400 THE COTTAGE GARDENER. February 20. 
we will gladly answer anything about the Vines and the 
plants.] 
WALKS MADE WITH GRAVEL AND GAS-TAR. 
“ Having seen various accounts in The Cottage Gar¬ 
dener, and other publications, of the great advantages of 
using gas-tar for gravel walks, stating especially their resist¬ 
ance of wet and invariable firmness, it would be very 
serviceable to me and many others, if you could give any 
actual information as to the results up to this year, espe¬ 
cially whether the walks covered with gas-tar and fine 
gravel, or sand, sifted upon it, have been impervious to the 
frost, thaw, and rain, of last winter and spring. If so, the 
plan must, indeed, be invaluable; and I, for one, shall put it 
in execution as soon as the weather is dry and warm. But 
as my walks are considerable, being very wide and long, 
gravel expensive, and the quantity of gas-tar I should 
require would be large, at a cost of three-half-pence per 
gallon, I wish to ascertain whether it would really answer 
my purpose, namely; secure a constantly dry, firm walk, 
always free from weeds. The gravel about this part of the 
country is always soft in wet, and entirely breaks up after 
frost.—H. A. S." 
[In the neighbourhood of Sheffield, almost all the public 
paths and walks in public and private gardens are formed 
with gravel, gas-tar, and asphalt, with a sprinkling on the 
surface of Derbyshire spar. Many of these walks have been 
made six, eight, or ten years ago, and are as good and 
perfect as at first. No frost or thaw affects them, nor weeds 
grow on them. The white spar gives them a marble-like 
appearance, and it is used merely for that purpose. 
In other parts of the country, where the carriage of the 
spar would be great, it might be dispensed with. Any 
sort of hard material, such as small broken stones, brick- 
ends, or gravel, with the large and small sifted out, would 
answer well. A sufficient heap of this should be got together, 
and then procure twelve gallons of gas-tar, and forty-eight 
pounds of asphalt. Have a large tub ready, and make the 
hard material thoroughly wet with the mixed tar and asphalt, 
and as soon as it is well saturated, lay it upon the walk 
(previously formed highest in the middle) two inches thick, 
roll it level, and then scatter a thin layer of fine material, 
spar, or sand (burnt clay has been used), then roll again to 
unite this last coat with the first one, let it lay a day or two, 
and then roll it. An Ron roller is the best. A person who 
never saw a walk so formed, may, possibly, not succeed at 
first; but after a trial or two, the difficulty will be sur¬ 
mounted, and then the rest will be easy. The expense will 
be about one shilling per square yard. When gravel is at 
a distance, it will cost quite as much, and will require repair¬ 
ing every year; whereas, this asphalt and tar will last almost 
a life-time, if well done at first. Mr. Appleby forms such 
walks, and any further information you may require, he will 
give you.] 
PHYSURUS ARGENTEUS CULTURE. 
“Will you oblige me with the treatment of the above- 
named plant, as regards potting, watering, <fcc. I have a 
collection of Orchids in my stove which thrive very well, 
except the above. I wish to grow this lovely group if 
possible.—A Constant Reader.” 
[This plant requires a compost of peat with all the fine 
soil sifted out of it, chopped bog-moss also sifted out, 
and leaf-mould, in equal parts. Drain tbe pots well, and pot 
the plants in early spring. After it is potted, place it on 
another larger pot, or a box as deep as the pot the plant is 
in, fill round it with green moss, covering the earth in the 
pot also with moss. Place it in a shady place, or make a 
shade for it. Keep it moderately moist, and let the heat be 
70° to 75° in summer, and 5° or 10° lower in winter. It is a 
plant that loves shade and moisture, but the last not over tbe 
leaves. A sickly plant may be brought into health by placing 
a bell-glass over it till it forms fresh leaves in good, luxuriant 
health. The moss keeps the soil in the pot moist, without 
too frequent waterings. All the Anrcctochilus species, and the 
Goodycras may be treated in a similar manner.] 
RUSTIC BASKETS. 
