2a 
THE COTTAGE GAKDENEll AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, April 10, 1860. 
not availed themselves of temporary protections for their plants, 
must pine in vain for them. 
I may be excused for mentioning here, that I have for the last 
few years potted my Lettuces in 60-sized pots, and placed them 
on the front of a very late Peach-house, just keeping the tem¬ 
perature to about 35°, and giving abundance of ventilation to 
them, and have by this simple means succeeded in saving a fine 
stock of plants, which arc just put out in the open ground, 
while all around me there is no such thing as a plant alive. This 
simple expedient may be calle'd very troublesome, but I think it 
worth while for those who, like myself, have the convenience. 
Besides the perfect destruction in the vegetable garden which 
I have noticed, I find that much injury is inflicted upon shrubs 
and flowering plants. I had several magnificent specimens of 
[ . Pampas Grass, all of which seem to be dead, as there is not 
a partially green leaf left on them. The Exmouth Magnolias 
are most sadly bronzed. Erica Mediterranea and arborea, 
are killed down to the ground. A very fine plant of Taxodium 
distichum sempervirens appears as if roasted up, and a great 
many other plants appear partially iujured, and will show more 
the effects of the frost as dry, warm days come on in the spring. 
We have found the vegetable garden to be a mass of rubbish 
only. Turn we now to the fruit garden—the pride and boast 
of many an indefatigable gardener and most painstaking amateur. 
Here we must confess our prospects to bo much brighter. The I 
wood of the trees was thoroughly indurated by the hot suns of j 
last summer, and the buds look plump aud promising. This is ; 
an unusually late spring ; and it is but fair argument to suppose, I 
that after the endurance of so much rigorous weather, the mantle | 
of spring may descend unpierced by those frosts which of late 
years we have so seldom escaped. But we have the trying 
month of April to pass through, and a most trying period it is to 
the gardener. Let him be fully prepared at all times for the 
worst, aud apply in principle all lie has learned in theory of pro¬ 
tection. Let him do this ; and should he succeed with iiis crops, 
he will receive the approbation of his employer, and have comfort 
to himself in the reflection that he has left “no stone un¬ 
turned” which lie could possibly move, and his crop of fruit is 
the result of his own unwearied exertions. 
It is not wished or intended by these remarks in any way to 
damp the ardour of those who feel an interest in keeping records 
of the temperature, the workings of the barometer, or rain ga»e. 
All these phenomena are fair and useful objects of record, in¬ 
teresting in after years, and bringing home to our recollections 
the changes of days long since past. But it is contended that 
such data are insufficient for man to foretell the exact state of the 
weather at any particular time or place. Some general deductions 
may be arrived at by a close study of those observations, but they 
are such as loose observers only would arrive at, and will not 
satisfy the man of science whose conclusions to be valued must 
be formed and shaped by more certain rules. 
IIenri; Bailey, Nuneham. 
HARDY FLOWERING HERBACEOUS PLANTS. 
(Continued from page 339, Yol. XXIII.) 
BUPTHALMUM—Ox-eye. 
Nat. ord., Asteraceae. Linn. Syngenesis superflua. 
Generic Character. — -Involucre imbricated, leafy. Receptacle 
chafly. Seeds margined, apex toothed. Pappus an obsolete 
rim. 
Bupthalmum grandiflorem (large-flowered). Leaves alternate, j 
lanceolate, slightly toothed, smooth; involucre naked. II ft. I 
Yellow. August. Austria. 
B. salicifolium (Willow-leaved). Leaves alternate, oblong- j 
lanceolate, slightly toothed, three-nerved, villous; involucre 1 
naked. life. Yellow. September. Austria. 
B. speciosissimum (showiest). Leaves alternate, ovate, stem- \ 
clasping, naked, toothed, slightly ciliated; stem one-flowered. ( 
2 ft. Yellow. July. S. Europe. 
The Ox-eye is a genus of very handsome plants, neat in habit, 
with very pretty heads of yellow flowers. Any good garden soil ' 
will grow them well. Easily propagated by dividing the plants 
either iu March or October, replanting them directly in freshened 
soil. 
CACAL1A. 
Nat. ord., Asteraeea?. Linn, Syngenesis asqualis. 
