18 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, April 13, 1858. 
rough it as well as they can. This, however, furnishes 
no argument why ladies and gentlemen, of moderate 
experience in gardening, should not be put in posses¬ 
sion of all the facts bearing on the subject. Many 
like to watch closely the habits of growth of their 
respective bedding flowers, and to “ make each day a 
critic on the last.” In this they may find constant 
amusement, leading, I need scarcely add, to constant 
progress. 
But I must offer a few more remarks. The time for 
masses, confined to one colour, and one kind, seems to 
be passing away, and now we hear of ribbon patterns, 
edgings, promenade style, &c. There seems to have 
been two faults in the old style of all one colour, as 
applied to small flower gardens—the one, want of relief; 
the other, a monotony as to height, and the expression 
of form. Now, where a combination of flowers takes 
place of a contrariety in habit, some pains should be 
taken, in small beds, to adapt the soil accordingly. 
If the mixtures, or combinations, be in alternate lines, 
this is quite possible, but requires a little more pains. 
Sometimes, it is merely an edging of a different cha¬ 
racter that is required; and when that is the case, the 
matter is very simple. 
To recapitulate for a moment, I would strongly urge 
the importance of insuring a depth, in general, of quite 
two feet, and this of a mellowed character, free from 
stagnant moisture. There are some bedding things of 
rank growth that care not how free from ail manurial 
qualities soil is, provided their roots can ramble with 
freedom, and strike downwards, to provide against the 
vicissitudes of heat and drought. 
I may name another mode I have practised of making 
up beds, and which I have found occasionally a very 
useful plan. It consists in making the surface of the 
beds richer and lighter than the lower stratum, in 
order to facilitate an early growth. Thus, in making 
up a given bed for Verbenas, after deep digging the 
soil, and introducing some sound loamy material, I 
would add, on the surface last of all, rich mellow com¬ 
post, before alluded to, as also some of the charred 
rubbish; these materials forked well in for about six 
inches in depth. The plants thus take early to the 
soil, and this being light, the first drought induces a 
blossoming habit; and, by the time the greatest de¬ 
mand is made on their roots, they will have penetrated 
the loamy substratum. I have seen Verbenas much 
finer this way than in deep and rich beds; the loam 
makes them shorter jointed, and produces bold and 
firm trusses. 
I have before adverted to the use of charred material 
lor German Stock culture. Last year I had one of 
the most splendid beds imaginable, and I may here 
state how I prepared it. The bed, which was a plain 
loamy soil, was subsoiled in the manner before de¬ 
scribed; it was then covered, three inches thick, with 
charred material, and on this, two inches deep of lime 
rubbish. The whole was thoroughly mixed with the 
soil lor fifteen inches in depth, and the surface being 
dressed, it was beat somewhat close when dry. These 
Stocks, as our readers know, are rather liable to canker 
or shank ; but I did not lose a dozen out of hundreds, 
tin cl tli6 blossoms were magnificent. 
Most of the ordinary Scarlet and other Geraniums 
are sadly overgrown,in the majority of seasons, through 
soils of too stimulating a character. I used, last year, 
a considerable amount of charred rubbish in the Gera- 
moiWfltp S f r ld 1 n °r r had a finer bloom with such 
modeiate foliage. I would recommend all parties 
to make a point, as I do, of charring all small brush- 
Many of our annuals, too, are overgrown. I have 
seen neat specimens of many kinds, self sown, in walks, 
where they chanced to remain to flower; and, doubt¬ 
less, many of the more rampant kinds would be more 
satisfactorily sown on undug soil. At any rate, rich 
borders, or composts, should be avoided, with all those 
that produce coarse foliage. It. Eriiington. 
MACCLESFIELD PUBLIC PARK. 
These highly useful places of public resort are be¬ 
coming quite common, throughout the length and 
breadth of the empire : this fact is exceedingly credit¬ 
able to the age in which we live. Fifty years ago 
there were no public parks, excepting two near Lon¬ 
don. Now every town of any note either has, or is 
about to have, its park, to which the high and the low, 
the rich and the poor, the aged and the young, can 
resort at all reasonable hours, to enjoy equally the 
sweet, clear air, renovate health, and see flowers, “ the 
stars of earth,” displayed before them. It is true 
benevolence, of a high character, to provide such a 
place for our poor brethren, who live in narrow, 
crowded streets, courts, and alleys, and earn their 
bread in close, dusty, stifling factories and workshops, 
to give them free access to a well-kept park garden, 
and thus gradually give them a taste for higher and 
cheaper pleasures than the alehouse or the beershop 
can afford. Beforetime they had no place to go to, 
excepting, perhaps, a tea-garden, or the lanes and 
fields, in which they were too apt to forget themselves, 
and do and suffer mischief in various ways. In public 
parks, where numbers resort together, there are always 
some with proper feelings, and such shame the rest 
into good behaviour. I can give an instance of this, 
that came under my own observation. I remember 
being once in the Regent’s Park, in the merry month 
of May, and seeing there an ill-mannered, ignorant, 
though well-dressed fellow, pull down some branches 
of a beautiful Hawthorn in blossom, and break them 
off to carry away. None of the park-keepers happened 
to see him, but he was observed by others, and it was 
a pleasant sight to see and hear them hoot him, and 
deprive him of his prey, shouting, “ Shame ! Shame ! ” 
The fellow was glad to scamper away with all his 
might, or, I believe, they would have given him a cold 
bath, for nothing, in the water. 
Macclesfield, a comparatively-speaking small town, 
three years ago had no park. The working classes, 
generally, are employed in the silk manufacture. They 
had no place where they could have innocent amuse¬ 
ment and health, giving recreation on half holidays, 
or the long summer evenings. Some of the better 
class of the operatives formed themselves into a Com¬ 
mittee, and begun to collect donations, and being very 
successful induced a few public-spirited gentlemen, 
who had observed the good effects of institutions of 
this kind in Manchester, to join them ; they met toge¬ 
ther, and agreed that a recreative and fresh-air-breath- 
mg spot was desirable for Macclesfield. They set 
their shoulders to the wheel right willingly, and by 
dint of perseverance and sound argument, overcame 
all fears, objections, and prejudice, and nobly accom¬ 
plished the object. It was opened during the mayoralty 
of John Smith, Esq., of Langley, one of its warmest 
promoters, and is now managed by the local Board of 
Health, assisted by a Committee of about a dozen 
respectable operatives, and instructed by the Honorary 
Secretary, John May, Esq., himself a hearty good 
friend to the institution. It is supported by annual 
subscriptions, the profits of the refreshment room, and 
a small charge on the bowls for the bowling green. 