“ I have two or three Rustic Baskets on my lawn : will you 
please to inform me which are the best trailing plants to put 
in them, so as to hang down, and cover the outsides?— An 
Amateur.” 
[The idea of planting them with trailing plants to hang 
down and cover the outside, or with climbing plants to be 
trained, is, unfortunately, the commonest idea of our day. 
Yet it is the most perfectly absurd and impracticable of all 
the ideas in gardening, and there are not three such covered 
baskets, if they are a kept for flowers, in all England, Ire¬ 
land, and Scotland; yet some foolish people write about 
these covered baskets as if they were in existence. The 
way, and the only way, to have a flower-basket covered, is to 
plant climbers at the bottom of it, in a ring of good soil, 
cut out of the grass all round it. If a climber or two, 
sufficiently strong to cover a basket, are planted in the soil 
in the basket, they will suck the soil so much that the other 
flowers are soon starved, whether such flowers be herbaceous 
plants or pot-plants. It seems almost equally absurd to 
argue such self-evident matters. Old writers have treated 
of some trailing plants to hang over the sides of vases, by 
way of contrast to the upright flowers; and some modern 
writers speak of summer climbers, to plant in May, along 
with the other plants, to train over and round the baskets 
and vases ; but even if you take the yellow Canary Tropce- 
olum, it will only cover the basket three months in the year, 
and the work required to train this class, so as always to look 
well, is ten times more than they are worth. All the attempts 
of the kind which we have seen were dead failures. It was 
never intended by the old authors to cover vases and baskets, 
but to have a few trailing plants by way of contrast, and the 
Moneywort is their sample plant; but from bad to worse, 
the idea went on to absurdity. Our best gardeners never 
put a trailing-down plant now in a vase or basket; the thing 
is quite unpardonable : but there is no reason, for all that, 
why baskets should not be covered, or any other thing about 
a garden, if any one chooses to go to the expense. All that 
we want for these baskets, is, that if they are intended to be 
covered on the outside, that it should be done in a proper 
manner, and on a cheap and safe plan, instead of the way 
asked by our correspondent. The way to have rustic baskets 
covered, is to have a bed round the bottom of the basket, in 
imitation of a pedestal. When this is to be made, make the 
bed a raised one, say ten inches above the grass, and to be 
bordered with rustic work or with stones, then the basket 
to rise out of the centre of the raised bed. But where 
a fixed basket already stands, wo seldom can make a 
raised bed round it, but one on tbe flat will do just as well, 
and if it is a foot wide and eighteen inches deep, it will do to 
plant climbers in, and some fancy plants besides. It will be 
ten times easier to manage this way, and will look twenty 
times better than scare-crowing the thing by trying im¬ 
possibilities. As to the kind of climbers, that depends on 
the kinds of plants used in the basket; but we shall return 
to the subject very soon.] 
STRONG-GROWING SHOW PELARGONIUMS.— 
VERBENAS AND CALCEOLARIAS FOR BEDDING 
NEAR LONDON. 
“ Will you be kind enough to give me the names of twelve 
or twenty sLwu/-growing show Geraniums? I mean by 
strong, such as Orion, Virgin Queen, Duke of Cornwall, Ac., 
for it is useless to attempt to grow, two miles from London, 
and compassed by smoke, the weaker-growing ones; but, 
nevertheless, I want the finest kinds, such as Ajax, Crusader, 
Silk-mercer, Exhibitor, and Salamander, none of which I 
have, or have had opportunity to see to judge for myself. 
“ I also want a few Verbenas , of the best kinds for beddiug, 
if you please, equally smoke-proof, and also strong growers, 
after the type of Defiance and Emma. Such kinds as 
St. Margaret and Vulcan Superb I find almost too tender. 
“ If not tiring your patience too much, would you give me 
the names of two or three bedding Calceolarias, likewise 
smoke-proof, which will get through the winter tolerably in 
the greenhouse, and which will be covered with bloom in 
summer? My soil is good, light garden mould, well drained. 
“ Some one, in an old number of The Cottage Gardener, 
says, Pagoda Fuchsia has a corolla like a soda-water bottle. 
If the corolla of that Fuchsia is blown flat from underneath 
