i 322 THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION, February 10,1857. 
a fork several times, and then turn the plants carefully 
j out about fifteen or eighteen inches apart. In a fort- 
1 night slip out the terminal bud, so as to cause a free 
protrusion of side-shoots. As the plants grow, stake them, 
water when necessary, and clean and surface stir the 
ground. By the middle of September lift the plants 
carefully into eight and twelve-inch pots, placed close 
beside them so as to preserve the ball. Use rich, loamy 
soil, water, and set for a few days in the shade, and by 
the end of October place them under cover, as the buds 
will be swelling and opening in abundance. 
Coronilla treat as the Cytisus. The management 
of Chrysanthemums, Epacris, aud Heaths has been 
given frequently of late. 
Mignonette Tree. —The best for this purpose is the 
giant sort sent out by the Messrs. Henderson, though 
the common sort will do well enough. It seems to 
thrive better in winter grown to a siugle stem than in 
| pots in the usual way. The height of the stem must be 
regulated by your own ta,ste. Little standards, eighteen 
i inches high, with a bushy head, as much or considerably 
more in diameter, look very nice; and one such plant 
covered with bloom will perfume a whole house. We 
had nice plants, some of them double that height, this 
autumn, with fine-formed heads. Some of these all at 
once, to our great annoyance, had their leaves turned 
brown, and some of these became yellow. Even in 
their case fresh leaves and flowers were thrown out, but 
not so fine as before. Rightly or wrongly we attributed 
the change to syringing them with clear water, holding 
quicklime in solution. We have some pretty specimens 
now; but before this drawback we were inclined to be 
proud of our standard Mignonette. I should not, with 
propriety, write we, as they were entirely under the 
I management of one of my young men, and their 
appearance spoke highly of skill and careful culture. 
He sowed a few seeds in the smallest 00-sized pots about 
the middle of March. These were placed in a Cucumber 
frame. When well up they were thinned gradually until 
only one plant was left. As soon as the little pot was 
filled, not matted, with roots, the ball was turned into a 
pot a size larger, and plunged into a gentle bottom-heat. 
As soon as the plants were a few inches in height a twig 
was placed against the leading shoot to keep it upright 
and encourage it to grow. Every side-shoot as it ap¬ 
peared had its point nipped out near to the main stem. 
This secured leaves along the stem, and thus added to 
its strength more than if the side-shoots had been taken 
off close at first. A similar course was proceeded with until 
the plants were as high as desirable, and stood in eight 
and twelve-inch pots, save that, as the days lengthened 
and got warm, a cold pit, kept close at first, and more 
open and airy afterwards, supplied the place of the sweet 
hotbed in which the plants were at first started and 
grown. When the stem had gained the desired height— 
from eighteen inches to three feet—the point was picked 
out, and when the buds in the axils of the leaves broke 
| near the point, from three to four, and even more shoots 
I were chosen to form the main branches of the head. 
! The soil used was chiefly pure loam, lightened with a 
i little peat, and enriched with well-aired old cowdung. 
When at their height a neat, stout stake supported .each 
plant. A few small holes through the stake, with small 
wires through them, made a slight wire-wheel frame- 
j work for supporting the head. Every flower-bud was 
I nipped out as it appeared until towards the end of au¬ 
tumn. The head was well furnished with shoots. 
Others were trained in the conical pyramidal shape, and 
I rather liked them, as well as these standards. 
I saw some beautiful tree standard Mignonette plants 
| last May in the Experimental Gardens at Edinburgh. 
; It is rather a common thing to give prizes at country 
exhibitions for the best pots of Mignonette. It would 
I be a step in the right direction to make it neocssaiy that 
only one plant should be grown in a pot, instead of a ; 
thicket as at preseut. At an exhibition there is no rea¬ 
son why a Mignonette-pot should have a number of ; 
plants, whilst such a thing would not be tolerated in the : 
case of a Cineraria or a Geranium. 
Jasminum nudiflorum will be a great acquisition to 
a cool greenhouse in wiuter. When plants are obtained 
of good strength, all that will be necessary will be to 
prune or stump back well every spring, and plunge the 
pot in a good position out of doors in summer, mulching 
with some rotten dung, and watering when necessary, j 
so as to cause a profusion of shoots not over-strong; and 
by November, and onwards through the winter, these 
shoots will be studded with their bright yellow, though 
scentless blossoms, the care required being merely 
placing it where it will be free from cold rains and frosts, 
both of which injure the flowers when the plants are 
out of doors. The commonest soil suits it, but rich 
loam would be the best for pot culture. 
Window Gardening. —I rather think I forgot this 
Jasmine and the Tree Carnations when giving a list for 
our window gardeners; but both of them would answer 
well where a moderate quantity of fresh air can be 
given them. In speaking of opening the door, the 
other week, for changing the atmosphere in a room, I 
by no means inferred that it would not be desirable to 
open the top sash frequently, even for an inch or two, for 
the benefit of the plants. The amateur will find many 
means of doing this without creating dangerous and 
unpleasant draughts in winter. What I chiefly wanted 
to inculcate was, that something more was necessary for 
a plant in a window than merely letting it alone, and 
leaving it to shift for itself as it best could. 
.Stove Plants. —“ A Correspondent with Little 
Room” wishes to have three showy, hardy, and easily- 
grown plants to bloom in this and the following month, 
or say from November to January and onwards; and I 
hardly know any better than Franthemumpulchellum and 
verrucosum, Justicia Jiavicoma (the J. calytricha of The j 
Cottage Gardener’s Dictionary), and the Poinsettia 
pulcherrima. The first is blue, the second orange 
yellow, the third is bright crimson. Were an additional 
plant wanted I would add a Zygopetalum, and were a 
fifth necessary I would select a Begonia Fuchsioides, or 1 
one of the nitida group. The treatment of these has 
often been given. I think I mentioned lately that in 
many places the beautiful bracts of the Poinsettia came 
small last year. Practical observation would now seem 
to say that to have fine heads of crimson bract leaves 
the plants should not be kept much after their second 
season. 
With some unavoidable interruptions these monthly 
lists are now finished. The difficulty has been to know 
where to extend and where to abridge, so that after all 
they are only meagre helps. I had no great hopes of 
their utility, aud I am somewhat sceptical still, though 
I have received many encouraging assurances to the 
contrary. Many subscribers thought them desirable, 
and then the attempt to meet their wishes became not 
only a duty but a pleasure. R. Fish. 
CAULIFLOWERS. 
Few things are really more acceptable at table than a 
good Cauliflower, which, with the aid of its relative the 
Broccoli, is generally expected to furnish a dish every 
day in the year, or nearly so ; for cases will arise where 
the regular supply may be interrupted by severe wea¬ 
ther in winter. In a very hot summer and very dry situa* ; 
tions an evil of another kind will be found exceedingly ! 
difficult to combat; but that it may in some measure bo j 
