Angnat 22, 1987. 1 



JOURNAL OF HORTIOULTUBB AND COTTAGE GARDBNEB. 



135 



for tliemBclves the merita of the two varieties. — Edwaud 

 Bennett, OsIit/oh Hall, IVorksop. 



I FIND Altemanthera paronychioidea one of the easiest of all 

 plants to strike when placed in a proper temperature — namely, 

 in that of a Melon or Cucamber pit, where it will take root in 

 the course of ten days, and bo fit for potting off. After this 

 has been done it ought to be placed in the same temperature 

 for three weeks, and by that time the plants will be well rooted 

 and cover the mouth of a large (iO-sized pot. If intended to 

 grow much larger they must have a larger shift and still be 

 kept in tho same temperature, for I found that after the hard- 

 ening process began there was but little growth, and up to the 

 present time the progress has been small ; consequently my 

 edgings are nothing to be compared to what they would have 

 been. Still, every one can see at a glance what a beautiful 

 edging this Altemanthera would make when planted as thickly 

 as it ought to be — that is, the plants touching each other when 

 first planted out. 



Tho temperature in which I keep my plants is that of a cool 

 pit or greenhouse, where they remain healthy. About the 

 middle of March I place them in the stove, and I soon have 

 plenty of first-rate cuttings. 



Every one appears to be of one opinion 'with respect to 

 that fine bedding plant Viola cornuta. Here it is a perfect 

 gem ; but my experience seems to be at variance with the 

 recommendations given by some of your correspondents. In- 

 stead of its succeeding best in a shady place, with me just the 

 reverse is the case, for I have a border planted along the top 

 of a terrace on which the sun shines throughout the day, and 

 this border has been a mass of flowers since the first week of 

 April, and is still equally gay. On the other hand, I have two 

 beds in a shaded corner which have never approached the 

 border in point of display ; and at the present time the plant 

 has become so tall as to be quite unmanageable as well as 

 unsightly.— James Stewart, Nuneham Park. 



COTTAGE GARDENS. 



Or the various classes of society among which horticulture 

 as a science has made progress during the last few years, 

 none has, perhaps, benefited more than that to which this 

 Journal was originally directed — the cottager. Although the 

 flowering plants which thirty or forty years ago constituted 

 the gems of a collection that was tho pride of its owner, have 

 considerably declined in public estimation, still the plants 

 which have succeeded the pets of tho beginning of this cen- 

 tury serve to a'lsure us beyond all doubt that the love for gar- 

 dening has increased manifold during that period ; and though 

 the Ranunculus, Auricula, and Carnation may have given place 

 to plants which tho lovers of old fashions and the lovers of 

 change alike condemn, the spirit of inquiry, emulation, and 

 perseverance has been so successfully at work, that there can 

 be no question the number of those who are ardently fond of 

 their garden has very much increased within the last few years. 

 Many causes, no doubt, have tended to promote this result. 

 The absence of those desolating wars which broke up so many 

 families in years gone by, the more rapid propagation of 

 sound and useful information through the medium of the 

 general press, as well as in the class of periodicals devoted to 

 the especial object in view, the formation of societies whose 

 object was to give encouragement to horticulture, and the fos- 

 tering care and patronage of many of our great landed pro- 

 prietors, have done much to promote a love of that science 

 which offers the more beauty and enjoyment the more it is 

 searched into. Certain it is that the homes of numbers of the 

 working classes, whose callings are purely agricultural or 

 otherwise connected with rural affairs, present, in many in- 

 stances, an aspect of neatness not known some years ago. 

 Several years since I called the attention of the readers of this 

 Journal to the subject, and I make no apology for doing so 

 again, as it is one that cannot be too well ventilated, nor can the 

 merits of the various plans that are recommended for the at- 

 tainment of the object in view be too well understood ; for the 

 object being a most laudable one, the various means used by 

 private individuals to promote its advancement ought not to be 

 lost on the rest of society for want of being made known. 



