August 25. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
401 
Lawn, Flower-Garden, and Shrubbery. — When 
last 1 saw these, a man was rolling the lawn to disperse 
the clow, that it might sooner be fit for walking on; 
another was picking up any stray leaf upon the walks; 
ancl a third, with a large sponge, was drying up, on 
the paths, the water that had been left from a copious 
syringing of the bouses in the morning. If there was 
less attention to some of these minutiae on the present 
occasion, we do not think that the general effect was at 
all injured. I could fancy how fine the masses and 
clumps of shrubbery had been—supplied with splendid 
groups of the best kinds of Rhododendrons, with wide 
open glades of velvet turf between them. Mr. Manning 
showed us a patriarch Solarium crispum, covering a 
large space, and producing innumerable flowers. It was 
the same plant, though moved from its first position, 
that Mr. Phillips had taken me to see, some sixteen 
yeai s ago, as the finest out-door plant of that Solatium 
then in England. 
Mr. Manning here pointed out to me one of those 
clevei adaptations of ground scenery which combine 
into “ a unity of expression,” what would, otherwise, 
have been associated with the discordant in taste, or the 
limited in extent. At the south side of the pleasure- 
ground was a sloping bank, cropped with vegetables ; 
at the bottom of it a dell, planted with Spruce firs; 
beyond these, separated by a fence, the public road, by 
which we had passed; and on the other side the ground 
sloped upwards, until the eye rested on a line meadow, 
or park, on the same level as the platform on which 
the house and pleasure-grounds were situated. Now, 
the boundary of the pleasure-ground was so planted, the 
Spruce trees were so prevented obtruding their spire-like 
tops, to suggest anything like a boundary line, or an 
obstruction to the view, that, as you walked through the 
flower beds on the lawn, you could not but take the 
park-like ground referred to as part of the premises, or 
separated from the more dressed part by an invisible 
wire fence, or something of that kind ; and if not 
actually pointed out to you, the vegetable bank, the 
trees and the road, would, so far as you were concerned, 
have had no existence. 
The lawn was, perhaps, rather liberally and regularly 
supplied with largish beds, filled to overflowing with 
luxuriant plants in full bloom, such as Ayer at urns ; a 
good white ‘Petunia; Fl o wer-of-the-Day Geranium; my 
old favourite, Kentish Hero, Calceolaria, in full feather, 
without a diseased leaf. A splendid bed of the (Eno- 
them maerocarpa, quite dazzling with its laige yellow 
flowers; another bed of Lobelia grantlijlora ; plenty of 
Scarlet Geraniums, and various kinds of Calceolarias, 
and some fine old plants of Punch in baskets. Verbenas, 
with the exception of Barherii (which seems to have 
done badly almost everywhere this season) were in fine 
condition, and chiefly arranged in a group of small beds 
by themselves. Now, this very group seemed to strike 
a keynote as to how the flower-beds might be changed; 
I will not say improved, for the whole thing is very 
beautiful. Imagine a very neat, small mansion, with 
a pretty conservatory at its east end, and the boundary 
of offices and kitchen garden at the west end. Close 
to the western end is the entrance to the garden- 
front of the mansion, and thence proceeds the main 
gravel-walk. In the middle of the building is a large 
bay-window, commanding the sweep of the whole of 
the flower-beds, backed as these are with the masses of 
shrubs, with bold glades of turf between. Now, 
the question is, whether it would be better to leave 
the beds as they are — largish in size, with cor¬ 
responding widths of turf between, or to have the 
beds individually smaller, and placed closer toge¬ 
ther in several separate groups, which would thus 
permit of bolder and wider glades of turf between 
them. For instance, some might wish a group near the 
window—well, this would permit of a space of open turf 
on each side, and, considerably farther on, another 
group might be placed right and left. Or, again, others 
might wish to have a wide, winding glade of velvet 
ttn-f opposite the window, and, in this case, the groups 
might be arranged on either side, and so as to give a 
bold outline, without uniformity or tameness. 1 hope 
all parties will p.ardon these remarks, as questions on 
these matters I find to he very puzzling. The whole 
affair wants ventilating. In opposition to some of my 
friends, I am of opinion, that in grouping beds with 
separate colours, the beds should not be far apart. 
Here, the contrasting or blending of colour should be 
the chief object. I would have the green chiefly en¬ 
joyed in open spaces and glades by itself. 
Rosary. —This is large, but the beauty was gone. 
Starting with a circle, the narrow beds are arranged 
one after the other in the circular form, with gravel 
paths between, thus affording room for a great many 
plants in the space, and an opportunity of easily exa¬ 
mining them individually. 
Preserving Currants on the Bushes. —-This mode, 
adopted by Mr. Phillips, is still persevered in. Mr. 
Manning says they keep good until Christmas, and often 
later. A slight circular frame of iron is formed, large 
enough to stand over the bush; this is neatly sur¬ 
rounded with gauze netting. A tin or zinc lid, some¬ 
what raised in the centre, like one for a large copper, 
covers the top, and projects an inch or so over the edge. 
r l his admits of easily examining and gathering, and 
keeps the fruit dry. The gauze admits plenty of air, 
and yet prevents even a small fly intruding. How soon 
would the annual outlay for mats, &c., for such a pur¬ 
pose, amount to the first cost of such convenient articles, 
and yet, after all, make but a sorry substitute. There 
are many penny savings the reverse of economy. 
_ Houses —-These, whatever may have been the ori¬ 
ginal intention with respect to them, are all obliged to 
take their turn as plant-houses. I have mentioned for¬ 
merly, somewhere, how they used to clothe the back 
walls of these fruit-houses. In a peach-house, trees 
right up the glass, were some fine old greenhouse plants 
against the wall; and when the leaves of the peach 
fall, the house becomes a greenhouse. A vinery was 
ornamented with Camellias, well set for buds, on the 
wall, and this, too, was only a tributary to the plant 
departments. 
Plants. —The Lantana crocea was used very success¬ 
fully in the flower garden as a bedding plant, though in 
this exposed place I have been beaten with it several 
times. Chinese Chrysanthemums: there was a long row 
of these, in largish pots, plunged in coal ashes, close to 
a shaded south wall, all raised from cuttings in spring, 
each with three or more shoots one foot or fifteen inches 
in length, already neatly tied out, and the leaves so 
healthy and fine as not to leave a doubt as to their 
splendour in the beginning of winter. As soon as the 
nights get cold, a shelter from the top of the wall will 
be provided for them. Compelled to let this tribe alone 
for a season, I felt anything but like Reynard and the 
grapes, in looking at that beautiful row of plants. The 
conservatory was showy with Achimeues and Liliums; 
among the latter, macranthum seemed to be richer and 
finer than the older rubrum. In the same house was a 
fine basket of Stanhopea oculata, with seven large 
bunches of flowers. On the roof of a small stove, 
Bignonia venusta was showing signs of soon being a 
mass of bloom. In one house was a beautiful plant of 
Azalea variegata, in a large pot, but the pot next to hid 
by the dependent branches; the plant some five feet 
through in diameter, and from three to four feet in i 
height. Such a plant could neither be moved nor turned 
easily, so it has been furnished with a small stand for 
itself, and the top of it supplied with a pivot circular 1 
