244 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ March 31, 1863; 



put ia a better appearance at any future exhibition. The 

 Horticultural Society having appointed an implement com- 

 mittee to report npon heating and ventilating apparatus, I 

 hope they will find out something new and more useful. I 

 hope that this subject will before long be considered of such 

 importance, that it will be taken up by a sufficient number 

 of persons to make an instructive and interesting Society, to 

 be called "The London Warming and Ventilating Associates' 

 Society." — Joseph Newton, 30, Eattbourne Terrace, Kyde 

 Park. 



APRICOTS FAR NORTH. 



A cieccmstanoe to which I shall afterwards allude his im- 

 pressed strongly on my mind, that the most satisfactory mode 

 of cultivating the Moorpark Apricot (at least in the northern 

 part of the kingdom), is by ilued walls, or sOme analagous 

 method of imparting neat without covering. In such gloomy, 

 cold seasons as 1862, the tree is not able either to ripen the 



fruit or to form flower-buds for the following crop without 

 some such help ; and in this neighbourhood, even in the most 

 favourable situations, the Apricot trees are this spring almost 

 destitute of blossom. 



The wall of my kitchen containing the chimney, which, of 

 course, is in constant use, is one of the boundaries of my pro- 

 perty in this small tovrn ; and my neighbour, whose back court 

 immediately adjoins, has availed himself of a right to nail his 

 trees on my wall. He has just informed me that on an Apricot 

 tree planted on that part of it behind my kitchen fire he has a 

 most abundant crop, beautifully set, while on another tree at a 

 short distance on the same aspect (west) there are very few 

 blossoms. It occurs to me, that what the Apricot wants is heat 

 sufficient to ripen the wood, stimulate the formation of flower- 

 buds, and ward off Bpring frosts. The same agency when the 

 summer is backward, will promote aud insure the ripening of 

 the fruit. It would appear, I think, that the tree is rather im- 

 patient of glass and close covering. — J. F., Haddington. 



SMALL FLOWER GARDEN. 



For this year I think of having No. 8, Purple King Verbena ; 

 Nos. 4, 5, 11, 12, yellow Calceolaria ; 7, 9, plain-leaved Scarlet 

 Geranium ; 2, 14, Flower of the Day, mixed with Perilla or 

 Veitch's Amaranthus melancholicus ; 1, 3,13, 15, Flower of the 

 Day, mixed with blue Lobelia ; 6, 10, Koniga maritima, mixed 

 with blue Lobelia. 



The above plan is only one-half of the garden. A walk 

 8 feet wide, edged with 5 feet of grass, divides the two beds 

 No. 10, so that there is a corresponding arrangement on each 

 side of the walk.— P. M. P. 



[Tour plan of planting will answer very well, and those beds 

 of one colour we think you will like best. In another season 

 you will gain variety by edging the beds. Your present principle 

 of planting is centering, balancing, and a little cross-planting, and 

 its simplicity will be its chief charm. The centre bed is of Purple 

 King Verbena, and the eight beds round it are four of yellow 

 Calceolarias, and two of the larger in Scarlet Geraniums, and 

 two of Flower of the Day, mixed with Perilla or Amaranthus 

 melancholicus. We did not find this Amaranth succeed well 

 with us, and the Perilla will be too strong unless stopped very 

 early, and so kept down that the little twigs shall mingle with 

 the Flower of the Day. So used, the purple Spinach will also 

 do well, and it makes with the Flower of the Day a nice soft 

 bed to the eye. 



Tour four corner beds, 1, 3, 13, 15, you propose to be mixed 

 beds of Flower of the Day and blue Lobelia. We should have 

 preferred something else variegated— as Manglesii Geranium, as 

 your Flower of the Day will run" in lineB— as 1, 2, 3, and 13, 

 14, 15. The Lobelia speciosa or L. erinus will be too low 

 for mixing with the Flower of the Day, unless the plants of the 

 latter are email. If you retain Flower of the Day for these four 

 beds, we would not mix but give a nice edging of Lobelia 

 speciosa, with an outside single row of Cerastium next the grass. 

 Something of the same objection appears to the two ends of 

 your figure 3, 10, 15, 1, 6, 13, as the prevalent character would 

 be white and blue. 



We are doubtful if punching-out, as it were, 6 and 10 adds 

 to the completeness of your figure. At any rate, if using 6 and 

 10, we would not employ variegated Alyssum and blue Lobelia, 

 when their neighbours 3, 15, and 1, 13, were Flower of the Day 

 aud Lobelia. If we retained the Alyssum and wisbad to mix, 

 we would use the soft lilac of Verbena pulchella, or Verbena 

 Charlwoodii. In either case the Verbena and Alyssum would 

 be matched for strength. Nos. 6 and 10 would also do well if 

 filled with crimson Ivy-leaved Geraniums, with an edging of 

 Golden Chain. One charm of your little garden will consist in 

 the good Bpace you give between the beds.] 



