June 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
All tliat I have room for, however, at present, is to 
state that through the month of June the same treat¬ 
ment I recommended for camellias is also applicable 
to these azaleas, with the exception that they do not 
require so much shading as the camellia. 
D. Beaton. 
121 
soot may he applied with the greatest advantage. 
Indeed, soot applied in a liquid state, we find to be 
one of the best and most fertilizing manures to vege¬ 
tation generally that can possibly be applied. 
James Barnes. 
THE KITCHEN-GARDEN. 
Artichoke. —This vegetable requires especial at¬ 
tention at this season of the year. Clear away all 
superfluous and weakly shoots, and apply liberal 
soabings of good liquid manure. When the time 
arrives for cutting artichokes, great care must be 
taken not to destroy any small ones that may be 
shewing on the same stalks, as these will continue 
to grow after the principal stalk is cut, and afford a 
good succession. If new plantations are required 
this year, they may still be made by planting the 
strongest suckers, and shading them with sea-kale 
pots or green boughs. 
Jerusalem Artichoke. —This useful tuberous- 
rooted vegetable may also, at this time of the year, 
be greatly assisted by continually scarifying and 
deeply hoeing the soil, and clearing away all suckers 
and weakly shoots, leaving one only, and that the 
strongest, to each plant. To secure an abundant 
crop of good tubers, the plants should be placed in 
the row at the distance of two feet from each other. 
The tubers of the artichoke are a good substitute for 
potatoes, and cows, pigs, and poultry, also thrive 
well upon them, and devour them eagerly. We feed 
swans, ducks, geese, fowls, pigeons, and pheasants, 
and indeed poultry of all kinds, occasionally, with 
them, and find that they like them exceedingly. 
With the exception of mangold-wurtzel, there is per¬ 
haps no other tuberous-rooted vegetable, or indeed 
bulbous-rooted either, that is capable of producing 
the same bulk and weight of produce as the Jerusa¬ 
lem artichoke; and another great advantage which 
it possesses is, that it may be grown for years upon 
the same spot of ground, and the produce, indeed, in¬ 
creased, provided the soil be annually well trenched, 
and kept afterwards loose and open by thorough sur¬ 
face stirrings 
Asparagus.— Those plantations which have this 
season been cut from for the first time must now be 
cut from no more, or the plants will become weak¬ 
ened and exhausted, and a great deficiency in the 
next year’s produce will be thereby occasioned; and 
those plantations that are in full production should 
not be cut too closely. If showery weather prevails, 
sprinklings of salt may be applied with great advan¬ 
tage, in small quantities and often, for we do not 
recommend extreme applications; but the present is 
the best time for applying the salt, and if given in 
moderate quantities, with other liquid manure, the 
effect will be most beneficial. 
Routine Work. —The main crops of brocoli, bore¬ 
cole, cauliflowers and coleworts, should now be planted, 
and a good sowing of cauliflowers made for autumn 
coming in. Full crops of coleworts should also be 
sown to secure an abundance of good strong plants 
for planting the spare ground, such as the pea, bean, 
and early onion beds, as they become cleared in the 
latter summer and early autumn months. Good pre¬ 
parations must be made for the principal crops of 
celery, and a succession of plants pricked out. Onions, 
parsnips, and carrots, should have their final thin¬ 
nings; parsley should also be thinned, and a portion 
transplanted, and to the earliest and strongest plants, 
MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION. 
MY FLOWERS. 
(No. 30.) 
What a variable and uncertain climate is that of 
our island home ! How unexpected has been the 
severe though short winter we have just experienced; 
and how my poor honeysuckles have withered beneath 
its influence! They were j ust putting forth their buds, 
and I was counting the weeks till they would burst 
into bloom, when such a cutting frost and easterly 
wind swept over them, followed by heavy snow, that 
they seemed perishing, and I feared their beauty -was 
over for the season. The last few days have been 
mild; some soft rain has fallen, and 1 find my favou¬ 
rites, to-day, considerably revived and strengthened. 
The promise of bloom, however, this year, is not so 
great as usual; and I fear this sudden check may weaken 
the flowers. The weight of the snow that has fallen, 
though not so deep as the falls in winter, has broken 
a large and graceful limb from a fine cedar. It is 
almost always the case when snow falls late in the 
spring: during winter it will lay in thick masses on 
the spreading boughs, and do no mischief; but when¬ 
ever a spring fall has taken place, so surely has a. 
branch given way. A few years ago, several snapped 
together, and, for a time, disfigured the tree. Is it 
that the flowing of the sap renders the wood more 
brittle ? The severe and sudden changes that affect 
our gardens and all their beautiful inhabitants, “ from 
the cedar-tree that is in Lebanon even unto the hys¬ 
sop that springeth out of the wall,” remind us of the 
mutability of all that is beneath the sun. When 
worldly prospects are fairest, a cloud passes over us, 
a heavy sorrow falls, or a cutting disappointment, 
that withers our hearts like the early leaf-buds, and 
tells us, with wholesome and merciful sternness, that 
“this is not our rest.” It would not be good for us 
to learn the changeable nature of this world only 
from trees and flowers ; neither is it enough to read 
it in the Book of God. We must leam it directly 
from the teaching of our Father; His finger points 
to the solemn truth, and His hand stamps it on our 
hearts. 
This is the time for increasing heartsease by cut¬ 
tings, though it may be effected all through the sum¬ 
mer. They are such rich, gay flowers, and bloom on 
so unweariedly, that no garden should be without 
them. The variety of colour in this lovely family is 
great, and the tints usually are strong and lively. 
They look best in single beds, where their showiness 
may be seen to the best advantage; and, if some 
taste is exercised in mixing the colours, the effect is 
admirable. They prefer a cool, moist situation, there¬ 
fore the beds should be level; and, if a litle soil can 
be procured from the surface of a pasture, it will 
benefit them. This soil, with a portion of manure 
mixed with it, is used by the florists about Man¬ 
chester; but composts are not easily obtained by 
ladies, and, if they are of very impatient spirit, they 
cannot wait till it is all mixed and seasoned, and fit 
for use. With a spade and a light wheelbarrow 
(made expressly for ladies’ use), an immediate supply 
of soil may be obtahied, which, for simple gardeners, 
