March 27. 
noble raciness of taste, that no small want of air can alter 
or subdue it; and Nectarines are the next that I know of 
certainly, though I cannot but have a good opinion of Figs 
also, there being a very great strength in the taste, that 
cannot be over balanced by any deficiency of air. 
“ To finish this account of accelerating or forcing fruit, I 
am credibly informed, that Cherries planted in pots, and the 
pots plunged in tanner’s bark, and enclosed during the 
winter in a glass-case, have blossomed in January, and have 
had large green fruit about the fifteenth of the February 
following, which in all probability will be ripe in March; 
but yet it must upon the whole be owned, that all fruit in its 
natural season, and in its natural way of ripening, is best.” 
The suggestion thus bora was soon matured into a 
more entire forcing-house, for in 172(1, Bradley pub¬ 
lished the Appendix to New Improvements in Gardening, 
and there is the description and engraving of a modern 
flue heated hothouse, lean-to in form, and differing 
from it only in having the roof slated and sloping, so 
that the hack is lower than the front. The sides and 
ends are glazed. Soon after, we find drawings of such 
hothouses, glazed and sloping, as we have them now. 
We called a few days since, at Bank Grove, near King¬ 
ston, to see what effect the late frost had had on the 
large and most excellent collection of new, and rare out- 
of-door plants. We found hardly any harm has been 
done to a single plant, and never saw so many large 
Camellias in flower before, in one establishment. The 
largest of all the large Camellias in Europe, the cele¬ 
brated Reticulata, is guessed to have G000 blossom-buds 
now ready to open, and that, as far as can be judged, 
the whole will be in perfection between the 10th and 
15th of April. There were 4000 flower-buds thinned off 
this enormous plant last autumn. We believe any re¬ 
spectable persou may see this grand sight on application. 
THE PAST AND COMING SEASON. 
This has been a very late spring, and the different 
works about the garden are, and have been, fully as late 
as the buds and leaves. What ought to have been done 
in February had to be put off till the first half of March, 
and then we bad hardly two days alike; if we had ono 
dry day the next two were wet or foggy, and a good deal 
of “earth work” had to be got through in the worst 
possible state, particularly on heavy soils. Every kind 
of work, as digging, sowing, planting, and preparations, 
was all behind, and what could be put off for the 
moment was very gladly considered, on the principle of 
“ too many irons in the fire,” to be out of season just 
now; dressing walks, lawns, and edgings, could on this 
principle be deferred; while the sowing of Parsnips, 
Radishes, and Mignonette, must be done, whether the 
ground was in a fit state or not. 
Now, although I am not going to predict the weather 
as soon as some would have me to do, I must refer to a 
statement which appeared lately in one of our leading 
articles, to the effect that very severe winters occurred at 
regular intervals of twenty-four or twenty-five years; 
and if that be so, there is a consequence to be appre¬ 
hended at present, on the grounds on which I predicted 
the long frost, and that consequence is this : there are 
twenty-three chances against two chauces that we shall : 
have a very dry May, and not only a dry May, but six | 
487 
weeks dry weather; whether the extra fortnight, how¬ 
ever, be from the tail of April, or from the early part of 
June, the stars are dim, in addition to tho 8 per cent, 
against the drought altogether. 
LAWNS. 
If this dry weather should really come just at that 
time, those who put oft' the proper spring treatment of 
the grass, or lawn, because othor works were behind¬ 
hand, will bo in this awkward position, namely, that 
tho lawn will be so harsh, hard, and uneven under foot, 
as to make it all but pleasant to walk on at any hour of 
tho day. Sailors are the best judges of the weather at 
sea, and, depend upon it, old gardeners are the best 
judges of it on land; but the effects of frost and wet, or of 
tramping on grass in slushy weather, do not require 
much judgment in foretelling, if a sudden drought in¬ 
tervenes before the roller and the broom have made 
our lawns “ as smooth as glass.” I know ono lawn, 
and one only, which is now as smooth as this page, and 
if the drought were to begin to-morrow this lawn would 
stiil be as smooth, and even, and as easy to walk on as a 
carpet all tho time. I know another lawn, which is yet 
too young from seeds to be of that soft, pleasant, mossy 
character which we all admire. This lawn is somewhat 
patchy, and was very sloppy to walk upon for full a 
month after the frost; but it is now as smooth as glass, 
comparatively, and a quantity of best grass-seeds are to 
be sown all over it this week, or the next week, at the 
farthest. There is a large heap of pond-mud, and about 
twice the quantity of sifted coal-ashes, with dust, and 
soot, and sweepings from a number of villas, to be spread 
over the seeds, and by way of dressing to the rest of the 
grass. The pond-mud is frosted, and is now mellowed 
and crumbly, which is the best state for this kind of 
work ; it is not rich, as no strong water ran into the 
pond ; but it is very soft and slimy from the sand and 
vegetable remains which the rains washed down from 
higher ground into the pond; and the owner thinks 
this compost will be very likely to help his new lawn to 
get mossy; but I regret I could not, from my own 
experience, tell him anything about it. The only 
effectual mode of mossing a lawn that I know of is to 
turf it all over from a sandy common, which is generally 
more or less mossy. The mowing-machine is more fa¬ 
vourable for moss than the scythe, because it keeps the 
grass more uniformly even, and never cuts too deep 
here, or skims over it there, as some mowers do; but 
gives fair play to both grass and moss. The lawn which 
I spoke about in the winter, as having then been cut 
over very closely, in order to subdue the moss, is now 
in the very best condition I ever knew a lawn to be in 
at this seasou, and the old gardener is evidently very 
proud of it; for be will havo it rolled almost every week, 
and wishes bis father could rise to see it! 
A little Dutch or White Clover, and the Cow-grass 
Clover, or Perennial Trefoil, would improve the best 
lawn, if sown before the middle of April, with a little of 
the finer grasses, which all tho great seed-growers can 
now furnish cheap enough ; this is by far the best and 
cheapest plan; the old plan of taking what seed 
could be gathered from hay-lofts is the very worst 
plan which one can adopt, as all manner of seeds 
are thus introduced, to tho great injury of our “foot 
pastures.” We have seldom bad our lawns so well, and ; 
so soft, and ready for seeds, and so late as they are | 
this season, therefore, not in such good condition for j 
this application as they are now; but the work should j 
not be delayed beyond the middle of April, even if j 
we did not expect a dry May to follow. 
SOWING FLOWER-SEEDS. 
This is just the proper time to sow all the best flower 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
