COUNTRY gp:ntleman’s com panion. 
320 
j February 5. 
j cular aliout keepiii" down tlie old grass as T slionld tlie 
rest of (lie lawn. The heginning ol May would he lime 
I enough to cut lor the first time tliat season. Tlie young 
I grasses would ho thiclc enough hy that time; hut in a 
: dry season, 1 have known the white and yellow Clover 
I to hang hack till the following autumn. 
^ 1 u laying down a new lawn one would use from thirty- 
j five to forty pounds of seeds per acre; hnt for a second 
I hand job, or old lawn, where the jiresent grasses are too 
; strong already, ahont twenty pounds would he quite 
i enough, but in diU'erent proportions, and only the soft, 
short grasses should be used with yellow and white 
('lover; five or six pounds of White Clover, about four 
pounds of Velloir Clover, or Trifoliumrepeus, the rest of 
equal quantities of Meadow Poa, Meadow Fescue, and 
Crested Dogstail, say three or four jiounds of each. 
Some content themselves by sowing quantities of 
common hay seed over bad places on the lawn ; but 
that is, of ail others, the very worst thing one could do, 
as all kinds of rough grasses and strong weeds are sure 
to bo mixed with the best hay. 
Now that the stock of bedding-plants is settled, the 
hotbed for more cuttings and seeds is at work, and the 
planting of all the beds has been determined so far; the 
next thing is to see whether w'e can improve the 
planting by a change of kinds between this and planting 
time. But what do yon think of the Russians now? Are 
v\’e to have peace, or not? Whether we are or not, we 
should not relax a nail until the thing is finally settled 
one way or the other; and that is just what we are to 
do with the hotbed; keep the old things on the stretch 
till we are sure of what woidd fill all the beds, as if no 
peace, or new plants, were in contemplation. Neverthe- 
! less, make every effort to provide a better, or newer, 
j kind of plants. In the meantime, jiropagate them as 
fast as if you had to depend on tliem alone, and take 
I your own way at the time of planting; plant only which 
I kinds you think will suit you best. But look over my 
I account of the llower-beds at the Crystal Palace, 
! Hampton Court, and Kew, last autumn, and, surely, 
' you will find some jilants, or plans of using them, 
' ditfereut from what you have or had in former years. 
1 How are you off for Roses? Have you enough of 
J two year old 'Devoniensis and Mahnaisons for white beds? 
■ or of Fahvier, or CJloire de Rosameue, for crimson beds? 
1 if not well siqiplied, you are still in the back ground. 
^ But this is an excellent time to make cuttings of them, 
i and of all other Chinas, 'Peas, and Noisettes. They wdll 
i stiike now in a sweet hotbed like true Britons, and 
i carry all before them next summer, war or no war. 
I Never mind what they say about the right time for 
: jiruning Roses ; you prune for cuttings when the right 
j time comes, and the old pdants will soon get used to 
I your way, and do just as well as if IMr. Lane or IMr. 
llivers had told yon to the very day. Look at the writer, 
j who cut his best Geranium on the 10th of January ; 
I aud to his pupil, who will strike fifteen to the dozen of the 
cuttings, and say if that be likely to be true to time, or 
: statement; not literally, sure enough, but f shall never 
; own a man who “ fears” anything, and more especially 
i if he could not grow fifteen to the dozen of all the 
cuttings of bedding-plants; but 1 shall tell you how 
another time. 1). Beaton. 
CitiMKAN Fruit. —“ The Crimea seems to be the only 
district in Russia where fruit-trees and the vine can in 
any degree thrive, and even here only in jiarticular 
i situations. Except in the upper valley of the Salghir, 
they are only cultivated near Budak and Sevastopol and 
on the soulhern coast. Southern fruits arc, on an 
j average, less expensive at St. Petersburg, Odessa, and 
j most of the larger cities situated on the sea coast, than 
j the best kinds of apples and pears; and yet I do not 
believe that our fruit is inferior to what is puoduced in 
the Crimea; on the contrary, many varieties which we 
consider among our best are wanting here. The German 
proprietors devote an attention to the cultivation of 
fruit-trees in the Crimea such as is rarely met with in 
Germany, even among zealous nursery-gardeners, and 
they make here a far greater profit. As it is well known 
that none but inferior wines can be obtained in Cham¬ 
pagne, the best quality being exported, the same thing 
occurs here wdth resiiect to the fruit. Every good apple 
is carefully wrajqied in soft paper by the fruit-dealers 
themselves, and then packed inchests, which are handed 
over to the heavy steppe w'aggons. The fruit, by this 
means, travels 1500 miles northwards, and is then un¬ 
packed with the same care in ^Moscow and St. Peters¬ 
burg. We may imagine the price of a Borsdoffer apple, 
or a good Colville, in either of these cities, when, even in 
the Crimea, they cost more than a penny a piece. Un¬ 
fortunately, 1 was unable to learn anything precise with 
respect to the amount of the export, but it is by no 
means so large as is generally believed. I am persuaded, 
more fruit is obtained from the valley of the Saale, be¬ 
tween Rudolstadt and Naumburg, than in the whole of 
the Crimea.”— {Koch’s Odessa and the Crimea.) 
POINTS TO BE THOUGHT ABOUT IN 
FEBRUARY. 
WINDOW GARDENING. 
We have seen but little of the sun lately, unless 
when associated with a severe frost; but we may confi 
dently expect the light to bo now fast gaining in power, 
and our first aim should be to give the plants all the 
benefit they can get from the sun. In very clear, frosty 
days, the dry air and the bright light may be too much 
for the plants, especially if used to a week or a fortnight 
of dull, foggy weather ; and, in such circumstances, a 
slight shading of thin muslin, or moving the plants a 
little further from the glass, and moistening of the 
foliage, may be necessary ; but the sooner the plants will 
bear the full force of the sun’s rays without flagging, or 
any other signs of distress, the more robust and healthy 
will they become. As the snn gains power, watering 
will require to be attended to more, as the soil will 
sooner be dried by evaporation, and the greater 
quantity of moisture absorbed by the plants, to meet 
the increased transpiration from stems and foliage ; but 
that watering should only be repeated when the soil is 
getting dry, and then be moistened sufficiently, as far as 
the roots extend. In sudden changes of weather—from 
dull to bright—the loaves will be apt to hang their 
heads; but always examine the state of the soil before 
re-watering at this season, and if moist enough, ))refer 
sponging or syringing the foliage, to lessen perspiration, 
instead of extra moisture at the roots, as, in such cases, 
the flagging is not the result of dryness at the roots, but 
proceeds from the inability of the plant to suit itself to 
the suddenly changed conditions, as to heat and light, 
in which it is placed. A third essential to success will 
consist in cleanliness. Nothing like a decayed leaf 
should be seen. The pots should be thoroughly 
scrubbed with a hard brush, or with a flannel and sand. 
If any green or slimy matter should be on the outside, 
care should be taken that none of this should find its 
way into the pot. 'J’he surface-soil should be carefully 
removed, stirring up the surface left with a sharp- 
pointed stick, taking care not to injure the roots, and 
casing again with fresh, suitable soil. If the pots are 
very dirty, it is sometimes most advisable to turn the 
plant out with its ball entire, and replace it at once in 
a similar-sized pot; and this enables the operator to see 
if the drainage is all right, aud to detect even a small 
