310 THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION, February 3,1857. 
QUERIES AND ANSWERS. 
FLOWER BORDER FOR A TERRACE WALK. 
“ I have on the west side of my garden a long slip of 
ground, 145 feet long, between two old, ruined walls, from 
three to four feet high. On the east and on the level of the 
top of the wall I have a terrace walk—to the west an open 
country view. After drawing a straight line in front of each 
wall I have only fourteen feet in width, which I want to lay 
out in flower borders. I inclose a plan which I have pre¬ 
pared, and shall be much obliged if you can suggest any 
improvement. The narrow width makes many patterns, 
which would be preferable, inapplicable. You will observe 
that from the terrace I look down upon the beds. 
“I propose filling the side-beds with scarlet Geraniums 
and Yerbenas, and the centre beds with purple, white, and 
yellow Yerbenas, Lobelia gracilis, Heliotropes, and Calceo¬ 
larias, but I always find it difficult to fill a bed with Calceo¬ 
larias. 
“ As the pattern requires accuracy I propose to use edging- 
tiles instead of Box.”—N. B. 
[This figure shows the best way of putting the greatest 
number of kinds of bedding plants together in order to prove 
them as to their merits in every respect. The proof border 
at Shrubland Park, in front of the Swiss Cottage, is on the 
same plan since 1840, only that the side-figures are triangles 
and the centre beds are in circles, which make the two end 
figures to be half circles. 
The best way to plant the present plan, as a regular 
/lower garden , or as a border round a large flower garden, is 
to have the centre row in scarlet and yellow alternately, the 
front row in white and black alternately, and the back row in 
lilacs, pinks, and purples, in shades. 
The plan looks very ordinary on paper, but if properly 
planted and well attended to, we never yet saw a better plan 
for the very richest display which can be made on the sim¬ 
plest principle. 
The way we would plant it would be to have 1 in Calceo¬ 
laria rugosa multiflora, the best kind of rugosa; 2, 2, with 
Tom Thumb Geraniums, edged with Baron Hugel; 3, 3, as 1 ; 
4, 4, Tom Thumb edged with Golden Chain; 5, 5, as 1; 6, 6, 
Tom Thumb edged with Mountain of Light, or whichever is 
the most silvery, and 7, 7, in deep blue or as 1. The 
whitest Verbena and the darkest Verbena alternately in front 
of these, say Emma for the darkest, and the white Verbena 
which does best on that soil. The hack row should be 
chiefly in shades of pink and purple, say some Petunias and 
some Verbenas, and towards the ends bring in a lighter 
Verbena — the nearer to a lilac the better — and have it 
opposite Emma. The reason is to match the edgings round 
the centre beds, which deepen towards the centre from both 
ends. 
The next best plan would be to be without edgings to the 
centre Geraniums, and to have three sets of scarlet Gera¬ 
niums, thus: — 2, 2, large, old Tom Thumbs; 4, 4, young 
plants of Cerise unique, and 6, 6, with any of Baron Hugel's 
seedlings, as Bishopstow Scarlet , Dazzle, Tetworth Seedling, 
Mrs. Rickets, &c., &c., or tliree-year-old Baron Hugel. The 
meaning is to have all the plants of Geraniums of as nearly 
the same size as possible in all the beds; but the Calceolarias 
may be higher or lower than the Geraniums, if every bed of 
them is nearly alike in height; then the front and back rows 
to be of as many different kinds as one could muster, only 
not to have any of the plants higher than the Geraniums 
and Calceolarias. A whole collection of Verbenas might be 
set all round with two kinds in a bed, or even three kinds, 
or all the low Ivy-leaved Geraniums— Campanula carpatica, 
blue and white Gazanias, all Pansies except yellow ones. 
There must neither be a real yellow or scarlet bed in the 
sides.] 
OBTAINING DEEP-COLOURED CHINESE 
PRIMROSES. 
“ Can you inform me how the beautiful deep shade in 
Primula sinensis is produced ? I buy seed annually, and am 
told when purchasing it is precisely the same as plants shown, 
which are rich and deep in colour, but mine always come 
poor and washy. I give sheep manure in solution occa¬ 
sionally, but cannot produce colour like those I see.”_ 
Thomas Collin, Jun. 
[It has so happened that two correspondents have written at 
the same time for similar information,namely, howto obtain 
Primula sinensis with dark-coloured flowers, such as may be 
seen any fine spring morning in large numbers in Covent 
Garden. 
The secret—if there is one—consists in saving seed from 
the darkest and best formed flowers. Every amateur to be 
sure of this ought to save his own seed, though I have had 
as good seed from a seedsman as any I could save myself. 
Even with the utmost care some will come pale and starry ; 
just as many varieties of florists’ flowers raised from seed go 
back, as it were, to a state of nature. Therefore let not the 
amateur be discouraged if some of his Primulas appear in 
their native wild form. In saving the seed also take care to 
select the best flowers only, I mean even on the same plants. 
Nip off all that are small, ill-shaped, and pale-coloured. 
Pure white ones, if large and well-shaped, are in my opinion 
quite as beautiful as the rosy red ones. Here, again, is a 
point to be attended to. If the pollen of a white Primula 
falls upon, or is carried by bees or other insects, upon the 
stigma of a dark-coloured Primula, nine-tenths of the seed¬ 
lings raised from that plant will be as various-coloured as 
possible — some will even come variegated and spotted. 
Hence no white ones should he allowed in the house where 
seed from the dark varieties is to be saved, and vice versa no 
dark kinds should be kept where white seedlings are wished 
for. 
Then, again, a great cause of a high colour is plenty of 
light. Primulas should always be grown on a shelf just far 
enough from the glass to prevent the leaves touching it. 
Light, it is well known, is necessary to produce colour. Even 
green leaves will become white in the dark. Neither of our 
correspondents mention where their plants are placed, and 
therefore I may reasonably conclude that they are a con¬ 
siderable distance from the glass. To bring high colours 
light is absolutely necessary. I do not imagine for a moment 
that water impregnated with manure will give a better colour 
to one naturally washy pale. A plant well grown in a light 
compost will undoubtedly produce larger flowers and more 
clear colours ; but (I must reiterate) the plant to bring out 
its full colour must be placed as near to the glass as it possibly 
can be without injury. I have frequently noticed that the 
best and highest coloured flowers, when grown on a shelf, 
deteriorated when brought down and placed on a stage or 
platform some two or three feet from the glass. 
The best compost for this plant consists of good turfy 
loam and decayed leaves in equal parts, with a little heath- 
mould and sand added, sufficient to give it a sandy cha¬ 
racter. The season, too, has a good deal to do with the 
colour. I have always observed the best colours to appear 
about May or June, and that is the season to save seed in. 
Earlier or much later the colours are much weaker.—T. 
Appleby.] 
LOPPING AN OLD MULBERRY TREE. 
“ I have a very old Mulberry tree in an old garden. It 
is chained, propped, and carefully covered with sheet lead, 
where split, which it is to a considerable extent in the mid¬ 
dle. It is still healthy, and bears wonderfully. A large 
limb has so increased in size as to injure the other branches, 
and make the tree very much on one side, besides being 
evidently too heavy, and projecting beyond the grass, which 
