April 8, 1876. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICOLTUBE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



273 



Warscewiczella discolor, with four very richly coloured flowers ; 

 Enrycles Cunninghami, resembling a miniature Crinum, it had 

 a stem 18 inches high surmounted with a corona of white Nar- 

 cisaus-like flowers ; and Pteria Williamai, a distinct Fern of 

 robust habit with two shades of green in the fronds. 



Paul ct Son, Cheshunt, had a standard plaut with five blooms 

 of the tine llose Hippolyte Jamain ; also a bos of cut Roaes, of 

 which the best were Annie Laxton, Etienne Levet, and Captain 

 Christy. A standard plant of Comte de Serenyi was also exhi- 

 bited. It is a Rose of the type of Marguerite de St. Amand. 



From Mr. Perkins, the Gardens, Thornham Hall, came a box 

 of splendid blooms of Marcohal Niel, and received a vote of 

 thanks. 



A basket of very fine Primula sinensis, Fern-leaved, of robust 

 growth and deep carmine blooms, was sent by Mr. Eckford, 

 Coleshill Gardens, Highworth, who sent also finely-laced blooms 

 of Polyanthus ; a vote of thanks was awarded. 



Mr. Dean contributed a very showy and attractive group of 

 hardy apring-flowering plants, comprising a fine variety of 

 Aubrietia with deep violet flowers, named A. Eyreii ; Pansiea, 

 Yellow Boy and White Swan, a great variety of Primroses, 

 and a charming margin of Myosotis dissitiflora. Most of these 

 Primroses are admirably adapted for frame culture, and, some 

 of them being diatinct, are spring bedding plants. The group 

 consisted of single and double varieties, both selfs and laced, 

 and ranged in colour from pure white to a deep blood crimson. 

 They weli merited the vote of thanka which was awarded. 



G. F. Wilson, Esq., F.R.S., sent plants of Alpine Primulas — 

 P. pulcherrima, a beautiful variety, like a globular and gigantic 

 trass of Verbena on an exceedingly stout stem; and P. viacosa, 

 of a closer habit of growth. 



A splendid plant of Dendrobium nobile, i feet high and 

 through, carrying many hundreda of fine blooma and an abund- 

 ance of healthy foliage, was exhibited by Mr. F. Moore, gar- 

 dener to W. C. Pickersgill, Esq., Blinden Hall, Bixley, and had 

 worthily attached a cultural commendation ; also an equally 

 splendid plant of Dendrobium densiflorum, with twenty-four 

 fine spikes, from Mr. J. Staples, gardener to Mrs. Candy, Chip- 

 stead Place, Sevenoaks, had alao a cultural commendation. 

 Both these specimens bore unmiatakeable impress of excellent 

 culture. From the Society's gardens were densely-bloomed 

 plants in pots of the smaU light Clematis C. montana. 



MY HOME PLOT. 



Mine is emphatically a cottage garden, and as that is also 

 one of the titles of your paper, I thought I might venture to 

 place mine and yours together, as I have done before. Bat 

 while I freely admit that my garden has often been benefited 

 by yours, I am not at all certain that I can confer any 

 benefit on you in return. I will not, however, aim so high as 

 that, but will think rather of (my and your friends) people of 

 my own order, who have little plots of their own, and who 

 derive a great deal of pleasure, if not much profit, from their 

 essays at gardening. 



I have a flower plot and a vegetable plot, a few window 

 plants, a haudlight, and a Email frame. My windows are 

 always at this season crowded with plants which I have 

 managed to keep through the winter. My frame is filled 

 mostly with Calceolarias, the cuttings of which I put-in in the 

 autumn, with a few plants of Pentstemons, Antirrhinums, and 

 young Carnations which are not safe to leave out all winter. 

 These are always safe under a little glass, while they can be 

 planted-out early, and always do well in my garden. 



Now all these I plant out at once — in fact, this sets at 

 liberty my frame, and my overcrowded windows are thinned 

 out by filling it with a portion of the plants. This hardens 

 them — the Geraniums and Fuchsias — either for planting out 

 or for flowering in pots. If I have more than my frame will 

 hold I place some under the shelter of a wall and cover them 

 at nights, and also shade them for the first few days from 

 blight sun. That I find very necessary, for as their leaves 

 are tender, the sun has much the same effect on them as frost 

 when they are first turned out, so to make sure I shade from 

 frost and sun too. It is surprising how nicely these plants 

 come on. They do not look bright at the first, but they grow, 

 if slowly, yet surely, and in the end always do better than the 

 plants that are left too long, and so are drawn, in the windows. 



At this time of the year I always shake my window plants 

 out of their pots. Of course I do the work very carefully. 

 My reason is this— the soil has become hard by repeated water- 

 ings, and besides it is exhausted, as some of the plants have 

 been feeding on it the most of last summer. I give them fresh 

 soil — food. I never put them in larger pots at this season, but 

 rather repot them in smaller pota, as I find them do better. 

