126 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
spring months, after the borders are dressed oil'. Other¬ 
wise, there is always some bye-place or other to be found in 
every garden to sow a few seeds of any kind, or many kinds, 
for transplanting at some future season. 
The half-hardy kinds, of course, must remain until a 
proper time in the spring, and these need not be allowed to 
occupy the valuable space which ought to be for other 
things. A very slight or gentle hotbed should be made 
about the second week of April. The bed may be quite 
level on its surface; that is, as high at the front as at the 
back, and four bits of board nailed together and placed 
thereon in form of a common frame, so as to keep up the 
earth round the margin of the bed. The earth should be 
i from six to eight inches thick all over the bed; and in this 
I any kinds or number of kinds may be sown of the half- 
hardy annuals, to be covered with the common hand glasses, 
or an odd frame-light or two, which can be readily taken olf 
every fine day after the plants are all up. Thus may be 
raised a stock of strong, healthy plants, which may then be 
potted olf into small pots, three or four in a pot, as soon as 
large enough. In these pots they may have a slight pro¬ 
tection, which is a better way to establish them for final 
planting out in the beds or borders than that of transplant¬ 
ing them from the seed bed into their final places. The 
plant from the pot is already established, and no shading 
is required, nor any care but that, of well planting in the 
spot where the plant is to remain to grow and Mower. 
Among the following kinds will be found most of those 
J which need the above kind of treatment:—Tho Zinnias 
may justly bo considered among some of the best of them; 
and years ago we used to think much of the old scarlet 
kinds called Zinnia tenni/lora, Z. pancijlora , Z. multiflora, 
Z. vertical ate, and, of course, Z. elegant; but now, the Z. 
elegans has given rise to so many superior varieties that one 
scarcely ever hoars of the other species. That last-men¬ 
tioned furnishes us with fine large blossoms of almost all 
colours, from pure white to the deepest scarlet; and no 
plants form more beautiful beds, or bunches, for the mixed 
borders, rising from two to three feet high, flowering freely 
during the late summer and autumn months, and delighting 
in a good, light, rich soil. We should never think of plant¬ 
ing out these choice half-hardy annuals in the open beds or 
borders until tho end of May, or the beginning of June, and 
then keeping a keen eye upon them until they are well 
established. 
The African and French Marigolds are always much 
esteemed as being very showy plants, though they are not 
pleasant smelling things. They are free growers, and very 
free flowerers. Of these the Tagetes patnla, or Spreading 
Tagetes, which is commonly called tho French Marigold, has 
many beautiful varieties of double and single flowers of 
red and yellow striped, pure yellow, deep red, and other 
colours. They form showy bunches in beds or borders. 
Of the African Marigold ( Tagetes erecta, Upright-growing,) 
are two good double varieties, namely, the double Orange, 
and the double Lemon-coloured. These rise one-and-a-half 
to two feet high, and form beautiful beds or bunches in the 
mixed borders. 
Calliopsis, or Coreopsis tinctoria, is still one of tho best of 
this family. It has two or three varieties, namely, C. tinctoria, 
var., atro sanguinea; C. tinctoria, atro purpurea; C. Atkin- 
sonii, and C. Drummondii. All are delightful, showy plants, 
rising about two feet or two and-a-half feet high. 
Chrysanthemum coronarium, the garland Chrysanthemum, 
has a variety called “The now Golden,’’ of which the 
blossoms are deeper yellow. The plant is a free grower, 
rising from two to three feet in height, and a free bloomer. 
Another species, called C. tricolor, is a much dwarfer plant, 
but a free flowerer, and requires the same treatment. 
Cartliamus tinctoria is an old inhabitant of our gardens, 
now seldom seen, although it is pretty and curious. Like 
all the before-mentioned, it is a free grower and bloomer, 
rising about two feet high, and forms an interesting bunch 
in the mixed borders. 
Xeranlhcmum aniiuum, or purple Xcranthemum is a most 
elegant plant. It is a kind of everlasting flower. There 
is a white variety which is equally pretty. Those are free 
growers and rising one-and-a-half to two feet high. They 
are abundant flowerers, and very useful in forming nosegays. 
