64 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER, 
H. ccerulka (Blue).—A lovely little North American 
plant, with pale blue flowers; growing about three 
inches high, and blooming in June. Increased by very 
careful division. 
H. tenei.la (Slender).—Purple flowers; six inches 
high; in May. 
Though the first flowers of these species open early in 
the year, yet there is a succession produced for two 
months,rendering these lovely plants valuable ornaments 
both for the border and small beds. The soil for them 
should be half peat and half loam. 
HUTCHINSIA. 
Named in honour of Miss Hutchins, a clever collector 
i of Mosses and Lichens. These plants are all low-growers, 
| and are very pretty ornaments in the front of the early 
border. They love a dry, gravelly soil, with an addition 
of a small portion of leaf-mould and sandy peat. 
Hutchinsia Alpina (Alpine).—Native of the South 
of Europe; growing only three inches high ; with white 
flowers, in May. Increased by division, by seed, and by 
cuttings under a bell-glass in a cold frame. 
H. brevistyla (Short-styled).—Native of sandy plains 
in Syria and Palestine; having white flowers, in April, 
and growing four inches high. Increased by seeds and 
cuttings. 
H. calycina (Large-c.alyxed).—A Siberian plant, with 
white flowers, and the calyx much enlarged. The bloom 
appeal’s in May; and looks very pretty seated upon its 
green bed (the large calyx), though its stem is only an 
inch-aud-a-half high. Increased by division. 
II. cep.efolia (Onion-leaved).—Native of Carinthia. 
The flowers are pink in colour; growing three inches 
high ; appearing early in June. Increased by seeds, 
division, and cuttings. 
H. rotundifolia (Round-leaved) Native place, South 
of Europe; flowers white and purple; growing three 
inches high; and appearing in June. Increased by 
seeds and cuttings. 
H. stylosa (Long-styled).—Native of Caucasus. A 
tiny plant. The flower-stems two inches high ; flowers 
white and pink, blooming in June. Increased by di¬ 
vision. Where a collection of Alpines are kept in pots 
plunged in a raised bed of ashes or sand, the Hutohinsias 
are indispensable. 
IIYDROPHYLLUM. 
From hydor, water, and phyllon, a leaf. Elegant 
plants from North America, with blue and white flowers; 
[ allied to the beautiful Nemopliilla insiynis. As the 
name imports, they love water; hence they should be 
grown in a moist situation, just the reverse of the pre¬ 
ceding genus. 
Hydrophyllum appendiculatum (Appendaged).— 
Blue flowers; growing a foot high, and blooming in 
May. Increased by division. 
H. Canadensis (Canadian).—White flowers, in May; 
growing half-a-foot high. Increased by division. 
H. Yirginicum (Virginian) Blue flowers; growing a 
foot high, and blooming in June. The Hydrophyllums 
require a rich compost of loam, leaf-mould, and peat. 
T. Appleby. 
(To he continued.) 
TREATMENT OF STIFF SOIL. 
There is a wide difference in the treatment required 
respectively by a stiff soil and a light soil. So marked 
is the difference, in fact, that the time, means, and even 
l ho working-tools of the operator, are often of another 
kind. Now, as this arises from the character of the ground 
to be operated upon, it is necessary, in the first place, to 
consider the merits and demerits of such a soil, and 
October 24. 
then see what means can be taken to amend or alter it; 
all of which operations may be regarded as included in 
the cultivation of heavy lands. 
In the first place, some consideration must bo had as 
to climate and situation; for the treatment a heavy soil 
requires at one place is not exactly the treatment suited j 
to its wants at another place—a difference in latitude of I 
some three or four degrees, or more, making an important 
difference in the atmosphere, and other agents, which 
act upon the soil, so that due allowance, in all cases, 
must bo made. In the south of England, and especially 
in districts near the coast, an early autumn-digging is 
not only advisable, but highly recommendable; but it 
will not answer so well for the more northern parts, or 
in those districts where a great deal of rain is expected. 
This has been proved over and over again in husbandry 
affairs, so that instead of one general rule to be guided 
by in such matters, it would be better to give one to 
each case; and, in the first place, I will begin with the 
loss-favoured one,—where a long and rigorous winter 
may be expected, and whore the superabundance of rain 
is such as to keep the laud immersed, or at least heavily 
charged with water, in spite of drainage, which,it is only 
fair to suppose, has been performed on all garden- 
grounds, to as great a state of perfection as the situa¬ 
tion and other things would allow. 
The frequent heavy rains some districts are visited 
with, to say nothing of the melting snow, &c., renders 
the ground much more moist than in other places where 
a proportionate share of mild, open weather assists in 
somewhat drying the earth ; now it need hardly be said 
that efficient drainage is the first and most important 
duty to see to, if that is not already done; and even if 
it is, it is advisable, now and then, to assure yourself 
that it is really effective, for it not unfrequently happens 
that the roots of trees and even of annual vegetables find 
their way down to a drain, and speedily fill it, so as to 
render it perfectly useless. A case of that kind presented 
itself to my view a short time ago, where some pipes with 
very close-fitting collars were taken up, and found to be 
closely packed with small fibrous roots, apparently from 
some trees that were not so very near, and the pipes bad 
not been down more than twelve-months, and that in a 
stiff retentive clay, anything but inviting, but the dis¬ 
turbance of the ground had afforded an easy descent to 
the hungry roots, and perhaps a little of the best soil 
had found its way downwards, so as to entice the on- 
I ward progress of the roots, until they found themselves 
in contact with the drain pipes, where they must speedily 
have found access to the interior, and the rest was an 
easy matter, for, though the progress of roots may be 
tardy in some positions not exactly to their likings, 
they fully make up for it when a chance offers of a more 
agreeable kind; and in tliis instance their progress must 
have been as rapid as the growth of a gourd in the 
hottest part of the summer, for the roots so completely 
filled the pipe as not only to stop the progress of the 
water, but to make it a difficult matter to extricate them, 
and all this in less than twelve-months. The pipes, I 
may observe, were for the conveyance of water, and not 
for land drainage, and though not cemented at the joints 
they were close fitting ones, and every way adapted to 
the purpose intended. I mention this merely to point 
out the necessity of now and then examining drains in 
gardens and elsewhere, for it is very much to be feared 
they are often rendored iuoporativo by tho causes above, i 
Where they are laid down deep enough, there is not so 
much danger of the roots of vegetables and other annual 
productions reaching them, save in the first season, so 
that it is folly to neglect the examination on the plea 
that the drain has only been in a few months, for, be it 
remembered, their first few months are the most likely 
for them sustaining injury. 
Supposing that all three are found to bo effective, ! 
