October 10. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER 
21 
the beds, so that the roots may draw on it by the 
time the flowers come, and when the leaves are in full 
play. Therefore, the best way is to trench the beds for 
bulbs in October, to put rotten dung at the bottom of 
the trenches, and after the bulbs are all in, to put stout 
pieces of the different Miniuluses in the distances 
between the bulbs ; the roots of the Mimulus creep near 
the surface, and they will never reach down to the dung. 
The whole may be removed in June, and if the bed is 
then trenched back again, all that remains of the rotten 
dung will come to the top, and be just the thing for 
starting the next crop. 
The surface of a bed can never be too rich for a 
summer crop of any sort, for promoting a foot-hold at 
once; after that, it is better that the roots should work 
freely into ordinary soil without stimulus. Therefore 
nothing could be more favourable for Mimulus, for Bulbs, 
and for Verbenas, Geraniums, and the like, than this ; 
arrangement. 
I do not at all hold with those who say that Geranium 
and such beds should not be dug deep; the deeper the 
better, as the very poorest soil will do for the bottom, 
unless the bed is on chalk or very gpeu ground, and if 
it is, it must,be of good soil throughout. 
BEDDING GERANIUMS. 
I am going to save all my old bedding Geraniums this 
winter on the dry system, for the first time in my prac¬ 
tice. The very young Tom Thumbs, and all the fancy 
and variegated ones, I suppose must be kept in pots; 
but I shall cut them so close, both at the roots and over¬ 
head, that I shall cram four or five of them in a 48-pot, 
and in very good loam, with one-half sand in it. 1 shall 
keep them close to the glass till I see the little buds 
starting all over them ; after that, they must be kept as | 
cool as possible, and as dry as they can bear without 
hazarding their lives. Those stronger ones, which I ; 
mean to keep dry, will be in a very dry cellar; and yet it j 
is not a regular cellar, only a four-feet deep space under : 
the ground-floor of my cottage. There are air-bricks all 
round this space, and we find that things keep better 
there than in a regular cellar during the summer. It 
is as dry as a nut aud as sweet as a cake, and I can 
close up the air-bricks when I choose. I shall cut off 
all the green parts made this summer, preserve all the 
roots, dry them well before I put them by for the season, 
and I shall plant- the different kinds in little hampers, 
half-filled with very dry and very sandy soil, so that the 
plants will be as deep in the hampers as they were in i 
the beds. If I had any fears about damp I would pack- 
lots of carpenter’s-shavings among the plants, and all 
round them. D. Beaton. 
VINES IN POTS. 
I have hitherto been prevented alluding again to this 
subject, and just when thinking of doing so, I have , 
received a letter from my friend, Mr. Fraser, part of 
which is devoted to that subject. What farther I have 
| to say can well a'fford to wait a little longer; but 
the mode of fruiting the second season is so well ex¬ 
plained, and so much in accordance with what my own 
practice used to be, and the deductions as to the purely 
economical part of the question are, in my opinion, so 
sound, that I am sure Mr. Fraser will excuse me for 
endeavouring to give that part of his letter a wider and 
useful publicity. 
“ Wilderness Park, September 1 Qth, 1854. 
“I was very much pleased with your remarks on 
growing Vines in pots, page 434, and for want of more 
interesting matter, I shall fill up a part of this letter 
with a short outline of the method I adopt in managing 
I mine. 
“ About the 1st of January, I get well-ripened wood 
from healthy vines, selecting the finest, most prominent 
eyes, aud cutting them off, so as to leave about one inch 
of wood on each side of the bud. A quantity of these 
eyes or buds are then placed in large pans or pots filled 
with light earth, pressed rather firm; the pieces being 
pressed gently on the soil, so as to leave the buds upper¬ 
most, and these then just slightly covered over. The 
pans are then plunged into a sweet bottom-heat of from 
70° to 80°, until the buds begin to push roots, and 
make a growth of from one to two inches. They are 
then potted separately into large GO’s, and plunged into 
bottom-heat, as before. As soon as they have filled 
their pots with roots they are again shifted into 32-pots, 
or a size larger, if the plants are strong. When the pots 
get filled again they receive a final shift into sixteen or 
eighteen - inch pots. They are then plunged in the 
front of a pit, with a good bottom-heat, aud the shoots 
carefully trained on strings or wires, about a foot from 
the ylass, so as to expose every leaf to the sun. All the 
lateral shoots are stopped at one joint from the main 
stem. The main shoot I stop when eight or nine feet 
long. During all this time the plants are carefully 
attended to with watering. About the middle of Sep¬ 
tember, the pots are carefully lifted out of the pit, aud 
the tops being as carefully bandied, the pots are placed 
against a south wall, the shoots being tied or nailed 
securely against it, aud a quantity of long dung is placed 
round the pots, alike to act as mulching, and to prevent 
the sun acting too fiercely upon them, its full force 
being reserved for the shoots against the wall. As soon 
as the wood of the shoots is ripe, they are pruned, and 
then the pots are moved to a dry shed, where they are 
plunged for the winter. 
“ As soon as they are wanted for forcing, as much of 
the surface soil is removed as is possible without in¬ 
juring the roots, aud a top dressing of turfy loam and 
rotten cow-dung is given after the roots had been well 
moistened with tepid water. They are now placed in a 
pit in one of the Vineries, with a bottom-heat of from 
70° to 80°, and more fermenting material is added, or a 
stirring takes place round the pots, as the heat declines; 
the shoots being subjected to the same gradual increase 
in temperature as other Vines. By such means, the roots 
get in advance of the tops, and I believe the grand 
secret of growing pot Vines, is to be able to give them 
a good amount of bottom-heat at all times, when 
thoroughly at work; at least, I have never seen great 
things done without it. 
“ From Vines treated as I have endeavoured to de¬ 
scribe, I have had nine, ten, and eleven, tidy little 
bunches from each. The sorts I have grown are— Black 
Hamburgh aud White Sweet Water. The soil I use is 
three-parts turfy loam, and one-part rotten cow-dung, 
and a little charcoal and sand. The charcoal I use 
chiefly as drainage. It will be perceived, I grow one 
season, and fruit early tbe next. I have tried plants, 
and seen others try them, the second season, but they 
seldom did well. Vines in pots are very interesting 
objects, and very pretty toys, but to say the best of them, 
ali things considered, they are by no means profitable, 
even when very well managed. Had I an opportunity, 
I would advise every one having nothing but a green¬ 
house to have nothing to do with them, as they will, un¬ 
doubtedly, be disappointed. 
“ The flower-beds have been very fine during the last 
two months. The bed planted with a mixture of Shrub- 
land Scarlet Geranium, and Ageratum, which you 
noticed, has been much admired, but it certainly looks 
best at a distance. “A. Fraser.” 
To save going over tbe same ground as to tbe young 
Vines, I may mention, that I frequently used to put each 
cutting or piece of wood with its separate bud, into a 
small pot at once, a small GO’S, or large thumb. A 
I 
