31G THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION, August 18, 1857. 
FLORISTS’ FLOWERS 
DURING AUGUST AND SEPTEMBER. 
(Continued from x>age 295.) 
Chrysanthemums. —These plants will now he show¬ 
ing buds. The only care they require is copious supplies 
of water—no plants need more in very dry weather: 
three times a day will not be too often. Some place 
them behind a wall or a hedge to prevent them drying 
too much by the sun; but that is a mistake. They 
need plenty of light to make them stocky and bring 
out their colours; therefore the best growers set them 
out in an open part of the garden, and supply moisture 
accordingly. As they root freely through the holes at 
the bottom of the pots, the said pots should be frequently 
lifted, and the roots cut off, otherwise when they are 
removed into the greenhouse the loss of these, the best 
roots, will be felt severely, and a great loss of the bottom 
or lower leaves will be the consequence. Another 
point is to prevent the autumn winds from blowing j 
down the plants, thus exposing the roots to greater 
drought, besides breaking the branches. I adopted a 
method to prevent this which answered well, and that 
method was to set the plants in two rows rather near 
together. I then drove in a row of stoutish stakes 
six or eight feet apart between such two rows of plants. 
To these stakes I tied firmly long rods, and to the rods 
I tied each plant. When so tied I found them bear any 
breeze that blew. Part of this labour and expense was 
saved by the fact that the plants never required, after a 
windy season, to be lifted up and set on their legs 
again, a trouble that took up considerable time before 
I adopted the plan of securing them to the rods. 
In September many of the earlier blooming varieties, 
especially Pompones, will be in flower, and may be re¬ 
moved into the greenhouse or conservatory. Previous 
to placing them on the stage they should have their pots 
clean washed, and a portion of the old top soil removed, 
and replaced with the richest compost imaginable. This | 
will strengthen the growth, and cause the flowers to 
open full and bright in colour. In the greenhouse they 
should have abundance of water, and be frequently 
syringed over the foliage. 
Dahlias. —This fine autumnal flower will now be 
opening its blooms daily. The great attention required 
is to preserve the blooms from their grand enemy, the 
earwig. Various traps have been adopted, such as small I 
pots, with a little bit of hay or moss in them, turned up¬ 
side down, and placed upon the stakes; also bean-stalks 
stuck in the midst of the bushes. Both these traps are 
excellent. They must be examined every morning, 
and the vermin destroyed. It is a good plan to go out 
after dark with a lantern and examine the flowers. 
The thieves will, if there are any, be found at their 
depredations, and may easily be caught then and 
punished with death. 
In dry w r eather the Dahlia will take a large supply of 
water. The ground round each plant should be covered 
with short, littery dung; the water then carries down 
with it the enriching qualities of the dung, and the 
dung prevents the water from so soon evaporating; or, 
in other words, keeps the ground longer moist. 
The equinoctial gales may now be expected; therefore 
strict attention must be paid to keep every branch well 
secured to the stakes. 
Cultivators intending to exhibit should be particular 
to keep their blooms shaded from the sun. There are 
various shades, but the best is a small box with one 
side glass contrived to open. There should be a groove 
cut in the bottom board to slide in the stem of the 
flower. In such a shade the flower is protected from 
both sun and wind. 
Cuttings of new or scarce varieties may yet be put in. 
A gentle hotbed will help them to strike. Such late 
cuttings should be put into very small pots, and kept in 
them through the winter. I have often saved a variety 
by raising young plants to be kept in such pots through 
that season. 
Fuchsias. —The spring-struck Fuchsias will now be 
in full bloom. No florist’s flower is so long in season 
as the Fuchsia. I believe a succession of bloom may 
be kept up from June to November by judicious manage¬ 
ment. Plants that bloomed early and are now becoming 
shabby-looking should be turned out of doors. If the 
pots are laid down on one side the growth will be 
checked and the wood ripened, which will enable the 
plants to go through the resting season with safety. 
Hollyhocks. —The chief care now requisite for the 
Hollyhock is to keep it securely tied to stakes. Towards 
the end of September the bloom will be over. If 
seed is not required, then cut the flower-stems down at 
once, which will cause the plants to send up a quantity 
of young shoots. Good varieties should never be left in 
the ground all the winter. If they are a considerable 
number will be sure to perish from wet and cold. As 
soon as the bloom is over I recommend the best sorts 
to be taken up, and put into as small pots as the roots 
will allow, and when wet and frosts are expected place 
them under a cold frame. They require no protection 
from frost if they are dry. 
Seed from good-formed flowers should be gathered as 
soon as it is ripe, well dried, and put away in a dry 
room till sowing time. T. Appleby. 
(To be continued.') 
HERACLEUM GIGANTEUM POISONOUS.— 
CROPS NEAR WOODSTOCK, &c. 
The late Sir Humphry Davy once nearly killed himself 
philanthropically through inhaling a deleterious gas, and 
one of the latest feats for the love of mankind we read of is 
the washing with water containing arsenic ! The very latest 
experiment, however, for The Cottage Gardener to warn 
the world to beware of is the insidious sap of the Heracleum 
giganteum. 
A friend called on me the other day with a kind invitation 
to look over an amateur’s garden situated in the neighbour¬ 
ing parish of Stonesfield, and, knowing me to be a great 
admirer and distributor of the Heracleum, he inquired if I was 
aware of all its properties. I answered, no further than that 
it was a biennial; that animals were fond of browsing upon 
it; that both before and when in bloom it was a fine showy 
plant; and afterwards, when cut into lengths, with some 
Asparagus foliage introduced at their ends, it proved an 
excellent woodlouse and earwig catch-’em-alive-o’. “ True,” 
said my friend; “ but, on Mr. E. Robinson cutting down some 
of their after-blooming flower-stems the other day, he formed 
from one of them a species of drawing-room cornet- {without) 
a-piston, blew through it, and presented it to his younger 
brother, and I have no doubt, like many a more finished and 
expensive instrument, it was made to produce much more 
noise than melody. But that was not all, for in three or four 
days’ time delectable fairy rings appeared around each of 
their mouths, measuring in diameter exactly that of the 
mouthpiece of the instrument; and the back of Mr. Robin¬ 
son’s hand, from the circumstance of his having drawn the 
blade of his knife across it while yet wet with the sap, became 
painfully inflamed and blistered, his arm swelled to the 
shoulder, and for a day or so he wore it in a sling.” I felt 
surprised at this intelligence, as I had so frequently cut 
the stems of this plant into lengths, and had also blown 
through them, though not to my knowledge whilst the 
incisions were wet; so to set the matter at rest, for the good 
of the public, I immediately cut down one of my plants, and 
rubbed the exuding juice on the backs of my hands, my 
friend keeping his own carefully concealed in his pockets. 
I cautiously avoided my face though, for I remembered, when 
I was a boy at school, having operated on my two cheeks, 
my forehead, my chin, and the tip of my nose with a piece 
