AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
in the earth that had been previously taken 
out for the purpose of forming the basin. 
About the end of January, after the bushes 
have undergone their winter pruning, they 
again receive a similar supply before com¬ 
mencing to put the ground in neat order for 
the season. Raspberries and strawberries 
are also greatly benifited by the use of this 
liquid. In applying it to raspberries the 
method recommended for gooseberries is 
suitable, and where it is applied to strawber¬ 
ries it increases the crop two-fold. Mr. Riv¬ 
ers strongly recommends it for roses. He 
says, “ I have found night-soil mixed with 
the drainings of the dunghill, or even with 
common ditch or pond-water, so as to make 
a thick liquid, the best possible manure for 
roses, poured on the surface of the soil twice 
in winter, from one to two gallons at each 
time. December and January are the best 
months; the soil need not be stirred till 
spring, and then merely loosened two or three 
inches deep with the prongs of a fork; for 
poor soils, and on lawns, previously remov¬ 
ing the turf. This method I have adopted 
for several years, and found it most effica¬ 
cious.” 
When night-soil is not to be got, I take as 
next best cow-dung made into a thick liquid 
of the consistency of porter, and apply it in 
larger quantities than when night-soil is em¬ 
ployed. John Fleming. 
Bloomhill, Cardross, Dumbarton. [London Florist. 
ON WINTER PLANTING FLOWER GARDENS, 
However georgeous the display which 
well-arranged flower-gardens make from the 
end of June to October, a considerable part 
of the year, during which ®ut-door enjoy¬ 
ment is coveted and enjoyed, passes away 
without there being anything to attract the 
eye, except the mere outline of the naked 
beds. That there are many exceptions to 
this I admit; and as I should like to see 
them become general, I give you my ideas 
on the subject. 
I do not see why the flower-gardenshould 
not be as interesting during winter, and pre¬ 
sent as gay an appearance during spring, as 
later in the season; to be sure it is not possi¬ 
ble to get up such a blaze of color in March 
and April as can be done in August; but 
still much may be done toward it; and there 
is a freshness and brightness about spring 
flowers which make them perhaps more re¬ 
ally delightful than summer ones. Besides, 
most of our spring flowers have been associ¬ 
ated with us from our very childhood; and 
although great improvements have taken 
place in many of them, and there are more 
numerous varieties, with new names and 
brighter colors, yet the resemblance to the 
pets of our boyish days is not entirely oblit¬ 
erated, and such things as heartsease, wind¬ 
flowers, crocus, daffodil, hepaticas, tulips, 
polyanthus, &c., still hold their place in the 
list of modern garden plants. 
But to my subject: I must now suppose 
the summer-flowering plants destroyed or 
out of bloom, and that it is intended to make 
up the beds to look interesting during winter, 
and gay in the spring. It-now becomes a 
point to consider how this can best be ef¬ 
fected. In the first place, where beds exist 
without any particular arrangement, the best 
way will be to half fill them with a mixture 
of such dwarf shrubs as will suit the purpose, 
taken from a list I will append; planting 
them sufficiently apart to allow for ane¬ 
mones, tulips, narcissus, &c.,or early-bloom¬ 
ing herbaceous plants, to grow freely be¬ 
tween them. The beds will be further im¬ 
proved by an edging of low-growing bulbs, 
as crocuses, or heartsease, or similar grow¬ 
ing plants. The shrubs will give the beds 
a cheerful appearance during winter; and 
on the approach of spring they will daily 
become more enlivened as one thing after 
another creeps into bloom. But for gardens 
laid out in the geometric style, something 
more than this shoujd be attempted ; with 
the plan before you each bed should be 
marked with its appropriate color, carefully 
contrasted throughout, so as to harmonize 
as a whole. In most designs there are what 
may be termed neutral beds or beds dividing 
the whole design into separate patterns; 
now these and the central beds will, gener¬ 
ally speaking, be suitable for planting entire¬ 
ly with shrubs, which will sober down the 
colors of the beds devoted to flowering plants 
alone ; for we must recollect that most 
springjfiowers, as the crocus, hyacinth, tulip, 
&e., show but few leaves while they bloom, 
and consequently there is nothing to shade 
down the color, as is the case with summer¬ 
flowering plants, which have more foliage ; 
and to remedy this defect, I have sometimes 
made use of omphalodes verna for covering 
the soil between early tulips and hyacinths, 
with good effect. Where the design is large, 
and contains a number of beds, the outside 
ones may likewise be filled with such low 
shrubs as dwarf hardy heaths, polygala 
chamsbuxus, daphne cneorum, and similar 
things, bearing in mind that the plants are 
placed in symmetrical order, according to the 
shape of the beds ; and that the complemen¬ 
tary ones should be filled with the same kind 
of plant, to preserve the unison of the whole 
design. Where the beds are very large—too 
much so to plant with one kind of plant—it 
will be found preferable to plant alternately 
a row of the plant orbulb selected, and arow 
of dwarf shrubs; in this case the shrubs 
must be sufficiently low to adinitthe flowers 
of the bulbs, &c., to be fully seen; and in 
all cases both kinds of plants should be 
planted from the outside towards the center, 
taking the shape of the bed. I have used 
gold-striped hollies and yews, instead of 
flowering plants, and these, when surrounded 
with darker-leaved shrubs, produce a pretty 
effect in the winter. 
