CO 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
April 28. 
500 open flowers on it; and I have seen it in good hands 
not nine inches high, and with only five flowers on a shoot, 
and only two shoots to the plant in three years ; very strong 
clay land, that is not too wet, seems to suit it best. 
The single and double White Wood Anemone make nice 
low patches for the front of borders, and, in light soil, in¬ 
crease very fast by underground roots; and the Yellow Wood 
Anemone is nearly as gay and bright as Pilewort ( Ficaria 
verna,) flowering at the end of the spring. This is a native 
of England, and is very scarce indeed; if it were from the 
other side of the globe, no one could live without it. Then 
the different Portuguese Anemones (A. palmata,) single 
and double, yellow, and also white, are not half so much 
grown as they ought to be. 
The Aquilegias, or Columbines, form another class of 
hardy perennials, some of which are good enough for the 
best flower borders in the kingdom, and some for shrubbery 
borders, as the endless varieties of Aquilegia vulgaris, or the 
common Columbines, which require little care besides sowing 
the seeds in the autumn, or early in the spring, and to allow 
head room for the plants, also to save seeds from the most 
approved varieties only. In the north of Scotland, in my 
younger days, we had more good Columbines in one garden 
than one can see now in an English parish. Even now, a 
nurseryman near Forres, Mr. Grigor, supplies the English 
market annually with one of the prettiest herbaceous plants 
we cultivate, the Aquilegia glandulosa, or, as Sir Joseph 
Paxton puts it, “the admirable glandulosa,” and Dr. Lindley 
gives it a title still higher. The flowers are blue and white. 
Then the newer one called S/cinneri, from Guatemala, is as 
pretty a border plant as need be. The nectarian spur is 
longer than in any of the older ones, highly-coloured, and 
the stamens pushing out in front of the flower give it a 
peculiar character. Whoever would take the necessary pains 
to cross this with other good sorts would be rewarded, if 
the very best herbaceous plants could be forced on the 
attention of amateurs. The old A. canadense is even worth 
growing for its coming into flower a month or six weeks 
before the usual time for them. Rich, light, dry soil, and a 
good depth of it, suits the best of them, and then they must 
be kept often renewed by seeds and by dividing the root 
stock. A. formosa, arctica, and grandijlora, are nearly as good 
as glandulosa, and easier to keep ; and there are some good 
seedling varieties in the trade, but the names are in con¬ 
fusion. 
Where is there a better plant, early in the season, than 
Pentslemou scouleri , just now coming into flower ? It is not 
new, however, nor a bedder, therefore what is the use of it! 
The Campanulas are most numerous, and some of them 
would really make florists’ flowers ; but, except the blue and 
white carpatica, and the smaller blue and white pumila and 
pulla for bits of rock-work, one would need to travel to 
some out-of-the-way cottager even to learn the names of 
such beautiful things as Campanula persicifolia, blue and 
white, double and single; pulcherima, medium, (or Canter¬ 
bury-bells,) glomcrata, blue and white, double and single, 
with several others which do not now occur to me. 
The large red Eastern Poppy with a black eye, Papaver 
bracleatum, is not only one of the showiest when done well, 
but a regular bedder, if one could get so many of it, but it 
can only be divided at the roots. 
Seeds of all the best Dianlhuses can be had, and most of 
them are very showy on borders and on rock-work, par¬ 
ticularly the varieties of hispanievs, which are sold in col¬ 
lections. Sown in May, and planted out any time from 
September to April. 
Sanguinaria canadensis is now in bloom without the leaves, 
and is one of the very oldest and prettiest of our spring 
flowers. The leaves will come soon, and are soon over, long 
before the summer is, and it only requires to have the large 
tuberous roots to be divided every three or four years, and 
to be planted in warm borders. 
As very opposite plants for roekwork, or the front of 
borders, we have only to mention spring Phloxes, as verna, 
nivalis, suhulula, and setacea, Snponaria ocymoides, Scutellaria 
alpina, Erinus alpinus, Soldanella alpinu, Aubrietia purpurea 
and deltoUlea, Omphalodes verna, Dryas oclopelala, from the 
dry hill sides in Scotland; Corydalis nobilis, llamondia pere- 
naica, Gnaphalium arenarium, Stalice lartarica, lati/olia, and 
bellidifolia, Sedum hexangularc, populifoUum, and rupestre. 
