2B2 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
I 
I creasing in severity and hardening the ground. Most of 
; them were York liegetUx; tliey were late in planting, and 
' in taking them now from the pit one-half are diseased, 
j Perhaps some of your readers will be able to account for 
' the facts above stated better than I have done. The sub- 
' ject is one in which Ave are all largely interested, and we 
liave not yet got niucli daylight upon it. That the first 
I plot al)ove-nientioned had its leaves destroyed by frost, and 
: that the haulm died iu consequence, appears indisputable ; 
I and that the tubers Avere there almost entirely diseased is 
certain; that the drills protected from frost were unhurt by 
it, and their tubers entirely sound, is just as certain. Do 
these f<icts not point in a certain direction ? Do they not 
appear to indicate a certain conclusion ? And can they not 
be turned to account?—B. 
QUERIES AND ANSWERS. 
GARDENING. 
MANAGExMENT OF SPRING FLOWERS. 
“ I take great delight in Spring floAvers, such as the Poly¬ 
anthus and double Primrose. For several seasons I liave 
purchased I'oots just coming into bloom, and planted them 
in the open floAver-borders ; but after blooming they gi’adu- 
ally disappeared. This has beeu the case four seasons. 
My gardener tells me, Avben I speak of regret at losing 
them, that they are too near the border, and overhung by 
the summer floAvers. Can this be right? Will you please 
to tell me how I can treat them to pi'eserve them, and not 
have, every season, to purchase them ?—A Subsckiber feoai 
THE First.” 
[There is hardly a lady in the Peerage Avho could not tell 
the same tale ; but hoAV is the thing to be remedied, seeing 
that from Her JMajesty to Her Majesty’s laundryraaid at 
Richmond, every lady must be her OAvn gardener, and eveiy 
border must be so full of summer floAvers that no room is 
left for the spring floAvers to breathe, and die they must, 
not by inches, but by the full-measured yard? Your gar¬ 
dener is perfectly right; but he cannot help himself, or your 
spring flowers eitlier. “Overhung by summer floAA'ers” is 
too mild a phrase to express the meaning of a doAvnright 
murdering system; and it is of no use to endeavour to make- 
believe that the innocents—the flowers of our childhood—are 
not, in these days, actually murdered, and by none more 
effectually than by those who regard them Avith the tenderest 
affection; but fashion is the executioner. 
As spring floAA'ers Avill not do for “ bedding out,” bedding 
plants are made to “ do ” for spring flowers. Where could 
you find a border of spring floAvers, uow-a-days, Avhen judg¬ 
ment is gone to the Avar.’ Nowhere. But there is some 
appearance of a better state of things. Sensible people 
; begin to see the error of turning over all the beds and 
borders in a lloAver garden to the fashionable system of 
[ “ bedding out;” also the folly of*all the endeavours to graft 
the “ bedding ” on the “mixed” system, Avhich have brought 
ruin and destruction to all but the coarsest-groAving herba¬ 
ceous plants. Hence the rise to a better system of mixiog 
plants than formerly, as exemplified in such planting as is 
mentioned by Mr. Beaton, at page 214, and referred to again 
in our pages last Aveek. You were anticipated by the planter 
of that model border iu the provision made for “our” 
favourite spring flowers; for Ave claim the good taste of 
being as fond of them as you are. A roAvis devoted entirely 
to the rrimrnxe tribe, and is so placed that no other flower 
I can “ overhang” them during the summer; they are even 
protected from the fierce east Avinds and May sun, as they 
arc going out of bloom, \->y Nemnphila, the prettiest and most 
harmless, to other plants, of all the spring annuals. Mean¬ 
time, however, proceed thus, and, for the rest, Avatch what is 
coming on the mixed system in our pages. Buy the double 
white, the very dark, and the dark purple double Primrose, 
in pots, next spring, Avheu the plants are in bloom; keep 
them in pots all next summer, and plant them out on a 
sheltered border tOAvards the end of September. As soon as 
they have done flowering, turn them out of the pots, and if 
j the roots are at all matted, shake the Avhole of the old ball 
j from the roots; the compost of the florist is far too rich for 
Janu.4RY 15. 
