THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, OfTOurm 2(5, 1858. 
49 
way, certainly, when they would be just as safe under a 
Birch or Fir tree; but the author of that plan talks of 
pulling them up, which shows plainly enough that he stuffs 
a gosling for a Michaelmas goose, and that he knows very 
little on the subject, but writes at random recollections 
from reading gardening books, which are just as full of 
fiction and fable as any other branch of literature, and 
require a practical knowledge to make out what is right 
from what is erroneous. That is just where the readers 
of The Cottage Gardener have the advantage over such 
as merely read such stuff as pulling up Geraniums to keep 
them over the winter! Still, what is good for trade should 
not be nighteapped in our country ; but, if everyone pulled 
up all the Geraniums three years running, and lost them 
after all, people would get so tired of them, that the trade 
would suffer in that branch as much as the Geraniums 
themselves. Take them up as carefully as you woidd take 
down Pears and Peaches, make them hay fashion, fit for 
the burial, and you may be your own undertaker with 
confidence, provided the grave is dry, and is not likely to 
be wet, or damp, all the winter; then, if you can afford 
it, place a glass-case over the place, and, depend upon it, 
you, or rather your Geraniums, will be quite safe, even if 
you pack them four or five layers deep, with some dry 
stuff between the layers and among the plants. But we 
shall bury some of our spare plants, at the Experimental 
Garden, under old trees in the “ wilderness.” They will 
be a foot under ground, or a foot of dry, dusty earth all 
round them, and in amongst the plants, and in the spring, 
if you please, wo shall compare notes. Recollect we may 
have a long and troublesome winter after that comet. If 
water, or melted snow, is likely to stand under your cold 
pit, or at all near it, we can read your notes before you 
begin,—all your plants will be as dead as red herrings, 
while ours will be sprouting like Scotch Potatoes before 
it is time to lift them. 
A young lady in Surbiton, who was lately married, 
from the West End of London, asked me to give her 
directions, for her mother, to keep Tom Thumbs this 
winter. After seeing the hundreds which I am obliged 
to provide for on the scheming principle, and as this is 
the newest thing on the subject, I cannot do better than 
get my pencil notes put into black and white, and send 
word to the lady to get this number of The Cottage 
Gardenek, on purpose to read about these troublesome 
Turn Thumbs, which, by-the-bye, were in pots, or vases, 
last summer, if I recollect rightly. The advice was this. 
Get them up, or shake the soil from the roots, if they are 
in pots, very carefully ; cut off’all the leaves quite close— 
to unhinge leaves requires more care ; have them closely 
planted in shallow boxes, not more than five inches deep, 
nine inches wide, or more than two feet long. Shake the 
box two or three times, to settle the mould among the 
roots ; and then give each of them, or each box, a gallon 
of water, to get the soil more uniformly close among the 
roots. Let the boxes drain well, and put half an inch of dry 
soil all over the surface of the boxes. Have them out of 
doors every fine day all through the winter, and never 
leave them out at night, on chance of not having frost. 
Water the boxes on a line, dry day,— once a month, till 
you come to Mai'ch; then twice ; and three times in April; 
and whenever you see a spot, or black speck, on any part 
of the plants, examine it gently, with the point of a knife, 
and remove it, if it appears to proceed from decay. I said 
nothing about good drainage to the boxes, as every lady 
knows about that now-a-days. D. Beaton. 
BICTON. 
This celebrated residence of Lady liolle is about twelve 
miles from Exeter. A coach leaves the London Hotel, 
about four o’clock every alternate afternoon, beginning on 
Tuesday, and passes the lodge gates. A mail coach leaves 
the Post-office, at Exeter, every morning at five, and goes 
to Budleigh Salterton, some fifteen miles from Exeter, 
and three from Bicton. Though this latter is a round¬ 
about way, the ride is a very pleasant one, and the coach 
returns in the evening. The best accommodation may be 
obtained at this Budleigh Salterton, a very pleasant rising 
watering place. I understand, that no general visitors 
are admitted at Bicton, without applying for, and receiv¬ 
ing, an order of admission from Lady Polio. Free 
entrance, on all days but Sundays, is given to all classes 
of gardeners, be they head-gardeners or apprentices. 
Having visited this place at the end of August, by 
this time our recollections are becoming less vivid than 
they were. There is some difficulty, without having seen 
a plan, of forming a picture in the mind of such a place 
as Bicton, not only owing to its vastness, but also to the 
fact, that the main features are self-dependent, each 
almost distinct in itself, and gaining but little in the way 
of association, or of contrast with others. Tims, a regular 
artistic flower garden, with its terraces, vases, and statues, 
would both give and receive attractions from contiguity 
with an elegant mansion ; hut at Bicton, though at no 
excessive distance, I am not aware that the one is even 
seen from the other. This fact will be variously estimated 
by different minds. One elass will regret, that the fine 
sheet of water, with its level lawn, steep banks beyond, 
and its sloping flower garden, backed by massive ranges 
of plant and forcing - houses, are not seen from the 
windows of the mansion. Another class will rather be 
glad that, — having the architectural adjuncts of the 
ranges of glass referred to,—there is no more prominent 
object to divert attention from the contemplation of the 
flower garden. Given a large rhomboidal square, and 
entering by the Sidmouth lodge,—we fancy that the four 
most interesting objects would be placed near the four 
respective angles. The flower garden and the house on 
the east side ; the kitchen garden and a prospect tower on 
the west side ; whilst a noble arboretum, fully amile-and- 
a-lialf in length, and some 180 feet in breadth, commenc¬ 
ing close to the mansion, winds round the inner park, 
until it reaches the flower garden, and passes at no great 
distance from the kitchen garden, and the interesting Pine 
wood, where the prospect tower is situated, and, so far, 
connecting them altogether. If in this I should fail to 
convey a correct idea, I fear it will he partly owing to 
Mr. Barnes’ kindness in taking us over the undulated 
park, to see so many specimens of fine Elms, Evergreen 
Oaks, &e., by w hich we got confused as to our direction 
bearings. 
. Between the outer and inner lodge by which we 
entered from Salterton, the Sidmouth entrance is a 
striking avenue of Araucarias, planted about 1812, all 
flourishing, and nearly equal in luxuriance, with the 
exception of a few that had met with accidents. One or 
two liad lost their leaders, and, like one noticed at Messrs. 
Yeitch’s, had formed a fresh one, which was growing 
vigorously. Each of these trees had been planted on 
wide raised circles of good fresh loam, and the free growth 
showed how much they liked such treatment. The plants 
on each side were about eight yards from the road, and 
sixteen yards from each other, so that there will be full 
room to develop their beauties. Beyond this line of 
Araucaria, a corner had been devoted to 'YVellingtonia. 
The plants were about sixty feet apart, each placed in 
the centre of a knoll, some two feet in height, and from 
fifteen to twenty feet in diameter, rounded to the natural 
level at the outside, and all formed of fresh sandy loam. 
As the trees grow, so that the roots reach the outskle of 
the mound, fresh layers of soil will be added. With the 
exception of one or two plants at Exeter, these were, 
individually, about the best plants we had seen,—vigorous 
and healthy, and nearly as wide at the base as they were 
long in height. 
There ai’e no landscapes more deceptive, as to distance 
and surface outline, than those of South Devon. Glance 
around you from an eminence, and you imagino the 
