THE COTTAGE GARDENER, 
April 
HR 
next door neighbours—place a neat little stick down 
by the side of it: this stick must be a foot long, and 
pushed right down to the bottom of the pot. When 
the plant is two iuches long, you will tie'it loosely to 
this stick with a piece of worsted thread, which is the 
best tiling in the world to tie plants with. Keep 
tying it as regularly as it grows, and when it reaches 
the top of the stick give it a larger one, that is, if you 
wish a long stem. Some people grow them up to 
three, or even four, feet and more ; but you will have 
time enough to make up your mind as to the height 
you would like it to be. Suppose we say only a foot ! 
high for a couple of them, as they must all go in 1 
pairs; 18 inches for the next couple, and two feet 
for a third lot; you would then be better able to 
judge which size would suit your window best; and 
all that I think necessary to say as to future manage¬ 
ment is, that as soon and as often as side branches 
issue forth from the stem of your tree, you must stop 
them at the second joint. Some people, who do not 
know the value of leaves, cut off the side shoots close 
to the stem at once; but the substance of the stems 
and trunks of all trees, and mignonette trees among 
the rest, is first formed by the leaves; and by cutting 
out all the leaves in that fashion the stems of your 
trees will grow in the form of a fiddle-stick, or be the 
same thickness all the way up ; and if you grow it 
that way, no matter how fine the head may be, the J 
stem will only be the ghost of a trunk after all; and 
no lady of taste would thank you tor a dozen of them. 
No ! you must leave as many leaves as you can the 
first year, and the stems of your trees ought to look, 
by all things in the world, as feathery as the legs of 
a bantam fowl. In the second year you will cut off' 
more than the half of these side spurs, beginning at 
the bottom, and only taking off a pair at a time, and 
in ten days or a fortnight another couple, and so on i 
progressively. Nothing is worse in principle than to 
strip off many leaves at one time. 
I have said nothing about the flowers yet, but 
there must be no flowers the first season, at least as 
long as there are some out in the borders. After the 
middle of October you may let your trees bloom all 
the winter, but before that nip them off' as fast as 
they appear. When the first little pots are full of 
roots, say about midsummer, shift the plants into 
5-incli pots, which is the next largest size; and if 
they have done well they may want another shift by 
the end of July, but never shift them after the 
middle of August, because, if we should have a cold 
autumn, they would not fill the pots with strong 
healthy roots; and unless the pots are full of vigor- ( 
ous roots before winter, the whole forest would j 
tumble about your ears before the winter was out. 
This is also a good time to sow the Blue convol¬ 
vulus, , and the Canary bird plant (Tropceolum cana- j 
riensis), two of the best summer climbers for the out- j 
side of a window. You may sow them exactly like 
the mignonette, in very small pots; and when they 
are well up you can put then either into larger pots, 
or nice boxes, and train them up on strings in any | 
fancy way you may choose. I once saw the whole 
front of a house meshed over with twine like a net; 
the meshes being about 10 inches square, and the 
canary plant was trained over the whole of the twine 
as regularly as lace-work, and the whole thing looked 
remarkably well. But the best specimen of cottage 
gardening I ever saw, and perhaps the best in j 
Europe, is at one of the gate lodges in Hyde Park, 
the Kensington lodge, and all done with this canary 
plant every season for a longtime; but as I shail 
liave occasion to pass that way soon, I shall defer 
any description of the plan of training adopted by 
the gate keeper until 1 see it once more, lest my 
memory may prove treacherous; meantime, seeds of 
this annual should be sown at once, three or four in 
small pots, and treated exactly like sweet-peas. After 
they are up and out of danger, one only is to be 
retained in each pot, and when the pot is quite full 
of roots the ball may be turned at once into the 
flowering pot or box. Since writing the above it 
occurred to me that the best way would be to send 
this Number of The Cottage Gardener to the gate¬ 
keeper as above, and to request him to be so kind as 
to communicate his mode of managing this climber; 
for I am quite satisfied there is no gardener in this 
country who can manage it better. He need be 
under no apprehension about his letter not being 
fine enough to appear in print, as we all write here 
in the most simple and plain style, in order to make 
our delighlul tasks easily understood by any one, if 
he or she can only spell the words. Speaking of 
plain letters, reminds me of a memorandum L in¬ 
tended to send to the editor about letters on the 
subject of “ Answers to Correspondents,” some of 
which pass through my hands. Those from ladies 1 
can read easily enough, with -few exceptions; also 
from mechanics, small tradespeople, and office clerks; 
but your dashing writers have no mercy on poor 
old eyes, and I am sorely puzzled at hieroglyphics. 
“ Withhold not good from them to whom it is due, 
when it is in the power of thine hand to do it.” 
D. Beaton. 
THE KITCHEN-GARDEN. 
Cauliflowers. —In planting out successional crops 
of this useful vegetable, it is a good plan at the pre¬ 
sent time, and throughout the summer months, to 
dip the roots and stems iq> to the collar of the plants 
in a mixture of soot and clay of the consistency of 
thick paint, to prevent the attacks of the grub, so 
prevalent in many localities. This had better be 
done .just before replanting them. If soapsuds can 
be procured for mixing the soot and clay, the effect 
will be more beneficial than if water alone is used 
for the purpose. The same system should be adopted 
also when planting out successions of either coleworis 
or cabbage plants. To obtain quickly crisp, fine-fla¬ 
voured, healthy vegetables, liquid manure should be 
very freely applied. Cabbages, cauliflowers, and, in¬ 
deed, the whole of tlia Brassica family, are fond of a 
moderate portion of salt and soot, either mixed with 
the liquid brewed or that collected from the cess-pool. 
Mark now, for seed-saving, a few of the earliest and 
best shaped of the coming-in cabbages. If such 
have been all cut, then, as soon as their stumps have 
again produced sprouts, to prevent disappointment, 
let these stumps be removed to some spare but not 
overshadowed corner, to produce seeds. 
Cardoons. —The first sowing may now be made. 
Insert the seed in rows four or five feet apart, on 
soil that lias been previously well trenched and ma¬ 
nured. If the soil has also been ridged and forked, 
so as to have become well pulverized, shallow 
trenches may be formed for sowing the seed, similar 
to those made for celery. 
Early Celery which may have been pricked out 
on slight liot-beds, in frames, or potted, may now be 
put out in trenches, made on well pulverized soil. 
Dwarf Kidney Beans and Runners, of the same 
kind, should now be sown in full crops. It is a 
