158 THE FLORAL WOELD AND GAEDEN GUIDE. 



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most valuable for bedding plants at this stage. They cost very little to reake, as 

 the planks forming the sides can be fixed in their places by means of stout pegs 

 driven into the ground, and the commonest of boards may be cut up to make cross 

 pieces. The plants can be protected from frosts with mats laid over the cradles, 

 ■with a few pieces of wood laid across to prevent them breaking or otherwise injuring 

 them. The tender bedders, such as Alternantheras and Coleus, should be removed 

 from the stove to the frames as soon as convenient after the middle of the month. 

 They must be kept rather close at first, and if the frames are heated, a little artificial 

 warmth will be most beneficial to them during periods of cold weather. As it is 

 not safe to plant them out until quite the end of May, they should be kept rather 

 warm until the first week or so in that month, to keep them in a progressive state, 

 but after the first week they must be gradually hardened, and for a fortnight or so 

 before they are planted, the lights must be drawn off altogether during the day. 

 Bedders raised from seed should be potted off separately, or pricked oS" into boxes 

 with as little delay as possible and be put in the frames. 



Chemical Manures, i&c. — Amateur. — The article in the Garden Oracle for 

 1872, mentions the chemicals used in M. Ville's experiments. To give quantities 

 or proportions is impossible, because soils difi'er so greatly in requirements. Good 

 soils in good condition are, generally speaking, in no way benefited by artificial 

 manures, but poor soils may be greatly aided, especially by the use of potash salts 

 and phosphates. You may reckon half a ton per acre as the fullest dose of any 

 chemical mixture allowable. Of such a manure as Aimes's patent, 5 cwt. per acre 

 is plenty. You may remove weeds by means of salt and other such plant-killing 

 materials, but you will run a risk of killing the box edging also. In the best kept 

 gardens they have not yet got beyond hand weeding. Nitrate of soda is especially 

 suitable for plants that are grown for their leaves, but it is a good stimulant also 

 for onions. If in solution, put one pound to ten gallons of water ; if used dry 

 spread it at the rate of a pound and a half to the square rod. The chemical 

 manures we have found most useful on chalky and sandy soils are muriate of potash 

 and superphosphate, 4 cwt. of each to the acre for potatoes. 



T. T. P. — Your selection comprises a very desirable lot. We should recommend 

 you to add Athyrium f. f multifidum, Lastrea f. m. polydactyla. But we are 

 not prepared to strike out of your list two to make room for them. 



Bedding Dahlias. — Amateur. — The dwarf-growing dahlias are very attractive 

 in large beds nnd in broad borders, as they produce a profusion of flowers, and are 

 quite distinct in character. We should advise you to purchase the plants early in 

 the month, and to place them in a frame for a fortnight or so before planting out. 

 They should be kept rather close during the first three or four daj's after they are 

 received, but afterwards the lights should be removed altogether during the day. 

 As they will be in small pots, they will require a supply of water once a day, for 

 the moisture soon dries out of the soil. In planting them in beds, the various 

 colours may be mixed ; hut in the case of borders due care should be taken to 

 distribute the colours throughout the entire length. It is a very good plan to 

 arrange the dark and light flowers alternately, and when the border is very broad, 

 to form good masses by putting three plants of each variety together. We would 

 suggest that the arrangement of the colours in the borders be in the following 

 order : scarlet, yellow, maroon, lilac, crimson, white, purple, and lilac, and then repeat 

 as many times as may be necessary in precisely the same order. The following are 

 the most desirable of the border varieties : — Scaiiet, Charles Backhouse, Disraeli, 

 Madge Wildfire, and Firefly; yellow, Leah, Plutoti, Flambeau; maroon, John 

 Sladden and Gladiator; lilac, Lilac Queen, J?<«o, and Mrs. Bennett; criaison, 

 James Service, Fmperor, Lord Palmerston, Captain Ingram, Florihunda, and 

 Crimson Gem; white or pale-coloured, Mrs. Brunton, Charlotte Barling, Mar- 

 chioness of Bath, Maid of Fs.tex, Snowball, and White Bcdder. The two latter 

 are pure white. Dahlias should be planted in well manured soil, if practicable, and 

 away from the shade of trees. They do very well intermixed with shrubs, if the 

 latter are not too close together ; but they become drawn and do not bloom satis- 

 factorily when in borders overshadowed by trees. The bouquet varieties, vrhich 

 have LiUiputian flowers, produce a good effect, and are useful for furnishing cut 

 flowers during the autumn season. The best of these are — Dr. Webb and Fireball, 

 scarlet ; Guiding Star and Little Dear, white ; Golden Canary and Olow-tvorm, 

 yellow ; Little Nigger and Little Bobby, crimson ; Nemesis and Perfection of 



