THE COTTAGE GAEDENEE AND COUNTEY GENTLEMAN, August 31, 1858. 
variegated Alyssum would look extremely well with a 
! border of this blue Lobelia on each side of it. But 
the best thing of that sort, that I have heard of, is at 
a large place down the country, where one of the 
critics, and visitors to the Experimental, is on a visit. 
The narrow border there has the back and front row 
of Lady Plymouth, the old Oalc-leaf variegated, or, 
more properly, Graveolens, or rose-scented Geraniums 
in the dwarf variegated form, with a row of Lobelia 
i sjoeciosa down the centre. 
From the way our esteemed friend writes about that 
border, and other things of the kind, out of the com¬ 
mon, I am quite safe in recommending it for good 
taste ; but recollect that judgment is required to fix on 
the proper place for such a bed or border. So that, 
turn the question which way we will, we cannot get at 
the best thing, which all are running after, without being 
crossed by an alternative. Therefore, when you write 
to ask for the best plant, or plan, or anything soever, 
recollect this alternative,—mind the “if.” If you are 
in such and such a place ; if the place has such and 
such soil, or aspect, or so high or so low; i/your beds are 
large, or small, or medium ; and if the bed is not to be 
surrounded with such and such colours ; the plant we 
would name would be just the very thing for you, and 
all like you. But when we know-none of these ifs, we 
may lead you and thousands astray. And yet, with¬ 
out an “if,” we have a constant run of questions 
coming from nowhere, as far as we know of. A man 
of sound sense and liberal education will sit down and 
actually ask, in black and white, which is the best Hose 
for the front of his house. None of us can answer the 
question ; could any of you P A lady never writes that 
way, nor a cottager’s wife either. The lady would 
write for the “ most suitable ” Bose for the front of 
the house, in the north of Devon, or in the west of 
Boss-shire, or anywhere, stating where it is needed. 
Even the cottager’s wife would go so far as to say, 
that “ their house ” was next door to John Martin’s, 
which is something. But to write, and not to in¬ 
dicate the part of the country or kingdom the writing 
is from, is “just like some men,” and that is the only 
consolation in the matter. 
But, what is the best plant or plants for a corner 
bed, or angular bed as we say ; that is, the bed which 
is placed in the point where two walks meet or part; 
it may be a blunt point, or a sharp point, or a point 
which is neither sharp nor blunt, but rather long, and 
somewhat curved. Before answering the question, I 
shall put another, and say, What kind of bed would 
you like in that corner ? 
A friend of ours objects to the angular beds on the Eose 
mount at the Crystal Palace : one like them was made at 
home in the dead of the winter, but its appearance was so 
objectionable, that it had to be turfed over entirely. Never¬ 
theless, the law prescribes one form, and one form only, for 
corner beds ; they must fit the corner, or violate a principle. 
I The principle may be applied in different ways, by different 
people, according to different tastes, but a principle cannot be 
| violated without offending judgment. A man who breaks a 
' rule, or principle, in any department of art, to please himself, 
has no room to grumble if the rule of fair criticism is broken 
across his shoulders. 
The beds objected to on the Eose mount are strictly lawful, 
and to the point, but the point is so sharp, that there is not 
; sufficient room to give a pleasant turn to the inner line, so 
that the shape is, of necessity, what it is. A diamond is the 
next best shape I have seen, for a blunt point, between two 
walks, when the right shape is departed from ; and a circle is 
the most outrageous violation of the principle of fitness, which 
i is the law on that subject. 
Now for the best plant for a corner bed. The first 
I requisite for the plant is, that it grows symmetrical, or can be 
so trained, because, whatever the style the garden may be 
planned on, the point between any two walks in it takes the 
341 
character of geometry, and is heightened, in the eye of judg¬ 
ment, by being planted with a geometrical or architectural 
plant, as we describe it. The bed is on the principle of fitness, 
and the plant or plants to fill it should be on the same prin¬ 
ciple. Then the question is not so much whether the plant 
is a Geranium, or a Calceolaria, or a Y erbena, or a Petunia, 
but which of them grows the nearest to the architectural 
style, and also which kind the owner likes best; and here 
another rule may come in, and may hinder the owner from 
having his own way. 
Suppose the piece of ground, or lawn, between the walks, 
and in advance of the corner bed, should be filled with beds; 
Such beds cannot be laid down at random now-a-days, there 
must be a rule, and a meaning for the placing of every one of 
them. They must form a group, and the colouring of a 
group is done by law and rule; therefore, it may be such, 
that the owner cannot have his own colour, nor his own way 
for the corner bed, without the risks and consequences of a 
broken law. 
The only thing near despotic rule in such a case is, that 
one kind of plant only should be used in a corner bed, with 
a margin, or edging, unless two or three kinds of plants of 
the same family can be had of the same style of growth,—say 
three kinds of Geraniums, with three different tints, but with 
exactly the same style of growth, that would be better than 
one kind, if the tints agreed. 
Last week I said that Tom Thumb and a purple Petunia 
would never do together, but that is wrong, and not what I 
meant. I praised the equal quantities of purple Petunia and 
Tom Thumb on the top of the Eose mount, and what I meant 
was, that an edging of purple Petunia , as in the pedestal 
beds, to a bed of Tom , would never do. D. Beaton. 
STTMMEB PENNING AND TEAINING THE 
PEACH, &c. 
LIMBS DYING—FEUIT DEOPPING. 
Seveeal times in my practice I have had finely- 
balanced, fruitful Peach trees, realising somewhat the 
description given of some by Mr. Errington, where 
not a brick of the wall was found, that did not pay by 
a crop for its presence and expense. Under all modes 
of training, however, I have been sorely tried by a 
dying-off of some of the principal limbs of good-sized 
trees; those lying somewhat horizontally next the 
ground being generally the most affected. Even after 
such a misfortune, by twisting and bending, the wall 
may be pretty well filled, and the tree loaded with fruit 
for years; but the beauty and symmetry of the tree 
are gone, never to be recalled. These disasters have 
generally taken place after an extreme hard frost, when 
the previous mildness of the weather had not placed 
the trees entirely in a state of rest. I have tried 
Callow’s system of training, which has much to recom¬ 
mend it, so far as theory is concerned. 
Not only is a clear advantage given to the lower 
sides of the tree, by getting them well developed before 
the centre is filled up, but, however horizontal, in¬ 
stead of partly vertical, the lower main branches may 
be, a powerful circulation is intended to be thrown 
into them, by elevating vertically the points of all 
such shoots. We have long acted on this principle, at 
times, for giving strength to a weak branch, just as, 
by bending the points downwards, we impair the 
strength of a luxuriant branch, and render it more 
fruitful. Even this, however, did not save us from 
mutilating the symmetry of large fruitful trees, by 
old, fine, main, branches dying out, and that, too, 
when I took means to guard them from excessive sun- 
heat at one time and extreme cold at another. 
This I find to be an evil by no means confined to 
myself. I have lately seen it commence its operations 
on one of the finest young Peach walls I have witnessed 
for many years; and, having noticed in some other 
places, for a succession of years, that the walls were 
