312 
leaves grow too fast or weakly, you can lift the bot¬ 
tom sash and turn them outside in the middle of the 
day, and there is always warm water ready for them. 
The air is also dry about them and in constant mo¬ 
tion, for the draught of the chimney sucks up the air 
continually, so that fresh air is constantly pouring 
into a good kitchen. Fresh air is just as useful to 
plants as it is to cooks and kitchen maids; and if 
ever you see plants or maids look pale and languid 
in a kitchen, depend on it the fault is more in the 
want of ventilation than in anything else. 
The next earliest bulbs are the single and double 
Van Thol tulip. The usual way to plant them is to 
put five of them in a 6-inch pot, or what used to be 
called 32’s, and three into a 5-inch pot. 
There are three more of the narcissus family very 
good for forcing, but not nearly so early as the Double 
Roman; these are called Solid d'Or, Stadtles General, 
and Grand Monarque. These are the best, but there 
is hardly an end to the number of narcissi, and 
they might all be grown in pots. Then of tulips, be¬ 
sides the Van Thol, there are Claremond, Golden 
Standard, and Royal Standard, three of the best and 
second earliest with Rex rubrorum, Marriage do ma 
T'iile, andTurnsol; these of the later sorts are very good 
for forcing. There are scores of other sorts, I dare say, 
just as good, but the above are the cream of all that 
1 have tried myself, and I recollect having tried 42 
sorts one year. There is a little yellow tulip with a 
drooping flower, called the Florentine tulip, and some 
people are very fond of it for forcing, as it is rather 
sweet. 
The double and single jonquils are also easily 
forced, and all the hyacinths will force, either in soil, 
moss, or water. It is true that the dealers recom¬ 
mend such-and-such sorts as being best for either 
way, but I could never make out any difference in 
any of them. If the bulbs are strong and healthy, 
and the roots get well forward before the leaves begin 
to grow, I believe any hyacinth will do well enough 
either in water, moss, or in soil; but I prefer moss 
as the least liable to get out of order. Water is the 
most damaging to the bulbs, and soil may get too 
dry, or too damp, or mouldy, or the drainage may 
get stopped, and many other unlooked-for difficulties 
besides may occur to it, but moss is free from such 
impediments. Like a sponge, it holds enough water 
and no more, the roots run through it in all directions, 
and at last crowd at the bottom of the pot where the 
moss is beginning to rot, and no doubt they feed on 
it in that state. The different bulb growers in Hol¬ 
land give different names to their seedling bulbs 
although they may be the same variety; this is often 
unavoidable, but it is very puzzling when you come 
to make a selection. D. Beaton. 
HOTHOUSE DEPARTMENT. 
We lately directed attention to the benefit in early 
forcing, of having steep sloping instead Of flat glass 
roofs. For many purposes these steep roofs, provided 
they are not carried to an extreme, would be the 
most serviceable at all seasons, for while they com¬ 
mand the greatest amount of light in winter, the 
number of rays that would be reflected in summer 
would render shading next to unnecessary. When 
once these matters come to be thoroughly thought 
about, many things will receive the benefit of nice 
upright little houses, which are now obliged to get 
on as best they can in flat-roofed pits and frames. 
September 
Having settled upon the angle of the house, the next 
thing to be attended to is the 
Formation of the Borders, both within and with¬ 
out, if it be your object to plant in both positions. 
The subject is a large one, but has already been 
handled by our able coadjutor, Mr. Errington, and, 
therefore, requires less notice now, as such a border 
as w r ill grow tender trees well out Of doors will not 
fail to accomplish the same object in the case of those 
grown within, provided their relative circumstances 
are attended to. A few words, however, may not be 
out of place. In most situations we should have, for 
vines and other tender trees, an impervious bottom for 
their borders; that bottom sloping considerably, say 
at an angle of from 75° to 80°, from back to front. At 
the front there should be a deep drain, and, if the 
border is large, a cross drain should run from back 
to front, below the level of the hard flooring, in every 
15 or 20 feet. At the termination of the drain at the 
back, and opposite to it in front, upright tubes should 
be inserted, that the air may circulate through the 
drains and amongst the open nibble that covers the 
impervious bottom. This rubble, consisting of brick¬ 
bats, clinkers, hard lumpy chalk, &c., should be at 
least one foot in thickness. The bottom may be ren¬ 
dered impervious to the roots by means of paving- 
stone, tiles, slates, or by means of one part of quick¬ 
lime to six or seven parts of gravel, with just suffi¬ 
cient water to blend them quickly, and laid down four 
inches thick. The great object of such bottoms is to 
prevent roots getting down, which is one great cause 
of unfruitfulness; as the crude juices formed, owing 
to too much moisture being absorbed, cannot be suffi¬ 
ciently elaborated in the case of plants which are 
natives of climates more sunny than ours. The case 
of a hardy forest-tree is a different affair, the deeper 
its roots go the more luxuriantly will it flourish ; the 
obtaining of timber and the securing of fruit are 
different results, which must be accomplished by dif¬ 
ferent means. In well drained shallow borders the 
soil-moisture absorbed by the roots is more oxygen¬ 
ated from contact with the atmosphere, which is found 
to assist the processes of elaboration and assimilation 
by the leaves. “ Well, but,” I hear a friend slyly ask, 
“ do all you gardeners have these impervious bot¬ 
toms?” No ! but that is often our grief, not our glory. 
Were we building a new house, we have had sufficient 
experience in the matter to lead us to try and do what 
we are recommending. We are, therefore, not to be 
enrolled among that class of worthies who, when 
told that their practice and their teaching did not 
agree, replied, “ Do not as I do, but do as I tell you.” 
What we advise, we have done, and would be ready to 
do again. True, many of our best gardeners are 
opposed to the practice, and their opinion as well as 
their success are points not to be disregarded; but 
in one point we all agree, and that is thorough drain¬ 
age. Some of their reasons for opposing these bot¬ 
tomed borders we look upon as fallacies, such as the 
impossibility of the heat contained in the earth ascend¬ 
ing, or of moisture getting up to supply the roots by 
means of capillary attraction in dry weather. We 
know of no substance recommended for bottoming 
borders that would prevent either of these desirables 
from taking place. Porosity, not consolidation, is the 
greatest opponent to the passage of heat, either up¬ 
wards or downwards. Moisture will even pass through 
flag-stones if in contact with a humid substance. But 
if we could (which we cannot) exclude moisture from 
rising, it would be all the better in the case of all 
tender plants growing in the open soil, as such mois¬ 
ture is always more promotive of growth than of 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
