152 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
December 4. 
confusion. This is, as we have often said, a very im¬ 
portant point, especially to the florist who cultivates his 
plants for sale. In proportion to the care bestowed 
| upon having the varieties true to their name, so will be 
i his credit, and having once established a character for 
sending out plants correctly named, his trade will 
be sure to increase; whereas, if by carelessness about 
his tallies, he once gets wrong, and sells Iris flowers 
: untrue, his credit will be lost, and his business will fail. 
; To return to the planting. The first row being finished, 
i before commencing to plant the second, procure a board 
j nearly as long as the bed is broad, lay this across it, and 
1 when planting the second row place the foot upon the 
board; this will prevent a too great pressure with the 
foot upon the bed in one particular place. After the 
second row is finished planting, and the tally or tallies 
correctly placed, remove the board backward, stir up 
the soil where it has laid, and proceed to plant the third 
row; and so on till all are finished. The only point 
to attend to, is not to have too many plants out of 
the soil at once, as, if that were the case, the young 
roots being so tender would be sure to perish at the ends. 
Mulching. —Though the Pink is, perhaps, the hardiest 
of all florists’ flowers, yet, in its young state, a little 
protection from very severe frost will be useful, or, at 
least, will do no harm. That protection consists in 
laying upon the bed, between the rows, a thin covering 
of either very short littery dung, or one-year-old leaf- 
mould. If neither of these are at hand, a covering of 
decayed tanner’s bark will answer the purpose moderately 
well. No other protection is necessary. 
Spring and Summer Culture. — When the cold 
blasts and severe weather of winter are passed by and 
j gone, examine the Pink-bed, and if any of the plants 
have been disturbed by the frost, press them down gently 
into the earth, and close it to them with the hand. The 
heavy spring rains will soon make the soil hard, and when 
such is the case, take a very short three-pronged fork, 
and with it stir up the surface of the soil, being careful 
not to disturb or injure the roots of the plants. The 
mulching, if very long, may be partially removed, and 
the rest mixed with the soil in the operation of 
stirring it with the fork. This forking of the soil will 
greatly refresh the plants, and they will soon show the 
good effects of it by vigorous growth, and improved 
colour of the foliage. The warm spring showers will 
also sink into the soil more easily, and enrich the bed, 
and thus encourage the growth of the Pinks. This 
forking the bed over may be repeated as the plants 
advance in growth, and will be useful to keep down 
the weeds, as well as keeping the surface of the soil 
loose and open to the beneficial influence of the weather. 
I As the season advances, and the heat of the sun becomes 
powerful, a second mulching will be desirable. The 
i former mulching was used to protect the roots from the 
frost; this second one is to act the reverse. It is in- 
i tended to shelter the roots from the heat and drought 
caused by the rays of the sun and a dry season. 
T. Applebv. 
To be continued. 
THE KITCHEN-GARDEN. 
North Borders. —A correspondent, at page 139, has 
enquired in what way he can make the most of a north 
border ? and, as this is a subject of general interest, we 
at once comply with his request, and give the matter 
that prominent feature in our Calendar which its im¬ 
portance deserves, for we regard it, we confess, as one of 
the most useful spots in tho garden, and we have no 
doubt our worthy coadjutors look with equal interest on 
it; Mr. Beaton has often hinted how useful a place it 
is to strike summer cuttings on; Mr. Errington, to 
grow his Elton pine strawberries on for a late supply ; 
and we dare say Mr. Eish will be equally anxious to 
have a share of it, to place his hard-wooded plants on in 
summer, pleading, as an excuse, that it is near the 
water. Now, our worthy correspondent will see how 
many different uses a north border may be put to; in 
fact, so many, that we despair of having any portion of 
it left, if our worthy friends have to be served first to 
the full extent they require ; and though we regard Mr. 
Errington’s claim (on the score of lengthening the 
season of that useful fruit, the strawberry) equal to our 
own, yet we have some reluctance to our other two 
worthy friends usurping too much of it, the purposes we 
put it to are so essential to the regular supply of “the 
useful,” that we are loath to surrender it wholly into the 
hands of those who make it subservient to ornamental 
purposes. Our claim is this : it usually happens that a 
portion of each summer proves too dry for the well-being 
of our Lettuces, Cauliflowers, and beds of such things as 
require sowing at that particular time; now, a north 
border is at once cool and partially shaded, and, from 
its position, more moist than any other part of the 
garden, on which account it is, therefore, most invaluable 
for the production of these things. We know we should 
have often been badly off for good, well-blanched Lettuce, 
as well as have missed a crop of young plants for sup¬ 
plying another season, had we not had this north 
border, and our late Cape Brocoli, Cauliflower, and 
Earliest Cabbage, or Colewort plants, would have been 
difficult to entice up anywhere else, without more labour 
than we could well spare at that busy time, had it not 
been for this all-important piece of ground. But con¬ 
fining our observations more to the point, we should 
say, in answer to our enquiring correspondent, that he 
cannot do better with his border than plant a part of it, 
say one-third, with the Elton Strawberry, as we can 
confirm all Mr. Errington has said of its late-bearing 
properties, and when planted here its usual period of 
producing is much lengthened; and it often happens, 
some change in the weather takes place towards the end 
of the general strawberry season, which enables the 
later blooms of this somewhat desultory-bearing fruit to 
arrive at a greater degree of perfection than it coidd 
possibly have done if planted anywhere else; so much 
so, that we have often gathered fruit here when its 
novelty attracted no little attention. The appearance 
of a severe winter renders it advisable to postpone 
planting until spring, unless it be already done; but 
our correspondent has only to turn to Mr. Errington’s 
remarks on this head in former numbers, and he will 
see the culture there explained in a manner to which 
we have nothing to add. Our duties are more especially 
with that portion of the border now vacant, by the last 
of the summer-sown lettuces having been cut down 
some time since; and we suppose all that is useful of 
the cabbage and other plants reared there, are also 
removed somewhere else, so that a considerable space 
of vacant gi'ound exists; this we advise to be at once 
manured and ridged, as it is impossible to make this 
border too loose. In ridging, be careful to lay it up as 
rough as possible, and also take advantage of some dry, 
frosty day in winter to turn those ridges again, taking 
care in so doing to make the furrow in the place where 
the former ridge was, in fact, splitting each one, as is 
done in some counties for turnips in the fields ; by this 
means the fertilizing action of the atmosphere has a 
more extended surface to work upon, and in the spring 
you will find your border work better than you anti¬ 
cipated, and, as this border is not wanted early in the 
spring, it will have so much the more time to mellow 
down. 
One of the first crops our correspondent need put in 
this border are Radishes, and in most places they need 
not be sown before the beginning of May, as more 
