of roots of the common dandelion, 

 packed together in leaf-mould, and put 

 into gentle heat, and the daylight wholly 

 excluded, will furnish a delicate salad in 

 five or six weeks. Pascall's seakale pots 

 are best for the purpose. Get together 

 everything available for manure, and keep 

 each kind of manure as separate as pos- 

 sible ; and, as far as possible, keep dung, 

 and all soluble matters under cover, for 

 they lose much of their properties by the 

 action of rain. Tliis is a good time to 

 make new drains, and improve water- 

 courses, during open, frosty weather. 



rKXJIT GAEDEX. 



Big round old fruit-trees, and lay down 

 a layer of old dung, six inches thick, in a 

 ring, three feet round the stem of each, 

 and the size of the fruit will be improved 

 next season. Trees that are sufficiently 

 luxurious should not have manure. Eoot- 

 prune any trees that grow too luxuriautlv 



to bear well. Give protection to any ten- 

 der fruit-trees, and lay boards in a slope 

 over vine borders, to shelter them from 

 excessive cold rains. Unnail from the 

 walls the younger shoots of tender wall- 

 trees, to prevent premature breaking. 



PtOWEE GAEDEIs-. 



Bulbs ought to be all planted by this 

 time, but if any remain out of the ground, 

 get them in without delay. Take up tea 

 roses that are in exposed situations, and 

 lay them in by the heels in a shed, out of 

 reach of frost. Cut down fuchsias that 

 are to remain out all the winter, and cover 

 their roots with litter or coal-ashes. Pan- 

 sies, pinks, and other choice things in open 

 beds, should have a little light litter sprin- 

 kled over them in frosty weather, or be 

 protected with canvas on hoops. Tulips 

 protect in the same way. Look over plants 

 in frames, and take off dead leaves, and 

 keep the plants moderately dry. 



GREENHOUSE AND STOTE. 



Chrysanthemums will keep the houses 



