October 2. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
tree, and one of the tallest of the tribe, which may now 
be had as cheap almost as a larch ; they call it Cupressus 
macrocarpa, and sometimes Cupressus Lambertiancc. 
Mr. Gowen’s Cypress is fit for the smallest garden, as it 
grows no higher than twice the height of Mr. Gowen 
himself, and he is not of the tallest—this is Cupressus 
Goveniana, and Prince Albert said he planted one of it 
| somewhere for a memory-plant last Jane. His Royal 
Highness is evidently much gratified at this marked 
respect shown him by those for whom he plants com¬ 
memoration trees; to be the first to plant a new tree in 
any country is a great deal to say, but in our country, 
where almost all the trees in the world have been got, to 
plant a new tree is a rare thing; we all like rare things, 
and, therefore, cannot do better than get them as fast 
as they come, and plant them ourselves. But I am out 
of my beat, this is not the time to plant rare trees at all; 
it is the very best time in the whole year, however, to 
buy them, and that is what was running in my head all 
the time. The nurserymen can grow them so much 
better than others in summer, because they have all the 
conveniences at hand; and now the growth is over, the 
old planters go and select the best plants, and, first come 
first served, will leave the second-best plants for those 
that are young in the fancy, and think that any time 
will do. 
Bedding Plants. —To do justice to this section, there 
should be a whole letter filled with the subject in October 
and May. As many plants of the different kinds of 
Geraniums should be saved as one can find room for in 
winter. Here we cut the strongest of the scarlet breeds, 
such as Salmon, Cherry cheek, Pink and Scarlet nosegays, 
Punch, and Compactum, veiy close, not leaving a single 
leaf on them; they are planted into cold pits as thick 
as they can stand, and in no more soil than will just 
cover the roots, sand and leaf-mould being the principal 
soil, the glass is kept off as much as the state of the 
weather will allow; the great point we aim at is to get 
the cut ends and other wounds dried up as perfectly as 
possible before the frost sets in very hard. In wet 
weather the lights are tilted front and back, the frost 
never hurts them, one clean mat is spread over the 
glass and then a thick covering of straw or fern, they 
are never watered the whole winter. About the turn of 
the new year the cut ends become mouldy, and young 
leaves begin to spread, at this stage they cannot be kept 
too cold, and the first fine day in February the whole 
are gone over to cut off all the mouldy parts, and if the 
plants are much disturbed they get their first watering. 
The oldest plants of these strong growers flower best. 
Among the old greenhouse sorts for bedding, the oldest 
of Spleenii, Rouge et Noir, Quercifolium, and Maylis’s 
nosegay, answer best. All the Diadematum breed are 
better young, or not more than one or two years old. 
Lady Mary Fox should never be propagated but in the 
i spring; summer cuttings of it make long leggy plants. 
D. Beaton. 
GREENHOUSE AND WINDOW 
GARDENING. 
Odds and Ends about Pits and Greenhouses.— 
i “ Better late than never ” is an adage as consoling to 
I the procrastiuator, as “a penny saved is a penny got” 
is refreshing to the niggardly parsimonist. Examined 
either in a social, moral, or economical point of view, 
it will be found that the one encourages the “ delays 
that are dangerous,” while'the other fosters the spoirit that 
in looking after the pence loses the pounds. As upon 
i the community, as a whole, the influence of such 
j maxims is more injurious than beneficial, so it is doubt¬ 
ful if the lovers of plants and flowers can plead an 
honourable exception. Here, for instance, is Mr. A., 
who has been collecting plants all the summer, resolving, 
and re-resolving, that before the frost comes he will 
have a structure of some sort, roofed with glass, 
fitted to receive them. The chilly nights are constantly 
reminding him of his favourites, and happy will it be , 
for them, and satisfactory to himself afterwards, if his 
decision should be prompt and carried into instant ! 
action, and even then much will depend upon good 
weather continuing the best part of two months longer. 
Procrastinate a little more, wait until the editors of all 
the peiiodicals are consulted, to find yourself quite as 
much nonplussed as ever; and then, somewhere beyond 
the eleventh hour, commence your work in earnest, and j 
the following are a few of the results you will realise. 
Bricks, of course, you will want, but the best have long 
been picked from the fields, and you must be happy 
with the discarded soft ones, or those from a late kiln, 
that duiing the autumn and winter will suck iii moisture 
like a sponge. Fortunate you may be in getting good 
lime made into good mortar, and the smooth, neat- 
pointed lines between your rows of bricks that delighted 
you so much at night, may, after a few hours frost, 
become as “ tattered and torn ” as something we read of 
that came in contact with “ the cow with the crumpled 
horn." Need I advert to sashes made of green wood, 
painted, glazed, and re-painted again, before either were 
seasoned or dried; sticking like birdlime between the 
rafters at one time, and rattling loose between them at 
another; the blistering and peeling of the paint, the 
cracking and mellowing of the putty, until its adhesive 
ness is about equal to kneaded sawdust, the damping of 
plants from drip, the breaking of glass from loosening, 
or the grand finale after such a winter of anxiety, the 
addition of a heavy per centage to the original bill for¬ 
getting things made somewhat passable to ajrpearance. 
Then, there is Mr. B., who is no procrastinator, but has 
a sort of vague opinion that “ hothouse builders, and 
hothouse heaters (honest and honourable though they 
be), are yet no better than they ought, and require to be 
securely dealt with; cannot conceive how one man 
can advertise wood and glass at so much per foot, and 
another man as honestly demand a third or a half more : 
surely there can be no such difference between the 
timber, and as for the glass, it can only be glass after all. 
See how cheap Mr. Rivers builds his houses, though, 
perhaps, scarcely neat enough for my situation; but 
cheapness is a great thing now a-days! ” So a driving 
contract is entered into, and our friend congratulates 
himself upon his wisdom, until contrasting the beautiful 
appearance and stable permanence of Mr. C.’s green¬ 
houses, with the warpings and crackings, the patchings 
and mendings, the peelings and paintings and puttyings, 
progressing ever and anon with his own, he begins, at 
length, to have a dim apprehension that there may be 
such a thing as “ penny wise and shilling foolish.” 
Let it not be for a moment supposed that these 
remarks have any particular reference to the case of 
inquiring correspondents; of course we will not at all 
object to our friends tailing home whatever they find to 
be applicable, though, upon the whole, I fear that if we 
blue-aproners are not the greatest promoters of the evil, 
we are generally the chief sufferers from it. From the 
consideration of the subject, and the inquiries made 
combined, we may draw the following deductions. 
1st. Where neatness and permanence combined are 
essential to comfort, the employment of the best mate¬ 
rials will, in the end, be the cheapest and the most eco¬ 
nomical. Between the very best and the very worst 
bricks there will only be the difference of a few shillings 
per thousand. The first will last for generations, the 
latter will be a constant annoyance. So of inferior un¬ 
seasoned wood. Well-dried timber is well-worth the 
trifling addition the merehaut must have as interest for 
his money and the rent of warehousing. 
