APRIL. 
91 
After this, if kept clear from weeds, they will not require any further care until 
autumn, when they should be removed into the flower garden. 
I might extend this list to a considerable length without exhausting the 
number of plants adapted for spring decoration; but it is not a great number 
of different plants that is so much needed as a few sorts of distinct colours, proper 
height, and good free-flowering habit. Most of the plants I have recommended 
have been in this country time out of mind. They were very common in most 
gardens in the days of our childhood. They are all of the easiest culture, and if 
a piece of ground be devoted to their growth, with very little labour a large stock 
of most useful plants for the spring decoration of the flower garden may always 
be on hand. Of one thing I am certain, and that is that to the lover of nature 
and the man of taste a parterre properly and effectively planted with these flowers 
will afford infinitely greater pleasure and delight during the months of March, 
April, and May than one where broken bricks, slate, sand, &c., are employed to 
produce an effect can possibly do, no matter how artistically designed. 
Stourton. M. Saul. 
CHRONICLES OF A TOWN GARDEN.—No. IV. 
My glass dish of Tulips has excited the envy of all who have seen it. In the 
centre, because the tallest, are the pure white Pottebakker, the best white Tulip 
for pot culture I have ever seen. Pound these are Proserpine, fine silken rose, 
and Superintendent, pretty violet striped; and outside a ring of Scarlet Yan Thol 
and Golden Prince, alternately, the vivid scarlet of the one contrasting well with 
the bright golden hue of the other. Like the marvellous pie in the nursery 
rhyme, it was 
“ A pretty dish 
To set before a king.*’ 
Standing on a small table in the window of the sitting-room, on these bright 
sunny spring mornings there streams in, upon, and about its occupants the bright 
beams of the “ ruler of the day,” and, with the master hand of a great artist, 
gives a finishing touch to what nature has so admirably done. Passers-by stop to 
look over an outer rampart of blue, white, and striped Crocus, through a battle¬ 
ment of Hyacinths behind it, on to the coveted prize within. The box of 
Crocuses is a fair picture to look upon. The few Cloth of Gold soon spent their 
brief existence. There has succeeded to them a centre group of a large purple 
variety known as Prince Albert, that has the valuable quality of being remarkably 
free-flowering. On the right it is flanked by La Majesteuse, a large and splendid 
striped variety; on the left by Queen Victoria, a large and pure white. Each 
forms a charming mass of flower, that I heartily wish could remain longer in 
bloom than the brief space ordinarily allotted to them. Scarcely less attractive is 
a large pot of a very dwarf Polyanthus Narcissus, called L’Etoile d’Or, a variety I 
do not remember to have seen flowering before. It grows about 12 inches in 
height, and throws trusses of bright yellow flowers, from four to six of these 
forming the truss. I cannot too strongly recommend it for pot culture, and, as it 
is moderate in price, it can be easily obtained. I have the bulbs of P. Narcissus 
in the “ two small pots” in bloom also. I think the variety is “ Florence Night¬ 
ingale,” a rather expensive but splendid flower. One has yielded a truss of six¬ 
teen blossoms ; the other has given me seventeen, each flower being about the 
size of a florin, and represents a pale yellow shield, from the centre of which 
issues a deep orange cup. They are very fragrant indeed. 
Hyacinths in pots have succeeded beyond my more sanguine expectations ; 
they again confirm the experience reaped before, but not always so favourably, 
that it is highly necessary to plant in a good compost. On my way to the city of 
a morning, how many miserable abortions I see in the shape of dwarf, stunted, 
premature blooms and foliage, planted in poor soil. There seems to be too much 
care taken of them, and so many little acts of attention paid to them, as not to 
warrant me in ascribing the failure to neglect. Two rich dark single Blue flowers, 
Vulcan and La Nuit, were among the first to be in bloom. Then of Reds 1 
