General .Yolices. 231 



New Method of supporting annuals. — Amongst our most showy 

 hai-fly annuals and other out-tloor plants, are several species of such 

 a brittle nature, that during stormy weather many are often irrecov- 

 erably broken or torn to pieces by the wind. Numbers of beds in 

 the flower garden are thus rendered, in the height of their beauty, 

 perfectly unsightly. To prevent this sort of havoc, I have seen 

 many plans resorted to, and often witnessed some that were any 

 thing but useful or neat. I will therefore mention a simple mode 

 particularly suited to such kinds as are grown in beds, and which 

 combines all the advanta!xes necessary to avoid the disastrous con- 

 sequences referred to. When the plants are about three inches 

 high, thinned, and properly cleaned, I select a number of neat twig- 

 gy branches, such as dry fresh pieces of spruce, &,c. These I pre- 

 pare about eighteen inches long, pointing them at the end so as to 

 resemble pea stakes in miniature; when ready, they are placed firm- 

 ly among the plants all over the bed, leaving them, when finished, 

 about a foot high, so as to be completely out of sight when the 

 plants are in flower, always leaving the stakes of such a height and 

 distance as the taste or judgment shall deem sufficient for the habits 

 of the various kinds thus treated. So comi)letely do the plants grow 

 up and intermingle themselves in all directions among the branches, 

 and with such security that no breeze ever affects them, while the 

 beds exhibit that freedom and elegance of appearance which 1 have 

 never seen so effectually accomi)lished by any other method. Some 

 may consider these dry branches disagreeable to the sight in connec- 

 tion with a flower garden, before the plants rise to hide them; but 

 when neatly done, the reverse is the case. It is in this as in other 

 matters; while one person will perform the work with such mate- 

 rials as will of themselves be ornamental without either flowers or 

 foliage, another will manage it so clumsily, that it would defy the 

 growth of a bramble bush to hide the awkward deformities of his 

 handywork. However skilfully ])lants may be selected as regards 

 their natural beauty, arrangement, or high keeping, one misplaced 

 stake or ill-tied plant will mar the effect of the whole, (irf., 1842, 

 p. 286.) 



Cultivation of the English and Spanish Irises.~A tribe of very beau- 

 tiful plants, which is much neglected by admirers of flowers, is the 

 iris; only a few of the more common are seen in our gardens, and 

 these generally in ordinary condition: the bulbous kinds, better known 

 perhaps as the English and Spanish irises, are rarely used in orna- 

 menting the flower border, although they are in reality easily grown, 

 and are among the prettiest flowers of June. The following method 

 of cultivating them will, we hope, induce amateurs who appreciate 

 this class of plants to set out a few roots the coming autunni: — 

 "About August prepare a bed two feet dec]), the soil of which must 

 be composed of equal parts of rich loam, sandy peat, and either well 

 rotted dung or leaf mould, all well incorporated together. The be- 

 ginning of September [)lant the bulbs about three inches deep, plac- 

 ing a little fine sand round each, and afterwards cover and level the 

 surface; nothing else will be required, except stirring the surface of 

 the soil in the spring. [In our climate the bed should have a cover- 

 ing of an inch or two of strawy manure or leaves. — Ed.] The irises 



