436 
FLOWER GARDEN AND SHRUBBERY. 
opaque, nncl variegated with white or yellow 
margins or middles. Rhododendron cataw- 
biense is another highly useful front plant ; 
and to be kept short, cut off the ends of the 
branches that make any very vigorous effort 
at growth. Cotoneasters, Evergreen varieties 
and species of Berberis, (or Mahonia,) Garrya 
elliptica, and Laurustinus, will render these 
front rows very pretty and varied. These 
should be three to five feet apart, according to 
the magnitude of the place. The next row 
should be planted at the intervals, two or 
three feet farther back, and might be composed 
of Hollies, Arbutus, Arbor Vitaes, Magnolias, 
Portugal Laurels, Box, Alaturnus, Acuba- 
Japonicas, Broom, Junipers, and Yews, all of 
them a foot or two taller than those in front. 
These form a back-ground, seen between those 
in front. A third row may be planted exactly 
behind the front ones, and may consist of the 
various Pinuses, larger Hollies, large shrubs of 
any kind, common Laurels, any subjects which 
grow fast. Here then is a mass of Evergreens, 
and sufficiently distant from each other to en- 
able you to plant deciduous shrubs and trees 
behind each ; but they ought to be standards, 
and their heads well above the green foliage of 
the others. Although we have mentioned the 
front row, there is yet a border before them ; 
and, at intervals of some distance from each 
other, may be planted Azaleas, Daphnes, and 
Pyrus Japonicas, but not enough to form a 
row, merely sufficient to give a little bloom 
in spring among the border flowers. Re- 
specting the verges of these clumps and beds, 
they are more in character when composed of 
turf twelve inches wide at the sides of a road ; 
and, where the beds or borders are on a lawn, 
the grass itself forms the edging as far as it 
goes, so that, in fact, where the road is next 
the border, twelve inches wide of grass is 
necessary ; but when the road is not near it, 
the border seems cut out of the lawn. When 
the flower garden and shrubbery is without 
any lawn, Gentianella is the best edging for 
wide edges, and box for narrow ones ; and box 
edgings made well at first, last for many years 
with only common attention. As these form 
a very important feature in flower gardens, we 
will give directions for making them. 
Box Edging. — To make a box edging, 
nothing more is requisite than to make a firm 
bank, with the top edge perfectly level, to cut 
the figure of the bed accurately, whether it 
be circular or square, or otherwise; for on this 
depends the success. Having prepared the 
edge of the bed like a sloping bank, and 
thrown the mould (or, if a walk, the gravel) 
well out of the way, the box must be thinned 
by pulling it to pieces, or parting it, so that 
there be some root on all of the pieces ; if 
the rooted part is too long, it must, or should, 
be shortened, and the tops trimmed pretty 
square. Lay these pieces side by side, with the 
tips about an inch clear above the square 
edge at top, and adjusting them as you go on 
by banking them in their places ; when all is 
done, lay the path level with the border, for 
such it should be next the box; and the paths 
should rise in the middle. 
To make Dutch or Geometrical Gar- 
dens. — The ground must be levelled all over, 
and rolled with a heavy roller ; the figure must 
then be drawn so that the marks enable you 
to cut all the edges of the beds like a sloping 
bank, and throw the mould to the middle of 
the intended walks. Plant your box as directed, 
and merely bank it into its place ; remove a 
sufficient quantity of mould from the paths to 
enable you to gravel it well, and let the gravel 
cover all the mould that is on the roots of the 
box, because the soil one side the box and 
the gravel on the other ought to form a 
strong contrast, which can only be made by 
both being unmixed with each other. 
Tender Plants. — Take up all the tender 
plants not yet taken care of, and that may be 
wanted, such as Verbenas, Petunias, Gera- 
niums, Fuchsias, &c., if not already done as 
directed last month. 
Dahlias should be lifted, and dried in the 
houses, stems downwards, in which state they 
should be stored, that any moisture which 
may be in the stem should drain out, instead 
of lodge, and rot the crown, than which 
nothing is more likely if this be neglected. 
It is only necessary to keep the tubers from 
frost, wet, and excessive heat ; but from the 
time they are taken up, they should always be 
kept stems downwards, or at least so much on 
one side as to enable all moisture to run 
away from, instead of towards, the crown of 
the tuber. Whether they are kept in a green- 
house, under the stage — which is a good place, 
or in boxes, covered up with straw, or pitted, 
like potatoes, or in a common room in a dwel- 
ling-house, or hanging up in a kitchen, mat- 
ters not, so that the place be not hot enough 
to shrivel up the tubers, nor wet enough to 
rot them, nor cold enough to freeze them. 
Seedling Dahlias that are small should be 
packed in sand ; and cuttings, struck, but 
formed into very small tubers, should be left 
in their pots, or fresh potted, and kept in 
them till they start in the spring. If they 
have not done growing, and not died down, 
it is better to keep them in the green-house 
growing as long as you can. As a precau- 
tion against the labels being lost, or detached 
from the tubers, by which the value for a 
season is gone, you should fasten all on with 
wire before you put them away ; indeed it is 
better to use the wire at once when you take 
up the tubers, and fasten proper labels on at once. 
