THE COTTAGE GARDENER, July 17. 
their duties to the employed. But even in such eases, 
the man of open breasted integrity, if he does not 
obtain the free confidence of those naturally distrustful, 
will, at least, secure his own self-respect, and the 
sympathies and best wishes of all honourable men. If 
tiie gardener should be satisfied with the propriety of 
relinquishing such a situation, these sympathies will be 
most valuable in future ; and, provided he gives up his 
charge with prudent respectfulness, there will be no 
unpleasant associations to reflect upon. R. Fish. 
Unwise Retrenchment. —Wise retrenchment is the 
motto of our time. But unwise retrenchment is a folly 
as absolute as unwise extravagance. Is this latter never 
advocated by way of warning to the cautious how far 
they interfere with vested rights, and as a practical 
illustration of the danger of “opening the flood-gates?” 
A Melbourne paper, commenting on the new budget of 
the Australian colony, says:—“It is matter of regret 
that the retrenchment of the Government establishments 
has had reference to three officers of great importance 
to the colony. The reduction of the amount of grant 
to the Botanical Gardens, Melbourne, from L'4,192 to 
T2,000 will necessitate the abolition of the office of 
Government botanist, hitherto held by Dr. Muller, a 
gentleman whose scientific acquirements are of the 
highest order, and whose enthusiastic pursuit of the 
inquiries in which he was engaged had already secured, 
and promised yet more fully to secure, the most advan¬ 
tageous results for the colony and for science. The vote 
of T2,000 for the Museum of Economic Geology, and 
of a similar amount for the Museum of Natural History, 
is dropped from the amended estimates altogether. This 
will involve the abolition of the offices of Government 
Geologist, and of Curator of the Public Museum. Mr. 
Selwyn and Mr. Blandovvsld, the gentlemen who held 
these offices, have already done the colony good service, 
and the greatest benefits might have been anticipated 
from their exertions upon a field of usefulness so little 
explored as ours.”—We are not acquainted with all the 
circumstances which have led to the adoption of a 
budget likely to throw these public servants out of 
their employments; but we read in the Australian 
papers that public attention has been called to these 
reductions, and that Mr. Greeves, one of the Members 
for the city of Melbourne, has given notice of a motion 
which will bring the whole matter under the con¬ 
sideration of the Legislative Council.— (Athenamin.) 
PLANTS SUSPENDED IN BASKETS. 
{Continued from page 205.) 
Training and Watering -—I have great pleasure in 
resuming this interesting subject. I have had several 
letters from readers of The Cottage Gardener, ex¬ 
pressing the satisfaction the writers have felt that I 
have given to them by drawing the public attention to 
this mode of growing plants. My next division of the 
subject is Training and Watering Plants in Baskets, two 
important points in their culture. In reading over the 
last paper on this subject, I find, in giving directions 
on planting, that I have omitted one thing, and that is, 
the placing of more than one plant in a haslet. At the 
Crystal Palace, they have put in each several kinds of 
plants, such as one Maurandya; one Eccremocarpus; one 
Ivy-leaf Geranium ; one Cohea scandens; and one Nierem- 
hergia. Now, whoever wishes to grow them in such 
large baskets as those at the Crystal Palace, might with 
propriety adopt the same plan, with as many variations 
as the number of species the cultivator possesses will 
allow, and thus give a pleasing variety to the appearance 
of each. Small baskets, of course, should have only 
one plant in each, because, in such the quautity of soil 
would not be sufficient to support in health more than 
one plant. Medium-sized baskets might have two or 
three plants in them. In selecting the plauts, some 
attention should be given to vary the colour of the 
flowers and the leaves. This, if judiciously done, will 
materially add to producing the best effect. Equal 
growers should also be studied to place together, so 
that every side of the basket is furnished alike at the 
same time. 
Training. —As soon as the plants are set out for this 
purpose, diligent attention should be paid to train them 
in the way they should go; for “ as the twig is bent, the 
plant is inclined.” Young plants in pots, intended, when 
grown larger, to be placed in baskets, should have their 
shoots pegged down with hooked sticks, and if the pots 
are encircled with rings of zinc wire, the shoots, as they 
grow, could be very conveniently tied down to these 
wires. Some plants have shoots so brittle that they are 
apt to snap off at a joint if bent down too suddenly. 
The Ivy-leaf Geranium, for instance, is one whose 
branches will break off at once if thus roughly treated. 
The way to bring such into the desired position is, 
slightly bruise a shoot just in the place where it hangs 
over the edge of the pot, or basket. This bruising with¬ 
out breaking gives a flexibility to the shoot operated 
upon, and permits the branches to be trained into the 
positions required to spread equally on every side. 
The grand aim in training is to give the plants a sym¬ 
metry and a form so that the group is not one-sided. 
This training should be attended to from the first, when 
the plants are small, in order to make handsome, well- 
furnished plants. 
Now, if I had twenty baskets to furnish with plants 
to-morrow, I would put into them at once the best plants 
I could get for immediate effect; but I would immediately 
set to work to cultivate young plants to replace them 
as soon as they (the young plants) were of a sufficient 
size. 1 warn the growers of plants, and the intended 
growers, too, that the plants in baskets will not keep 
healthy, or live so long as plants treated and grown in 
the ordinary way. Hence, it is desirable to have, as it 
were, a nursery of young plants in training to succeed 
the old ones when they become naked, or shabby, or die. 
If the young plants have made good growth, and have 
reached as low as the bottom of the pots, then cut as 
many square pieces of wood, half an-inch thick, and as 
much across as the width of the upper diameter of the 
pots, bore a hole through each corner of each piece of 
board, and then take four pieces of strong wire, each 
long enough to reach from the bottom of the pots 
to meet above the plants, six, or eight, or ten inches 
in proportion to the size of the pots. Put one end 
through the hole at one corner of the square board, 
and twist it firmly to it. Do so with the other three, 
and then set the pot on the board, and bring the ends 
of the wires together above the plant. Twist all four to¬ 
gether, and then suspend the plant, pot, and board, to 
the roof of the house. Proceed so with the remainder of 
the plants till they are all suspended. If there is a 
preparatory house, or a deep pit, this nursery of plants 
preparing for baskets might be conveniently placed 
there till they grow larger, or come into bloom, or 
till the old plants in the baskets require renewing. In 
the meantime, let every attention be given to keep the 
plants healthy, free from insects, and properly trained 
downwards, to make them fit and good plants to place 
in the baskets so as to give effect at once. This is a 
correct description of the method of preparing plants for 
baskets carried out fully by G. C. Schwabe, Esq., near 
Liverpool, and very well it answers. 
Another point I may as well just refer to, and that is 
