452 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
Maucii 18. 
in the centre, to he four feet apart, ami the nearest of them 
to the grass to he four feet from it; round tliese, and only 
eighteen inches from the standards, a row of dwarf Per- 
■peliinl Jloses would look well. Then, between these and the 
grass to he tilled with hedding-plants ; a row of old plants 
of Ualreohu'id riii/asa next the Roses ; then, two rows of Tom 
Thunih Scarlet (ieraniuin; and the outside, Flower of the ]>h>j, 
a variegated Cleranium, or white, scarlet, and purple Ver- 
hciiiis, in hands, first, and to run into each other as they 
siiread, would look well; or part Yerhenas and part Gera¬ 
niums and Calceolarias, or one mass of purple Petimios, or 
a regular mixture of herbaceous i)lants and annuals. There 
are ten ways for planting every tlower bed which is not a 
part of a regular system of beds. The pear-shaped bed 
would look well to be all of Scarlet Geraniums, with a white 
border of Verbenas, or white-leaved Geraniums, as Mangles 
Fnriegntcd; and the star blue and white, if it is large enough 
for the blue Salvia and a white Petunia. They would look 
well together, and the star bed might be two kinds of pink 
Geraniums, as Xosegag for the centre, and Ivg-lcavcd round 
it, with a blue band of Lobelia ramosoides, or any of that 
breed, between them and the grass; but without knowing 
the size of the beds, and their relative position, all this is 
the merest guess-work. Any of our indexes will refer to the 
best bedding-plants in each colour, and we shall shortly 
write on the same subject; but we must never be understood 
as positivelj" recommending one style or manner of planting 
beds.] 
PLANTS FOR THE SOUTH-WEST WALL OF 
A HOUSE. 
“Will j'ou publish a list of a few good climbing Roses for 
the side of a house, south by south west, or any other plants 
you think suitable for such a situation in Clieshire? Part of 
the side is heated by the dining room fire and chimney. 
Do you think a Magnolia would answer, trained along this 
part? The situation is sheltered.—SunscianKR.” 
[We should think the Magnolia grandijlora, the true 
Exraouth variety, with the very rusty down on the under 
side of the leaf, would be very likely to flower on your south 
wall in a slndtered situation in Clieshire. We would only 
plant the best Noisette Roses so near the door s and windows, 
such as La j\larqne, Fcllenhen/, F djaterre, Jamie Desprez, 
and Jean d.'Are; and some of the strong Tea and Ijombon 
Roses would bud and do well on these, after they were once 
established. 'I'he White M'istrria, or Wliite GIgcinc sinensis, 
is becoming fashionable now for south walls, and the old 
one is still “ the King of Cliinbers,” as IMr. Sabine once 
called it. Ceonolhns aznrens is one of the most beautiful house 
wall shrubs we have; but it would need to be well covei'cd in 
winter. Bignonia grandijlora and B. radivans are not planted 
in such places half so freely as their merits deserve. L’s- 
callonia niacrantha is a fine thing to train like a Peach. 
ChimonanIhus fragrans is the sweetest flower we have to get 
against a house ; it ought to be trained like a Peach.] 
RETARDING POTATOES. 
“ I shall 1)6 obliged by your giving some information as to 
the best method of relording Potatoes intended for planting. 
I have some which have been spread thinly in shallow boxes, 
and kept in a cool place, and some of them have shoots from 
two to three inches long. In this case, would you recom¬ 
mend these shoots being removed, (for I do not think of 
planting till the first week' in April), by which time they will 
be of little service. I see in The Cottage Gaudeneji early 
planting is recommended, even in February. The result of 
this plan here (Devon) would be to have Potato-plants 
above ground by the end of IMarch or beginning of April, 
long after which time frost may be expected. About the 
end of April, 18o4, I had young Potatoes formed three 
inches long, the parent plants of which were cut down level 
with the ground by frost.—A Country Curate." 
[Some varieties vegetate much later than others. The 
Flnlic is a very late sprouter. The only preventives of 
sprouting are cold, accompanied by the absence, of light. 
The stems of early-planted I’otatoes, we find, in the eastern 
part of England, do not appear above ground so soon as the 
same variety kept implanted until sprouted, and then 
planted. Wo plant some in November, and some in every 
month until the end of February, and the latest planted are 
usually up first. Those planted early are biuied eight 
inches, and are thus kept cold. W"e never rub off the 
sprouts from seed I’otatoes. If the frost does cut the tops, 
it will not weaken the set more than rubbing off the sprouts 
before planting.] 
TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
tVe request that no one will write to the departmental writers of 
The Cottage Gardener. It gives them unjustifiable trouble and 
expense. All communications should be addressed, “ To the Editor of 
Cottage Gardener, 20, Paternoster Row, London.” 
