May 5. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER 
81 
short side-shoots from two to three inches in length, taken 
off your old plants, or from better kinds of a neighbour’s, 
inserted in sandy soil, a bell-glass placed over them, and 
kept shaded from bright sun until they had struck, would 
furnish nice plants for blooming in September. 
Verbenas.— Follow a similar plan to that recommended 
for Geraniums, only making two lots instead of three. Let 
the first remain in small four or six-inch pots to bloom 
early. I have had showy plants in three-inch pots. The 
other lot, not planted out-of-doors, stop, and shift on, until 
they fill six ,or nine-inch pots, and are neatly trained out 
with small twigs, or are fastened to a flat, next to invisible, 
trellis, and so placed that you can look down upon the 
plants, and then using open, light, rich soil, giving the 
plants plenty of air and light, enough of water at the root, 
and plenty of the syringe over the foliage, you will obtain 
flowers such as can rarely be seen under out-door culture. 
The water must not touch the flowers. Two or three plants 
of the same kind may be put in one pot, and thus a good 
display sooner obtained. When the large plants come into 
bloom the small plants may he removed, or pruned, re¬ 
potted, kept out-of-doors, and then brought in as the others 
begin to fade. With this tribe alone, and your plants now 
small, a rich and fine effect may be produced from May to 
the middle of October. Except after potting the plants 
must have no shade, and abundance of air to keep them 
healthy and stubby. Damping the floor and shelves often 
will greatly assist all the plants mentioned. These kinds 
alone may thus he made to present a very gay appearance. 
Balsams.— See a late article. Sown in the greenhouse, 
potted off when threff or four inches high, shaded a little, 
and shifted again into six-inch pots, will yield stubby, 
strong plants, such as with difficulty can be obtained by 
hotbed coddling. 
Lobelia.— Small-flowering blue kinds. As much seed as 
would lie on the point of the finest quill would be enough 1 
of any of them. Gracilis , Erinus maximus, are trailing- 1 
stemmed ones ; ramosa has large flowers, and is upright in 
its growth; ramosa rosea is similar in habit. These would 
bloom in July and August. 
Nemo phil a insignis and maculata.— These bloom beau¬ 
tiful^ in spring and autumn, but do not stand the summer 
well without a little shade. They should he sown thinly in 
a six-inch pot, and then thinned out to one or three plants. 
I haye had the first of these (one of the very best hardy 
annuals we possess) fine in a house in summer so treated, 
but the pot was placed inside of a larger one, the space 
between stuffed with moss, then set in a saucer of water, 
and this moss kept moist, and no water whatever applied at 
the surface of the pot containing the plant. Sown in Sep¬ 
tember, it would bloom splendily from March to May; and 
who does not love its beautiful flowers ? 
Collinsia bicolor. —This hardy annual sown now will 
bloom in two months. Sown in October, there are few 
tilings more splendid in a house during the spring months. 
Mignonette and Virginian Stock will come much earlier 
than out-of-doors. The second will be in bloom in six 
| weeks, and is sweet and pretty; and who admires not the 
first ? Sow in August and September for plants to bloom in 
March, April, and -May. 
Brachycome iberidifolia, a beautiful blue annual, too 
tender to thrive in most places out-of-doors. 
Salvia patens.— This, sown now, will yield its fine blue 
flowers in August and September. 
Salpiglossis.— This is a beautifully-marked group, too 
tender for most places out of-doors. Sown now, shaded and 
protected a little after being pricked out, three or four in a 
four-inch pot, and again separated, it will bloom from the 
end of July to the end of September. 
Petunias, Schizanthus , and Maurandya, of sorts, Aua- 
gallis indica, Knulfussia amelloides, Celsia urticij'olia, Nie- 
remberyia gracilis , will bloom in the end of summer and 
autumn. 
I Small Mesembryanthemums, such as cordifolium, crystal- 
linum, and tricolor , are interesting low-growing succulents, 
that would bloom in the end of summer. London inter¬ 
mediate stocks would bloom late in autumn; but this, as 
well as many mentioned, are best sown in autumn for early 
spring and summer display. R. Fish. 
