THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, October 27, 1857. 
50 
view always present plenty of buds, giving promise of 
great beauty in a short time; but somehow or other the 
Rowers do not seem to stand the sun well, that there is 
seldom enough out at any one time to deserve a good 
character as a bedding plant, while as an ornament to 
the conservatory it is second to none. The other 
Uniques, as scarlet, white, &c., are even less fitted than 
Rollissoris for outdoor display. 
Geraniums (other varieties ).—Fair Helen, Rouge et 
Noir, Moore's Victory, and even Shrubland Pet have 
been more sparing of flowers this season than usual; 
and, though they must not be discarded altogether, I 
cannot give them a good name tor flowering en masse. 
! The last-named variety is excellent as a vase plant, and, 
perhaps, if planted in a bed with a shallow, poor soil its 
j flowers might be more abundant. Perhaps the great 
‘ beat and drought we had in August led the plant to 
| flower out, as the term goes, and the heavy rains and 
warmth of September gave rise to that luxuriant growth 
of which I complain. As it is, little but rank foliage is 
now to be seen. 
Calceolarias. —I do not by any means aver that these, 
as a class, failed to come up to the mark, but some did so. 
The half herbaceous kinds, of which Sultan and Kentish 
Hero are examples, did very badly, as after the first 
blooms in the early part of the summer we had little to 
j show but plants in a languishing state, owing to the hot 
weather, and the rains were too late in setting in to be 
• of any service in furnishing flowers. This was un- 
! fortunate, as a small garden of some thirty beds or more 
* was planted solely with Calceolarias, the effect of which 
was spoiled by the uneven growth of the different kinds, 
some retrograding rather than advancing. As watering 
i them by hand was impracticable the kinds that suc¬ 
ceeded best were those of the strictly shrubby habit, 
1 and in most cases the oldest of them, as it must be con- 
! fessed the anxiety of late years amongst those who 
j furnish us with new kinds has been to get them with 
large fine trusses of bloom, never caring how few there 
i may be, neither how much the plant may be deteriorated 
i in habit and constitution. This mode of improvement 
I may suit the exhibiting florist, but is at variance with 
j the general features of flower gardening of the present 
day, when flower-beds are expected to be uniformly full 
of healthy plants and blooms from the earliest possible 
period they can be made so to the middle or end of 
October. In moister situations Calceolarias may have 
done better, but the season here has been an unusually 
dry one up to the end of August, which, in addition to 
the dryness of the situation, has been fatal to the well- 
j being of the Calceolarias. Plowever, those of the strictly 
i shrubby kind, especially the yellow, did remarkably well 
| in the early part of the season, flowering sooner than 
usual; but the absence of moisture checking the growth, 
there was no succession, the September rains only 
occasioning an abundance of wood of no use except to 
furnish cuttings for another year. Nevertheless, I shall 
not be deterred from planting this useful bedder ex¬ 
tensively another year, as its partial failure this year is 
only owing to the long-continued dry weather. The 
i late-flowering kinds, amplexieaulis and its varieties, have 
done as well as usual, and are now, October 12th, the 
only ornaments of these species worthy of notice. 
Besides the above mentioned others might be cited as 
not succeeding well, as Fuchsia fulgens and German 
Stocks, three beds I had of the latter never looking 
| well, although I had arranged, by sowing and planting 
j out, to have a succession ; but there never was that 
quantity out any one time to deserve approval. Annuals 
in general do not do well here in summer, remaining so 
short a time in flower that it is only those that stand 
over the winter to flower early in the summer that are 
worth noticing. German Asters have, however, been 
better; but when a series of beds connected together are 
to be filled with plants expected to last the season 
through, these must not be introduced; for, though they 
may be more striking than most things for a time, their 
beauty is but transient. 
As I have extended this list of failures and partial 
failures to a greater length than I expected I must 
leave the catalogue of those of more general utility till 
another week; at the same time it will be seen, by the 
above “ weeding ” made in the category of such things, 
that the selected ones must be fewer in number than 
most people would like. Be this as it may, it is only 
fair to publish a plant’s shortcomings as well as its 
merits, at the same time noting what effect the season 
or situation may have had in making it so. 
J. Robson. 
NOTES EOR NOVEMBER. 
As the active vegetation of the year is now over the 
operation of seed sowing in the kitchen garden is only recom¬ 
mended for some early Peas and Beans in a warm border. 
The Coleworts for winter and spring use to be earthed up. 
The Cauliflowers now nearly fit for use to be taken up, and i 
laid with their roots in some soil, and their heads so as 
not to touch each other, in a frame or shed, to be protected 
from frost, and kept free from dead and decaying leaves. 
The Celery intended for winter use to be earthed up to a 
good height as soon as the soil becomes a little dry. Frost 
may be expected shortly after the heavy rains we have 1 
had lately, which would do it some mischief. Continue to i 
blanch Endive by tying it up, or by wrapping the leaves j 
together, and laying slates or two flat tiles on each plant s 
so as to form a slight ridge, one slate or tile overlapping the j 
other. Air to be given daily to the young Lettuce plants 
in frames. If we may judge of other places from what we | 
have seen lately the slugs, after the late rains, will be j 
numerous and destructive to many things; therefore it will be i 
necessary to lay a quantity of cabbage leaves on the ground, 
and to examine them daily, providing yourself on each round 
with a flower pot of quicklime, into which, like medicine, | 
the slugs are to be shaken when taken. 
The present is the most favourable month for 'planting j 
fruit trees. Vegetation is declining fast to a comparatively 
dormant state, and the soil still retains sufficient warmth 
to excite a gentle root action to establish them in their new 
quarters before the severity of winter sets in. To expect 
to see a wall well furnished with good bearing fruit trees 
it is necessary to provide them with good soil, and to plant j 
them carefully. In the first place the borders should be • 
thoroughly drained, and not more than two feet deep, the j 
soil a yellowish hazely loam from a sheep pasture, only 
about four inches of the top being used, which is all- 
sufficient without the admixture of dung or any other rich 
manures, that only serve to engender disease. In planting 
the highest tier of roots that proceed direct from the stem 
should be rather above the surrounding surface, every root s 
to be laid out straight, and carefully covered with fine soil, j 
watered, and then mulched. If fresh trees are to be 
planted on old borders a barrow or two of fresh soil may be 
put in each hole, and mixed with the soil of the border; 
the holes to be made sufficiently large for more than the 
full extent of the roots when laid out straight. It is from 
inattention to this, by cramping and twisting the roots, that 
suckers arise. There will now be plenty of work to prune 
and nail Pears, Plums, Cherries, Apples, Gooseberries, ! 
Currants, &c. ; to unnail the youug shoots of Peach and 
Nectarine trees ; to prune and tie espaliers as soon as the 
leaves fall from the trees. 
If attention has been paid as directed to the summer 
management of fruit trees by displacing the foreright and 
irregular shoots, and by pinching off the points of young 
shoots where lateral branches were desired, the knife will ! 
now be only required to cut away worn-out bearers and \ 
decayed or cankery wood, and to reform or to remove any 
casual irregularity or ill-placed branches that have been 
overlooked when covered with foliage. All the eligible 
natural fruit spurs to be retained, and all the unfruitful 
stumps and snags, and the large, projecting, rugged spurs, 
or stag’s horns, to be removed. 
