20 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
October 7. 
few plants deserve to be kept from year to year more than they. They 
also want to be in a cool, airy place all winter, and not get much water 
until you see them grow away freely. We are going to keep all our old 
p’antsof Maurandyas, Lophospermums, Eccremocarpus, and Cobieas, this 
winter. We shall have them m different lengths, from one to ten feet. 
Flower-beds (5. S.).—We are going to give plans of different kinds 
of flower-gardens, single beds, and angle beds, and groups ; and, to open 
the way for all this, we only propose, at first, to engrave actual flower- 
gardens as they now stand, with accompanying criticisms and suggestions. 
Your plan will appear in the series as a good example of a very useful 
way of making the best of a limited space of ground; meantime, we 
shall file your letter, to see what we can do for what j^ou W'ant most. 
CHRYS.4NTHEMUMS (/^oru).—“ How soon is it advisable to force them; 
I have a large stock, and grow for show in greenhouse only ? ” They 
stand no forcing. From the 15th to the 25th of October we have put 
those with earliest flower-buds into a house, with doors open at both ends 
night and day, and we gained nearly a week, whic i was a great feat. 
Geraniums in Pots (/Airf). —“ These are intended for show in green¬ 
house; mine are already cut down, thinned, and kept outside. When 
should I take them to the greenhouse 7 ” As soon as you see your well- 
arranged letter in print. 
Cinerarias (Ibid). —“Some of my varieties, and all my F/ora M'Inors, 
show appearance of either dry mould or mildew on the leaves (which are 
most luxuriant). I have sponged the leaves, and removed the diseased 
plants out of the greenhouse into a cold frame; have I done right?” 
Quite right; keep them in a dry, cool air, and dust them with flowers of 
sulphur. 
Agapanthus umbellatus (5. S. 5.).— Take it up about the end of 
October, but March is time enough to divide it, unless you are in a great 
hurry, when you may take the spade any day in the year, and part it into 
single plants. 
Plants for Trellis {Ibid), —Plant one Clematis montana, one com¬ 
mon Honeysuckle^ one Felicite Perpetuelle Rose, then one Japan Honey¬ 
suckle, and the last a Sweet-scented Clematis, as permanent plants to 
cover your thirty feet of trellis. You did not say the height of it, but 
we have assumed ten feet high ; then you may plant either duplicates of 
these, or any you may prefer yourself, to fill the whole length nearly at 
once, and remove them as our selection fills up. Plant the Laurels as 
far from them as you can, and keep them within due bounds. Your soil 
W’ill do, but have it trenched, and use great quantity of water the first 
season ; all climbers like it, and stronger occasionally. 
Spring Bulbs and Bedding Plants {M. B. B.). —In the second 
w’eek in May, 1832, we called, among other places, at Eaton Hall in 
Cheshire, and at Knowsley, near Prescot; and there, at both places, we 
found gardeners removing immense quantities of Crocuses, Tulips, Hya¬ 
cinths, and all the principal spring bulbs, from the flower to the reserve 
garden, to ripen their leaves, and keep the beds free for the summer 
crops. Since then we have ourselves practised that plan, and also that of 
potting all, or most of these bulbs, and removed them in their pots as 
soon as their beds are wanted; and, upon the whole, w’e have come to 
the conclusion that it is best and easiest not to pot any of them, but to 
remove them the first rainy or showery day after they are out of bloom, 
to take special care of the leaves, and to keep the ground well watered as 
long as the leaves kept green. We have also removed spring border 
flowers, as Auriculas, Polyanthuses, dwarf Phloxes, and such like, in the 
same way. Any good plant that flowers in the spring may, under this 
system, be made a bed of. The first flower-bed we ever saw was a bed of 
Posies, or Polyanthuses. About the 10th of May you can remove a bed of 
Hyacinths, &c., and plant it the same day with Verbenas, or Calceolarias, 
&c., filling in the spaces bptween the plants quite well with autumn-sown 
annuals. Next day it will look quite as well as with the Hyacinths, and 
next week it may be in full bloom, according to the kind of annual used. 
Double Glazing {Y. J. Bailey), —We made double-glazed windows 
for the fruit-room, when common glass was Is. a foot, and we liked it 
much. A double-glazed frame would be as warm as a single-glazed one 
with double mats on—one inch, or less space will do between the glass. 
When we hoar where glass is to be had at a penny per foot, as lately 
stated in our pages, we shall return to the subject. 
