2G2 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION, July 28, 1857. 
glass over tlie pot, and setting it near the fireplace for 
warmth. As soon as the seed leaves appear the pot must 
be placed in the window during the day, and moved to a 
warmer situation at night. As they go on edge up the.glass 
a little for air, and the space between it and the soil will 
enable you to give several slight sprinkling earthings-up to 
the plant, which will strengthen them, and cause the pro¬ 
trusion of surface roots before you require to pot them 
separately, using for this purpose three or four-inch pots. 
In these they had better remain in the window until you 
see whether the bloom will please you ; then throw faulty 
ones away, and give more pot room to the others, using rich 
light loam. With plenty of water a six-inch pot will grow 
a nice Balsam. If you want a particularly nice plant give it 
ultimately an eight-inch pot, and until it has filled it with 
roots nip off all the blooms as they appear. Too much air 
can hardly be given after the middle of June, and when 
the pots are getting full of roots they should have no 
shade, as that will make them lanky instead of compact 
and bushy. 
Begonia Evansiana, called also discolor. —Though the 
foliage is rather rough, it is yet admired by many for its 
panicles of bright pink flowers. As soon as the leaves and 
stems show signs of decay in autumn refrain from watering, 
and place the pot in a dry, sunny spot to ripen the corm 
tubers ; in winter just secure it from frost anywhere. I have 
known it kept many years in a cow-house, with a little litter 
over it and Dahlias, &c. When the shoots get an inch or 
so in length in spring and summer shake the earth from 
the roots, and select three of the strongest for a six-inch 
pot, or four for one of seven inches or so, placing the 
strongest for a centre and others for a circumference. Use 
sandy loam and leaf mould, and plenty of water when the 
plant is growing and flowering, and many a one will next 
to covet the panicles of pink blossom. 
Calceolaria (Herbaceous). — Sow seeds in August, 
covering with sand and a pane of glass ; prick out the seed¬ 
lings as soon as handleable; keep them moist and cool, but 
free from frost in winter; pot off singly in spring; freedom 
from frost, coolness, air, and plenty of cool water are the 
elements of success. 
Shrubby ones. —Take off stubby cuttings in September, 
insert under a bellglass or handlight in a cool, shady place, 
pot when struck, keep cool and airy in winter, and repot 
early in spring. Use light, rich, sandy loam, such as sandy 
loam and very rotten dung or leaf mould would supply you 
with. Closeness, warmth, and dryness are their bane. 
Calla jEti-iiopica, or Richardia aEthiopica, the White 
Arum-like 'plant. —Propagated by suckers and divisions in 
spring. Use stiffisb loam and a little leaf mould; give 
plenty of water as it is growing and flowering ; curtail water 
in autumn, and give but little or none in winter; the soil 
should be moistish; keep where frost will not reach it. When 
it begins to grow afresh in spring top dress or repot, place 
it in a saucer in the window, and give water as it requires it. 
Camellia. —The Double White answers about the best for 
the window. When done flowering keep it in a close, warm 
corner of the window, somewhat shaded until it has made 
its wood; then place it where it will have the morning and 
evening sun, but be protected from the mid-day sun out of 
doors, and house in the middle of October, giving as much 
air as possible in winter, just merely excluding frost. 
Campanula pyramidalis, blue and white.—There are 
many modes of raising these; the following may be the best 
for the windows :—Get young plants in summer, or procure 
cuttings in April from the base of large plants; strike these 
under a square of glass ; pot off in small pots ; repot until 
you get them into four or six-inch pots before winter, 
preferring the smaller if the pots will not be well filled with 
roots ; keep cool and just moist in winter, with plenty of air 
when at all mild; shift again by March, and when the roots 
work well in the new soil give plenty of water, especially 
after you see the stem rising. When done flowering you 
will find plenty of cuttings or suckers for making fresh 
plants. Sandy loam and a little leaf mould suit it well. 
Cereus. —The best of these are of the Jenkinsonii breed, 
as they bloom so freely. All the Cactus tribe should be 
treated somewhat in the same way. Use sandy loam and 
lime rubbish for compost, with a little leaf mould. When 
in bloom and growing in summer water rather freely. By 
J the end of summer and the whole of autumn, if autumn- 
| flowering kinds, give as much sun heat as possible, and 
gradually curtail water, and in winter give none at all unless 
the stems get very brown and shrivelled. We have had 
them dry from October till March, drawing what moisture 
they wanted from the atmosphere, and a perfect mass of 
bloom in May and June. As the buds swelled waterings 
were given, first slightly and then freely ; but before giving 
them freely at the roots the stems were plumped out by 
frequent syringings. R. Fish. 
{To be continued.) 
EVERGREEN SHRUBBERIES AS SCREENS. 
A few days ago I called upon a gentleman residing 
in a villa,with pleasure grounds of some extent, formed 
by himself some twenty years ago. In speaking 
of the bounding shrubbery, which he said he had 
planted to screen his garden from the public view, 
he lamented most pathetically the gradual death of the 
evergreen shrubs which were originally planted, not 
half a dozen of which were alive, and even those were 
dying by inches, or I might say feet, every year. “ What 
can be the cause,” asked he, “ that whilst the Elms, 
Poplars, Sycamores, &c., have become good-sized trees 
as you see, the Laurels, Bays, Hollies, Box, &c., have 
nearly all perished ? It must be the soil or the blight 
that has destroyed them.” After a moment’s thought 
I said, “ No, it is neither the soil nor the blight that has 
done the mischief; it is owing to planting forest trees 
amongst the shrubs , and allowing them, which they were 
sure to do, to choke the evergreens by overshadowing 
them, and taking up the nutriment for their support 
which the shrubs ought to have had. The consequence 
is, as you see, what was intended for a permanent 
living screen is no screen at all; the forest trees have 
not only destroyed the shrubs, but have also lost their 
lower branches, so that there is nothing to keep out the 
prying eyes of the public excepting the naked stems, or 
to protect your garden from the rude blast of cold winter 
or hurricanes of summer winds.” “ In such a case what 
is to be done ? I do not like walls—they give my place 
the appearance of a prison or union yard. What should 
have been done at the outset ? ” 
These queries, and the patent fact that the shrubs 
had nearly departed and the trees become useless as a 
screen, have led me to observe many places since in some 
cases in quite as bad a plight, and many more rapidly 
approaching to it. As I fear the shrubberies of many 
of the readers of The Cottage Gardener are in a 
similar predicament, I purpose in this paper to give 
my ideas on the subject, both prospective and retro¬ 
spective ; or, in other words, to plant so as to avoid 
the evil, and where it exists to adopt the best means to 
cure it. 
First, then, how to avoid committing the error in 
planting that has led to such an objectionable effect as 
in the case in question. There are two methods of 
doing this—either to plant no forest trees at all, or to 
prune them in severely, so as not to shade the ever¬ 
greens; and, when these latter have attained a height 
sufficient to answer the purpose, either to cut down the 
trees or remove them. I know in villa gardens near 
large towns, where privacy is desired as soon as possible, 
the owner is anxious to do so by planting trees, Limes 
or Elms, from eight to ten feet high at once, with ever¬ 
greens in front. Hence many nurserymen near London, 
Manchester, Liverpool, &c., find a market for their 
overgrown forest trees, that would otherwise have been 
cut down for stakes or other purposes years before; but 
even this desire of privacy might be indulged and a 
permanent screen secured by obtaining tall evergreens 
from the same nurseries, and these have the advantage 
