August 20. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER 
419 
flowers, and give many a pleasing vista amongst them. 
There lias been many objections to using the White 
Unique Geranium as a bedding plant; I was glad to see 
it planted out here, and blooming profusely; and also 
the double Purple Geranium, with its fringed flowers, 
was flowering abundantly. 
Bedding-out flower-gardens are too often placed near 
the mansion, in an open situation, exposed to all the 
winds that blow; the consequence is, that they do not 
thrive satisfactorily; whereas, in those gardens sheltered 
from the wind the plants arc quiet, and produce their 
flowers earlier, and last longer in the autumn. 
T. Appleby. 
{To be continued.) 
KEEPING YOUNG FOREST-TREES CLEAR 
FROM WEEDS. 
It not unfrequently liappons, that in a showery 
summer, like the present one, something or other 
gets neglected. In the garden, dull and wet days 
impede certaiu operations very much, while they en¬ 
courage the growth of weeds and other sources of 
confusion, and it takes some amount of energy to over¬ 
come the difficulties and excess of work which this 
excess of wet occasions. Now, it is not to be supposed 
that tall seedling weeds are to be seen in the parterre, 
or anywhere in the dressed grounds, but the back of 
the shrubbery may abound in them, and they may find 
their way amongst vegetables that are not examined 
every day; and in many odd or out-of-the-way places, 
weeds and rank rubbish will often be found in greater 
abundance in damp seasons than in bright, clear, line i 
ones; but I do not here call attention particularly to 
these cases, because the appearance which they present 
will bring the hoe upon them, but I would tempt the 
manager or superintendent of rural works to some 
little distance from the scene of his every-day duties, 
and wish him to examine into the condition of the 
young plantations that he may be rearing in some part 
or other of the property. 
Probably he will there see that the young and but 
recently-planted forest-trees are completely overgrown 
by the rank herbage which the damp season has made 
more than ordinarily strong. In this case, it is easy to 
see that something ought to be done to prevent the tree 
or shrub being smothered in its infancy. Now, it is not 
always that time can be spared to hoe and clean ground 
that is planted with forest-trees, probably to the extent 
of many acres, and that on ground not previously in 
the best possible condition. In this case, a more quick ! 
and expeditious mode must be adopted, which is not 
badly effected by cutting the weeds or other herbage \ 
close off with some sharp tool, as a sickle or hook, and \ 
allowing the roots to remain in the ground; not but the 
tree would be benefited by their removal, but as it is 
important that all such work should be done quickly, it 
is better to go over the whole in this way, than do the 
one-tenth part particularly well. The earlier in the 
season it is done the better; for as all forest-trees make 
their growth pretty early, it is important that their 
growing season be not impeded by any obstruction like 
the overgrown weeds alluded to. 
At the same time, it ought to be fully understood, 
that weeds, however detrimental they may be at certain 
seasons and places, are not always so. I once knew a 
bed of nice Cauliflower plants that had been standing 
untouched in a seed-bed, which had never, in fact, had 
a woed picked from it, all but quite killed in winter, by 
an imprudent person weeding and cleaning it (as he 
thought) the day before the setting in of a sharp frost. 
The natural consequence was, that the portion of the 
plant which was before sheltered or concealed by the 
wilderness of weeds, being suddenly exposed to the in¬ 
clemency of the weather, was unable to endure the 
change, and the consequence was, death or injury to all, 
while a portion of the bod which had not been weeded 
remained unhurt. Now, it is easy to see how this ease 
will bear on the forest plantation, though not to such a 
degree; for here Nature comes forward, and does her 
duty by hardening and ripening the tree as it becomes 
exposed, by the gradual dying down of the herbage 
surrounding it. Nevertheless, it can hardly be expected 
to have attained that robust growth it would have done 
had the rubbish been removed as it advanced. 
I need hardly say here, that apart from the injury 
rank weeds do to the legitimate crop where they are, 
they also injure the surrounding fields and grounds by 
disseminating their seeds in all directions if they be 
allowed to ripen. For who has not seen the down of a 
thistle floating in the air of a still September day a 
mile or more from the place it started from? And 
other weeds, though, perhaps, less gifted with locomotive 
powers, are, nevertheless, spread abroad in many ways. 
As it is important to prevent such injurious effects, it is 
absolutely necessary to cut down and remove the cause 
of such evils before they attain the dangerous size, for 
be it remembered, that the stem of a plant (a weed 
especially) has in itself, when cut, the power to forward 
and partly mature its seed ; so that merely cuttiug weeds 
before the seed is ripe is not soon enough, a few days 
earlier would ensure their destruction. It is, therefore, 
with this object in view, that I herewith call on the 
manager of such matters to be on the alert. 
J. Robson. 
THE WILDERNESS. 
By the Authoress of “ My Flowers 
{Continued from page 384.) 
The progress John Henry made in spiritual things, in 
spite of all outward hindrances, was rapid and steady. He 
searched the Scriptures umveariedly, and next to them the 
“ Pilgrim’s Progress ” was his delight. Whatever book he 
could meet with which edified or instructed him, he wrote ! 
out from it passages which most pleased him; and from I 
Bogatzky’s “Golden Treasury” he copied many pages, i 
In one whose education had been scanty, this was a work of J 
difficulty; but when the soul is awakened, mountains become j 
plains, and rough places smooth—nothing can check the 
pilgrim on his way. 
Perhaps some of my readers may like a sketch from Mr. 
Johnston’s agreeable pen, of the uninviting house of this 1 
earnest seeker of “ a house not made with hands, eternal in 
the heavens.” “ The house was the usual style of an Irish 1 
farmer’s, containing a kitchen, with a bedroom on either 
side, together with lofts for storage. The kitchen served for 
hall and parlour. The door being always open, the only 
protection the apartments had from the blast of the winds j 
was the small jamb-wall, which abutted about four feet from 
the side of the fire-place, and which flanked the entrance, 
so as to form a perfect screen to the upper-end of the 
kitchen. This wall contained a small window, which 
commanded a view of the approach to the house, so that 
persons sitting at the fire could take cognizance of their | 
visitors before they had reached the door. The spinning- j 
wheel, or a reel for winding yarn, stood in the wife's corner, 
at the opposite side of the fire-place, under the capacious 
projecting chimney, from whose crane one or two large pots , 
were generally hanging over the blazing turf fire upon the 
hearth. The side opposite the door contained a few chairs 
and a large table, usually covered, in the forenoon, with the 
produce of the farm, which was being prepared for food, i 
either for the family, or their pigs and poultry. A dresser, 
with its dull pewter plates and dishes, was placed on the 
side opposite the fire ; while the intervening space along the 
wall to the door was filled with sundry tubs and wooden 
