THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN'S COMPANION.— July 15, 1850. 
275 
look bad enough and show the worst management. I 
The fork will then be absolutely necessary, and the ! 
labour will be doubled. As the season advances, the I 
Dutch hoe should be in constant use to keep the sur¬ 
face loose. Hoeing frequently has the effect of keeping 
the moisture in the ground, and, besides that, admits l 
the air info it more freely, which is always an advantage | 
to the plants. To prove this, ask any observing and 
intelligent farmer, or even bis labourer, whether bis 
turnips do not grow the faster the more they are hoed, 
and so will flowers of any kind. Tn addition to the 
benefits the plants derive from the frequent hoeiugs, 
the appearance of fresh soil is always pleasing to the 
eye, and generally supposed healthy to the human frame. 
As the plants advance in growth, great attention must | 
be paid to keep each row separate and distinct. The ; 
effect would be injured much if one sort was allowed , 
to run into its neighbour. Of course, in such an ela¬ 
borate style of flower growing, it is almost needless to I 
say that no weeds should be allowed to appear amongst 
the plants. 
I think the above directions as to the culture of this 
peculiar and pleasing style of flower culture are sufficient 
for any amateur. 1 do not pretend that I can instruct 
such men as Mr. Fleming or Mr. Aiton, the two eminent 
gardeners at Trentham and Enville Hall. I and my 
fellow-coadjutors write for such lovers of flowers as 
have not had the opportunity to practise by experiment 
or precept. 
It now only remains to give a list of suitable plants 
for this purpose. I have selected such as I have seen 
grown in this style. To suit all parties, I have given 
four examples. The first is for a broad border in front 
of a wall or a shrubbery. The second will look well in 
a similar situation, or on a bed on each side of a wall 
in a kitchen-garden, or on a border next a fruit-tree wall, 
where it is near to the mansion. . The third will answer 
admirably next to a winding walk with shrubs in the 
background, and the fourth and last may be adapted 
for almost auy situation not shaded with trees. 
Ribbon No. 1. 
Front Row next the walk or turf. 
1. Lobelia ramosoides, dwarf bluo. 
2. Golden Chain Geranium. 
3. Flower of the Day ditto. 
4. Calceolaria aurantia multiflora. 
5. Dahlia Zelinda. 
(i. Fuchsia corallina. 
7. Salvia patens. 
8. Dahlias, three to four feet, various. 
9. Hollyhocks, various. 
This ribbon should be at least fourteen feet wide and 
a considerable length to look well. 
Ribbon No. 2. 
Front Row. 
1. Lobelia ramosoides. 
2. Golden Chain Geranium. 
3. Verbena Purple King. 
4. Flower of the Day Geranium. 
5. Tom Thumb ditto. 
0. Calceolaria atnplexicaulis. 
7. Antirrhinum Cretia, or any dark crimson. 
8. Phlox Antagonist, white. 
9. Delphinium Btu-lowii. 
This ribbon will require a border eight feet wide. 
Ribbon No. 3. 
Front Row. 
1. Lady Plymouth Geranium. 
2. Calceolaria Kayii. 
3. Geranium Trentham Rose. 
4. Dahlia Zelinda. 
5. Fuchsia Riccartonii. 
For this a border five feet wide will be sufficient. 
Ribbon No. 4. 
Front Row. 
1. Lobelia ramosoides. 
2. Alyssum variegatum. 
3. Tom Thumb Geranium. 
4. Calceolaria amplexicaulis or angustifolia. 
5. Dahlia Zelinda. 
The last may be omitted if the border is only three 
feet wide; four feet will hold the whole. 
T. Appleby. 
CELERY AND ITS CULTURE. 
There is, perhaps, no vegetable to which a larger 
breadth of ground is devoted than Celery. A good 
crop of Potatoes may be more profitable to the poor 
mau, and during the summer months Peas occupy 
more space in the gardens of the opulent; but as the 
autumn advances Celery begins to show itself, and we 
are all alike friendly to its successful cultivation ; and, 
as the time has now arrived when it ought to be planted 
in good quantity for winter use, a few general remarks 
on that subject may not be out of place, especially as 
the late dry weather renders it necessary for all who 
suffer from the want of moisture to take due care, and 
be prepared to plant out their crops when rain does set 
in; and Celery especially likes the ground prepared for 
it some time before planting. 
I may here observe, that the old-fashioned mode of 
planting or growing Celery, by digging a deep trench 
and adding raw dung, to be dug up with the subsoil to 
be planted upon immediately, was certainly bad in 
principle as well as in practice, more especially in such 
soils as had not previously been trenched pretty deep, 
and that recently; for it must be borne in mind, that all 
soils require a certain amount of exposure to the open air 
before they are in a condition fit to receive the various 
crops they are to be sown or planted with, otherwise for a 
time the progress they make in growth is very slow. 
Hence the impropriety of planting Celery in a medium 
so much at variance with its well-being. In fact, the 
digging of deep trenches for Celery ought to bo aban¬ 
doned in all cases where there is not a deep and good soil 
to work upon ; neither ought dung in a raw state to be 
used for this crop, for its action is expected to be im¬ 
mediate; consequently, the mixture in which its roots 
are to ramify ought to be at once good and suitable for 
them; and where necessity or the taste of the cultivator 
insists ou Celery being planted at the bottom of a deep 
ditch, let that ditch be made at least ten inches or a 
foot deeper than is wanted, and that space filled up with 
the good surface soil, mixed with line, well-decomposed 
dung, and on this plant your Celery in single rows 
about eight inches apart, or still wider if very large 
heads are wanted ; but if moderate-si^d heads will do, 
and a greater number be requisite, then plant a little 
closer. The result will be, in most cases, more satisfac¬ 
tory, for although very large Celery is certainly noble- 
looking, there is a rule in many private families of re¬ 
ducing it to a certain size, by which means very large 
Celery is no better than medium sized. 
The time of planting Celery varies much with the 
latitude of the place, local advantages or disadvantages, 
as well as the season, more especially that part of it in 
prospect of which we have but little foreknowledge. How¬ 
ever, generally, July may be set down as a good month 
for plauting the main crop, and the earlier the better 
for late places, and vice versa; only, as some favoured 
situations have the disadvantage of suffering from 
drought in September, and, consequently, a cessation of 
growth takes place, there is, perhaps, as much cer¬ 
tainty in obtaining good Celery in a cold and late 
situation as in a dry and early one, as it is a known 
fact that Lancashire and other moist counties produce 
1 
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