-.—— 
1 _ 
THE POLYANTHUS. 
{Continued from page 02.) 
Winter Treatment. —This commences about the end of 
October. Our readers will remember that in the last 
number I recommended a more open situation for the latter 
months of summer, or, rather, autumn From that situation 
they must now be removed into their winter quarters. 
As I remarked before, the Polyanthus is more hardy than 
the Auricula, and, consequently, where there is a tolerably 
large collection, they will do better if kept in a separate 
frame, where they can have more air given to them, and 
rather less protection from frost. I have had the pots so 
hard frozen that they could scarcely be lifted up, and yet 
the plants did not suffer any injury, but flowered well the 
spring following. The care necessary is, to place them upon 
a bed of coal ashes, sufficiently thick to prevent worms j 
boring through it and entering the pots. At the time they 
are placed under the frame let each pot and plant be exa¬ 
mined. If the pots are green and dirty they should be 
clean washed, the hole at the bottom of the pot should be 
examined, to see that it is quite open to allow the super¬ 
fluous water to run off freely ; the soil on the surface should 
be stirred, and all weeds and moss cleared away, and a thin 
top-dressing of fresh soil put on, every decayed or decaying 
leaf removed, and then the plants will look clean and 
healthy, and show they are cared for as they ought to be. 
When they are all cleaned and put in good order place 
them in the frame. If the leaves project over the edge of 
the pots, let them stand at such a distance from each other 
that the leaves of one plant do not touch the leaves of the 
others surrounding it. In the winter months they require 
very little water;—only just enough to prevent them flagging. 
I had almost forgotten to direct an examination of the 
labels or tallies, to see that they are all legible, and likely 
to keep so till spring ; should they be illegible, or nearly so, 
renew them at once. Should the weather be very severe, 
that is during hard frost, protect them every night with a 
covering of double mats, or, with what I prefer, good water¬ 
tight wooden covers. This covering, though rather expen¬ 
sive at first, is the cheapest in the end, and is much more 
tidy than any other material used for this purpose. 
Properties of a good Polyanthus. —The plant should 
be healthy; the foliage large and abundant; the stem should 
be stout enough to bear the truss well up above the leaves, 
which should cover the pot, and rise up in the centre; from 
the centre of the leaves the stem should rise; the truss 
should consist of at least five flowers, and the footstalks of 
each flower should be able to support each bloom level with 
the rest. Each flower, or pip, should be round and flat, 
neither inclined to cup or reflex. The pips should be 
divided, near the outermost edge, into segments ; each divi¬ 
sion, or segment, should be slightly indented or scolloped in 
the centre. Each flower should have a yellow centre, or 
eye ; in the centre of that there should appear a tube con¬ 
taining the anthers, but the pistil should not be seen. This 
yellow centre, including the tube, should be of the same 
width as the ground or body-colour, which colour should 
either bo a rich dark crimson or a bright red. Round this 
body-colour the margin, or lacing, should appear of an 
uniform width surrounding each petal, and continuing down 
the centre of each to the yellow eye. The colour of this 
lacing, or margin, should be uniform, whether it is sulphur, 
lemon colour, or clear yellow. 
LIST OF GOOD KINDS NOW IN COLLECTIONS. 
Alexander (Pearson), red ground; a good old sort. 
Argo (Kearsley), red ground; eye and lacing bright yellow; 
pips large; a new and fine variety. 
Beauty of England- (Maud), extra fine. 
Brilliant (Kearsley), red ground; pips medium size. 
Black Prince (Faulkners), dark ground; large pips. 
Coquette (Kearsley), dark ground; pips large; a late 
bloomer. 
Canary (Kearsley), dark ground; lemon edging; pips 
large. 
Duchess of Sutherland (Kearsley), dark ground; lacing 
light yellow; very fine and new. 
Defiance (Fletcher), extra fine flower. 
Duchess of Kent (Piggot), fine, and rather new. 
