NOVEMBER. 
235 
always do at the top of the old one. When all are potted, I give them a good 
watering, and plunge them in an open space of ground well covered with ashes 
to prevent the ingress of worms at the bottom of the pots. They will soon, 
show themselves above ground, and then I am careful not to let them want 
for water. When they are showing for bloom. I remove them to their 
quarters in the conservatory, and when they bloom I am amply repaid for the 
trouble taken by the gay and lively appearance which the conservatory presents. 
They must be freely watered, especially in hot dry weather. 
Crabwood , near Southampton. J. C. Higgs. 
CHRONICLES OF A TOWN GARDEN.—No. XXII. 
As I write—on a calm and clear autumn night—there are not wanting 
indications that a break-up of the warm bright weather is imminent. There 
have fallen refreshing though heavy rains, and these have brightened up the 
parched and browned pasture lands and lawns, and given a new bloom of ' 
vigorous life to grass-plat and garden; and the night or two of howling winds 
that succeeded the rains have changed into the peaceful quiet of the repose of 
nature ; but the evening sky, brightening in the approach of the coming change, 
and flashing forth its lines of silvery light, betokens that “panting Time” is 
rapidly whirling onwards that season of the coming year,— 
“ When the winter heapeth 
In hoary fields the everlasting snows.” 
I shall be sorry to lose, amid the inevitable destruction that will come upon many 
of the present occupants of the garden, a band of dwarf bedding Dahlias, that 
with the Gazania splendens keep very gay even up to this unusually protracted 
period of flowering. Should the mild weather continue longer, it will be 
possible to have Dahlias and Chrysanthemums in bloom at the same time. Of 
the bedding Dahlias I have some eight varieties, that I got when they were 
strong plants from pot roots. I planted them about the end of June (which 
has made them a little late in flowering), in some well-manured soil, and care¬ 
fully attended to the wants of their “thirsty souls” throughout the long 
drought, watering freely at the roots, and sprinkling the plants overhead night 
and morning. While they grew vigorously they kept nice dwarf bushes, and 
flowered very freely indeed, and generally still continue to do so. I have one 
white, Alba Floribunda Nana; one yellow, Orb of Day; one orange, Orange 
Boven; two crimson, Prince Arthur and Crimson Gem, the former having a 
good deal of purple in its colour; two scarlet, Sir James Watts and Beaute de 
Massifs ; and Little Dwarf, blush, edged and shaded with violet. I wish now 
that I had employed Crystal Palace Scarlet instead of Sir James Watts; the 
latter, with me, flowered earliest of all, and is now nearly bare of blossoms, 
while Crystal Palace Scarlet is a capital late variety, and can now be seen in 
the Parks a mass of bright scarlet flowers. In fact its lateness is against its 
being employed in cold and exposed situations, as I have known it cut down by 
frost almost before an opportunity was afforded it of coming into bloom. Little 
Dwarf has small, but nicely rounded and very pretty blossoms; the two yellows 
have also done remarkably well. 
The bouquet Dahlias, of which Little Dwarf is the type, and which have 
flowers smaller in size, and more compact than the ordinary bedding varieties, 
are fast elbowing these last out of existence. The blossoms of many of the 
bouquet kinds are models of form, minute as they are, and there is a great 
variety of colour among them. They produce their flowers profusely, and the 
habits of the plants, while free growing, are remarkably close and bushy. I 
