March 6. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
429 
judging there might be more of his views respecting 
an heir or heiress, I judged it right and proper to give a 
practical illustration against one of the most ridiculous 
of all the popular prejudices of the present day. If I 
was compelled to sleep in a close room, without a fire¬ 
place, to keep the air of the room in motion, I would 
not only keep it well stocked with strong, healthy 
plants; but if I could afford it, I would change them 
twice a-wcek, for more security against the evil effects of 
close, vitiated air. Aud if there is one medical gentle¬ 
man alive, who still holds a different view of the subject, 
it is dangerous to let him be at large during a hard 
winter, or, indeed, at any time. To be permitted to 
misconstrue the truths of science, to the prejudice of 
the invalid, is as dangerous as to trust in the hap¬ 
hazards of empiricism; but to be allowed to attend to 
the wants of some favourite flowers would be, to some 
invalids, as useful and valuable a medicine as any 
within the range of pharmacy. 
SEPTEMBER OR MARCH FOR PLANTING. 
What is to be done by those who must remove fruit- 
trees, aud ornamental trees, plants, and bushes before 
Lady Day, or forfeit them ? No planting could be done 
this winter from the middle of January to the last day 
of February; but there are no exceptions, in the law of 
landlord and tenant, to meet such a case; but still, 
honest people might compromise the matter, and put off 
the removal till the autumn, or Michaelmas term, or, 
plainer still, till the 29th of September. Now, of the 
two, which is the best season for the general purposes of 
the planter; the whole month of March down to the 
25th, or the month of September all but one day, the 
hist day? This is a critical question, and one which is 
by no means easily decided. 
There is no question about the whole of September 
being the best month of the twelve for removing large 
Every reens; but if we were to have a dripping May, 
small evergreens, such as young nursery stock, would be 
safe enough to plant in March and April; if, on the 
other hand, we should have a dry May, with easterly 
winds, hot, sunny days, and cold nights, March and 
April are the two worst months in the year for trans¬ 
planting evergreens of any age. The lust ten days of 
May, if without strong easterly wind, is a better time 
for removing evergreens, particularly young ones, than 
any time from the beginning of March to the 20tli of 
May. This is very curious; but I am quite sure it is 
correct, for I have proved over and over again, that the 
very end of May is the safest period of the spring to 
remove evergreens, taking one season with another. 
Those who still entertaiu the old notion about trans¬ 
planting evergreens in April, as the best time, are not 
interfered with by the state of the winter, whether hard 
or mild. 
The very end of September is too soon to remove 
Peaches, Nectarines, Apricots, and Grapie Vines, but not 
so for any other of our fruits, provided the trees or 
plants are well pruned the moment they are taken up, 
or the moment before the work of removing begins; 
but the true principle of pruning in the autumn, with 
reference to transplanting, directs the pruning to be 
done a few days, but not more than ten days, in 
September, before the plants are removed. 
The doctrine which teaches you to remove your trees 
in October or November, but not to prune them till the 
spring, has been losing favour, among practical gardeners, 
for years past, and some gardeners would never hear of 
such a thing. The idea was wrong from the beginning. 
But if the end of September is too soon to remove such 
plants, or kinds, is not the month of March too late for 
transplanting Vines, Peaches, Apricots ? It certainly is 
in ordinary seasons; but this is not ono of that cha¬ 
racter; this is a very unusual season. All our trees are 
not one degree more forward, on the 1st of March, than 
they were on the loth of last January; therefore, I 
would not hesitate one moment to remove any trees this 
season much-later than is usual. But the question with 
which I op>ened this part of my “ weekly ” refers to a 
case, or cases, such as the following, from “ A Constant 
Subscriber.” 
“ I shall feel much obliged for your advice, in an early 
number in The Cottage Gardener. I am in this 
position ; T must either move fruit, Rose, and other trees, 
shrubs, &c., immediately the frost leaves, or leave them 
till September. I must remove them by the 29th of 
September. Will this be too early in the autumn ?” 
If I were in the position of this correspondent, I 
would set about removing all my plants at once, and 
take my chance. The fruit-trees, and the Roses, I would 
prune closer than if they were not to be disturbed; 
indeed, I would prune all such plants more closely than 
is generally done. Supposing there are Vines, Peaches, and 
Apricots, to be moved, I would give up all idea of having 
fruit from them the next autumn; and it would be much 
the same the following year, if I had to remove them 
before the 29th of September; but the early autumn 
removal would not be more than one-half the hardship 
of late spring planting to these trees themselves. There 
is not the least fear about the Roses, nor about a vast 
variety of shrubs and ornamental trees, in such a late 
season as this, if they are not removed till the very last 
day of the time specified, the 25th of March. Every 
planter, of any standing, has transplanted every kind of 
plant as late as April, some time or auother, although 
that is not either the usual or the best practice. Upon 
the whole, therefore, I would recommend our correspon¬ 
dent to set about removing all his plants at once; unless, 
indeed, some of them may happen to be large evergreens, 
and if they can remain till next September, it will be 
better to leave such as they are till next autumn. But for 
general planting, when one is not tied by circumstances, 
we never recommend spring planting in preference to 
autumn planting. If I were tied to time, and had to 
remove different kinds of fruit-trees and other plants late 
in the spring, I would begin with Vines, then the Peach- 
trees, after them the Apricots, then Cherries and Plums, 
and last of all the Pears and Apples, and the bush-fruit, 
as Currants and Gooseberries. After these, I would re¬ 
move all the deciduous trees and shrubs, leaving all the 
evergreens to the last week. 
All trees and shrubs that are transplanted late in the 
spring require to be more carefully staked and mulched 
than those in the antumn, as the winds and sun press 
harder on them than on those which were planted before 
Christmas, and are now well settled in the earth. With 
respect to such plants as may be injured by the late 
frost, it is not good practice to begin to cut them down 
before the end of April, as, although they may look 
badly, perhaps thoy are not so bad as they appear to be, 
and cutting them down will not now help them much. 
D. Beaton. 
CULTURE OE ROSES IN POTS. 
A variety of enquiries have been made on this 
subject, and in endeavouring to reply to them, I must do 
so in a rather random manner. 
GLASS REQUIRED. 
“ I am anxious to grow some large plants of Roses in 
pots, something in the style of Messrs. Lane, Francis, 
and Patrl, as these gentlemen exhibit them at the great 
Metropolitan shows. I have got a shallow pit, which 
would do for the plants when they are young, and a 
fair-sized greenhouse, containing a general collection of 
plants, which I am told would do admirably for the 
