Upper Manor Street, Chelsea. 457 



Among the miscellaneous plants in the western bed are roses, 

 peonies, narcissuses, fuchsias, lilies, crown-imperials, martagon 

 lilies, tulips, hyacinths, gladioluses, irises, campanulas, and other 

 perennials, with a few annuals; and round the edge of the 

 border are Dutch varieties of crocuses, planted in clumps, alter- 

 nately with auriculas, daisies, polyanthuses, primroses, hepaticas, 

 &c. So soon as the bulbs are ready to be taken up, other plants, 

 brought forward in pots, are ready to supply their place ; and, by 

 means of tying up and thinning out, no one plant is ever allowed 

 to overrun another. 



The tulip bed at the eastern end contains 49 rows, with 7 

 bulbs in each row, and is surrounded by a narrow border, with 

 a brick edging. The border is entirely covered by various 

 species of (Sedum, amongst which are planted several Dutch 

 varieties of crocuses, in clumps, 10 in. apart, which push up 

 through the sedums, and bloom profusely. The tulip bed has 

 a frame and awning, for shading the flowers ; and, as soon as the 

 bulbs are taken up, a portable stand is placed on the bed for 

 the reception of the carnations, which are sheltered by the same 

 awning. When the bloom of the carnations is over, and the 

 awning taken down, 21 pots of dahlias (planted in quincunx), 

 which have been brought forward by various shiftings, from 

 thumb pots to thirty-twos (the largest size allowed them), are 

 sunk in the pots in the tulip bed to bloom, and immediately 

 tied to stakes. About the last week in October, the dahlias 

 are taken up and suffered to dry for a few days, before they 

 are put away in the pots, into a dry cellar. The tulip bed is 

 then prepared by turning over the surface every day or two for 

 ten days, in order to sweeten it, and then trenching in old car- 

 nation and auricula compost, which is also well dug over three or 

 four times. The bulbs are planted about the middle of November. 



The auriculas, when in bloom, are placed on a shaded stage 

 at the bottom of the garden; and, during the summer, on double 

 narrow strips of wood placed on brickbats, along the edge of 

 the shaded path. The carnations, when out of bloom, and the 

 chrysanthemums in pots, are also intruders on the edge of the 

 opposite pathway. The glazed frame, which, in winter, holds 

 the largest and best auriculas, is applied as soon as possi- 

 ble, in the spring, for raising cuttings of chrysanthemums, 

 geraniums, fuchsias, dahlias, &c. In February, a few pots of 

 annuals are sown, and covered occasionally with hand-glasses 

 till ready to transplant. 



The materials for making compost (loam, peat, very rotten 

 dung, and leaf mould) are kept at the bottom of the garden, 

 undercover; and, being always ready for use, are quickly mixed, 

 as circumstances require. 



Among the common tools, I find a small three-pronged fork 

 extremely useful, not for taking up tulips, for a worse instrument 



