424 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
March 3. 
branches should be all near home, and equal in strength. 
The pot will be full of healthy roots, and it will be 
j necessary, about the middle of that month, to give it a 
shift into a larger pot, for the purpose of growing it on 
through the summer. That year it must not be expected 
. to make much show; it should not be allowed to dower 
I much, only just sufficient to prove the variety. 
Previous to potting, the Soil to grow it in must be 
considered and provided. Procure a sufficient quantity 
of the grassy part of old upland pasture, not too heavy, 
! nor too light. The former may be improved by a liberal 
1 addition of river sand; but the latter cannot be )uended 
I by any other way than adding strong loam to it. Cart 
it home, and lay it up in a long ridge, from two feet to 
I two-aud-a-half feet thick, with a base a yard across. Let 
! it be well chopped, and laid up neatly. Turn it over 
about four times during the year, keeping it clear of 
weeds, especially such annual weeds as groundsell and 
duckweed, which are great exhausters of the soil, and 
seed so freely that the pots will always be full of them. 
This implies that not only the heap itself should be kept 
clear of weeds, but also the compost-yard and ground in 
the neighbourhood. This soil, in one year, will be in 
fine order. The decomposed turf, and the exposure to 
the atmosphere, will generally have enriched the soil 
quite sufficient to grow Pelargoniums; but should it 
appear of a poor quality, add a small portion of well- 
decomposed dung—decomposed so much as to have a 
powdery appearance. Be careful not to make the soil 
too rich, for then the plants will have too much foliage, 
even to hiding the blooms. In nine cases out of ten 
the decomposed turf will be quite rich enough. 
Having the soil in proper condition, place as much as 
is required in a place where it will become moderately 
dry, and aired, as it were, so that it will not give the 
roots a check by being too cold and wet. 
The soil being duly prepared, then look out for pots 
and drainage. Have these in good clean condition. 
The plants to be potted having passed through the 
winter in 5J--inch pots, bring a few at a time to the 
potting bench; turn one out of the pot, remove 
the old drainage carefully, without injuring the young 
and tender roots; loosen them out of the soil as much 
as possible, without disarranging the ball too much. 
Shift them into 7-inch pots, and whilst they are in 
hand stop each shoot, and tie them out; that is S 2 )read 
the branches out on every side, leaving the centre open. 
This may be done either with short sticks, one to each 
branch; or by having a strong piece of twine tied round 
the pot just under the rim, and a piece of bass mat tied 
round each shoot, and brought down, and tied to the 
twine round the pot. The latter is the neatest mode, 
and dispenses with the always unsightly use of a host 
of sticks. So proceed with each plant until all are 
finished; then give a good watering, and replace them in 
the house. The kind of house best adapted for their 
culture will be our next consideration. T. Appleby. 
(To he continued.) 
RESTORING AN OLD GARDEN. 
A CORRESPONDENT whose case, no doubt, resembles 
many others, has asked advice on the subject of renew¬ 
ing an old garden that has lately been much neglected, 
while, at the same time, he prudently disclaims all in¬ 
tention of incurring any serious expense in the process. 
Now, though it would be something worse than folly to 
say that such an alteration will not involve a consider¬ 
able outlay, yet by going “ the right way to work,” the 
expenses will be very much curtailed. 
Old gardens, if composed of a good soil, are generally 
preferable to entirely new ones, because, however bad the 
previous management may have been, there is usually “ a 
something” remaining that is useful; a few of the small i 
fruits, &c., are sure to come in handy while the newly- I 
planted ones are coming on; besides which, such per¬ 
manent crops as Asparagus, Sea-kale, Globe Artichokes, 
and several other things, cannot always be reared into a 
profitable condition the first season; it therefore is ad¬ 
visable, in many cases, to let these standard crops remain 
until their successors be so far advanced as to take their 
places. This, of course, will depend on circumstances; 
but in the renewing of an old garden it is very good 
practice to disregard present appearances when there is 
a prospect of benefiting the future arrangement. Keeping 
this object in view, we, therefore, advise those coming 
into possession of such a garden to look round and see 
what alterations can, with advantage, bo made; and one 
of the first considerations is,—What can be done with the 
walks !■ Can they be altered to advantage or not ? The 
walls and other fences we shall suppose to have been 
attended to. The next thing is to ascertain if it requires 
draining, and if so, do it effectually. Pipes, tanks, or , 
wells, for the supply of water, must also be attended to, 
and either put in order or made afresh; and, in fact, ' 
every thing must be done that can be done consistently | 
with other things to render it as complete as possible, and j 
lessen labour and trouble at a future day. This having I 
been done, and similar jobs connected with its internal 
affairs all put straight, it will then be time to look to the 
ground, and see what can be done to improve that in 
the way most suitable to obtain the best return for the 
outlay incurred. 
In the first case, as we have said, it will bo prudent to 
alter the walks if they require it; and at the same time 
plant thin edgings; although, for a small suburban 
garden, stone or brick edging would, doubtless, be pre¬ 
ferred ; but in most country gardens box is used, and 
certainly it is the best live edging we have. This being 
done, the bottom of the walk may be laid with such 
loose stones, brick-bats, or other rubble, as comes first to j 
hand; and very often such materials are found in the | 
course of operations going on, or, it may be, an old J 
walk may furnish them. 
We may observe, that walks within six feet of a wall, 
against which trees are planted, had better not be ex-, 
cavated too deep; about six inches is plenty of material 
for most walks where the ground is not very moist. The ; 
gravel for the top will, of course, depend on what the 
neighbourhood furnishes; but while heavy wheeling ; 
work is going on it is better not to finish them, leaving ; 
that to be done later in the season. We have not said ^ 
anything of the width of walks, because that and then- 
directions can only be determined by the circumstances 
of the case; but we may observe, that we would rather 
have one good wide walk than two narrow ones; any- i 
thing less than four feet is certainly objectionable in 
any but the gardens of the cottager; above that we 
leave the limit with the proprietor. We have been 
thus prolix on walks, because they form a very import¬ 
ant feature in all gardens, and in none more than that 
of the amateur, be his residence rural or suburban. 
As it is reasonable to suppose that such a garden is to 
be rendered as productive as possible, rows of trained ; 
trees may be grown on espaliers on both sides of any ] 
central walk, and on the inner side of those running i 
parallel with the walls. These trees may be either 
Apple or Pear; stone fruit rarely answers so well: the 
inability to train-in such large quantities of young 
wood every year on such fastenings as most of trellises , 
are composed of, renders it inconvenient growing fruit 
of this class on ordinary trellis, but Apple and Pear may 
be trained in any way that fancy may dictate. Very ; 
often the interior walks are arched over by a frame-work ' 
of some kind, cm which these fruits are grown with 
advantage and economy. In other cases they may be 
ordinary perpendicular ones, not to exceed five or six ^ 
