]R THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY 
usual yearly contribution of Hyacinths, thirty kinds in 
number this time; also tcnkindsof early Tulips . twokinds 
were in quite a new style of Tulip Proserpine, fine lose 
self, and Vermilion Brilliant, true, which I booked for the 
Experimental. The newest Hyacinths were Eclipse, the 
best and deepest crimson yet; Concordia, . next best 
crimson; Unique, a lilac novelty in Hyacinths; and 
Othello, the best dark blue. 
Fruit. —There were but two dishes of Crapes, thiee 
new Blade Hamburgh bunches from Mr. I orbes, gardenei 
to the Duke of Bedford, and a dish ol unripe Sweetwater 
from another exhibitor. There were three fine dishes 
of Keens Seedling S trawberries by three different growers, 
Mr. Tillyard, Mr. Ingram, gardener to Mr. Blaudy, and 
Mr. Clark, gardener to the Earl of Daveutry, Cobham 
Hall. Three Providence Pines and one Queen Pine, from 
Mr. Clements, of Oakhill, Barnet; a prickly Cayenne 
from the Earl of Hopeton; and another Cayenne from 
Mr. Lousada, Peak House, Sidmouth. Mr. Ferguson, 
of Stowe, exhibited a fruiting branch of the Royal George 
Peach from a tree fifty years old; also green fruit and 
healthy maiden trees, propagated from the old one to 
show the folly of supposing that trees wear out, for 
nothing could be more healthy than those maiden trees. 
He also exhibited drawings of geometric flower gardens, 
with the beds coloured on the best principle of planting 
them—anew thing which is much wanted. There was a 
collection of forced vegetables from Mr. Blandy, and 
another from Mr. Solomon, of Covent Garden, and two 
glazed plates of singularly beautiful anatomised leaves, 
prepared and painted on by Lady Dorothy Nevil, Dang- 
stein, Petersfield, Hampshire. This is another new 
process, by which the web between the veins is not 
destroyed, but looks as if the leaves were first divested 
of the outer skin or covering, and the rest bleached 
white like a piece of bladder, with the mid-ribs and all 
the veins as distinct as 4f the web was destroyed. On 
these bleached leaves her ladyship painted various 
beautiful designs and writings, which were much admired. 
Mr. Cockburn, gardener to the Earl of Mansfield, sent 
preserved Cranberries in bottle, and in a dry state, the 
latter kept on a dry shelf without any preparation ; and 
Mr. Fortune sent cones of the new Abies Kcempferi pre¬ 
served in spirits, with a note to say that this beautiful 
hardy tree will give a new character to the English 
landscape. D. Beaton. 
WINDOW GARDENING FOR SPRING. 
(Continued from page 440, Vol. XVII.) 
Over-watering .— Though plants in windows, from being 
in small pots, are less likely to suffer from over-watering than 
those in larger pots in greenhouses, and more especially as 
the air in living rooms is generally drier than in green¬ 
houses, and though, besides, there is less danger of this over¬ 
watering in the spring and summer than in the winter 
months, still, as the pleasure of attending to plants at all will 
greatly consist in doing so intelligently, I trust our readers 
will see that each plant must be watered just according as its 
circumstances require, if that watering should be once a 
month in winter and twice a day in summer, the fre¬ 
quency depending greatly on the double excitements of heat 
and sunshine, and the condition of the plant at the time. 
Just let us take an example or two at random, as these are 
frequently better remembered than precept, and many more 
will appear in the treatment of different plants. Here is a 
Mesembryanthemum ; water it regularly, and you will kill it 
with juices which it cannot get rid of. Here is a Cyclamen 
finished blooming nicely, and its leaves are just beginning to 
get yellowish ; water to try and keep them green, and where 
will your flowers be next season ? Take a bulb which requires 
a season to ripen, and another season to rest or to sleep; 
keep _ it always watered, and if you do not kill it you will 
look in vain for bloom next year. There is a Fuchsia. It 
has no moisture save what it gets from the floor of a 
GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION, April 14, 1857. 
damp, cold cellar during the winter. Its buds are breaking 
nicely since it has been pruned and set in the window. 
