October 11. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
17 
put all sorts of fine things in them, they say—more 
so, indeed, than most gardeners. However, I some¬ 
times bed plants that are not very fine, and some of 
which the less said about them the better lor their 
reputation. At all events I can give lists of all the 
bedding-out plants, hut I must do it in my own way, 
and at my leisure: there is no great hurry now, or 
for the next three months, as this is no time to in¬ 
troduce strangers. Let us first have the winter over 
before we buy in little delicate things for the flower 
garden; but this is the best time in the year to buy 
almost all other kinds of plants. This will be a 
general answer to those who have written for such 
lists. The only list that is pressing at present is 
that of a few choice things to make up a gay flower 
garden in April and May—two months which may 
be said to be out of the flower-garden calendar, if 
one were to .judge by the haggard appearance of 
nine-tenths of our best English gardens at that time. 
In short, the thing is not fashionable. The great 
people go to London at that time to see the Queen and 
each other, and their gardeners then prepare their beds 
for the summer and autumn display; so that May, 
at least, is a blank period in the flower-garden with 
them, and honest people who live quietly at home 
think it is time enough to be gay when the Priory 
people, or the Hall or Castle gardens over the way, 
are so. There is no time in the year, however, when 
it is easier and cheaper to have a gay flower-garden 
than in May, but it is too late now to prepare for 
this thoroughly, as the main force must be had from 
annuals sown from the middle of August to the end 
of September, and the best list of these for the pur¬ 
pose is given at page 278 of our last volume. After 
the annuals are off, the half-hardy things take their 
place, as only a very few annuals are fit for summer 
gardening. It is only patchwork to use any of them 
that will not flower from June to October. 
Hardy Bulds, of which hyacinths arc the chief, 
are very numerous in varieties, and make gay spring 
flowers from April to the end of May. We flower 
about a thousand hyacinths here in the flower beds, 
and other bulbs in proportion, and yet the family go 
early to London for the gay season. Good hyacinths, 
if well taken care of, will last no one knows how 
long. I know some that have been grown in the 
same garden since 1822, and they look and bloom 
just as well as they did at first. It is impossible, 
however, to keep many of the sorts for more than a 
few seasons, owing to their being of a tender consti¬ 
tution. Others never ripen properly in strong rich 
land, and of course will soon wear out. Accidents 
will have a share of them now and then, and rats 
always, when they can get at them ; so that, between 
one thing and another, the most careful must go to 
shop for some occasionally It is never a good plan 
to let down the “stock” of any thing; a few mixed 
hyacinths, therefore, must be bought in every season 
when a fine bloom is expected; and when taken in 
large quantities, and in mixed samples, they are 
nearly as cheap as potatoes. Deep sandy loam is 
what they prosper in for years : it should be worked 
twenty inches or two feet deep, and not a particle of 
animal manure added to it, unless in the shape of 
liquid manure, and of that, if the season is dry at 
the time they are pushing up their flower-stalks, they 
take large quantities ; decayed leaf-mould is also 
good for them, and very decayed cow-dung, placed 
eighteen inches below the bulbs, will give stronger 
bloom for a season or two, but in our climate the 
bulbs soon dio off if rich dung is used for them. 
Last November I potted about 600 hyacinths in 
five-inch pots (60s), in very light sandy loam, for 
some of the best beds near the mansion. The beds 
were levelled, and the pots set in rows six inches 
from centre to centre, and ten inches between the 
rows; the spaces between the pots were filled up 
with leaf-mould, and four inches of it all over the 
pots: there was neither shelter nor shade given, and 
I never saw a finer bloom. In May, when the sum¬ 
mer plants were ready for these beds, the hyacinths 
were removed, and the pots plunged in light compost 
in the reserve ground, and kept well watered until 
the leaves withered. The strongest bulbs of these 
will be potted again soon for the same purpose, with 
a fresh lot to make up the full number, and the 
weakest, with any doubtful ones, will be planted in 
light borders, and full five inches deep. It is a good 
plan to plant these bulbs as deep as that, or even 
deeper, if the bed is deep in proportion. 
Early Tulips.—T he varieties of these are endless, 
beginning with the single and double Van Thol, 
which with me begins to open about the 10th of 
April in the open beds, and others follow on in suc¬ 
cession till the middle of May. In 1846 I planted 
42 kinds of these early tulips, in order to pick out 
such as would bed well together, and of one colour, 
for that is the only way to give effect in a flower bed. 
I have all my remarks now before me, and shall 
note down a few, which any one may rely on if be¬ 
gets the true bulbs. There were three most beauti¬ 
ful yellow ones of the same size, and came into 
bloom on the 10th and -12th of April. A dozen of 
each in a bed near the house would make a fine va¬ 
riety. Their names are Canary Bird, Vermillion 
Brilliant, and Prince du Ligne. They would make 
a nice edging to a mixed bed of early tulips. The 
yellow shades are different; therefore, if planted in 
a row as an edging, they would look better if two 
of a sort be not planted together, b'or a red bod I 
marked Purpur Kroon (that is, Purple Crown), a fine 
purplish red, and double; Claramond, rosy red; and 
Areste, a reddish yellow. These three correspond 
in height, in their time of flowering, and agreed bet¬ 
ter than one would think from the description of 
their colour. Royal Standard , single, red and white, 
is a fine one for a bed by itself; and so are Golden 
Standard, single, red and yellow; Due cl’ Nemours, 
red and yellow; and Aimahle rouge, dwarf red, fine. 
The four latest were Maria d' Medicis, yellow and 
rose ; Chineuse, cherry and red; Pocony, rose ; and 
Cato, reddish. Rex rubrum is the best of the early 
double tulips for a bed, a large and very dark red 
flower; Marriage de ma Fille, a variegated one, is the 
next best; and nearly equal to it is the Turnesol, 
orange and yellow: these three would make a fine 
bed of themselves. One singular feature in these 
early tulips is that there is hardly a good white flower 
amongst them all: La Cantleur is but a dirty green¬ 
ish white, and the so called White Pottebakker is not 
much better. There is a white Van Thol, but I have 
not yet seen it. 
Now, these notices are chiefly intended for those 
who have some knowledge of the subject. For such 
as know nothing of such things, by far the best way 
is to buy the cheapest mixtures that one can meet 
with, plant them altogether in a bed or border, and 
make notes of then - height, colour, and time of 
flowering, so as to have them better arranged next 
time; and, lastly, there are three or four called Parrot 
tulips, with great loppy flowers, but they make a 
variety in the spring. From a penny to three pence 
each you may buy all these, but taking them by the 
