December 25, 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
201 
hero are distinguishing marks which, being unlike any other, 
cannot he mistaken, and your readers may depend upon its 
being safe, and even more delicious than the common 
mushroom, and from which a finer catsup may he extracted. 
Then there is the common Puff-ball , Which every school¬ 
boy is acquainted with. Now, I can assure you there is not 
| a more nutritious or agreeable fungus eaten than this, if 
gathered at the proper time, and judiciously cooked. It is 
in perfection when full grown, and as white as a curd in the 
j inside : if it have begun to turn brown it is unfit for use. 
Well, then, we will suppose that you have gathered a Puff- 
i ball, the larger the better (there are two sorts—the Lyco- 
perdon plumbeum, small; and the Lycoperdon Bovlsta , some¬ 
times very large; this last I consider to be by far the best), 
peel oil' the epidermis, cut the ball into slices near half-an- 
ineh thick, sprinkle them with pepper and salt, with a little 
butter, and either fry them gently in a frying-pan, or put 
them in a dish in an oven (my cook likes the American 
oven best), and when sufficiently done, of which the cook 
must be the judge, they will be swimming in catsup, 
and should be served up when hot. A few months ago we 
found one that, measured six inches in diameter when cut 
in two, and having some friends to dine with me, we had it 
dressed. The unanimous opinion was that nothing could 
be more delicious, and that it was very like a delicate 
omelette. It was so light and tender, that I believe a baby 
might have eaten it with safety. Some fry them with eggs 
and bread-crumbs, but we added nothing but what I have 
mentioned, and I do not think it could be improved. Those 
who like a stronger mushroom-flavour may obtain it by add¬ 
ing a small quantity of mushroom catsup, and which some 
of us thought was an improvement. J. C- n. 
HARDY BORDER FLOWERS. 
Dodecatiieons (American Cowslip). — There are two 
species and several varieties of these beautiful, hardy 
flower gems, which might be as common in our cot¬ 
tage gardens as the primrose; and the very Same kind 
of situation that well suits the double primrose would in 
every case suit the American cowslip, and I am quite sure 
the one is quite as hardy as the other, and a good, rich, 
soil, in a cool situation, suits either. 
Now, there are mentioned in The Cottage Gardeners' 
Dictionary four varieties, all, of course, worth growing. 
These are — Dodecatheon integrifolium (entire - leaved). 
There is no variety of this, and it is of smaller growth than 
the other species, and flowers a monlli earliei’, which renders 
it of more value. This species flowers in April, and its 
blossoms are light purple. 
Dodecatheon meadia is light purple, and puts up its 
flower-stems about a foot high. Of this species there are 
four varieties, some of which have flower-stems a foot-and- 
a-half, or even more, in height. They are— D. meadia albi- 
Jlorum (white-flowered); D. meadia elegans (rosy); D. meadia 
\ giganteum (lilac)—this, in accordance with its name, is the 
tallest; and D. meadia lilacinwm (lilac). Now, this species 
j and its varieties all flower some time during May, and are 
commonly called American Cowslips. They all make excel- 
1 lent front border plants, but, unfortunately, they are in¬ 
visible for so many months in the year, that unless they are 
kept labelled (as all hardy border plants ought to be) they 
are too apt to get lost, either from forgetfulness, or from 
having strange persons to dig the borders. This is one 
powerful cause of our so seldom seeing these good choice 
plants in our flower-borders. 
