502 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ June 26, 188-1. 
safely passed occasionally when the weather is dull that it 
would be a mistake not to water if a hot day were pending. 
After long practice and close observation a man judges, as if 
intuitively ; but this habit of quick and correct decision can 
only be attained by long and diligent watchfulness. It is 
lamentable to see the shortcomings of men in the important 
work in question, and to observe plants in their charge—on 
the one hand soddened by excessive watering before the roots 
have taken possession of the soil, and on the other hand 
established plants languishing by the lack of adequate sup¬ 
port. A sharp rap of the pot with the knuckles and a 
moment’s reflection on the condition of the plant and the 
prospective weather will usually guide the observant man 
aright. 
Watering is something more than a mere routine opera¬ 
tion requiring a certain amount of physical exercise. It is a 
mental process, and is as much a question of brainwork as 
is the writing of these notes. Let, then, the brain be 
exercised in the w T ork under notice—indeed, in all work— 
and thereby strengthened ; for as surely as the muscles of 
the blacksmith are developed by labour, so are the mental 
powers of man increased in force by healthy exercise. With¬ 
out this there can be no skilled labour, and if a gardener is 
not a skilled worker he is nothing. He is simply playing a 
game of chance, and in nothing is he so likely to lose as in 
watering; as when he is deluded by the supposition that he 
is using the watering pot effectively, the probability is that 
he is abusing it all the time, and before he is forty years of 
age he is a disappointed man. —Experientia Docet. 
AMONG THE FLOWERS. 
Out-of-door flowers are now yielding their richest harvest of 
bloom, and borders, beds, and clumps are gayer than at any other 
period of the year. True, the sentiment which has become attached 
to spring flowers is lacking. Drooping Snowdrop, blade and flower, 
has long ago disappeared, and we find no clumps of yellow Crocuses, 
with “ golden-chaliced cups ” shining in the mid-day sun, and 
haunted during glimpses of the “ glorious king of day ” by bees too 
easily tempted from their homes. No gaudy Tulips flaunt their buds 
of richest hues among sweet white Arabis or blue Forget-me-not, or 
Aubrietias of moie sober tin's. No Daffodils to tempt us maunder into 
rhyme, or retaining our sober reason to bury our noses in bunches of 
“ Codlins and Cream,” or Jonquils of richer scent, or the more 
harmoniously refined Poet’s Narciss, and draw the subtle essence 
thence. Nor are our present-time flowers so stately or so glowing in 
colour as are the flowers of autumn. The day of the Dahlia is not 
yet, nor has the Hollyhock towered its stately spike above its 
compeers. We must wait for the queenly Gladiolus, the flaming 
Tritoma, and the large yellow Evening Primrose. Lovely Japanese 
Windflowers, and sweet-scented Phloxes, staring Asters, Sweet Peas, 
and Chrysanthemums—precursors of our early winter queen of 
flowers—are all to be waited for. But—and how shall I begin to 
select from so large a list ?—we have Pinks, the very name carrying 
with it some of the sweetness of the flower. Pinks in hundreds, in 
row, in bed, in border, double white and double pink ; and kinds like 
these, but with wondrous names, “ Border Pinks ” and forcing Pinks, 
Clove Pinks and florists’ Pinks, and, only like in name, the splendid 
sorts of Mule Pinks. Pinks form a garden in themselves. What 
must a garden be without them, if such a one there be? Every 
garden, however, has its Roses, but it is not every garden which is 
possessed of Damask, York-and-Lancaster, Scotch, and Cramoisie 
Roses. These should all find a place in borders of perennial flowers, 
and, add to these Moss Roses and Cabbage Roses, Madame Hardy, 
Paul Ricaut, Coupe d’Hebe, General Jacqueminot, Gloire de Dijon, 
John Hopper, and Geant des Batailles. 
These are the kinds that men and women no longer young love to 
fondle and talk of to their grandchildren. Old-fashioned, no doubt, 
and obliterated most of them from present-day Rose lists, but Roses 
which bring forgotten memories to life, and, therefore, themselves 
instinct with living memories. Then here and there we find a clump 
of Heartsease—Pansies that were planted several years ago, and 
which have yielded their flowers at almost all seasons, but at none so 
so luxuriantly as at this. True, the flowers are not so large as the 
young thriving stock in a neighbouring bed, but on the whole their 
effect is much prettier, and we can cut and come again to these with¬ 
out any feeling of having behaved extravagantly. Some of the Violas 
are also found here ; Alpha, for instance, with deep purple blooms, 
and in large masses, and Picturata, of a curious shade of lilac, but 
telling in the extreme. We also find the dwarf white Rocket with 
Hyacinth-like spikes, and the taller-growing kind with looser spikes, 
and produced in greater freedom, and redolent with the never-to-be- 
forgotten scent of the common Rocket. Here are also the old daik 
double Wallflower and the little double yellow sort so seldom seen 
now ; and more seldom seen still is the double Rock Cress, with its 
bunches of tiny button-like flowers. 
