154 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
December 1. 
therefore, under the eye, when first seen, there is little or 
no objection to the different heights in the beds not cor¬ 
responding together; you get a bird’s eye view of the 
whole, and the colours alone take the attention. Still we 
must descend the steps to the circumferential-walk, opposite 
the centre of the bed N., and here the company divides ; 
some go to the right, some to the left, and walk all round 
first; but if there are young ladies, and some half-pay or 
full-pay officers, unmarried, in the party, the ladies go to 
the left and enter the garden at v., the said officers turn 
to the light, and enter at w., and both parties meet again at 
the point of d., as by accident. No such thing ; but let us 
proceed to say that this is a good arrangement, take it any 
way we like. There is as much judgment required to amuse 
and engage the attention of company round a garden 
as is needed to plant one. The moment a critic got to the 
bottom of the steps he would object to the centre Salvias, 
as both diminishing the real size of the whole garden, by 
drawing the eye to the very centre, and for hiding the small 
beds beyond. Suppose, now, the Salvias are removed, and 
their places filled with Scarlet Geraniums, these, again, with 
the circle of scarlets, would give such a flash, on a fine day, 
as would rivet your eye, and cause it to measure half distance 
sooner than the tallness of the Salvias would. I appeal to 
any lady who is an artist, and who is in the habit of taking 
views in perspective, if this view is not the correct one. 
Either too much bright colour, or very tall plants, therefore, 
are inadmissible in a flower-garden where there is more 
than one ring or set of beds all round the centre one, as in 
this. If this garden consisted only of the centre, a., and 
the eight small circles round it, a. might be planted with 
Hollyhocks, without the least prejudice to the rest; and here 
lies the very source of the nine errors out of ten in making 
and planting flower-beds. Somebody has been somewhere, 
and saw a group that took the fancy at first sight, and 
walking round it, or looking back to it from a distance, only 
confirmed the first impression, and this body has the repu¬ 
tation of having “ a good eye,” which is quite true, but he 
is no gardener, and he might have as many eyes as Argus, 
before I would admit his beautiful group, which so pleased 
him, into a composition; in the group, it is just as he says ; 
but make that group part of a composition, and it may spoil 
the whole. Borrowing ideas is sure to defeat the best artist, 
unless he is himself so much master of the particular art in 
hand as to know exactly if the new idea is applicable to his 
case, and where to introduce it into his composition. A 
white Petunia, instead of the blue Salvia, would improve this 
centre bed, and make it unobjectionable; the different lings 
would then be in contrast, and that amounts, in this in¬ 
stance, to a neutral; then, one-half of the circles being of 
the Sultan Calceolaria, as at present, the other half of these 
circle beds ought rather to be as gay as pink and purple 
Verbenas could make them; these beds being so much 
smaller than the centre one and those on the outside, I can 
see no objection to every other one of them being scarlet, but 
white alternately with scarlet would be better, and more 
telling, and I would prefer the dark Sultans, in place of the 
small blue Lobelias in the circles on the outside; then, if I 
could get the eight large outside beds in alternate scarlet 
and yellow, allround, then b. d. in good blue, as Delphinium 
sinense, or Salvia, patens, trained low, and C. E. either with 
pink Nosegay Geraniums, or the old Scarlet Variegated, 1 
would leave the rest to the choice of any one, or be as they 
are at present. In short, let the large centre bed be kept 
low, with a colour not too strong; the outside beds with tall 
plants of strong colours; and the four, b. c. d. e., in the 
next strongest colours. The rest cau hardly be made wrong. 
D. Beaton. 
We cannot understand the reasons upon which any 
farmer can object to make a return to Government of 
the amount of his Stock, live and dead, on a particular 
day specified. It is not an inquisitorial inquiry for the 
purpose of taxation; hut an inquiry, the aggregate 
result of which would be of the greatest use to the 
farmer himself. It is well-known how much com and 
hay, and how much live stock, are required for the 
supply of the kingdom; and the statistical returns asked 
for by the Government will give a tolerably truthful 
statement as to the produce ready to afford that supply. 
Could a farmer possibly have more valuable information 
whereby to regulate his market transactions ? It is not 
accurate knowledge upon such subjects, but uncertainty, 
that are injurious to the farming interest. What is 
more sought for by the manufacturer, than accurate 
information of the stock on hand of the article upon 
which his capital is employed? By it he regulates 
his movements; and so far are we from wishing any 
obstacle to be thrown in the way of agricultural 
statistics, we wish that means were taken to have the 
returns more full and more particular. We would have 
the returns include Poultry,Market Gardens, Allotments, 
and Orchards. We would have them thus copious, 
because we know that in all that concerns manufac¬ 
tures—and farming and gardening are no more than 
manufactures of vegetable and animal consumables— 
the more information the manufacturer possesses the 
less liable he is to fluctuating prices and ueedless loss. 
We never knew an instance of a man mistaking his 
way from having too much light. 
Though we differ as to some of the regulations of 
the Birmingham Exhibition, yet we rejoice to find that 
it is greatly prosperous. The entries of all kinds, ex¬ 
cepting in Sheep, are largely increased beyond those of 
last year. In Poultry, the increase is very large; and 
it has this earnest of permanency—it has been steadily 
progressive. In 1851, there wero 1,055 pens; in 1852, 
1,223; and, in the present year, more than 2,000. It 
will, probably, be the most surpassing Exhibition of 
Domestic Poultry ever witnessed. We know that the 
attendance will be numerous, and that parties are 
already securing lodgings. If an addition had not 
been made to Bingley Hall, there would have been 
much difficulty in providing pen-room for the fowls. 
It has been said, that wo are equally ignorant of the 
origin, the precise seat, aud the cure of Cholera: treat 
it as wo may, the disease, once established, carries oil' 
the half of all attacked. Some Jenner has yet to rise 
up, the oracles say, to give us a specific remedy. But 
this confessed inability to cope with the disease has 
induced inquiries as to its prevention which have led 
to many valuable observations and suggestions; and we 
ceass t.o wonder at the scanty information respecting 
the best methods of cure in former epidemics, of the 
symptoms, antecedents, and probable local and atmos¬ 
pheric relations, of which so many particulars have 
come down to us. Those accounts all confirm the idea 
the danger has ever arisen out of some contamination of 
the air of crowded places (tnorbo call); and that the sick, 
and even the predisposed, should bo separated from the | 
