In villages, cottages are frequently built without one morsel of garden attached to them-as if landlords considered only the shelter, and not the subsistence, of the poor. High rents are demanded, and the occupiers have no way in which to supply themselves with food, except at "the shop," where they either pay dearly or not all. Even where gardens exist they are seldom large enough to raise potatoes enough for the family use, where nothing but bread is attainable besides; and therefore, under all cir cumstances, a piece of land is a real blessing to the cottager, in every light in which we can possibly

view it.

I do not know a more pleasing, gratifying sight than cottage allotments present during the busy seasons-autumn, for instance. The digging up, or harvesting the crops,-then the ploughing and cleaning, the sowing and planting after that again,-keep the little colony in a perpetual buzz, and gives employment to every working member of the poor man's family. One of the first harbingers of spring, too, is a labourer, with his fork and wheelbarrow, going to "the ground," as they all call it; and then very speedily it becomes full of activity, and fertility, and sweetness-nothing is sweeter than the fresh-turned earth. How the very labour of man tends to his health and enjoyment! "Oh! that man would therefore praise the Lord for his goodness, and declare the wonders that he doeth for the children of men!"

Many gentlemen encourage their allotment tenants by offering prizes, and giving them a dinner or a supper when the rent is paid. This system may, and probably does, work well; but let not those be discouraged who have it not in their power to do So. The system works extremely well without it; and, perhaps, evil passions are aroused by contending, and triumphing over each other, which will do far more harm in one way than good is effected in the other. Brotherly love is unlikely to continue when there is this sort of competition, and the finest and sweetest vegetables are dearly purchased by a root of bitterness planted in the heart. The marked superiority of the crops in clean and well-tilled soil ought to be a sufficient inducement to be diligent, and the careful pains-taking cottager will, in some measure at least, urge on the slothful man beside him. If a trifle is given back when the rent is paid, it will benefit quite as much, and be as thankfully received as an expensive meal, which does no real good, and excludes the self-denying mother and hungry children. Surely much might be done in this way by those who seek to benefit the poor effectually, and because they are "our brethren." There is a blessing, too, on those who consider the " poor and needy;" and let us remember that "he that honoureth his Maker hath mercy on the poor."

LARGE-LEAVED ZIERIA (Zieria macrophylla.)-This greenhouse shrub, with panicles of white flowers, is a native of Van Diemen's Land, where it is called Stink-wood. It thrives best in a shaded part of the greenhouse, in a well-drained pot filled with a mixture of light loam and peat. It must be watered every morning or evening in summer. It ripens seeds, and may be propagated from these or from cuttings.-Bot. Mag., tab. 4451.

TO CORRESPONDENTS.

We request that no one will write to the departmental writers of THE COTTAGE GARDENER. It gives them unjustifiable trouble and expense; and we also request our coadjutors under no circumstances to reply to such private communications.

CAPONS (Veraa).-We cannot admit anything upon so cruel a subject into our columns.

HOT-BED OF LEAVES (Ibid).-The leaves may be employed alone, or mixed with stable-manure, or tan. The leaves, even if mixed afterwards with the other fermenting materials, are best prepared by themselves. Mix them thoroughly with those other materials, and do not put them in alternate layers. To prepare leaves, they should be collected as they fall in autumn, and be put into a space enclosed by hurdles or other means, so that they cannot be scattered by the winds. The heap should be at least six feet thick, watered moderately, if the leaves are dry, and trodden firmly. In five or six weeks the heat they produce will be so moderated that the heap may be broken up and beds formed of it. Apply a little water to any parts which then appear dry.

SWISS GENTIANA SEED (Rev. W. Brodie).-There are several species of Gentiana natives of Switzerland, but you do not state the name of yours. They will be safest if sown in pots of light sandy loam only, any time in March; the pots to be placed in a close cold pit ; and, as soon as the seedlings are up, to have abundance of air given them. They advance but slowly, but by next September will be fit to transplant into a bed of light earth out of doors, where the slugs must be kept from them. We cannot name your plant from the seed sent. RHODODENDRON NOT FLOWERING (A Novice, Camberwell).— You have a short rhododendron showing flower-buds, and "a tall straggling one" that does not.-You must cut back this just when you see it begin shooting in the spring; cut the side branches to within three or four inches of the old wood; and the centre shoot, if any, cut down to half its length.

ROSES NOT FLOWERING (Ibid).-Prune your standard and dwarf roses now, and very close; that is, cut away the little spray twigs altogether, and the strong shoots cut to a couple or three joints from the old wood; then scrape away the top soil till you get near to the roots, and lay over these some rich compost-one half of it rotten dung. When they are in leaf next May water them with some strong liquid manure, and, if there is life and blood in them, they will flower abundantly after that treatment, but not so much the first season as afterwards.

