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KPITOU'S TAnLE. 



±^^\ 10s. ; A. qninquevulnera (the best variety), £15 15s. ; Coelogyue Lowi, £22 Is. ; Vanda 

 violacoa, £20; V. suavis (Veitch's variety), £15 5s.; the larger variety of Saccnlahium 

 guttatnni, £17 17'!.; Pendrobium Dalhousieamun, £12 ; D. Fariiiori, £8; IMialajiiopsi.s 

 amabilis, £13 ; AiVi-T.-Pcum caudatum, £9 ; CattK-ya spectabilis (a kind in tbo way of mar- 

 ginata), £11 ; C. labiata, £10 10s. ; Cypripodium caudatum, £.0 ."Js. ; L:rlia grandis, £5 lOs. ; 

 and Oncidiuni Lancoanuui niajus, £5 Ss. ; other lots fetched from lO.s. to £3 per lot. 



OuxAMEXTS. — Rustic stumps and baskets arc highly ornamental, when k<'pt in ])erfect 

 trim. Few things look better in front of a cottage than a basket on a pedestal of uiibarked 

 timber ; the basket itself woven of stout willows, or made from well selected pieces of tree 

 lojipings — the hazel, especially. In the fall, such a basket might be filled with bulbs, and 

 covered thick with leaves in the winter. When these come out, it may be furnished with 

 showy annuals, or a mixture of half hardy shrubby exotics. The plants best suited for 



summer blooming in rustic baskets, and on 

 hollow tree stumps, are fuchsias, calceolarias, 

 geraniums, hydrangeas, petunias, cinerarias, 

 China roses, verbenas, nemophilas, mignonette, 

 pimpernel of all kinds, and mimulas. 



The stilf-growing plants should occupy the 

 entre, and those of drooping habit the sides. 

 If ferns are grown with flowers, the soil should 

 be a soft peat, with a mixture of leaf mould and 

 sandy loam. These ornaments require frequent 

 attention, and copious supplies of water. They 

 should be covered with pitch inside, to keep 

 them from the ravages of damp. On a large 

 scale, there is scarcely anything so suitable to cover the handles as the Dutchman's pipe. 



Slugs. — Procure a gallon or two of wh eaten bran, or brewer's grains, and on a mild even- 

 ing, just l)efore or after a shower, place little patches of it about the garden in all directions, 

 especially near box-edgings and similar places of retreat. About nine o'clock at night, pro- 

 vided with a good lantern and candle, and armed with a potful of air-slaked lime, visit all 

 the little patches of bran in succession ; you will probably be astonished at the vast num- 

 bers of these enemies congregated and feasting at your expense, when, with the pot of lime, 

 you can give them such a dusting as will prevent them from ever again troubling you. If 

 this plan be persevered in for a short time, the garden will be effectually cleared of slugs. 

 I have applied this remedy for many years, and have never known it to fail. — //. Mitchell. 



Ducks are said to be great destroyers of slugs and other vermin. Young broods may be 

 allowed to wander about the garden every evening, and it is amusing to see the zeal with 

 which they attack the enemy ; but quick-lime, used so as not to disfigure the garden (say 

 one peck per acre), if (juick and fresh, is an excellent remedy. 



Steeping Seeds in Glycekine. — About the end of March, 1856, some one had given this 

 out as an important discovery, to promote vegetation of seeds. It consisted simply in 

 steeping the seeds in glycerine. Being in the way of receiving seeds from various foreign 

 parts, with which I had often great trouble and innumerable failures, having found all 

 recommended appliances useless, a correspondent of the Gardener's Chronicle says : " I 

 set myself with avidity to try this new agent. Just then I had received a packet of seeds 

 from the Andes, containing a very rare Gentiana from the snow limit. Of all things, few 





