THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY 
may bo prepared for them to bo planted in; and at the 
fitting time in spring thoy may be plantod out to where 
they are oxpeotod to form heads for tabic use. A portion 
may, however, bo planted out in autunm at onco, to 
where they are to remain, sheltering them with hand¬ 
glasses during winter; and if thoso lmud-glasscs were 
made to bold more than could afterwards stand on that 
plot, tho overplus could easily be planted out elsewhere; 
but they must not be overcrowded, for, bo it remembered, 
these are intended for the earliest crop, and must not be 
injured by neglect of thinning in due time. Jt might 
as well bo said hero, that when ordinary hand-glasses are 
used—say, of about two feet square—thoy ought to stand 
: in rows about three feet apart in tho clear, and the 
I glasses nearly as much the other way. This will allow 
[ room to walk between them to take off and put on tho 
tops of tho lights, and to examine thorn from time to 
time, to seo that they do not suffer from intruders or 
other misfortunes. 
Spinach. —This being an article which is fit for use at 
any time when it is largo enough to gather, it is only 
necessary hero to say that seed of tho long-leavod kind, 
called I’rickly Spinach, may be sown at various times 
from the middle of August until the middle of Septem- 
I her, tho earliest sowing being, perhaps, tho worst for 
• standing the winter ; but it is of much less importauce 
than the plant named above. An open situation will 
do ; but it it can bo accommodated with a border facing 
the south, so much tho better ; but it is not always that 
such borders can be spared for a crop not the highest 
esteemed. Drills a foot or more apart answer best; and 
the plants may best be slightly thinned when up a little. 
Onions. —These, to stand the winter, ought to be sown 
the last week in August on good ground, and quite open 
and exposed. There is some difference in merit of the 
kinds that are sometimes sown; but if good, useful 
Onions are wanted next July, sow the Globe, White 
Spanish, or similar kinds. If, however, merely young 
ones are wauted during winter and spring, sow the Silver- 
skinned or Tripoli, both being hardier than the more 
esteemed garden varieties ; but in most cases it will be 
advisable to sow both, and to use them accordingly. 
Lettuces. —The hardy varieties of this may also be 
sown nowon a warm south border; in fact, this deserves 
as much consideration a.s the Cauliflower. The Ham¬ 
mersmith llardy Green is the host; after that the Brown 
Dutch and a Brown Cos ; tho tender White Cab¬ 
baging kinds being least advisable of any. But this 
subject shall be dwelt ou next week. j. Robson. 
QUERIES AND ANSWERS. 
GARDENING. 
LILIUM LANCIFOLIUM CULTURE. 
“ I bought a plant of this Lily, and it flowered in my 
window the first year after I got it, but both last summer 
and this summer it has not flowered at all. Above every 
leaf there have come small lumps, like small bulbs with roots 
on, so 1 want to know what I must do to get it into flower 
next year. I broke several of the small lumps off, and set 
them, and they are.growing into very nice little plants.—A 
Lover, of Window Plants.” 
[We can hardly tell you what is the matter, but you may 
safely proceed thus :—Water your plant as long as the leaves 
are green ; when yellowish refrain from watering, and place 
the pot in a dry placo. When the leaves are removed, place 
the pot in a cool, dry place, such as a cellar, where little or 
no frost can get to it. In spring, look at your plant fre¬ 
quently, and, as soon as you observe signs of growing, shift 
your plant carefully, breaking away part of tho old soil, 
without injuring any of the fleshy roots; place the top of 
the bulb below the surface of the pot two or throe inches. 
Use loam and peat, neither wet nor dry, and let all alone 
until the stems come to the surface; then place the pot in 
the light, and give water as it requires. Give it a top- 
GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION.— August 20,1850. 389 
dressing several times of very rotten dung duringits growth, 
to cause the stem or stems to como strong, and we trust you 
will have flowers to your heart’s desiro. If any roots, not¬ 
withstanding tho deep potting, appear on the stem above 
tho soil, earth them up. These roots issuing from the stem 
are of importance.] 
GLADIOLUS CULTURE. 
“ I have a fine bed of Gladiolus Gandavensis, planted in 
February. Will you kindly mention whether the same 
bulbs flower another year, or whether the bloom is de¬ 
pendent upon the new bulbs of this year’s growth ? Would 
you also recommend ine another variety for out-door culti¬ 
vation ?— An Ignoramus.” 
[Psittacinus will be a good neighbour to Gandavensis. 
Tho tubers formed this season will bloom tho next. If 
planted deep enough they may remain for years in the 
same place if protected from severe frost and stagnant 
water. In unfavourable situations it would be safest to 
lift them in November, though they do not often bloom so 
strongly after being thus removed.] 
SPORT OF THE IVY-LEAVED GERANIUM. 
“ Miss Whyte encloses a singular specimen of an Ivy-leaf 
Geranium which she has just discovered in her garden ; she 
sends the cutting off which she picked the flower, with three 
perfect crimson and two pink flowers. She lias dropped a 
drop of gum in the petals, hoping to preserve them. The 
plant was a cutting from a crimson, and this is its first, and, 
at present, only flower.” 
[This is the first sport of the kind which Mr. Beaton has 
seen in the Ivy-leaf section, and he is very much obliged to 
Miss W. for sending it. Some violent force, or change, or un¬ 
natural condition of tho fluids, or juices, causes these sports ; 
hut, whatever the cause, its explanation has yet escaped the 
researches of science. Practically, these sports are of the 
greatest value in the flower-garden. It is now above 150 
years since a similar sport appeared among Geraniums—a 
bad red changed into a good crimson “ by some cause or 
causes unknown." Whether that first made efforts to return 
to the original, like the one before us, is not on record. 
Very likely it did, and we may owe to such changes the 
origin of some of the bedding sections, for which we. cannot 
now trace a natural lineage. From this we ought to learn 
an important lesson, namely, to take the greatest care of 
every deyree of a sport, until that degree, or our own skill, 
produces a better instance of that “limitation : ’’ one chance 
lost with a transition sport may never occur again in a life¬ 
time. The Unique section and some others produce similar 
instances to the one before us, which one will be made the 
most of in the Experimental, marked C. B. II., the initials 
of tho place it camo from.] 
BEES NOT FILLING A BELL-GLASS. 
“ We purchased a first swarm on the 4th of June, whicli 
was hived in a straw hive adapted to a bell-glass, which was 
placed upon it on the 25th, as directed in the Manual, and, as 
we supposed, indicated by bees clustering about the entrance. 
The communication between the hive and the bell-glass is 
an aperture of one inch and a half in diameter, and a zinc 
perforated ventilating tube down the centre of the glass, 
which, at this moment, is about one quarter part filled with 
comb; and there are indications of the comb being filled 
with, I suppose, honey, as particles of a yellow substance 
appear scattered on the sides of the glass and the edges of 
tiie cells, Ac. I have this morning removed, for the second 
time, a number of Hie workers which lay dead at the bottom 
of the glass, and which the bees attempted, ineffectually or 
only partially, to remove themselves; a few I found brought 
through the hive and dropped in front of the entrance, but 
the main efforts of the creatures were exhausted in vain at¬ 
tempts to carry them up the glass, and dropping them when 
at tho top. The bees have once completely deserted the 
bell-glass, but again returned to it when the dead bees were 
removed, and when again replaced to relieve the hive, when 
we found them clustering about the entrance and showing 
indications of swarming. What can ho tho cause of so 
many dead bees in tho bell-glass, and what the remedy ? 
Should not the hell-glass have been filled with comb or 
