1873.] GARDEN WORK FOR NOVEMBER. 261 



and support the others until thoy get hold of tho same ; tho result being a beautiful crop 

 of Peas quite three Treeks before the tall sorts are ready to gather, thus giving a double croji 

 off tho aamo ground, and with tho same sticks. 



Amongst recent Presentations, we may mention one made to il/r. W. 



Dodds, gardener at Asliton Court, near Bristol, on the occasion of his leaving 

 that situation. The Presentation, consisting of a silver biscuit-box, which, with 

 the stand, was elaborately engraved and ornamented, bore tho following inscription ; — 

 "Presented to Mr. William Dodds, by the workmen of Ashton Court Gardens, as a mark of 

 their esteem and respect. — Sept. 25, 1873." 



SSJhen young Araucarias have lost their leader, or have from any 



cause become disfigured, they may be made to form a new leader and assume 

 their wonted sjmimetry, simply by cutting them down, when a fresh shoot will 

 be at once formed. It is necessary, however, to cut close down to a whorl of branches, other- 

 wise the loader may start from too high a point of tho stem, and so an unsightly interval may 

 be tho result. 



©HE Sptrcea venusta, or Queen of the Prairie, thrives well in the light 



sandy peat of the Knap Hill Nurser}!-, where we lately saw a large bed of sturdy 

 plants in great perfection. It may well bear its name of " beautiful," for few of 

 our herbaceous perennials are more comely, though it is now seldom met with in gardens. 

 Its elegant pinnately-cut leaves form a pleasing base, from which in succession throughout 

 tho summer rise the flower-stems, having just the habit and aspect of our Queen of the 

 Meadows, but with the flowers of a charming rosy-pink, clear and bright, though soft in hue. 



8^E lately saw in the garden of Mr. Mackay, of Totteridge, plants of 



Linncca borealis, growing with the utmost freedom and vigour under circumstances 

 which were somewhat peculiar. It was planted in pots, and placed in a cold, 

 moist, and rather shady greenhouse ; the long trailing branches wore ti'ained upwards within 

 a loose kind of trellis of sticks and matting, about a foot high, and were intended, when they 

 had reached the tojD, to fall over, and assume a drooping character. Mr. Mackay finds the 

 Linncea to strike very freely from cuttings put in in the autumn months, and the plants thus 

 I'aisod appear to grow away with extraordinary vigour. 



§Sesides the firms mentioned at p. 236, as having obtained Medals at 



the Vienna Exhibition, we may add that the Medal for Merit was awarded to 

 Messrs. J. B. Brown and Co., for wire-netting exhibited by them. 



©HE pretty plant, known as Vittadinia triloba in gardens, has recently 



been shown by Dr. Asa Gray to be not that plant at all, but the Erigeron 

 viucronatum of De Candolle, a native of Mexico, Venezuela, &c. 



GAEDEN V^OEK FOE NOVEMBEE. 



FLOWERS. 



k-LOWEES out-of-doors are now reduced to a minimum ; possibly a few late 

 Tritomas may still be blooming away amid the wreck of fading annuals 

 and bedding-plants. Among the former, few things stand autumnal rains 

 and early frosts better than the common white Sweet Alyssum, which seems 

 even whiter and sweeter than usual amid the fast-falling leaves. It is 

 singular to note the difference in hardiness amongst some bedding plants at 

 different seasons of the year. Take, for instance, the Iresines. Few plants are 

 more easily injured by frosts in the early spring or summer ; but in the autumn, 

 they may be whitened over and over again by hoar frost quite with impunity. 

 Even the two kinds differ in the power of enduring cold, almost as much as in 



