THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY 
stems broken off with the wind just at that place where 
the tie had been allowed to remain. 
Again, as the plants advance in growth it may be 
necessary to place three or five subsidiary stakes round 
the plants. These are for the purpose of tying the side 
branches to. If this is not done the branches as they 
become heavy will frequently split off close to the main 
stem. Such branches often produce the very best 
blooms; hence the loss of them reduces the chances 
of obtaining such blooms. Besides this, the tying out 
the branches to these out-stakes opens the centre of the 
plant, thus giving light and air to every leaf. This is 
always advantageous to branching plants of any kind. 
Mulching the Ground. —It is scarcely possible to 
obtain first-rate blooms without this. Have ready some 
half-rotten dung (perhaps cowdung is the best); spread 
it round each plant when half grown so as to cover a 
radius half a yard from the plant, leaving it rather hollow 
in the centre. To prevent it blowing about pat it gently 
down with the back of the spade, and give it a good 
watering from a wide-rosed pot. This will make it close 
«ncl firm, and the water will descend to the roots en¬ 
riched with tlu" mices of the dung, and every successive 
watering will, in a degree, have the same effect. In dry 
j weather copious waterings will be necessary to keep the 
1 plants in vigorous growth. T. Appleby. 
('.'■> be continued.) 
RISING AND FALLING GREENHOUSE STAGE 
FOR PLANTS. 
There was a new invention exhibited before the 
j last meeting of the Horticultural Society which I did 
! not mention in the report, as I wanted a copy of the 
letter which was sent by the inventor, and which was 
read to the meeting. The inventor is well known by 
name to every man and woman in the three kingdoms 
who is fond of plants, Robinsons Defiance Verbena 
being his last best seedling. He is one of the best, if 
not the very best grower of some kinds of plants in 
| England. He often took first prizes in that room, and 
he has been employed by the Horticultural Society as 
one of their judges, and, to my own knowledge, they never 
employed a second-rate judge for the last twenty years ; 
j therefore an invention by such a practical man for the 
! better cultivation of plants is worth more than a 
passage in a flying report. J. Simpson, Esq., the 
j celebrated engineer, one of the three engineers who 
! reported on the rebuilding of Westminster Bridge, and 
: had seen this invention, gave a most favourable opinion 
on the application, and advised Mr. Robinson to have it 
I patented at once. Mr. Robinson was once head gardener 
to Mr. Simpson. 
These things do not come strictly within the scope 
of the Horticultural Society, but rather to the Society of 
Arts; and the Horticultural Society having always been 
“ hard up,” they never encouraged garden inventions as 
they could wish; therefore the less they could say about 
them the cheaper they got out of patronising inventors ; 
but let us hope that the new Council will turn over a 
new leaf without being more extravagant. 
This invention by Mr. Robinson is to supply what 
he and all good gardeners often felt the want of in their 
plant houses, and at all seasons of the year. It is a 
most simple and most effectual way of raising up plants 
to the glass so that the leaves might touch it if needs 
be, and of lowering them from the frost at night, and 
up with them in the daytime. A stage of any size or 
shape, and of any weight up to five tons, or, perhaps, five 
times five tons, can be raised or lowered by this inven¬ 
tion as easily as a stage of so many pounds weight. 
Weights at the end of cords, which turn over pulleys 
GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION, March 17, 1857. 413 
near the top of the house, work the whole stage in a 
small house as easily as a window in a cottage, and for 
larger or heavier weights there is a “capstan” under 
the stage, by which the pulleys do the work quite as 
safely; but Mr. Robinson’s letter will tell the story 
much better. What I say is from a very minute exami¬ 
nation of an excellent model of a greenhouse of six 
lights, in which the stage is in two halves, one half 
being for three lights; but that is merely to show how 
the stage, in a very long house, might be worked in 
parts, according to the size of the plants upon it. The 
whole turns on the expense; the practicability and 
the desirability of the thing are beyond a question. 
Hothouse builders are the best parties to take up the 
subject in the first instance, and, having proved the 
expense, they need not fear but that gardeners will 
approve of the patent. Some spirited amateurs will 
dash into it at once, and some will wait the verdict of 
more extended experience, but none need wait to see 
the practicable part proved. That has been proved long 
since in the “ mind’s eye ” of every good gardener in 
the country, and for the rest I beg to join in the 
approbation of Mr. Simpson, my next-door neighbour, 
and in the hopes of a better gardener than—D. Beaton. 
Mr. Robinson’s letter is as follows :— 
“The author of these few lines being a cultivator of 
various kinds of plants for nearly twenty years, has, from 
time to time, seen the necessity of a stage like the one I 
have described, which you observed the other day was 
moveable. The application of lifting weights as here shown 
claims for itself an established and recognised law, for which 
I have no desire to take self merit; yet I conceive the pre¬ 
sent to be the first illustration of its applicability to that of 
a moveable plant stage, and in that belief have secured to 
myself its patent right. 
“ I need scarcely observe that, at stated periods of their 
growth, it is imperative that plants, especially those termed 
soft-wooded, should enjoy a situation as near the glass or 
roof light as possible ; in fact, the nearer the better. That 
the beneficial influence of such a situation may be the more 
readily attained, the simple and inexpensive mode of raising 
and lowering the stage is acquired to the minutest degree; 
hence I feel the invention to be an important desideratum. 
The economy of time and labour made in watering, cleaning, 
and otherwise examining specimens is not the least of the 
many benefits which are claimed for this contrivance. To 
all connected with plant growing the toil of lifting heavy 
plants to the water-pot, or the water-pot to the plants, is 
familiar: this is largely obviated by the instantaneous lower¬ 
ing of the entire stage of plants, whereby the whole are the 
more readily brought under observation and operation. At 
the times of sudden frosts how much safer will a house of 
plants be five feet from the glass than close to it; and such 
degree of safety is secured by this contrivance, the plants 
being brought into a higher temperature without the cost 
of raising the heat of the whole house. The inspection of a 
stage of plants is made more easy at a time when in flower, 
the raising or lowering being entirely at will. The amount 
of weight by which the stage may be laden is not of the 
slightest consequence—five tons may be as readily and as 
easily lifted or lowered as five cwt.; nor is this done at a 
cost for expensive or complicated machinery. Any stage, be 
it oblong, round, or octagon, may be operated upon with 
equal facility, and with little risk of getting out of order, 
or its efficiency being reduced from wear and tear.” 
WINTER AND SPRING GARDENING OUT 
OF DOORS. 
I see the above in The Cottage Gardener for February 
17th, from “ A New Subscriber,” who, in common with 
many old subscribers, is anxious to enliven the flower 
garden as much as possible during the early spring. Now, 
I doubt not but there are plenty of readers of The Cottage 
Gardener who could give some valuable hints bearing on 
the subject, of a more economical character than is practised 
