326 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
September 
ing a little earth to them to keep them so, then with 
your spacle give the whole an earthing up. Do this 
according to the height of your celery. If full grown, 
give it a good earthing up to bleach it for use; hut, 
if small and growing, take care and not bury the 
hearts of the plants. 
Look over all your brocolis, savoys, and borecoles, 
carefully with the hoe, and stir the earth where you 
can without breaking the vigorous growing leaves, 
but take away all those that are dead, and pull up 
any runaway plant that you may see among them. 
Mind and he prepared with a good stock of Cault- 
elowebs for final planting, about the middle of next 
month, to plant out under hand-glasses, &c. Be 
thinking where you will have them, and have the 
ground well dunged and trenched in readiness. 
James Barnes & W. 
MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION. 
MY FLOWERS 
(No. 44.) 
The heartsease or pansy is a florist’s flower, and 
has been brought to great perfection by care and 
culture; but without all that particular attention, 
which every lady cannot bestow, it is a very beauti¬ 
ful and lively flower for the border, and blooms so 
long that it is worth while to increase it as much as 
possible. During this month slips and cuttings may 
still be taken, but let damp weather he chosen for 
this process, or else water and shade are very requi¬ 
site. A few small beds entirely occupied with vari¬ 
ous-coloured pansies, dotted about upon a lawn, have 
a rich and lovely effect, and their scent, though 
slight, is very agreeable. I strongly recommend 
every lady to procure as many slips of these plants 
as possible of every hue; and not to he disheartened 
if her flowers are not so fine or so perfect as those of 
some of her acquaintance; they will look gay and 
bright, and last as long as any of the choicer speci¬ 
mens. These favourite flowers come from America, 
and even from Lapland and Siberia. In Lapland 
they are found among the wild, desolate rocks, where 
little nestling portions of vegetation find shelter from 
the bleak, withering winds that sweep along those 
silent shores, so that they are hardy little plants, 
and would, probably, do well among our garden 
rock-work. The pansy is a species of violet, and if 
our brethren of those northern climes love to look at 
the beauties of the soil, they, perhaps, hail the first 
appearance of the ‘ viola tricolor 1 as we do th at of 
our sweet garden violet. Lapland seems so far off, 
so frozen, and so dreary, that our thoughts seldom 
turn to its cheerless regions, yet this little flower 
comes to tell us that we have brothers and sisters 
even there, amid dark pine forests, and dismal 
marshes, and unfruitful plains, and that although 
they may not be such as we are in habits and lan¬ 
guage, although they are not all “ of this fold,” yet 
the same “ good shepherd” watches over them, and 
will, in His own good time, bring them safely in. 
If seed has been gathered from the pansy, it may 
now be sown, in a shady situation, in very light, 
finely sifted soil. It is best to crumble fine mould 
over the seed, when it has been scattered on the sur¬ 
face of the bed, as it requires very light covering. 
Dress the soil down with the palm of the hand, that 
the seed and soil may adhere together. The plants 
will appear in a week or ten days, and when they are 
about an inch high transplant them into the bed in 
which they are to flower; select an airy spot, and 
put them into the ground four inches apart; these 
will flower next spring, and it will be very interest¬ 
ing to watch for new varieties as they come into 
bloom. Seed gathered later than September must 
not be sown in open borders till the following April; 
but if sown in pots or boxes, where the young plants 
can be protected from frost, this may be done much 
later in the season. Keep the soil moist till the 
seedlings spring up. If any young plants spring up 
in the borders, self-sown, they may be planted out 
any time in this month for spring flowering. A very 
rich provision may be made in the autumn for the 
following summer. Our gardens will not look half 
so gay next year, if we do nothing for them now. 
By autumnal planting we gain a great deal of time; 
the seedlings are stronger and earlier, the offsets 
have time to settle down and prepare for early 
bloom, and all transplanted trees, shrubs, &c., make 
far more progress, and look healthier and richer, 
than when moved at the very time they are required 
to produce effect. A friend of mine—a lady whose 
wishes outran her prudence—requiring shelter and 
protection for her garden when a neighbouring hedge 
had been removed, procured a number of young 
larch-trees, several feet iu height, and in full foliage. 
In this unpromising condition, during the warmth 
and dryness of summer, these unhaj)py trees were 
put into holes and covered up, without shade or 
moisture, and, as a natural consequence, died. Now, 
had this operation been performed during the wet 
and cool weather of autumn or spring, even the 
heedless manner of putting them into the ground 
might not have injured them, and although this 
summer must have passed without the screen my 
friend required, yet her trees would have been saved, 
and the open space would not have looked half so 
comfortless as did this row of red, lifeless forms. I 
am fully sensible of the pleasure there is in effecting 
our garden fancies the moment they arise, and of 
the tediousness of waiting for weeks or months till 
the proper time arrives; only we gain nothing by 
our impetuosity, and frequently lose much, so that I 
would gladly spare “ my sisters’ ” unnecessary dis¬ 
appointment by pointing out the consequences of 
my friend’s too hasty measures. The eagerness that 
hurries us into a floricultural mistake may lead us 
into one of much worldly inconvenience, one that 
may, perhaps, colour our after-life, and give us cause 
of regret for years, for we cannot root up consequences 
and throw them away as we do dead trees. There is 
ever a “woe” “ uttered” to those that take counsel, 
but not of “ Godyes, even in the smallest daily 
events of life. Are we not ourselves deeply con¬ 
scious that there is in our rebellious hearts a going 
“down to Egypt” and to “the strength of Pha- 
roali,” instead of asking at the mouth of the Lord? 
A little thought would send us to the “ Counsellor;” 
a little patience would lead us often to “ sit still.” 
Beautiful is Hezekiah’s example to us all. If we 
spread our letters, if we spread our fears before God’s 
mercy seat, how far more prosperous would be our 
lives ? A thousand times better would it be for us, 
if we spread before Him our wishes and our will! 
Then our “ leaf” would not “ wither,” as it too often 
does, but we should be “ like a tree planted by the 
rivers of water,” and “ whatsoever ” we do would 
“ prosper.” If our horticultural experience leads us 
to look deeper still, our gardens will he friends in¬ 
deed, and return ten-fold the care we bestow upon 
them. Our Lord and Master conveyed powerful les¬ 
sons by the simple things of nature—by trees, and 