LILIUMS (Nemo).-Plant your bulbs immediately; you have overlooked what Mr. Appleby said at p. 310 of our vol. ii. "They are much injured by long exposure." Lilies of all kinds should be kept out of the ground as little as possible. Lilium bulbiferum is orangecoloured, and from 2 to 3 feet high, according to the strength of the bulb and the suitableness of the soil; Chalcedonicum, scarlet, 3 to 4 feet; Thunbergianum, red and orange, 3 feet; Aurantium, orange, 3 feet; Spectabile, light orange, 2 feet; Pyrenaicum, dark orange, 2 feet; Superbum, light orange, 5 to 6 feet; Eximium, white, 2 to 3 feet: Canadiense, light orange, 3 to 4 feet; Atrosanguineum, dark red, 3 to 4 feet; Pomponeum, red and scarlet, 3 to 4 feet; Montanum we do not know, neither are we acquainted with your hybrids-Prince Albert, Duke of Sutherland, Napoleon, Duke of Devonshire, Don Juan, and Marshal Soult, but they are all different shades of red and orange.

OLD JESSAMINE (Ibid).-You cut this down last autumn, and the young shoots have grown up very numerous, strong, and some 12 feet long. Cut out a few of the weakest shoots to near the ground, for the purpose of making young wood to fill the bottom, but let the other shoots remain their full length. Cover the concrete bottom of your cold pit with coal-ashes.

MOVING WISTERIA (C. C.).-Remove your Wisteria (now 6 years old) at once; this is the best time. There is no doubt about your succeeding with the carnation cuttings, if you keep the damp from them; the greenhouse is the best place for them till early in the spring, when you may give them a slight bottom heat. You are quite right -things will root "at seasons unseasonable," with patience and per

severance.

APPLE-TREES BEARING SMALL FRUIT (H. M.). -Stagnation, owing to a retentive bottom, is, in all probability, the cause of your apples being small. At all events, you will do well to drain thoroughly. Perhaps you have been digging over their roots; if so, cease for four feet from the stem; and in lieu thereof apply old manure, as top dressing, six inches thick, next April. Root-prune slightly your Cloth of Gold Rose, which is vigorous but blossomless, as soon as you can. This rose is apt to be over-luxuriant for a year or two after planting, if in rich soil.

PEACH NOT BEARING (R. L. Thame.).-Correspondents should always give the name and condition of a fruit when they seek information. We will shortly suggest a form of table to be used in applying to us for information. We would try rich top-dressing and handpruning. Our advice is not, however, obliged to be correct, for we want other data.

PINES NOT FRUITING (R. Walters, Bath.).-No letter ever came to our office that has not been answered. You should have named the sorts of pines you grow; their age, by what system grown, &c. We wish our correspondents would indeed give the necessary data; it is but a common sense consideration. You surely must give too much atmospheric moisture and heat with too little air. Do your pines get light enough? Are they in pots; and are the pots-as they ought to be-well filled with roots? You may indeed take any halfdozen of plants, that have been duly prepared previously, and start them into fruit at almost any period. A certain prepared condition however is necessary; one of the first essentials of which is, that the pot be well filled; and another, that the usual excitements to growth

established in their second pots, inure them by degrees to the cool atmosphere of a cold pit or greenhouse, and in May, when the dahlias are planted out, choose a rich south border, and plant out your Leonotises, sheltering each with a few boughs for awhile. As soon as they begin to grow freely, stop their points, and afterwards supply them liberally with liquid manure. Any time in August, during dull or showery weather, take them up and pot them, using a rich compost, and, as soon as they are estab lished in these pots, place them in a sheltered place facing the sun, or in a cold pit, giving abundance of air, and they will soon flower profusely.

THE FRUIT-GARDEN.

PRUNING.-In our last paper we spoke of the order of business through the winter, and adverted in those remarks to pruning; we now turn to its principles. In doing this, it will be well to take an analytical survey of the subject, which embraces a variety of objects, under various circumstances. In the first place, we may consider pruning with reference to situation, and object, or character of the tree; and, secondly, with regard to kind. The first will comprise the following:

1st. Orchard trees.

2nd. Rough espaliers, or dwarfed standards.

3rd. Trained espaliers.

4th. Wall or fence trees.

5th. Fruit-trees in houses.

6th. Bush fruits.

It will be the better course to remark on these successively, and what we cannot finish in this paper must stand over. Before entering upon the subject in detail, it may be well to request our more inexperienced readers to bear in mind that, whatever other reasons may influence the pruner's art, the free and equal admission of light to all parts of a fruittree must be considered at all times as powerfully influencing the mode of pruning pursued.

