US 
THE COTTAGE GAKDENER. 
Noa'embeb 25. 
itself. Let it send the results of its experiments, from time 
I to time, to tlie full glare of light in these pages, and all will 
strive to follow, and some will endeavour to improve still 
further, and thus improvements would go on uninter 
ruptedly, were it not for the misfortune that a book or an 
essay appears now and tlien, in which the author strongly 
advises the subject of his tale to be carried on according to 
some imi)rovements which he has elfected, or thought upon, 
to the cxclKsioii of oil others ! Instead of being leaders, such 
authors ought to be pilloried, as a warning to the public 
against trirsting to such dealers in universal medicines. 
. This is my second and last preface on the suliject. 1 laid 
the substance of the two before the Editor, at first starting, 
in ipiite another form, but he would not hear of my plan. 
He told me, in effect, you must tell your tale yourself, in 
the best way you can, and that is all about it. blow, I hope 
I have done so sulliciently to be understood. In future, J 
shall be like Bailie Nicol .Jarvie, iu Hob Rny—“A Bailie,” *• a 
magistrate,” and “ a free-born citizen,” sitting, not in judg¬ 
ment on the different styles of tastes in laying out flower- 
gardens, hut to give a fair hearing and a suitable introduc¬ 
tion to all styles and plans that are sent to me; so that we 
may all learn and improve as wc go on. 
The plan before us is very accommodating; it may stand 
either in the front of a villa, next the road, or nearest the 
country. The front-door, or the centre of the house, may 
he opposite 1-1, or opposite 2-d ; or it may bo a distinct 
feature in a part away from the house. 1-1 and 2-2 woidd 
be one of the best arrangements for “ licrbaceous plants,” 
and the middle figures for gay bedders. Or if the house 
stood behind 1, the opposite 1 might be of Dahlias, or with 
Dahlias and a row of the best Hollyhocks behind them. 
The same with the 2.2. No one can go up straight to the 
middle of this garden; and this is always a wise arrange¬ 
ment, particularly iu jdans of limited extent. Again, 
1-1 and 2-2 might be made the “Rosary,” surrounding the 
flower-garden, wdth rose-arches thrown over the four corners; 
and if so, pillar-roses, or high standards, ought to run along 
the centres of each long bed. Those who object to tall 
standards, and I am one of them, would have pillar-roses 
about seven feet high, or height of the. rose-arches, and 
festoons from pillar to pillar, and joining the arches. I’or 
any of these suggestions, the long beds would need to be at 
least six feet wide, and eight feet would ho better, par¬ 
ticularly for the roses, as w'e must suppose a good pillar- 
rose to be at least two feet through at the bottom, and the 
festoons will need as much room as the bottom of the 
I pillars, to allow tliem to swing about with the wind. Then 
j with an eight-feet bed wo have only room for three rows of 
dwarf-roses on each side, of these bods, and hardly that. 
Once more, if these long beds were only three or four feet 
wide, and raised six inches above the general level, filled as 
Mr. Appleby says for florists’ flowers; the best late Tulijis 
would clo in the one farthest from the house; the best Aur/y 
Tulips, being dwaiTer and earlier, next the house; and the 
side ones wdth Hyacinths, bordered with Turban or some 
common Ranunculus. In the summer, all the long beds, 
being planted with Roses, might bo edged with the white 
Compouiilo pumilo at six inches from the siiles, or the 
white C. corpotico at nine inches. 'J'he plants standing 
nearly close to each other in the row. Last of all, the two 
I No. 1 beds might be planted with Mayles’s T'oriei/oted 
' Geronium, and Bcout;/ supreme Verbena, plant for plant; 
or the one next the house this way, and the opposite a shot- 
j silk bed, wdth T'vrhcno veiioso, and the old variei/atcd Scorlct 
] Geranium. For the middle beds 3-0 ought to have plants a 
little taller than 1-4 and 5-5, and the dwarfest plants to 
I occupy the four centre beds. If the front door, or the 
drawing-room window stood opposite 2, then 4 and 5 ought 
‘ to be of one colour, and if a different plant is used for each, 
tlieir heights and way of growth ought to be as much alike 
, as possible. The same colours should be repeated in the 
opposite 4 and 0; the plants either straight across or corner- 
wise—that is, the plant iu 4 to bo repeated in the 5 at the 
: opposite corner, or just across in the other 4. On the other 
' hand, if the door or wdndow is opposite 1, then 4-4 should 
he of the same height and colour, and 5-5 may be of (piite 