To carry out this winter embellishment a 
reserve ground of greater or less extent, ac¬ 
cording to the quantity of plants to be grown 
for the purpose, is indispensable, and where 
the (stock during the summer should be kept. 
To enable the shrubs to be moved when 
wanted, without injury, they are usually kept 
in pots plunged in the ground ; but if a poor 
sandy or peaty soil can be selected, nearly 
all the shrubs, &c., may be grown in the 
free soil. My practice is to well cut in both 
root and top, when bedding them out for the 
summer, as the object is to have low, healthy 
plants, well furnished with numerous roots, 
and not strong-growing specimens; this prac¬ 
tice answers the purpose, and I have found no 
difficulty in moving even gold-striped hollies, 
the dwarf-growing arbutuses, pernettyas, 
and other rather shy plants at any season. 
When grown in this way, a year or two’s 
training will make them answer much better 
than growing them in pots; but alight sandy 
soil is required, which, if not found naturally, 
should be made so. As most of the jbulbs, 
&c., will have finished their growth before 
the time arrives for removing them, they may 
be taken up and dried at once, and afterward 
kept in dry sand or boxes till wanted again. 
Any late-blooming narcissus, anemones, or 
tulips, wiiose foliage is not fully ripened, 
when the beds are wanted, must be carefully 
lifted with a small handfork, and laid in beds 
in the reserve ground, to ripen off. Scillas, 
which are among the very prettiest spring¬ 
blooming plants we have, should always be 
kept in pots, and when out of bloom may be 
taken up and placed in the shade of a hedge, 
or wall, to ripen their leaves. To get ane¬ 
mones and some kinds of narcissus to bloom 
early, they will require being in the ground 
before, perhaps, the beds are cleared to re¬ 
ceive them; these should be potted when 
they show indications of growth, and plunged 
in the open ground till the beds are ready to 
receive them. 
The preparation made for the usual sum¬ 
mer occupants in the spring will amply suf¬ 
fice for the winter plants, with some trifling 
additions, the beds being merely cleaned for 
planting shrubs. The heaths should have a 
little sandy peat put round their roots, as 
may one or two other heath plants, where 
such are used; for the bulbs an admixture 
of leaf-soil and sand should be substituted, 
when the soil is at all strong, and a little 
may be placed round the bulbs in all cases ; 
in severe frost a little rotten tan over the 
surface will prevent any injury to the roots, 
which are most susceptible of harm from 
frost when commencing to giow. 
Those who have never seen a garden in 
March, April, and early in May arranged and 
planted in the way described, can hardly 
have an idea how really beautiful they are 
at that season. The varices bulbs give us 
every shade of color required to produce a 
striking effect; and as they bloom nearly at 
the same time, they only require a skillful 
hand to throw them into such combinations 
of color as can not fail to please. I may add, 
as a strong recommendation for a trial, that 
the shrubs required, being small, will not be 
very expensive; and as they grow too large 
for one purpose they are sure to suit some 
other; or in other words, they will grow, as 
the nurserymen say, “unto money,” while 
the cost of the bulbs will be trifling, com¬ 
pared with the effect produced; and when 
once a stock is obtained a small annual ad¬ 
dition will keep them up at little cost. 
[London Florist. W. B. 
THE BEAUTY OF DOUBLE SWEET WILLIAMS, 
BY A COUNTRY CLERGYMAN. 
For the last live years I have been collect¬ 
ing and growing all varieties of double-flow1 
cred Siveet Williams I could obtain. I now 
have upwards of fifty very dissimilar and 
beautiful varieties, varying in gradation 
from a white ground spotted with red, crim¬ 
son, and purple, through the various shades 
of pink, rose, lilac, purple, scarlet, and crim¬ 
son. I need not attempt to eulogize the 
flowers of this beautiful and lovely tribe ; 
ail admire Sweet William, and especially 
the double kinds. By proper attention to 
culture, I have my flowers not only very 
double, but three-quarters of an inch across ; 
and these produced in fine corymbous 
heads, give a fine effect, especially so when 
the fine colors are so distinctively arranged 
as to have the best contrast. They are 
beautiful, whether grown in masses or singly, 
and well merit a situation in every flower- 
garden. 
Two years ago 1 had about twenty varie¬ 
ties ; and, procuring from Germany a pack¬ 
et of seed, saved from the best varieties 
grown by a celebrated florist, who had paid 
much attention to these flowers, I have been 
so successful as to increase my stock of 
real double-flowered to fifty-seven very dis¬ 
tinct kinds. 
I grow mine in a good, moderately rich, 
loamy soil, upon a dry subsoil. I increase 
them by taking off slips in July; these soon 
strike root in pots placed under a hand-glass, 
or in a frame, inserting them in a moist, yel¬ 
low sand ; they would most likely root as 
well in sandy loam or sandy peat. I pot 
them singly towards the end of September, 
and keep them in a dry cool frame during 
winter, turning them out entire at the end of 
March. Floricultural Cabinet. 
If we had windows in our breasts, what a 
demand there would be for blinds ! 
