October 15, 1892, 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
101 
do not overlook the advantage gained by leaving a 
few inches of air on all night in conjunction with 
moderate heat kept up in the pipes. An uniformly 
moist condition of the soil should be maintained. 
I do not assume that experienced growers neglect 
to carry out the cultural details latterly referred to ; 
they are added principally in the interest of begin¬ 
ners who may have recently been disappointed with 
their crops, resulting from improper management.— 
M., Ayrshire. 
-- 
autumn flowers. 
The leaves are fast turning to gold and ruddy brown, 
and in sheltered lanes and copses, where the under¬ 
wood is thick, there is already the curious autumnal 
odour in the air—that 
smell of fallen leaves and 
over-ripe berries, of wet 
lush grass and steaming 
earth, which now is rather 
pleasant than otherwise, 
but in another month will 
be all but offensive, to sen¬ 
sitive nostrils. In towns, 
theVirginia Creeper— sole 
beauty of the streets in 
autumn—is hanging in 
glorious crimson festoons 
from balcony to balcony. 
Here, in the country, the 
feathery Old-man’s-beard 
or Traveller’s Joy runs riot 
from tree to tree, its heavy 
masses covering many an 
old stump with a lovely 
veil of greenish white fila¬ 
ments, which if you shake 
them before the fire, will 
turn into balls of snowy 
fluff before their time. 
Great heart shaped purple 
leaves of the Bryony, with 
its clusters of malignant- 
looking berries,half green, 
half red, trail over the 
dewy hedges, beneath 
which, almost hidden 
under the shining fronds 
of the Hart’s Tongue— 
already, alas! browning at 
the tips—glow the orange 
berries of the Wild Arum. 
The Mountain Ash is 
bent beneath the weight 
of its load of brilliant 
berries; the bright crimson 
leaves of the wild Guelder 
Rose, and its still brighter 
fruit, make gorgeous 
patches of colour here and 
there in the woods ; and 
yonder, the Rose thickets, 
that were masses of deli¬ 
cate pink in the early 
summer, are gleaming 
orange. Of a truth, there 
are plenty of materials at 
hand wherewith to deck 
our tables and our rooms. 
Let us suppose that we 
have five big bowls of old 
blue and white china, and 
that we have filled them 
with russet leaves of all kinds—Blackberry (with 
here and there a belated berry), Dogwood, Maple, 
Sycamore, hardy Azalea, and Herb Robert, a few 
sprays of Honeysuckle (sweet-scented blossom and 
bright berry), and the seeding bracts of the Hemlock. 
Place one in the centre of the snowy damask cloth, 
edged with a deep band of drawn work, and scented 
with lavender, and the others at the four corners of 
the table, and connect them by trails of Hops and 
Bryony, Traveller’s Joy, and Bramble leaves, laid on 
the cloth, dotting here and there between the trails 
quaint little blue and white saucers filled with bon¬ 
bons, and old-fashioned silver candlesticks, with 
shades of amber gauze wreathed with pressed leaves. 
Another pretty scheme can be carried out with a 
mirror centre, bordered with a bank of leaves and 
berries, fairy-like Star Thistles, grasses of all kinds, 
and russet-tinted Ferns. 
On the mimic lake are set birch-bark canoes, filled, 
some with more foliage and berries, others with 
sweets ; and in the centre is an island of moss and 
leaves, from which rises a tall candelabrum, its stem 
wreathed with Clematis and Bryony, and whence to 
four smaller candelabra, set at the corners of the 
table, festoons of the same creepers swing. Wheat- 
ears and Poppies too—the second crop of the latter 
will yield flowers yet awhile—in amber Salviati 
glasses on a centre spread of tawny velvet, or one of 
the new cloths of creamy hand-woven linen, 
embroidered with gold thread, will look exquisite. 
