May 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
G7 
broken, either by their own weight or by heavy rains, 
or gusts of wind. To know whether your garden is 
in the best possible condition, visit now and then 
other gardens, and compare them witli your own. 
Good examples of well ordered, well kept, and neatly 
managed gardens will have the effect of stirring you to 
imitate them in your own. Such as are comparatively 
neglected will act as a warning to you not to fall into 
such a slovenly way of management. By such com¬ 
parisons you will be enabled to perceive any defici¬ 
encies which you would not have observed had you 
been constantly seeing no other garden but your own. 
Decaying flowers ought to be cut off as soon as 
seen, especially those on bulbous roots, for by so do¬ 
ing you will strengthen the roots much. If you wish 
to save seeds of any kind leave a few seed vessels on, 
but take away the flower leaves, and tie the stems 
up with the seed pods, so as to give them as neat an 
appearance as possible. By no means cut off the 
leaves of your bulbous flowers until they turn yellow. 
This is an important point, to be strictly attended to, 
if you wish to have flowers the following season. 
Crocuses and snowdrops, on grass-plots that are con¬ 
stantly mown, soon disappear, in consequence of 
having their leaves prematurely cut off: these, how¬ 
ever, might be saved by leaving little tufts of grass, 
where they grow, uncut. 
Double Wallflowers and Stocks. —Now is the 
time to put in cuttings or slips of these sweet-scented 
flowers. Set about this immediately. Take the cut¬ 
tings off; smooth the bottom of the cutting with a 
sharp knife; strip oft'the leaves half way up, leaving 
about 1A inch with the leaves on entire ; then plant 
them thickly under a hand-glass, in a shady part of 
your garden. If you can procure some fine sand, 
cover the surface with it about half an inch deep : 
this will help to prevent them damping off. Give a 
gentle watering to settle the earth close to each cut¬ 
ting; then place the hand-glass over them. The 
only care they require afterwards, is to remove all 
decaying leaves as fast as they occur, and to have a 
moderate watering whenever the surface appears to 
need it. 
China and Tea-scented Roses. —Cuttings of these 
plants may now be put in, and they will make good 
strong plants by the end of summer : they will strike 
very well under hand-glasses, or even without any¬ 
thing over them, if put in under a hedge or wall 
having a northern aspect. Prepare the ground first 
by making it fine, breaking it with a spade in the 
manner described at page 14, vol. 1. Prepare the 
cuttings by cutting them off just below this year’s 
growth; then, if you use hand-glasses, put them in 
in the same way as described above for the double 
wallflowers. If you have no hand-glass for them, 
put them in rows, as described at the page just men¬ 
tioned. The best and quickest way, however, to pro¬ 
pagate those roses is in pots, filled to within one inch 
of the top with light sandy loam, without any mix¬ 
ture whatever; the remaining inch fill up with sand 
of a close texture; give a gentle watering to make 
the sand firm, and then plant the cuttings close to 
the edge of the pot; place the cutting pots in a frame 
or pit, where there is a gentle heat, shading when 
the sun shines: they will root in six weeks. 
Cuttings of a great number of plants will grow so 
treated, such as the large family of phloxes, penste- 
mons, antirrhinums (snap-dragons),dianthuses (sweet- 
williams), &c. 
The lawn keep well rolled and- frequently mown. 
The turf will then grow thick, and be of a good dark 
! green. Walks keep cleared from weeds, and rolled 
I regularly, at least once a week. Read our remarks on 
rolling w.alks during the time of rain, and practise 
! them. Climbers will require constant attention, in 
nailing the young shoots to the wall, or tying them 
to trellises or pillars, as the case may be. A little 
constant labour will save a world of trouble and vex¬ 
ation. When climbers are neglected for a length of 
time, the branches run together, and clasp each other 
so closely, that it frequently happens, in untwisting 
them, some of them get broken and bruised; whereas 
a small amount of care, properly bestowed at the 
right time, will have a good effect both upon the 
climbers and upon the minds of our amateur and 
cottage readers. 
Insects. —Now that the warm genial weather of 
May has once more arrived, myriads of our patience- 
trying small enemies will be hatching into existence, 
and will prey upon the long-looked-for ornaments of 
our flower-gardens. Instant measures must be taken 
to arrest their ravages. Red-spider .—This small 
creatine, almost invisible to the naked eye, will now 
be coming into life from the egg state, and will be 
actively engaged in sucking its food out of the buds 
and young leaves, and thereby crippling the growth 
of both leaves and flowers. As soon as you perceive 
the leaves of any kinds of plants appear to have 
brown spots upon them, you may expect the insect 
is feeding. Examine a leaf with a microscope, if 
you either have or can borrow one, and you will soon 
see him, like a red-coated soldier foraging in a corn¬ 
field, hard at work. The most effectual remedy we 
know of is soap water, made with one pound of the 
common brown soap dissolved in five gallons of hot 
water : this, applied all over the plant, at a lukewarm 
temperature, will destroy all the living ones. If you 
add about half a pound of sulphur vivum to the mix¬ 
ture, it will prevent the ravages of those that are yet 
in egg at the time of the application: they cannot 
feed upon leaves that are coated with sulphur, and 
so, for want of food, must perish. The mixture may 
be applied to plants out of doors, that is, to standard 
roses and climbers against walls, &e., witli the 
syringe; as the insects are generally on the under 
side of the leaves, the end, or nozzle, of the syringe 
ought to be bent upwards, so as to enable you to 
reach the enemy in his most secret hold. If you can 
apply the mixture so as to wet the under side of the 
leaves thoroughly without the bent part, of course 
you need not screw it on. Plants in pots may be 
j dipped over head in the soap water by placing a little 
I moss over the surface of the earth in the pot, spread- 
1 ing your fingers over it to keep the soil in the pot, 
J and reversing it; then dipping the leaves and 
I branches into it, and immediately restoring the 
plant to its upright position No red-spider can 
exist after such a bath. Syringe afterwards, in a 
day or two, with clear water, and your plants will 
soon show, by a renewed vigour of growth, the benc- 
I fit of your trouble and care. 
FLORISTS’ FLOWERS. 
We have so very little space left for this part of 
our week’s paper that we can do little more than 
promise to write more about them next week. Still 
continue the protections by covering up every night, 
over tulips, ranunculuses, dahlias in frames, as well 
as verbenas, fuchsias, and petunias; giving plenty of 
air in fine weather to harden them off for planting 
out towards the end of the month. T. Appleby. 
