THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION.— May 27, 1850. 
] 51 
Annual Flowers. —To prolong and to enhance the beauty 
of annuals, it is necessary to thin them out, and to allow 
sufficient space for each to branch out and to develope its 
natural beauty, instead of being crammed up and drawn 
up together with spindly stem and a flower or two on the 
top. Also, the beauty of herbaceous plants could bo in¬ 
creased by thinning out the stems, which would ensure larger 
and finer flowers; they ought to be carefully sticlced and 
tied up. 
Many of the greenhouse plants may now be turned out-of- 
! doors and placed in some sheltered but open situation, 
j while the plants in bloom, and others kept in the green- 
j house, &c., will require, at all favourable opportunities, all 
I the air that they can get, and to be shifted and stopped as 
i they may require it. 
I Cinerarias that have nearly' done blooming may be 
| turned out of their pots in any sheltered situation, about a 
I foot apart, and well watered. I3y occasionally shaking the 
1 stems, the seeds drop to the ground and vegetate, and if it 
is desirable to increase the old stock, an abundance of offsets 
will be produced. 
Pinks being such general favourites will plead an excuse 
for repeating the following simple and effectual method of 
striking them in the open ground Select a shady, shel¬ 
tered situation—the north side of a wall will do; two or three 
inches of any light sandy soil, with a mixture of leaf-mould, 
will be sufficient depth; when copiously watered, the pipings, 
being stripped of a few bottom-leaves and cut to a joint, can 
be easily inserted in the soil without a dibble, and will be 
fit to transplant in a month or five weeks. 
About the end of the month the bark of some of the 
Hose stocks will be likely to rise freely, when they may be 
budded with some of the very many good sorts in cultiva¬ 
tion. Auriculas will require shading from hot sun, and 
seedlings, sufficiently large to handle, should be pricked out 
into pans, put in a cold frame for a few days, and placed in 
a shady situation during the summer months. 
Continue to tie up Carnations, Picotees, and Pinks, as 
they spindle, for blooming, and the buds before they burst. 
Heartsease strikes freely in the same manner as recom¬ 
mended for Pinks. All bulbous-rooted plants, such as Crocus, 
Tulips, Anemones, Ranunculuses, &c., should be taken up 
towards the end of the month, if their foliage have turned 
yellow or decayed, the bulbs to be dried and placed in un 
airy situation until the season of planting returns. 
The Cgtisus of vaiious sorts, the Rose Acacia, A!tinea 
frutex, and the Laburnum will produce their flowers a second 
time, later in the season, if they are carefully cut back after 
the first flowers fade. 
As the Haymaking season is approaching, a few hints on 
the subject may be useful. It has long been advised “ to 
make hay while the sun shines,” which is a trite saying, and 
should be constantly borne in mind in all our daily affairs ; 
but, could we secure fine weather without its shining our hay 
would be better for it, as experience has proved that the best 
hay is made in dry, sunless weather. Clear, sunny days ex¬ 
tract the nutritious juices too much, and as they are gene- 
rally succeeded by heavy dews in the night, it is good ma¬ 
nagement to cock up the hay the second night after mowing, 
even though rain is not expected, such dews doing little less 
injury than a smart shower. This practice is necessary with 
regard to hay of all kinds, but is of particular importance 
when applied to clover. While the grass is green, it would 
bear much rain comparatively uninjured ; whereas, when it 
has lost its juices it imbibes wet freely, and is, con¬ 
sequently, soon spoiled. Therefore it is advisable, in 
unfavourable weather, to keep it back, by leaving the swathe 
unbroken, or, if already spread out, to take the first 
opportunity, when sufficiently dry, to get it into cocks—if 
still green, into small grass cocks; if further advanced into 
relatively larger cocks. The sprinkling of salt over weather¬ 
beaten hay, when stacking, is strongly recommended, being 
an anti-putrescent, and having a tendency to prevent fer¬ 
mentation, the virtues of the hay is better preserved. The 
quantity generally used is from 14tbs to 281bs per ton of 
hay. Salted hay is always preferred by cattle, and, conse¬ 
quently, such as had been badly got in will be better eaten 
by them.— William Keane. 
