321 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, Februaky 22, 1859. 
not be bound to bold my pen anent it. I ean only dis¬ 
please ; and being displeased with patent laws, as they 
affect gardeners—the most liberal men on the face of the ' 
earth—it just comes to “ chit for chatand I wanted 
something out of the common to heat uncommon-built 
greenhouses for moving from place to place. 
The way that the gas is made to give a larger flame by 
this process, and the circulation of water in flat pipes j 
without a provision for the flow and return, were both 
new to me, and seemed the most effectual method of, 
employing gas that I had heard of; but the whole is to ! 
be adverti: ed in The Cottage Gaedenek as soon as the 
frost will come strong enough to prove the quantity of 
gas for such and such work. The convenience of the 
thing, and the safety to the plants, are already beyond 
doubt. 
Then, having the plants, and the easiest ways of keep¬ 
ing them, the next question is the way to propagate and 
ncrease our stocks. The half of the amateur world does ! 
not yet know that nine-tenths of our hardy spring flowers 
can be best and most safely propagated in the same 
spring. But everyone of the hardy spring bulbs—be¬ 
ginning with Scilla—will part and divide, just as they are 
seen to come up to the surface, as they would while at 
rest, and when it might be more difficult to do it on 
account of the ground being occupied by other plants ; 
then the Hepaticas, the Polyanthuses, the double Prim¬ 
roses, and the border Auriculas, will divide at the be¬ 
ginning of March as well as at any other time, and some 
of them much better. Some of the finer kinds of double 
Primrose, and the double dark Polyanthus, are not so 
safe to divide at any time so much as at the beginning of 
March. If you part them after they are out of bloom, 
the hot weather and the red spider will render them fit 
for parting no more. If you do them in the autumn, the 
chances of wet and dry, and of being turned out by the 
frost, are just as bad ; but as soon as iife is moving in the 
spring, the move will keep on the go longer than at any 
other period; and that is the sole reason why most of the 
more difficult plants to keep or to increase, are so much 
safer when they are done in the spring, at the beginning 
of the general move. February, and early in March, are 
as good times as any, if not the best times, for planting 
all kinds of spring beds for that spring’s use : but in such 
a winter as this, the mere work of planting or trans- 
S hinting might have gone on since the cold weather in 
ovember, but not the work of dividing to increase the 
stock. 
The last part of the planting for the spring gaieties, at 
the Experimental Garden, was finished the first week in 
February—rather sooner than is usually the case; and 
the last day, five vases, two match pairs, and one to make 
up a row, wore finished something after the model of 
my Christmas nosegay, thus — Twelve Tulips of the 
Vermillion Brilliant were removed from where they 
were put to root last October, and planted in each vase; 
the tops were about an inch out of the ground at the 
time. Some people might think these Tulips would do 
better if they were put into these vases at once in October; 
but October was out before the Tom Thumbs, then in 
them, were out. Although these Tulips, in such a winter 
as this, might have done just as well if they were put in 
as soon as the Geraniums were housed, do you suppose 
that all kinds of spring Tulips are so strong and hardy, 
that they would not suffer more from being cooped up on 
the top of a vase, during a hard winter, than from being 
removed, after the winter was over, from a comfortable 
bed on the ground, where they could be more easily 
tucked in under more covering, the more cold it was ? 
There is no question about the plan at all; and, as I said 
before, there is no sort of reason about being in a stew 
and on the fidgets about getting in the bulbs in the 
autumn, as some people are, who do not know better. 
Then, after the whole of these Tulips were thus planted, 
the next thing was to fringe the vases; and the last thing, 
to cover every spare inch of the mould with Golden 
Saxifrage. At the present moment, no vases can look 
better; and 1 am quite sure that none more brilliant can 
be found, when the Vermillion Brilliant is in bloom, for 
the fringe ; and the collar of the fringe will be in bloom 
at the same time ; and the Golden Moss, as some call the 
Saxifrage, will then be also at its prime. The fringe is 
made ot fifteen plants of A uhretia purpurdh for each vase, 
and between them (the Aiibietias), a stand-up plant of the 
close-growing white Iberis, which Mr. Rivers sent us last 
spring. A severe critic has remarked on this combina¬ 
tion, that if the same quantities of these colours were 
placed as a painter would put them, that the group could 
not stand criticism; but as the colours are put as they 
are given in nature—each on its own, and on a different 
green for the background—that nothing could be con¬ 
ceived more rich, or telling, or in character, for where they 
stand. The said critic knows the haunts, habitation, and 
doings of Chevreul,—perhaps also the very man,—as 
well as I know the road to Claverstow. D. Beato>\ 
SOME PRINCIPLES OF CULTURE. 
“ Will you be kind enough to make a few remarks on the 
proper culture of the Daphne Indica ? I have had several, but 
some have died, and others look sickly. From a few remarks 
which I have seen in The Cottage Gardener, I inferred that 
when they had done flowering in the greenhouse or conservatory, 
they should be put in a house where there was heat to encourage 
them to make early buds for the next season, the same as Camel¬ 
lias ; but I found this would not do, for it killed several, and 
brought the others into flower much too soon in the autumn ; 
whereas, I wanted them to bo in bloom during December, 
January, and February. The heat of the house where they were 
kept, was very moderate—a late Peach-house, with very little 
fire during the season, and not placed anywhere near the Peach 
trees. They have not been disturbed in the pots, which appear 
rather small than otherwise, for the size of the plants. They 
grow in the usual soil, loam and peat, with sand, very well 
drained. 
“ I really begin to be afraid of adopting the plan which you 
have recommended for these plants, and also for some others. 
1 have lost a beautiful Fleroma elegans, and a Gardenia Jlorida, 
by the same means. When they had done flowering in the con¬ 
servatory, they were each cut a little, and plunged in a loaf-bed, 
in a late vinery, the heat being very moderate. The Gardenia 
did not shoot out at all, but died by degrees. The Fleroma made 
a few shoots, with leaves large in proportion; but they soon died 
away, and the plant altogether. I have, therefore, made up my 
mind to allow such plants, after flowering, to remain in the con¬ 
servatory until the spring, when they can be put into heat to 
bring them into flower, and their be removed into the conser¬ 
vatory, and so on. In nature we find, in general, but one growth 
for the season. Is it not, therefore, contrary to nature to force 
these plants into bloom in the spring, and afterwards to make 
them grow again to ripen their buds for the next season P ”— 
Cleeicus. 
We are very sorry that “ Cleeicus ” lias had suck 
bad success in the culture of Daphne Indica, Fleroma 
elegans, and Gardenia Jlorida, by adopting, as ke says, 
tke plans recommended in The Cottage Gaedener ; so 
| tliat tke plants of tke first eitker died or became un- 
I healthy, wkilst fine plants of tke two latter died outrigkt. 
: He will not, I am sure, accuse me, or any of my co¬ 
adjutors, wkose articles ke may kave read, of any want 
of courtesy, wken I express a doubt whether, rather a 
want of it, instead of a close attention to the modes re¬ 
ferred to, was not tke cause of failure. Whether, again, 
suck plants would be better not to be removed from tke 
conservatory at all, will depend upon tke position tke 
plants occupy in it, and tke average temperature and 
moisture during tke twelve months enjoyed by that con¬ 
servatory. One thing I am pretty certain of is, that if 
tke whole of that conservatory is uniform, as to these 
conditions, it will not suit these three plants equally well. 
Neither do I see tke force of tke conclusion arrived at, 
