78 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
May 5. 
establish a compost heap, for which a nook must be set 
apart. Here may be drawn together, in a piecemeal way, 
any turfy materials, or scraps, which at any time may come 
to hand, such as turfy road parings, ditchings, pond clean¬ 
ings, and anything of a strong vegetable fibre, or soils of a 
somewhat adhesive character. Such materials will occa¬ 
sionally come to hand, and should be eagerly stored up; 
and when a few loads are got together, some coarse mammal 
and vegetable matters may be turned amongst it, and then 
the whole ridged up to keep out rains. This, with a little 
age, will chop down in a mellow condition, and will con¬ 
stitute a material adapted to all the needs of an orchard, 
whether as top-dressing, or to assist in making “stations”— 
a practice hereafter to be detailed. 
As in the enclosed garden, so in the orchard, especially 
where a dwarfing system is pursued, it is of immense im¬ 
portance to have plenty of water at hand; and it will he, in 
many cases, possible to establish a little pond or pit in one 
corner, into which all drainages may, if possible, he made 
to empty. 
Lastly, let us advise that the most particular regard be 
paid to a thorough drainage of the orchard site before any 
operations take place — that is to say, provided any be 
necessary, and they most frequently are. Although most of 
our fruits rejoice in a somewhat adhesive soil, 1 do not 
know one which delights in a stagnant soil. Even the 
Black Currant, which so requires moisture, will fail in an 
unreclaimed boggy soil, or a strong loam with a wet bottom; 
and where this fails as to moisture, there exists not a single 
doubt as to the certain failure of all other fruits but the 
Cranberry. 
The improvement of the staple or texture of the soil, 
about which so much was said when dealing with the subject 
of the kitchen and fruit-garden combined, is a matter 
which can scarcely be entertained in the majority of ordinary 
orchard cases, for several reasons. The site of a kitchen- 
garden is often a forced affair. Most persons, in establishing 
a new homestead, make the position of the kitchen or 
fruiLgarden subordinate — its site is seldom a matter of 
selection as to soil; and in re-arranging matters connected 
with an established residence, a similar course is pursued. 
But with those who contemplate planting an orchard such 
ties seldom exist. A choice of soil generally presents itself, 
and surely no person would think of stepping out of his 
w r ay to establish an orchard on a site so ungenial, that there 
could be little probability of the necessary outlay being repaid. 
I shall shortly have to show how “ Stations ” requisite 
for fruit-trees may be made; and as this proceeding is 
equally applicable to the kitchen-garden and orchard, I 
need not here enlarge on the subject. 
R. Ebrinoton. 
MEETING OE THE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY, 
20xh April, 1853. 
I visited Covent Garden to-day again, before the meeting ; 
also Mr. Stevens’s sale of fancy poultry, where the spangled 
Polands were put up and hammered down in Mr. 
Stevens’s best style, at from 30s. to 10s. a-piece, faster than 
I can write about it. The next breed was the Silver- 
spangled Hamburghs, and one pretty little hen was up to 
32s. just as I was leaving the room, and, if the bidding wont 
at the same rate as for Polands, for two minutes longer, this 
bird would come to about rive guineas. 
In the market, “ wedding bouquets are made to order,” but 
I did not see any wedding nosegay ready-made to-day; 
indeed they are frail things to be kept as a stock on hand, 
being now made of the purest and most delicate white 
flowers ; they are best “ picked in the sunlight which first 
falls on the bride." The style of making nosegays is fast 
improving in Covent Garden, but still you see some there 
that are put together most outrageously bad. The best 
made nosegay that 1 saw in the market this spring was in 
the quartered style. This is, by far, the easiest kind to 
make; and two colours, or two kinds of flowers, will make 
as good a show in it as twelve or twenty kinds of flowers will 
do in any other kind of nosegay. A double white Camellia 
for the centre : but let us have it so that all may under¬ 
stand the make and shape. 
