JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



( March 26, 1868. 



hardy, and if so we must adopt a less rude treatment than in 

 former years. A wall heated while the eun shines on it, and 

 a wall rendered cold by wind and evaporation when the sun is 

 off, does not seem to suit these now tender plants ; neither 

 does too great an amount of moisture to the roots, especially 

 in autumn, agree with their delicate constitutions. Cold, 

 moisture-absorbing winds cause a chill. Bringing the trees in 

 too close contact with walls by nailing cripples them, and 

 lowers their temperature to that of the wall, especially a atone 

 wall. All these difficulties may now be overcome by very 

 simple means, and probably we shall again be able to grow 

 these fruits for ten years to come in the same perfection as 

 formerly, by which time we may be obHged to introduce some 

 other method if these plants become gradually more tender. — 

 Obseevek. 



FLOWERS LOVELY, THOUGH COMMON. 

 I WISH that those who grow only bedding-out plants because 

 they desire " masses of colour," and so for the sake of a blaze 

 of blossom during five months are content to have bare earth 

 to look at during the other seven, could see my little flower bed 

 for March this year. It has five rows of plants : — 



1, In front, near the Box edge, are patches of Snowdrops, 

 yellow Crocuses, dark and light purple Crocuses. 



2, Behind these follow Dog's-tooth Violets, white and purple, 

 of which it is hard to say whether the blossom or the leaf is 

 the more beautiful, varied with groups of the tiny dwarf Daffo- 

 dil, interspersed with that most valuable early white Hyacinth, 

 now in full bloom, but of which I do not know the distinctive 

 name. 



3, Then follow Primroses, single and double, of various 

 colours, making a very gay and effective low, with clumps of 

 blue and white Squills at intervals. 



4, Next, Hepaticas, white, pink, and blue, with bunches of 

 Orobus vernus, a plant too little known, and Venus's Navelwort 

 with its Forget-me-not-like bright blue flowers. 



5, Lastly, in my back row come Daphne mezereum, Christ- 

 mas Rose, still in bloom, and Saxifragia crassifolia, with Jas- 

 minum nudillorum here and there on the stems of some fruit 

 trees, and a few pink fiibes, now sheets of blossom to the great 

 delight of my bees. 



It would bo hard, indeed, with any amount of bedding-out 

 plants to produce anything more effective than this bed has 

 been on all our bright days ; its value, too, increased tenfold 

 by its heralding to us the approach of summer, and gladdening 

 us now at a time when flowers are generally scarce. 'When 

 I add to all this the intense pleasure which it has been to me 

 for weeks past, day after day, to see one after another of these, 

 my favourites, peeping above the ground — sometimes, perhaps, 

 helped by my own hand when I am tempted to look for my old 

 friends in their accustomed places, and to remove the too heavy 

 superincumbent lumps of our ungenial clay — I confess that I 

 am at a loss to account for the apathy of so many to all but 

 those plants which are grown by thousands under shelter 

 through the winter, and bedded-out by the gardener in June. 



Our old English perennials will, if carefully selected, afford 

 the colour so much desired, and when not in blossom the plants 

 themselves will always at every period of the year be a source 

 of real pleasure and interest to any true lover of gardening 

 and of flowers. 



I have given in this letter an idea of what may be done in 

 March. Possibly, if you think well to grant me space, I may 

 send you an account of my April flower bed hereafter. — W. J. 

 Mellish, Or.itou Vicarayc, Notts. 



[We will grant the space, and we wish that many such com- 

 munications reached us, " there's heart in his purpose." — Eds.] 



removes them in January, either by hand or with a hand-fork, 

 taking care not to break the roots, and plants them in the 

 decayed refuse. 



WOODEN-FRAMED HAND-LIGHTS. 



^^J\. generally kno\vn carpenters can make very serviceable 

 hand-hghts for all general purposes about a garden? It is 

 well known that hand-hghts are in general made of cast iron ; 

 this renders them very heavy. One of the objections which 

 some have to using cast-iron hand-hghts is their very great 

 liability to be affected by the weather ; in hot days when the 

 sun IS powerful they become very hot, and in frosty weather 

 the reverse takes place. 



'\\ hat I would recommend may be used for nearly all the 

 purposes to which cast-iron hand-hghts are applied. Any car- 

 penter can make for a hand-light a wooden frame 1 foot S) inches 

 long by 15 inches wide, or 2 feet long by 18 inches wide, and 

 from to 8 inches deep at the sides, having a span-shaped 

 roof rising to 16 or 18 inches high. Let a tolerably stout piece 

 be employed to pass between the tops of the ends or gables ; and 

 if one piece of glass be objected to as being used on each side, 

 let one or more ribs be used, nail- 

 ing them under the upper ridge 

 of wood. As I have already re- 

 marked, this ridge of wood ought 

 to be tolerably strong, as it has 

 to bear the handle which lifts the 

 whole light when made. Fig. 1 

 represents the end of one of these 

 very useful hand-hghts ; fir/. 2 is 

 a side view, having the handle by 

 which the light is lifted. 



For many purposes, especially during winter, these lights 

 are very useful, as for placing over CauHflowers in any con- 

 venient place, or many other things which are the better of 



Fig. 1. 



Fio. 2. 

 slight protection. The glass in these is not so liable to- be 

 I cracked by frost as in the cast-iron hand-glasses. In order to 

 give air to plants under them, I place a brickbat or knob of 

 wood the size of the clenched fist close by them ; and thus by 

 only moving the light 1 inch backwards or forwards I have it 

 either off or on the brickbat. They will be found not to be 

 half the price of the cast-iron hand-lights ; this in itself is a 

 consideration with most people. — U. D.iwson. 



The Inner Temple Gardens. — Mr. Broome has just now three 

 Leicester vases and a score of small beds filled with about five 

 hundred Hyacinths, which, though not yet in perfection, never- 

 theless promise to be most satisfactory for an out-door London 

 garden. In addition to the Hyacinths there are Crocuses now 

 in very good bloom. Tulips to succeed the Hyacinths, and 

 Virginian Stocks and other early-flowering annuals to furnish 

 a further succession, and which are now just above ground. 

 These will give place to bedding plants which, in turn, will be 

 succeeded by Chrysanthemums, carrying on the succession of 

 bloom to Christmas. Mr. Broome plants his Hyacinths in 

 October in cocoa-nut fibre refuse, under a west-aspect wall. 



LOBELIA SPECIOSA AS A DECORATR-E PLANT. 



It may surprise some and interest others to know in what 

 manner this plant is so, but not for summer garden decoration ; 

 nevertheless, when it is grown well it is a most splendid plant 

 for early spring conservatory decoration. My employer is very 

 fond of it as a table ornamental plant, and most graceful it is 

 for the purpose. 



It is very easily grown, and requires but little attention. I 

 have it in bloom about seven months in the year, and I find, 

 more especially towards the summer, when blue is rather scarce 

 in-doors, that it greatly enhances the in-door decoration. 



I only bring this under notice that some who may not have 

 tried it may venture on a pot or two, and I am sure they will 

 not repent of the little time and labour devoted to it. Plants 

 in a 32-sized pot, and covered with bloom all round and to a 

 depth of 2 feet or more, will well reward any one. — Nemo. 



CHECK TO THE SLUG AND TURNIP FLY. 



A LITTLE guano sown broadcast over the surface kills or 

 banishes slugs. I' is equally effective against the Turnip fly 

 it sown on the suiface at the rate of 2; cwt. per acre. It 

 answers a double purpose, for it not only keeps away the fly, 

 but serves as a top-dressing. Its effects were proved here. last 



