THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
400 
but little water must be given, and a lower temperature 
—the maximum 60°, the minimum 50°. T. Appleby. ! 
FLORISTS’ FLOWERS. 
All this class of plants will now require constant ' 
attention. Auriculas and Polyanthuses will now be 
showing bloom, and should have plenty of water at the 
roots, and abundance of air. They will not need shading ] 
as yet. Carnations and Picotees require to be finished 
potting into their blooming-pots, and sheltered from 
heavy rains, sleet, cold cutting winds, and frosts, 
j Chrysanthemums, propagate by cuttings. Dahlias, con- 
l tinue to propagate. Cuttings that are rooted should be 
potted, and placed in a warm sheltered frame to grow 
; stout and strong. Hyacinths, in pots for exhibition, 
: should be in a forward state; give plenty of air, and 
1 place sticks to support the bloom; water freely, and 
i every third time with liquid manure. Pansies , attend to 
i by top-dressing both the beds and pots with old de¬ 
cayed manure; shelter from severe cutting winds and 
heavy rains. Pinks, top-dress also. Ranunculuses, shelter; 
tread firmly the soil about them if not already done. 
Tulips must still be carefully protected from heavy rains, 
late frosts, and sleet. T. Appleby. 
THE KITCHEN-GARDEN. 
Routine Work. —Persevere with general cropping. 
If there are auy cabbage-plants amongst the crop to be 
found starting into bloom, clear them at once away, and 
make up the deficiency with other plants ; make also 
another small planting, and sow for coleicorts. Cauli¬ 
flowers, growing under hand-glasses, should be encou¬ 
raged by the occasional application of tepid liquid 
[March 27 
manure; the glasses should be raised in sufficient time 
to prevent the plants ftom getting, in the least degree, 
cramped. Plant out in succession, and make another 
sowing. Where ground is infested with the maggot, it 
is an excellent preventive, previous to planting, to dip 
the roots into a mixture of soap-suds and chimney-soot. 
Sow carrots in full crop, also red and white heel, borage, 
and basil; as well as borecole, Egyptian, and other kales, 
Brussels sprouts and savoys. Sow the Purple Cape, 
White Cape, Grange's White, and Walclieren brocolies; 
and see that enough of capsicums, chillies, tomatoes, &c., 
are sown and pricked off. Make, too, a sowing of Bulge 
cucumbers, horse-radish, and sea-kale. Jerusalem arti¬ 
choke planting should be finished, and a beginning 
made in thinning the small suckers from the strong 
Globe artichokes. A planting of strong suckers may also 
now be made. 
Parsley, both curled and Hamburg, should be sown 
in full crops, also salsafy and scorzonera. Sow the New 
Zealand spinach in heat; prick off in due time a few 
plants, and get them strong by shifting into larger pots, 
so that they may be in good condition by May Hay for 
turning out under hand-glasses or a little bottom heat. 
Sow celery in full crop on a gentle bottom heat, and 
prick a sufficiency of early-sown plants. Sow chervil a 
little and often; save for seed a portion of the most 
curled which has stood the winter. Thin out the crowns 
of the sea-lcale which has been forced; apply liquid 
manure to the early out-of-doors rhubarb. If onions have 
not been alrady sown, they should be attended to forth¬ 
with. Early potatoes, under glasses, which have nearly 
made their growth, should be kept pretty dry, neither 
applying water or allowing any quantity of rain to fall 
on them. Apply liquid manure to old mushroom-beds ; 
keep cold draughts from those in bearing, and place the 
summer-bed in a shady situation. James Barnes. 
MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION. 
ALLOTMENT FARMING FOR AI>RIL. 
“ The hand of the diligent maketh rich ”—a fact, if noto- 
: rious in the days of Solomon, how much more so in these 
times, when, from the severity of competition in this densely 
peopled island, almost all real advances in position are 
accomplished by skill, or labour, or both. 
The labourer is no exception to this rule ; for labour com¬ 
petes with labour, as skill with skill; and although a lounging 
I and dilatory person may manage to get into the lowest grade 
i of employment for a great portion of the year, at a miserable 
j pittance, yet how different the condition of such a man when 
l compared to an industrious and careful cottager or allottee 
who thoroughly cultivates his plot of ground. 'Well may 
philanthropy point to an extension of the allotment system 
as a radical cure for no small portion of the evils,—social, 
moral, and industrial,—with which this kingdom is con¬ 
stantly afflicted or threatened; a ldngdom, too, presenting 
the strange anomaly of the very opposite extremes of riches 
; and poverty. 
To excite the allotment holder to increased diligence, we 
would simply tax his memory for a moment by asking him 
to recollect how many of the truly industrious and obliging 
amongst his compeers he ever met with begging his bread, 
or driven into the lowest class of unprofitable drudgery ? 
“ I have been young, and now am old; yet never saw I the 
righteous forsaken, or his seed begging bread.” Thus spake 
j the Psalmist in his day; and by such, coupled with the 
constant and unvarying phase of the question, as presented 
i in these, and indeed all other, times, it is sufficiently mani¬ 
fest that our great Creator has indissolubly coupled industry 
and propriety of conduct with success, and idleness and 
\ dissoluteness—twin brothers—with want and woe. 
Now, then, whilst the spring is young, and so much may 
be in very truth effected by perseverance, let us exhort all 
cottiers, or others who may look over these papers, to buckle 
on their armour, and to take the field in good earnest; we 
are assured that the majority will know of themselves that 
such labours will be amply repaid. 
“ Take time by the forelock,” is an old and somewhat trite 
saying; and since the days “ O’ lang syne,” the month of 
April has been accounted the busiest month in the whole 
year, to the farmer and the gardener. 
The first question we would ask every small gardener or 
farmer is—Have you thoroughly decided on a general policy 
or scheme of cropping ? If not, you must do so forthwith. 
A good scheme of cropping is something like a geographical 
puzzle, one part removed or altered will derange all the rest. 
Economy of both manure and labour are hitched on this 
very point. Indecision will spoil a well-laid plot; and as 
our clever fellow-workman, Mr. Barnes, has observed, will I 
throw things into a “ pretty muddle.” We are not of those ( 
who revere cut and dry rules, where liberty of action can 
be guided by a good common-sense view of affairs. i 
Two allotment-men, holding plots in common, are not | 
obliged to crop by an universal, and, as it were, stereotyped 
system. Every man should consider his wants : those who 
have large families, have to cater, in the first place, for many 
a craving stomach, the youthful possessors of which not 1 
unfrequently importune the parent after the manner of 
young birds in the nest. Now, although we would fain 
induce cottiers, who are lucky enough to hold a nice garden, 
and who have few or no children, to try and make some 
cash out of them plots, we are willing to concede that the 
craving stomachs of the youngsters have a prior claim. 
Nevertheless, if any cottager can find out a scheme whereby 
