S8 



JOURNAL OP HOETICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 



[ July 11, 1872. 



the time comes round they will commence growth, and when 

 the shoots are an inch long, or less, the plants should be potted. 

 Put in all the roots when any commence growing, as we may 

 be pretty sure the time has arrived for then- growth, and then 

 the sooner they are placed in a suitable medium the better. 

 The bulbs rest two to three months. 



Before proceeding I ought to say something on the earthing- 

 up system of culture. Those who wish to practise this system 

 have only to place the tubers i inches below the rims of the pots ; 

 as the young shoots grow, layer them in the soil, and cover with 

 fresh mould, leaving the shoot-ends about an inch above the 

 surface. In this way the shoots may be layered and fresh soil 

 added as they grow until the pot is filled to the rim, and then they 

 may be allowed to grow on the trellis or other support. This 

 plan is good when increase is wanted, as at many of the joints, 

 and especially the bends of the shoots, bulbs will form. I think, 

 however, the growth is weakened by this layering process, and 

 that we have the strongest growth' and best flowering plants by 

 the former method. 



A soddened soil is destructive to these plants. If it ever gets 

 into that state the plants rarely do any good the season it 

 occurs — hence the necessity for very careful watering, and 

 especially in the early stages of their growth. The soil, how- 

 ever, should be kept moist, not giving any water until it be- 

 comes dry , and then afford a thorough supply. If this be attended 

 to, and the plants be not allowed to suffer from want of water, 

 they will grow well. After they are in good leaf -growth more 

 copious supplies of water will be required, especially after the 

 flowers show, when the supplies should be liberal. After 

 flowering the supplies of water should be lessened, and when 

 the leaves turn yellow leave off altogether ; when the stems 

 wither take up the roots as before stated. 



Tropasolums succeed in a greenhouse with a temperature of 

 -10° to 45° from fire heat. The stems need training to trellises, 

 which may be of any shape, but not larger than will be covered 

 well. Flat and balloon-shaped trellises answer very well for 

 plants in pots, but the top of a Larch or Spruce, leafless of 

 course, answers well; in fact, I consider such very pretty, 

 and finer than any form of trellis whatever. The main point 

 is to cover every part of the trellis, especially with the flowering 

 portions of the shoots, having them in good foliage and flower 

 throughout. To effect this, frequent regulations of the shoots 

 will need to be made, and the plants must be turned frequently 

 round to secure equal growth on all sides. If the flowers are 

 all wanted on one side, as they will be on a flat trellis, then 

 that side must be kept constantly to the strongest light. 



The kinds most deserving of greenhouse culture are — 



Tropffiolum tricolorum, flowers scarlet, orange, and black. 



T. tricolorum grandiflorum (Jarratti), flowers larger than tri- 

 colorum, and the plants stronger. The colour of the flowers are 

 the same. 



T. brachyceras, yellow. 



T. azureum, bright blue, very handsome, and by no means 

 common. 



T. pentaphyllum, green and red. 



T. polyphyllum, golden yellow; very showy. 



The last two are all but, if not quite, hardy, and yet they are 

 fine subjects for the greenhouse. — G. Abbey. 



BEDDING-OUT. 



By the Eev. C. P. Peach. 



(Read before the Horticultural Congress at Birmingham.) 



(Concluded from page 6.) 



Yon will see, then, I am an advocate for those who wish to 

 carry out the system of bedding-out to the greatest advantage, 

 to erect suitable houses, and to take as much pains in the 

 winter management of them as they would with plants which 

 they grow to ornament their conservatories or stoves ; and 

 where this cannot be done, it is far better to reduce the num- 

 ber of plants, and to see that those which are put out are not 

 only good sorts but good plants, rather than to plant out too 

 many. 



