200 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
January b. 
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of’ the tender plant in dull weatlier, and so liable to 
niisliaps as well, tliat tlie amateur, who cannot at all 
times ensure constant altendauce on his irame, had 
better delay liis forcing until a later period, and the 
cliances are that he will he as early as if he began with 
the year, and, what is equally pleasing, he will sec his 
pit plants thrive much faster. 
It is almost needless here observing, that after frost 
has given way the icdlks and roddways ought to be well 
rolled, to consolidate them, and, as far a possible, all 
lieavy traffic on them when in a soft state avoided. The 
turf, also, might be served in the same way ; but as this 
is not so important as the walks, it tnay be left alone 
until the last frost of the season, when it ought to have 
a thorough good pressing, which will be of great service 
to its after-welfare. 
On dry, fine days, Poldtoes may be ])lanted in quantity, 
as may be wanted, providing the weather be mild and 
open, as this tuber takes much less harm in the ground 
than is generally supposed. However, as this is an 
important affair, I will, at an early opportunity, refer to 
it again ; in the meantime, I would only advise their 
being planted on very dry soils at this season ; where 
a stiller soil has to be planted, let it be done in 
November, or wait until February or March, most 
likely the latter month ; nevertheless, where large 
breadths are to jdant, it would be prudent to lake 
advantage of what fine weather there is, and put them 
in accordingly. The early sorts are the best, being 
less likely to be attacked with disease, by their arriving 
at maturity before disease makes its ap])earance. Early 
planting also helps to accomplish that. 
When the ground has somewhat dried, after frost has 
left it, look over the squares of Cuhhdyes, and tread or 
fix them carefully in the ground again. Of course, this 
relates to the autumn-planted ones, which, when put in 
late, are liable to be loose after frost. A like misfortune 
often befalls small tStrawberry plants, which ought, also, 
to be seen to in time, as well as any other late-planted 
herbaceous plants, the severity of the season being 
likely to throw them out of ground, as well as to injure 
them in other respects. J, Rojjson. 
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THE ONE-SHIFT SYSTEM. 
Now is the season of the year to commence with the 
above system, and thotigh a very had one in the hands of 
the uninitiated, in the hands of the practical it is really i 
veiy useful. Supposing a sufficient quantity of turf has i 
been collected three months since, stacked up, and not dis¬ 
turbed, or, if not, fresh turf will do equally well, if not too 
adlicsive, and can be got tolerably dry ; choj) it iqi roughly, 
and add an equal portion of pigeon’s or fowl’s manure ; till 
up your i)ots at least two-tliirds with this mixture, and 
suppose you aild one portion of manure to four of liglit soil, 
and mix it up similarly to the above, in sufficient (luantity 
for the purpose of tilling up the pots at least two or three 1 
inches above the edges, to allow of the whole having its own ^ 
way in settling down. If this is, along with the pots with ( 
tlie soil, placed entire in the house intended for the jdants, ■ 
or jdaced in a warm iiotting-shed adjoining, in twm or three j 
ilays they will be in a good state to receive such plants as ! 
the following, which may be grown and trained to suit the i 
fancy of the proprietor, to decorate his flower - garden in | 
summer, colonades, rooms, or halts. First in the list 1 i 
place my old favourite, 
Nikrk.wbeiuiia I'li.it'Aui.is, w'hiclqif treated as follows, will 
give no cause for grumbling. I have found a circular trellis 
the most suitable for training it on, say lifteen inches 
diameter at the top of the pots, and two feet at the top of the , 
trellis, which ought to be at least four to five feet in height. 
What! Kieremheryia JiUnnilis five feet in height? Y’es! 
and nothing very wonderful either. I have grown more 
than one six feet in height, covering trellises nine feet in j 
circumference, and not one of them like drawn-up flax, with 1 
some half-dozen flowers at the top, but covered with thou¬ 
sands of their delicate and beautiful blossoms, and scores 
of less dimensions, forcil)ly leminding me, at the present 
moment, of the delicate and beautiful young women that in 
former times worked in coal pits, when such ns the late 
liberal-liearted Sir Philip Durham treated them with a 
substantial holiday above ground. They were then to be seen 
hand-in-hand bj’ the hundred, in their white dresses and 
blue sashes, which so well became their fair faces. 