The old-fashioned garden is full of treasures at 
this time of the year. Japanese Anemones, snowy- 
white and rosy pink ; Sunflowers of all kinds, from 
the double ones like orange rosettes, to the pale 
lemon-coloured ones with black centres : Aster laevis, 
" farewell summer,” as it is called by the country 
folk, with its horizontal spikes of tiny white stars; 
flaming Tritomas ; drooping branches of crimson- 
belled, brown-leaved hardy Fuchsias—all these and 
many more, make the garden a perfect paradise of 
beauty. 
A handful of deep yellow single Dahlias and white 
Py rethrum uliginosum mixed with a few russet-tinted 
feathery Carrot-tops, and placed in a trumpet-shaped 
vase of clear green glass, round the stem of which a 
trail of Japanese Honeysuckle, or the quaint brown- 
rosetted “ Mother of Thousands,” is twined, makes 
a lovely picture against a pale green wall or hanging. 
Or if one possesses a round rustic basket of unpeeled 
osiers, with a twisted handle—such as can be bought 
for a few pence in any Devonshire village—it will 
form a charming decoration for the centre of a lun¬ 
cheon table when filled with spikes of golden-starred 
Harpalium rigidum, Berberis leaves, scarlet Cactus 
Dahlias, sprays of rose hips, and clusters of Hops, 
Poppies and Corn and wild Oats, in vases of ham¬ 
mered copper or brass ; branches of red-foliaged,dark- 
berried Cornel, mingled with flowering Reeds and 
brilliant-seeded Iris pods, in a tall, three-handlded 
jar of brown pottery—these are but a few of the 
many lovely examples of floral decoration which 
are possible when 
Autumn, nodding o'er the yellow plain, 
Comes jovial on. R. E. Head, in •• The Queen.” 
-—t-- 
CLIMBERS FOR COTTAGE PORCHES. 
No less in autumn than in summer does the beauty 
of climbers stand out pre-eminently, more especially 
when associated with cer¬ 
tain objects, and never 
more pleasing or sugges¬ 
tive than in association 
with human habitations, 
such as rural or suburban 
cottages and villa resi¬ 
dences. The illustration 
accompanying this will 
give an idea of the way 
in which a few well- 
known or even the com¬ 
monest of garden subjects 
may be employed. The 
vine in some form or 
other is very popular with 
cottagers, and in this case 
vines and Clematis Flam- 
mula are associated to¬ 
gether,covering the porch 
of a cottage. The Vir¬ 
ginian Creeper and its 
companion Ampelopsis 
Veitchi may be used for 
the same purpose with 
admirable effect in sum¬ 
mer, when the long pend¬ 
ant festoons of greenery 
lend a charm to the 
cottage supporting them, 
dangling down over door¬ 
ways and windows, even 
invading them. Clematis 
Flammula is very fre¬ 
quently employed, often 
the more gorgeous C. 
Jackmanni, or the white 
C. montana, and others 
more seldom ; but almost 
any hardy sort may be 
used. Aristolochia Sipho 
with its magnificent and 
unbrageous leaves, al¬ 
ways bespeaks coolness 
when seen rambling over 
porches or doorways 
in summer. All of the 
above are deciduous, and 
therefore naked in win¬ 
ter, and although there 
is an appropriateness 
about their being so, 
yet an extensive list 
of evergreen species 
might be given equally 
suitable for the pur¬ 
pose as the above. To 
begin with, there are no 
end of Ivies, green, variegated, and golden, that 
might be employed. Then there is the Fiery Thorn, 
which, when loaded with its myriad clusters of scar¬ 
let berries, serves to brighten up the place all the 
winter, where hungry and starving birds are not too 
plentiful. Cotcneaster microphylla, C. Simmonsi, 
and several others are easily obtainable and suitable. 
The common Jasmine (Jasminum officinale), Ayr¬ 
shire Roses, the common Passion-flower, Smilax 
aspera, S. tamnoides, and others furnish a varied 
list of easily grown and beautiful evergreen subjects. 
-- 
Rose, Mme. Caroline Testout, is claimed by an 
American grower to be a gem of the first water. It 
is a clear satiny pink, somewhat lighter than La 
France, longer bud, and of more symmetrical form, 
and deliciously fragrant. 
A Cottage Porch and its Climbers. 
