December 5o. 
THE COTTAGE GAEDENEll. 
223 
and window-gardening have brought me statements 
trom various parts of the country. The other day, I liad 
a most interesting letter from the north of Scotland, a 
lew e.vtracts of which I will now give, as bearing rrpon 
the “ beautiful,” leaving others to another time. 
“ J. —, came quite out in window-gardening. Eine 
plants of scarlet Geraniums, Kentish Hero Calceo¬ 
larias, and Enchsias, graced the window-cell, with Nas¬ 
turtiums, and Canary plants trained up the side, a little 
amongst the ivju People stood and looked as they 
jMssed; it seemed quite a new dodge to the natives. 
Altogetlier, it gave the house a very gay and cheerful 
appearance. Some liyacinth-glasses, tilled with beau¬ 
tiful grasses, wliich stand on the chinmey-piece, look 
very nice at this season of the year. Could you not 
launch into The Cottaue Gardener an article on 
Grasses, if so be dead flowers were not foreign to your 
proscribed bounds. I am sure a very interesting gra¬ 
minaceous group might be formed for a few pence. The 
pots or receptacles, ornamental, if come-at-able, could be 
lilled with moss, with some of the best on the top, and 
the grasses stuck into it; tufted-growing sorts could bo 
imt in so as to appear as tufts ; and the looser growing 
ones could be ranged according to their habits. A few 
branches of Everlastings might be put in amongst 
them, by way of variety and embellishment. To 
cottagers of limited means, a group of this sort, even on 
the window-sill, might be a great source of enjoyment, 
at once cheap, pleasing, and interesting.” 
I can confirm the above statement. Knotted grass, 
E’eathery grass, and Shaking grass, &c., have been coming 
into vogue in this neighbourhood for two years, and that 
solely owing to the example of a yoimg lady, a trades¬ 
man’s wife, who ranged the hedge-sides for tliein about 
the time they were in bloom. She lived in a })retty 
cottage by the highway-side. In ordinary cases, it 
would have presented nothing ea;hv«ordtrtan/; under her 
tending care it became a miniature Paradise for neat¬ 
ness and beauty. At a pinch, she has frequently been 
known to clip and clean her grass-plot in a morning; 
but her next to ubiquitous movements were not con¬ 
fined to garden and house. The love of the beautiful 
was no dreamy inoperative principle with her. It acted 
itself out in kindness and sympathy. Hear of an 
accident, a heavy misfortune, a severe case of affliction, 
and you hear of that woman having been there, to 
cheer, to console, to help by word and deed. She has 
removed to another part of the country, amid the regrets 
and the warm sympathies of a neighbourhood. But 
the influence of her little garden and her large heart 
have not gone. Every bunch of feathery grass keeps 
her in remembrance. 
A few btmehes of Everlasting Elowcrs between 
the bunches of grass arc a great improvement in 
stich groups. The other day I saw a bunch of the 
flowers of Aplielcxis so used. Tlic whole of that 
genus, and also Fhccnocoma, Hclkhrijsum, <Inaphdiuni, 
and Xerantheniuni, may be so employed. Gnaphaliuin 
j areiiarium, gvaveolens, and candidissimuni, are low-grow- 
1 ing, hardy, herbaceous plants that any cottager may 
grow by the side of a pathway. They are tiovv gene¬ 
rally grouped under Helichrysuni. The first-named has 
beautiful yellow flowers, which will retain their beauty 
for years, though 1 cannot say where it is to be bad, as 
this bedding-system is making sad havoc with fine old 
plants. Thou, there are the Keranthemums, free-growing 
annuals, which require to bo sown in April, in common 
soil, and though they grow generally three feet in height, 
yet the flowers, when well dried, will keep their colour 
for years. Such low-growing, hardy annual Gnapha- 
liunis, as ohtusifoliiini, sanyuineum, and undulatuni, may 
bo so used, and all present a very pretty cll'oct. 
it. Eisu. 
THE CHRYSANTHEiMUM. 
A CORRESPONDENT {Cato) lias written requesting in¬ 
formation respecting the cultivation of this very lino 
autumnal flower, so as to produce such blooms as Mr. 
Taylor exhibited at the Stoke Newington Show on the 
2.'!rd of last month, and also a list of the best varieties, 
to enable him to select a collection from. I did write a 
short paper or two on the culture of the Ehrysanthomum 
some two years back, and the heads of tliose papers arc 
in the Dictionary also. Since those ])apers were written 
there has been a great improvement botii in culture and 
in the varieties, so that I think a few additional in¬ 
structions, and a list of the best varieties, will be accept¬ 
able not only to “ Cato, ” but also to our readers 
generally, especially such as do not possess the entire 
Cottage Gardener, or The Cottage Gardeners Dic¬ 
tionary, tliough I may venture to say the latter work 
ought to bo in the liands of every cultivator of plants, 
h'uits, or vegetables, in Great Bidtain. 
There is one recommendation to the Chrysanthemum 
that no other florists’ flower possesses, and that is, it 
is so easily kept through tlie winter. All the rest, if i 
except the Itose, and perhaps tlie Euchsia, have a dilli- 
culty about them which renders their preservation un¬ 
scathed through that dreary season a matter of care 
and uncertainty; but the Chrysanthemum may be pre¬ 
served witli the least care imaginable, either in a pit or 
cold frame, or even out-of-doors, if the pots are plunged 
over head in coal-ashes, placed on the south side of a 
wall, or low evergreen hedge. The only protection they 
require is a light covering, in very severe frost, of dried 
I bracken or common fern. 
In addition to this extreme hardihood, this plant is 
as easy to propagate as a willow, every cutting will 
grow, and it can be propagated also by layers and seeds. 
1 will briefly describe these three modes. 
By Guttings.—-Tho best are the young tops, taken ofl' 
when four or five inches high ; reduce them to three 
inches in length, cut oif the extreme top, and about an 
inch of the bottom; trim off thelower leaves, and put the 
cuttings round the edge of a five-inch pot, lilled with light 
rich earth, and a thin layer of pure sand on the surface; 
then give a gentle watering, and place them on a heated 
surface of sand, or plunge them in a gentle tan-bod, 
placing a largo hand-glass over them, 'ihis should be 
done as soon as the shoots can he got, in order to have 
them in a forward state early in the year. They wtll, 
with moderate care as to sl)adiug and \vatering, soon 
make roots, and should be immediately potted off into 
small pots; let the tops bo cut off again, and subject 
them to this treatment every time they are potted, in 
I order to cause side-shoots to break out, and thus I'orm 
I low, bushy plants early in the season. This is a desirable 
point to accomplish as soon as possible; for if they once 
get legs, long as a greyhound, their beauty is s])oilcd for 
that season : no cutting down afterwards will effect a 
reformation in their appearance. i 
By Layers. —'.rhe branches, when simply brought 
down to the soil, omit roots jflcntifully. 'This facility 
of rooting is taken advantage of to obtain low bushy 
plants. 'To eft'oet this, plant out in an open situation 
a lot of old 23lauts. If the ])lants are laid sideways 
when planted, the shoots can be ^legged down into small 
pots more easily. These make low, bushy plants, well 
furnished with flower-buds, with very little trouble. Gut 
the layers ofl' as soon as the pots arc filled with roots, 
repot them into si.x-iuch [lOts, and shade for a few days 
until they are fairly established, then ti'eat them as 
you would the plants raised from cuttings. 
By Seed. —'This is not very ])lentifully ]>roduced in 
our dark, foggy climate, but it is produceil in green¬ 
houses sparingly. Have and dry, and keep it dry till 
Eebruary or March. 'Then sow it in shallow jiots, in 