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I 
I 
All of these ought to be as common as anything, and as 
cheap as old roses; none of them are bad to keep— provided 
—and this is the grand secret for rock plants— that the soil 
under them is not less than eighteen inches in depth, all above 
the common level of the surrounding ground, and as high 
above that as any body chooses to go; that the leaves or 
stems do not touch the soil, the “rocks” being placed on 
purpose to guard against that. The open spaces between 
the rocks ought to be covered with loose stones, and plenty 
of them, so that the rock-plants are neither splashed with 
mud in showery weather, nor exposed, at the roots, to hot 
sunshine—the rocks and boulders (gravel stones) being on 
purpose to guard against all that. Another condition, inse¬ 
parable from the well-being of rock-plants, is, that the roots 
from neighbouring trees are not allowed to reach the rock- 
work ; for if they do, not a single one of the plants here 
named will ever do the least good whatever in any such 
rock-work. 
The following little trailing shrubs, or half-shrubby plants, 
are very suitable for rock-work, and for giving it a kind of 
clothed appearance during the winter:— Daphne cneorvm. 
Genista triquetra and saxatilis, Juniperus nana and. prostrata, 
Pernettya phillyreafolia and pilosa, Berberis empetrifulia. Ar¬ 
butus vva-ursi, Cotoneaster marginata and microphylla, Iberis , 
sempervirens, and as many varieties of Rock-rose, or Heli- ' 
unthemum, as one can get. All and every one of these are 
very easy to keep ; all of them will root from layers, with a 
nice flat stone placed over the tonguing to keep it cool. 
Some, as the Cotoneasters and Iberis, will come free enough 
from cuttings, and they are all cheap and plentiful, except, 
perhaps, the Rock-rose and the uva-ursi. D. Deaton. 
NEGLECTED GREENHOUSE. 
, (Contintied from page II.) 
Potting. —All cuttings, all seedlings, should be pricked- 
out as soon as they are rooted and handleable. Otherwise, 
when the surface gets caked, they are apt to damp off there. 
When the plants are not thick in the seed-pan, this may be 
prevented by breaking the surface-soil with a sharp-pointed 
stick. In potting, drainage must be secured; and this is 
greatly helped by placing a little green moss between the 
draining material and the soil. To obtain early bloom, 
small pots must be used. When rapid growth is desirable 
put the soil in rather loosely; when early blooming is 
wanted, pack it firmly round the roots. Study what was said 
on Strawberries the other week. A gardener stirs the 
ground round a cabbage-plant to make it grow ; he might 
have saved himself much of the toil, if an early flower-stalk 
Avas his object. When potting plants that are to remain in 
the pots a number of months Avithout being expected to 
bloom, Ave pot rather lightly, knowing that before that time 
the standing and Avatering Avill have given firmness. As a 
general rule, do not repot when plants are slioAving bloom : 
the check is apt to injure it. It is better to supply extra 
nourishment by manure-waterings. 
Watering. —Never do this unless AAdien required, and then 
soak every part of the roots. Unless in the case of plants 
of little value, do not allow plants to stand in saucers of 
water, unless they relish marshy treatment, such as many 
of the Mimidus, and the old ( 'alia Ethiopian. Vigour and 
cleanliness will be promoted by syringing the foliage in an 
afternoon, and shutting-up the house afteiwards. Frequent 
light, dusting syringings are better than heavy ones, which 
are apt to deceive you in the waterings: nothing being more 
prejudicial to a plant than having its soil and roots satu¬ 
rated for one inch or so in depth, Avliile the remaining part 1 
of the roots and soil are dry; thousands of plants perish 
from this cause alone. The cottager sprinkles the surface 
of his onion-bed Avitli a fine-rosed Avatering-pot for a number 
of evenings after sunny days, and Avonders Iioav they do not 
grow amazingly; the progress being in a wrong direction. 
He encouraged the protrusion of surface-roots, to be 
scorched Avitli the following day’s sun, Avhile the damping 
and caking of the surface had clogged up the pump-valve 
sucker of capillary action, Avliicli Avould have raised moisture 
from beneath to supply the mass of roots, so long as there 
Avas any moisture betAveen them and the antipodes. The 
dribbling surface av ate rings are even more destructive to 