' them, and oftener kills them than anything else. Pot them 
in larger pots, and in sandy loam, but no rotten dung of 
; any sort, unless it be a very little half-rotten leaves. Old 
I turf, from over a .yelloAv, stony loam on a common, reduced I 
doAA’n to a crumbly loam, and then mixed with as much I 
\ pure Avhite sand as Avould make it a “light compost,” Avonld | 
grow and keep in health any of those double Primroses for ' 
many years; Avhile the more rich composts Avould kill them | 
by the dozen after the second or third flowei’ing. The | 
border to plant them in for floAvering should have a soutli- : 
east or south-Avest aspect. They go to rest eveiy year for ' 
six Aveeks, a little after they have flowered, and at that time j 
they ought to be taken up Avith balls, ev^ery year, and to be ! 
, removed to a north aspect, and have the very selfsame | 
I treatment as Cinerarias and Chinese Primroses, from the ' 
i middle or end of May to the end of September, or any time 
in October; that is, never to see the sun all that time after 
eight o’clock in the morning till five or six o’clock in the | 
afternoon, and the air kept cool and moist about them by i 
morning and evening syringing, by pouring Avater on the . 
paths near them, or dashing it against the Avail behind | 
them. Tell the gardener about the compost and the j 
summer treatment of Cinerarias, and see to the movings 
yourself.] 
ROSE, MRS. BOSANQUET, NOT FLOWERING. 
“ Please to tell me Avby a Tea-scented Rose, Mrs. Bosan- 
quel, Avhich, Avhen planted four years ago, flowered abun¬ 
dantly, but bas never floAvered since, though apparently in 
vigorous health, making long shoots, having been pruned 
each year with other Tea-scented Roses in November, and 
Avell manured. 'The soil is strong loam, and has been 
mixed Avith leaf-mould and manure. The Rose is a dAvarf 
standard budded on a Brier.—A eioe.” 
[It is “ over-done ;” it is too strong by one-half. Take it 
up carefully next February, shorten all the strongest of the 
roots to about half their length, and leave the small roots 
just as they are; plant it, Avithout maniu'e, in the same 
place, or anyAvhere, and after that it Avill bloom most pro¬ 
fusely. We have seen it, and tAVo or three more of that class, 
over-done before noAv.] 
TREATMENT OF DISEASED FRUIT-TREES. 
“ On taking possession of a new abode, I find an orchard, 
chiefly of Pears and Ajiple trees, apparently planted some 
seven or eight years, tlie stems of Avhich are in a very un¬ 
healthy-looking state, the bark all cracked, and, Avbat I 
suppose is called, cankered, and in many places they, as 
Avell as the branches, are covered Avith moss or lichen. I 
suspect the stems have at one time been coated over Avith 
paint or composition. The trees are groAving in a grass 
meadow, the soil being a rich, light loam. I am having all 
the turf taken off, and the ground'double trenched, except 
in a circle of about five feet from each tree, Avhich is only 
lightly forked over. What further treatment should I 
folloAv to restore the trees to a healthy state ? Should I 
prune freely, or add manure ? And hoAv am I to remove 
the moss ?—H. S. H.” 
['Ihin out moderately the branches Avhere croAvded. 
' Scrape off the old dead bark and moss. Paint over the 
I stems and main branches Avith a thick cream of quick lime 
and Avater. Point in a little rotten manure in a-circuit of 
four feet round each tree, and keep the same space mulched 
and free from grass.] 
HOT-WATER NOT CIRCULATING. 
“ Your correspondent ‘ R. R.’ asks a very easily-ansAvered 
question, as to ‘ Whether tliere is not some place in 
London where he could obtain a boiler and furnace alto¬ 
gether in one, and so portable as to set it in his green¬ 
house.' I reply to him—No, not at present. But iu the 
course of three Aveeks or a month I shall be happy to 
supply him Avith an engraving of the very thing he needs, 
and for aVIucIi a patent is about being taken out, and Avhich 
burns ^d. per hour for tAventy gallons of Avater. If he Avill 