Suppose a parasol stretched open and placed between two 
tables thatstood just one inch apart: the ends of the ribs would 
rest on the tables, and the handle would hang down between 
them, and out of sight. The diameter across the bottom is a 
matter of taste and convenience *, it may be six inches, but not 
less, and it may be two feet six inches, or more or less, down - 
to the six-inch bottom. The best in the market was about 
eight inches with flowers, two inches more with the leaves 
under the flowers, or guards, and three more inches w ith the 
fringe of fancy cut paper, on which the nosegays rest. 
The fancy paper thus used in the shops should never he 
used in the drawing-rooms, nothing but the flowers and 
guard leaves being admissible where good taste reigns. 
The rise of these nosegays, from the level of the tables to 
the crown of the parasol, is only three inches, and that is 
too much for the diameter. Where the handle passes | 
through is called the centre or top, and there a large white 
Camellia is placed, and there must be a handle to this flower 
as well as to a parasol, and it is hy means of this handle in 
the middle that all the other flowers are kept in their exact 
places; from the top of the pax-asol, six ribs spread out at 
equal distances, these ribs are show'll on the nosegay in a 
single row of white flowers for each rib, and, at this season, 
single or double white Hyacinths are used for individual 
flowers or pips, in a row just touching one another; the 
spaces between the libs or rows of white flowers are called 
quarters, and all the quarters are filled in with Double blue 
Violets, or singe blue ones, as regularly placed as tiles on a 
house. Then there is a row of the leaves of the Ruse-scented 
Geranium round the bottom, and projecting just one inch 
beyond the flowers, and this simple contrivance with these 
very simple and very common flowers, looks as rich, and 
contrast as well as any set of flowers ever did, or ever will 
do. There is nothing else in flowers that I can think of 
just now that would answer better, supposing that Jimbriata 
was the white Camellia used. The next best contrast in a 
quartered nosegay of one ground colour like this, would be 
ribs of the Black Hyacinth called Prince Albert, and the 
quarters of pure white flowers; but then there is not a 
flower in creation to do for the centre, unless you choose a 
small dark Dahlia; there is not a Rose dark enough, and 
indeed no dark flower would come up to our idea of a virgin 
nosegay, therefore, we must use a neutral colour; the best 
Camellia for that is the variegated one called Albertus; then 
the centre and ribs are of Prince Albert; and if you rill the 
quarters all round with the Queen Victoria fancy Geranium, 
you will have as royal and as loyal a nosegay as any of Her 
Majesty’s loyal subjects. 
At Regent Street, I found the room more than crowded, 
and a large portion of the Fellows had to stand all the time. 
The room was gay with spring flowers, but nothing very 
new, nor out of the common, except a large dish of ripe To¬ 
matoes from Algiers—the first dish of ripe fruit of this kind 
I ever saw in the spring. There was nothing stated as to ! 
how the plants were managed, and so on, and very likely 
many went away with the idea that the Tomatoes—the 
common sort—were the growth of this season, which they cer- i 
tainly were not. The plants were grown, and the fruit was up ■ 
to its full size last autumn; but the ripening may have been : 
the work of ’53; at any rate, for those who like them fresh 
and fresh all the winter, .and as long as they can, for making i 
messes of them in the kitchen, it is a comfort they can 1 
have them so, if they choose to pay for them; and a greater i 
comfort still, that all the world are not obliged to taste the 
compounds. Very good green Peas; fine, short, dumpy 
early Carrots; Artichoke heads; crisp Lettuce, and juicy 
Radishes; small, long, green Asparagus, and very large, 
white, “ drumstick” Asparagus, all from abroad, and shown 
by Mr. Solomons, of Covent Garden, who has had the state 
of the market, in these respects, well represented before the 
Society all this winter, very much to the advantage of all 
parties: the Fellows seeing in their own room, in Regent 
Street, what was in season, and could be ordered from, Mr. 
Solomons for large party dinners—nothing like killing two 
birds with one stone all the world over, with or without : 
a prize. * 
Mr. Davies, of Oak Hill, East Barnet, sent a large dish of 
beautiful Black Hambro' Grapes, and Mr. Fish, of our green¬ 
houses and gardens, sent a dish of fine forced Strawberries, : 
with a letter telling how he “did” them—always a good j 
