■456 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
September 12. 
find. Take means to prevent a heavy shower, when it 
comes, drenching and tearing them out of their pans or i 
pots. The smallest of these plants, if grown on, will be I 
large enough for early spring blooming, and it is always 
difficult to got them to look well in the dog-days, just 
; because the weather is too hot for them. April and 
j May are tho months for seeing good plants in all their 
glory, though in a cool season they will be found good 
, in June. Complaints are coming in of not getting tho 
seed up, and for the somewhere about dozenth time I 
| repeat the process. Take a six-inch pot, or any other 
I according to your fancy, fill it half full with drainage, 
then a third of the remaining portion with rough, lumpy 
pieces, the size of Beaus, of sweet earth, such as peat 
and loam, then an equal quantity of finely-sifted, rich, 
sandy soil, half a quantity finer sifted still, with more 
sand in it. Press these firmly down, and there will be 
half-an-inch or so left to the top of the rim of the pot. 
Then water them thoroughly; nothing is better than 
allowing the pots to stand up to their rim in a tub of 
water for an hour; then set the pots cut, and allow them 
to drain thoroughly for the best part of twenty-four 
hours ; then scatter the least quantity of silver sand, or 
any other, fine enough, on the surface; press slightly 
again with a board, sow the dust-like seed, scatter the 
merest slight quantity of silver sand over them, press 
again, and place a square of glass over the pot, and if the 
seed is worth anything, you will know all about it before 
many seven days are over. “ But where put the pot 
when thus sown ? ” Aye, that is something. In August, 
and a warm September, you can scarcely have a place 
too cool. I sowed some three weeks ago, everything 
just as described above, then a handlight was set on 
gravel behind the north side of a fence; the handlight 
had a moveable head, to lift off and on; the lower part 
was merely filled with rough coal-ashes. In these the 
pots were plunged, and the square of glass placed over 
each pot, and the top of the handlight over all. In a 
day or two, the ground outside the glass was watered, 
aud every other day or so, as it was hot, the cinders 
inside got a soaking from the spout of a small watering 
pot, but never a drop went into the seed-pots until they 
were up and fit to prick out an inch apart or so. Now 
from this judge of your conveniences, and act accord¬ 
ingly. Succeed thus with the Calceolaria, and a great 
result will be gained, and you will have little difficulty 
with any other dust-like seed. The system is based on 
the principle of supplying the seeds with all they want 
for becoming plants, without drenching them and wash¬ 
ing them overboard by a streamlet from a water-pail, 
though the clever wight who handled it might so keep 
the secret to himself, that seed and seedsman might be 
held guilty, when all the crime lay in another quarter. 
If even trusty Friday is not thoroughly initiated, you 
must hit upon a plan for keeping him and his water-pot 
from the near neighbourhood of such small seeds, or we 
hold out small hopes of your ultimate satisfaction. 
About a month ago, my neighbour, Mr. Eraser, had a 
fine quantity of seedlings coming up in a snug corner 
out-of-doors, just where two walls met with an acute 
angle. The respective pots were covered with squares 
of glass. His flowers last season were striking from 
their variety, beauty, and goodness of form ; and if care 
in hybridising will take us back to, or beyond, the 
results that Mr. Kiugborne reached, we may expect 
something good next season. 
Hard-wooded Plants .—This is just the season for 
ripening the wood of Azaleas, Epacris, Heaths, &c., but 
while they receive plenty of air, and an almost unshaded 
sunshine, see that the pots are protected from the sun’s 
rays, by plunging—putting a piece of matting on a 
board in front of them. Large hardier plants, set out-of- 
doors, may be easily protected with mounds of earth, 
sand, ashes, &c., piled on the south, and a little to the 
east and west sides. This allows the air freely to circu¬ 
late round the most or all of the pot, according to the 
care exercised, and yet prevents the scorching heat 
drying and parching the roots. 
Neruim Oleander .—If the directions given in previous 
volumes have been attended to, there will be rare flowers 
on this plant next spring aud summer. Keep the plants 
now as much in the sun as possible, and give no more 
water than will keep the leathery leaves from getting 
flaccid. Secure the pots from the intense heat. A clever 
young blue aproner will be apt to recollect all about 
this; and if he had been a Northerner, he would set to 
scratching a bump above tho left car in desperation. 
Some plants had been grown on the succession system 
—so many shoots to bloom this year and so many the 
next. The shoots done blooming were to be cut out, 
and the rest retained and tended accordingly. But this 
was a round-about mode, and the knife soon stumped the 
whole concern, and large plants too. Our readers will 
recollect that the bloom is produced this year on the 
well-grown aud well-ripened shoots of the preceding year, 
and that, therefore, according to the treatment, the same 
plant may bloom every year, or every other year. 
Cactus .—A similar remark applies to this tribe, espe- \ 
cially all the more succulent and thick-stemmed ones. , 
Guard the pots from the sun, and you can scarcely give 
them two much direct and powerful sunlight, while the 
watering, if given at all, must be reduced to a very 
minimum. A sprinkle over-head gently with the syringe 
late in the afternoon will be preferable to lashing much 
water at the roots. R. Fish. 
ENVILLE HALL. 
THE SEAT OF THE EARL OF STAMFORD AND WARRINGTON. 
The large conservatory at this place is progressing 
rapidly, and will be ready for the plants before 
Christmas. It is to be a noble building, and, if I am 
spared, when it is finished, I shall, I hope, have the 
pleasure of seeing it, and giving a description of it for 
The Cottage Gardener. Large Orange-trees, Camellias, 
and Azaleas, and various other suitable plants are all 
ready in other houses, so that it will be furnished 
at once, as soon as it is finished. As far as I could j 
judge by its present appearance, it will be unique, and j 
present some points quite new, even in this age of i 
Crystal Palaces. 
The grand attraction here, now, is theFlower-garden, j 
and, as I conceive there are few to surpass it in the king¬ 
dom, I shall endeavour to give a full description of it. 
That part more especially devoted to the bedding-out 
system occupies, as far as I could judge, about three or 
four acres. The beds are round, of sizes varying from 
five feet to ten feet diameter. 
A winding broad walk leads from the mansion to the 
conservatory. On the upper side of the flower-beds 
another serpentine walk leads on the lower side, leaving 
a broad margin of turf, and a border of flowers and 
shrubs below it, next tho boundary. A winding walk 
runs across the flower-garden near the centre. The 
beds are slightly grouped, surrounded with beautiful 
green, soft turf, or lawn. The upper side of the upper 
walk is occupied chiefly with groups of large trees with 
drooping branches creeping on the ground. These are 
fine objects, but -as I described them fully in a former 
communication I shall not repeat the description again. 
Close to the walk, I noted some small beds with three 
Humea elegans in each. These had a very beautiful effect, 
their rich brown feather-like branches of flowers waved 
gently with the slightest breath of air. The placing of this 
elegant plant in groups of three, on the sides of a wind¬ 
ing walk, has much better effect than a formal straight 
