1871.] 
NOTES ON BEDDING PLANTS IN 1871. 
269 
wliicb. nothing will grow. Some rural gardens are little or no better, the 
soil being so thin, so hungry, so worthless, that it will neither grow fruit-trees nor 
vegetables. The only remedy is to improve it bodily away. It is often not so 
much manure, as a change or greater depth of earth that is needed. 
In all cases where the depth of the tilth can be extended by trenching, I would 
advise going down for new supplies; but where the subsoil is gravel, sand, clay, 
or stone, the only remedy for a shallow tilth is to add fresh layers of earth from 
above. Thousands of gardens are in great need of such replenishment, or the 
substitution of good soil for bad. Scarcely any more valuable Christmas gifts 
could be dispensed than that of a few loads of good, fresh soil—if maiden loam 
from park or common all the better—to the gardens of mechanics and cottagers. 
Unlike so many other gifts, this could not be said to perish in the using. 
Neither could it demoralize the receiver, while it would enrich, endear, and 
ennoble the giver. And if with the soil could be added some choice fruit-trees 
to furnish the walls of the dwellings, much would be done to clothe the bare¬ 
ness of rural homes with plenty, and to satisfy the fruit wants of our town 
population. Next month I hope to return to this subject, to name a few of the 
most profitable sorts to grow, and to give a few cultural hints on the treatment 
of fruit-trees on the walls of houses.—D. T. Fish, Bury St. Edmunds. 
NOTES ON BEDDING PLANTS IN 1871. 
|N looking over my notes, I find the following plants have done well 
here, both in the dry season previous to the last, and also in that we 
have just gone through, which was so different to the former in many 
respects :— 
Ageratum Imperial Blue is a great acquisition, of easy growth and free 
propagation, and well adapted for front lines, as it is dwarf in habit, while its 
fine lavender flower-heads, which it bears in immense numbers, are very pleasing. 
Cineraria acanthifolia is of a beautiful silvery white, more compact in growth 
than C. maritima , and superior in every way. It is nearly hardy, doing well in a 
cold frame all the winter if it is kept on the dry side. 
Iresine Lindeni is a great improvement on 1 . Herbstii , being brighter in 
colour, and of a better habit; it also can be pinched into shape if it grows too 
strong. It is taking the place of I. Herbstii in many places. 
Pyrethrum Golden Feather , the Golden Feverfew, is another useful and easily 
kept plant. To have it good for edgings, it should be sown early in February, 
and pricked off into boxes as soon as the young plants can be handled; the 
compost to consist of good rich free loam, and the plants to be placed in a frame 
where they can have the benefit of a little heat to give them a start. When 
treated in this way they are not apt to run so soon to seed. 
Heliotrope Surprise has proved a great acquisition to us here, as being of a 
purplish blue, it has nearly taken the place of Verbena Purple King, which on 
our light sandy soil in dry seasons blooms but indifferently. 
