I 
COUNTHY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION. 
January 29. 
919 I 
allowed two years’ growth before they are cut down, the 
after-growth hcing for hop-poles, faggots, and ordinary 
copse-wood purposes. Quickset hedges are treated the 
same, which is a wide dcpartui’e from the usual practice ; 
but experience has proved it to bo the best plan; and 
I few districts present better specimens of Quick i)edgcs 
' than this; for they are to be found of all sizes, from 
I three feet high to upwards of thirty, and clipped botli 
sides too. Iti fact, I could point out some hedges 
almost impenetrable; but as this is foreign to the sub¬ 
ject of planting, I will conclude by urging on the inc.v 
pericnced planter the propriety of seeing the trees he 
intends to ])lant carefully taken up, and to plant them 
as above directed as soon after as possible, taking care, at 
the same time, not to cut them down until another 
season, and the one following that he will be rewarded 
by the line growth they will make, and the general 
appearance of health they present; other things, of 
course, being likewise favourable. J. Uorson. 
THE ATIARLAN’S CALENDAll.— Eujuiuary. 
Bj J. H. Payne, Esq., Author of “ The Bee-Keeper's 
Guide,'' (Cf. 
Nothing whatever can he done ivith our bees until the 
frost breaks up, and then no time must be lost in seizing 
upon the lirst dry day for cleaning the lloor-bnards, and, 
[ where damp, replacing them with dry ones ; giving barley- 
sugar where reriuired; and seeing that they are well de¬ 
fended against wet. 
Enemies. —The chief enemies to guard against at this 
time are mice and birds; cold, if the door-boards and liives 
are dry, affects them but little. 
Hives of Comb. —Hives, in ivhich swarms of the year 
have died, should be kept dry and clean, and out of the way 
of mice, for the purpose of hiving swarms into them. The 
time this precaution saves a swarm can scarcely be credited. 
PoLEEN.—By the end of the month the bees may be seen 
conveying in pollen of an ash colour, which is collected from 
the Elms, and which, I believe, is tlie first plant they 
gather from. 
Pedestaes. —'Where the stocks are placed upon pedestals 
of wood it will be well to look to them, for I have lately 
heard of some sad disasters arising from the ivant of tliis 
little attention. It is about an inch below the surface of 
tlie ground that the mischief takes place, and when once 
began, goes on rapidly, except good oak has been used. 
ARRANGEMENT OF MIXED FLOWER 
BORDERS 
“ What is “ Upwards and Onwards” doing now ? Has he 
nevar seen an improvement on the old method of planting a 
mixed border ? ” 
“ Upwards and Onwards” is in London, at present, busy, 
very busy; and he only became, aware of the above inquiry 
of Mr. Beaton’s on his calling at the office of The Cottage 
I Gaiideneu, a few days since, for the following reason:—A 
I damsel in tlie country, who has the charge of forwarding my 
' letters and jiapers, after for sometime directing them on to 
their proper designation in Sloane Street, suddenly—after the 
manner of damsels, I suppose—changed her mind, and took 
a fancy to a new number! A letter thus ivrongly directed 
by chance found me out, which gave me a clue to ivliat was 
i going on; but The Cottage GAnnENEii so sent remains to 
this day non est. I made a stir for it at No. (i, (the new 
number,) but to no purpose. Now, as 1 am always anxious 
to see The Cottage Gardener, and also that the members 
of the Institute to which I belong .should avail themselves 
of its reading, there was nothing left for me but to call at 
the office, procure a fresh copy, devour its contents, and 
then forward it on to Woodstock. 
