October 6. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
7 
Cineraria amelloides, and Salvia cliamatdrioules, to flower 
better than from spring cuttings, while Petunias and 
Verbenas flower best from early spring cuttings. 
Another lesson which the great alterations taught 
them is that it is not good to make now beds all of new 
or fresh soil. A very common practice which defeats 
the best gardeners. Plants of all sorts get too leafy, 
and shy of bloom, when the soil is all fresh. It can 
never be affirmed too often, that the first four inches of 
a flower-bed cannot be made too rich, so that the plants 
take to it at once, and start away, as if they were forced 
with bottom-heat, but no sooner than they cover the 
bed, than the roots ought to strike down into poor soil, 
or old exhausted soil, so as to give a sudden check to 
rampant, leafy growth, and throw the whole into flower 
at once; the lower and more damp the situation, the 
more is this check needed, but even on the highest and 
more dry situations it is not safe to make the beds of 
the same richness throughout. 
Our Irish correspondent, who sent me a bushel of the 
tubers of Tropceolum tuberosum, may be glad to hear 
that they have been of great use at Slnubland Park for 
the last two years, for clothing new ground, and for 
training up against places where more permanent 
climbers would not cover so soon. A great number of 
them flowered from last October down to Christmas—a 
very unusual thing in England. The (Enothera speciosa 
is also a common plant here now, and of the two 
Zelinda Dahlias they have an immonse quantity. The 
dark one, about two feet high, comes in admirably as 
specimen plants, at regular distances, in front of white 
terrace-walls, and the scarlet one, an extremely free 
bloomer, and about three feet high, is used in the centre 
of several of the best beds. There is a row of each 
also in front of a long Dahlia border, where six or 
seven rows of the more showy kinds are grown together 
on a sloping bank, where they always make a great 
show ; the dark Zelincla being the dwarfest, makes the 
first row, and the scarlet comes in the second row. The 
effect of this arrangement is so good, that it is deter¬ 
mined for the future to have each row of one kind of 
Dahlia throughout the whole border. T'or flower gardens, 
1 am convinced this is the most telling way in which 
Dahlias can be grown; the usual way of mixing Dahlias 
in beds or long borders, is no better than the old way of 
planting herbaceous plants, as compared with the 
bedding system, if the colours are well contrasted or 
shaded off, and the heights of the plants are so arranged 
as that each row is a little higher than the one in front 
of it. I am quite sure there is no other way by which 
Dahlias can be shown to more advantage. A border, 
one hundred yards long, with a little rise at the back, 
aud wide enough to take seven rows, would be of all 
other ways the best; but any kind of bed will do if the 
centre is kept high enough to assist the gradations of 
height. On level ground the thing cannot be done so 
well, for when the height of the plants reach to four 
feet, it is not easy to find suitable colours to make up 
the remaining heights. If the stock is short, three or 
four whites, yellows, &c. might be used in one row, pro¬ 
vided the heights are exactly the same. 
Verbenas. —Hamlet is now planted with Heliotrope, 
instead of the Duchess d'Aumaule. I never saw this 
mixture more perfect than on this occasion ; sixteen beds 
of it, as neutrals, in one close arrangement, look as gay 
and rich as can be, without interfering in the least with 
the colours and shades all round. This is in the 
“ Fountain Garden,” the best planted arrangement of 
the heights, colours, aud neutrab, in Europe, perhaps. 
All the principal colours in bedding plants have throe 
kind of plants, in three degrees of height, to represent 
them in this arrangement, and except the scarlets and 
yellows, all the rest are planted in shades. Verbena 
Montonii, a large, cupped, dark crimson flower, is used, 
or is to be used, for mixing with Scarlet Geraniums. 
General Brea is the best dark crimson for beds, doing 
away with Louis Phillippe, Barkerii, and all that strain, 
in this garden, at least. Danecroft Beauty, a light sal¬ 
mon, with large yellowish eye, is one of the best of that 
shade ; and for a real good habit, in pink, they have gone 
back to Miller's Favourite again, and for closeness and 
bed-habit they find it the best. The next shade in purple, 
after Emma, is got in one called Andre. D. Beaton. 
PITS AND SMALL HOUSES VERSUS LARGE 
ONES. 
Many enquiries, and statements, written and verbal’ 
almost as opposite as the poles, have induced me to say 
a few words on this subject now, when many are thinking 
how they can manage to secure their tender favourites 
over the winter. The lovers and patrons of gardening, 
if we judge from language and action, may be divided 
into three classes. The first are those who ought to go 
from home, were it for nothing but taking a notch out 
of that self-esteem that led them to imagine that they 
wore unapproachable. The second are those, who, if 
they wished to be contented and happy, would never go 
from home, as they never can see anything else more 
beautiful, more magnificent, and more extensive, without 
a strange mingling of admiration aud envy, on the one 
hand, and an undue depreciation of the beauties they 
really possess, on the other. Woe to the blue aproners 
in such establishments! Do what they will, there are 
points to be aimed at, which, with the means at their 
disposal, it is possible they can reach. Add to the 
numbers of such patrons, and give a goodly increase to 
our Chatsworths, our Trenthams, and Crystal palaces 
and pleasure-grounds, as at Sydenham, and it needs no 
prophecy to tell, that ere long, the bright, sunny spots 
of mere ornamental gardening, clustering around cottage 
and hall, entwined with the purest aspirations of the 
young and the old, would be devoted to purposes of 
stern utility, or left to become wildernesses of neglect. 
A third class, and let us hope so numerous, that, in 
comparison with it, the others will weigh merely as the 
dust in the balance, is superior to envy in all its shapes; 
thoroughly appreciates floral beauty and good gardening, 
wherever it presents itself; is anxious to find something 
to admire, and something to learn from, whether visiting 
the garden of the tradesman, or the demesne of the 
nobleman, and goes borne not dissatisfied with its own 
little paradise, but with the resolution to render it, if 
possible, still more useful and beautiful. If such a class 
have many little doubts and uncertainties how they had 
better act under their circumstances, what a pleasure to 
have the privilege of men trying to resolve them 
Directions have previously been given for forming 
turf or earth-walled pits, us being the most economical 
and useful for window gardeners, and saving bedding 
plants over the winter, as, when provided with a wall- 
plate and sashes, the earth wall is a better non-con¬ 
ductor than a brick wall; and this is especially the 
case when the outside of the wall, at least, is of a 
sloping form, and rendered waterproof with a coating 
of concrete, or a thin layer of tar, covered with sand or 
gravel. Unless in an emergency, however, I would not 
recommend forming such a pit now, as it is best done 
in spring, so as to consolidate during summer, aud then 
have the walls rendered waterproof when dry. Not 
that this waterproofing is essential, but it is a great 
preventive of damping, and keeps many kinds of vermin 
at a distance. Such a pit would be useful in winter, for 
preserving vegetables, as well as the hardier ornamental 
plants, as Scarlet Geraniums, Penstemons, &c., if fur¬ 
nished with waterproof covers instead of glass, these 
covers being tilted or removed iu line weather. I will 
