THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION, September 1 , 1857. 339 
WEEKLY CALENDAR. 
D 
M 
D 
W 
SEPTEMBER 1-7, 1857. 
Weather ni 
Barometer. 
car London in 
Thermo.! Wind. 
1856. 
Rain in 
Inches. 
Sun 
Rises. 
Sun 
Sets. 
Moon 
R.&S. 
Moon’s 
Age. 
Clock 
af. Sun. 
Day of 
Year. 
1 
Tu 
Chamomile (Anthemis). 
29-842—29-787 
72—44 
s.w. 
— 
15 a. 5 
44 a. 6 
1 m 2 
13 
0 
10 
244 
2 
W 
St. Barnaby’s Thistle. 
30.174—29.910 
67—33 
N. 
01 
16 
43 
2 24 
14 
0 
29 
245 
3 
Th 
Field Marigold (Calendula). 
30.255—30.207 
73-37 
N.W. 
— 
17 
41 
3 50 
15 
0 
49 
246 
4 
F 
Autumn Star Grass. 
30.196—30.095 
75—34 
S.E. 
— 
19 
39 
rises. 
© 
1 
8 
247 
5 
s 
Angelica (A. archangelica). 
29.984—29.863 
71—37 
E. 
— 
21 
37 
7 a. 6 
1 7 
1 
28 
248 
6 
Sun 
13 Sunday after Trinity. 
29.742—29.597 
70—42 
E. 
12 
22 
34 
7 19 
18 
1 
48 
249 
7 
M 
Snakeweeds (Polygonum). 
29.866—29.738 
72—38 
S.W. 
— 
24 
32 
7 3£ 
19 
2 
8 
250 
Meteorology of the Week. —At Chiswick, from observations during the last twenty-eight years, the average highest and lowest 
temperatures of these days are 69.9°, and 47.7°, respectively. The greatest heat, 85°, occurred on the 1st, in 1843 ; and°the lowest cold, 24°, 
on the 7th, in 1855. During the period 105 days were fine, and on 95 rain fell. 
SEPTEMBER-SOWN SEEDS. 
We are going to sow very many different kinds of 
seeds in the Experimental Garden between the 1st and 
10th of September ; and the first seed we shall sow is 
new to the whole sowing world in the autumn—a very 
old plant for a new purpose. In the chronicles of the 
Experimental Garden for 1856 it is stated that if the 
seeds of the Chinese Larkspur, the richest ultramarine 
blue flower that we know of, are sown in pots any time 
in September, and the seedlings are treated like seed¬ 
lings of herbaceous Calceolarias, or seedlings of Fuch¬ 
sias, Cinerarias, Pelargoniums, and Geraniums, or like 
Mignonette, five of the seedlings may be put into 
48-sized pots in March, one in the middle and four 
cross-corner-like round the sides, in strong loamy soil, 
mixed with very rotten dung. The- plants will rise 
from twenty to thirty inches, and some to three feet, and 
bloom magnificently from the first week in May to the 
end of the second week in June in a grand conservatory, 
lobby, or corridor, in any kind of greenhouse, and in 
shop windows all the way from London to Liverpool, 
and round every other “pool” in the three kingdoms; 
and, moreover, that these flowers look about three times 
better in May than those of Salvia patens do indoors 
and in windows in September. This season we are 
going to experiment on the seeds of Delphinium for- 
mosum in the same way. Now, for gardeners who 
have the regular machinery at work here is a new 
colour, which they can use from the first, or at least 
from the middle, of April until that kind comes in the 
open ground. For cut flowers to send up to London in 
May it is one of the very best, as it travels well and 
keeps a long time in water. A correspondent mentions 
to-day that seedlings of Delphinium formosum from a 
sowing at the end of last February were throwing up 
their second crop of bloom last week. This would have 
been valuable information if the exact treatment of the 
seedlings had been given. It strikes me that some one 
will soon immortalise himself by discovering that all 
the hardy herbaceous plants which have strong fleshy 
roots will force as easily and in the same way as As¬ 
paragus ; then these sowings out of season will come in 
aid of the grand discovery. 
A sheltered border with an eastern aspect is the only 
available space with us to sow the autumn seeds on, 
but a western aspect is the best. All the kinds are in¬ 
tended by us to mix first with spring flowers, and next 
with bedding-out plants. We shall probably have a 
bed of mixed Nemophilas , the blue and maculata , and 
some rows of the pink Silene pendula; but all the rest 
will be planted out in patches in the spring, and in 
rows or circles between the bedding plants. To plant 
flower-beds thickly in May is madness, and to have 
a spare inch of ground when a bed is planted is folly. 
Country gardeners, whose “ families ” are in town, stand 
here between madness and folly without “catching” 
either; but those who stop at home and follow the 
example of the said gardeners are not free from folly at 
least. But to be free from both there is nothing better 
than to have lots of seedling annuals in the spring 
in different parts of the garden to fly to for filling 
up completely. No gardener has ever used more of 
these annuals than 1 have done, or for such a long 
period, and I shall never cease to use them till I am 
dead and gone; and, were it not for the prejudice of a 
civilised age, I should like to be buried in a flower 
garden in which masses of annuals had been planted; 
but I protest against “ sowing annuals” in spring, except 
two sections: one is of those which last to the end of 
the season, and the other a few very showy six-week 
things, to be sown in among other plants, never as beds 
by themselves, as is practised in a few very good gardens 
which I know. Looking at the seed-lists of annuals I 
can vouch for it very confidently that not one out of ten 
of them is worth a place anywhere. Out of all that ever 
were known I do not think that twenty kinds are worth 
growing for showiness, and ten kinds are more than I 
shall use this season. 
Fifty plants of a good flowering plant when put to¬ 
gether will give more effect when in bloom than fifty 
kinds of the best flowering plants in the world; and 
one kind of annual will have more effect in a planted 
“ bedding ” flower-bed than two, three, or more kinds. 
I have tried them in all ways, and studied the subject 
most attentively, and my last “ bout” is that when you 
plant a bed of Calceolarias, Verbenas, or Geraniums, 
never use but one kind of make-up plant, and let the 
size and growth of it be as near as can be found to I 
those of the plant with which the bed is permanently 
planted. 
The place for autumn-sown annuals should not be 
dug deeply, but merely forked over a couple of inches 
deep, and the surface levelled and left rough. Then 
sow the seeds, and press down the surface with the 
head of the rake, or by walking over it, and after that 
rake it quite smooth and even. The reason for not 
digging the ground is to prevent the roots going deep, | 
and so encourage too much growth, which would not 
stand the frost, and the treading is to keep the frost 
from throwing out the seedlings. After all these 
precautions cultivated seeds never throw up such 
healthy plants as self-sown seeds, unless the surface is 
very hard or spongy. The only two annuals which 
do well on very damp, spongy ground, and particularly 
on boggy peat, are the Collinsia grandiflora and Eutoca '\ 
viscida. They are of no use except from an autumn sow¬ 
ing, but are the best of them all to sow round American 
beds or among Azaleas, and do better without being 
transplanted. From 1852 to 1855 I had splendid masses 
of Eutoca viscida all through May on a large bed of 
Ghent Azaleas, but Collinsia bicolor always comes best 
from being transplanted. 
All the China Asters will come in a month earlier 
from being sown in the autumn ; and I never knew the 
frost to destroy more of them than of other annuals. 
Another sowing of them in the open border by the 
middle of April, and a third about the 10th of May, 
No. CCCCLXVI. Vol. XVIII. 
