319 
January 20. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
shades of the beautiful trees caused that striking green¬ 
ishness—if there is such a word—and so on with all the 
groups in the garden. Groups of ornamental trees, in a 
park, and the largest forest plantations, are, or ought to 
be, planted on the same plau; the principal trees arc 
planted at some given distance apart, so that if you cut 
down the first, third, fifth, seventh, or any other num¬ 
bers, the rest will stand at equal distances, and between 
these come the nurses. 
The ground ought to be well and deeply trenched lor 
all groups of ornamental trees, in a park or garden; 
and for single trees, in a garden, it is better not to go 
so deep, if tho bottom soil is not very good, as when 
the roots get into bad soil the branches get mossy, and 
the tree looks bad. When you move a large plant from 
an old shrubbery, whether the roots are prepared before¬ 
hand or not, I would strongly advise some rich compost 
to bo used in planting it in a new place, or else some 
very rotten dung to be mixed with tho natural soil of 
that place; this is to prevent the tree, or shrub, from 
standing still for a season or two. Nothing pays so 
well as a generous treatment at first for all large trees 
that are moved, or for small ones, when it can be done. 
For mulching young or old plants after planting, the 
best thing is short littery dung, half-rotten ; and the 
next best is tan fresh from the tan-pits ; and the third 
best is the same after it is used for bottom-heat in pine 
or melon beds. All plants of any value ought, certainly, 
to be mulched the first year, at least; but fresh tan will 
last three summers if it is an inch thick at first; and 
birds are not so apt to scratch it about as they do any 
kind of dung. 
All this applies, generally, to such places as our Irish 
friend has got into, and yet, perhaps, not particularly 
to liis case. He was among our earliest subscribers, 
and has followed us out through thick and thin, and 
now it is but right that each and all of us old writers 
should give him a lift as far as we can understand hi# 
newly-acquired property ; but either of us, on the spot, 
could tell him more to the point in one hour than we 
can by writing till our fingers ache. Next week I must 
report the meeting of the Horticultural Society , but I 
shall soon give him such a list of tho best new and old 
plants, and all that I can think about them, as will 
make a standing reference for the whole of the season 
to many more besides him and D. Beaton. 
A GROUP OF FLANTS OFTEN ASKED 
ABOUT. 
Ego Plant. —This is the Solatium melongena ovi- 
gerum, and of this there are varieties with violet, red, 
1 and yellow-coloured fruit; but the white is the great 
! favourite with our young friends, as it so closely re- 
| sembles a common-sized egg, only being more trans- 
! parent and shining. 1 recollect, a lew years ago, when 
i a large, fine plant of the white variety engrossed more 
attention in a corner of the greenhouse than any other 
! plant in the garden. Another variety, Solarium melon- 
' gena esculentum, is chiefly distinguished for the prickles 
| on the stem, leaves, and calyx of the flower. None of 
, these would be cultivated either for the bloom or the 
foliage. The fruit, or, rather, its hard external shell, is 
j the attraction. There is a littlo difficulty in getting a 
j good healthy specimen in-doors, owing to the plant 
being very liable to the attacks of green-fly and thrips, 
for which fumigation and syringings are the only re- 
1 medy. So liable are these plants to theso insects that 
! I have frequently bundled good specimens to the rub¬ 
bish-heap lest they should infest more valuable things 
in their vicinity. I have never tasted them cooked hut 
I once, and that was enough, though fried with butter, 
pepper, salt, &c.—appurtenances with which even flint 
stones aro said to yield a rich sauco—but I do not 
profess to bo a,judge in epicurism. When well-ripened, 
and kept dry, the fruit may be preserved for many 
months. In March, it will be desirable to sow the seeds 
in a hotbed, and to prick the plants off as soon as they 
are three inches in height, placing three round the sides 
of a four-inch pot. In a few weeks they will want a 
pot of that size for each plant; and, by-and-by, another 
shift will be wanted. As tho month of May comes 
more air must be given, so as to lower tho temperature, 
so that the plant, after frequent shiftings, may stand in 
an eight or ten-inch pot by the middle of June, when it 
may be transferred to the greenhouse, after being gia- 
dually hardened off by more and more air being given 
to tliem in the hotbed. It the situation is warm, and 
a south wall has an empty space, a number may be 
planted out there, and trained close to the wall; but J 
thoy will not ripen kindly unless in a warm season and 
in a sheltered place. The soil used for pots should be i 
light and rich, consisting chiefly of loam and leaf- 
mould, or very decayed manure. Plenty of water must 
be given during the growing season, and no lack of the 
syringe over the foliago, or it will be impossible to keep 
the plants in a healthy condition. The Egg Plants aro 
natives of Africa. 
Cayenne Pepper and Curry Powder Plants. 
These, when unadulterated, are the produce of different 
species and varieties of Capsicum. The word is derived 
from lcapto, to bite. I once saw a mischievous little 
urchin, who would try his fingers and lips upon every¬ 
thing within his reach, so stung with setting his teeth 
through a cherry-shaped Capsicum, that I thought lie 
would never bite more. To add to the mischief, he had 
worked the fruit between his fingers and thumb, so as 
to break the skin inadvertently before he pounced it into 
his mouth, and then, in his agony, he must needs rub 
his nose and his eyes with these same fiDgers, until he 
screamed and danced with torture. 
The kinds generally cultivated are almost endless | 
varieties of annuuin , consisting of various forms, and 
colours of fruit, natives of India and South America— 
cerasiforme, cherry pepper; bacccitum, the bird pepper, 
grossum, tho bell pepper; and frutescens, the chilies, oi 
Cayenne peppor; though the latter pepper is made horn 
"rinding the seeds aud outside coverings of all sorts, 
especially those that are reel. 1 he last-named kind, it 
kept in a plant-stove, pruned back, and fresh potted, or 
well top-dressed every year, will yield large crops for a I 
number of years, and from its habit will bo neat and 
compact to look at. ... 
The fruit is used for pickling when green; for mixing 
with other pickles; for placing in vinegar, so as to form 
Chili vinegar; and for grinding, as we have seen, when 
ripe, for pepper; and when in this ripe state the 
plants have a very gay appearance in the front of a 
vinery or a greenhouse; as, unless in favourable sit- ■ 
uations, they do not often ripen sufficiently in the open 
air, though forwarded under glass until the end of May. 
Some years ago, some poor attempts at wit weie made ! 
by associating the name of a nobleman with the recom- 
mendation of a little curry-powder, in a glass of warm ; 
water, to the labouring man, when wet and weary; but 
we know, from experience, that a very little of this 
powder, or Cayenne pepper, or a few drops of Chili 
vinegar, in such a tumbler of water, it not too often 
repeated so as to give a false stimulus to the stomach, 
will not only be grateful, but check many an incipient 
disease that springs from wet and cold. 
In growing these plants for pickling, the seeds (which 
may be kept in their ripe cases until wanted) should be 
sown under glass, towards the end of March, aud if in 
a hotbed all the better. As soon as the plants are four 
inches high they should be pricked off, either singly in 
