182 THE' COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION, December 16, 1856. 
! constant advertisers have assured me that their profits 
i are just in proportion to the goodness of the articles 
advertised, as thus only do they obtain and keep the 
confidence of the public. It is against our rules to 
recommend one tradesman in preference to another. I 
believe seedsmen are just as honest as other tradesmen; 
and I believe, further, that failures are oftener the fault 
| of the sower than of the seed. I have often seen seed 
j taken out of the same packet so sown that not one 
i appeared in one place, while a perfect thicket of seeds 
j came up in another. Small seeds are apt to be buried 
too deep, or they are left on the surface, and a burning 
sun, with a north wind, scorches them, or the soil is 
stiff, and, when wet, wraps them round so tightly that 
no air can get at them. Small seeds should never be 
covered more than their own thickness. The soil should 
be made very fine before sowing. If the soil is the 
least adhesive, a little fine, sandy soil should be used for 
j covering, and then success will be more certain if 
i the patch is covered with a pot, which will secure the 
| spot from parching winds, &c. All these are pleasant 
! occupations for a lady. With all this trouble, if you 
• want a fiue, regular bed of some pretty annual, you may 
have to transplant and fill in the thinner places. When 
much is done in this way with small annuals, I would 
; prefer sowing them on a border by themselves, pro- 
: tecting them with mats, hurdles, or branches until they 
are well up, and then transplanting them into beds. 
By this means the beds are in fine order, and they 
can be planted regularly at once. If the soil is stiffish 
' loam at the bottom, and the seeds are sown in an inch 
or two of sandy loam and leaf-mould, the plants will 
! lift nicely in little patches, and never feel the removal. 
When the soil is light and sandy, a little leaf-mould or 
very decayed dung mixed with it will cause the roots 
to adhere. The seeds may be sown in rows from three 
to six inches apart. 
Annuals for Flower-garden. —If you would turn 
j back to previous volumes you would find full informa- 
! tion on this subject, and very likely the matter may be 
; again discussed before sowing-time in the spring. The 
following may suffice for the present:— 
MicrospermaBartonioides. —This is a cream-coloured 
Mexican annual, with small seeds, and growing about 
nine inches in height. I thought, at one time, it would 
be an Asterwort; but I understand now that it belongs to 
the acrid Loasads, and has some resemblance, I believe 
(for I have not seen it), to a rough but pretty annual, the 
Bartonia aurea, which makes a fiue blaze of gold colour. 
As this Microsperma is still a little scarce, it would be 
best to sow your seeds carefully in pots in your green¬ 
house about the middle of March; prick off iuto small 
pots, and plant out after the middle of May. I have no 
doubt but that ultimately it may be sown out of doors 
at the end of April if covered with a pot, and protected 
from severe weather until the plants get good hold. 
Sphenogyne speciosa. —I have had a fiue show of 
this beauty sown out of doors in light, fine-wrought 
soil in April; but the best bed I ever had was thus 
managed :—About a quarter of an inch of soil, with all 
the grass, was removed from some turfs, which were 
taken up about one inch and a half thick. These were 
cut into pieces two inches and a half square, and a 
shallow hole, an inch or so in diameter, made in the 
centre of each; on that a little sandy soil was sprinkled, 
and three or four seeds placed in each hole and covered 
with fine soil, and then these were all packed together 
on leaf-mould, with a sash of glass over them, at the end 
of March. When the plants were up, air was given as 
needed, and by the second week in May the pieces were 
planted in a bed about seven inches apart. 
Sanvttalia procumbens. — The treatment of this 
was given a few weeks ago. This aud Saponaria 
Calabrica are the two very best annuals for a bed, as, 
with a little care, they will bloom to the end of the 
season. Both may be sown out of doors at the begin¬ 
ning of April, especially if protected with pots. I prefer 
sowing them both on a border, or on a slight hotbed of 
spent leaves, in the end of March, and planting them 
out in little patches, that is, with three to half a dozen 
plants in a patch in May: it is thus easier to get 
the beds uniform and regular. The Bartonia aurea I 
have treated in a similar manner, but it does best either 
sown in pots and turned out whole, or sown where it is 
to stand, and protected a little at first. 
The Venus’s Looking-glass (Campanula speculum, or 
rather, Specularia speculum) will thrive quite as well here 
as in Paris. This and Venus’s Navelwort ( Omphalodes ), 
Cacalia coccinea, Nemophila insignis, N. maculata, 
and N. atomaria, Collinsia licolor and G. grandiftora, 
Glarkia pulchella and pulchella alba, Eschsclioltzia Cali¬ 
fornia and tenuifolia, Virginian Stock, and Sweet 
Alyssum, are some of the best low-growing annuals for 
forming beds, which, if sown in poor soil at the begin¬ 
ning of September, may either be planted into the beds 
at the end of October, or remain where sown until 
spring. A succession sowing may be made at the end 
of March. To these I might have added the Candy¬ 
tufts, &c. For beds about two feet in height, and to be 
treated in the same manner, we may select Godctia 
Lindleyii, grandiflora, rubicunda, and rosea alba. 
Viscarja oculata, Erysimum Perofskianum, &c. 
—For sowing in the open air at the end of March, I 
need hardly specify Catcbflies, Larkspurs, Nasturtiums, 
Sweet Peas; and in open soil in April, and under glass 
at the end of March, of China Asters, Marigolds, Stocks. 
All these hardy annuals will be useful in giving bloom 
before the regular bedding-plants are in perfection; but 
they are more fitted for bedding plant groups than for 
bulbs, unless the bulbs are concentrated chiefly in the 
corners or round the edges of the beds. 
Plans of small Flower-gardens. —Much has already 
been done in this way, and, besides the expense, it never 
yet has answered the purpose. Were we to give a plan 
for a flower-garden for a place fifty feet by one hundred 
that would suit that place, the next-door neighbour would 
want a different plan for his or hers, and very likely 
quite correctly, as the circumstances might be different. 
After all, most likely a plan contrived by the “ lady of 
the house” would be more appropriate than ours, and 
we feel that at present it is best for us to keep to general 
principles of taste, and to give what assistance in the 
way of criticism we can. 1 suppose your space is much 
longer than it is wide — then have a clump for a 
centre, and have two wings equal, having the width of 
the clumps proportionate to the width of grass between 
them. We have nothing to say particularly agaiust 
shutting out the view of your garden from the house of 
your neighbour, as seclusion may be extra desirable; 
but when I traversed the suburbs of Edinburgh in May, 
and found one front garden blocked up from all view of 
the passers-by by a wall, and the next garden merely 
protected by a neat iron fence, I could not help thinking 
how much more likely 1 should find kind, open hearted 
people in the one tenement than in the other. 
Rustic-work in Flower-gardens. —Unless when a 
strong contrast is desirable it is seldom that rough 
baskets, root-clumps, &c., come in well near the artistic 
lines of a house. A beautiful basket or a vase will be 
best there. Rough gardening comes in best in appro¬ 
priate ground, and at a distance from the house. 1 lately 
saw a striking example of this, though I do not feel at 
liberty to name the place at present. A beautiful piece 
of rough scenery is presented, quite distinct from the 
general flower-garden, as a Fernery; roots, See., are used 
for rough work on the beautiful lawn also; and, besides 
being out of place, it creates monotonous sameness, when 
