364 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ November 13, 1866. 



out some misgiving ; for to profess to give an opinion involves 

 the charge of being told by-and-by, Why did you recommend 

 me such rubbish ? I have, however, given my honest opinion, 

 and only hope that it may be verified by the result. — D., Deal. 

 P.S.— I find that several Rose-growers speak of Mademoiselle 

 Marie Rady, a seedling of Fontaine pere of last year, as the 

 best of the new Roses of 1866 ; if so, my remarks on his seed- 

 lings would be modified. 



TIME FOR PLANTING OUT PELARGONIUMS 

 IN BEDS. 

 I observe in the " Florist and Pomologist " for this month, 

 a letter from "A. D.," who is kind enough to give us a very 

 admirable list of plants for the spring decoration of our 

 gardens — a subject which has engaged my attention ever since 

 I took to gardening, which, however, is not a very long time. 

 I have no hesitation in saying that in this matter we are far 

 behind our ancestors, for they had not to clear out their beds 

 for bedding plants as we have now. The question is, How can 

 we make our flower-beds look gay in the spring without en- 

 croaching on the time when our bedding plants should be 

 planted out ? 



This leads to another question on which I should like to say a 

 word or two — viz., When should we put out our bedding plants ? 

 " A. D." gives us a list of annuals, &c, which would make 

 any garden exceedingly gay from the middle of May to the end 

 of June (even if sown iu the previous August), but how about 

 the bedding plants ? I gather from " A. D.'e " letter that he 

 is of opinion that the putting out of bedding plants is best 

 deferred till quite the end of May or beginning of June, even 

 in the "sunny south" from which he writes. Now my ex- 

 perience, even in the last very eccentric May, shows that as 

 far as the moderately tender bedding plants, such as Pelar- 

 goniums and Lobelias, are concerned, the sooner they are 

 planted out, provided the soil is wet, the better. I will give 

 you the simple statement of what I did last May, and your 

 readers may draw their conclusions. I will merely premise 

 that ray garden is entirely exposed to the prevailing winds of 

 this district (uear Chester), and is notoriously cold. 



You may remember that we had dry weather for the first 

 ten days of May. On the night of the 11th we had a fair allow- 

 ance of ruin, which wetted the soil thoroughly. On the 12th 

 I planted out four beds of Pelargoniums and a few Lobelias. 

 The same night it was bitterly cold and hailed furiously, and 

 the next day I received condolences from my friends on having 

 planted out". We then had a pleasing mixture of frost, cold 

 east wind, and dry weather, till the 30th of May, during 

 which time not another plant was put out, and my gardener 

 occupied himself witli washing the frost off the leaves oi the 

 Pelargoniums every morning— a proceeding which, in my 

 opinion, accounts for the cheerful russet hue that all their 

 older leaves presented by the end of May. Certain plants of 

 Cloth of Gold Pelargonium that were providentially over- 

 looked by him had quite a brilliant appearance compared with 

 those that had undergone the morning ablution. 



Well, at last the rain came, and without the loss of a 

 moment the remaining plants were put out, and most of my 

 neighbours began now to plant out. 



Let us now skip the next three weeks, and see what is the 

 comparative condition of the early and late-planted beds. 

 Why, the former are beds well filled with flourishing bushy 

 plants well covered with bloom (a bed of Lord Palmerston was 

 perfectly glorious), while those that had been coddled up had 

 soarcely shown a sign of growth. Of course I am comparing 

 Pelargoniums with Pelargoniums. The contrast was absolutely 

 ludicrous. Nor had the late-planted Pelargoniums begun to 

 look really well when I left home for a two-months residence 

 on the Continent in the second week in August, and, as after 

 that came the deluge, of course they never did look well all the 

 summer; while the early-planted beds duriDg the fine dry 

 weather we had in June and July were simply gorgeous. 



Now, as the very earliest annuals sown in August, and 

 planted out as large plants in October in the places they have 

 to occupy in spring, entirely decline flowering before May ith 

 me, I should have been compelled either to have grubbed them 

 up iu their prime or'to have postponed the bedding-out. As 

 a matter of fact, the reason I did not fill more beds on the 

 12th of May was that the others were occupied with Sileire 

 pendula, Alyssum saxatile, Rex Subroruin and Purple Crown 

 Tulips, all then in full bloom. The beds I planted had been 



filled with early single Tulips (such as Scarlet Van Thol, 

 White Pottebakker, Canary Bird, and Moliere), Hyacinths, and 

 Crocuses, all of which were well over before I wanted to plant, 

 and were consequently moved to a quiet corner of the kitchen 

 garden to make room for their successors. 



Let me sum up by saying that while in these latitudes au- 

 tumn-sown annuals do not flower early enough in the spring 

 to be done before the bedding plants aro put out, yet with 

 Crocuses, Hyacinths, early single Tulips, Primulas (as Poly- 

 anthus, &c), and other early perennials, a garden may be gay 

 from the end of February to the end of October, and much 

 longer if Chrysanthemums are judiciously introduced. — 

 Alfiied 0. Wal: 



VINE BORDERS, AND HOW TO MAKE THEM. 



Six-ninths loam. 

 Two-ninths boiled bones. 

 Oneteinth stable manure. 



9 in. 



Loam. 



Boiled bones. 

 Stable manure. 



60 in. 



Flags. 



I am preparing soil for a border wherein to plant two hun- 

 dred young Vines, and have read with much attention Mr. 

 Wills's description of what he intends doing to form a good and 

 lasting Vine-border. I have endeavoured to put Mr. Wills's 

 statement in a tabular form, which may possibly be acceptable 

 to your numerous readers. 



Will Mr. Wills be so good as to inform me whether I have 

 exactly caught his meaning ? And if he will say what would 

 be fair growth for young Vines to make without fire heat in 

 such a season as we have had, I will, if his answer does not 

 make me utterly ashamed of them, tell him how I planted 

 ninety-four Vines, and what I planted them in. — H. S. 



[" H. S.'' has not quite understood my article on the above. 

 His tabular arrangement is very good. In his table he has 

 put equal parts of chopped sods, lime rubbish, boiled bones, 

 and charcoal. That portion of the article he quotes should 

 convince him that I did not mean to put an equal quantity of 

 bones in proportion to the sods and lime rubbish, and that it 

 should not be placed in layers, but was to be well incorporated 

 together. The quantify of bones I shall use will be about two 

 pecks for mixing with each nine-inch layer for a border, say, 

 IU feet wide and 30 feet long. He has correctly understood 

 my meaning with respect to the two-inch layers. I see that 1 

 omitted to mention that the larger bones placed on the flags 

 with the drainage should be raw and not boiled. 



I shall be verv glad if " H. S." will teU us all particulars 

 about the ninety-four Vines he mentions, and how he made 

 his border, the kinds of Vines he planted, &c. This is a sub- 

 ject so interesting to many readers of the Journal, that 1 am 

 sure his experience will be very much appreciated. I could 

 scarcely hazard an opinion about the growth of " H. b. s 

 Vines without fire heat in such a season as we have just expe- 



