274 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
January 20. 
and so place them that the truss may he surrounded 
with them, without crowding or pushing against them. 
Then draw in the flower, and this green ground will 
set off the colours of the flowers greatly. Write the 
names of each kind on neat slips of paper, and paste 
them on the stand directly in front of the flower to 
which the name belongs. Arrange the colours so as to 
have the most pleasing shades, for on this point the 
effect of the appearance of the whole stand greatly 
depends. Contrasts of opposite colours, such as very 
dark and very light, are always dangerous to the effect 
of the whole. Rather endeavour to blend the shades 
agreeably with the eye of a painter, softening, as it 
were, sudden breaks of colour, a scarlet, for instance, 
would look too glaring placed in juxta-position with a 
white, but place a pink between them, and there is a j 
gradation of shade agreeable and refreshing to the eye. 
Acting upon this principle in arranging the colours, let 
the stand be filled just in time, and no sooner, to allow 
time to reach the place of exhibition two hours before i 
the judges arc to enter. This will allow time enough to 
dress the flowers, flatten the petals, remove any that 
have dropped part of their blooms, replacing them with 
the extra bloom, and anything else needful to improve 
and set off their appearance. Expose them to the air 
no longer than is absolutely necessary. The exhibitor 
who bestows such pains-taking has far more chances of 
success than one who bestow less care, who comes to 
exhibition late, and who has no time then to trim his 
flowers, so as to set them off to the best advantage. 
Verbenas in pots, to prepare for exhibition, must 
be deferred till the next opportunity. T. Applkby. 
A CHAPTER ON PEAS. 
Amongst the many productions a well-cropped garden 
sends to our tables in summer, that of a “ dish of nice 
pteas ” is always acceptable, and next to (if not in some 
cases equal with) the potato, stands this important vege¬ 
table. The interest that usually attends the first intro¬ 
duction of peas for the season, makes them an object of 
much anxiety, or, it may be pride, in the skilful cultivator; 
so that, prior to the first “ dish” being gathered, scarcely 
a day passes but lie watches their progress, scrutinizing 
with eagle eye their merits or failings, and taking his 
notes accordingly, he sets down in his mind what varieties 
he thinks he will grow next year, at the same time vow¬ 
ing vengeance against a tali, lank, liall'-barren sort, oc¬ 
cupying the best position, and which had been strongly 
recommended to him as being several days earlier than 
the earliest known. This expected prodigy with a high- 
sounding name, for even peas bear Royal and other 
astounding titles, he was told would not be more than 
three feet high, or in very rich ground, four at the 
utmost. He was also told it would be laden from the 
bottom upwards, and, coming into use before all others, 
would be in fact everything that could be desired. Alas, 
how often have we, and many others, been disap¬ 
pointed in such matters, and the frown that over¬ 
casts the features of the otherwise cheerful cultivator, 
when some visitor or humble cottager points to them in a 
lialf-scofiing tone, tells, in uumistakeable language, how 
he laments the error he has been led into, by too im¬ 
plicitly trying, on an important scale, an article he had 
not otherwise tested in a smaller way. Now, we know 
of nothing more vexing to the gardener, than the dis¬ 
appointments he often meets with in peas; repeatedly 
have we seen fatal mistakes in that way, and sympathy 
from “ the kitchen,” does not always follow such mis¬ 
takes, besides the waste of labour, materials, and 
space. We have more than once seen a plot sown 
with a kind recommended as “ Somebody's Marrow,” 
sown in the way marrow peas usually are, i. e., wide 
apart, and judge the indignation of the party on finding 
his eight or ten-feet runners, quietly lay themselves 
down when about twice that number of inches. We 
need not dwell on the evils of such disappointments, 
wo only mention them in the way of assisting our 
readers to avoid such vexatious results, and now proceed 
to the practical details bearing on the cultivation of this 
essential vegetable. 
Our readers will remember that we advised the first 
crop of early peas to be sown on some warm sunny 
border, about the middle of November. We also re¬ 
commended another sowing about Christmas, in a 
similar situation. Now, in favoured localities, a good 
early sort sown, and accidents guarded against, there is 
every chance of these crops coming into use pretty 
early, without any extraordinary care, beyond sticking 
them marly with short spriggy boughs, for which the 
dead or old branches (not the green fresh ones) of 
spruce fir make the best. We say stick them early, 
because such boughs are of themselves no contemptible 
protection, and in very severe weather, they afford a sort 
of frame-work over which to throw mats or similar 
coverings. 
This crop we presume now to be progressing as well as 
circumstances can reasonably allow, and at the proper 
time the amateur will doubtless act accordingly, but 
there are a numerous class of readers who do not 
possess such a highly-favoured border; perhaps they 
have no border at liberty, and only a cold, heavy, moist 
garden soil to act upon, iu a locality bleak and uninvi¬ 
ting. In their case, another mode must be adopted 
altogether. The icy coldness of their ground is almost 
too much for even this hardy plant during the winter 
months, so that means must be taken to forward a crop 
in some heated apparatus, to plant out whenever the 
ground is in a condition fit to receive such things, and 
by judicious management they will be enabled to gather 
peas not many days later than their more favoured 
brethren, several counties off Now, we do not presumo 
to advance anything strictly new in the mode we 
advise, in fact, things “totally new” are rare, even in 
this “wonderful age;” for no sooner does a man sug¬ 
gest a something different from anything he ever saw, 
and tell the world the invention is “ an original one,” 
than a host of writers immediately rise up and prove, or 
attempt to prove, the very same thing to have been in 
existence many generations; so that, in the present 
case, we lay no claim to invention, but only urge the 
adoption of a useful old plan in such places as we know 
it may be acted on with a beneficial result. 
We will suppose a vinery, or some other heated struc¬ 
ture, to be in force, and we know of no more suitable 
place than a vinery; let, therefore, some shallow boxes, 
seed-pans, or pots, filled, or nearly so, with good garden 
soil, bo introduced into this place — sow your peas 
tolerably thick, cover them up, and water when needed. 
They will soon make their appearance, if the place is j 
at ail warm, and soon after, they must be removed 
to a cooler place, but not until some progress has been 
made; and eventually they must, by degrees, be re¬ 
moved out of doors to some sheltered corner at first, ; 
until they be so far hardened off as to be planted out 
in the rows they are to occupy, which, however, iu the 
cold climates we have above alluded to, cannot well 
take place before the middle of March, so that to 
prepare them before that time is not attended with any 1 
advantage; and turning them out into ground that more 
resembles the bottom of a pond, when the water is i 
drawn off, than anything else, cannot be expected much 
more successful than if they were thrown into that* 
pond. So that the cultivator who has such a soil to 
deal with, and no immediate chance of bettering it, 
ought not to be in too great a hurry iu planting-out, as 
nothing is gained by it. 
