150 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, June 8 , 1858. 
The branches are lowered annually, until they become hori¬ 
zontal ; and each tree is so planted, that the branches will 
l meet those of its neighbour; so that in a few years they will 
form a wall or walls of trees. The garden was laid out only 
| four years ago. , 
On several of the wall Pear trees, I observed small fore- 
slioots growing at intervals on the main, upright stems. These, 
j I was informed, were buddings of a Pear, which, it had been 
found, grew to perfection only on other stocks. I am vexed 
that I omitted to take the name of this Pear; but I was told 
that it was a very luscious one, and that it thus grew to two 
pounds weight. ” One single Pear only is allowed to ripen on 
each shoot; and, as the weight of the fruit would inevitably 
break it off, if it had to bear it unsupported, a wooden shelf 
is contrived, upon which the fruit rests. 
I observed, too, a novelty in the way of edging, which 
quite took my fancy. It was formed of rings of white 
porcelain, exactly half of each ring being thrust in the ground. 
These rings are made to bake the fine porcelain plates upon, 
and, having served their purpose, are thrown away. The 
merit of the application is due to my host, and certainly the 
thought showed good taste; for the contrasty of the pure 
white with the earth and the lawn—I beg pardon, the grass ; 
I have said they have no lawn—was pretty, and gave a 
lightness and elegance to the general effect. 
This garden was further ornamented by an elegant and 
‘ well-kept series of aviaries, in which were some choice birds of 
the paroquet tribe, and many small birds from Australia and 
Africa.. 
I shall renew my visit to the neighbourhood about the 
end of June, and if you think that a few more words, on 
the appearance then of what I have described, will be likely 
to interest your readers, I will take a few notes accordingly.— 
H. S. W. 
[Your notes are highly acceptable, and so will be those you 
offer. Let us know the name of the Pear. We wish many 
of our readers would use their eyes and pens similarly.— Ed.] 
QUERIES AND ANSWERS. 
• CINERARIAS IN SUCCESSION. 
“ I have just finished pricking off into thumbs some strong 
seedlings of Cineraria. When may I expect them to bloom, 
if I shift as roots touch pots ? At what periods should I 
sow seeds of same, to bloom in succession from March to 
August?”—A. C. 
[You answer the first question yourself. You “ expect ” 
the first bloom in March ; then, from the same sowing, you 
must husband your plants so as to get them to flower on till 
the middle of May. Sow again in about a month or six 
weeks, and that will carry you safely to the end of the Cine¬ 
raria season. But why not have Cinerarias in by the new 
' year ? We remember very well when there was no Cineraria, 
so called, in England, except Cineraria cruenta, and we 
j often saw it bloom in January.] 
I 
_ 
I 
DAHLIAS FOR BEDDING, AND HOW TO PEG 
THEM DOWN. 
“ ‘A New Beginner in Gardening’ would be very 
) much obliged by being informed the best method of peg- 
j ging down Dahlias in a bed ? and how they did them at the 
Crystal Palace last year ? and which are the best sorts for such 
: purposes ? ” 
[The Hfest sorts of Dahlias, to train down on the ground, 
' are the bedding-out Dahlias ; and the best of them is yet the 
old Zelinda , of which The Cottage Gardener spoke ever, 
and every year since he came into this world; and it was only 
three or four weeks ago, that one of our best judges of such 
j plants wrote a whole page on bedding Dahlias. As to the 
| training down of dwarf Dahlias, what is it but a larger edition 
of training Verbenas? First of all, plant all such Dahlias 
on their sides, unless, indeed, you plant the roots ; and, if you 
j do, watch the shoots till they are from four to six inches 
long ; then you can very easily bend them down, and train 
them as low as you choose ; the only secret is, to begin early 
with them, and not to let any one shoot grow more than six 
inches before it is trained. Then, a piece of matting, or a 
piece of worsted thread, six inehes long, is the simplest and 
best contrivance for holding down all shoots whatsoever. 
Double it round the shoot, put both ends together, and plant 
both ends together, like planting a Cabbage plant with a 
dibber. If you can pull back the Cabbage plant, directly 
after it is planted, without pulling its ears off, or hurting 
them very much, it was not rightly planted,—not firm enough 
in the ground ; and if giving a twitch at the shoot pulls up 
the string, that shows the string was not made firm enough; 
or if it snaps, it was not strong enough. But, depend upon 
it, after all that has been tried, there is nothing better for 
training with.] 
SALVIA PATENS AND CALCEOLARIA 
AMPLEXICAULIS IN A BED. 
“ I am about to plant a bed of yellow Calceolarias (Am¬ 
plexicaulis), and I wish to have a blue centre formed of the 
Delphinium formosum , or Salvia patens. The former I 
should prefer, if I could depend upon its blooming this year, 
which I am in doubt about. It is a perennial, and my plants 
are only seedlings, an inch or so high.”*— Evadne. 
[Your seedlings of Delphinium formosum , being just two 
inches long in the last week in May, will not be fit to plant in 
a flower-bed till next March or April. So you must use the 
blue Salvia for the centre of the Calceolaria amplexicaulis. 
Plant the Salvia patens on their side, and train them to the 
surface twice, as soon as they make growth for training; and 
do so likewise with all the plants of Amplexicaulis , and you 
cannot think how that will improve their looks for the rest of 
the season. Of course, you are aware that the best way for 
training all kinds and sorts of bedding plants, is by strips of 
matting doubled round the shoot, and the two ends then to 
be fixed in the ground. Some extravagant people actually 
give 3s. a day for a full-grown man to make hooks and pegs 
from ferns and brooms, to hold down a Dahlia shoot, and all 
the training shoots in the garden; when 3,s\ would buy the 
best mat in Russia, and one mat would go as far, and far 
better, than 50.?. worth of the best pegs that ever were made. 
A sentimental friend of ours uses “hairpins” to train his 
Beauty Supreme Verbenas ; and when we asked what these 
“ hair pins ” were made of, or what they were like, what they 
would cost the thousand, and where to buy them, the answers 
were so extravagant, that it would be of no public use to 
print them.] 
CULTURE OF FARFUGIUM GRANDE. 
“ Having purchased a plant of the Farfugium grande , I 
feel anxious to possess a fine specimen of it, and would feel 
obliged to you, if you would inform me how it is to be treated. 
I have it in an Orchard-house, under a bellglass, and it is 
doing well, but will soon be too large for one.” — A Sub¬ 
scriber. 
[It was a wise plan to put Farfugium grande under the 
handglass in the Orchard-house. The grand Farfugium has 
passed through the furnace of high pressure, for increase, 
this spring, and needs rest, and shade, and shelter for a while. 
If people had the good sense to perceive that all rare plants, 
and all cheap plants that are sold in spring, must necessarily 
be very young, and come out of close propagating places; 
must be packed in damp balls to travel, and, on being un¬ 
packed, are as unfit to stand the ordinary chances of weather 
as a new-born babe; they, the wise people, would do, as has 
been done with this Farfugium ; they would put all their newly- 
bought plants—such as hardy Roses, Phloxes, Pentstemons, 
and Conifers—into cold, close frames, and take as much care 
of them, for the first ten or fifteen days, as if they were new 
Verbenas, Dahlias, or pet Geraniums. Farfugium is as hardy 
as a Primrose, and no soil can be too good for it in pots. To 
make fine specimens of it, pot it as you would a Cineraria, 
each time the new roots come to the side of the pot, and use 
exactly the same compost as for the best Pelargoniums ; but it 
will do in every kind of “ compost.”] 
