402 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
at back, but elevated at front; and get some old carpet, mat, 
or other covering, and lay it on the poles, night and day, for 
awhile, suffering the front to extend as far as the bed, or 
nearly so. 
The Various Greens. —A little cabbage, as advised in 
our last, every month. If broccolis are required, sow 
Hammond’s White Cape and Walcheren now, and in the 
| end of the month ; and Monmouth, Winter Imperial, and late 
White Russian, in the second week. Green kale sow directly; 
also Brussels sprouts and Savoys. The Green kale is most 
profitable, being so safe a crop ; the Brussels sprouts on 
good soil are very useful, and will stand the hardest winter. 
We have said nothing about lettuces, spinach, &c., having 
so often remarked on these before. We do trust that most 
of our allotment friends begin to understand the drift of all 
these little things, as what we term stolen crops. We always 
hold it a paramount duty to keep the cottager’s attention 
well directed to his root crops; these must constitute the 
chief staple of his cottage, his cowshed and his pigsty. 
Robert Errington. 
HARDY BORDER FLOWERS. 
Dictahnus. —There are two species of this genus, the red 
and the white. There is but very little other specific dif¬ 
ference between these two plants, but that of colour; indeed, 
the one was, by many authorities, I believe, only considered 
a vaiiety of the other. Both plants were introduced into 
tliis country in the year 1596, and both are natives of Ger¬ 
many. Any rich garden soil suits them ; but all the better if, 
, a little peat be mixed with it. I always make it a rule, when 
I receive a new plant, whether from the nursery or a chimp 
(a rooted cutting) from a friend, to plant it well; that is, to 
well work the natural soil, and add to it a good portion of 
peat, turfy loam, and leaf-mould, all well worked up toge¬ 
ther. This will suit almost any hardy border flower; and, 
whether the plant be a rapid increaser or not, I take the first 
opportunity to obtain from it a chimp, so as to have at least a 
second plant in my possession. Of course this depends 
upon its beauty or rarity. Now, if these two beautiful young 
ash-tree-leaved-like plants are planted out in an open 
situation in a border prepared as I have before mentioned, 
they might remain in that same spot for twenty years, 
and I do not know how much longer, if not root-injured at 
the time the borders are dressed off; but a little top-dressing 
of the above-directed mixture, at this time every year, would 
be very beneficial; and the lover of these beauties is well 
repaid for such care by the scent imparted by merely draw¬ 
ing their large, long lemon-scented spikes of flowers through 
the hand. Strong, well-treated, established plants grow 
from two and a half to three and a half feet high from 
the ground to the tip of the large spikes of flowers. The 
plant being a slow increaser is one reason why it is not 
more common. It can be propagated by division of its 
crowns, which should be done with a little cave. Any small 
bit with a root to it will make a plant. It flowers from the 
end of May to the end of July ; and even its dry glandular 
capsules are eagerly sought after for their pleasing scent. 
I say the plants may remain in the same situation for twenty 
years, because we have two plants, one of the white and one 
of the red, which have stood in the same spots for the last 
eighteen years, and noble specimens they are at this time; 
and during the past years I have taken four or five portions 
from each; and should I have the pleasure to watch over 
! them for another eighteen years, fifty to one if I should 
I ever take them up or disturb their box-tree-like-looking 
I roots. Then.' botanical names are I). Fraxinclla (Red 
j Flaxinella), and I). Albus (White Flaxinella). 
Yerbascums are the plants I shall next make a few notes 
[ upon. They are a large family, the majority of which are 
, showy biennials, both of the exotic and our indigenous kinds, 
and would look very showy if planted out at proper distances, 
in autumn or early spring, among trees and shrubs in planta¬ 
tions. They are most of them yellow-flowered. We have 
only one perennial kind in England; but there are four or 
five exotic perennial kinds that are worth keeping among 
our hardy border flowers, and once planted may remain in 
the same spot for several years. Any rich garden soil suits 
them. They have large fleshy roots, which should not be 
injured at the time the borders are being dressed. The 
[March 27 
perennials are readily increased by division. This family 
of plants, especially the perennial species, have one very 
great enemy in a very pretty caterpillar. These hearty 
feeders will very soon cat away all the herbage of the plant, 
and destroy all its beauty for the season, before one is 
aware of it, unless closely watched. Of course this cater¬ 
pillar should be destroyed as soon as seen. Its parent is 
a moth called the Citcullia verbaci. (See The Cottage 
Gardener, ii. 81.) 