How beautiful a middling-sized bed of these flowers would 
look in May; a bed large enough to take in either the two 
species, and all the varieties, or the meadia only and its 
j varieties, keeping the earlier species elsewhere. If a bed 
was devoted to the meadia and its varieties, I would plant 
two or four plants of every kind and colour to correspond 
with each other, and at least a foot-and-a-half apart from 
plant to plant every way, and all labelled. There the plants 
might stand for several years undisturbed; and, in order 
to keep up the beauty of the bed during the summer months, 
as many pots of scarlet geraniums or calceolarias might be 
plunged in pots, with a little care in the spaces, between the 
plants, without disturbing either the plant or its label; and 
these summer plants should never be allowed to overshade 
the whole of the crowns of the Dodecatheons, which might be 
prevented easily by keeping them nipped in. When the 
summer plant is over, or tho frost puts an end to their 
beauty, then up with these, and carefully fork over the bed, 
giving tho whole a nice top-dressing of sandy loam and 
leaf-mould, half-and-half, or if a little peat be mixed with it 
none the worse. This done, then an equal number of 
snowdrops and yellow crocuses in pots might be plunged 
in the geraniums’ places. This done, and all made neat, 
the bed would be finished, and well tilled for winter and 
early spring, and .the two colours produced by the crocus 
and snowdrop, plunged alternately with each other, would 
have a pleasing effect in the early spring; and of course 
this bed would be visited enough in May, when the American 
cowslips were in bloom. In tins way such a bed might go 
on for several years, only requiring a steady system. 
When the American cowslips seemed to be too large, and 
required to be taken up and divided, then up with the whole, 
and make the bed anew; and the best time to do this is 
after they have done flowering. These plants have string- 
like and fibrous long roots, and are best divided with the 
thumb and fingers. There will be an abundance of surplus 
plants for distribution among neighbours and friends. 
Of course we do not expect to see beds of these, or any 
other kind of flower, in the cottage garden, but it often 
happens that we may see a better bed of early cabbages 
there, than we can see in those of the wealthy, and a better 
double wall-flower, double rockets or gilliflowers, double red 
polyanthuses, or double blue hepaticas. 
I once knew a nice old motherly cottage dame, who was 
fond of having her cottage clean inside, and everything must 
be in its place, though in a very humble way, and her 
“ flower-knots,” as she called them, must be of the same 
keeping, and she had in her flower-knots all the sorts of the 
hepaticas that I ever saw. She had the double-blue 
and single, the double-pink and single, and the single¬ 
white, and was anxious for the double-white. These plants 
stood in the same spots for very many years, without injury, 
and in the spring, as they advanced into flower, she used to 
take her scissors and cut away the old leaves, a few at a 
time, so as to see the whole of her bloom; and no doubt 
she would have been as watchful over a few bunches of the 
American cowslip. If she had had them, she would have 
known where they were, whether labelled or not. 
Cyclamens, or Sowbreads. There are several of these 
quite hardy, and they belong to the same natural family as 
the American cowslips. They, also, are very pleasing, pretty 
little low-front border-plants, of a bulbous character. They 
are most of them early April bloomers, the flowers pretty, 
and the leaves pretty too. They thrive well in sandy loam 
and leaf-mould, in the open sunny borders. A bed of these 
would look beautiful planted wide enough apart to admit of 
other plants to be sunk in pots during the summer months, 
to be dealt with as directed for the American cowslips, only 
that these bulbs might stand for many more years in the 
same spots, and become fino specimens, with attention to 
top-dressing, Ac. 
We have two plants in particular, of the Ivy-leaved kind, 
hederifolium, the red and white, one of each, that were 
planted at, the points of two beds about ten or twelve years 
ago, and beautiful specimens they are, producing abundance 
of self-sown plants. There is just room enough, for these 
two plants to stand in the narrow points of the beds where 
they get a little top-dressing once or twice during the year, 
and plenty of admiration during their flowering season. 
The Cottage Gardeners' Dictionary mentions tho following 
kinds, as being all hardy :—Cyclamen coum (lilac and red) ; 
flowers in February. C. Europaum (lilac and red) ; this 
species stands in our English flora. C. hederifolium, the 
Ivy-leaved ; flowers from August to September. C. hederi¬ 
folium albiditm (white). C. hederifolium purpurascens (purp¬ 
lish-flowered). C. Ibiricvm. C. latifolium (red) ; flowers 
in April. C. linarifoliuni (purple) ; April. C. littorede (deep- 
rose). C. Neapolitannm (red); April. C. vernum (purple); April. 
All these may be planted in the open borders, where they 
might remain for many years, and would only require the 
earth to be carefully stirred. At the fall of the season, a 
good top-dressing not only looks like comfort, but is so; 
covering over all the surface fibres with good, rich earth, 
much invigorating the plant. T. Weaver. 
