LEYCESTEMA FORMOSA. 
423 
course, which will discharge itself at the 
lowest point, from which place, by an open 
ditch, it must be forwarded to the nearest 
open drain. It is no use to say this cannot 
be done, — it is of no avail that you make up 
your mind the water cannot be got rid of ; 
because, if that be the case, shut it up as a 
garden, and cultivate things of less import- 
ance. If, as will sometimes be the case, there 
are no visible means of carrying off the water, 
and from your having a house on the ground, 
you must adopt it as a garden, — you must 
make an excavation in the lowest part of it, 
and by letting the drains all go into it, the 
upper grounds may be drained, though the 
lower ones will be little the better. In such 
cases all the better things must be grown high 
up the ground, and the lower portion must be 
used for rough vegetables. With regard to 
flowers, many of them will not — cannotflourish, 
where there is stagnant water ; the manure 
which is given to them is wasted, the soil 
they grow in is soured. They grow weakly, 
and spindle away, without the growers know- 
ing what is the matter. Year after year they 
find themselves buying new things, yet their 
stock does not increase ; the effect is alike 
mischievous on all kinds. In Polyanthus 
beds we find vacancies, and plants weakly ; 
Primroses much the same ; Pinks stand for 
months without growing, and then throw up 
miserably thin stems ; Pansies turn yellow, 
and grow slim, instead of looking green and 
bushy. There is no going back with any 
flower without a cause, and, nineteen times 
out of twenty, it is the want of proper drainage. 
It is frequently directed that, in making a 
bed for Ranunculuses, Anemones, Pinks, 
Pansies, -or other flowers, that the stuff be 
thrown out of the bed two feet deep ; that 
there be six inches of brick rubbish put on 
the bottom; upon this comes some dung, and, 
after all, it is to be filled up with the proper 
compost described at the time. Anybody 
would fancy this a nice, dry, comfortable bed 
for the most delicate flowers in the world ; 
but if the garden be not drained, the water 
will fill the brick rubbish, and sodden the 
dung; because the brick rubbish being porous, 
invites the surrounding stagnant water, and 
the invitation is so instantly accepted, that it 
has its own share, and some of the shares of 
the surrounding beds ; so that people must 
not fancy their bed well drained, because they 
use the means in that one place ; for, in fact, 
they only make provision to hold more water 
where their bed is, than the stagnant mould 
which they have removed would have had, 
had they not disturbed it. We have seen, 
in our time, a florist's garden in which 
every bed was constructed according to the 
best instructions for growing them : — the 
Ranunculus beds were bricked round just 
beneath the surface ; the Tulip bed was 
boarded up six inches above the surface, and, 
as this was in the month of October, the soil 
was turned out of them like so many graves ; 
the Tulip-bed was down on a gravelly bottom, 
the others were down to a close black hard 
mould, and all pretty dry. We were called 
in in consequence of several failures in the 
different flowers cultivated by the owner. We 
saw nothing remarkable in the appearance of 
things, but we did ask how far they had to dig 
down for water in winter time. Only one 
spade deep, was the reply, and that for months 
together. "Then there is your failure," said we; 
"it is no use to inquire further. Do a good three- 
feet drain down the centre path, and let nearly 
a foot of the bottom be filled with large stones; 
cover these with bushes, and fill in your walk 
upon it; do smaller drains down your side- 
paths leading into the centre one, and serve 
these the same." It was no use tampering with 
the thing; it was done in earnest. In a month, 
the water running from the middle drain would 
have turned a mill ; there was no more water 
to be found a spit deep, and flowers grew as 
well with our floral friend as with anybody. 
He had complained of doing all this at great 
expense, and all the other at great expense, 
and never finding it answer; whereas by only 
undergoing this system of thorough drainage, 
all that had been done without effect previ- 
ously was now in every respect successful. 
The Pansies no longer damped off ; the Pinks 
gained strength ; the Tulips were no longer 
weakly and discoloured ; the Ranunculuses 
bloomed finely and swelled out well, and all 
things appeared as differently as if they had 
been growing ten miles another way. Such 
was the efficacy of draining a place in which 
hundreds of pounds had been expended, and 
the owner thought all had been done that 
could be done. One-half the people who 
grumble about the soil and situation, would 
be far nearer the mark if they complained of 
the water ; it is not less fatal in the stomach 
of plants than it is in the stomach of animals; at 
all events, let every one, old and young, who 
cannot succeed to his liking, look well to his 
drainings, for he may, in the defects of that 
necessary operation, find the cause of all his 
troubles in the horticultural way. 
LEYCESTEMA FORMOSA. 
(Handsome Leycesteria.) 
This hardy evergreen shrub has been gene- 
rally reared as a valuable addition to our 
ornamental grounds, not less for its appear- 
ance as an evergreen, than its singular and 
elegantly drooping flowers, which hang from 
the ends of the matured shoots, and give the 