Saxifragas in great variety are becoming dirty-looking, and the 
latest of the white perennial Candytufts (Iberis corifolia) will 
soon follow.- The blue of the Gentianellas gives place to that of 
numerous kinds of dwarf Campanulas—pumila, Portenschlagiana, 
muralis, to garganica and its varieties, turbinata, carpatica, the 
Harebell, to taller kinds like Hendersonii, Van Houttei, the Peach¬ 
leaved varieties, and many others. Pyrethrums of themselves make 
quite a show, the taller-growing single kinds growing further back 
than those with double flowers. The same may be said of the 
Columbines, which have now begun their reign ; caerulea, white and 
blue ; vulgaris, none the less pretty for being a weed ; californica, 
chrysantha, and nudicaule, some of them not yet in flower, but 
hastening fast forward. Then huge clumps of the many-fingered 
Lupin in white and shades of blue and purple, and variegated white 
and blue, make the almost flowerless background bright with flowers. 
The Delphiniums also, with wondrous shades of blue and mauve, 
and spikes which yield to the Hollyhock alone, are now beginning 
their yearly festival. Space would entirely fail me to recapitulate the 
smaller things which go to make the groups complete. Of haidy 
Orchis and Day Lilies—to Scotchmen always suggestive of the Ettrick 
Shepherd and the old man and his bonnie Nannie—and Welsh Poppies 
drooping their yellow heads in the shade, and lifting them again to 
woo the returning sun, or those with blooms of glowing crimson or 
scarlet, with petals like crimpled satin ; but, oh ! so quickly past. 
Satin reminds one of the white Polemonium, prettier even than the 
Sisyrinchium of the earlier months. The Polemonium Richardsoni, 
also now in great beauty, globular clumps of light blue. Here we 
come to the New Zealand Daisy, with starry blooms, white, rose, and 
pink ; there to a broad mass of Ourisia coccinea ; here to the soft 
violet Pentstemon procerus. A little way we find a mass of soft 
rose blooms (Saponaria ocymoides), and just behind the brilliant 
double Lychnis viscaria, and further on the showier single form of 
the same. The peculiar blue Ajuga genevensis is contrasted with a 
Mimulus, and the Mimulus nestles beside a bunchy Geranium. 'J hese 
spikes, so like white Roman Hyacinths, are the white Lychnis viscaria. 
That flag-leaved plant, with half a dozen large blue flowers on each 
spike, is Iris pallida. We smell it, and it is aromatic to a degree. 
These handsome plants of the same species, with shaded flowers of 
white or lilac, blue or purple, are the English Iris. Here are 
Alstroemerias just beginning their annual feast of beauty, with 
glorious bunches of the species aurea ; there are Tradescantias of 
various sorts ; this lilac upright plant the beautiful Erigeron ; this 
more upright still, and only a little darker, Stenactis speciosa. We 
miss here the Foxglove, but we shall find it nestling at the base of 
shrubs, with Hollyhocks and Columbines, or companying with Lilies 
among Rhododendrons. There we also find the Everlasting Pea 
rambling over a fallen stump, or with Hop and Honeysuckle hiding 
the nakedness of some dead shrubs. 'I hat mass of grey-green foliage, 
topped with feathery spikes of white, standing isolated on the grassy 
lawn, is Spiraea Aruncus. Yonder a group of the common Aconitum, 
and there a specimen of the species Lycoctonum, with its spikelets 
of delicate yellow. 
Every cranny on this old wall is packed with the little creeping 
Linaria (Toadflax), and wreathed in sweet disorder with Clematis 
montana ; while here and there a tall Verbascum is sending its grey 
shoots skyward from the tangle, and Snapdragons, yellow, red, and 
many-coloured, enliven the living pic f ure. 1 might catalogue the 
flowers we missed—Byzantine Gladiolus and the satiny-flowered 
“ Bride ”—clumps of darkest crimson—the dwarf Sweet William, 
bronzy Heuchera, or Fern-like Thalictrum and Tansy, or Hemerocallis, 
with leaves like lawn, were the green edges wanting, spotted 
Pulmonaria, or yellow striped Iris. But I stay—all are common 
flowers, but all are lovely.— Sylvanus. 
VINES BLEEDING. 
Various theories and experiences are recorded in the Journal regard¬ 
ing this subject, and it may be safely said that a great diversity of 
opinion exists regarding the causes of bleeding in Vines. “ In a multitude 
of counsellers there is wisdom,” and no doubt the more opinions and 
experiences are recorded the better. My experience has been that bleed¬ 
ing has occurred in Vines in the most diverse circumstances. For instance, 
in one case, Vines with the roots all inside, which are pruned early in 
autumn, never fail to bleed when started, though the wounds made in 
pruning have at least three months to heal, and the wood every year is as 
hard and well ripened as can be. The border does not suffer from excess 
of moisture, indeed it is rather too much the ether way. But the more 
the Vines in this house bleed the stronger they teem to grow, which is 