I a different colour, and the jjlants a little higher than in 4-4, 
I as they are fai’ther from the eye. For the same reason, the 
I colour in 5-5 should be brighter, or more telling. If 1 is 
of the variegated Geranium and Pink Verbena, we have a 
strong pink on a white ground ; and no blue, lilac, purple, 
or white should stand in 3 in front of it. I would put the 
Kentish Hero Calceolaria iu this 3, and a bright-yellow 
Calceolaria in the opposite 3. I would idant 5-5 with two 
good purples, or light rose-coloured Verbenas or Petunias, 
and 4-4 with pink or dark-bluish flowers ; or, say the right- 
hand 5 w'as full of Shrublond-rose Petunias, and the left- 
hand 4 with /diipuiiorio calohrico, then the right-hand 4 
with pink Ivy-leaved Geranium, and the left hand 5 with 
Petunia Devoniensis. But any other plants coming near to 
these sizes and colours would do just as well. It is the 
firm opinion of the best jilanters, how'ever, that mahdiiug 
the height of plants is as essential as the disposition of the 
colours, if not more so. Also, to suit the height to the 
size of abed is of first importance: thus, a circle ten feet, 
in diameter, tpiite flat, and planted with Tom-Thumh 
Geraniums, all of one size and age, though brilliant in 
the extreme, would still be “ bald, like a cat’s face,” in the 
eyes of an artist, as I once heard Sir Charles Barry remark 
ing to another great artist, speaking of a great building. 
Tlie same Tom-TVonafo, planted in a circle not more than 
four or five feet through, would make a gem, and a person 
who did not know on what part of the body gems are 
worn, would bo just as likely to wear one across the bridge 
of the nose as anywhere else; and it is as essential in 
placing heiglits and colours in flower-gardens. 
Wo liave still four beds in tlie centre of our plan, and if 
you keep iu mind what is said of fitting the height of a 
plant to the size of the bed, if you never planted a bed 
before, you can plant these four just as well as any of us. 
We have got the plants and colours so disposed of in the 
rest of the plan that you cannot possibly mar the effect 
or add much to it. I would plant the four beds with 
scarlet and white — either Verbenas or Geraniums — 
or with fotir shades, as Lodij Mary Fox, Diadematurn ru- 
hesccus, Querrifotium coceinea, and old Jdiademotum. Or, 1 
woidd keep them for any of whatever were my pet plants, as 
no colour will much affect that part of the garden. The 
little blue Lohclias and yellow (Knothera prostrala w'ould do 
there. All the beds might be large enough to allow those 
centre ones, in jiroportion, to be three feet on the sides; in 
that case, two of tliem with Soponarin catahrica, Ihc other 
two of SunviUdia procawiicaji, would look very well indeed; 
but then there should be none of the Soponaria in the plan. 
After all this, there are ten other ditl'crcnt ways to manage 
this plan ccpially well. D. Beaton. 
AI>L()TMMNT EARM ING.— Dei emi!ER. 
Frosty, dark December! the very sound of this month is 
but loo apt to engender in the sous of the soil apathetic 
feelings. The iron rule of the Ice king, the investment of 
the earth's surface with a mantle of snow, or, what is 
generally the alternative, sleety, drizzling rains, turning 
midday into a kind of twilight, apipear to furnish a solid 
excuse for a total neglect of the soil. And, indeed, either 
of these conditions, whilst it lasts, is a serious impediment 
to garden operations. Still, let not. any man fancy that 
the smell, by anticipation, of the Christmas pudding, can 
alone furnish a thorough excuse for hanging up the spade 
and mattock to rest for a month or two. Of course, the 
ordinary labourer has no overplus time to spare from his 
regular employ, which, after all, is the main thing, and to 
which all other things must give place. Ho may be, which 
wo hope ho is, in full employ, his services regularly re¬ 
quired by his master. But most employers will grant a 
day by chance for a special matter, the thing properly ex¬ 
plained. If wo were to seek for a fault in the allotment 
system, as connected with our agrarian population, it would j 
be where too much temptation exists to absent themselves i 
from their regular employ; in consequence of which a host 
of ill-feelings sometimes arise. The winter has been, 
perhaps, an unusually protracted one, or the early spring 
months excessively wet; at last a favourable period arrives 
for working the soil; the employer is all on tip-toe, of course, 
for he has a rent to pay, and a living to make. Well, the 
very approach of fine weather and long days is the signal 
for the labourer to begin a spring career on his plot, and if 
