November 13. 
COUNTRY GENTLEMAN'S COMPANION. 
Another, of the GaroUmt Fuchsia, was a failure. Carolina i 
jilted them at the Crystal Palace, last year, and so she ; 
did your humble servant in 1841), as is recorded in one i 
of our hack volumes ; but Caroline, or Carolina, will 
never make a comfortable bed for anyone, though she 1 
makes an excellent greenhouse climber, a good pillar | 
Fuchsia, and one of the best for standards. First, get 
her up, with a clear stem, six feet high, and tlieu let 
the head weep down to the ground, like Mr. Rivers’ 
“ ^yeeping Roses.” A bed of standard Hoses, and the 
ground covered with Helujtrope, looked well. A bed of i 
large blue Irises, mixed with Tiger Lilies, but not in 
bloom so late. A large bed of the Clohosa major 
Fuchsia looked very good. This is, of all the kinds, the 
very best Fuchsia for a bed, and the best of them to 
bear the knife, and flower the more you cut it; so that, 
whatever the shape of your bed may be, you can form 
the outline of this Fuchsia with your knife to suit it, ^ 
and that without makiog a gap in the mass of flowers; 
and I believe Jlichartonii is the same in its habits; but 
no other Fuchsia that I know could bo trusted with \ 
much pruning. Those who allow their bedding-plants, 
of any kind, to grow out from the shape of the bed, and : 
think that flow^eis are too good to do any barm, bavo ' 
something of the secret of successful llowcr-gardeuiug | 
still to learn. i 
One entire large bed of the Variegated Alyssuni, I I 
never saw till that day ; and for the centre bed, in a 
regular figure, 1 should think it would turn out the very 
best of all, when there is a large mass of it together. 
Many of tlio individual plants make shoots which have ^ 
none but pure white leaves; others, again, have the | 
leaves more green and less variegated than the usual , 
form of the sport. When all this happens in one bed, | 
the different variations add much to the effect of such a ' 
bed, as I can safely affirm from that very example. j 
A large bed of the commou Nasturtium, but not ; 
managed as it ought to be. If ever you see a leaf larger ’ 
than a shilling in a bed of this, depend upon it there is | 
something wrong in that garden, at least, in that bed. 
Every week, from the time it comes into flower till the | 
frost comes, a bed of common Nasturtiums wuiuts to be 
looked over, to keep down the large leaves, to jiick off seed- 
pods, and to train the shoots in the way they should go; 
and without that attention, it would be better not to at¬ 
tempt the bed at all. Of all the plants, for broad edgings 
to other beds, this is the richest in colour, if the colour is 
brought out properly by hand-picking. A bed of mixed 
Antirrhinums going olf the bloom. A large bed of the 
best Yellow Calceolaria ; the broad-leaved variety of Ru- 
gosa, called Multijiora, by some. Tliis is the best of tliree 
yellosv varieties of it at the Crystal Palace; but there is a 
a better kind, even than this, at Shrubland Park, called 
Corgmbosa. I have not seen it about London, but 
I liad it many years since from Mr. Osborne, at 
Fulham. A bed of the old crimson China Rose, a ; 
bed of Stocks, ditto of mixed Dahlias, of Anna Bolegn 
Pinks, of Salvia J'ulgcns, of Pentstemou gentianoules ; 
a shot-silk bed of Verbena venosa, and Mangle’s Va¬ 
riegated Geranium. Another failed attcmi,)t, ‘for the 
bed is too largo by oiie-half for the number of plants 
in it. 
Rut I must stop. T tbink these w'ere tbe principal 
beds; but I have only mentioned about one-l'ourth or 
one-sixth of the number of beds ; hut then, there are 
duplicates, and others are not so much different from 
those mentioned as to deserve a special report; still, 
there are long mixed borders full ot different plants, 
and a conservatory w'alland border, right and left, from 
the Palace front, to the extremities of the garden, and 
all are as full ns they can hold; but mi.xed borders do 
not make a striking appearance so late in the season ; 
and I saw no plant that is not in general use, oxoept the 
single variety of the perennial Sunflowei’, Jleliunthua 
muUiJlorus, which is a gay, autumn, border plant, and ^ 
beltcr-colourcd than the double one. | 
1). Reai'ox. ! 
Arciiduciikss Maria Camei.i.ta. —We borrow from ; 
the Flores des Serres (vol, 8, plate 851), the picture of a I 
new variety of Camellia, which is one of the most beau- ' 
tiful, perhaps the most beautiful of all in the class of 
imbricated - petaled. The boldness of the flower, its j 
fulness, its perfect regularity, and the rich colouring of i 
its ribbon-striped petals of white on carmine ground, j 
justifies all the high praise of which it is the object, and 
the distinction given to it, in 1852, at the Horticultural 
Show, at Liege, where it obtained the gold medal. This 
magnificent novelty came from the seed-beds of a 
Belgian gardener, M. Defresne, who has sold his whole 
stock of it to Van Houtte, of Ghent .—de Hor- 
ticole.) 
THE ORCHARD, OR HARDY FRUIT-GARDEN, 
IN NOVEMBER. 
After winding up the business of the past summer, 
which, as far as concerns general gardening affairs out- 
of-doors, may be su[)posed to take place when the flower 
masses receive damage through frost, and when the 
hardy fruits are stored, we may naturally inquire what 
general policy we had better pursue until the Ice King 
commences Ids rigorous reign. Of course, all good 
gardeners roughly dress their ground at once, and begin 
to think of increasing the bulk of their compost-yard, 
by charring and other processes, I'or now is tlie time to 
procure a body of such materials, which will prove of 
immense service in the coming spring. Let me, then, 
recommend fruit-tree planting at once, whether in the 
ordinary Orchard or the kitchen-garden. 
1 need scarcely urge the benefits derivable from early 
.autumn-planting, where it is desirable to get fruit 
forwards with the greatest despatch. 1 am aware that 
planters still differ as to the relative benefits of the two 
jieriods, but 1 may just remind the readers of The 
Cottage Gardener, tliat since the matter has been so 
ably discussed during the last dozen years, and so many 
first-rate men have shown forth, by large experience, 
the advantages of autumn-planting, the opposite party 
is left in such a sad minority as to render their ca.se 
hopeless. Certainly, there are cases in which it is 
expedient to defer the operation until spring, but they 
arc, certainly, the exception to the rule; such a wet and 
stubborn soil, or the pressure of other affairs, which 
must and ought to take precedence. Setting aside the 
hitter case, the former may, at all times, be as well met 
in autumn as in spring. Perhaps, there is no better 
time to carry out draining, as connected with fruit-tree 
' planting, tlian during September; and, certainly, soils of 
' a stubborn character may be as well bandied at that 
period as in early spring, when there is every chance of 
their being saturated with water, or clogged with snow. 
I may here stay to advise the young or ine.xperienced 
planter to provide against excess of moisfure before he 
proceeds one step ; no good fruit-culture can be carried 
out where stagnation exists. In considering this matter, 
ho must remember not to confound mere retentiveuess 
in a surface-soil, with a wet and sour subsoil; the 
draining of the one, and the mere improvement of the 
mechanical ffixture of the other, are, of course, two 
operations essentially distinct. 1 would here suppose 
the drainage carried out, and the surface-soil so handled, 
bv the thorough working in dry weather, and the proper 
' admixUire of opening materials, as to be in a fit con- 
; ditiou to receive whatever operations may be considered 
1 requisite. Lot ua hero point to the propriety of planting 
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