THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, October 4, 1859. 8 
elegans, and the three pair (the two ends) Flower of the 
Day and variegated Alyssum ; the whole seven being 
edged with Cerastium at the back and ends, and in front 
with Flower of the Day. 
The corresponding side being on the opposite side of 
the main central walk, some who have learned to read 
without grammar, or the art of spelling and attending 
to the points, have been bewildered in this part of 
the terrace; the whole being to them like reading a 
dictionary. A friend of mine, a good gardener fresh 
from Scotland, could make no “ heads or tails ” of it, j 
because the beds on both sides were as different as I 
have just described them. “ But did you try them by 
the unerring test for terrace-garden planting ? Y ou 
should have doubled up the whole plan in your mind 
like folding or shutting a book; then if every bed on 
one page did not fit, and lie over on the top of the like 
of it on the next page—say beds, vases, trees, andbedders, 
also the same plants, or the same colours, on both pages 
—you might have driven Sir .Joseph Paxton up into a 
corner, and the planters to Jericho.” Well, and sure 
enough he never thought of that. 
The two chain patterns are little differently planted 
from the ways of former years, but not much. I have 
the plan for next year, which will greatly improve them, 
besides being more in the science of the craft. In the 
centre of all the yellow links of the chain this year, a 
scarlet strip of Geranium cuts the yellow into two parts, 
but does not improve the pattern. An edging of Mangles’ 
Variegated’ Geranium runs round all the links and the 
connecting bars. The vigour, the health, or the bloom 
was never so up to the mark in September, except, per¬ 
haps, some of the Verbenas on the Hose Mount. Look¬ 
ing over the wall of this terrace down to one of the water 
temples, the beds on both sides of the grand centre walk 
are planted on the same principle as the bottom beds, 
just told, which is entirely different from the principle 
on which they have been hitherto filled. The colours 
run down in all the oblong beds in unbroken rows ; the 
edging is the same all the way down, and, to throw the 5 
circles on their own merits, a IJumea is set in the centre 
of each, and then this “monstrous convenience ” of being 
able to plant any mortal thing in them without infringing 
on the pattern occurs a second time. 
The colours in this second ribbon-style are as they 
should stand; but, again, without seeing them, errors 
might pass over the best eye and ear in this world. 
“ When his lordship and me went up the rine, we was 
both very unwell—him with the gout, and i with the 
lumbago.” The ear catches the false grammar here, but 
cannot detect the bad spelling, or the personal pronoun ; 
the eye would need to see them for one to be sure if 
they were right or wrong, and so it is in many parts of 
our art in planting beds. 
In the centre of the oblong beds, all the way down, 
were a row of the Crystal Palace Dahlia, on each side 
rows of Zelinda xlgeratum, and Tom’s successor ; the 
edges being Cerastium. As this will also be changed 
next season, the only remark which I think may be of use 
to you is, that the Zelinda without the Crystal Palace 
Dahlia would have made the pattern more telling to the 
eye. That leads to another observation on planting, 
which is this—Never risk your credit on planting, by using 
more than three kinds of colour in one bed, unless you 
are fully aware of the effect by a previous experiment; 
and not more than two colours unless you have had fair 
practice. 
The Hose Mount is the place for match pairs, for single 
beds on their own merits, and for the true style for corner 
beds. The six walks leading up to the Mount have one 
corner bed each. They divide the Hoses into six parts 
in the first flight, and the bedding plants into six parts 
in the second division, and also the summit of the Mount 
into six parts. The latter being sunk panels for one 
bed in each, and each of these beds is a long oval with 
two sharp ends. The length is thirty-six feet, aiid the 
width across the middle is twelve feet. All these sixes 
are in three match pairs. Punch and Village Maid 
pairing, with the diameter of the Mount between them; 
he on the east, and she on the west side. Yellows south 
and north, in Calceolarias ; and blue, or what represents 
it, Purple King Verbena, south-east and south-west. The 
whole six divisions are lined at top and bottom with 
Mangles, and are as steep as the sides of Arthur’s Seat at 
Edinburgh, next Duddingston Loch. 
On the flat top of the Mount the first match pair of 
beds and the best of the three matches are thus planted : 
Nosegay in the centre—the old Fotliergilli; then clean 
clear scarlet next; but Mrs. Vernon thus scarleted would 
show better how the two help one another—the scarlet is 
made to look brighter, and the red in either of the two 
nosegays is turned into light purple. Next the scarlet. 
Purple King • Verbena; then their peculiar Lucia rosea 
(perhaps Tom Thumb’s bride), edged with a light Ver¬ 
bena. The second pair: Village Maid in the centre, 
xlgeratum round it, then Calceolaria, and a broad band of 
Heliotrope. The third pair: Salvia patens for centre; 
Ignescens major round a yellowish-brown Calceolaria, and 
j a Hamlet-like Verbena. The first corner bed next the 
j railway entrance is Ignescens superbum. The second 
j corner to southward, Punch edged with Cerastium. 3rd., 
Cerise unique and Cerastium. 4th, Flower of the Day 
mixed w ith variegated Alyssum. 5th, Village Maid and 
Cerastium: and 6th, with, their kind of Lucia rosea. 
Between these six points, and from them up the Mount, 
| most of the beds are in pairs, and all those that match 
opposite will be so in future. One of them now is 
Veronica speciosa, two-year-old plants and in full bloom. 
D. Beaton. 
HOW TO FAHM TWO ACHES AND MAKE 
THE MOST OF THEM. 
The labour of political economists has, from the most 
remote periods, been directed to the proper cultivation of 
the soil; and works on husbandry are, perhaps, second 
to none for their number and antiquity. Neither has 
the subject of the present chapter any claim to originality 
of idea (though, we trust, it has some in detail); for, only 
a few years ago, a political agitator conceived the idea that 
Great Britain contained within itself sufficient ground to 
produce all that its increasing population required, and_, 
obtaining many followers to his plan, he started the cele- 
j brated Land Scheme, by which it was expected that each 
occupant of a plot of from one to five acres would be 
able to grow all he wanted for his own and his family’s 
j use. The signal failure of this scheme, and the loss it 
; entailed on all concerned in it, must be familiar to all 
1 newspaper readers. It is, therefore, not our intention to 
advise a repetition of anything like the political blunder 
alluded to, but to endeavour to show r how a small portion 
of ground may produce the greatest possible amount of 
! useful articles, either for the table of the family, or for 
j the feeding of pigs or cows. But as the subject is one 
on which it might, perhaps, be difficult to find any two 
! cases exactly alike, while very often great dissimilarity 
| will prevail, it will be advisable, by way of prefacing the 
subject, to say a few words on such plots in general, and 
the position they are often placed in. 
In taking into consideration the value of a two-acre 
plot of ground, we must first determine where it is 
situated, the description of soil, the wants of the pro¬ 
prietor, and many other points of a local nature ; but, as 
it will be impossible to give specific directions for all and 
every case that may arise, it will be better to take one or 
two of the most common and likely ones ; and from what is 
said on these, the reader will be able to deduce something 
that will bear on his own case, and act accordingly. 
We shall, therefore, suppose that the two acres in 
question adjoin the dwelling of the occupant, and that 
