488 



DOMESTIC NOTICES. 



ception of onions, of the ashes of which it forms 

 19 per cent. Coal ashes ought to be as benefi- 

 cial to onions, therefore, as to corn, both of which 

 largely demand this substance, of which coal 

 ashes are mainly composed. 



To raise good peas, a soil should contain plenty 

 of potash, soda, and phosphoric acid} for beans 

 rather more potash is necessary 5 celery demands 

 potash, lime, and phosphoric acid; onions soda, 

 lime, sulphuric acid and silica; cabbage, a large 

 proportion of lime ; potatoes, chiefly potash and 

 soda; beets the same — but most of soda; carrots 

 potash and lime; and radishes a large proportion 

 of phosphate. 



An easy way of applying potash or soda is to 

 dissolve about ten lbs. in a hogshead of water, 

 and sprinkle thoroughly a load of crude peat or 

 swamp muck. This will reduce the peat to the 

 condition of an active manure, and then if used 

 precisely as manure, it will furnish a proper sup- 

 ply of potash and soda for such vegetables as re- 

 quire it. 



It is owing chiefly to the want of potash in the 

 soil, that beans and other vegetables requiring 

 new soil, refuse to yield good crops in old gardens. 

 In such soils the potash is exhausted by long 

 cropping. 



The judicious use of animal and saline manures, 

 will enable the kitchen gardener not only to raise 

 much larger, but much better crops of vegetables 

 than by the ordinary course of cultivation. 



Bedding out Flowjirs. — As the first of this 

 month is the season for preparing plants for bed- 

 ding out, I venture a few remarks on this head. 



Every good gardener, whether amateur or 

 practical, knows that at the present day all the 

 finest flower gardens depend mainly on half hardy 

 or tender plants for their most lasting and bril- 

 liant elfects. Such plants as verbenas, petunias, 

 (I mean the fine sons,) scarlet geraniums, salvias, 

 pcnstemons, and the like, when planted in masses 

 or small beds, give a richness and beauty to the 

 flower garden which annuals and perennials can 

 never compete with. 



As I observe many persons are ignorant of the 

 method of treating these plants, and usually keep 

 a few in their green-houses, and thence turn them 

 out early in May in their borders, without any 

 hardening, whereby they greatly satfer, I will de- 

 tail my practice fur tiicir benefit. 



I mean now to give, not the best way for the 

 plant grower on a large scale, but for those who, 

 like myself, have a small collection, and wish to 

 have their gardens handsome in summer, without 

 giving much room to the necessary plants in their 

 green-house in winter. 



I suppose, then, that you have the mother plants 

 growing in your garden in summer. About the 

 labt of August you take some medium sized pots, 

 and stick a dozen cuttings in each, of all the sorts 

 you wish to preserve. The old plants may then 

 be left to their fate, and these " store pots" will 



occupy but little room in the green house. They 

 must be watered sparingly in winter, and must 

 have plenty of light, so as to preserve them in a 

 healthy state, not liable then to dwarf off. 



About the 20 th of March prepare a common 

 frame, in a sheltered sunny place. You do not 

 need anything but glass; manure, as in a hot -bed, 

 is superfluous, as the glass will give heat enough, 

 and you will cover the frame at night with mats 

 or straw, to keep the frost out. At this time pre- 

 pare some good, rich, light soil, with plenty of 

 fine charcoal and rotten sods mixed in it, and 

 turning the rooted cuttings out of the store pots, 

 repot each singly in small pots, and put them in 

 this frame. The frame should be kept pretty 

 close till the plants have made new roots and 

 commence growing nicely, when air should be 

 freely admitted mid-day, when the sun shines. As 

 soon as the weather becomes warm, expose them 

 still more, until for a week or ten days before you 

 wish to set out the young plants in the borders, 

 (which will be about the 15th or 20th of May,) 

 the sashes should be left off day and night. In 

 this way, the plants will have much more health 

 than if kept in the greenhouse till wanted, and 

 will not be at all afleeted by the change from 

 under glass to the open air, which often ruins 

 half hardy plants. 



I cannot conclude without recommending to 

 your readers Penstemon gentianoides , and its va- 

 rieties, as plants for massing. It is beautiful in 

 foliage, and very rich in the color of its blossoms. 

 Yours, jln Amateur Florist. New-York, March. 



Pear and Quince Stocks. — Bear Sir : I have 

 been all the day engaged in my pear nursery; 

 and having seen the result of an experiment made 

 about this time last year, I give it you for the 

 benefit of whom it may concern. I received a 

 lot of seedling pear stocks last season; and when 

 planting them out, I concluded to try if the roots 

 would not grow. I therefore took ott' the tap root 

 about four inches long, and planted it with the 

 larger end just even with the surface. The cut- 

 tings were generally about the size of a swan 

 quill. About one-half grew, and are larger than 

 two year old stocks, received from Rochester, N. 

 Y. Some of them would measure three-fourths of 

 an inch in circumference, and three feet high. 



When putting out grafts last year, I made use 

 of the upper part of stocks as a temporary stake 

 to hold a label, until I could put up stakes with 

 numbers. The stakes were put in, and the pear 

 switches left. I find to-day about two-thirds of 

 them growing, with fine roots, and some few are 

 nearly three-fourths of an inch in diameter, and 

 five feet high. 



Quince stocks received from western New- 

 York are about the size of a goose quill, — but not 

 a large one either. This induced me to measure 

 mine; these were put out cuttings last January, 

 and to-day measure one and a half to three inches 

 in diameter, and three to six feet high. I have 



