THE COTTAGE GARDENE'R AND COUNTRY 
spotted with dark purple; good form ; three feet and a 
half. 
(10s. 6 d. each.) 
CHOICE OLDER FANCY DAHLIAS. 
1. Baron Alderson (Perry).—Bright orange, with a 
white tip on each petal; large and beautiful; two feet 
and a half. 
2. Butterfly (Salter). — Yellow, striped'and spotted 
with red; good ; two feet. 
•h Duchess of Kent (Knight).—Pale yellow, striped 
with white; extra fine form and very beautiful; four 
feet. * 
4. Gloire de Kain (Cailloux). — White, striped and 
spotted with maroon ; four feet. 
5. Inimitable (Salter).—Bright orange salmon, striped 
and spotted with deep crimson; very fine ; three feet. 
6. Magician (Paulet). — Dark purple, tipped with 
white; fine form and very constant; three feet. 
7. Marvel ( Pope).—Yellow, densely spotted and striped 
with red; fine ; three feet. 
8. Pigeon (De KnifF). — White, with rosy salmon 
edges; fine in shape and constant; three feet. 
(Is. to 2s. 6 cl. each.) 
T. Appleby. 
NOTES EOR APRIL. 
After the fine, dry February and March of this season, 
which were most favourable for seed sowing, the soil, after 
the severe frosts and drying winds, being in a healthy and 
pulverised condition, we may, by judicious management and 
careful attention to the growing crops, expect abundant 
produce. 
As the season of more active vegetation is approaching 
when genial showers descend to refresh the earth, so also 
do slugs and snails crawl forth on a mission of destruction 
to the young and sprouting seed plants. It is necessary to 
prevent their depredations by all means possible. Soot or a 
little salt may be strewed on the ground; two or three appli¬ 
cations of quicklime, too, in showery weather is an excellent 
remedy, and by searching early in the morning or late in the 
evening their numbers may be diminished; but the con¬ 
stant use of the hoe and surface stirring will best destroy 
the young broods and invigorate the growing crops. 
Sowings of Cauliflower, Curled Kale, Broad Beans, late 
sorts of Peas, Savoys, and a good breadth of Turnips should 
be made; also a few dwarf Kidney Beans in a warm corner, 
to be protected when they vegetate; but if sown in pots or 
pans, and transplanted in May, they will be more certain of 
produce; and also a sowing of Scarlet Runners. Early 
Purple and the White Cape Broccoli, and the Walcheren, if 
sown now, will be fit for late autumn use. A second sowing 
of the Walcheren at the end of June, and a third sowing a 
month after, will give a supply of this most invaluable 
Broccoli for nearly the whole year round. 
Beet, a most profitable and nutritious vegetable, to be 
| sown about the middle of the month on a deep, rich, and 
rather sandy soil. The Dwarf Red and yellow Castlenaudari 
I Beets are the best flavoured. The seed to be sown in drills 
! two inches deep, two or three seeds to be dropped together 
about a foot apart in the drills, only one plant being allowed 
| ultimately to remain, and eighteen inches from row to row; 
i to be covered about an inch deep with fine soil. 
As soon as the Onions, Carrots, and Parsnips are seen 
breaking through the soil, if the weather is dry, the crust 
should be loosened by a short-toothed rake, and the hoe after¬ 
wards applied to keep down weeds. If any seedlings are in 
tufts let them be thinned out in time; and if any blanks 
occur in the crops fill up by transplanting them in showery 
weather. 
