MENZIESIA EMPETRIFORMIS. 
425 
Blue Bell ? a solitary Violet ? — Lost ! while a 
bunch or patch of either is beautiful. A half 
circular bed of raised mould, forming a slight 
bank under the window of a cottage, or it 
may be under each window, if there be one on 
each side the door, would be a sort of com- 
promise between the formality of a bed and 
the wildness of a bank. This being covered 
with these flowers in large masses, would form 
beautiful little specks of wilderness in a garden, 
otherwise uniform ; and there are many sub- 
jects which will enliven it in summer, when' 
these fragile visitors shall have departed. But 
as they take no damage from anything in 
moderation standing on them, a succession of 
pots with Geraniums, or other gay inhabitants, 
would be sufficient to keep the places always 
lively. Stands may be contrived that would 
occupy but little room on the bed, and yet 
give plenty for the pots. Something of this 
kind may be passed down, even between the 
Violets, without damaging the roots or foliage; 
and as such stands need not be close together, 
or even near enough to take the air away, no 
harm can come to the permanent inmates of 
the border or bank. A row of dwarf pots round 
the front edge will make a good finish ; and 
these contrivances will make a cottage garden 
natural and pretty in spring, and gay in the 
summer and autumn. 
MENZIESIA EMPETRIFORMIS. 
( Empetron-formed Menziesia. ) 
This is one of those beautiful little North 
American plants, which are well adapted for 
the front of a border, or for rock work, being 
scarcely more than six inches high, bearing a 
bunch of bell flowers at the top, with an ele- 
gant footstalk, which gracefully bends and 
renders the blossom pendant ; the colour is a 
bright rose. The plant is considered scarce, 
probably from its having been heedlessly grown. 
It is, however, very easily cultivated in a bed, 
chiefly peat, such as is provided for American 
plants generally; and there is hardly a prettier 
object among a collection of Alpines. One 
reason for its scarcity, is the difficulty which 
attends the propagation. A layer is two years 
before it is fit to remove from the parent plant. 
Cuttings would, probably, be found a readier 
mode of propagation, but it is one of those 
subjects which gardeners in general set down 
as difficult to strike; besides which, it is, like 
many other plants, a slow grower, for which 
reason layers have been mostly made, as, though 
longer under hand, they are sooner of a size 
to use. It was introduced in 1810, and the 
flowers appear generally in June or July. 
GARDENS IN WINTER. 
There are many reasons why gardens are, 
in too many places, neglected in winter. One 
of the most powerful is the carelessness of 
most people as to what happens out of doors, 
and their general habit of seeking all their 
pleasures within. We see the gardens round 
London in a blaze of flower, with Dahlias 
pretty late; and the borders are likewise aided 
in appearance by many late-blooming flowers 
of a more dwarf kind, besides no small num- 
ber that, like the Dahlia, keep blooming till 
frost cuts them off. A frost comes ; the gar- 
dens, in twenty-four hours, are black, and 
brown, and filthy. Thus, in a great many 
places, the deplorable appearance of things 
remains for a considerable time. The Dahlias 
being worth something when taken up, are 
removed ; and the holes they come out of, with 
the stakes, and decayed plants lying near them, 
assist in completing the devastation. How 
long many persons allow this it is impossible to 
say, but it is so desolate as to create, in some 
minds, a thorough disgust. Let us look to 
the geometrical or ornamental beds of the 
flower garden ; the Verbenas that have beei 
worth taking up have been removed ; the 
ground is in hills and holes ; the dead haulm 
of the famished flowers lies about; and the 
picture of desolation is complete. Now, this 
state of things should never be permitted 
twenty-four hours ; all the decayed flowers 
and plants should be removed ; the beds dug ; 
the borders cleaned ; those plants which five 
through the winter should be cleared of their 
decayed parts ; the borders forked and laid 
level and clean ; and raked over to remove 