Well, supposing you have saved a sufficient number of 
the above plants tliat had been grown last summer in the 
open borders, say one to two feet in height, each with half- 
a-dozen good shoots on them, and that they are jiotted, the 
trellises placed on the pots, the shoots trained to wind 
round a little as they ascend, and that they are placed in a 
house of intermediate temperature, between that of a green¬ 
house and that of a stove, and pilunged, if possil)le, in a 
gentle bottom-heat; but they will do very wmll without. 
The principal errors to guiird against are over-watering 
them, and allowing more shoots to grow than are absolutely 
necessaiy to cover the dimensions you require, lie careful, 
also, not to allow a flower to show itself till yoti want them 
rii m/issc, which you may have from the middle of IMay till 
Detober; and if not just so interesting ns Sir I’hiliit’s day 
Lilies, still you will have the consolation of seeing them 
morning after morning, and not like the above, dancing in 
w hite in the sunshine one day, and in their dungeons and as 
black as the diamonds they work upon the next. 
NiEREViiiEimiA GRACiT.is, treatcil in a, similar way, only 
bearing in mind that its habits are dwarf, will repay the 
extra trouble. 
Niere.wdekgia TNTERViEDTA is Very beautiful, and succeeds 
well under similar treatment, only, if possible, requiring 
greater attention in keeping its shoots thin, and on no 
account allowing it to llow'er till it has reached the size you 
want. 1 could do nothing with it till J commenced growing 
it in winter. Indeed, the whole of this class flow'ers so 
profusely, that without one takes the advantage of growing 
them in the dull w'eather, they will remain dwarf, do as you 
like with them. I would strongly' advise any one that has a 
desire and convenience to give the first-named of them a 
trial; to plant out a few', in May, on a rich border with a 
north aspect, to keep them from flowering, and to grow them 
for another season. 
Verbenas grown in this manner, on flat trellises, are also 
vei'y useful for covering walla, Avire fences, and decorating 
colonades, Vc. I liaA'e knoAvn small plants, not three inches 
in height, in January, treated in this Avay, and frequently 
shortened in to make them bushy, cover flat trellises six 
feet high, by six feet in diameter, by the end of May. 
Russet,TA juncea does beautifully, also, treated on the one- 
shift system. 
THiiNiu-uioiAs are a)iother class that is Avorth a •ijlace in 
this collection. I am sorry to see so little of the old 
perennial variety, coccinea, grfiwn, as I kuoAv fcAv plants 
mak'e so good a shoAV at this season, Avhen planted in a cool 
stove, and trained up a pillar, and not alloAving any side- 
shoots to groAv till it reaches twelve to twenty feet in height, 
allowing it then to droop doAvn six to ten feet, or over an 
arch, &c., Avhich, if kept regularly thinned out, Avill be at the 
present time covered Avith its reddish-orange tloAvers. 
I need hardly' fiay, Pctiiii'dis, Fuvhsias, lyomens, Steyliunolix 
foriliiniila, &c., in fact, the greater jiart of soft-wooded 
plants, will luxuriate and groAv amazingly under the above 
treatment. 
Vhy not a feAV of you home-birds tsy a lot of Cocttises 
in this Avay? Do you intend to let Mr. Green go on, year 
after year, as he has for nearly the last twenty-five y'-ars 
past, clearing all before him in this class ? Its more than 
twenty years since I commenced, Avith the vieAV. of shaking 
hands Avilh him, but my noble employer died, and 1 had to 
sucemnb. There is a better field open noAV, and IMr. Green’s 
plants are not larger, nor finer, than they Avere tw'enty years 
since; therefore, it Avould be very easy to excel him in size, 
and I do not see much difficulty in setting their buds. The 
greatest difficulty' Avould be in getting their glorious floAvers 
open to the day, for at the last hour heat they uuist have, or 
you lose in colour. Excellence in colour has been one of Mr, 
Green’s first leaders to success. 
As they arc so Avell adapted for display in such a place 
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