Luckily for Mr. Beaton’s imiuiry, I do remember having 
seen, two years ago, an instance wiiich I thought a step in 
the right direction towards an improvement on the old 
mixed stylo of planting a llower-border. It was at Coke- 
thorpe, the seat of W. Strickland, Esq., near Witney, Oxon : 
time, the beginning of July. 1 write from memory, and 
trust I shall do justice in transferring the arrangement to 
. ... . , 
Tlie plants were situated longitudinally in rows, m a bor¬ 
der, pcrlmps one hundred and fifty yards long, as follows:— 
No. 1, the first row, next to the turf edging of the gravel 
■walk, Gilia trieidor. 2. Mii/uouelte. 0. Ilepaticns, alter¬ 
nating ■with CoHiiisiii hicolor. 4. T'iolets, alternating with 
Polyauthus. 5. JlViifi'Pta/As', with various annuals, (i. Con¬ 
volvulus minor with Dwarf Blue Enrlspurs, 7. Dwarf Roses 
(Berpetuals, Ac.). 8. Sweet WiUiunis. !). Dwarf Miehael- 
mas Daisies. 10. Canterbury Bells, alternating with Row- 
yloves. 11. Rochets. 12. Irises. 12,. Ruehsias. 14. Scarlet 
Lychnis. L'i. Standard Roses (Berpetuals, &c.). Bi. Tall 
Herbaceous Irises. 17. Sweet Peas. 18. Chrysanthemums. 
19. Dahlias. 20. 'Tall Miehaelmas Daisies. 21. Hollyhocks. 
22. Pears and Cherries, trained against the garden-wall, I 
having a fair show of fruit upon them into the bargain. 
'Tims, the border usually devoted to a vegetable slip, fi'om 
its near proximity to the pleasure-ground, is made to become 
extremely ornamental, and subservient to the carrying out a 
very happy idea. It is screened from the lawn by trees and 
a mixed variety of evergreen and deciduous shrubs ; so that 
visitors little suspect what is in store for them till tliey enter 
the retired promenade, ivliich invitingly leads to a rustic 
summer-house, situated at the farthest end of the iv.alk, which 
is skirted omone side by a belt of turf and the evergreens 
above mentioned, and opposed on the other by a blaze of 
flowers, rising row above row, as flowers always should do in 
a border; and when this system comes to be ivell under¬ 
stood, as regards a continuation of bloom, ivith a proper dis¬ 
posal of colour, I believe it ivill be a much greater boon for 
the many than the colour-and-shade achievements which 
are now obtained by the scientific, though much more ex¬ 
pensive, method of the bedding-out system. 
In the arrangement I have pointed out, I felt at once, 
when I saw it, a sensible ivant of the beautiful IVhite and 
Ornu'je Lilies, and their order; also, the four desirable 
shadings ami perfume embodied in the unequalled colour 
and scent of the Double Walljlowers, —the Yellow and the | 
Gold, the Dark Bloody Warrior, and the other sort darker j 
than that; and, again, the never to-be-dispensed-ivitli Sear- ; 
let Geraniums: in fact, a great many more wants, all of 
which Mill soon come to he known. 'The ship is afloat; I 
have assisted to pull a rope; and I sliall ever be glad to do 
so when I can serve a tack; but alloiv me to suggest, that 
Mr. Beaton himself shall become the “star” to pilot us on 
scientifically in these M aters. For my OM-n part, M'ere I to 
make an attempt at starring it, I fear a result might follow | 
for myself analogous to that of the second performer in the 
folloM’ing anecdote:— 
On the night that Drury-Lane Theatre was last burnt 
down, the late Hon. General St. John was staying at his 
toMTi residence in Arlington Street. On that eventful even¬ 
ing the housekeeper had Mritten the neatest billet-dou.z ima- ■ 
ginable to her intended; but, ere she had time to Ibid the : 
precious document, she M'as suddenly called upon to attend ! 
some household affair or other. It so happened, that a pot 
monkey, perched upon the uppermost part of the door enter¬ 
ing the ajiartment, had been M'atching the ardent circumvo¬ 
lutions of her pen MUth the nicest appreciation. Of course, 
such an opportunity of trying his hand M’as not to be lost; i 
so presto, M’ith pen and ink, he had scraM’led and blotted j 
over the loving achievement as only a monkey could, to the I 
no small amusement and gratification of some ofthejuve- | 
nile branches of the General’s family then and there assem¬ 
bled. As the step of the housekeeper M as heard returning, 
the second performer —m Iio M'ould write, and couldn’t—not 
to bo caught in the act, (luickly reinstated himself upon the 
door, and M’as soon in full mimicry of the estimable lady, 
M’ith rage accusing the juveniles (m'Iio M-ere cracking their 
cheeks with laughter) of M’hat they “had been and gone and 
done.” Let all M’hom this true tale and odd coincidence 
may concern try if they cannot perceive a moral in it.— 
UT’M'ards and Onm'ards. 
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