13 i 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
May 26. 
aud moral matters, the standard of our ambition can 
never be too high. As respects social success, there is 
truth in the old adage, that “ he who strives for a silk 
cloak, will probably, at least, get a sleeve.” But when 
we come into contact with the physical laws of nature, 
every inordinate expectation can only be followed by its 
proportionate damping disappointment. To avoid such 
a result, which often too effectually chills enthusiasm, 
we would merely moderate this general aspiration by 
leading it in a safe practicable channel. Something in this 
way will be done, if our friends will bear in mind that, 
as a general rule, plants can eat, digest, and assimilate 
their food, so as to add fresh matter to their substauee, 
only in good light. Hence the importance of knew ing 
not so much the size of rooms and houses, as the quui- 
tity of glass, and its relation to the cardinal points. 
Plants may be kept in windows with a north aspect, 
and they will stand there when in bloom for a long 
period ; but few will continue healthy if kept there alto¬ 
gether. Hence, again, the importance of so arranging 
the plants that the one does not shade the other, but 
the leaves of all are fully exposed to light and air. 
Hence, again, the necessity, when quantity must be 
had, of keeping the plants in rather a small state during 
winter; growing them on, by giviug them more room 
in spring; by taking some to other windows, or, what 
is better still, nursing them on, to be placed or planted 
out-of-doors in summer, where they will reward their 
cultivator with a luxuriance and beauty which few, 
without great care, would attain either inside or outside 
of the window-sill if kept in the common pots and 
saucers. 
The craving for variety beyond conveniences for them 
is by no means confined to young amateurs. It is \ 
spreading its influence over the more experienced; 
and professional gardeners are forced to bend before a 
stream which they find themselves unable to resist, 
contenting themselves if they are able to control it a 
little, instead of being entirely at its mercy. Where, in 
places of limited extent, shall we find the old-fashioned 
greenhouse, in which we might be sure to find, at certain 
seasons, certain plants stei'eotyped, as it were, in their 
places, and, for the time, commanding the chief and 
almost sole attention? The thirst for cut flowers; the 
desire for plants in bloom; the demand for filling some 
scores or hundreds of beds out-of-doors, in summer, with 
half-hardy exotics, are sweeping away old fashions and 
old customs, and making our plant-houses, winter stores, 
and preservatories of quantity, as well as scenes for 
exhibiting the skilful and the tasteful in gardening. 
Both of these objects are generally demanded—good 
individual specimens, with plenty of inferior individu¬ 
alities, for massing and grouping; and without now 
stopping to inquire into the greater pleasure derived 
from all of these new modes, or investigating into the 
additional encouragement, conveniences, and assistance, 
afforded to professionals, there can be no question that 
if labour be sweet, a fair portion of it is now realized by 
feet, hands, and brains. If a gardener does get gouty and 
rheumatic, it is not in general from the want of having 
enough to do. In such circumstances, he comes to 
look upon the warm days of April and May as his best 
friends, as then he can get bis half-hardy plants,, and 
the hardiest of his stationary greenhouse plants out-of- 
doors, or under shelter for a time. 
“Aye, that is just the notch of the matter,” says one 
amateur. “ I got my bedding plants, last year, scorched 
and frosted by turns in April and May; aud what is 
more vexing, after choosing a sunny day to remove 
some Cytisuses, Acacias, and others, which you say may 
be moved early out-of-doors, the foliage got so blistered 
and scorched, that it has taken the best part of a twelve- 
month to restore them. And then, again, to make room 
for more summer beauties, I made a place for Epacrises, 
and winter-blooming Heaths, upon a north border, 
and though they looked healthy enough, they have 
given me no fine wreaths of bloom this season. I wish 
I could have kept them all under glass, as I used to do, 
when I grew fewer things.” A second amateur tells us 
that his plants have been driven and tossed by winds 
and rains, and that even the mats and poles he supplied 
for protection, had only, with their lashing and sweeping, 
added to the effect of rendering them tattered and torn. 
And a third, complaining not only of all these, but 
enquires by what management he may enjoy his 
Geraniums and Fuchsias, out-of-doors in summer, and 
devote his glass then to vines, tender annuals, &c. ? We 
will endeavour to give a few directions to meet these 
different wishes and varying circumstances. 
lstly.—It is an error to choose a sunny day for re¬ 
moving good specimen plants from the Greenhouse. A 
dull, warm, and even a dripping day is preferable. In 
the first case, the assimilating and perspiring powers of 
the plant would be at its height. In the second, they 
would be languid; and a better opportunity would thus 
be afforded for enabling them to suit themselves to their 
fresh situation. 
2ndly.—In most cases, it is desirable, at first, to give 
the plants a shady situation, or so to place them that a 
screen can be thrown over them to protect them from 
the influence of a powerful sun. The correctness of 
this practice will be evident, if it be recollected that the 
finest glass intercepts many rays of light, aud lessens 
perspiration from the foliage, while, very likely, the 
transmission of light was further blunted by a canvass 
blind, or other artificial means. Everything like sudden 
changes should be avoided. Many amateurs, and 
young gardeners, are slow to learn this. They will 
keep plants in a cold, airy shed for hours, after taking 
them out of a comfortable pit, or house, where all the 
attendant circumstances were so different. We have often 
thought, when such cultivators were wondering how 
a plant would get sickly, diseased, and insect-covered, 
and woe-begone, that the explanation would burst upon 
them, if they themselves were placed in a similar cold 
position, after being snatched, undressed, from among 
the bed-clothes. Had Plants a voice, what tales of 
wrongs they would unfold! 
3rdly.—It is desirable to remove the hai'diest first, 
such as Genista, Cytisus, Acacia, winter and spring j 
