97 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND 
Basilisk, lire Queen, Queen of Scarlets, or Tom 
Thumb . The third row, of Punch , Compactum, Cottage 
Maid , Lord Raglan, or Magnum Bo mini; and let the 
fourth row be ot any variety of the original Shrubland 
Scarlet, as Fmperor, Amazon, Ibrahim Pacha, or Prince 
of Wales. Or if you plant a row of every one of these 
kinds ot Scarlet Geraniums in a border, just as I put 
them down, you would have a glorious scarlet ribbon, as 
some people would say, and as every dairymaid in the 
three kingdoms would say also; and so you would, and 
who can doubt it P But let us prove how it is for variety ; 
for, passion or no passion, we must come to variety before 
u e can expect to make much impression on educated 
people. 
Begin the proof with the best gardener in England— 
and he will say, because he knows the kinds, there are 
ten or twelve, or more or less, shades of scarlet there, for 
none of the kinds are exactly alike, and of course you 
have so much variety ; but ask auy other person, from 
a volunteer to a premier duke, or from the dairymaids to 
the ladies of the bed-chamber, and ten to one but all of 
them would exclaim against variety altogether, and I am 
quite sure a full country clown would say of them “ Lor’ 
bless ye zur, they be all the zanie ! ” which would be truth 
true to Nature, for the difference in their education 
might tell those above him that they were not just 
exactly the same, although they seemed to be. There is 
nothing strained in all this, nothing that is not common 
as Daisies in the country; but the moment you pass com¬ 
mon things and common people—that is, common in their 
notions of flower gardening, you begin to want something 
else, diflerent indeed, very different from vulgar display 
of colours, without variety, without contrast, and without 
any kind of meaning to impress the senses, if that itself 
has any sense in it. 
Let us plant the same piece of ground once more, and 
with the five nearest to each other in looks, of the same 
kinds of Geraniums. Royal Dwarf in front as before; 
the old Lucidum next; then Tedworth or Princess Royal, 
third; Carmine Nosegay, fourth; Tom Thumb, fifth; 
i Stella Nosegay, sixth ; Punch, seventh ; Model Nosegay, 
eighth ; Cottage Maid, ninth ; and Fotliergillii Nosegay, 
the oldest of all, in the tenth row—that is, five common 
scarlets, and five uncommon Nosegays, will throw every 
one of the ten rows on its own merits ; so that Jim Brown, 
or Sandy MacPharlan, or Paddy O’Eeardeu, could see 
the distinctness as clearty, and more so, than the highest 
cultivated intellect in the land could perceive in the 
former arrangement of the very same colours ;—and how 
is^that? . Just because the style of flowering of the 
i Nosegays is as different from that of the common scarlets, 
1 as the leaves of Flower of the Day are from those of 
Tom Thumb. Every two lines, therefore, contrast in 
this second principle of planting, and by their difference 
tell even on the vulgar eye. 
flow much more, therefore, do you suppose such 
things delight and pleasure our highest intellects among 
the noble and most noble women who have made 
flower gardening a pleasure-study ? “ All fine talk 
and drawing-room gossip, no doubt; but how am I to 
know how many plants I shall have to buy for these 
beds P Bother the beds! and as for these writers on 
flowers, fang my teeth if they are not worse than tally¬ 
men, they are in league with—no, not with him, but cer¬ 
tainly they are with the nurserymen and seedshops. I 
tell you what it is, I shall order Thurman to send no 
more of these books from the station, we did very well 
before we began to read them ; and as there does not 
appear to me to be any end to garden expenses, if we go 
on reading as we have done, we shall have no more 'of 
this kind of fun.” Business and politics take such turns 
at times, but it is all over by dinner time, if you do not 
contradict them when the steam is up. Here is a legacy 
to young gardeners, and to the newly-married on both 
sides. Steam is on every line now, but there is a safety - 
20UK TRY GENTLEMAN, Mat 15, 1860. 
valve sure as the tides of the ocean, and sure also, as the 
mans, or the tendencies of the tempers of all educated 
men and women to dissolve in goodness, and that valve 
is to hold the tongue on the down line while the steam is 
above “temperate” on the up line. If married folks, 
men and maidens, with lads and lasses, would attend 
properly to that valve, it would be a greater improve¬ 
ment in gardening thau Mr. Bailey expects from the 
rarities and resuscitations of the present season. 
But about the number of plants for a given bed, that 
turns on the centre of gravity ; and the gravest part of the 
question is whether the dozen, the screw dozen, or the 
baker’s dozen, be at 2s. Gd., 3s. Qd., 4s., 5s., 6s., 9s., or 
12s., or 18s. respectively. Tell me the price of your 
dozen, and I shall send you word how far apart you 
ought to plant them. Till then I have nothing better 
than a rule of three to guide either of us: that rule is to 
have the leaves of one plant only six inches from the 
leaves of the next plant iu the straight line, as you read 
this, and not over nine inches apart, or between the lines, 
or between the line you are now reading and the last 
one. No man or woman on the face of the earth can 
give a more sure guidance than that without knowing 
both the size of the plants and the particular varieties of 
each kind. Another certain rule in amateur practice is 
that it is safer to shake off every particle of soil from the 
roots just at the moment of planting, than to plant hard 
and half balls whole ; but there is no need to do either, 
only see to it. D. Beaton. 
BEDDING TEOP2EOLUMS. 
Will you oblige me with what information you possess with 
respect to the bedding Tropwolums ? Does the sort grown at 
the Crystal Palace require any particular soil, or will it grow 
dwarf in any common garden soil ? or is it that I have never 
been in possession of the true sort ? I saw it two years ago at 
the Palace, and I bought some plants of what they told me was 
true; but, to my dismay, I last year made a bed of it, and it ran 
nearly all over the place without flowering. I have given it up 
iu despair; but a reverend gentleman near me is anxious to try 
it, but would first like to obtain what information he can about 
it. At what distance should the plants be put apart ? and are 
they planted generally in pots ? but, if not in pots, in what soil ? 
or must w r e first be sure we have the true sort ? The same in¬ 
formation will also oblige with respect to Carter’s Tom Thumb 
Tropamlum, as we are about trying that this season. What 
distance should the plants be put apart, and in what soil to have 
a good compact bed ?—Wm. Hopkins, Gardener, Watery erg, 
Oxon. 
[The Londoners sold you seedling plants, probably; for seeds 
produce wildings only. The true bedding Tropceolmn is to bo 
had only from cuttings, and the true way to have them, and to 
give no trouble is to make them this month before flower-buds 
come ; to keep lots of them in one large pot the whole summer ; 
to keep them from flowering and running about; to prune them 
back pi-etty close in the middle of September, and ten days later 
to shake them entirely out of the soil, and to repot them and set 
them growing for the winter along with young Pelargoniums, 
and to cut away from these next February as if your fortune 
depended upon how many scores you could strike iu a single 
week. The proper distance is, as you well know, to cover your 
beds so that a six-inch-wide cord could not be passed between 
any of the plants without touching a leaf. Tom Thumb Tropseo- 
lum must not be planted near Diegans, as it is too dull there ; 
but all of them will grow and bloom w r ell in any soil that would 
do for Barley or early Potatoes.] 
WALKS OF BADLY BINDING GRAVEL. 
The gravel here is both scarce and bad—bad because it will 
not bind ; consequently it clings to the shoes, and is carried, not 
only on the lawn, but quite away, setting scrapers at defiance. 
I thought of mixing some with lime and sand and laying it down, 
but was told that frost would heave and spoil it. Is not tar 
(gas) used P About what quantity is required per yard, and 
how is it done ? It would not look very nice, I suppose. I 
