250 Notes and Gleanings. 



Potatoes. — Having seen several extracts in your paper last year about the 

 American Early Rose Potato, I wrote to New York for a bushel of them, which 

 I received in due time. I now beg to hand you a sample of Early Rose, hoping 

 that you will report upon the flavor. It is evidently a large and early cropper, 

 and a very large-sized tuber. Even in their present immature condition, I think 

 the flavor good. It is well to state that th>»y were planted on Feb. 25, on a south 

 border, of dry sandy soil, without manure. Climax, Bresee's Prolific, and 

 Bresee's No. 4, as well as Early Rose, have magnificent smooth-leaved haulms. 

 — J. Mitir Downie^ West Kirby, Cheshire, in Gardener'' s Chronicle. [Pretty- 

 looking potatoes ; but, when cooked, they were very watery. — Eds. Gardener's 

 Chronicle.'\ 



Amateur Gardening. — There are many persons, who, like myself, are fond 

 of gardening on the small scale practicable by amateurs of moderate means, 

 some of whose flower-gardens may contain borders along walls or fences, and 

 surrounding lawns or croquet-grounds, filled with shrubs, such as laurels, bays, 

 laurustinus, rhododendrons, &c., and even trees ; and which are particularly diffi- 

 cult to bed out in, or even to keep in a showy condition throughout the summer, 

 on account of the drip and shade of the shrubs they contain. Such persons 

 will be, as I have been, probably unwilling to widen these borders to any great 

 extent, so as to afford room for a high background between the stems of their 

 shrubs, and the flowers they wish to see encircling their lawns ; for they will 

 not like to encroach upon the grass (perhaps for fear of impeding croquet), 

 and they find that a moderately wide border, say four or five feet from the stems 

 of the shrubs, always looks ragged at the back, and is difficult to get on to trim 

 or cut flowers from. It may be worth tlieir while to try the plan of a detached 

 border such as has suggested itself to me. Instead of having an earthen bor- 

 der of four or five feet wide, I advise them to grow grass as close to their shrubs 

 as may be, filling up around their roots with ivy, periwinkle, St. John's-wort, or 

 any other plants that will continue the green right through to the wall, and will 

 also conceal the stems of the shrubs ; then to cut their border for flowers out 

 of the turf, so as to leave a foot of good sound grass behind it. The inner edge 

 of this border will be not more than tliree feet from the stems of the shrubs, if 

 they be well grown ; and, if made two feet or two feet and a half wide, it will 

 give ample space for a very bright display. The grass edge and ivy behind the 

 border will improve the brightness of the flowers, and facilitate their culture ; 

 and the effect will be far greater than if a plain, uninterrupted border of five 

 feet had been employed. I may add, that, during the extremely hot summer of 

 last year, I derived great benefit from having turned into my flower-beds plenty 

 of long litter. The ends of the straws peeping out were somewhat unsightly 

 until the plants grew ; but the aeration they produced, and the absence of sur- 

 face-caking due to their affording free passage for water to the roots, was quite 

 surprising. I found, too, that mignonette, sown broadcast over beds and bor- 

 ders, kept them cool and moist, and was especially valuable for calceolarias ; and 

 its quiet tone enhanced the beauty of foliage and flowers, while its sweet fra- 

 grance was no mean addition to their scent. — E. E., in Gardener ''s Chronicle. 



