360 GARDEN MANAGEMENT. 



for seed should be cut off as they fade, and side-shoots taken off and 

 stnick. 



1028. Ranuncultises should have the soil pressed round the collar and 

 \* rttered when the soil becomes too dry. 



10-29. Tulips beginning to show colour should be shaded by an awning or 

 otherwise, but not too soon ; neither should it remain after the sun has begnn 

 to decline. Watering round the beds will keep them cool, and pi-otract the 

 blooming season. 



1030. Phloxes, whether in pots or beds, should be watered occasionally with 

 liquid manure. 



§ 3.— Mixed Flower and Kitchen Garden, 



1031. In the mixed garden, the flower-beds will probably be occupied to a 

 large extent with permanent herbaceous plants or bulbs ; for it is not to be 

 supposed that either labour or money will be available to keep up an entire 

 system of seasonal bedding-out here. "Where there happens to be a south wall 

 looking towards the house, in such a garden there is no place more suitable for 

 a clump of American plants. Ehododendrons, azaleas, kalmias, and daphnes, 

 were long supposed to require bog-earth for their culture ; but they ai-e now 

 found to bloom well in a stiff clay ; and such a soil, with a moderate amount of 

 bog, and brick and lime rubbish, is found admirably adapted for their growth. 

 Where there is a west or south border under a wall available for flowers, let it 

 be thoroughly drained, and the primitive soil dug out to the depth of two feet, 

 and mixed with sandy loam and leaf-mould and a little well-decomposed 

 manure, and then replaced in the border. Some of the finest tea-scented and 

 other roses may be planted in it, choosing such as will bear frequent thinning 

 and pruning, because on this depends their continuous and profuse bloom. 



1032. There are also among the culinary plants of the present day some 

 which are capable of being used with ornamental effect, from their vai-iety of 

 colour and elegance of foliag:e. The purple-leaved Atriplex, for instance, forms 

 an agreeable contrast with the green leaves of their vegetable products. The 

 yellow beet, with rose-coloured stalks, is very striking from its promi- 

 nent broad coloui'ed veins. The balsam cucumber, most of the gourds 

 {Cucumis citrellus), might be allowed to trail over the ground in ridges, or 

 up the trunks of old trees in graceful festoons. Some of the cabbages even, 

 as the early greenish or the red-streaked sorts, are admirably adapted for 

 purposes of decoration. The curly-streaked cabbage (the chou frise pinacJii) 

 is beautifully tinted with delicate rose-colour ; and it is a matter of surprise 

 that these elegant varieties are so seldom seen in our gardens. Again, there is 

 no plant more interesting than some of the rhubarbs. All of these may occupy 

 a portion of the mixed garden with advantage. 



T033. RocJc-xcork. — Few ornaments of a garden have a better effect than rock- 

 work properly disposed ; while at the same time it is also very useful. By means 

 of it, not unfrequently, an ugly comer may be turned to very good account, and 



