November 21.] 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
113 
there are the gold and silver varieties, but they are very 
poor things, except just when they burst into leaf in the 
spring; yet I mention them, as some might fancy tiiem, 
and perhaps it is from bad taste that I do not like them. 
There are many more varieties of the common thorn, 
but there are so many better kinds, that I shall pass 
over them, except the pink and double white, which die 
off with a pinkish shade, and both are very pretty, and 
are two of the best I know for budding on large trees of 
the common sort; the three thus worked are most 
| beautiful about the third week in May, when they are 
| all in bloom at the same time; and I hope every one 
i who has a tliorn-tree about his garden will now cut back 
some of the side branches near the top, and the young 
shoots from the cut parts will make the best “ stocks” 
possible to bud on next June. D. Beaton. 
GREENHOUSE AND WINDOW 
GARDENING. 
Blooms for Nosegays in Winter. —“Kindlygive a 
list of plants for the greenhouse of easy care and cul¬ 
ture, and cheap withal, to supply bouquets occasionally 
during the winter months,” is only one of the forms in 
which the desires of many of our friends reach us— 
some desiring mere lists and others short outlines of 
treatment. In order to meet their wishes if possible, 
and also as supplementary to some other papers, I shall 
not, to use a sporting phrase, harJc-aicay, but hark-back 
again into cover; and as bloom in winter is our object 
we shall not trouble ourselves always to inquire whether 
j our vegetable acquaintances are greenhouse citizens or 
not, being quite delighted if we can swell out our little 
posy with a primrose from the brake or a violet from 
the hedge bank. 
1. Then, for securing the means of cheaply cutting 
bouquets in winter, I recommend the cultivating a few 
of the Dwarf Annuals, as, with the exception of the 
labour, the money value involved would be next to 
nothing. There is the Mignonette; who does not love 
and admire it? Virginian stock, with its white and purple 
sweet-scented blossoms ; Sweet alyssum, white, honey- 
scented; Collomiacoccinea, red; grancliAora, pale yellow; 
Lobelia speciosa, erinus, and grandijtora, all blue, the 
latter compact and deeply blue; Lobelia erinus alba, 
white; Collinsia grandifiora, purple; bicolor, buff and 
purple; Nemophilla insignis major, white and blue; 
atomaria, white and black dotted; discoidalis, purple; 
maculata, large deep purple blotched; Clarkia pulchella, 
purple; alba, white; &c. These—if sown in a shady place 
from the middle of June to the middle of July, either in 
pots to be thinned or on a piece of ground to be after¬ 
wards transferred to pots, set in the sun in September, 
grown singly or in clumps, trained by placing twigs in 
the pot through which the tiny branches may ramble, 
: or placing small stakes round the side of the pot and 
bracing them together with a thread, and removing them 
into the house before touched with frost in November— 
will blow during the most of the winter, if plenty of air 
| is given them, and a temperature of from 40° to 45° 
; maintained, with a rise of from five to ten degrees of 
[ sunshine. Where there is not much time to look after 
I them many of them, such as the mignonette, might— 
I especially in loamy soil—have small masses of the 
i plants raised from seeds sown in the middle of July, 
taken up carefully and transferred to pots upon the spot 
| in October, and they will, after being duly shaded for a 
little time, often do better than those grown in pots and 
neglected in watering, thinning, &c. We have often done 
Clarkias, Nemophillas, &c., in the same way, growing 
some as compact masses, and allowing others to hang in 
festoons over the pot. 
2. Some of the taller growing annuals may be used ' 
for a similar purpose, such as Vesicaria ulriculata, sown j 
in May, pretty rose-coloured flowers; Chrysanthemum J 
coronarium or luciclum —not quite sure of its specific ; 
name, but has been sown for a long period as the tall 
Clu-ysanthemum, under glass in March, and then planted 
out in May and June,—all colours from light straw to 
orange yellow; usually about three feet in height, but ; 
more in good soil; and, along with single flowei'S, fre- j 
quently possessing others so double and compact as to ] 
equal their Chinese rivals. Sow in May, or, what is 
better still, look over the plants transferred to the bor¬ 
ders in August, select a few of the best, prune them 
back rather freely, water the plant with manure-water 
several times, and then lift and pot the plant any time 
I from September to the present; for it makes fibres in 
: such abundance that it may be moved in full bloom, and 
with ordinary care will flower through the winter when 
the Chinese chrysanthemums are all gone. Ageratum 
Mexicanum, odoratum, Ccerulewm all lilac blue, and 
merging considerably into each other; seeds in April, or, 
better still, cuttings in May, planted out in good soil in 
June, lifted and potted in September or even now will 
flower profusely all the winter, and next summer too if 
you choose to keep them. A number of years ago I 
obtained from my neighbour Mr. Bushy, of Stockwood 
Park, cuttings from a dwarf plant of Mexicanum, which 
has retained its character, and, what is more, blooms 
much earlier than the usual varieties. I believe it is 
now pretty common over the country. The last I shall 
name, because others will suggest themselves, and it is 
one of the best for the purpose owing to the number of 
fibrous roots it makes, is the Coreopsis tinctoria and its 
varieties of atrosanguinea, &c., now changed to Calliopsis 
bicolor; seeds sown in May or June will furnish fine 
plants for winter blooming; and a pretty feature it makes 
with its crimson and yellow flowers in a little nosegay, 
while a well grown plant looks extremely graceful. 
3. Small Herbaceous Plants which, when kept in 
j jiots and used to it, will bloom in the house from Christ¬ 
mas and onwards. Daisies in all their varieties. He- 
| paticas —used to be Anemone hepatiea —pink and blue, 
single and double. Primula in all its varieties of poly¬ 
anthus, primrose, cowslip, and oxlip, the two first—es¬ 
pecially when double crimson, double yellow, purple, and 
wlute—being very interesting; and in a house are free 
from the ravages of the birds, which in some places will 
scarcely allow a floret to expand. The white and purple 
allied genera of Arabis, Draba, and Aubretia. Alyssum 
saxatile, yellow; Omphalodes verna, blue; Corydalis 
tuberosa, purple, &c., only want dividing in the early 
part of summer, and kept in pots in a shady place imtil 
September, and grown in open sandy loam. To these 
may be added Heartsease, which, in such a position, will 
| bloom the whole of the winter if the plants were raised 
' either from seed or cuttings during summer, and many 
of which are delightfully fragrant. And then there are 
> the diminutive, retiring, yet tell-tale by then - perfume, 
Violets, reminding us of that chartered nobility that is 
never known but by its beneficence, “ that does good by 
stealth, and blushes to find it fame,” the presenting a 
few of which—whether from the sheltering hedge, con¬ 
sisting of wild blues and whites, or the larger and double 
kinds from the garden—ever bring the smile of plea¬ 
sure into a lady’s face, and all of which can be easily 
managed—the wild ones hunted out during the spring 
or autumn, and potted; better still, the single Russian 
blue, because it blooms earlier, divided or propagated by 
cuttings, or even seeds, in spring, transplanted and 
potted in September; superior still, the double tree 
violet, divided or propagated by cuttings under a hand- 
light in April; and, best of all, the lilac Neapolitan, 
propagated by divisions or cuttings in a similar manner, 
planted out, and potted into rich soil in September. A 
