March 18, 1875. ] 



JOURNAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



211 



WEEKLY CALENDAR. 



MARCH 18—24, 1875. 



Royal Society 8.30 p.w. Linnean Society 8 p.m. 

 Royal Institution at 8 p.m. 



Palm Sunday. 



GeographiL^al Society at H.SO p.m. 



Royal Medical ami Chiriir^'ical Society at 8.30 p.m. 



Glasgow llorticultural Society, Sprint: Exhibition. 



Average 



Tomperature near 



Louduu. 



Sun 

 Kibes. 



Mean. m. h. 

 41.5 I 9a(B 



41.9 ] 



42.5 



41.6 



43 3 



41.9 



40.2 



Sun 



Sets. 



Moon 

 Kiseg. 



m. h. 

 7 at 6 

 9 6 



h. 

 Oaf a 



Moon 

 Seta. 



Moon's 

 Ace. 



Days. 

 11 

 12 

 13 

 • 

 15 

 16 

 17 



Clock 

 before 

 bun. 



i; 42 



6 23 



Day 



of 

 Year. 



77 

 78 

 79 

 80 

 81 

 82 

 83 



8S.6< 



From obseryations takca near London daring forty-three years, the averafje day temperature of the week is 50.3^; and its night temperature 



HAEDY ANNUALS FOR ANY GARDEN. 



HESE flowers afford delight to many by 

 their graceful forms, quiet yet varied colours, 

 and their simplicity of culture. They are 

 specially adapted to the many who possess 

 neither greenhouse nor frames, and whose 

 circumstances preclude them making large 

 purchases for their gardens of popular bed- 

 ding plants. The owners of small unpre- 

 tending gardens who have to plan and con- 

 trive to make this part gay, that bright, and 

 the other sweet, often derive more actual enjoyment from 

 their home plots than do those whose larger enclosures 

 have the superintendence of professional care, the owners 

 of which know nothing of the pleasure of preparing. 



It is indeed true that there is more pleasure in working 

 than the indolent dream of — more enjoyment in making 

 our own homes attractive by our own hands than those 

 trained in luxury can be made to understand. This is 

 especially so in regard to gardening and the cultivation 

 of flowers. 



Look at the rosarian. Ho may have at his command 

 sufficient assistance to produce the blooms ready for 

 enjoyment ; but that would not be enjoyment to him — 

 he must have a share in the producing, or his choicest 

 flowers will be deprived of a measure of their beauty, 

 and be robbed of a portion of their delightful breath. No ; 

 he must himself labour to make his enjoyment full — he 

 must be up with the sun of summer, pick out the worm 

 from the buds, and sweep the green fly from the trusses, 

 and then, when the perfect blooms unfold their beauty, is 

 true enjoyment felt. But it is not even then complete. 

 He must first call his friends to rejoice with him, or cut 

 a dainty flower to cheer some cherished relative or im- 

 prisoned invalid before he can feel a fuller magnitude of 

 the pleasures his garden gives. Or he must — as he has 

 often done — hasten breakfastless away to some murky 

 town and spread his work before tlie multitude, and if 

 the fame of a " first prize " is awarded to his products 

 then is the triumph complete ; but if he fails, what dis- 

 appointment ! No ; if the true lover of flowers sees others 

 have flowers better than his own he will rejoice in their 

 success, and buckle on his armour more firmly, will be 

 up earher and work harder, and the more persistent his 

 application the greater his daily pleasure, and the more 

 pleasant his dreams of hope and of future success. 



The wife of a clergyman has written these lines — " I 

 am an invalid, and my means are limited, but my simple 

 garden is my solace ; it is small — to you insignificant — 

 but is a paradise on earth to me : tell me of some simple 

 flowers that will grow at my bidding, and which will, with 

 such trifling care as I am able to bestow with my own 

 hands, make my home-walks pleasant." 



That was a charming, a pathetic appeal from a delicate 

 lady to a sunburnt son of toil. That lady enjoys her little 

 garden with as great a relish as that bestowed on his by 

 any noble in the land. 



" Simple flowers," "come at my bidding," " grow with 

 No. 725.— Vol. XXVIII., New Series. 



my own hands," "small garden," "limited means." 

 What could be done under those conditions than to re- 

 commend hardy annuals ? They were suggested, tried, 

 and answered. Are there others in some degree simi- 

 larly circumstanced ? Possibly, and we pity them for 

 nothing but their failing health. To these, therefore, 

 the same advice may be given, and in the same way ; 



thUS-;- 



Annuals are the flowers for you ; but if your garden is 

 overshadowed with trees, if the soil is poor and shallow 

 and has hot been well and deeply dug and manure added, 

 or cannot be made good by digging at once, do not grow 

 them. If when you receive this advice you keep it 

 in hand and seek that of others, and defer to procure 

 seed until late in April or in May, do not sow then. If 

 you cannot find time when the plants are above ground 

 to dress them round with lime and soot, or guano or 

 sharp sand, to prevent the snails from devouring them, 

 do not waste money in purchasing seed ; and if you can- 

 not find in your heart to thin-out the plants where too 

 thick, you will not do justice to the plants or credit to my 

 judgment, and therefore you had better let annuals alone. 



As to the first condition, annuals will not flourish under 

 trees or in poor shallow soil : it must be deep, good, and 

 the site open. As to the second, if sowing is deferred 

 until the weather becomes hot the plants cannot take 

 firm and deep hold of the soil to procure the moisture 

 they need, and their flowers are in consequence poor and 

 their beauty transient. As to the third, if they are left 

 to sustain unaided the attacks of slugs and snails very 

 few will survive, and the molluscs will assuredly be the 

 victors ; and as to the fourth condition, if the plants are 

 not thinned sufficiently or in time, we have no right to 

 expect a vigorous and prolonged bloom any more than 

 we should reckon that Turnips, Cabbages, or any other 

 crop could attain perfection if left to struggle to maturity 

 in the dense thick seed bed. 



Now, bearing in mind these cardinal yet oft-neglected 

 points of culture, we advise first of all to sow during 

 the first fine weather of March Mignonette freely. Most 

 gardens are too scarce of this sweet old plant. If sown 

 early in good soil, and the plants eventually thinned to 

 5 or 6 inches apart, and it be cut freely and have the 

 bulk of the seed pods clipped off, it will continue fresh 

 all through the summer. The seed is best sown in 

 shallow drills. Next, where a floral hedge is desired to 

 act as a dividing line between one part of the garden and 

 another, sow as soon as possible Sweet Peas. For this 

 purpose they have no equal, and for cut bloom they are 

 indispensable. They are frequently sown a month too 

 late, and do what small garden Peas do under the same 

 conditions— produce weak rows, small flowers, and poor 

 crops. If in May a term of hot weather is foreseen, or 

 whether it is or not, a row of tall Nast'-rtium seeds may 

 be planted .3 inches apart at the foot ui" the row, and 

 they will produce plants to run up the sticks, and form 

 a hedge over the Peas and commence blooming just 

 when "the Pea flowers fail in July. These Nasturtiums 

 will continue until the frost. 



No. ISSl.— Vol. LIII., Old Sekif.s. 



