Mat 1.] 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
71 
to sow the China asters ancl Indian pinks in an open 
border, to come in for this very purpose, and about 
the fifteenth or twentieth of May, the right time to 
sow some Ten-week or German Stocks, as they now call 
them, for succeeding Cloves and Carnations, Clarkias, 
Eucaridiums, Leptosiphons, Sphenogynes, and I know 
not how many more most beautiful things, which a false 
taste, not to call it by a more harsh name, has con¬ 
signed to neglect. I must qualify all this, however, by 
saying that this kind of succession of beautiful flower¬ 
beds requires far more labour, or more expence, which 
are one and the same thing, that the plant-a-bed-and-have- 
done-with-it-for-the-season system. Sowing, weeding, 
pricking out, watering, shading, stirring the surface soil 
between rows of tiny seedlings, pulling up decaying 
annuals, trenching the bed, adding fresh soil to it, per¬ 
haps, watering it before and after planting in the dog- 
days, and also morning and evening for the next ten days 
or more; all this, and more work besides, which I cannot 
now bring to mind, is not done by the fairies nowa¬ 
days; but those who can do it by hard cash, and do 
not attempt it, have no idea what a source of enjoyment 
they forego. 
White Salvia tatens. —Now that a good stock of 
this new Salvia can he had easily, I would propose a 
bed to be planted with it and the blue one, in equal 
numbers; hut the bed must not form one of a regular 
arrangement. Blue and white always look well together; 
and when the height and style of growth of the two 
plants agree, as in this instance, the effect is much 
heightened. It is true that this blue is not of the best 
tint to stand against a white. It is two shades lighter 
than the best blue for that effect; but, on the other hand, 
the white Salvia is not a very clear white, and therefore 
may suit better; hut of this no one can judge properly 
without seeing the two as I propose. 
Speaking of mixed colours reminds me that I have said 
nothing this spring about the white and purple Clarkias 
mixed; but I confess that I do not believe there are two 
other varieties of plants on the face of the earth, which 
put in, or sown, together, will give so striking an effect; 
and in a single long row they look better than in a bed. 
I have seen ladies, of great taste and talent in the dis¬ 
position of colours and plants, stand, as it were, rivetted 
to the spot, admiring this row of Clarkias, which we 
never miss here, always in the same place, and about a 
hundred yards long. It is the second row of annuals 
on the dahlia bank, which forms for that space one side 
of a level green, or grass terrace. The first row is of 
the two varieties of Eschcholtzia mixed, next the grass; 
then a row of the dwarfest Dahlias; after that these 
Clarkias; then the second row of Dahlias; the third 
row of annuals being a mixture of ten varieties of the 
late branching Larkspur ; and the fourth row of Annuals. 
I have been striving for years to get one of the real old 
blue branching larkspur, but that I cannot procure here, 
or on the Continent, perfectly genuine, for love or money. 
Some of our kind readers sent me seeds last year, hut 1 
they were of the perennial kinds. Clarkias sown next 
week will be in bloom by the 20th of July, and last till 
the end of August. D. Beaton. 
GREENHOUSE AND WINDOW 
GARDENING. 
A jew Generalities as respects Window and 
j Balcony Plants. —From the enquiries that reach us, we 
are frequently reminded that in gardening, as well as 
other matters, there is a possibility of “ starving in the 
i midst of plenty.” Information may be copiously diffused, 
| but it can only be used effectually when inquirers 
j gain the habit of generalising for themselves. Not¬ 
withstanding the attempts to simplify, many cannot help 
feeling that there is something like a mystery unex¬ 
plained connected with the treatment of some of their 
favourite plants. “ Such and such rules” say they, 
“ may do very well for those who have regular green¬ 
houses, &c.; but how are they to apply to us who have 
nothing but our windows and little balconies ? True, 
we might keep them easily and cheaply supplied by 
purchasing them in bloom from the nurseryman; but 
then, even if they looked better, we should not derive half 
the pleasure to he realised by obtaining the plants when 
young, and tending them through all their stages with 
our own hands.” When treating of things about which 
we are familiar, we are too apt to forget that what 
appears to us simple was once dark and abstruse; that, in 
fact, simplicity and complicity are relative terms; every¬ 
thing appearing simple after it is thoroughly understood, 
but not before. A lady who has read this work, and 
praises it highly, and who is quite an enthusiast in her 
love for flowers, and does her outside gardening ex¬ 
tremely well, lately had hyacinths in glasses over the 
fire-place in the sitting parlour, their long lanky leaves 
being destitute of strength to keep themselves anything 
like upright; while on the top of the dwarf cupboard 
recesses, so common by the sides of the fire-place in 
such snuggeries, were neatly arranged Geraniums and 
Cinerarias, the latter in bloom, and striving magnani¬ 
mously, notwithstanding their position, to look gay and 
healthy. The owner of such beauties had heard and 
read much of the value of light, hut then she imagined 
her poor plants had received plenty of it, as the light 
streamed into every part of the room as soon as the 
shutters and blinds were withdrawn from the window. 
The difference between direct and diffused light never 
suggested itself to her consideration. She found that 
plants in full bloom kept in full flower in such a 
position much longer than when placed in the window 
sill, and the conclusion is arrived at, that what preserves 
the bloom, will also preserve the plant, and minister to 
its health and luxuriance. Now, though shade and 
diffused light are the best circumstances for securing the 
long keeping of flowers, though the colour may be some¬ 
what paler, they are, also, the very circumstances most 
inimical to that firm and sturdy growth which is the best 
preparation for abundance of future bloom. Plants 
necessarily differ in their aptitudes for bearing strong 
sunlight; but even those which we frequently shade in 
summer would dispense with that kindness if they were 
more hardily reared and treated. It is the desire to see 
them grow in dull weather as well as in bright, the 
keeping them close and warm under glass, or inside our 
windows for that purpose, the expanding and atte¬ 
nuating, rather than the adding to and strengthening, 
of the tissues which thus take place, that render the 
plants flaccid and drooping before the first bright sun¬ 
light to which they are exposed. As a general principle, 
little is added to the carbon or solid substance of a 
plant, except what it assimilates in sunshine. Our room j 
plants, therefore, can only be preserved in robust health ! 
in winter, early spring, and late in the autumn, by being 
kept as near the glass as possible during the day, and 
presenting no obstruction whatever to the light. No 
rules, at least few of them, are ivithout exceptions. 
These exceptions, if few, instead of nullifying, only con¬ 
firm the rule. Thus plants, in general circumstances, 
uuder glass, like as much light as possible, is one rule. 
Another is, the;/ dislike sudden changes of any kind. 
Hence the carrying out of one of these will often seem 
an exception to the general validity of the other. For 
instance, here in this gentle month of April we have a 
few days of bright sunshine, followed, as is often the 
case, with eight days of cold, sunless weather. Observe 
the plants out-of-doors, there is no stimulus, and, there¬ 
fore, they stand still. The expanding and assimilating, 