Taking it, therefore, for granted that the encouragement of 

 horticulture and of thrifty habits amongst agricultural and 

 other labourers in rural districts is an object worthy of the 

 patronage and aBslataneo of their wealthy brethren, let us see 



how this can be effected. Many, if not most, provincial horti- 

 cultural societies assume to encourage cottagers by offering 

 prizes for fruits, flowers, and vegetables, singly or collectively ; 

 and the quality of the produce exhibited on such occasions fully 

 equals that from the more favoured classes. This may seem 

 to the cursory observer a proof of the good so done, while an 

 examination into the names given on tho winning sheet will 

 disclose tho fact that the same names have figured there for 

 some years. The competition is thus left in the hands of a few, 

 who — being in the occupation of better gardens, perhaps, than 

 some of their neighbours, being more ardently devoted to the 

 attainment of perfection in the culture of their plot of ground, 

 or having possibly acquired the art of preparing its produce for 

 show purposes — contrive to secure to themselves the greater 

 part of the prizes offered for garden produce. This state of 

 things is no overdrawn picture, for there are few horticultural 

 shows of a dozen or more years' standing where there is not 

 ample proof of its existence. Notwithstanding that now and 

 then stringent rules are brought to bear against the system, 

 the number of cottagers exhibiting produce decreases rather 

 than otherwise, and although the quality of the produce ex- 

 hibited may be faultless, yet the object for which such prizes 

 are given is not the one originally iutended, and there is a 

 difficulty in prescribing a remedy which usually baffles the in- 

 genuity of the managing committee. 



Now, having mentioned the above evil as resulting in large 

 horticultural societies undertaking the duty of encouraging 

 cottage gardening, it is by no means to be inferred that much 

 cannot be effected in promoting the object in view ; but then 

 the competition must be on a less extensive scale, and instead 

 of inviting the produce from the best cottagers' gardens in, 

 perhaps, half a county to be sent to a large town, let there be 

 a number of smaller shows, say one to every hundred dwellings 

 or so, or, as is the case in the south of England in many places, 

 one to each parish. The patronage and support of the wealthy 

 proprietors are of course necessaiy to this ; but the outlay will 

 often be found an advantageous one, for habits of thrift, order, 

 and neatness will invariably follow in the train of a well-cul- 

 tivated garden, and the moral character of a district will be 

 raised accordingly. The working of the matter should be in the 

 hands of those who know the circumstances of each of the 

 competitors ; and these also, living as they do in proximity 

 to each other, cannot venture on any act of fraud without their 

 neighbours being likely to find it out. The exhibition of the 

 produce at some given place will always afford an opportunity 

 to those who dispute their neighbour's production being really 

 from his own garden, to expose any impropriety that may be 

 suspected, and its punishment of course is sure to follow. 



But it is not the mere exhibition of garden produce at any 

 one place for prizes that is the best test of the industry and 

 good management of tho various exhibitors. Their holdings 

 must also be examined, and it is of far more consequence to 

 reward merit displayed at home than the production of laige 

 Onions, Cabbages, Potatoes, or other useful articles ; for an 

 inspector will be able to see if the most has been made of 

 everything, and by the condition of the various crops he will 

 be able to judge how the grower has done his duty in times 

 past, and what he is doing for the future. I therefore regard 

 prizes for well-kept cottage gardens and premises generally 

 as being of more importance than rewarding the exhibitor of 

 produce for articles of superior merit ; for accidental circum- 

 stances may sometimes assist an exhibitor in obtaining a prize 

 in the latter case without much effort of his own, but he carmot 

 keep a tidy well-managed garden without an amount of labour 

 for which "he is deserving of a prize. The larger fruits will all 

 grow where the soil and situation are favourable for them, 

 when the trees are large, without much help from the occupier 

 of the garden for the time being, and I have seen fruit from 

 such trees obtain prizes, whereas the cultivated part of the 

 garden was a complete bed of weeds : this, however, is not the 

 case where the prizes are awarded for well-kept gardens and 

 premises generally. 



In giving advice to those who may be desirous of encouraging 

 a high state of cultivation amongst their poorer neighbours, 

 I must beg to differ from the views entertained by many, who 

 commence the pursuit of the same laudable object by giving an 

 undue importance the to cultivation of flowers. Certainly, I 

 admit that nothing adds more to the charms of a nice cottage 

 garden than a bed of mixed flowers standing forth between its 

 front and the public highway, but too much value has often 

 been placed on them. They are not the most useful articles 

 in the garden. The row ot Scarlet Buoner Beans, which pei- 



