I 
HINTS ON POTTING AND PLANTING. 235 
do not dwell on tliem, however, as it is the purport of this article to bring to light 
those which are not often employed in grouping. Allied to them in habit, and in 
the kind of soil they demand, are the species of Kalmia^ Ledum, Lyonia, Andro- 
meda, Vaccinium, &c., on which we are equally unwilling to remark, as there is 
nothing peculiar in their treatment. They are all capable of being cultivated to 
perfection in beds. Our space will but just suffer us to specify, in addition, 
Deufzia scahr a,which, by pruning, might make a pleasing group ; Ribes san^uineum, 
which would form a splendid bed during the spring months ; Hydrangea kortensis, 
which is said to bear blue flowers when grown in heath-soil; the species of 
Mahonia, rich and interesting at all seasons of the year ; and the Laurustinus, 
than which few plants can be better fitted for our purpose. 
Of half-hardy plants, a long list might be given. We shall only note the genus 
Fuchsia and Leycesteria formosa, because they will bear our winters with but a 
trifling protection to the roots, and spring up, anew, each spring, with augmented 
vigour. We hope, ere many years pass by, to see hardy ornamental shrubs as 
much employed in grouping as the half-hardy suffruticose species, which are now 
so generally planted in flower-gardens. 
HINTS ON POTTING AND PLANTING. 
Among the many errors to which amateurs and the less considerate class of 
gardeners are liable, there is none that so much needs exposure, on account of the 
bad consequences it entails, as that of burying the roots of plants too deeply below 
the surface of the soil. Instances are perpetually occuring beneath our observation 
in which trees and shrubs are completely destroyed by this injudicious and unphi- 
losophical practice ; and the cases are still more numerous wherein others are 
brought into a state of unhealthiness, which alike puzzles and annoys the inexpe- 
rienced cultivator. 
The evils of deep planting are never essentially different, however much they 
may be modified by circumstances. The influence of the air is as necessary to 
prepare or purify the aliment imbibed by the roots of plants, as it is to elaborate 
the sap exposed by their leaves. And accordingly, it matters not whether excessive 
drought, baking the surface of the earth, or extreme saturation, preventing the 
access or neutralizing the effects of other elements, or remoteness from the top of 
the ground, is the cause of the exclusion of air ; all are similarly and almost 
equally prejudicial. 
But other detriment is caused to plants whose roots lie too far beneath the 
surface, in the fact that they absorb too much moisture and grow too rapidly and 
luxuriantly. A specimen which derives its sources of nourishment below the 
