40 the lady's country companion. 



every year, but this is altogether a mistake ; all the kinds of gladiolus, 

 ixia, tritonia, and other similar plants, will live in the open ground, 

 and flower well, if suffered to grow in masses, which would be killed 

 by a single English winter if planted separately. The finest bed of 

 the scarlet gladiolus I ever saw was at Blair-Adam, near Stirling, 

 where it was suffered to remain year after year without alteration ; 

 and the Honourable and Reverend William Herbert, now Dean of 

 Manchester, in his celebrated work on the Amaryllidaceae, states that 

 he has had beds of gladiolus, ixia, tritonia, and other Cape bulbs, at 

 Spofforth, in Yorkshire, which have remained for several years with- 

 out protection in the open ground. Some persons say that, by 

 manuring the beds every year, tulips and hyacinths may also be grown 

 in the same beds without taking up, for several years in succession ; 

 but this I have never seen tried. 



" You must observe that you have no chance of keeping your 

 flower-garden in a proper state, unless you have in some retired 

 place what is called a reserve-garden, in which the plants are brought 

 forward till they are in a proper state for transplanting into the 

 proper flower-garden. This reserve-garden is generally placed near 

 the stable, both to have it out of sight, and for the convenience of 

 manure ; as it must contain hotbeds and frames for rearing tender 

 annuals, striking cuttings, and, in short, for performing all those gar- 

 dening operations which require to be carried on behind the scenes. 

 In this reserve-garden you must bring forward your Californian 

 annuals. 



" Choose a piece of hard ground, a walk will/lo, or any place 

 that has been much trodden on, and cover it about an inch thick with 

 light rich soil. In this the seeds of the annuals should be sown the 

 first week in September, and suffered to remain till the bulbs have 

 faded, and the annuals are wanted to cover the beds, which will pro- 

 bably be about April. The annuals must then be taken up with the 

 spade, in patches, and being removed to the flower-garden, they 

 must be laid carefully on the beds, so as to cover them exactly ; the 

 spaces between the patches being filled with soil, and pressed gently 

 clown, so that the surface of the beds may be as even as possible. 

 These annuals will come into blossom in May, but they are killed by 

 the dry heat of summer ; and, though they would sow themselves if 

 permitted to seed, it is better to remove them as soon as they have 



