32 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
Ai-ril 8. 
selves a little, they come rounded and double. I have 
several times had it nicely in bloom in winter and 
spring; and you may have plants two feet in height, or 
six inches, for as soon as it is struck and begins to grow 
it is smothered with dower-buds. Eor moderate-sized 
i plants, it would be time enough to strike cuttings from 
I the middle of July to the end of August; and, ns the 
j plant does not lift over well, it would bo as well to pot 
j and grow in pots. Its colour is useful in winter, when 
tliere are no Yellow Cytisus, &c., in bloom. 
7. Coreopsis tinctoria (various varieties).—This is a 
hardy annual, which 1 have found a very graceful ad¬ 
junct to the greenhouse in winter and spring, its yellow 
and crimson flowers being produced in great prolusion. 
Sow a patch in the open border in tiie middle of July. 
Place a pot over them to keep tho ground moist, and 
remove it when tho plants arc fairly up. Thin when a 
couple of inches in height, and prick out ahout a loot 
apart, and shade and water until growing freely. Pick 
out the point of the shoot, and the plant will lake a 
bushy character. Little more will be required before 
you lift the plants, towards the end of October; and 
such a mass of fibrous roots do the plants make near 
home, that you may lift, carry, transplant, or pot, at 
almost any lime, without the plants suffering at all, pro¬ 
vided that after such operations the roots get a good 
soaking. By such simple means as these many a small 
house could be rendered gay at a very trifling expense. 
There is, for instauco agniu, the 
8. Double Wallflowers, which will not survive 
the winter in many places, and yet, in their various 
shades of colour, would be a great ornament to a house 
after January and February. Cuttings should be struck 
in a little heat in April, and though the plants would do 
planted out, yet, as they do not strike over well, it would 
be the best plan, when they are wanted for greenhouse 
decoration, to pot and re-pot them, and place them in 
an open position, and mulch tlie pots all over with 
rotten dung. This would likewise enrich the plants 
l alike and save frequent waterings. 
9. Co cue a. pi.atvcentua.—T his pretty plant, from 
Mexico,is losing favour as a bedding plant, owing to its 
leaves hiding its pretty, tubular scarlet and white pointed 
ilowers. Kept in doors it is ever blooming, and is very 
j attractive in winter and spring, flowering profusely, 
whether the plant is six inches in height or six times 
that sf?,o. The smaller the pot, in proportion to the 
size of the plant, the bolter it blooms, and the hotter the 
blooms arc seen, as the foliage, in such circumstances, 
becomes small. If the plant can he set level with or 
above the eye, it will appear to still greater advantage. 
For winter and spring blooming, the plants that have 
been so used may be freely pruned-in in May and June, 
and re-potted when the young shoots have pushed, and 
kept in any place, partly shaded, for a short time after¬ 
wards. Plants struck from April to July will make nice 
dwarf plants. I mention these matters, so that the chief 
strength of the plants for flowering may be put out in 
the winter and spring months; though I have had 
large plants in a cool greenhouse, which, supplied 
with manure-water in summer, never ceased putting 
out a profusion of their pretty flowers all tho year 
round. 
10. TrtoiRKOLt'ju Louuianum, and varieties, such as 
j 'I’rioniphe de yaud, with larger flowers than the species. 
| To keep this in good health, in winter the temperature 
i should seldom bo below 4.1° at night, with a rise of 10° 
1 or 15° from sunshine during the day; and if cold and 
l dull, increasing fires to raise the thermometer to 50° 
during the day. Continued cold is apt to make the 
! leaves yellow, and, if the soil is extra moist, to cause tho 
stems to canker and rot. With an average of 50° at 
night the plant will bloom all the winter. If kept at 
15°, and lower, it will not open its blooms until the 
sun gains power in February and March. These blooms, 
from their bright scarlet colour, and their long stalks, 
are very useful for flower-glasses and small bouquets. 
Young plants thrive best. The following is the outline 
of management:—In April, and on to June, take oil 1 
cuttings from the points of shoots, if short, stubhy side- 1 
shoots about three inches in length cannot be had, and 
insert them in sandy soil under a hell-glass, raising the 
bell-glass a little at night to prevent damping. Before tho 
end of May the cuttings will be better for a sweet bottom- 
heat : in June they will not require it; and if given at 
all, it should be mild. Pot off into four-inch pots as 
soon as struck, and keep close until growing afresh. 
Leave only one shoot; prick off all the others when 
quite small and young; fasten tho one shoot to a small 
stake, so that it bo not stopped by accident. As soon 
as well rooted, transfer to a six or seven-inch pot, and 
the protection of a sash will still be in its favour until I 
rooting freely. It should then get an eight or ten-inch 
pot, and shortly ho placed out-of-doors—at first, in a 
shady place, and in a few days into one more sunny. 
Peat and loam will do for the first shifting; but for the 
last the plant should have hardly anything but good 
libry loam. Shortly after the plant is transferred, as 
above, to the flowering pot, a barrel-shaped trellis should 
be fastened to it, formed of wire, or of stakes placed up¬ 
right, and the shoot should be placed in volutes round 
the trellis, commencing at the surface of the pot, and going 
regularly upwards in volutes about nine inches apart. 
When it reaches the lop, the point should bo nipped 
out,which will encourage the side-shoots to form regularly. 
It should be shaded a little from the mid-day sun in j 
bright weather, or, if exposed, the pot should be pro¬ 
tected. It should be housed by the third week in Octo¬ 
ber. A plant thus grown by one main shoot will bloom 
moro uniformly than if shoots of unequal size are at first ! 
allowed to grow. 1 have had this plant fine, trained j 
round tho peeled top of a young larch tree, or by placing 
several hazel branches round the sides of the pot, and 
training tho shoot round them ; but the side-shoots 
soon conceal tho trellis, as they hang gracefully from it, 
when in bloom. A wire trellis gives least trouble in 
training. The tops of trees, such as larch or spruce, 
peeled or uupecled, do very well for such purposes, 
and are especially suited for those who wish by their art 
to imitate nature, as by such means, our climbers in 
pots and trellises, or dangling from rafters, may be made 
as easy, and free as the Woodbine and the Clematis in 
the woodland. R. Fish. 
Nottingham Central Poultry Association —We are 
gratified to announce that this association, which held 
the third of its preliminary meetings in tho Flying Horse 
Hotel, on March 20th, rapidly progresses; an accession 
of at least fifty members having been announced, along 
with TOO or T70 of subscriptions. We believe, that 
although the association may ultimately be thrown open 
to the public competition as announced in our last, it i 
will probably be judged expedient to restrict its first i 
year’s operations to the Midland Counties. To give ' 
still greater variety to the exhibition, a show of roots I 
will he included. We have every reason to believe that > 
the prospects of the association are most brilliant, and 
that reasonable expectations are entertained of securing 
for it very distinguished patronage .—Xotts Guardian. 
DWARF KIDNEY AND SCARLET-RUNNER 
BEANS. 
Like many other things, there is no lack of varieties, 
especially of the Dwarf section of this class, those gene- ; 
rally, but erroneously, called French Beans being very ! 
