THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN'S COMPANION.— October 21, *8$0. 41 
1 have seen a score of such out on the lawns this very 
autumn ; but here they allow no scarecrows of the kind ; 
i you must clothe your specimens, be the cost what it 
! may. The old Humea is first planted and secured with 
stakes; then three or four or more young Humeas, with 
: broad, soft leaves down to the ground, are so planted 
round as to appear to be so many fresh-looking branches 
j from the old plant, which adds tenfold to the looks of 
; tliis most graceful flower-garden plant. The young 
; plants are providing for themselves all the time, and in 
the autumn they are better thau if they were in pots 
under ordinary culture. 
Another point worthy of all praise in the management 
of specimen plants is insisted on here, and always was ; 
j and I will explain it by saying, that everybody is now 
; aware that a Gooseberry-bush or a Currant-bush full 
| of suckers round the bottom never produces so much or 
! such good fruit as if there were no suckers; and gardeners 
pride themselves on having a handle to such bushes 
I now-a-days, that is, a few inches of clean stem between 
j the roots and the first spread of the branches. That 
1 kind of pride, it is said by people of taste and judgment, 
| ought to extend to all specimen plants so called; and 
yet they make no objection to allow ever so many plants 
in one pot, or tub, or hole in the grass, if they help to 
make a good show; but that is a different move from 
showing your skill in the growth of a single specimen. 
On this principle Baron Hug el, from Brighton, was the 
only true specimen of Scarlet Geraniums at the last 
Crystal Palace Show; most of the rest looked too much 
like bushes with suckers. 
Time and space fail me, else I would tell of the im¬ 
mense numbers of Ferns and Lycopods; how they 
“ come ” for great parties ; how and when they are most 
useful in furnishing rooms and lobbies, corridors and 
staircases; of Grapes in pots on the dinner-table; of 
orchard-house fruits of all sorts, ditto; of Granadillus, of 
round, purple, and oblong, yellow shapes and colours, 
hanging from the rafters of the stoves; of Allamandas 
and Ixoras, and many more such, cut down at different 
periods of the season, so as to bloom till bloom “ comes 
again ;” of glass walls against fruit walls; of the “ finger 
and thumb ” whole system of managing young trees; of 
the different ways of propagation, and of much more to 
the same tune. After that let me add, that 1 think 1 
saw three sports on one Geranium in the “French 
Garden,” and some of them will be the long-lost 
Peltatum variegatum. If so, tliePeltates must revert to 
the true Ivy leafs or Lateripes. At all events, Peltatum 
rariegatum has not been “ long lost;” but it is a delicate 
subject, very pretty, and the most really peltate of all 
the race. Peltate means the leaf stalk to come from the 
centre of the leaf, or from near it, like the handle of an 
old shield, and is from peltatus, a Latin adjective. 
Variegatus is a like adjective, and both are put in the 
neuter um to agree with the noun Pelargonium; there¬ 
fore such names as Picturata, Multijiora, Conspicua, 
Intermedia, and all such adjective names are wrong, and 
should end in um when given as second names to either 
Geranium or Pelargonium. 
Nosegay Geraniums are estimated at their true value by 
Lady Middleton, who prefers them to the compact-trussed 
kinds and circular (lowers for brilliancy of tints when 
the plants are shaken by the wind. They have the old 
original Fothergillii, or Pink Nosegay, alias Purple Nose¬ 
gay ; a plainer pink kind very near it, and not so good ; a 
Lilac Nosegay; Frewer's Nosegay, a strong rod or dark red 
kind ; Mrs. Vernon ditto, best light red. These two Nose¬ 
gays blend well in shading; and Red Nosegay, a dwarf, 
dark red kind, and some others which are going under 
proof. To be a Nosegay, or of the same section as Fother¬ 
gillii, the flower must be labiate, as it were, or gaping, 
the two back petals should stand up straight, and the 
three front ones hang out or down, leaving wide spaces 
on each side between the upper and lower sets of petals 
—the reverse of a florists’ flower. As soon as, by crossing, 
the two sets of petals come close together, the character 
ol the section is lost. Ordinary people know very little 
of them, and florists set their rules against them ; but 
ladies are wonderfully fond of them for bedding, and that 
was why Sir Joseph Paxton offered three prizes for them 
at the last Show in the Crystal Palace, and failed to 
produce specimens of them. Since then I have been 
I asked over and over again what is a Nosegay Geranium, 
and 1 believe Mr. Foggo will be the very first gardener in 
i England who will show us that to live much longer 
without beds of Nosegays would be like tying one’s self to 
mere Tom Thumb beds only. His list of bedding 
Geraniums numbers seventy eight kinds, and this list is 
I before me; but many new ones will be tried next year 
j as long as l think of it. Trentham Gem is one of the 
best they can add for their soil, and the only one of Mr. 
1 Fleming’s seedlings that will suit their calcareous com¬ 
posts.* The flower is half Punch and half Shrubland 
' Scarlet, a fine, dark orange scarlet, and the habit free 
. enough to grow in the Fountain Garden in front of the 
I Shrubland Scarlet, or between it and Tom Thumb. 
D. Beaton. 
THE SHALLOT. 
History and Origin.— The land which flowed with 
milk and honey was also a land productive of excellent 
vegetable food, and amongst other things necessary to 
the well-satisfying of human wants was this useful 
bulb, which is found wild in Palestine, and has, from 
time immemorial, been extensively cultivated by all the 
civilised nations of the East, and appears to have en¬ 
tered largely into many of their table luxuries. From 
thence there is no doubt it reached us, after travelling 
slowly through the continent of Europe, and in all likeli¬ 
hood its general adoption here was equally slow. Suffice 
it, however, to say, that it is now tolerably well known ; 
but it is not everywhere seen in luxuriant health, and, 
no doubt, its culture not being properly understood, and 
consequent want of success, have prevented its being used 
so extensively as itotherwise might have beeu, and Onions 
are used instead, while able judges give the preference to 
the Shallot, or Eschallot, as it is more properly called. 
A few observations, therefore, on its culture may be of 
service to the general readers of The Cottage Gardener, 
especially as the season is fast advancing for its being 
planted. 
Varieties. —There is little here to confound the in¬ 
experienced, as I have never seen but one kind, the 
difference of growth and other local circumstances 
accounting for the Common, Long-keeping, Clustered, 
and some other inexplicable names; in fact, the character 
of the ground, season, and other particulars, not forget¬ 
ting the management, make the sole difference this bulb 
exhibits. 
Time of Planting. —This is a bulb resembling a well- 
grown Tulip, and it is equally necessary to have good 
bulbs of the one as of the other, if a productive re- 
suit be expected; aud as they are retailed out by most 
seedsmen, I would advise those who have not a supply 
of their own to procure some good bulbs as early in the 
autumn as possible, and, if circumstances prevent their 
being planted then, to lay them thinly in sand, with 
their tops just protruding through it, and to keep them in 
a cool place until they can be planted out, which ought 
to be done on some rich, warm border; for, like the 
Tulip, this bulb likes good stuff to grow in. In general, 
the first week of December is the best time to plant; 
but it may be done a month sooner with equal advantage. 
If the ground be wet at the time it is better to plant 
* Chalky soil affects leaf-mould and other dead vegetable matter. 
