HORTICULTURAL NOTES. 
101 
ment. Dahlias no more get worn out than 
any other plant, but you treat them worse 
than you treat any other plant. Hundreds of 
old Dahlias have been thrown away, that i£ 
now produced would win seedling prizes. 
Let us have no more such neglect, for it de- 
serves bad flowers. 
Thorn Hedges. — The Thorn has been 
found to answer for grafting various subjects 
on ; not the many varieties of its own genus, 
but the pear; and in an internal hedge, a pear 
was grafted on every plant that on examina- 
tion proved strong enough to carry it, 
and they all did well for years ; but if this 
were done in a boundary or outer hedge, of 
course the owner would never get the fruit ; 
nor is it much more certain that the flowers 
would be sacred if grafts of the more beauti- 
ful varieties of the thorn were placed on 
them. Yet there can hardly be a more pretty 
object than the varieties of thorn well placed 
about grounds, and standing in rows towering 
above the edges. Thorns, however, can be 
bought at the nurseries as standards or dwarfs, 
and all worth notice in the ordinary planting, 
for the standards may be planted among ever- 
greens, or wheresoever the stem is hidden; 
and there the head throwing out its white, or 
pink, or scarlet, blossoms, single or double, as 
the case may be, and adding greatly to the 
effect, will make a figure of themselves with- 
out interference with the clumps or borders. 
Birds in Gardens. — No man in his senses 
will deny that we are greatly indebted to 
birds for keeping down much of the mischief 
caused by insects, nor is it to be disputed that 
there are seasons in which they are destructive 
to our crops. The object of all gardeners, 
then, should be to manage matters so as to avail 
themselves of the good offices of birds, and to 
prevent the mischief. Is this to be done 
without expense ? Certainly not ; nor can 
any advantage be secured without cost. At 
sowing time, as well as in the time of seed- 
ripening, there must be a sharp look-out, and 
they must be frightened away; and where any 
kind, no matter what, abounds too much, they 
must be killed off" to a reasonable quantity. 
It is possible to encourage birds to such an 
extent as almost to defy all efforts to scare 
them, but it would be quite as unwise to kill 
all as to spare all ; few subjects have been so 
extensively discussed with - so little profit ; 
common sense should tell us, that birds, like 
fire and water, may be capital servants, but 
bad masters. 
Seeds of Dahlias and other double 
syngenecious Flowers. — In saving seeds for 
sowing, never take them in the centre ; take 
none but petal seeds, for they will give the 
largest proportion of double flowers. China 
Asters and Dahlias have generally some disk 
seeds, if they are even very double; therefore 
on taking the pod to get out the grains, begin 
from the outside, and when you have got a 
few of the rows of seed from them, throw the 
rest into a common sort, which you may give 
away or sell ; but building upon the chances 
of good flowers, you will be much better paid 
for your labour by the few outside seeds, than 
ever you can by sowing the whole. This is 
worth attention. 
The Anemone. — The great distinction be- 
tAveen this and the Ranunculus is, that the 
former has a very large seed-vessel, which 
petals could hardly hide, and the other a small 
on?, which the centre of a double flower con- 
ceals. The former has, as yet, hardly been 
seen with more than three or four rows of 
petals ; the latter has an almost countless 
number. There is, however, a double kind of 
Anemone, which has a row of broad petals, 
and the centre a confused mass of florets, 
generally of another colour. This description 
of flowers is the only variegated double one ; 
the others are only valued as an approach to 
double flowers of the ranunculus form ; and 
those who pay the most attention to the semi- 
double kind with the large seed-vessel, instead 
of the recognised double kinds with the mass 
of florets, will the soonest make an advance 
towards perfecting the double Anemone. 
Impurities in Rain-water. — Caution is 
required in the use of rain-water, as many 
impurities very likely to come into it are 
poisonous. I, for instance, once damaged, nay, 
and killed some valuable plants, by using the 
water which, from the roof of the glass-houses, 
was all saved in tanks within-side. The entire 
had been painted, and the first and second 
rain after the painting did all the mischief. 
I afterwards found it was the lead. Another 
time I injured some geraniums, by using the 
last drainings, as it were, of the rain-water 
tank ; and found the cause to have been a vast 
excess of pigeons' dung, which washed from 
the roofs on which they congregated. The 
effects were not perceivable while the tanks 
were full, or nearly so ; but when we came to 
near the bottom it was fatal ; and it would be 
so in a common water-butt, where pigeons 
were kept. 
Sunflowers. — The Company intended to 
be got up for the cultivation of this plant 
seems to have proved a failure ; nevertheless, 
the plant ought not to be lost sight of, as the 
seed will assuredly bear a price at market for 
the purposes of manufacture. That it is very 
fattening to poultry is certain, but we are not 
quite so sure that the meat of it would be free 
from a particular flavour not altogether agree- 
able, as poultry fed on fish always, more or 
less, indicates the fishy taste. The great 
object, we presume, would be to grow them for 
