December 34, 



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jouRWihi'l)# 'MSMbri&bBk' '&^-^M'M'aikmM. 



477 



of sympathy, we more especially rejoice in wliat tends to enable 

 the strngRling to raise themselves, and although in fnUowing 

 this up, there may be heart pangs in leaving the homes of our 

 childhood and youth, we should never forget that 



" ' Tm-^ happiness hug no locilitios ; 

 Ko ti.'Ufs prt-'viuciai : nu peculiar ^'.irli ; 

 Wlicrc iluty went, she \vent, witli jnstiee wcut, 

 Ami weut with liieel;iie8!-'. ch.lritr. ituil luve, 

 ^\'h.Tc'or n tear wns dried, a w.mmioti heart 

 Jtouiiil up, a bruisctl spirit, with the Jew 

 Of fvniputhy aueiute J.' 



" Wherever, let ua add, there is a field for honest industry, a 

 sphere for developing rectitude of character, trust in rrovidenco, 

 and kind sympathy for our fellows, there will happinosa be 

 found." ■ 



SPRING FLO-^VT^RS. 



I WENT this year to see the spring flower garden at Belvoir, 

 and would strongly advise those who can, to pay Belvoir a 

 visit next March, or, perhaps, in the end of February, if the 

 season be an early one. I never shall forget the impression 

 it made npon me. No summer garden, however gay, could 

 compare favourably with the (juiet beauty of that fairy scene. 

 It was gay enough to satisfy any lover of colour, yet it was not 

 gaudy like some summer gardens, where masses of bright 

 colours, unrelieved and untoned, dazzle and fatigue the eye. 



Belvoir has great natural advantages for a spring garden. 

 With a warm oolitic soil many feet above the fogs of the valley, 

 the gardens sloping to the sotith, and screened in every diric- 

 tion except the south by beautiful woods, it enjoys a climate 

 nnmatched, perhaps, in the midland counties, still it wotild be 

 difScult to find a worse managed place than Belvoir was before 

 Mr. Ingram took charge of it. What are natural advantnges 

 without tho skill to turn them to account? After a very care- 

 ful survey of every part, I came to the conclusion that exijuisite 

 taste in arrangement had more to do with the effect than any 

 natural advantages. A situation whore Rhododendrons Noble- 

 anum, dauricum, and the hybrids of dauricum and ciliatnm, 

 &c., will every year escape spring frosts is not often seen ; but 

 the greater part of the plants employed may be grown in any 

 garden. I was so charmed with the general effect, that it was 

 some time before I could descend into particulais, and really 

 it was surprising what common plants were chiefly employed 

 — Common Primroses, Aubrietias, Arabis caucasica, Doronicura 

 cancasicum, Violets, Myosotis intermedia, Arabis variegata, 

 blue Pansies, Diisies white and red ; the chief effect was pro- 

 duced by these very common flowers. A few Tulips, Hya- 

 cinths, double Primroses, and Khododendrons heightened the 

 effect. Then there were beds of fjliage only, filled with dwarf- 

 growing Saxifrages and plants of that desciiption, which re- 

 minded me of Indian shawls, the quiet tertiary colours were 

 BO beautifully contrasted and blended. The whole left the 

 impression on my mind that few refined ladies had the ex- 

 quisite taste possessed by Mr. Ingram. 



I find most persons who saw Bilvoir last season think this 

 stylo of gardening can only be carried out by a duke. I believe 

 this is a great mistake. The summer garden — i.e., tho plant- 

 ing of Pelargoniums and other tender plants in large numbers 

 has spread till now every suburban villa is so decorated, and 

 in a little time few will be satisfied to have their beds bare 

 from October till June. It is not a very serious thing to plant 

 a lot of flowers ready prepared iu November, and remove them 

 to a clean piece of ground in the kitchen garden iu May. It 

 will be found to involve a greater amount of labour to keep 

 them clean without removal. Herbaceous plants standing long 

 in one place are very troublesome to keep alive or free from 

 weeds, and with few exceptions are better of a change of soil. 

