131 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, May 29, 1860. 
guess. We should clear out all the plants, and whitewash the 
entire interior with quicklime instead of whitening, and mix 
flowers of sulphur with it. We should see that the soil of the 
greenhouse is well drained; and take especial care to have a 
constant circulation of air, not only in the upper part, but in the 
lower part of the house.] 
EARLY SPRING FLOWERS. 
I think I have read everything that is to be found in all your 
twenty-four volumes on spring flowers ; and the readers of The 
Cottage Gardener should feel much indebted to “H. N. E.” 
for renewing the subject last week in so practical a manner. 
If I might suggest an improvement in his list, I would say, 
let it be arranged alphabetically, with a column for the date when 
first seen in bloom, and another for a very brief description of 
the plant. 
The list contains some names that I am unacquainted with; 
and I think does not mention the following, which I have booked 
among others this spring:— 
. Full bloom. 
Alyssum (purple) . 29th April. 
Like the common white, but with purple flowor. 
Arenaria Balearicci . 10th May. 
Very dwarf; almost mossy ; distinct white bloom. 
Olaytonia Sibirica . 3rd May. 
Single ; lilac ; straggling; weedy. 
Cochleara officinalis . 24th April. 
White; flat habit; not many leaves. 
Epigwa repens . 27th April. 
Small, white, scented bloom; dwarf; evergreen. 
Epimedium macrantkum . 29th April. 
Pale lilac and white; curious trusses. 
Phlox verna . 4tli May. 
Rosy bloom, on six-inch stem. 
P.fronclosa . 4th May. 
Paler, dwarfer; narrower leaves than verna. 
Primula ciliata . 25th April. 
Pale rose ; dwarf; plain leaves. 
P. marginata major . 2nd April. 
Lilac ; leaves grey, serrated, edged white. 
Pulmonana officinalis . 2nd May. 
Pink ; variegated leaf. 
Ranunculus amplexicaulis . 29th April. 
Single white bloom; yellow centre; grey leaves. 
R. montanus . 22nd April. 
Like a Buttercup, and no better. 
Saxifraga palmata . 3rd May. 
Same bloom as Steinbergii, but larger leaves. 
S spatulata . 1st May. 
White, dwarf. 
S. Steinbergii . 3rd May. 
White ; on six-inch stem. 
Trillium grandiflorum . 1st May. 
Single ; white; plain green leaves; elegant habit. 
Veronica repens . 3rd May. 
Very dwarf; small, pale blue and white bloom. 
The list should bo taken to the middle of May (for this part 
of the country at least), and be carefully verified, in successive 
seasons both for dates and names. Surely the evergreen Veronica 
Andersonii, the blue Iris Persica and Coronilla glauca are not 
hardy bloomers in the open air before May ? “ H. N. E.” includes 
them.—A Cheshiee Subscribes. 
DEATH’S DOINGS—CHEAP BEDDING OUT. 
Something more than twelve months ago I had the misfortune 
to lose my master—and not a master only, but a friend. And 
although the loss to me was but trifling in comparison to others, 
yet the many kindnesses 1 received during nearly six years’ 
service cannot easily be effaced. A single death in a family, par¬ 
ticularly when it is the head of the family, very often produces 
great changes ; and when I say he was a gentleman highly 
esteemed by a large circle of public and private friends for his 
integrity, benevolence, and general moral and religious worth, and 
was one that could and did appreciate and reward those virtues 
in his servants, let each of your readers judge individually the 
loss of such a master or such a friend. 
And changes were to be made in that family, and, no doubt, 
some of them of a very important nature ; but I shall only touch 
upon a few, and those only that affected myself. How little 
breaks and changes of this kind serve to illustrate the value we 
ought to put upon a long life to those indefatigable searchers 
after knowledge and instructors of mankind, who have toiled 
from youth to lxoary age, and have left a chain of their labours 
without a link deficient to be taken up and lengthened or strength¬ 
ened by men equally as indefatigable as they. 
The breaking up of the establishment, even to one in my 
insignificant position, has had its drawback. Everything was 
brought to a standstill. The lessons that were being taught and 
the book they were taught from were closed for ever; the experi¬ 
ments commenced and partly carried out were cut short in their 
various stages ; notes made of the past, to be compared with the 
present and to be linked to the future, were with one stroke of 
1 the scythe swept away or of no avail; for in a short time I had 
to remove from the scene of my labours, and with a heavy heart 
I left behind so many favourites shining forth in all their gay and 
glorious splendour. Each bed had a history of its own; and 
many individual plants would call up associations of the past 
that almost made them household gods. And, as it were to-day, 
I am attending to all then’ varied wants necessary to their health 
and beauty ; and to-morrow they are transferred to another, and 
to one that only views them in the light of so much extra trouble 
and expense. And when taking a last fond look, it seemed like 
leaving behind the better part of myself; but they were of short 
duration, for. the first frost completed their history. 
After taking a short holiday, which I very much needed, my 
lot was east hi a place “ run wild.” It belonged to a past age, 
and more resembled a “ tapued” district in New Zealand than any 
other thing I can compare it to. It had been vacant about six 
years, and held sacred the whole time. The former proprietor 
resided there for more than half a century, and had no sympathy 
with fruit, or flowers, or anything pertaining to taste or good 
order. He could only see trees and shrubs, and they were only 
for his own hiding, and in that he succeeded admirably; for with 
what had been planted, and those of spontaneous growth, a com¬ 
plete thicket was formed, and to touch one with a knife was a 
crime punishable with instant dismissal. There was not so much 
as a single (lower or flower-bed on the premises to remind me of 
the past; and circumstances occurred that I could not get The 
Cottage Gardener for some few weeks at the commencement 
of the last volume—indeed, to read anything but what was 
necessary for a pioneer in North America or New Zealand seemed 
like a waste of time; and the last volume of The Cottage 
Gardener I have not seen. 
But the other day I met with an old friend that owes much 
of his present position (which is a very good situation), to the 
teaching of The Cottage Gardener when I first took it in ; 
and he sent me his number, which contained a reference to 
“economical bedding.” I had hoped to make, with the assist- 
ance of The Cottage Gardener, a little further progress in 
that direction; but the above misfortune put a stop to it, as 
well as all other matters under hand at the time. But now 
our wild and barren place assumes a different aspect. A good 
deal of talent and labour have been expended upon it; lawns 
have been made; shrubs have been planted, and flower-beds 
have been formed and partly planted; and a ray of hope flits 
through my melancholy brain occasionally ; and I hope to begin 
again, though it cannot be where I left off—it must be at the 
beginning so far as materials are concerned. And as it appears 
that some of your readers would wish to know more of “ econo¬ 
mical bedding,” I will just remind them that they cannot learn 
it from TnE Cottage Gardener, or any other paper, by reading 
only ; because the same plants that will suit one locality will not 
suit one that is different, and even on the same premises aspect and 
position are of great importance. Therefore, if it would not appear 
presumptuous in me to give advice, I would advise those readers 
to begin as I began, and must begin again—viz., enter in a book, 
properly ruled for the purpose, the time that every flower on the 
premises comes into bloom, with the treatment it has had either 
in pots or in the open ground, and try all manner of reasonable 
and a few unreasonable experiments to get to bloom anything 
that may be wanted for a bed or beds by a particular day. Bulbs 
and hardy annuals will form the chief. A good many of the 
first-rate men of the present day can get on without them ; but 
I am not up to that mark yet, but am open to instruction. As 
soon as the new year is in, have an eye to everything that can be 
seen in bloom ; and if it cannot be had, take a note of it, and 
mark it for the bed it may be used on, so that it may not be 
