THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
281 
January lo. 
mind the principles laid down. It matters not whiit 
their structures are called—pits, rriirnos, greenhouses, 
what you will—the Strawberry cares nothing about 
structures ; it is on those elementary conditions of liglit, 
atmospheric moisture, and the warmth they most atl'ect, 
that success depends. Let it bo remembered, that if 
j the plants are not strong and ripe in the crown, the 
! forcer must sutler bis ardour to decrease in a like ratio ; 
' better be loss ambitious—be content with ripe Straw¬ 
berries in the end of JIarch, instead of Eehruary. 
R. Errington. 
THE GENUS CEANOTHUS. 
I For the last two or tl)reeyears I have had this family 
I in my eye as lit subjects for the experimental garden 
! of the cross-breeder; and now that 1 have been asked 
to write on the projiagation and culture of one of the 
species (G. ri;iidi(Sj, it seems as if the opportunity had 
rather been thrown in iiiy way, than that 1 went out of 
the path in quest of it; at all oveiits, a tale about good 
subjects is never miicli out of season. 
For many years the only Ceiinothus known in our 
gardens was Ceanotuus azureus, still one of the best 
of the race where the climate suits it. i never saw but 
two plants of it managed so as to make the best of it 
in our climate, and one of them was the very hand¬ 
somest ])lant in England at the time. I saw it in the 
most luxuriant growth, and clothed all over with its 
Inight blue tiovvers, in long (much longer than usual) 
racemes from all the jioints of the shoots, and also from 
all the divisions (axillary) on the upper parts of all the 
young growth. I am not aware of a single hardy shrub 
in the country that is capable of so tnucli improvement 
as Ceanothas azureus, and by treating it a few years at 
first in the way which I shall exjilaiu ])resently, it 
would stand our ordinary winters against a wall any¬ 
where in which the Peach and Nectarine ripen. 
It is a native of temperate regions in Mexico—not 
from the Cape, as is asserted in some books; and it is 
less hardy than any other of the species in cultivation. 
In the climate of London it is seldom much hurt by 
frost, when trained against a wall; and it flowers from 
August uutil stopped by frost. The flowers are borne 
by the young wood imtde tlie same season, like the 
grape vine; and, what is very singidar, this habit is 
seldom made the most of, less so, indeed, than in any 
i other plant. It is the custom, in most jdaces, to give it 
jirotection in winter, but the young wood seldom escapes 
from injury, more or less ; and the plant is not lu'uned 
until all danger from frost is over in the spring, when 
more of the young wood that has escaped the frost is 
nailed, or trained in, than is at all necessary; and the 
usual result is, tiiat the flowers are not nearly so nume¬ 
rous nor so fine as they would be under a very differeut 
treatment. 
Among all the plants that we train against walls, for 
their flowers, there is only one more which requires the 
same treatment as this, and that is the Rosa micro- 
plujlla, or small-leaved Rose, from China. When either 
of them is first planted against a wall it ought to be 
headed down to near the surface of the ground, in 
October, for the first three years, at least, in order to get 
a sulficient numher of strong healthy shoots from the 
bottom to form the skeleton of the future plant; these 
main shoots ought to bo then trained in the fan-sba]ie, 
like a peach-tree, with intervals between them as wide as 
are allowed to the main branches of a strong-growing 
pear tree, or say, not less than a foot from branch to 
branch. The same kind of pruning as they give to 
pear trees, until they fill up their allotted spaces, is the 
right way for this; that is, to cut back the young tops of 
the leaders to one-half or two-thirds of their length. 
when duplicate leaders are wanted, and as the tree, or 
at least the young wood, is rather tender, this pruning 
ought to be done about the end of October, in order lo 
get rid of as mucb young wood as possible, and so leave 
very little of it for tbe frost to play on. 
Now, suppose a full grown Geanolhus thus treated, 
it ought to look as much as ])Ossiblc, at this season, like 
one of those root-pruned y)car trees about which Mr. 
Flrrington lias given so many valuaide directions* there 
are the spurs all the way u}), on every main branch or 
leader, just as on the pear tree. Rut now, or tiom this 
time, the annual pruning of these spurs must go on 
exactly contrary to each other. The young wood on 
the simrs of this Geauothus, and on the Rosa viicro- 
phi/lla, must be cut as close as the knife can reach it, 
and that in October every year, and then the frost will 
have little or none to kill, even in the hardest winter. 
Next season, a whole thicket of young breast-wood will 
grow out from the close sjiure; the more the better ; but 
not a twig of it should be touched the wdiolo sea.sou. 
Tlvery year’s growth ought to stand out from the wall, 
as wild as in nature, and as free. Then, and not till 
then, are the Blue Ceauoth, and the Small leaved Rose, 
to he seen in their perfection of bloom, and the pruning 
in October will be more like cutting a bed of willows, 
or a field of corn, than anything else that I can compare 
it to. I have seen all this done for ten years in suc¬ 
cession, and I am sure it is in accordance with the 
soundest principle.s in gardening. 
1 have a new scheme for growing this beautiful plant, 
of the success of which I am as certain as if I had seen 
it m practice lor twice ten years; and with all the ear¬ 
nestness of a young convert, i recommend its imme¬ 
diate adoption. Any one having a couple of yards of 
garden groxmd may test tbe experiment. It is simply 
to manage it in all respects as you would a ydant, a 
bed, or a row of the Riiohsia (jraciUs. First of all, make 
the bed as good as any bed was evci- made ; let oue-half 
of it be of the nicest yellow or nut-brown loam that 
is to be had for love or money, quite fresh from the 
bank, or meadow, if possible, and with all tbe rough 
grass, roots and all, chopped up with it, the other half 
I would have of best turfy peat and half-rotten leaf 
mould, in such proportions as the comjiost-yard may 
point to ; lam not particular to a shade, provided the 
loam, peat, and leaf mould, are the best of their respec¬ 
tive kinds. Let this bed bo two feet deep, and three or 
four inches above the general level of the surrounding 
grounds, and let tbe bottom be dry, or all will be lost. 
A border in front of a south wall would be a favourable 
situation for the first trial; open a trench a yard wide, 
and two feet deep, and fill it witii the compost; then, 
about the end of April, plant a row uj) the middle, 
placing the plants two feet apart, and if they are in pots, 
shake off all the soil from the roots, and spread them 
out evenly, and so that the neck of the plant is a little 
deeper in the border than it w'as in the pot; then cut 
the plants to within six inches of the ground, and let 
them not want for water all that season. In October, 
cut all the young wood back to w'ithin arr inch or so of 
the bottom, and put a covering of balf-rotten dung all 
over the trench for the winter, and next year you may 
expect flowers in August, at any rate. Coutiuuo the 
same process year after year, and there cannot be a 
question about the thing answering in almost any part 
of the kingdom. The very same kind of treatment 
would do for all the Daturas, with a more safe covering 
in winter. The Coral tree {Enjthrina crista gulli) would 
answer perfectly in a similar manner ; but wbetlier or 
not the rest of the Ceauoths, or any of them, would 
a'nswer equally well, or at all, is more than I can allirm. 
Ceanotuus pai.hdus, alias intermeuius. —This is an 
English seedling obtained from G. azureus, by Mr. 
Masters, of Canterbury, and, as it is said, by crossing it 