 People in general appear to follow one of two ideas with her- 

 baceous plants, either to let them stand in one place till they 

 are too large for the situation, or die, as the ease may be ; or 

 else to remove them every year and cut them into small pieces 

 each time. There appears no necessity to leave a plant in one 

 place till the soil is exhausted, or to reduce its size when not 

 too large. Free-growing plants removed twice a-year maybe 

 always kept compact, yet large enough to produce the required 

 effect, and may also be planted thickly without injury. A 

 little forethought, a few beds in the kitchen garden, a few 

 trenches, as if prepared for Celery, in which to grow Primroses, 

 and a few day labourers, and all the beds last year filled with 

 beautiful flowers, now lying bare and desolate, might be filled 

 with plants, and next spring gay witli flowers. Let anyone 

 try the effect of planting the centre cf a round bed with 



Arabis caucasica and surrounding it with a broad belt of 

 Anbrielia, or planting a few red Tulips in a bed covered with 

 .\rabis, and then see what they will say may be done with 

 spring flowers. I say Covered, becaune spring flowers ought to 

 cover the ground when in bloom to produce all the effect of 

 which thej are capable.— iJ. B. Peab69s,j C'Ail/ic//. 



THE CLAIMS OF WINTRR ORNAMENTAL 



',""" "GARDENING. '; ":: 



Is again inviting the attention of your readers to this branch 

 of gardening, I must necessarily repeat much that I have urged 

 in former years, with such additions, however, as practice haa 

 enabled me to advance with some degree of assurance. Winter 

 ornamental gardening has become popular iu many places, and 

 the desire of discovering means to muke it more attra.otiveia 

 constantly urging on those who seek to make further advances. 

 It is to be hoped, therefore, that the progress already made 

 will lead to still further improvement, and that plants adapted 

 for winter gardening will be as eagerly sought after as those 

 grown for a display iu spring and the early part of summer. 



Of late years much has been said and written about spring 

 gardening, and nurserymen and seedsmen vie with each other 

 in supplying plants or seeds of plants likely to make a good 

 display at that time, still iu many places something more was 

 wanted. Spring flowers are, after all, bat what their name 

 implies — that is, they flower in spring, the only difference 

 being, that in mild winters they come in a little earlier than 

 they do after severe weather, but it is spring before they pro- 

 duce any display of consequence, or, say, from the middle of 

 March till a later period, and many of the plants recommended 

 as spring flowerers are not in their full beauty till the end of 

 May. Few, but very few, naturally present us with their 

 flowers out of doors before the end of February, such being 

 Snowdrops, Winter Aconites, and Christmus Koses, with, per-j 

 chance, in mild winters, a few Primroses ; but these delay,- 

 their appearance until later if the season is unfavourable. I; 

 also presume that it will be acknowledged by all, that December, 

 and January are entirely destitute of floral beauties, excepting 

 when a very mild autumn bequeaths a few Chrysanthemums 

 still respectable at the beginning of December, and the other 

 plants above mentioned may follow. It is vain, however, tO; 

 look for anything like a floral display in open flower beds — say,- 

 from the middle of November till the middie of March, four- 

 months, or one-third of the year. In some large places the; 

 good appearance of the flower beds at this particular time is of_^ 

 more consequence than the spring display, as it is common for^ 

 families of high rank, who spend the winter st their country-, 

 houses, to depart for London early in 3Iarch, or perhaps be-.- 

 fore ; and in most cases where spring display is the order ofi 

 the day, the appearance of the beds previous to that month H 

 tame indeed. If bulbs are planted. Crocuses are rarely in 

 flower until March, excepting iu favoured situations, or mild- 

 winters, consequently the beds present but a sorry aspect in,- 

 the dead of winter, and the bare soil is almost all there is to 

 look at, or if there are plants above the surface, they are so 

 small, and in appeaiauce so unimportant, as not to attract 

 attention. ^ _ . -. ;a'.i 



No-.v, another reason for recommending a winter display,- in-, 

 stead of waiting for one in spring, is the interference of the. 

 latter with the summer planting, for assuming that in most 

 places the ulterior intention is to have a good display in, 

 summer as well as in spring, such a result is only attained at 

 tho expense of a greatly increased amount of trouble, and at a, 

 later peiiod of the season, for it rarely happens that the spring 

 flowers can be planted before the beginning, or, perhaps, middle 

 of Juno. Much of the season is then gone, and although it is; 

 possible to have the summer crop of plants advancing in larger 

 pots than usual, this extra care of so many plants at a time_ 

 where watering is a daily and important aff<ir. and other work 

 plentiful enough, tends to make spring gardening, however 

 pretty-sounding it may be. rather costly. Now, what I advocate; 

 does not interfere with the preparation and planting, at their 

 proper time, of the tummer occupants of the flower beds, nor 

 in any way impair the eCieiency of the beds for suppoiting tho 

 summer crop, which cannot be said of the spring-flowering 

 plants. I may here remark, that to plant spring-flowering 

 plants sparingly over the beds in the autumn, and put in the 

 summer crop amongst them in May, as I have done more than 

 twenty years ago, i, seldom satisfactory, both crops being likely 

 to prove failures : so that where a good appearance is expected 