THE SUBURBAN VILLA AND COUNTRY 
RESIDENCE. 
NO. VIT. 
THE PLEASURE-GROUND. 
The pleasure-ground may consist merely of a lawn, a few 
shrubberies, a gravel walk or two, with the addition of a few 
flower-beds ; or, as in some extensive garden establishments, 
it may combine numerous detached gardens, whether geo¬ 
metric or otherwise, as well as the American garden, the 
Rosary, Rock garden, &c., Ac., which, though individually 
forming separate, and, with reference to each other, isolated 
features, should he judiciously blended in the general whole. 
The best arrangement of the pleasure-ground is that in j 
which a decidedely formal style is preserved immediately in | 
connection with the house, passing from it to the more 
irregular, but not the less highly kept and artificial portion, 
and from that again, if circumstances will allow of such an 
arrangement, to where the decidedly picturesque or natural i 
scenery prevails. The latter should consist, if possible, j 
merely of convenient walks, cut through natural woods, in ! 
which the most striking and interesting features are brought, j 
as it were, accidentally into view. If there is an irregularity ! 
of surface, with springs and rivulets, and an occasional Ivy- j 
mantled old tree or pollard, very many picturesque little | 
scenes can be realised: and these rather by happy appro¬ 
priation than by labour or expense. 
It has been laid down as a principle, that the flower- 
garden proper should always be placed in some situation 
entirely out of sight from the windows of the residence. If 
there were not very many practical examples of this, it would 
hardly be imagined that anything so entirely antagonistic 
to the legitimate objects of a garden would be carried out. 
If a flower-garden is intended as an embellishment to the 
general grounds on the one hand, and a source of visual—to 
say nothing of a higher—gratification on the other, why 
remove it to some remote corner purposely to conceal it ? 
The flower-garden should, undoubtedly, be a principal fea¬ 
ture in the grounds ; it should be in the immediate neigh¬ 
bourhood of the residence, and, if possible, in full view of 
the window's of the principal living rooms. As a modifica¬ 
tion of the principle just alluded to, it lias been urged, that 
when the natural scenery, looking in the direction of the 
garden, but which is beyond its boundaries, is not of a 
striking character, a flower-garden may be admitted as a 
main feature in the foreground; but when the distant 
prospect is of a character to command attention, flowers 
ought not to be introduced to divide the attention. With every 
deference to this latter axiom, coming, as it does, from so 
high an authority, I confess not to be able to perceive any 
reason for half-measures in the matter. A flower-garden 
either is, or is not, an appropriate and necessary feature in 
ornamental grounds ; if the former, give it every prominence; 
if the latter, banish it altogether. 
Let any reader call to mind the circumstance of his being 
on some broad terrace, in front of a noble mansion, and 
surrounded by all the architectural accessories necessary 
thereto; beneath him a glowing parterre of curious pattern 
—a rich mosaic of living colour ; in the background masses 
of shrubs and sunny glades of open lawn, and in the far 
distance an extensive landscape, mingling from very distance 
with the sky itself; and then say if Art, in her legitimate 
capacity as the handmaid of Nature, could realise a more 
charming work. 
As to the various minor and detached gardens which, 
when adopted, add so much to the intricacy, beauty, and 
variety to the pleasure-ground, they will, of course, be placed 
in situations best adapted to realise their particular features, 
having, at the same time, an eye to the well-being of the 
plants to be grown in them, as well as appropriateness to 
the general design. 
The style of the pleasure-ground, taken as a whole, must 
always be determined by the nature of the ground and the 
scenery immediately surrounding it. ’When the space to be 
appropriated is of considerable extent, and the object is to 
blend, as it were, the scenery of the garden with that of the 
park, the natural features of the whole must be preserved. 
The genius of the place must determine the style. All 
harsh Contrasts and puerile conceits would be out of place, 
