THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, November 22, 1859. 
109 
of perpetual suction by means of a tub of water and a few- 
woollen lists, to discharge into the basin from May to 
September, the arrangement would be as complete and 
promising as the British Constitution. 
My trench is for a grand experiment on a new scien¬ 
tific basis. The very richness at the bottom of the 
trench is to force up Celery-like rankness ; the earthing- 
up of young plants of Tritomas as fast as every three 
or four inches of their growth are made, and before 
the leaves have time to spread out from their rigid shape, 
will induce long corms, or root-stocks, to be formed— 
something like the creeping underground stems of Cannas 
and Ginger, or between that and Horseradish “roots,” 
knowing the longer these “ roots ” can be had the more 
eyes there will be next season to cut into sets; for I 
verily believe that the “ roots,” or root-stock, of Tritoma 
is as full of eyes as the “roots ” of Horseradish—at least 
if they are humoured with an enormous quantity of water 
all the time they are in growth. Whether it be a marsh 
plant and would live in swamps all the winter I know 
not; but it strikes me that it is, and that up to the ancles 
in water—all the summer at least—would be just the very 
thing for it. I forgot to ask Mr. Eyles, at the Crystal 
Palace Chrysanthemum Show, if he had got in a dozen of 
stout plants of it to try next summer on the Crystal Lake 
at the best end, where they would vie with the Ficlcsonia 
squarrosas in the bronze fountain at the opposite end. I 
meant to try a pair of mine in large pots, to be kept in 
saucers of water all the summer, till I heard cf the better 
plan by Mr. Eyles ; but some one might try the pot and 
saucers still, as my stock is now out of my reach. 
By the" way, I saw at the Crystal Palace basins the 
Farfuqium grande in grand bloom. Hot at all like a 
Coltsfoot; more like some new Rudbeckia—a stout 
flower-stem, some eighteen inches long, and an open 
branchy head of large, yellow, Budbeckia-like blossoms. 
Tritonia aurea.— This name comes so near Tritoma, 
that some people can hardly keep the two apart in their 
memory; yet their natures are as different as possible. 
After all that has been said and done about Tritoma aurea, 
it is decidedly as much of an evergreen as Yallota pur¬ 
purea ; and the same treatment all the year round suits 
them both to the very letter. There is a plant or a pot 
of it now in bloom in the conservatory at the Experimental 
Garden, as large as a man can lift, and of as fine a colour 
a3 any yolk-of-egg-yellow Dendrobium that ever was. 
Grown on that system since the seeds were sent to me, 
five or six years back, by a gentleman near London, who 
excels in the cultivation of rare plants, even in that of 
Fisa grandijlora —the most difficult plant in this world 
to do, these bulbs have never yet been dry one day 
since the seeds sprouted, and nothing can succeed better. 
I tried one box of the bulbs this summer on the Ixia and 
drying system in my home garden, which gave the usual 
result—a produce hardly worth looking at after knowing 
the other side of the question. But when the hard frost 
of October set in, that box was most useful to test the 
hardiness of the bulbs. It stood by the box of Cyclamens, 
and I could afford to lose it; therefore it was not covered 
at all. The stalks and leaves of last summer were all but 
dried up; and the young fry of running suckers were 
just visible, like young Wheat breaking ground. They 
all stood 12° of frost without a blister. They also stood 
17° of frost soon after Lord Mayor’s day, for my glass 
indicated that number on the morning of November 13 ; 
but the young Wheat-like fry were all killed into the 
crust of frost on the surface of the box. I then took 
compassion on them, shifted the frozen ball from the box 
to one twice the capacity, and put them in from the frost. 
The roots, the runners, and what was in ground of the 
young suckers, have not suffered the smallest hurt; and 
I should say, that with six or eight inches of coal ashes 
over them, no winter -would kill Tritonia aurea in 
England. 
But, to square up our accounts as we go, I must 
mention that 70° of frost all but killed the leaves of an 
established plant of Farfagium grande planted close to a 
north wall, where it never had the sun till five in the 
afternoon, and w 7 here it grew most vigorously. Nothing 
is to be put over the roots of this plant except an inch of 
soil—it was planted on purpose to balance accounts with 
the frost. D. Beaton. 
HOW TO FARM TWO ACRES AND MAKE 
THE MOST OF THEM. 
( Continued from pqrje 81.) 
THE THIRD SEASON. 
Our autumn arrangements left us but little ground irt 
tillage except what was in crop, or arranged for a crop. 
It is true a portion of the Clover lea was advised to be 
broken up in order to grow a few Potatoes, Mangold 
Wurtzel, or other crops of that kind. If for the use of 
the cow, the Mangold would be, undoubtedly, the best. 
About twenty rods of the worst of the Clover lea might 
be so broken up, and if that were done by hand the 
sooner in the winter it was done the better. A slight 
trenching would be again serviceable, and some dung 
might be buried rather deeply in the ground. The 
middle or end of April is soon enough in a general way 
to sow this crop, and do not by any means crowd it too 
much. The appearance of a neighbouring field, where 
the crop is well grown, may be taken as a very good 
guide ; but if no such example be near, we may say that 
rows from twenty-four to thirty inches apart will not 
be too much, and about a foot from plant to plant in 
the row. Thinning, and it may be transplanting, a few 
to fill up any broken places must be duly attended to, 
such planting to be done in moist w r eather and when the 
plants are about the size of Radishes fit for the table, 
or less. Hoeing and destroying all weeds is a job so 
universally admitted as indispensable in all cultivations, 
that it is needless repeating it in every case here; but 
a certain amount of hoeing or other disturbing of the 
soil is often necessary where there are no weeds ; and this 
must be ddly attended to between the rows of this crop 
at various times, until the advancing growth of the plants 
renders it difficult to do so without injuring the leaves. 
After that little requires doing but to take up and 
house the roots in the autumn, as described in a former 
chapter; taking care in trimming the Mangold Wurtzel 
not to cut the top off too close, as it is better to leave 
half an inch or more of the base of each leafstalk on the 
tuber, than to cut them into the quick, as they bleed and 
are more likely to decay. The top, in fact, ought to be 
trimmed off in a conical manner, and not cut off at right 
angles with the tuber. Carrots may, however, be cut 
more closely in, and so may Swede Turnips ; the great 
thing is to get them put together as dry as they can be, 
and, the season being late, a fine day must be chosen for 
the job. 
REMARKS APPLICABLE GENERALLY. 
The third season requiring on the whole less labour than 
the two preceding ones, anything requiring doing in a per¬ 
manentway may then be seen to. The fences, if there are 
any live ones, ought to be kept scrupulously free from 
weeds, and if new planted, a very slight trimming may 
be given them when the growth is nearly perfected ; but, 
in a general way, it is better not to cut such Quickset 
hedges until autumn—that is, such as have not arrived 
at a fence condition, as cutting any deciduous tree or 
shrub in the period of its full growth is at all times a 
check to its further progress. Such checks are very 
well for fruit trees, as inducing greater fruitfulness. A 
| full-grown hedge will endure it with impunity; but a 
I young rising Quickset ought not to be so maltreated 
as to be ruthlessly shorn at Midsummer, under the plea 
of making it look nice. A plant less hardy and accom¬ 
modating than the Quickset, would be half killed by 
