August 7.] 
concrete-walks, like those we have here, do not allow weeds 
to come up, and I mention gravel more for the purpose 
of saying how new concrete-walks should be managed 
the first season, as I hear of a great many of them 
having been made lately, and in one place, I liave been 
told by the proprietor himself, that the new walks are 
better than those here, and he asks me to convince 
myself of the fact by going to see them. But no wonder. 
This gentleman has had more to do in concrete for some 
years than all the gardeners in England put together, 
being at the head of the celebrated building firm of 
Lucas and Brothers, of London and Norwich, and 
having seen our whole process here, from first to last, 
whilst building the beautiful “ Albert Tower,” &c., he has, 
no doubt, improved on our practice, and having got the 
lead, he will keep a-head of us probably; therefore, if 
St. Swithin has visited him two seasons, as he has done 
us here, he may probably stand in need of our advice in 
the matter of new concrete-walks the first season, and 
here it is with an anecdote in point. The building of 
the Albert Tower, and a great deal besides, was only 
determined upon at the eleventh hour, and at it they 
went, heart and hand (Crystal-Palace-fashion), and in 
two months the flagstaff was hoisted on the summit of the 
tower, and more work was finished in those two months 
than could be done by less energetic hands in twelve 
months, and, indeed, more than they themselves did 
for the twelve months preceding. All this time the 
poor gardeners were half smothered in clouds of dust, 
and showers of bricks and stones, from the tools of the 
workmen ; flower-beds under the bustle were boarded 
over or covered with canvass and what-not; terrace- 
walks, grass and gravel, came in for a share of the frolic, 
and last of all a beautiful broad terrace-walk had the 
last finishing touches just as the Prince and party were 
entering the “Norwich Lodge,” two miles off':—a neck- 
or-nothing job, but we won by a head and that was all; 
and the whole party trod over it in less than two hours, 
and, for aught that I know, took it for a ten years’ old 
broadway. In three weeks after this all our new walks 
and terraces were flooded for several days in succession, 
but we escaped better than I expected, and had very 
little to repair, although one of the new walks leads 
down the face of a long sloping bank. A new terrace 
on a dead level, without a drain, but having a fall to 
one side of three lialf-inclies in sixteen feet, answered 
completely. The whole of the water gathered to the 
lower side, the whole length of which is an invisible 
drain, which I shall describe one day. I am now satis¬ 
fied that one-inch fall in twenty feet is quite enough 
to draw off the water from the heaviest rains over a 
concrete-terrace or walk. If the terrace is forty feet 
wide, an inch fall from the middle to each side will do, 
or the two inches may fall from one side to the other 
either way, and no one can perceive that the gravel is 
not laid quite level. If the rains had washed off any of 
the gravel or concrete, we would scrape the sides and 
bottom, and lay down fresh-made concrete, and colour it 
with part of the old gravel, so that no fresh marks could 
be seen after the whole was rolled. Never attempt to 
make up a flaw in these walks with old or spent con¬ 
crete, or with that which was washed off. 
The rest of the work for this month is so much of the 
every-day routine character, that I need not extend my 
directions farther to-day. I shall, therefore, conclude 
with a piece of good news and an earnest advice. For 
the last four months no reader of The Cottage Gar¬ 
dener has written for private information—a most grati¬ 
fying fact to all of us. The advice refers to very humble 
cottagers who write occasionally to ask to see gardens, 
or to get a son or brother introduced to large gardens, 
or, indeed, about any private affair; the reason why 
such letters are never answered is, that no stamped 
envelope accompanies the request, cottagers thinking it 
291 
would be insulting great people to pay such letters. If 
you ask the Lord Chancellor for advice be sure to send 
a stamped envelope. D. Beaton. 
GREENHOUSE AND WINDOW 
GARDENING. 
Raising Plants from Exotic Seeds. —Having pro¬ 
mised to refer to some matters a fortnight ago, and find¬ 
ing no room to do so last week, I return to them once \ 
more now, though all things considered it is not the 
most opportune period for doing so. Of all times spring 
is the best for the sowing of exotic seeds, with which we 
are not well acquainted, as then there is, in most cases, 
plenty of time for getting the young plants strong and 
hardy before winter. But on that account, merely, I 
would not defer the sowing of seeds received during July 
and August, as early germinating ones will yet be suffi¬ 
ciently strong to stand tbe winter, with a little extra 
attention; and those which will require several months 
to germinate, will not be in a condition to do so until 
the shortest days are past. 
The first requisite to practical success, is the receiving 
the seeds sound, undiminished as little as possible in their 
vital energies. This matter should be explained to every 
friend whom you may commission to send seeds to you 
from abroad. Heat, moisture, and air, are the essentials 
for a healthy germination. The very opposite of these, 
an uniform low temperature, dryness, exclusion from air, 
and in the present case,more especially, if changeable in 
its hygrometric qualities, and I may add absence from 
the direct rays of the sunbeam, are essential to the pro^ 
longed vitality of seeds. True, in nature, one or more 
of these circumstances may be present, and yet the seed 
retain its vitality. Thus, seeds raised from great depths 
in the earth, where they bad a sufficiency of moisture 
and even of heat, germinated only when exposed to the 
air and its oxygen. We can expect no such result in 
our seed packages. If moisture and heat gets at them, 
air will get too; and sudden transitions, from heat to 
cold, from moisture to dryness, and vice versa, will soon 
settle the whole affair, and render our labour in tending 
the seedlings small indeed. The danger is slight when, 
however great the distance, the space traversed is con¬ 
fined to a similar latitude : it is only a little increased 
when taken at once from a hot latitude to a colder one, 
and from a colder to a hot one. In these cases wrap¬ 
ping the seeds in several folds of strong brown paper, 
and then suspending them in a canvass bag in a cool 
airy place where moisture is not likely to reach them, 
will generally be sufficient. But such precautions will 
not be safe when the extremes are not only great and 
sudden, but repeated; such as sending seeds from 
climates similar to our own, from China and India, | 
round the Cape of Good Hope, thus passing twice j 
through the tropics. In these circumstances, the seeds 
must be enclosed in a good non-absorbing-of-moisture, 
and a good non-conducting-of-heat substance; and for 
this nothing has been found better than packing the 
seeds in a wooden box, and enclosing that box in one 
or two more, leaving several inches between them, and | 
cramming the interstices with oven-dried clay or pounded j 
charcoal. As a further security, the seeds may remain 
in their nuts or shells, provided these are properly dried 
before packing. 
The seeds being sound, the principal stimulus to 
their germination is heat. Whatever be the temperature 
in which the plant rejoices, a little more heat may be 
safely given to promote germination, and more espe¬ 
cially when the seeds are either old, or brought from a 
great distance. Even the seeds of many hardy plants 
will bear a strong heat with impunity, and the seedlings 
will be little the worse, if, as soon as they are up, they 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