Greeniiocse Garden (Constant Reader).—The reason why the 
plants do not harmonise, is, that the left group of beds, from the centre, 
do not correspond with the right-hand group; the fault is in the design. 
In all regular figures, like this, the beds on one side of the centre group 
should be of the same shape and size as those on the other side. The 
only way to overcome this faulty design is to fill all the beds in the centre 
groups, round the monthly Hoses, with one kind of plant in each bed, 
and all the beds in both end groups to be of mixed plants ; but you are 
well aware that we never recommend particular plants for such and 
such beds. 
Flower-deds (O.vertf).—Your new group of beds, marked A, opposite 
the drawing-room window, is very good indeed. The beds in the outer 
circle, 3, 4, 5, 6, ought to be filled with the brightest colours in bedding 
plants, and 2, 4, 7, 8, with lower plants, and more subdued colours. The 
next circle of beds, from 9 to 14, may be all of mixed plants, and the middle 
circle must be low, as any three distinct kinds of Verbena, mixed. At 
any rate, all your lowest plants ought to be in this bed ; and you must 
avoid putting a mass of scarlet or yellow in it. Let your Scarlet Gera¬ 
nium be in 4 or 5, and the Yellow Calceolaria next them; 3 or 6 would 
be the best place for the Fuchsias. Common Phloxes are too high for 
any bed in this group ; keep them, and such as them, in the front of the 
shrub-beds. It does not matter a straw to have the plants of different 
kinds; colour is the thing, as you say. But you see we are as the 
poles asunder on the subject of planting the centr* (15), and the circle of 
beds next to it. Have your w’ay, however. The arrangement for the 
Hoses is good, and the situation seems well chosen, if all the beds in 
A. were planted with bedding-plants, 15 might be Dahlia 'Belinda. The 
rest of your arrangements seem well considered from the plans ; but the 
best drawn plan is but a shadow compared to one glance over the place, 
with the naked eye. 
Name of .Jasmine (Mary Fordham). —Itis the Jasminnm rerolutum, 
which does well on a south or west wall, and we should not hesitate to 
plant it out on an eastern aspect, where, without doubt, it would flourish. 
U’e should plant it out at once without fear. We have known it to be 
tpiilc hardy for many years, though it suffered a little in the year 1838. 
Heating nv Hot-water (J. C.). —Your proposed system will answer 
well ; but your pipes in the house must in no part be higher than the 
water in your boiler. If the top of your flow-pipe was three or four 
inches below the top of your boiler, you might let that flow-pipe rise one 
inch to the ixtreuie end; if not, let the flow-pipe he level. 'J'he flow 
and return may join there in an open column, or cistern ; or, provided 
the flow-pipe rises an inch or so, an elbow pipe may join the flow and 
return together, and an air-pipe, of one quarter-of-an-inch diameter, 
fixed at the highest point, will make all right. If you have to raise the 
pipes above the level of the boiler, the top of the boiler must be air and 
water tight. 
Turner’s Pruning Scissors (-1/. F. S.). —Mr. .John Turner is per¬ 
fectly honest. His direction is, “ Hope Cottage, Neepsend, Sheffield.” 
Write to him again ; and excuse us for saying that you had better write 
your own direction very legibly; we cannot decipher it. 
Gret Spanish Habiuts.—OW SHi.sr'n'Aer wishes to be informed 
where he can obtain some large specimens of this variety. 
M. vtehial for Paper-making (d Gardener).—We have just heard 
from the jiaper-makers that they fear the fibres are not strong enough; 
but they would try them if furnished with about six hundred-weight. 
Glass for Cucumber Frames (P. JIM.—Any of the kinds you 
mention will do ; but we should prefer the crown glass for early forcing, 
at which time there is never too much light. In catting .Isparagns, cut 
down the sprue as well as the large heads. 
Araucaria SKm-sovrino (An Old Subscriber). — You will have seen 
what Mr. Beaton said on the subject, when describing his visit to the 
“ Clapton Nursery.” 
Araucaria Shoots turned Brown (G. E P.). —The shoots, pro¬ 
bably, made growth late in the season ; at all events, the frost has de¬ 
stroyed the leading point of each shoot, and resin is discharging from 
the wounds. Is the tree growing on a damp soil, or in a low-lying 
situation ? 
Bees (J. R.). —We shall be much obliged by your communications. 
Softening Birds’ Skins.- —F. G. 11. wishes to know how he can 
best do this preparatory to stuffing them. 
Corn Mill (J. Rroadley). — Write to Messrs. Dean, Dray, and Co., 
who advertise in our columns. They will send you drawings and prices. 
N. vme of Apple [H. S.). —It appears to be a small specimen of the 
I Castle Major Apple. 