Generic Character. — Involucre cylindrical, oblong, with ac- 
I cessory scales at the base. Receptacle naked. Pappus pilose, 
scabrous. 
Cacalia alpina (alpine). Leaves stalked, heart-shaped, toothed, 
glabrous, petioles naked; corymbs fastigiate ; involucres usually 
five-flowered. 2 ft. Purple. July. Austria. 
C. cordifolia (heart-leaved). 1ft. White. August. Mexico. 
Tuberous-rooted. 
C. hastata (halbert-leaved). Leaves stalked, three-lobed, has¬ 
tate, toothed ; flowers in nodding racemes. 1 ft. White. 
September. Siberia. 
C. renifohmis (kidney-formed). Leaves stalked; radical ones 
cordate-reniform, repand, toothed ; stem ones oblong, toothed, 
wedge-shaped at base, entire; corymbs fastigiate. II ft. 
White. July. N. America. 
C. suaveolens (sweet-scented). Leaves stalked, hastate-sagittate, 
toothed; petioles dilated at the top; corymbs erect. 6 ft. 
White. August. N. America. Tuberous-rooted. 
C. tuberosa (tuberous). 1 ft. August. N. America. Tuberous- 
rooted. 
This is a curious genus of a succulent habit, requiring the 
same kind of compost as Sedums and other kindred genera— 
viz., sandy loam, fibry peat, lime rubbish, and some caky pieces 
of old cowdung mixed through the whole. 
Propagated by dividing the plants and the tubers in March into 
moderate-sized divisions, carefully preserving the roots to each 
.plant, replanting immediately in the above compost where they 
are to bloom. 
CALAMINTHA—Calamint. 
Nat. ord., Labiate. Linn. Didynamia Angiospermia. 
Generic Character. — Calyx after-flowering closed by hairs. 
Corolla orifice inflated; upper lip emarginate, lower lip three- 
parted, with intermediate segment entire, sub-emarginate, or 
crenulate. 
Calamintha alba (white beautiful Mint). 9 in. White. July. 
Hungary. 
C. Caroliniana (Carolina). Leaves rliomboidal-oval, obsoletely 
toothed upwards ; whorls rather stalked, flowers about ten, 
shorter than leaf. 1 ft. Flame-coloured. June. Carolina. 
C. geandiflora (large-flowered). Leaves ova^e, acute, finely 
toothed; peduncles axillary, three to four flowered; bracts 
lanceolate, sessile. 1 ft. Red. July. Italy. 
C. - variegata (striped-leaved). 1 ft. Red. July. 
Gardens. 
C. marifolia (Marum-leaved). Leaves ovate, rather toothed, 
glaucous ; peduncles axillary, dichotomous; calyx segments 
equal. II ft. Purple. June. Spain. 
Calamintha means beautiful Mint, and very beautiful the 
species are of this small tribe. I am surprised they are not more 
generally known and cultivated, especially as they require no 
particular soil, are very hardy and easily propagated. 
Increased by young suckers like Mint, aud divisions of such as 
do not throw up suckers. Take up the suckers as soon as they 
have three or four leaves and roots to each, and during showery 
weather plant them in patches of threes, in rich soil where they 
are to bloom, which they will do the same year. Others may be 
increased by taking up the plants in March, dividing them and 
replanting immediately in the flower-border. The plants will 
grow and bloom stronger, if a dressing of dung be added every 
spring.—T. Appleby. 
(To be continued.) 
ORCHARD-HOUSES. 
I scarcely ever remember to have derived more pleasure 
from my orchard-house than this spring. The weather here in 
the south was windy, cold, and cloudy, without frost throughout 
the month of January ; but my house was always dry and ealm, 
and half an hour’s sunshine sent up the temperature to 55° and 
60°. February gave us plenty of frosty days, but rarely a day 
without gleams of sunshine, creating at once in my house that 
most agreeable temperature as given above—the air so dry and 
calm as to be worth something a mouthful to breathe. 
About a fortnight ago my Apricots came into bloom ; they 
have been most beautiful, and are now setting their fruit thick 
“as leaves in Vallambrosa.” The trees were pinched in to three 
leaves all last summer, after instructions received from our 
orchard-house master, and top-dressed in October. I am de¬ 
lighted with them, and with that pruning-made-easy system of 
summer pinching. 
