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THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, October 10, 1857. 
As soon as the blooming season is over the pots 
; should be removed into a favourable situation, and 
there be plunged quite overhead in the ordinary soil. 
Continue to water them freely, and thus the bulbs will 
bo regularly fed, and will become very fair plants tor 
borders the following year. 
In Beds in the Open Ground. —This is the method 
adopted by the Dutch cultivators. In Holland they 
grow many acres of the Hyacinth alone, and send the 
bulbs to England and other countries for sale. I once 
saw a bed of Hyacinths grown in Col. Dickson’s garden 
at Gledhow, near Leeds, in Yorkshire, as fine as ever 
they had been grown in Holland; but it took a large 
amount of care, material, and skill to grow them so 
well. In the first place all the old soil was taken out to 
the depth of eighteen inches; then a layer of broken 
brick ends was laid over the bottom ; upon that was 
placed a layer of dung two inches thick; and then the 
remaining space was filled up with a compost of two- 
thirds of fresh loam, one-third of leaf mould, and one- 
third of well-decomposed dung. This was done early in 
August; the soil was kept up to its height (six inches 
above the general level) by adding sufficient compost for 
that purpose as the first quantity settled. In October 
the bulbs were planted two inches deep, and I firmly 
believe finer flowers were never seen. In the summer 
I saw the bulbs taken up, and they were as fino as any 
ever seen imported from Holland. No doubt Dutch 
bulbs can be bought cheaper than an English cultivator 
eould afford to grow them; yet I have no doubt on 
the sea-coast, where the land is alluvial, Hyacinths 
might be grown to profit by as little expense in culture 
as any other flower requires. In all cases I would 
recommend the grower for pleasure to take out the old 
soil as deep as he can afford, and replace it with soil of 
a similar character to the compost described above for 
pots. Whether he succeeds in producing finer bulbs 
or not, he will be sure to have much finer flowers than 
his neighbours who have taken no care at all. 
T. Appleby. 
(To be continued.) 
RIBBON BORDERS. 
I have made as many new kinds of ribbons with 
flowers as any of the Manchester people did in “ textile 
fabric ;” and once in my lifetime I assisted in making a 
plaid border with annuals—a tartan border is the right 
Scottish name. It was in the Garden (Experimental) of 
the Caledonian Horticultural Society in Edinburgh, and 
Mr. Barnet, who has been one of the “ heads of depart¬ 
ments ” at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Regent’s Park, 
for some years past, was the manufacturer of the plaid 
border. It was very odd, and it did not “ take.” It was 
the first attempt I had seen in planting in single stripes ; 
but the cross stripes in the border were difficult to 
manage, and the pattern could not be said to be a 
fancy pattern, or be included in any of the clan tartans, 
but it was a thing of many colours. 
Ribbons have progressed rapidly in public favour, 
however, and to keep it in fashion it is necessary to have 
them of as many patterns as suitable plants can be pro¬ 
cured or thought of. Every new line of a ribbon, there¬ 
fore, is of real practical value. We planted a line this 
season which turned the tide from against two very old 
plants, the Fox-tail plant of the French, and the Prince 
of Wales’s Feather in England. Love-lies-bleeding and 
Prince’s Feather, plant for plant in a row, give a full 
yard of brilliant purple in one place, and at 100 yards 
distance would puzzle one to make out what plants they 
could be. D. Beaton. 
FUCHSIA VENUSTA. 
(Beautiful Fuchsia.) 
This is a very handsome and distinct greenhouse species, 
having slender and somewhat hairy branches, and spear¬ 
head shaped, pointed, smooth leaves, usually in whorls of 
three. From the axils of the leaves grow the pendent 
flowers three inches long, consisting of a tube,, conical, 
tapering to the base, and divided at the mouth into four 
pointed, broadish, spear-head-shaped sepals; the oblong, 
spear-head-shaped petals are of au orange red colour, wavy, 
and rather turned back at the point; the calyx, tube, and 
sepals salmon red, and the sepals tipped with pale green as 
in Fuchsia serratifolia. 
This is a native of New Granada, from the environs of 
Merida, and near Santa Fe de Bogota, at an elevation of 
nearly 8000 feet. It was introduced to Europe during 1847 
by Mr. Linden. It had been previously found at Santa Fe 
de Bogota by Mr. Hartweg, but its seeds perished during 
their transmission home. 
