18 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
October 11. 
gross they seldom cost more than ten shillings the 
hundred. 
The Narcissus Tribes furnish a large assortment 
of spring flowering bulbs. Those called Polyanthus 
narcissus are very numerous, and amongst the best 
for rows, patches, or beds, is Grand Monarque, one 
of the best whites, and Soldi d' Or, the best yellow. 
But their names are endless, and any nurseryman 
can furnish a dozen or two of good named sorts of 
narcissus. 
Then come the single and double Jonquils, a 
smallish kind of narcissus, with yellow flowers and 
rush-like leaves; and when once you have a patch 
or two of these they increase very fast. 
The old Crown Imperials, which one may see in 
every cottage garden all over the country, have run 
into ten or a dozen varieties, and all of them are 
useful for borders in the spring; and then the Turban 
ranunculus —what is more beautiful than a bed or an 
edging of the scarlet Turban ? Moreover, there is 
a yellow and a black Turban, which are not quite so 
bright as the scarlet ones. If these are set a couple 
of inches deep it will do very well, but there should 
be two plantings of them, one in November and 
one in February. This will prolong then blooming 
season in the spring. 
The large double scarlet anemones may also have 
the same treatment; and where is there a liner spring 
flowering plant ? Whether in single rows, along the 
side of a border, or only in patches here and there, 
they make a very showy appearance, and a full bed 
of them near the windows is gayer than any other. 
A south border of deep sandy loam under the 
windows and on each side of the door would be the 
best place for the Belladonna amaryllis ; and if they 
are planted now, and placed full six inches below the 
suriace, and allowed to take their own way for years, 
they would bloom in the autumn, after the first year 
or two, for a generation; and they are more than 
beautiful, for I took a party of young ladies who 
read The Cottage Gardener to see those in bloom 
here the other day, and they said they were “lovely,” 
and indeed so they were, and so were the young 
ladies too, for they are “ so fond of flowers.” 
I must not say what the prices of these bulbs are, 
or where they are to be bought, farther than that 
they are all cheap enough for any one, and that 
any nurseryman can get them if he likes for a cus¬ 
tomer, supiposing he does not already possess them. 
We are often asked where to buy so-and-so, but it 
would be a great injustice if any public writer were 
to recommend one tradesman more than another. 
The English are renowned all over the world for 
fair play, and let us keep up our credit and be thankful. 
D. Beaton. 
GREENHOUSE AND WINDOW 
GARDENING. 
Cleanliness.— It has been said that “ cleanliness 
is akin to godliness.” We are no admirers of the 
practice of ever and anon introducing proverbs and 
the sayings of great men, as clinchers, to a statement 
or argument, accompanied with a certain expression, 
as much as to say, “Who can call in question my 
opinions now ? ” Yet, nevertheless, distinguishing 
between the abuse and the use, we confess to a rever¬ 
ence for many of those pithy sentences—the concen¬ 
trated wisdom of ages. True, some of them have 
found acceptance with, and thus moulded the action 
oi, masses, that would be found erroneous when ex¬ 
amined in the light of a high-toned morality, or even 
when tested by those principles which regulate our 
true self-interest in a social point of view. But if 
evil has been done by a few of those pithy sentences, 
it has been more than counterbalanced by the bene¬ 
fits resulting from those true intellectual and moral 
gems, which, dropping upon the listless ear like the 
dewdrop on the flower, have thus succeeded, without 
exciting either opposition or resentment, in arousing 
thought, and then been followed with what we are 
told is likely to accompany “ words in season fitly 
spoken." Among these pearls we class the statement 
with which we have commenced, believing that clean¬ 
liness is as necessary to the healthy and happy exer¬ 
cise of the bodily powers, as godliness is requisite 
for the expanding, maturing, and purifying of the 
moral and intellectual natures. Nay, that where 
physical cleanliness does not exist, the mind being 
ever acted upon by external circumstances, is in 
danger of becoming dusty, cobwebbed, and polluted, 
and thus unfitted for receiving those lucid impres¬ 
sions of beauty and purity in the realisation of which 
our chief rational happiness consists. 
But why introduce such observations at all in a 
work devoted to cottage gardening ? There are many 
reasons ; we can only glance at a few. This is the 
first work that has attempted, as a periodical, to 
teach gardening at such a price as to come within 
the reach of the masses, and in such a manner as to 
make people better as well as wiser. Great incom¬ 
petencies may exist for the task, but if I mistake not 
this is the object aimed at. Many purchase the 
work because they find it to be for their interest and 
pleasure to do so. Many subscribe that thus they 
may have it in their power the better to assist their 
humbler brethren. The latter would be greatly in¬ 
creased in their numbers did they at once perceive 
that good gardening and a love of the beautiful in 
flowers were powerful antagonists to untidiness and 
filth. Self-interest will force this upon men’s atten¬ 
tion, if the voice of benevolence be hushed. The 
contagious disease—sweeping off its victims, the 
spawny brood of dirt and putridity—will not be con¬ 
fined to the spots where it originates. Society is a 
whole. A part, however anxious it may be, cannot 
so isolate itself as to be beyond the influence of the 
rest. The smallest spring in that huge social ma¬ 
chine will exert its power for good or ill. No man 
can live for himself. Neglect of social duty is crime, 
and that will be followed by its appropriate punish¬ 
ment. Whether, then, is the better—cheap benevo¬ 
lent prevention, or costly self-interested cine? 
All are agreed that cleanliness is the great enemy 
of the loathsome in disease. Hundreds of instances 
present themselves as proof that good and clean gar¬ 
dening, and tidiness in the dwelling, and cleanliness 
in the person, just act and react upon each other. 
Many fellow cottagers have told me that they never 
read—never cared about thinking—never, in the 
genuine Mrs. McClarty style, “ fashed” themselves 
about either their persons or their clothing until they 
were led into a love of gardening. Formerly, the 
piipe and the tankard constituted their elysium—now', 
plants and books are essential to their happiness. 
Passing sometime ago a happy group who thus had 
been changed into comfort from w'retcbedness, I ac¬ 
costed the head of the family, who was vigorously 
plying a short-pronged instrument in the shape of a 
lioe. “ Well, neighbour, loosening the weeds, eh?” 
“Oh, no,” says he in reply, “can’t afford to have 
weeds often; 1 am trying to let the air in, and keep) 
the dry heat out in this pi arching weather. My good 
