THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
■January 31.] 
is grown, as lie considers, too wide, he chops it all 
round with the spade, leaves a handsome spot in the 
middle, and well-buries all the side-pieces; comes next 
to a beautiful bunch of Tiger-lilies: in goes the spade, 
right tlmough the middle of them; then, a nice bunch 
of Puhnonciria virginica, or some other such plant— 
that dies down below the surface of the borders—he 
spade-prunes these, too ; and so on, in this way, the 
borders are dressed off, made smooth and nice to the 
eye; but, when the time comes for the choice flowers 
to appear, then are heard such complaints as these:— 
“ Why I miss such and such a flower; yes, and that 
beautiful Pubnonaria is gone, that has been there for 
years!” 
Again, many amateurs call in some very accom¬ 
plished jobbing gardener, who, ask him what you will, 
is ready with an answer. He goes to work, with no 
more knowledge than the groom. He rallies away at 
the work, and seems to do a great deal of it in a day; 
and, consequently, gets a name for being a famous 
workman. He chops round the gross-growing plants, 
and buries the sides, just as the groom did; and says 
he will stop their vigour! Yes, and so he will in truth, 
but in a great many he stops it for ever. Well, this 
is all good for trade, as many persons say; and the 
amateurs and others must make interest with their 
friends for more, or buy, if they will have their choice 
herbaceous plants again to fill up their borders. 
Now, if every one of these hardy herbaceous plants 
were labelled, not even the groom or gardener, if dis¬ 
interested, could make any mistake in dressing off' 
the borders; and the amateur would know where to 
put his hand upon any particular favourite at any 
time, whether its stems had died down, or whether it 
was in full bloom. My plan is always to keep every 
plant labelled, whether in beds on the lawn, or dotted 
in the front ground of plantations; and a very in¬ 
teresting appearance the labels have in the winter 
months, when the beds, &c., are all made clean and 
neat. I always make it a rule, at cutting-down time, 
to see that the label is legible and good. If it is not, 
I either have with me a quantity of smaller labels—■ 
that is, if'I am in a hurry, or have not a sufficient 
number .of properlabels made for the purpose. I then 
place to every plant that requires one a smaller label, 
for the present, until I can attend to the proper-sized 
label that I use. My labels are made out of any pieces 
of deal-boards that will split up nicely, in lengths from 
nine inches to a foot, and from one inch to an inch 
and a half in breadth; made smooth with a sharp 
knife, neatly pointed, and rounded at the top; and, as 
I want them for use, a very little white paint is rub¬ 
bed on each with the finger, and written on, while the 
paint is wet, with a common cedar lead-pencil. I in¬ 
scribe the generic and specific name of each plant 
plain enough for any one to read it. This I frequently 
do in wet weather, by having a list of the plants that 
need new labels. 
I am not wishing to adopt a Linnesen or Jussieuian 
system, in either large or small private gardens, but a 
little touching upon the latter would be very nice in 
many cases. Thus, I like to see good beds of the tall 
Aconitums together; Delphiniums, Phloxes (of which 
many of the early-flowering kinds may be caused to 
flower at the same time the later ones do, by once 
nipping out the tops of them), and beds of Pceonies 
together; Potentillas also look well in beds together. 
In arranging, I always aim at having the tallest at 
the back, or centres ; and colours, or sorts, at equal 
distances from each other, and blended, so as to form 
a handsome whole. I usually grow the plants 2 feet 
0 inches at the least from each other ; and, in some 
instances, larger-growing kinds I place still wider 
apart. If I should happen to make an error in the 
height or colour of my arrangement, I make a note 
of it, to be altered for the next season; or, if anything 
new should come to hand that would be an improve¬ 
ment, I make a memorandum for it to bo attended to 
at its proper time. 
By attending to my hardy herbaceous favourites in 
this methodical manner, I not only save then- lives, 
but I flower them well. How vexed I should be to 
see the spade go through a nice bunch of that pretty 
little plant, Scilla prteeox! But, in order to be more 
careful over these little choice bulbs, I always keop 
them in pots, and plunge pot and all in the ground 
where I wish the plant to stand to flower, giving 
them a sliift every two years, at which time I divide 
them, if I find it needful. And how sorry I should 
be to see all the roots chopped round of a fine plant 
of Dodecatlieon giganta, that I was looking forward to 
see have eight or ten fine flower stems next May! How 
could such a plant be expected to be so productive 
after such rough treatment ? The plant might live, 
certainly; and, should it not get served so again, it 
might dwindle on for some years; but the best way 
to deal with it, after it has been so badly served, 
would be to take it up, and divide it, and plant it 
out in some new and rather cool situation. 
Another reason against chopping round the patches 
of hardy herbaceous plants, so as to leave the centre- 
bit, which very often dwindles away after such bar¬ 
barous treatment, is, that it often, I may say always, 
happens that the outside of each patch is the best 
and the only part that would flower the ensuing 
year, if left alone This is evident in such plants as 
Campanula persicifolia, and its many varieties; 
Prunella Pensylvanica, and many others. 
When I am in the act of dressing off my borders, 
and I come to one of these kind of plants, if the best 
part of the patch happens to be just where I wish 
the future plant to stand, or so nearly so as not to 
deform my arrangement, I then leave it, taking all 
other parts away. But, if it should not be so, I take 
up the whole, and work up the spot thoroughly, and 
a spadeful or two of fresh mould is always worked in, 
as 1 keep a wheelbarrow of good, suitable soil by me 
at this work. When all is ready, I select one of the 
best outside pieces to form my new plant, or speci¬ 
men ; and, in so doing, I very often exchange one 
plant for another of the same height and colour, 
when I fancy the plant appears tired of its present 
situation. This change, and half a barrow of leaf- 
mould and turfy loam, sets all to rights again. 
T. Weaver, 
Gardener to the Warden of Winchester College . 
GREENHOUSE AND WINDOW 
GARDENING. 
“ Window gardening, indeed! I verily believe 
some of these writers, in The Cottage Gardener, 
are in league with the nurserymen, who have plants 
to sell. They first make us so fond of flowers, that 
we cannot do without them; and then they can leave 
us in such weather as we have had of late, to shift, 
and think, for ourselves; with, perhaps, drily refer¬ 
ring us to specific directions, given a month or two 
ago ; as if these were the days when people had time 
to look and ponder over old numbers.” A friend of 
ours was lately expatiating on the beautiful object 
that Johnny Frost had painted so gracefully and 
cheaply on his window frame. He could scarcely 
