000 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY 
GENTLEMAN'S COMPANION.— July 20, 18.00. 
pots, do what he would to prevent it. Many of the 
I plants were too large for the balls to be turned out 
conveniently; and if they were, poking them through 
■ and through with a wire or stick did pretty well as 
much mischief as the worms by their new streets and 
alleys. Lime-water was tried by watering in the usual j 
way, and some were killed and brought to the surface; 
but the more cunning and experienced ones scented the 
danger as the water began to got down by the sides of 
the pot, and retreated to their fortress in the centre of the 
ball, where they remained until time and frequent water¬ 
ings with clear water had dispersed the acrid qualities of 
tho lime; and then they as much as said, by the presence 
of fresh earth-heaps, to their would-be exterminator, 
“ Hero we are again.” Mr. Crockett is not a man to be 
easily beaten by anything, and least of all by a worm; and 
so he hit upon a plan for carrying thorough and speedy 
destruction into the camp of the enemy, simply by 
securely corking all the drainage holes in tho pot, and 
then Hooding it for several hours with the clear lime- 
water. 
Training Geraniums .—Besides the plants of Cinerarias, 
&c., in the greenhouse, there were tine plants of them 
and Azaleas under a shade behind the houses, for 
reserving the bloom for a particular purpose, the most 
showy and fine ilowers among the Cinerarias being 
j Queen of Beauties , Empress, Lord Stamford, Scottish 
I Chieftain, Charles Napier, Lady Camoys, and Fascina¬ 
tion, a beautiful blue, with clear white centre. 1 also 
! noticed a new way of training Pelargoniums, much in 
I advance of the forest-of-sticks system, though not quite 
up to Mr. Thompson’s system, who dispenses with all 
stays and ligatures whatever. Mr. Crockett’s plants were 
dwarf, compact, and bushy, and much more in diameter 
than in height, the very centre being gently rounded in 
I blunt, circular outline. A wire or string is fastened 
round the rim of the pot. Two, or three, or more neat 
little sticks, and in length proportionate to the diameter 
of the head of the plant, are laid across the mouth of 
the pot, the centre of each crossing another as near the 
centre of the pot as the stem of the plant will allow, 
and the outer ends of these cross sticks standing out 
beyond the pot, like the spokes of a wheel before the 
felloes are added. Each stick, as it passes the rim, is 
fastened there to the bandage below it. You have thus 
the spokes of a wheel in miniature across the mouth of 
the pot, and the idea of the wheel is completed by con¬ 
necting the out-jutting ends (the spokes) with a neat 
1 light wire as a circumference, and to this wire the j 
lower branches arc secured ; and by a little hasping of 
j branch to branch, and, perhaps, a few invisible twigs, | 
the plant is regular and secure all over, and, when in 
1 its beauty, the wheel framework is totally concealed. 
Backgrounds to Flower-gardens .—I forget now how 
the largo wall-inclosed space in front of Nicols range j 
! of houses was occupied in Mr. Norval’s time, but it has I 
, now been turned into a large flower-garden on turf, for 
which 1 saw great quantities of bedding-plants hardeu- 
1 ingoff; and unity of expression has been studied so 
far, that almost the whole of the walls bounding that 
I space have been diverted from the useful to the orna- 
I mental. The losing of such ground for vegetables, and 
! depriving the walls of fruit-trees, would have been serious 
considerations in most places, hut were of no moment 
. at Raith, the kitchen-garden being still very large, and 
plenty of walls of all aspects for fruit. What has been 
left of the north wall, against which the houses are 
placed, has been properly devoted to ornamental plants 
i too tender for open positions. The garden wall that 
separated the enclosed space from the kitchen-garden to 
j the south was the difficulty converted by Mr. Crockett 
into a happy opportunity for displaying correct judg¬ 
ment and good taste, i may be too partial in such 
opinion, because it is just an example of what I have 
frequently recommended. A wide border on the north 
side of this wall has been excavated and filled with heath- 
soil, found plentifully on the estate. Tall Rhododendrons 
of the commoner sorts were planted close and nailed to 
the wall. These now mostly everywhere reach to the 
top, and will soon be higher, and allowed to grow out. 
There will soon bo no appearance of wall at all. The 
rest of tho border was filled with good stubby plants, j 
and the commoner ones are being removed, and replaced 
by the better ones, of which a fine stock is coming on. 
Many of the tree hybrids had already flowered. Fine 
plants of Nohleanmn and Altavlarense made this border 
gay, and now 1 presume it will be a perfect blaze. Now, 
here at once is a distinct feature from the flower-beds, 1 
an elegant boundary to the flower garden, aud a fine 
background to it for throwing back its beautiful colours 
in the summer and autumn months. 
Unity of Expression .—With so much of the unique, I 
was so fortunate as to find one jarring note, and which 
might have escaped detection readier if the flower- 
garden had been a mass of colour, and thus prevented 
the eye passing so readily over it. The entrance is at j 
the east end, and when admitted the flower-beds are 
before you; the lthododendron border to the left; the 
houses and conservative wall to the right, on which wall j 
Mr. Crockett’s house stands, a good specimen of what j 
gardeners’ houses should be, aud the windows boldly j 
looking into the garden. The western extremity, to , 
which the eye wanders, is bounded by a wall, rougher j 
aud lower than the oilier boundaries, and conspicuous, 
because, I think, covered with fruit-trees; and what is I 
worse, beyond this wall, the most prominent object is a ‘ 
long, common, shed-like, slate roof. .It might be a cow- | 
house or a stable for anything you lcuow, until informed 
that it is the roof of the rooms appropriated to the 
young men. Here the question of utility does not im¬ 
prove the matter a dot, because that peculiar utility 
could never be discovered unless you were told of it or 
went round to look for it; and an ornamental roof 
would just have answered the purpose of utility as well. 
Various remedies can easily be applied, such as de¬ 
voting that wall also to evergreens, raising it to the 
height of the other walls, which would hide most of 
the roof, changing the character of the roof itself, or 
transplanting several tall spiral trees between the wall 
and the objectionable roof, which, if they did not wholly 
conceal, would break its outline. 
Grafting Rhododendrons. — In the kitchen-garden I 
found several hundreds of nice plants of the best kinds 
growing vigorously in peat, grafted by Mr. Crockett on 
Ponticum aud Catawbiense, &c. In the frame-ground 
there were several hundreds just beginning to grow. 
Small plants were taken up, and potted and well watered, 
and placed in cold frames. The scions—very small bits— 
were obtained before the buds began to move, the head 
was cut off the plant in the pot, a little piece sliced off 
the stem left, a similar piece removed from tho scion, 
the one placed to the other, tied, a little clay rubbed 
over, a moist atmosphere kept about them, thick shading 
given in sunshine, and hardly one ever tails. As these 
get to some size they obtain the places of honour, and 
the commoner ones are removed to the woods aud the 
margins of the lakes. 
Renewing old Cankered Apple-trees .—This has been 
done very successfully by cutting the trees down, and 
grafting them with kinds that were proved to be healthy 
in the neighbourhood. 
Keeping Cauliflowers in Winter and Spring .—Of all 
the modes 1 have heard of Mr. Crockett’s is the simplest; 
and as for its efficacy, I can only say I saw the remains 
of the stalks in May. A darkish, low, thick-walled shed 
on the north wall is appropriated to the purpose, and the 
how is worth I don’t know how much, it is so easy aud 
simple. In autumn, before fruit is expected, the heads 