Arches over Walks (H.). —Your plan is most excellent, and the 
best we know of for the display of hardy climbers. A walk seventy yards 
long arched over, the arches “ nine feet apart, and about seven or eight 
feet high,” will look extremely well. Let the centre of the arches be 
full eight feet above the walk. The standards to spring the arches from 
should be six-and-a-half to seven feet high; from these, and on both 
sides of the walk, arches should spring along the line of the walk, as 
well as across the walk. Let us earnestly advise you to adopt this sug¬ 
gestion. Then use duplicate plants along the whole line—that is, begin 
with 2 Clematis montana, one on the right, the other on the left hand; 
then 2 Japan Honeysuckle, 2 Crimson Boursault rose, 2 Clematis cirrhosa, 
to flower in February and March ; 2 old Double Musk rose, or some good ' 
old Noisette to flower in the autumn ; 2 Aristolochia sipho, for their 
broad, handsome leaves, and for the sake of variety ; then 2 Felicite Per¬ 
petual rose, 2 Sweet Clematis, 2 Laura Duooust rose, 2 Clematis Hen- 
dersonii, 2 Solanum jasminoides. The following Roses are also eligible 
for your purpose:—Queen of the Belgians, Rampant, Princess Marie, 
and Myrianthes, Rivers’s Queen, and VVells’s White, or Madame 
d’Arblay. Try also Tecoma, or Bignonia radicans major. We would 
plant ” annual and perennial creepers ” as auxilaries, but not till after 
the principals had one season’s growth. Then we would try Gloire de 
Rosamene rose at the bottom of the rose pillars ; Clematis Sieboldi and 
purpurea, with their kind ; Eccremocarpus, Passion-flower, Lophos- 
permum, Conoolvolus major, &c. 
Golden-chain Geraniums (Rosa)—This, and the Flower-of-the- 
day, are best propagated in the spring, and should not be kept in pots 
during summer. In winter both of them will require little water, and to 
be grown in good turfy peat. 
Erythrina Christa-galli (/6{d)—This is also best from spring 
cuttings, just like Dahlias, when the old plants make shoots three inches 
long. We do not usually recommend gardeners. 
Vines {Rhydy Gros), —“ Your vines have rooted from the very top of 
the stern under ground.” This is well; encourage such habit. For your 
insects, look to our back numbers for advice at the dressing used at 
pruning time. If they commence operations on the foliage in the ensuing 
spring, see to fumigations, and the use of sulphur, as repeatedly advised 
in these pages. You must be moderate in your crop nest year, suffering 
merely the strongest shoots to carry a bunch. The long-rod system is 
certainly manageable, but the close spur system for us, on the whole. 
Peaches (A. B. G.), —See an article on root-pruning in page 380 of 
last volume; this will meet your case. The large yellow (Enotheras, 
macrocarpa and missouriense, are hardy ; but the best way to propagate 
them is to pot a few old stools, and frame them, and propagate as 
Dahlias. Tliey may be raised from seed, also, sown early in February. 
Verbenas will doubtless keep in the way you describe, but beware of 
confined damp, and use stout cuttings. 
Pears Cracking {E- H F.).—Your Althorpe Crasanne cracks through 
a capricious soil—that is to say, one suddenly liable to drought. If you I 
cannot transplant, apply a top-dressing in the end of April, consisting of j 
three parts manure, and one part adhesive loam, nearly six inches in : 
thickness. I 
Peach and Nectarine Over-luxuriant (A Cheshire Rector).— 
Your main stem should have been pinched when it had grown nearly a 
foot; it is now established as a glutton, or robber. If the rest of the 
tree is disposed to grossness, root-prune immediately. Watch the shoots ; 
produced by your robbers next June, and pinch them as soon as six or 
eight inches long, repeating it in July in the next growth. ! 
Greenhouse {Rev, R. Blackburn). —Ytmr plan is good, and will 
succeed. This kind of house, with some trifling modifications, is much 
wanted by the amateur. We would have sashes at front, to slide hori- ' 
I zontally in a groove, in order to reach the pots with facility, as also for 
j ventilation purposes. Be sure you have capacious ventilators in back ' 
' wall, the roof of ourse fi.xed. We would have four in yours, which is i 
1 17 feet 6 inches long, each half-a-yard long, and six inches wide, placed 
close to the top. You will also do well to provide a canvass shade, with 
a penthouse at back to receive it. You had better have four or five vines ; 
when they are so far from the roof they have a tendency “ to draw,” or 
run upwards, and any attempt to oppose this will be well-nigh futile. 
If you have no piping in front, you may readily obtain another shelf. 