Also the seedlings of the early-sown Cabbages, Brussels 
Sprouts, &c., to be transplanted a few inches apart into 
beds, to produce fibrous roots and stocky plants for final 
planting. Celery to be transplanted in a couple of inches 
of soil, and three or four inches of rotten dung on a hard 
bottom; to be liberally supplied with water, as any check 
by drought to its luxuriant growth will start it to seed 
GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION, March 01, 1857. 441 
Fruit trees should also receive attention, as the arrange¬ 
ment of their growth can now be more easily directed by 
removing the young shoots from places where they are not 
wanted, and a shoot should be encouraged from the base of 
the fruit-bearing wood to bear next season. The great 
object is to maintain a healthy fruit-bearing condition by 
removing all superfluous wood, which should be done 
gradually a little at a time, that the system of the tree 
may not receive a sudden check, which sometimes happens 
if many shoots are taken off at once, when the fruit ceases 
to swell and prematurely falls off. 
It will now be necessary to calculate the number of plants 
that will be required for each bed in the flower garden, 
and to increase the stock where there is a deficiency, and 
to arrange the colour of each bed so as to produce either a 
contrast of colours or a complimentary effect for a striking 
or harmonious display of flowers. A rough map of the 
beds, coloured as intended to be planted, would be a useful 
guide to the best selection of colours. If there is any 
difficulty about the selection of colours, and if all that has 
been repeatedly written by the best authorities on the sub¬ 
ject has been overlooked or forgotten, we would advise such 
parties to consult their lady friends, who are generally most 
discriminating in the arrangement of colours. 
Evergreen shrubs should be now looked over, and all dead 
and unsightly branches removed. The judicious application 
of the knife would give many shrubberies more natural and 
pleasing features than we generally see. I suppose that the 
old-fashioned practice of digging amongst shrubs, and cut¬ 
ting up the roots in large spadesful, is now very generally 
discontinued; a moment’s consideration must suggest the 
barbarity of the practice. 
Annual plants to be thinned out in time, that each may 
develope its peculiar habit of growth. The branching 
tendency of Mignonette, which is so generally crowded 
together, will afford an example that may be applied to 
other things. 
Chrysanthemums, on account of the splendid new varieties 
lately raised by Messrs. Salter, Versailles Nursery, Ham¬ 
mersmith, are becoming very general favourites; they are 
cheap, and easily increased at this season by cuttings, and 
require but ordinary attention to produce a gay display in the 
autumn and early winter months. Cuttings should be struck 
now, potted off, and stopped at the third joint, which should 
be repeated as they make fresh shoots, planted out in May, 
supplied with water in dry weather, and kept topped until 
the end of July, taken up and potted in September, and 
watered ; they will flower most satisfactorily, without losing 
a leaf or showing the least indications of having suffered 
by the removal from the open ground. A similar practice, 
without the stopping, is successfully adopted with the new 
and improved varieties of German Asters. 
Dahlia roots, if not already done, should be covered with 
soil; the shoots, when two or three inches long, taken off 
and potted ; and the old roots divided to increase the stock. 
Although it may appear trifling, it may be useful to say 
that Carnations, Picotees, and other such florists’ flowers in 
pots, should be watered in the morning, as they are very 
apt, when watered in the evening, to be chilled by the cold 
at night, when gangrene and other diseases ensue. • 
Greenhouse plants during “ the uncertain glory of an April 
day,” with frequently frost at night and a scorching sun in 
the day, will require attention in shading during strong sun¬ 
bursts ; but if the roof is covered with creepers a little 
management in training them will effect the object with 
the least trouble. The lately-shifted plants, when they have 
fairly started into growth, to be stopped as they may require 
to make them bushy, and a gently growing and moist at¬ 
mosphere be kept up, sufficient to produce a dew upon 
the plants, which is a most pleasing sight in the morning, 
and a sure indication of their healthy state. 
As Rhododendron arboreum and other greenhouse varieties 
are rarely seen to flower well, it maybe useful to know that the 
critical point of success depends upon shifting them as soon 
as the flowers begin to fade; to be then excited into luxuriant 
growth in a temperature between 55° and 60° for three or - 
four weeks, when the watering is to be gradually discontinued, j 
and merely a sufficiency supplied to keep them from ! 
flagging; then place them in a cool, sheltered situation out j 
of doors. The great object to be aimed at is to prevent a ; 