 I have tliese pots clean, especially inside, as I am sure it is 



beneficial to the plants. I should as soon think of eating 

 my dinner oft' a dirty plate as giving a plant a dirty pot, so I 

 always wash the pots and have them dry before using. I drain 

 my pots well. My neighbours are generally careless on this 

 point, and thereby make a great mistake. Draining is the be- 

 ginning—the alphabet of potting. If it is not learnt properly 

 the next steps are all wrong together, and the work goes for 

 very little and must be done over again before success can bo 

 reached. Therefore by way of a good beginning, as I said 

 bjfore, drain well. If I have not a piece of broken pot I obtain 

 a flat oyster shell and lay it over the hole. I break others and 

 lay them nicely over in layers, and break some bones fine and 

 put over the shells. For a 1-inch pot I have an inch of drain- 

 age, and for a C-inch pot nearly '-' inches, and all put in 

 systematieally. Before I put in the soil I cover the drainage 

 with tree leaves or moss— anything to keep the soil from 

 choking it, for it is of no use draining and spoUing it the next 

 moment as— I had almost said moat people do, but of course I 

 do not mean good gardeners. 



I am not so particular as to soil as some people, so long as it 

 is in a nice state as to moisture — that is, neither too wet nor 

 too dry. I find the surface scraped off my garden (if I have 

 no better loam) mixed with pounded shells, and cocoa-nut 

 fibre, in the place of leaf mould, answer well for almost all 

 plants ; but I have an opinion that careful drainage, potting, 

 and watering makes up for the lack of dainty mixtures. I 

 mean the soil is often blamed when the real "fault is in the 

 management. In potting I take nearly all the old soil from my 

 plants, and pot them in the fresh, pressing it into the pots 

 rather firmly, as light potting I have long since proved to be 

 faulty. I never fill my pots level full ; that would be a great 

 mistake, but always allow fully an inch from the surface of the 

 soil to the rim of the pot to hold water. For a time I water care- 

 fully, for until plants have active leaves they require to bo 

 slightly watered. Now, with this care the plants root into the 

 new soil freely, and forthwith begin to make healthy steady 

 growth. I always go over all my plants at this season, and 

 give a general potting as above described, and I feel the benefit 

 of the work throughout the whole season. Those that are to 

 be kept in pots flourish well, and those that are to be planted- 

 out in six weeks' time always establish themselves more quickly 

 and grow much better than if the old winter's soil had been 

 left clinging round their roots after the manner of balls of 

 plaster or cement. 



I may now leave my plants, being sure that they are all 

 right, and attend to sowing a few seeds for my flower garden. 

 I like raising these in pots. For seeds I drain my pots extra 

 well, and fill with light rich soil made very fine and smooth on 

 the surface. I then before, not after, sowing the seeds water 

 thoroughly. I sow a pot of Beet for dark fohage (if sown out 

 of doors the sparrows eat it) ; this is a fine contrast to the 

 Calceolarias. If my Musk is dead I sow a pot of seed, and 

 raise hundreds more. I always plant this in my garden ; it 

 does so well, and is so sweet. I sow a pot of Golden Feather, 

 and have plenty of plants for edging. I also sow Asters — the 

 Victoria and Dwarf Chrysanthemum-flowered, Ten-week Stocks, 

 Marigolds, Zinnias, Indian Pinks, a little Ice Plant, and Phlox 

 Drummondi. For tall plants I sow the Variegated Maize. 

 These seed pots I often keep in the window until the soil 

 lifts, not a moment longer ; they are then placed in the frame. 

 I always shade the surface of the pots until the seedlings 

 appear, which prevents drying, as if the soil is dry even for an 

 hour or two the seedlings go off. I cover all the seeds their 

 own thickness with soil and no more, and by always keeping 

 moist, and yet never really wet, I seldom fail, except I sow too 

 thickly. Too thick sowing is one of the most common errors 

 of the day. Plants are seldom spoiled by being too thin in the 

 pots, but are frequently ruined by close crowding in their young 

 state. 



Now, by sowing at the present time the plants are ready to 

 prick-out just as the weather ia warm enough to receive them 

 outdoors, aud my frame is at liberty again, and the plants are 

 in much better order than if they had been sown earlier aud 

 made tender by longer nursing under glass. 



But I must glance at the vegetable plot. I sow now dwarf Peas 

 in rows 15 inches apart, aud Beck's Gem Beans the same. I 

 sow a little seed of Paris White Cos and Drumhead Cabbage 

 Lettuce, a little Early York Cabbage (it is deUcious in autumn), 

 Walcheren Cauliflower, Snow's Winter Broccoli, Brussels 

 Sprouts, Savoys, and Cottager's Kale. I sow all these in drills 

 very thinly — more thinly, in fact, than do many gardeners, and 

 long experience tells me I am right. I also plant my early 



