December 27. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
THE FLOWER-GARDEN. 
Mit.d Seasons. —It has often been observed by 
gardeners that when a long stretch of mild, open 
weather follows on from the end of autumn down to 
Christmas, that before the end of the following 
month of January there are more half-hardy plants 
injured or killed by a moderate frost, than are usu¬ 
ally destroyed when they are caught by earlier frosts 
and a hard winter; and the reasons are obvious 
enough. The mild muggy weather keeps plants in a 
half dozing state, as it were; so that the first hard 
frosts in January, or later, overtake them in a soft, 
unripe condition, in which state all plants are more 
liable to injury by frost. This reminds us that all 
planting should be got through earlier; and such 
plants as are still in progress ought to be pushed for¬ 
ward on all favourable opportunities. Halfhardy 
things, that were protected or thatched over in No¬ 
vember last, should also be examined, and some addi¬ 
tional coverings should be laid on for the next two 
months; but first let all the old covering be removed, 
and any dead or damp leaves be cleared out, and if 
the soil is wet scrape off an inch or two of the sur¬ 
face all round your plant, and replace” it with dry 
coal-aslies. Let the plants remain uncovered for 
some hours to dry, and then add dry straw, 5 fern, or 
whatever the protecting material may be, letting that 
part of it which is to be next to the plants be quite 
dry, and then the old covering may do round the 
outside; though, if the whole covering is dry, it will 
be more safe. Always, when a week or a few fine 
dry days occur in winter, those who cover up half- 
hardy plants should take advantage of them to open 
the coverings and examine the plants, for when they 
are long confined under a damp, close covering, they 
suffer as much from damp as they would do from a 
moderate frost; and a little breathing time, with a 
fresh covering of dry materials, are very agreeable to 
them ; and they stand more in need of it in a moist, 
mild winter than when the weather is more dry and 
severe with frosts. 
Shrubbery Dressing. —The common practice of 
deep digging amongst shrubbery plants is found to 
have just the contrary effect of what it was thought 
to have some years since, and most gardeners of the 
present day have given up the practice altogether; 
and all the stirring they give .to the soil is done from 
time to time by the hoe during the growing season of 
weeds ; and early in winter, when all the leaves are 
down, they are raked into little heaps and buried in 
the openings between the plants ; and in digging the 
holes gardeners often meet with the leaves, weeds, 
and rubbish, which were buried the year before quite 
in a rotten state, and netted through with young- 
roots. All this is brought up and spread over the 
new raked surface, and a beautiful compost it makes; 
the roots of the adjoining shrubs and trees are thus 
annually pruned so far, and a fresh lot of green com¬ 
post laid beside them to be, in its turn, subjected to 
the same process. 
Hardy Annuals. —In February or March the sur¬ 
face of a shrubbery thus treated is an excellent place 
to sow hardy annuals on, there being only an inch 
or so of loose soil on tbe surface, and, that composed 
of rotten vegetable mould, the roots of the young 
plants cannot strike downwards, but spread sideways 
among the compost, and then they are very easily 
transplanted into the beds any time in April, or in 
the beginning of May, thus allowing plenty of time 
for spring-dressing the beds, or for the display of 
bulbs, for it is thought extravagant now-a-days to sow 
105 
a crop of annuals on a bed at once, and let it remain 
without anything else till the annuals are done flow¬ 
ering. Resides, should some of the seeds fail, or if 
part of the young seedlings damp off or are destroyed 
by grubs or slugs, the bed must be made good by trans¬ 
planting some from where the plants stand thickest, 
and then the bed must look patchy for the rest of its 
season; so that there are more advantages than one 
in not winter-digging among trees and shrubs, but, 
of course, the greatest benefit arises from not cutting- 
through the surface roots. 
Pruning Shrubbery. —Then, as to winter-pruning 
a shrubbery, the process was much better expressed 
in the old term “ dressing,” for that included the 
whole business of clearing the sm-face, rooting up 
suckers, sliortening-in straggling boughs, so that no 
two plants interfered with one another, and whenever 
they did one was marked out for removal into another 
place, and this one might still remain for a year or 
two longer by keeping its head well reduced by the 
winter and summer pruning, until its fellow occupied 
nearly the whole space which formerly sufficed for 
the two. Evergreen bushes which grow close, as the 
laurustinus, should be so pruned that the lower- 
boughs are the longest; and this may be easily 
effected whatever the natural shape of the plant may 
be, whether round, spiral, or spreading, by stopping 
such shoots as grow longer than those below them. 
The common Alaternus is a fast-growing bush, which 
soon gets naked below unless attended to in this way, 
and one of the most willing to yield to the primer ; 
and is an excellent plant to form into a half stan¬ 
dard. The Phillyrea is another of the ; same!habit, 
but not so fast a grower, but if left to take its natural 
course will soon grow out of shape; the leading 
shoots of all the main branches should be stopped, 
more or less acording to their lengths, to induce an 
equal growth in all parts of the head. All upright¬ 
growing plants, like the Cypress and Arbor vital, re¬ 
quire close attention to set them off properly when 
young; if they once lose their leading shoot, or if 
they are growing in deep rich soil, they produce a 
number of leaders, or contending shoots, and if these 
are allowed to go on unchecked for a few years they 
will become very troublesome in time of snow, or 
even in very wet weather. The weight on the leaves 
causes the different leaders to open out sideways, and 
unless they are tied up with cords or copper-wire 
they soon split, or grow so ragged, as to lose all the 
beauty of their natural character. Even the stiff, 
rigid Irish Yew will get deformed in time, after the 
same manner, unless it is carefully reared from the 
first and confined to one principal leader. I know 
what might thus be very beautiful plants of all these, 
but having been neglected when they were young, 
all that can now be done to them is to keep them 
tight-laced with wire fastenings all the way up, which 
is only an apology for good management. On the 
other hand, I could refer to others of the same spe¬ 
cies whose side branches are as stiff and close as those 
of a well-kept thorn hedge, and this was brought 
about by pinching out the points of all the side- 
branches as soon as they were six inches long, and 
leaving the centre shoot or leader to grow on without 
any check or stopping. This is done regularly during 
the growing season. As fast as the side shoots grow 
to the specified length, the tops are nipped off, and 
after a few years these stumps will get so bushy that 
they must be thinned by cutting in some of them 
close to the main stem; and after such trees attain 
to nearly their full size, these side branches may be 
I allowed to grow out freely, so that no leaders are 
