April 24.'! 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
49 
tected from the frost by a moveable covering. The 
number of half-hardy bulbs, however, that would repay 
one, by a little care, on a front narrow border, is almost 
endless; and I believe, the chief reason why this class 
| of plants is neglected, is the want of knowing the times 
at which the different kinds go naturally to rest, or 
flower, or begin to grow ; for nothing is less satisfactory 
! than to find out that of two bulbs, planted side by side, 
one grows during our summer, and the other only from 
; October to May, as, to do justice to the first, the second 
! must be altogether out of its proper course. I have, 
over and over again, met with this difficulty when I had 
to do with new bulbs, or such as 1 did not know how 
they went on in their own country; yet people give me 
j some credit on my success with bulbs generally; so that 
I had, as it were, a character to sustain in our most 
; useful Cottage Gardener a Dictionary respecting them; 
! and, as far as my acquaintance with them, and the space 
allowed would permit, I have shown the seasons of their 
growth, flowering, and rest; and that, with their culture 
and propagation, by Mr. Fish, is all that is necessary 
for any tolerably intelligent gardener to know. Our 
amateur readers who find the details too limited, have 
only to apply for what more they require in these pages, 
and between us all, we must surely spread an increasing 
interest in the cultivation of half-hardy bulbs. I believe 
I have not told distinctly that I have effected a true cross 
between the great Candalabra bulb, Brunsvigia, and the 
J purple Valotta, and I am as confident of the cross as if 
j 1 had it now in bloom on my table. The curious cross 
; between this Valotta and the Cyrtanthns, which I ob- 
i tained two years since, is as sure to be an intermediate 
j breed as anything can be; so that these three genera, 
notwithstanding the dissimilarity in their habits and 
outward appearances, are, after all, but one and the same 
tiling—true Amaryllises, chips of the old block, which 
1 will cause a derangement in the classification of Decan- 
; dolle, Endlicher, and Lindley, and bring Dr. Herbert’s 
j words true, “ that the gardener can force the systematic 
! botanist to reconsider his arrangement through the pro¬ 
cess of cross-breeding.” 
There are in cultivation scores of good plants which 
never produce seeds, caused in a great measure by the want 
of some provision of nature, in the wild state, for the dis- 
; persion of the pollen dust; and if we would but take the 
j trouble to effect tbis by our own hands, we should be 
I repaid by a crop of seeds of many things that are still 
i comparatively scarce and dear. Mr. Sweet is the only 
writer, that 1 am aware of, who lays a proper stress on 
the necessity of artificial impregnation when seeds were 
desirable ; and he was so expert in the practice himself, 
j that he could cause almost any plant to seed if he got it 
( into bloom. This is altogether irrespective of crossing. 
! Some of the more knowing ones make a little fortune 
by growing seeds that none can grow without the arti¬ 
ficial setting of the pods. For some years, I have been 
adding to a list I keep of plants or genera that will 
seed, although the flowers be destroyed before they 
expand; and for practical purposes, I look on all flowers 
j as giving no aid to the setting of the seeds, and that 
they may be dispensed with whenever it is difficult to 
ensure impregnation, as in long-tubed flowers. All that 
I is really essential, is to see that no remains of flowers, 
or their envelopes, or any other thing, get in contact 
with the young seed-pod, or with the style which is 
always connected with it, and cause them to damp or 
be otherwise injured. In short, let the nurse be taken 
care of until the youngsters are able to take care of 
themselves. 
Arrangement. —Just now is the most likely time of 
the year to get into confusion with a large stock of half- 
hardy plants for the flower-garden—so many of Number 
this, or Number that, are fit to be placed out of doors 
under mats, or other temporary shelter, while the rest 
of that sort are yet too young or too delicate to stand a 
puff of cold wind; and so on through all the spring- 
propagated plants. Or let us say that one-third of the 
Anagallis, American groundsel, Lobelias, &c., are unfit 
to leave the glass frame, while the rest of them are 
being hardened off somewhere else, and that before the 
middle of May some of each kind are placed in three 
different places. Then say that twenty or thirty thou¬ 
sands of little plants are so distributed when it is time 
to begin planting out for the summer arrangement; and 
if that is not confusion. 1 know not what is. Every pot 
or plant that is changed from one place to another from 
the beginning of April to the end of May should be 
arranged like the words in a dictionary, and this is how 
it is done. The best scarlet Verbena is marked number 
one upon a little stick in the pot, and in the garden 
book, under Verbena number one, the name is written 
in full, and after the name stands number five hundred, 
meaning that so many of number one are to be planted 
this season. As soon as a parcel of number one is ready 
to be removed out of doors, or into cold pits, you place 
the whole of them together at one end, count them, and 
check the number by the book ; you find it to be three 
hundred and fifty, so you must leave a blank space for 
one hundred and fifty more, some of which will be ready 
next week, and some not till the week after; but by the 
time they are all ready, they are put in the blank space ; 
and when you come to plant out number one verbena, 
you know to a plant where they are to be found, for if 
they are not in the proper stall, some one has made a 
blunder, and you must spend the half of a fine after¬ 
noon hunting through the whole collection for them, 
instead of turning them up like a word in the dictionary. 
This process must be carried out with numbers tuo, 
three, and every number in the book, and nothing is 
more simple ; but the system should be rigidly adhered 
to all the year round, and from year to year. The 
propagation book should tally with the catalogue in 
every instance, and may be called the day book. Here 
is the first entry for this year— 
August 5th. Geraniums. 23rd. 30th. 
1. Tom Thumb, 500—300—150. 
Which means that on the 5th of August, 500 cuttings 
of Tom Thumb were made, that variety being number 
one, 300 on the 23rd, and 150 on the 30th of the 
same month. Then follow all the rest of the Gera¬ 
niums, according to their numbers, and so with every 
other family. By looking over the propagation book 
before the frost sets in, you see the stock on hand of 
every sort, and you will know how many of the old 
plants to take up for next year. Each sort will be kept 
separate in their winter quarters; and when you begin 
propagating in the spring, you make all the cuttings of 
one number before you begin the next; and when a 
frame full of cuttings is ready to pot off’, contrive to 
pot all of one number in the same way. 
D. Beaton. 
THE ROSARY. 
Pruning and Propagating Tea, Bourbon, and China 
Roses. —All the tender kinds should receive their final 
pruning this month ; and, as a general principle, the 
more freely they are cut down, the more freely and j 
strongly will they bloom, though the bloom may not be | 
so early as if longer pieces of the old wood were left. 
After a slight protection during the winter, with moss 
and spruce or laurel boughs, when these are removed, 
fine strong buds will be found breaking near the collar j 
of the plant; and, if cut back to these, there will be a 
succession during the season of strong, somewhat succu¬ 
lent shoots, each surmounted with a number of fine 
flowers—which shoots shoiild be cut back as soon as 