The very best of these perennial Yerbascums is 1'. Phce- 
niceum (Purple Verbascum, or Mullein). This one in par¬ 
ticular I have tried in many ways to grow for exhibiting at 
the Horticultural Shows ; and as I never could lift the plant 
from the border into pot in full bloom without injury, the 
best way I ever hit upon was to plant good strong plants in 
9-inch pots, in November, in a mixture of turfy loam, peat, 
and leaf-mould, plunging pot and all in the open border, 
and when the shoots were up from six to nine inches high, 
the following season I just pinched out the tips. This 
caused them to put out strong laterals so as to have a bushy 
plant. In this way I have succeeded, and shown beautiful 
specimens of this deep purple flowering species. It flowers 
from the middle of May to the end of June, or longer, be¬ 
cause, in a rich soil, if the old or principal flower-stems 
are kept cut away, it continues putting up others in succes¬ 
sion to the end of the summer. On the whole, it is a very 
neat and choice plant, not so often seen as it deserves to be. 
It grows about three feet high. 
V. tuniceiim: (Light-red V., or Mullein).—This is a 
stronger and much coarser-looking plant, growing from two 
and a half to three feet high, and a profuse bloomer. It 
continues putting up flower-stems most of the summer 
months, when the advanced should be continually cut away, 
and attention paid to tying up the young shoots. Its flowers 
are of a cheerful lilac colour. 
V. ferrugineusi (Rusty V., or Mullein).—This species 
rises from three and a half to four feet high. It is an inte¬ 
resting-looking plant, and in flower most of the summer 
months, if planted in a rich soil; producing rusty-brown 
flowers. 
V. cupreuji (Copper-coloured V., or Mullein).—This is 
closely allied to the last; but the flowers are rather more 
orange-coloured, and the plant is a much freer grower. It 
reaches from two and a half to three feet high. T. Weaver. 
THE APIARIAN’S CALENDAR.— April. 
By J. H. Payne, Esq., Author of “ The Bee-keeper's Guide." 
Young Bees. —The population of every healthy stock of 
bees is now rapidly increasing, and numbers of young ones 
may be seen upon every sunny day crowding the entrances 
of the hives to exercise their wings for the first time, which 
they may be observed to do with the greatest caution, run¬ 
ning from side to side of the alighting board, before venturing 
to fly; the imperfect nymphs, also, are strewed upon the 
alighting board of some hives during the night, to be carried 
away by the bees as soon as the hour of labour commences ; 
this circumstance also indicates a rapidly increasing popula¬ 
tion. A very large quantity of food is consumed by the 
young bees while in the larva ormaggotstate, which drawsvery 
heavily upon the store of the food of the hive, which at present 
(March) can be very little augmented except by the careful 
hand of the Apiarian; it, therefore, behoves him to look very 
attentively to all his weak stocks, and more especially to 
swarms of the last year, and to let them have a regular 
supply of food; and for those who like but little trouble in 
feeding, dry barky suyar is unquestionably the best mode in 
which it can be administered ; it may be given either at the 
top or bottom of the hive, for it does not, like liquid food, 
attract robbers to the hives that are supplied with it. 
Buried Bees. —I am now anxiously waiting the report of 
our friends who have buried their stocks for the winter. The 
time, I suppose, has now fully arrived for their disinterment, 
and I hope, through the pages of The Cottage Gardener, 
to learn the result of their experiments. 
I received an account, a few days since, of a late second 
swarm which, in September, weighed only three pounds, 
including honey, bees, and comb, and which is now in the 
most healthy state possible, carrying home pollen as actively, 