Elichrysum hracteatum, or Yellow Everlasting Elichrysum. 
November 14. 
This is a most desirable plant, rising from two to three feet 
high, flowering freely, and is extremely pretty. There is a 
light-coloured variety of this equally beautiful, and, like the 
above, useful in making nosegays. 
Agendum Mcxicanum is a very pleasing plant, and a 
profuse bloomer. Its blossoms aro of a delicate light blue 
colour. 
All of the above-mentioned aro called half-hardy annuals, 
and require near about the same treatment, may be all 
sown tho same day, and upon the same gentle hotbed, and 
all may bo finally planted out on the same day, if time, Ac., 
permit at tho proper seasen. They are all showy flowers 
of long duration. 
The China and German Asters are, generally, treated like 
the above, as half-hardy annuals; although with us, in the* 
south of England, the natural soil, in an open south border, j 
answers quite as well for their seed bed, and from which 
they may be transplanted even when in full flower.—T. W. 
THE PALM TRIBE. 
The Palm-trees of the warmer portions of the globe ! 
render important and increasing services to mankind. Of j 
this class are tho Palms which produce the Palm oil, the 
Cocoa oil, and Cocoa-nut, the Date, <fcc., <fcc. The Palms 
which grow so luxuriantly in the equatorial regions of the 1 
earth diminish in size and in beauty as we approach the 
temperate regions. What may bo called the true Palm 
climate, possesses a mean annual temperature of from 74° I 
to 84° of Farenheit (that of England is only about 50°). It I 
flourishes with great, luxuriance in South America; in i 
Asia it grows with less vigour; Africa contains a region 
known as the country of the Date Palm. 
The Guinea, or Oil Palms, Finis Guinccnsis, and E. 
mclanococea, from which the Palm oil is procured, are now 
extensively cultivated in Central Africa, and so profitable is 
this modern branch of commerce become, that it has tended 
materially to render the employment of tho native, population 
so profitable to the slave-holding chiefs, as to make them 
reconciled to the almost entire destruction of the Slave trade. 
This oil is extensively used in the making of soap, and 
other manufacturing purposes. It is the yellow substance i 
with which the wheels of the Fmilway carriages are oiled. 
In the year 1850,448,089 cwts. of Palm oil, were imported ' 
into this country ;— 
In 1851 .. (108,505 cwts. 
„ 1852 .. 523,231 cwts. 
„ 1853 .. 030,028 cwts. 
The East Indian correspondent of Bell's Weekly Mcs- l 
senger, has described, in a late number, some of the uses of , 
other varieties of the Palm-tree. 
“ As I was strolling one morning, down a lonely lane, near i 
the village of Chatteer, pondering over a book I had in my j 
hand, 1 observed a smart, cleanly clad Mussulman youth, ! 
reclining under the shade of a bubbool tree, playing a native j 
air on a sirtar, which he supported on his knee, and acoom- , 
panying the chords he struck with what 1 considered at the 
time to be an invocation to his absent mistress. The words 
he uttered were to tho following effect—‘ Oh, come hither to 
me, my fondest, and repose with me under the shade of this 
beautiful tree. The honey bee is busy in collecting its sweets, 
which sweets shall be thine. Or retire with me, to yonder 
grove of leafy Palms, and whilst I woo thee, list you to the ; 
tender lamentations of the bewidowed dove whilst he breathes 
forth his plaintive note in the cadence of disconsolate ; 
despair,’ Submitting the spirit of the above little aspiration 
to the English metre, in which attempt 1 cannot do justice 
to the original version, I herewith subjoin the same— 
“ Oh ! come with me to the bubbool tree, 
Oh ! fondly come and repose with me, 
And list to the hum of the errant bee, 
As it strays through these bowers, 
Amid the gay flowers, 
Whose nectarine showers 
Shall light on thee. 
“ Or to yon grove, where the tell-tale dove, 
Emmourns his mate in a strain of love, 
Bewailing his fate ’mid the Palms above ; 
There concealed let us woo, 
In constancy true, 
As the bird we hear coo, 
* Thence reluctant to move.” 
