THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
! October 3.] 
i 
young student or cottager has the scientific name of this 
climber, the meaning of the name explained, the order 
to which it belongs given in English, that order repeated 
i in the learned form within two strokes, and the Linnasan 
; reader has the class and order of his system given in 
numbers and by name. Could anything be done more 
precise, or more to the purpose ? Besides all this, we 
have the reason why the Tacsonias are more hardy in 
England than the generality of passion-flowers, and the 
fact that the fruit of three kinds are good to eat. The 
only explanation wanted here is the alliance, as was 
given for the thistle section of the Composites; but in 
reality tbe alliance is given, though not under the head 
alliance, when it is said that Tacsonias differ very little 
from the Passion-flowers—that of itself stamps the true 
: alliance at once. 
Now, in hunting out all this many books are to be 
[ referred to, and if such books were carefully put together 
the work would be very agreeable and exciting. It is 
I true that in our day books are made with more care 
than they were in Dr. Hornbook’s time, when, as Burns 
tells us, some books were “lees frae end to end.” Still 
I was very much surprised at finding some of our books 
of reference with “ lees ” in every one of its pages, and 
just iu the very book where I least expected to find 
them; hut in general our books are more free from 
errors than those of any other craft—some of them not 
having a single error in a thousand pages, foremost 
among the best of them stands Dr. Lindley’s “Vegetable 
Kingdom.” Every one who is fond of scientific truths 
referring to plants, and could spare thirty shillings, 
should have this book—a monument of perseverance 
and scientific skill—and read it over and over again, as 
I have done, and sat to it again and again with increased 
relish. 
But after all this, and much more besides, the new 
dictionary, or any other book, cannot tell us the reason 
why tbe first Tacsonia is so particular about soil—so 
particular, indeed, that it is hardly to be met with, 
although one of the finest late autumnal half-hardy 
climbers we have. Now, such matters, if we are to 
understand them at all, must be discussed periodically, 
until facts accumulate sufficiently to enable us to draw 
the right conclusions from them, and then lay down 
rules for future guidance. In the very same border 
where I have failed for years to do much good with my 
favourite Tacsonia on its own roots, and also grafted on 
the common passion-flower, I have it now in the most 
flourishing condition, simply by grafting it on Tacsonia 
mullissima —another good climber for this time of the 
year, but to my fancy not nearly so fine as tbe old one, 
T. pinnatistipula. There is a third one called T. mani- 
cata, which is by far the finest of the family, as I was 
lately told by a Londoner, the best judge of such things 
within the circle of my acquaintance. I have only had 
this third species this season, and I worked it also on 
mollissima, against an open wall, where I expect soon to 
see its beauties for myself. I was told by my friend 
that only one gardener has yet succeeded in flowering 
this manicata, and therefore I suppose it also will turn 
out to be fastidious about soil and situation, and that 
tbe surest way to get over this habit is to work it on the 
mollissima, which seems at home in any good garden 
soil. 
Like many other strong climbers, the pruning-knife 
is their bane. By far the best way to manage young 
plants of them is not to prune them at all, but to thin 
their leaves very much in summer. If that does not 
keep them from being overcrowded, disbud them in 
great numbers in the winter. By-and-bye, what with 
the exhaustion of the border, and that from a few crops 
of flowers and fruit, if they set it, the plants are subdued j 
sufficiently to flower abundantly every year from August 
to December. They may be saved from frost, against! 
an open wall, by a thick dry covering; but the inside 
border of a greenhouse is the best place for them, and 
the tops to be taken outside in summer. Those we grow 
here are on a conservatory wall. D. Beaton. 
GREENHOUSE AND "WINDOW 
GARDENING. 
NORTH. 
D 
C 
A Window. I D Recess. 
B Doors. E Place where the plants 
C Fireplace. | stood between A and B. 
Room Plants. —A few weeks ago I endeavoured to 
show some of the reasons why several of our friends 
could not maintain their plants in a healthy condition 
in their rooms, and also hinted at the causes why such 
plants failed to give satisfaction when turned out of 
doors into the flower beds—insinuating that disappoint¬ 
ments arose from want of light in the one case, and 
want of due preparation in the other. So difficult, 
however, is it for us to appropriate truths to ourselves 
until we have practically felt their importance, that 
week after week, both publicly and privately, similar 
questions are repeated by those who had the opportunity 
of reading and re-reading the previous answers. Among 
the many visitors this season, I have been -chiefly de¬ 
lighted with two facts : first, that so far as I know not a 
single flower or fruit was interfered with, though on 
some Wednesdays there were upwards of three hundred 
visitors of all classes, down to the labourers’ wives and 
some of their children, cleanly and neatly dressed ; and, 
secondly, I was pleased to find that a love of flowers 
and gardening was approaching something like enthu¬ 
siasm among our sweet young friends verging upon 
manhood and womanhood—giving evidence by their 
numberless questions, too abstruse and knotty at times 
for me to unravel, that the love of the beautiful, and 
the civilising heart-refining influence of flowers, would 
continue to progress in splendour and power when ice 
shall have passed away and been forgotten. 
I find it is no uncommon thing, both when at home 
and when they are at boarding-schools, for such young 
friends to have small gardens, and perhaps a window 
a-piece, where they can each show off and attend to 
their own favourite flowers; and as the season is now 
advancing, the preserving of these favourites during the 
winter formed a part of the many interesting questions 
submitted to me. Partly, therefore, to meet their case, 
as many of them read The Cottage Gardener, I give 
prominence this week to the inquiries of a correspon¬ 
dent as “ to storing his few flowers for the winter,” the 
accommodation he possesses beiug a turf pit like that 
recommended iu “ Paxton’s Cottage Calendar,” and a 
room, of which a plan is prefixed—the only window 
faciug the north, and the recess, D, by the side of the 
fire-place being large enough to hold all his plants. 
Now here, as we have no particulars given, our reply 
can only be general. Our correspondent complains that 
heretofore he has not succeeded, as generally the half 
of his plants die ; but lie does not tell us whether they 
die in the turf pit or in the room. Such a room, unless 
in the case of bulbs, must be looked upon as a hyber- 
natory, and nothing more—that is, the plants must 