Water it every time that you refresh its neighbours—a strong¬ 
growing Geranium and a large-leaved Cineraria, and you 
will make it gouty and sickly to a certainty. Visit the 
Cineraria as seldom as you do the budding Fuchsia, and the 
welted leaves will dangle in festoons by the sides of the pot. 
The demand for water will just be in proportion to the 
moisture thrown off by the stem and foliage. Of dourse I 
am excepting marsh plants and aquatics. 
2. How to Water. —It will have been seen that when this 
is done at all, in the ease of growing plants, it should be 
done so thoroughly as to moisten every rootlet, and then let 
the plant alone until a similar repetition is necessary. A drop 
now and a dribble then is ruinous, mistaken kindness to 
the plant, and leaves you in ignorance of the state of the 
bulk of the soil. The same rule, to a great extent, applies 
to waterings out of doors; and hence mere surface sprinkling, 
unless for the purpose of refreshing the foliage, is often more 
injurious than no waterings at all. The arresting of evapora¬ 
tion and the radiation of heat by surface pulverisation would 
often be better for the crop than surface waterings. Such 
waterings applied to a plant in a pot, or to plants in a 
garden, stimulate surface roots at one time, to render them 
liable to be scorched at another, while the mass of roots 
below is rendered torpid and inactive. 
Modes of Watering. —In watering, the surface soil is best 
kept smooth by using a flat, small rose, and the water fall¬ 
ing in small drops takes down with it a good portion of air. 
When using a rose, however, it is well to avoid drenching 
too much the stem or collar of the plant, or in some cases 
you may expect gangrene and decay there. If you pour the 
water from the spout of a pot have an oyster shell or a 
piece of a broken pot, with its concave side uppermost, 
placed on the surface of the soil, so that the water poured 
on it will pass gently all over the surface, and not beat 
strongly against the collar of the plant in the centre. Before 
June it is as well to water before three or four o’clock, unless 
the nights and evenings are warm, when it would be better 
to do it later. Watering overhead should be done with a 
fine rose or syringe, and, unless for merely lessening 
evaporation, should be done when the sun has lost part of 
its power, and yet enough of power remaining to dry the 
leaves before night. In summer it matters not how late 
such waterings may be done, as, whether at the roots or 
over the foliage, there will be a longer time before the sun 
comes to demand the moisture back again. In winter there 
should seldom be water left in the saucers unless the plants 
are growing freely. In the spring months from one-eighth 
to a quarter of an inch of water will do no harm at times if 
there is a good depth of drainage in the pots. In some 
cases it is best to water by means of the saucer, such as 
when plants are very apt to damp off at the collar, or that 
part at the surface of the soil where the roots and the stem 
commence. 
Watering Plants that are Resting. —In the case of plants 
in a state of comparative rest, which must neither be much 
watered nor yet allowed to become very dry, there is also a 
little care required. If watered thoroughly in the usual way 
it should be done early on a sunny day, that the moisture 
may be drained away and the soil somewhat dried before the 
plants are removed to their quarters. In particular cases, 
instead of such a soaking, I prefer making small holes with 
a wire, and watering so as to do little more than fill the holes, 
the moisture from which will so permeate that after a short j 
time the earth will be just what is wanted, neither wet nor I 
dry. The best plan of all, however, is to have the pots in a j 
shady place, and plunge them overhead in dampish soil, 
moss, sawdust, &e., and from such mediums the pots will j 
absorb sufficient moisture, without any necessity for water¬ 
ing until the plants are again stimulated into active growth. 
Take the Fuchsia as an example in the winter and early 
spring months. 
3. What Water to use.—Making hard Water soft .—None is ‘ 
so good for general purposes as clear rain water, used at a j 
temperature equal to or rather above the temperature of the 
room, say 55° at the lowest average. After Midsummer 
until October it will seldom be necessary to heat the water ; 
artificially. Many a plant in windows is either destroyed or 
rendered a fit subject for the attacks of insects by watering 