Now comes an important point, and that is the general 

 management of the planting itself. First of all, let everyone 

 have a plan of his garden on paper. Let every gardener note 

 down from time to time during each season the habit, and 

 growth, and colour of each of the different kinds of plants he 

 grows, and then make up his mind as early as he can how he 

 will plant his garden next year, so as to put in a sufficient stock 

 of each kind required for the different beds, and avoid having 



to spoil a particular combination of colouring by falling short 

 of some plants while he is overstocked with others. Next 

 I would warn gardeners against too great a use of primary 

 colour's, such as scarlets and yellows. Let them try and get as 

 great a variety in different shades of colour as they can. If, for 

 instance, in a long bank, the bank be divided into a num- 

 ber of beds, instead of repeating the same kind of scarlet 

 Geranium, or pink Geranium, as the case may be, it is far 

 better to use different kinds, so as to avoid too much repetition 

 and to be able to compare one kind of scarlet with another, or 

 one kind of pink or crimson with another. Use also a good 

 deal of soft colours and neutral tints, such as Ageratum, 

 Purple King Verbena, Geraniums of the Amy Hogg, Violet 

 Hill, and Lady Kirkland stamp. Avoid the use of large beds 

 as much as possible, especially large beds of primary colours; 

 take care not to plant the centre beds of your garden with such 

 things as Tom Thumb Geranium or yellow Calceolaria, so as 

 to attract the eye from the outer beds ; be careful about the use 

 of white, though perhaps there is less need to warn against 

 this, as there are so few white flowers, but it is as well not to 

 overdo white variegation. A garden should be much like a 

 good carpet in a room — rich and harmonious, pleasant for the 

 •eye to dwell on, not going into violent contrasts or glaring 

 colours, or having too conspicuous a pattern ; and the effect 

 ought to be produced as much as possible by means of flower- 

 ing plants, and not mere variegated or ornamental-foliaged 

 plants, though these plants ought to be used in order to give 

 diversity and difference of form ; and some of the variegated 

 plants, as tricolored and bicolored Geraniums, are especially 

 useful in separating one primary colour from another. A 

 garden, we ought to remember, ought not only to be beautiful 

 but it ought to be interesting, and mixed beds of Verbenas, and 

 trial beds where one kind of plant can be compared with 

 another, will always add to the interest of a garden, and I 

 know hardly any bed so beautiful of itself as a well-grown bed 

 of mixed Verbenas. 



I have said nothing as yet about the plan of the flower 

 garden or beds themselves, but I would add a garden for 

 bedded-out plants ought to be rather formal and of the geome- 

 trical order for the proper harmony of colouring in bedding. 

 The beds, also, should form a good pattern of themselves, not 

 be merely so many forms cut out of grass or laid out on gravel, 

 but should be separated from each other by a nearly uniform 

 breadth of walk, and none of the beds ought to be too big for 

 the others, so as to dwarf the rest by comparison. Each bed 

 should also be of a good shape of itself, avoiding points and 

 angles, and unnecessary twists and curves, and avoiding all 

 unnecessary attempts at elaborate design, so as to make the 

 flowers the secondary point. A flower garden ought essentially 

 to be a flower garden ; not so much Box and gravel, not so 

 many yards of tile and coloured paths, with statues, and vases, 

 and grotesque figures, &c, but flowering plants should be the 

 predominant feature. 



Time warns me to conclude. I would only add, my object 

 in making these remarks is to stand up in defence of a system 

 which has done so much for horticulture, and to ask gardeners 

 to help to defend it by bein^ still more careful about the 

 quality of plants they bed-out, and the manner in which they 

 are grouped. I do not wish to interfere with those who pre- 

 fer herbaceous borders and an attempt to grow plants in what 

 they call a more natural rather than a formal manner ; but as 

 all dressed ground round houses must necessarily be more or 

 less formal, as the mere fact of mowing a lawn and forming 

 walks and beds prevents the adoption of flowers au naturel, 

 it seems to me rather hard to condemn the taste of those who 

 prefer to see their gardens planted with Geraniums, Verbenas, 

 Ageraturns, Calceolarias, Lobelias, and other plants of a like 

 nature, which have proved effective in combination, and more 

 durable and more manageable than the old herbaceous borders. 

 No doubt it is my want of taste, but I have never seen an 

 herbaceous border that was in the least attractive. I can 

 admire individual plants, but the grouping was so utterly 

 ineffective in old days — tall plants tied-up in bundles with 

 sticks adjoining trailing plants and dwarf alpines ; plants with 

 dead blooms running to seed mixed with others not yet come 

 to perfection, so as never to make the border look effective at 

 any one time. 



Public taste may want educating, but I do not think tnat 

 anything which has become really popular and adopted by 

 those of refined taste as well as by the public, has ever been 

 really meretricious, and it is on this account that I maintain it 

 is savouring of want of courtesy to those who admire bedded- 



