THE FLORAL WOULD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



79 



the work, and there will be no losses. 

 By the time the geraniums, verbenas, 

 and other flowering bedders are in 

 full bloom, the Autennaria will be 

 thick and silvery, and will continue 

 so till frost cuts it down. It may 

 remain in the ground all the winter, 

 and the next season will come on 

 early and strong. As a single line 

 of 100 feet will be very thin, the pos- 

 sessor of 100 plants to begin with 

 ought to be content with a row of 

 fifty feet. A line less than a foot 

 wide we consider weak. In a really 

 good ribbon the third or fourth row 

 ought to be at least fifteen inches 

 wide, and better if eighteen inches. 

 To do this on the dibbling system 

 the lateral spreading of the plants 

 must be made the most of. As this 

 does not spread much, but is of up- 

 right growth and has small leaves, 

 the planting should be within three 

 inches of the boundary each way. 

 Suppose we mark out the line a foot 

 wide, thus — 



* * * * 



* *S: * = 



4f. ^ 4{. ^ ^ 



^*-JFt^^ww^4? 



To fill this quickly plant along 

 the centre, and again three inches 

 distant from the centre each way, 



and then as cuttings come to hand 

 plant in the same lines to thicken 

 the mass, and the side-growths will 

 quite fill the twelve feet width. A 

 circle of fifty feet for a third row in 

 a bed would require a very large bed, 

 larger in fact than most people would 

 care to be troubled with ; so every- 

 body who has received a packet may 

 use it for one composite bed with 

 very little trouble. 



Those who do not care to make 

 cuttings, and who are content to wait 

 till next season for a stock of the 

 plant, are advised to leave their roots 

 where they are, whether in the 

 ground or in pots, till the end of this 

 month, then let them be taken up in 

 showery weather and divided, and 

 planted separately in the borders or 

 reserve ground, and there let them 

 grow as they please, and leave them 

 alone. In March next year take up 

 and divide again, and so on till there 

 is enough to turn it to account for 

 bedding purposes. 



This is a long story to tell about 

 a plant of such humble pretensions, 

 but whoever chooses to take it in 

 hand and follow the advice here 

 given, will gain practical experience 

 of some value, and which may be put 

 to other purposes in time to come. 

 S. H. 



ADYERSAEIA. 



Speing Flowees. — The Floral 

 WoELD has always advocated the 

 plentiful culture of phmts suited to 

 keep up the gaiety of the garden, 

 from the first day of spring sunshine 

 till the rains and frosts of autumn 

 make rambling more of a pain than 

 a pleasure ; and then we have always 

 said there ought to be something 

 worth seeing from the windows in 

 beds of conifers, hollies, rhododen- 

 drons, and other shrubs with varie- 

 gated leaves or scarlet berries. Now, 

 how does the case stand with our 

 readers ? Have they plants of Au- 

 brietias, double daisies, yellow and 

 white Alyssums, and that prettiest 

 of all the spring flowers, the ever- 

 green Iberis ? Bat there is no need 

 even to be without flowers in the 



open ground any day the whole year 

 througJi. The winter aconite, JEran- 

 this liyemaUs, has often been recom- 

 mended in these pages, but I never 

 saw how splendid an effect it pro- 

 duces when grown on a large scale 

 till February last, when, on visiting- 

 Messrs. Frazer's nursery, Lea-bridge 

 Road, I found myself on the Field of 

 the Cloth of Gold, for the aconites 

 literally carpeted the beds with their 

 pale yellow blossoms, and the sun- 

 shine gave them two additional shades 

 of yellow, 80 that they glowed al- 

 most as brightly as calceolarias, and 

 the blossoms lay flat on the soil and 

 had the help of its dark contrast. 

 The Christmas Hose, Selleborus 

 nicjer, was blooming at the same 

 time in the greatest profusion, though 