Plants for Australia {J. T. W.). —As for fancy things, like 
florists’ flowers, annuals, or any other kind of plant that you like or 
admire, you will find them just as useful in Australia as if you were only 
going with them from Inverness or Aberdeen to Exeter. All the bulbs 
of South Africa, and all the greenhouse bulbs from Washington, to the 
1 shores of Patagonia, do lietter in Australia than in Devonshire; so you 
may take out any bulb, root, plant, or seed you can lay your hands on ; 
I but we must not say where is the best place to buy anything. It is per¬ 
fectly useless to ask us, or any other authority, what are the best plants 
for Australia. Whatever plants you like best are sure to be the best for 
you, either h^re or ia Australia. 
Trees before a House {Subscriber from No. 1). —Your “good 
lady” evinces better taste than many whom we could name, that are 
satisfied with such common things as Lime-trees before their doors, near 
London ; and as you want them more for ornament than for screens, let 
her, by all means, have something handsome, and more aristocratic—say 
a couple of Scarlet or Dwarf Horse-chesnuts, the handsomest tree in 
England while in blossom. Ask for it by the name of JEsculus rubU 
cunda; and those Thorns which make an equal display with either their 
flowers or fruit, and you can cut them to anything, if need be : Crafwgus 
aronia, with splendid yellow-, large haws, that are good to eat; Cratargui 
orientalis, the Mespilus orientalis of Tournfort, also with eatable fruit of 
a coral colour; Cratcegas tanacefifolin, large yellow fruit. Then the 
phik and s'^artel-flowering Thorns, and also the double-flowering varie¬ 
ties, w'hite, pink, or scarlet. They are the sort of trees for “good ladies 
w-hile Lime-trees are very useful for screening shops and butchers’ stalls. 
Flower-garden Plan (G. il/.).— Your plan will be engraved, and 
will appear in our series, w-ith such remarks as will suit your inquiries. 
Your proposal of festooning the roses tow-ards the centre is a new and > 
distinct feature, of which we much approve. 
Preserving Grapes {Susan)e have kept grapes until after 
Christmas, by allowing them to remain on the vine, giving as much air 
as the w-eather permitted, to keep them dry. Plants may be grown well in 
the same house, for directly the leaves of the vine begin to turn yellow they 
may be stripped off. Grapes keep longer on the vine than anywhere else. 
Glazing Greenhouse {E. E.), —Do not let the glass lap over more 
than one-eighth of an inch. We prefer the laps not to be close. 
Taxodium sempervirens {D. P.) —There is some doubt about the 
identity of this tree, which is a native of North-West America, and that 
which is native of New Zealand. It i.s spoken of in the Horticultural 
Society’s Journal as Sequoia sempervirens. 
Cramp in Cochin-China Fowls {lbid).—\Vt are told that they are 
liable to this disease, but we have never witnessed it in our own yard, 
where they have dry, warm shelters, and are liberally fed. Your diet for 
them is good, and their roosting-place warm. Have they a covered dry 
place to shelter and busk themselves in when it is wet weather ? 
Various. — Novice will see he has been attended to. 
Short Notices {J. B. P., Dublin). —You will perceive we have not lost 
sight of your request. We try to meet the case of every reader, so far as 
we know his wants and wishes, and never look upon anything as a trouble. 
Rustic Seats and Gates {An Old Subscriber).—We shall be glad if 
any one will send us drawings of such as they think ornamental. We 
will not lose sight of this. Nettles can only be destroyed l)y being con¬ 
stantly cut down, and by sowing salt over them very thickly. 
Names of Plants {M. A. L.). —No. I, Nigella hispanica; No. 2, 
Ulmus campestris, variety alba; No. 3, Phlomis fructicosa; 
No. 4 too much shrivelled to be detected. The Weeping Willow {Snlix 
Babylonica) is a native of the Levant, and introduced to this country in 
J730. The Weeping Ash is a variety of the common ash, propagated by 
grafting upon it. * 
Insects {Margate). —The insects sent as infesting old papers, closets, 
&c., are the Ptinus holosericus, a species which has quite recently been 1 
imported from Russia in dried skins. It has spread with amazing 
rapidity. It feeds on dried animal remains.—J. O. W. 
London ; Printed by Harry Wooldridge, Winchester High-street, 
in the Parish of Saint Mary Kalendar; and Published by William 
Somerville Orb, at the Office, No. 2, Amen Corner, in the Parish of 
Christ Church, City of London.—October 7th, 1852. 
