THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, Janttab'? 3, 1860. 
205 
All the kinds in those thousand generations require to 
he planted in October, and all the rest of them which are 
still more easy of recognition must not he put in before 
February ; and although these increase in size and num¬ 
bers, and seed with more certainty by being allowed to 
grow on from February—their natural time of commenc¬ 
ing their aunual growth—circumstances peculiar to us 
and to our climate forbid such early growth; and the 
chief business of this new year’s “ gift of the gab ” is to 
forbid such banns altogether, and to put the whole race 
in motion not later than the middle of February, unless 
there is some particular aim in view which weighs more 
heavily with the owners thereof than the sure and certain 
prejudice to the race itself. 
Then the whole story has only two points of semblance 
— October potting or planting, and Februai’y planting or 
potting: both may be a little earlier without hurt, and 
both may be a good deal later with a considerable draw¬ 
back to the future stock. 
In the good old times we planted out the first crop of 
Natalensis, or psittacinus, the head of the new strain 
during the first week in February ; the second and third 
on the first and last days of March; and the fourth and 
last crop at the very end of April. These ■were in like 
succession of bloom from June to October ; but the two 
last crops never increased in number of offset-bulbs or 
in the size of the now flowering bulbs to one-half the 
number or size of those planted earlier; thus showing 
as clear as noonday that necessity alone should keep 
them out of the ground so late in the spring. And mind, 
too, that this waiting from October to February was 
acquired by Gandavensis from a preponderance in the 
cross in favour of the habits of Natalensis, which begins 
to make roots only in February. If that cross had been 
strictly intermediate, like some cross in the habit as 
much as in the colour, the strain would need to be planted 
or set to grow, midtime between October and February, 
or in the dead of winter. 
The very newest and the very best of the new Gladioli 
are of that celebrated stock which Her Majesty Queen 
Victoria so much admired with the Emperor of the 
French at Fontainbleau. They were all raised of the 
strain of Natalensis, beginning with Gandavensis as the 
heir. They all require to be allowed to begin to make 
their yearly roots in February, some of them even as 
soon as the beginning of the new year; but they are so 
patient that they will hold on dry till late in .May, but 
that throws them back in ripening late in the autumn, 
To make the best of them, therefore, until such time as 
they are as plentiful and as cheap as their progenitors, we 
ought to have them in the earth, every one of them, as 
early as February. We should seed every one of them that 
is not barren, and preserve the smallest “root” till we 
can speak of them by the “ bushel skep,” like the Suf¬ 
folk hero, and then do them exactly as we did Natalensis 
twenty, years since—that is, put in four spring crops, one 
at the beginning of February, two in March, and one in 
April. The first three crops to be planted under cradles, 
out of pots, and the last crop in the open air where they 
are to bloom, and just before planting-out time in May, 
to remove those in the cradles and put them in where 
the spring flowers were removed from the previous week. 
The value of setting quantities of various bulbs to root 
close together in temporary quarters, to be afterwards 
removed for planting in the flower garden, is yet only be¬ 
ginning to draw general attention ; but of all the facts 
which have been proved in the Experimental Garden, this 
one has the greatest range, and is the one that is the 
most obviously useful. It is equally valuable in the 
garden of my lord duke as in that of the man or woman 
who opens the lodge-gate for him. 
The best compost to set all sorts of bulbs thus to root in 
is a mixture of one-half spent Mushroom-bed, the other 
half equal quantities of leaf mould and very sandy fresh 
soil from a common ; but for a few weeks they will root 
freely in any light stuff, one inch of it under them and 
one inch over them are quite enough. The bottom of the 
cradle, or cold frame, or turf-pit, or wherever they are 
set, ought to be as hard as a path, that the roots may not 
strike lower down, but run flat till they are taken up for 
final planting. No root can then be broken, and the flat 
shape is the best for them at that turning. 
Garden-cradles are made of hoops and mats over them, 
and are just as good and useful for seeds, seedlings, and 
young bedding-out stuff as they are for such bulbs, but 
when they are used to stand pots in, as for Cyclamens, 
Mignonette, and other fancy things, the bottom must be 
soft with sand or cinder ashes, and be well drained below. 
However, if any spirited person who can afford it may 
think of any other plan different from this, and less ex¬ 
pensive, all he need do is to buy a small selection, send 
them here, and say how we are to do them, I engage to 
furnish him to the very letter of his bent, free of all 
charges. But I am in justice bound to give him what I 
consider a very fair beginning; yet he may have his own 
way, if he knows any more superior kinds. 
Bertha Rabourdin , snowy white, and deep crimson blotches. 
Maria. Much in the same way as the last. 
Madame de Vatrys, ditto ditto. Three virgin beauties. 
Penelope, next light shade; a blush with rosy marks. 
Hebe, the next to Penelope in the same style. 
Imperatrice, next shade* reaching to a pure salmon. 
Madame Sachet, next in degree, and named after the wife of 
the cross-breeder ; always a good card for a beauty. 
Fgeria, same ground, with an orange tinge in the red markings. 
Florian, also salmon and fiery-flamed markings. 
Daphne, after the last style. 
Baron Laillard, a deeper salmon tint in running shade. 
Aglae , next shade. 
Amabilis, rising to clear scarlet. 
Gil Bias, not quite so scarlet, but following the shade owing 
to its crimson mai’kings. 
Monsieur Vinchon, turning from scarlet, and leading to 
Madame Furtado, a decided carmine. 
Neptune, a fine tinted carmine. 
Oracle, ditto in reddish carmine. 
Id Aurora, nearly ditto. 
Mazeppa, splendid carmine and orange. 
Monsieur Corbay, more scarlety with the orange of Mazeppa, 
bringing us up to that blended scarlet in 
Brenchleyensis, and to perfect crimson in Vulcan, and 
President Decaisne, the three highest in this section, and all 
spring setters from Natalensis. D. Beaton. 
THE CULTIVATION OF CELEEY AND OTHER 
SALADS. 
For growing good Celery considerable merit is due to the 
gardener. It should be firm and crisp, and have a peculiar nutty 
flavour. Manure is most essential to this crop; and good forward 
Celery should have a solid spit of rotten dung to grow in: with 
this, and abundance of water, it will come very fine. For the 
later crops so much manure is less essential, and I have found 
that rotten leaves answer very well for it; certainly less stimu¬ 
lating manure does.* 
In the beginning of the month of February I commence sow¬ 
ing my seeds in pots or pans, which are placed to germinate in a 
Peach-house, and removed to a warm shelf in a greenhouse as 
soon as the seedlings are fairly up. Here they remain till the 
end of March, when the season has arrived for pricking them 
down. For this purpose a level hard piece of ground is selected, 
over which is laid two or three inches’ depth of rotten dung, on 
the top of which a little mould is sprinkled, and the plants are 
pricked and attended to with shading and watering as required. 
In June they are transplanted into trenches seven feet from 
centre to centre; and, with due attention to watering and earth¬ 
ing up, become very fine Celery by Michaelmas. 
The advantage derived from pricking them down in hard ground 
with a thin layer of dung is, that they form no tap roots, but are 
lifted with a dense and compact mass of fibres, which receive no 
* We find liquid manure (house sewage) given once a-week, a certain 
means of obtaining excellent Celery.— Eds. 
