December 25. 
COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION. 
215 
been “planted on the line," as gardeners say; that is, i 
beginning next the walk, we have one line of box for i 
the edging, then the first row of plants is marked out 
with the garden line the whole way, tlie second vow the 
same, and so on to the back of the border; every row 
is finished before the line is moved back for the next 
behind it; no plant was planted by guess, or by the eye. 
The first advantage of this system of planting mixed 
borders is, that in the dead of winter, when not a 
quarter of the plants can bo seen, or known where they 
stand, the whole border can be as safely dug over as if 
all the plants were up and growing. The garden book, 
or a stake thrust down almost out of sight, at each end 
of all the rows, will tell where the plants are, and a 
handy man might be safely trusted to dig this border 
any day during the winter. In the kitchen-garden they 
put down two stakes at the ends of the alleys between 
Asparagus beds, or one at each end of the rows when 
the Asparagus is grown in single rows; and that plan is 
safe enough for working among Asparagus in winter, 
and they, the Asparagus, require as much attention as 
flower-borders. 
1 do not know how many, or what kinds of herba¬ 
ceous plants and bulbs have been planted in this border; 
I only know the principles, and I shall tell them pre¬ 
sently. If I could give a list of all the plants it might 
do more harm than good, as there is no solid or settled 
opinion about herbaceous plants. The first row is only 
two inches from the Box edging, and is planted with 
three kinds of bulbs. A double and a single Snoivdro]}, 
and a Dogstooth Violet (Eritlironium dens-canis), eYery 
third plant, all the way, is different from the rest, and by 
the time the Snowdrop is going out of bloom the Dogs¬ 
tooth Violet is coming in. There are three bulbs of 
Snowdrop put together, but only one of the Dogstooth 
Violet, owing to its being dearer. Three inches is the 
utmost distance from patch to patch, so that the whole 
is one continuous line when the plants are in bloom. 
The next line is entirely of Crocuses of different kinds; 
they are so closely planted, that when they are in bloom 
they will make another row without a break. The 
Crocuses stand just six inches from the Box. The third 
row is one continuous band of Polyanthuses and Auri¬ 
culas —the flowers of my childhood; two plants of the 
former, and one of the latter, and so on, all the way. 
'Ihis row is one foot from the Box edging, which is more 
distant than these pretty flowers used to stand from the 
edge when they used to be in patches; hut they need 
the space to save them from being run over by the 
leaves of the Crocus. The next four feet of the border 
is occupied with three rows of Herbaceous and 
bulbs, not one of which is higher than three feet, and 
the next row of Hybrid Perpetual Roses on their own 
roots, without any mixture among them—the Roses 
standing thirty inches apart; hut when the bushes are 
grown and in bloom, they will form almost a full line 
without a break; but the difference in the style of 
growth and relative height of the plants will do away 
wirti any stiffness of appearance. Behind the Roses, 
and thirty inches from them, is a row of Herbaceous 
plants, which grow higher than three feet, and spare in¬ 
tervals are left in this row for annuals, such as Coreopsis 
of sorts, Malop)e grandijiora, both purple and white. 
Erysimum Perojfshianum and the like. 
Then comes a row of stronger Roses of the hybrid 
Chinas and Bourbons, with a few strong hybrid pcrpe- 
tuals, as 3Irs. Elliot, 3Iadame Laffay, and so forth. 
Some of them are on their own roots, and some on low 
()-inch stocks; in this row, spaces arefleft open for an¬ 
nual Lupines, as Muiabilis, Croohsluinhii, Hartwegii, and 
puhescens; also patches of Sweet Peas, and Princesses' 
Feathers, and a few fancy Dahlias. Then a row of 
Hollyhocks; but from the last row of Roses to the Hol¬ 
lyhocks, a stranger could hardly make out the plants 
were in rows at all, as the whole interlace one another, 
as it were. Behind the Hollyhocks is a fringe of Et:er- 
green shrubs, some high, some low, and some lower; not 
very close together, nor regularly ])lnnted as to distances 
or straightness of outline, so as to keep down stiffness 
when viewed from the lawn side. 
I consider this a vast improvement on any mixed - 
border I ever saw; but a greater improvement is to be 
tqld in a very few words. The whole space between the \ 
Box edging and the first row of Roses is now, or will, very | 
shortly, be double p>lanted. ■ 
This is done with the following annuals, to flower al- I 
together next May, when the front of the border will look | 
something like bedding-out planting; the first row ' 
stands in the interval beween the Snowdrops and the ; 
Crocuses, and is a row of Limnanthes Douglasii, a little ! 
white flower; then Nernoyddla insignis and maculata, 
mixed in three rows; after that, one row of Silene pen- 
dula alba; then a row of the pmk Silenependula, followed 
by a row of Collinsia bicolor; and the last row of mixed 
purple and white Clarkiapulchella, all from seeds sown, 
or self-sown, last August and September, and all planted 
so close together as to form one long bed of the gayest 
May flowers, while the mixed herbaceous plants are 
rising to succeed them. When the annuals are cleared 
off, others, which will be sown about the middle of 
April, will be planted out in patches with spare pot- 
plants of the bedding kinds. Altogether, this seems to 
me. an excellent arrangement, and a new move for the 
mixed border. Of course, beds could be furnished after 
the same model. D. Beaton. 
AIR-GIVING. 
“ X. Y. Z,” has a greenhouse seven feet wide, five 
feet high in front, and nine feet high at back; top 
sashes slide for air; front air admitted by shutters one 
foot high, under each light, at the top of the front-wall, 
where it joins the roof-sashes, and also by shutters five 
inches high, and eighteen inches long, at the base, or 
nearly so, of the front wall, opposite each light; the 
flue passing along the front of the house within a few 
inches of these openings, so that when air is admitted 
there it comes into contact at once with the sides of tho 
flue—a matter of importance in very severe weather. 
The house also faces the east, and is exposed to colder 
winds than one with a southern aspect. The house is 
principally filled with soft-wooded plants. Salvias, Ger.a- 
niums. Primroses, Cinerarias, &c., some in flower, and 
some not, and the following questions are proposed for 
solution, the answer to which may be more than indi- 
vi du allyinteresting. 
1st. “ Thermometer outside at 40°, clouds, cold winds. 
Will the lower ventilators be sufficient for tho health of 
the plants^in this case, with the top sashes open ? Tho.^ 
Cinerarias have their leaves a little curled, though fine j 
plants. Is this from the cold winds?” Is there no j 
trace of green fly on the Cinerarias ? because if there is, 
that will soon 'produce the curled appearance. It is I 
also easily produced when the plants have been removed j 
from a low, moist temperature, such as from a cold pit, I 
or frame, to an airy house with a drier atmosphere and ! 
a higher temperature. Cinerarias will keep very well ! 
for a considerable time in a moistish atmosphere from 
35° to 40°, but to flower well they require from 45° to 
50°. Supposing that you moved them from a position 
of the forurer to one of the latter, there will be a risk ! 
of some of tho larger leaves curling and shrivelling, ' 
merely because the higher temperature, and, most likely, 
the drier atmosphere, will cause a more abundant trans¬ 
piration from the foliage than what the })lauts were ac¬ 
customed to, and extra waterings will not at once reined v 
the inconvenience. In moving such succulent-leaved . 
