THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
July 
18S 
least, on one side of the shoots. Indeed, although 
we say cut to three eyes, it is not at all necessary to 
cut so close ; there must he only three eyes left, but, 
as I said on pruning roses, these three eyes need 
not he the very lowest ones on the shoot; the three 
lowest eyes that are best placed on the shoot are to 
he preferred, say one on each side of the shoot, and 
the last underneath it; for older plants that have 
been thus treated in former years, one need not he 
so particular, because, if the foundation is already 
well laid, you can hardly build wrong upon it, pro¬ 
vided you do not allow strong eyes to grow from the 
upper side of a branch close to its bottom. All up¬ 
right shoots in the centre of a geranium are better 
avoided, and it is easier to cut out the eye at first 
than to train down the shoot from it afterwards. 
When weak shoots occur, they must be cut to the best 
placed eye, and only that one left to grow. Nothing 
looks so ugly as to have long brown shoots on an old 
geranium. The older the plant is, the better clothed 
it should appear at the bottom, but that can hardly 
be obtained if the shoots are allowed to spring up 
directly from the bottom. All the main shoots, while 
they are young, ought to be trained a little sideways. 
But what is to be done with those deplorable skele¬ 
tons that have not a leaf, or a trace of a bud within 
twelve or eighteen inches of the pot, and their tops 
so tall as to darken the window lights? for in a 
greenhouse if ever so small we never see such bad 
gardening now-a-days. Half the world would say, 
throw them in the dust-hole and buy new ones: very 
good advice if they would follow it up by handing 
over wherewithal to buy them; but nothing is easier 
for careless people than to say buy a set of new 
things—plants or any thing else; but where on earth 
is the money to come from for all this? It is often 
as difficult to buy a geranium as to buy a new car¬ 
riage. They have an old saying in the Highlands, 
that a man is not worthy of a new pair of shoes 
until he learns how to mend his old ones; and we 
may apply the adage on this side of “the border” 
by saying that he we who cannot prune his old ge¬ 
raniums properly should never be indulged with 
young ones. Therefore, we must prune down those 
long-legged plants, even if we lose them in the at¬ 
tempt; and if we should kill them, we may as well 
do so at three or four inches from the pot as at 
ten. Let that be the mark, therefore; choose a 
smooth part between two joints, and off with the top 
at one cut. “ Here is a pretty dilemma we have just 
got into ! Why that plant will bleed itself to death; 
we forgot to let it get quite dry before cutting it. If 
The Cottage Gardener was to get hold of this, we 
should have the whole laugh of the parish against 
us.” However, there was a remedy or two mentioned 
lately in our pages for bleeding in the vine, and this 
will be a capital opportunity to prove the effect, but 
I must entrust you with the experiment; only, I may 
just remark that this stump of a plant had better 
be put into the kitchen window, as being the warm¬ 
est place, and, if it will get over the double misfor¬ 
tune—I mean this bleeding and the long legs—it will 
do so the sooner by being kept in the warmest place. 
Give it no water till this wound is quite dried over; 
after that, you may give it a plentiful watering, and 
if you sprinkle a little water over it now and then, it 
will not fail to make a good plant yet, if the roots 
are quite healthy. 
D. Beaton. 
STOVE AND HOTHOUSE. 
At this advanced period of the season there will 
be some difficulty in rendering this department, all 
at once, popular and instructive; because, in the 
first place, those who possess these structures in their 
gardens will already have gone through many of the 
processes which it will be my province to describe 
and analyze; and secondly, because, from those 
possessing as yet neither stove nor greenhouse, we 
cannot expect at first to receive great attention; 
more especially amid the joyous and the beautiful 
that are now so attractive in external nature. Why 
(they may ask) should we now trouble ourselves with 
plants and produce, which only the rich can com¬ 
mand, when we can so easily, without traversing the 
damp paths and close humid atmosphere of hot¬ 
houses, mark and enjoy the gorgeous beauty of open¬ 
ing flowers, shedding their fragrant perfume in an 
atmosphere common alike to prince and peasant; 
amid those gentle breezes just sufficient, along with 
passing clouds, to deprive the sun of its fierceness, 
and spread the glow of ruddy health over the cheek 
of female loveliness! or, reposing under the shade of 
trees, this season more, than ordinarily luxuriant in 
their verdure, thence to listen to the rasp of the 
mower’s scythe, mellowed in its tone by the hum and 
carol of the sprightly hay-maker; thence to seethe 
cattle up to their knees in herbage, lashing gently 
their sides in ecstasy, and thus, by many associa¬ 
tions, lending vivacity and cheerfulness to the 
richest scenes; and thence to feel the pleasant 
mingled odour, wafted alike from new-made hay and 
flowers of all hues and forms, whether peeping from 
the hedge bank, adorning the meadow, or gracing 
the parterre! 
In order to experience contentment, or what is 
taken for such, a practice is too generally in opera¬ 
tion of undervaluing what we do not possess, and 
painting in high colours our own acquisitions. Such 
a practice is just emblematical of the conduct of the 
fox who pronounced the grapes to be as sour as 
crabs, merely because he could not get hold of them ; 
different modifications of the same principle is seen 
in those who envy what is splendid in a neighbour’s 
garden, and become dissatisfied with their own, 
though, upon a certain scale, the one may be as near 
perfection as the other. Both practices arise from 
want of gardening knowledge, and intellectual and 
benevolent expansion of mind. What is beautiful 
in plants should be admired for its beauty alone. 
’The pleasure arising from producing and tending 
that beauty is a different thing. Whether the plant 
be grown in hothouse, greenhouse, garden, or field, 
its peculiar beauty should at once be recognised. 
Cultivate plants with such a spirit, and they will 
promote that which is civilising, soul elevating, and 
goodness tending. If you have no hothouse of your 
own, yet in that of your neighbour you may see 
much to admire, much to stir to emulation, nothing 
for mean jealous envy, but many things practised, 
which will act as hints and lessons. The methods 
of culture are many and diversified; the principles 
on which they are based are few and simple; and 
thus, in treating the department assigned to us, we 
trust we may be able to throw out hints that will be 
useful to the mere general reader. 
PLANT STOVE. 
Every glass structure connected with a demesne, 
however small it may be, ought at all times to be an 
object of attraction. Its very presence ought ever 
to carry with it the ideas of fitness and utility. Ere- 
