THE FLOKIL WORLD AXD GARDEN GUIDE. 99 



a much more artistic and finished appearance, than plants of the same 

 kind equally well grown in the open ground. The beautiful, clear, 

 reddish-brown colour of the refuse by contrast, brings out every tint 

 of green with peculiar brightness, and ^ffords relief to every kind of 

 flower. There is a peculiar charm about a well-furnished plunge 

 bed if the material consists of cocoa-nut fibre ; it is owing to the 

 colour of the material, which sets off and brightens every scrap of 

 vegetation, to which it serves as a groundwork. Another remark I 

 must make, which may be of interest to some readers, though it 

 arises out of my own professional duties and practice. The plunging 

 system affords me the means of perpetually comparing species and 

 varieties as to their habits and characters ; and without it, such a 

 book as the " Grarden Oracle" would be impossible, for I am makincr 

 notes in the fore-court for that work the whole year round. For 

 example, I grow in pots collections of hyacinths, crocuses, tulips, 

 geraniums, coniferous trees, ivies, etc., in some cases going so far as 

 100 to 500 varieties in one class. 



These are potted and propagated as required, kept carefully 

 labelled, and are variously brought into flower in pits, greenhouses, 

 and open beds, and are brought forward when in perfection, and 

 thus, during the greater part of the year, I have beneuth my window 

 a miniature flower-show. Do you remember the lovely weather we 

 had from the 20ch of February to the 8th of March ? Well, on the 

 20th of February last, we put out a good collection of crocuses, 

 tulips, and hyacinths, which had been broui^'ht on gently, and were 

 in splendid condition of leaf and flower. It is true that on the 10th 

 of March winter returned, and there was ample warning and ample 

 time for them all to be taken up and put under cover, and no doubt 

 nine-tenths of our readers, if possessing such a border, would have 

 saved the plants. Mine remain untouched ; snow and frost have 

 taken the shine out of them, but when the weather mends, the 

 borders will be touched over and refreshed, and there are plenty more 

 bulbs to take the places of any that may be found past their prime. 

 We potted 1000 picked bulbs of Hyacinths last autumn, and Crocuses 

 and Tulips in proportion, so we shall do pretty well till the Diely- 

 tras, yellow Alyssums, and white Iberises come on to follow them. 

 An amateur who has a passion for floriculture, and is compelled to 

 reside near a town, and put up with a small garden, may have full 

 gratification of his taste by following the plunging system, and may 

 soon have better collections of plants than the majority of people 

 possessing large gardens, and making pretensions to large practice. 

 Yet a third remark. The system is admirably adapted to produce 

 splendid effects by means of the cheapest plants, and a very large 

 proportion of the subjects grown ought to be hardy, and adapted to 

 bear some amount of rough treatment. 



Now let me suppose some one of our readers anxious to carry into 

 effect these proposals, with him or her the question will probably be, 

 " How am I to begin ?" I will endeavour to answer the question in 

 such a way as to suit a majority of cases. The first thing to be 

 done is to select the site for the operations, and here I would offer a 

 word of advice to this effect — feel your way carefully, begin with 