PRUNING ORCHARD-TREES.-These, in general, consist of the apple, the pear, the plum, and the cherry. Orchard Apple-trees.-The form of these being of only second-rate importance, the thinning out of the branches must have reference, as before observed, to the promotion of a free circulation of air, as well as of light. Most of our readers have, no doubt, observed how superior the apples are on the extremities of the boughs, as compared with those in the interior, or crowded parts, of the tree. This is owing, principally, to the influence of light; it must, however, be admitted, that a greater amount of elaborated sap always seems to be concentrated in those parts in most trees, that is to say, in the two and three years' old wood. Another and powerful reason exists for thinning out even limbs of some size in apple-trees. Every tree has an uphill life and a downhill one, if we may be allowed to borrow a phrase. When those trees pass the meridian of their strength, the sap flows more sluggishly through the branches and back to the roots; the active reciprocity between root and branch progressively declines, and hence the total decay of some shoots, and the partial decay of others. Now, the decaying shoots will, as long as sap remains in them, produce fruit of an inferior kind

fruit which is generally the first in the fruit-store to engender the destructive fungus we have before alluded to. This fruit, then, is generally worthless, and is not only of no use, but a positive damage to the trees; inasmuch as its maintenance draws on the hard-taxed resources of the parent tree, already overworked. From the moment, then, that decay of this kind is perceived, a gradual reduction of the expenditure as our political friends sometimes say— must take place: whole shoots, nay, whole limbs, will at times have to undergo amputation. As it is not necessary to dwell as much over the common orchard tree as the trained one, about once in two After the reduction of whole years may suffice. limbs (when really necessary) is accomplished, some knife-pruning should succeed; and here the knife must follow, in a small way, the same premonitory symptoms which guided the movements of the billhook on the same. Where a pressure of business exists, this kind of work may be reserved for hard frosts; or even whilst snow is on the ground the thinning may be carried out. It may, indeed, be considered as ordinary woodman's work.

Orchard Pear-trees. The habit of the orchard pear is very different from that of the apple. The pear will become stunted by age, but seldom cankers after the manner of apples. There is a kind of "wearing out" in pears which corresponds to the "wearing out," as it is termed, in the apple. It is, however, much more limited in character, and occurs in the main with trees which have been under a course of artificial treatment for a long period; such are the old Brown beurré, the St. Germaine, &c. Our old orchard pears, therefore, require, and receive, but little pruning; although we have no doubt that a judicious thinning out, in order to throw sunlight through the tree, would be found of considerable benefit.

Orchard Plums are somewhat limited in kind. In some of our northern counties we find abundance of damsons; some in the ordinary orchard, and many in the hedge-rows sorrounding the garden of the cottager. The common Muscle plum-the kind so much used for stocks by the nurserymen-is grown in some parts; and the Orleans may be met with in some quarters. Plums are, however, by no means prevalent in orchards; and we must, therefore, dismiss them for the present with a brief remark. The only one which carries a real importance is the old damson, and little pruning is necessary for these. The amount of light in our climate is quite sufficient for ordinary plum culture, it would appear; this is manifest, as to the damson, by the evenness of the sample, whether on the north or south side of a damson-tree; and the more tender plums being so rarely handled as ordinary orchard fruit, we need scarcely advert to them. The damson, then, which we for the present take for our type, will require a little thinning out when passing the meridian of its strength-and but little. It must be remembered that these fruits are very liable to suffer from our spring frosts, for the plum family being rather excitable are somewhat early bloomers; and it is not very unusual to see a damson tree in full bloom and covered with snow-by no means a desirable condition. Under such circumstances, then, it happens most frequently, as it does with the gooseberry in our northern districts, the blossoms in the interior of the tree will set fruit when those on the principal branches fail. A selfprotecting power, then, of this kind, although it may cause the tree to look somewhat confused amongst its

sprucely pruned neighbours, must not be despised; more especially as it brings such fruit to perfection despite of its unsystematic appearance. With these brief hints we may now dismiss the plum family, promising to handle them, in all their bearings, as pets of the kitchen garden, in due time. Next in order, then, comes

The Cherry as an Orchard-tree. Although the cherry does not prevail in British orchards, our more southerly counties will consider it a fruit of some importance, and deserving a little attention. Foremost of all we may, perhaps, place the old MayDuke; for who will despise a dish of luscious looking "Dukes" in the first week of June? This is certainly a most extraordinary fruit, when its characteristics, which are very peculiar, are taken into consideration. Here we have a fruit of the most luscious character ready for table before any other stone fruit whatever; companion, and a fitting one too, for the melting and time-honoured strawberry; for, through a long course of years, it has been their lot to meet on the same table, and that, too, at a period when the dessert of ordinary folk could (in their absence) have boasted of nothing but a few half withered apples and pears. Perhaps, as Shakspeare observed in allusion to the great Falstaff's rapidly diminishing volume, “withered apple Johns." The Duke cherry is, moreover, a fit object of culture in a commercial gardening way; for who has not heard of Kentish cherries? It may not be generally known, perhaps, that the May-Duke possesses the property of hanging as long on the tree as most fruits. We think we may affirm that we have known "Dukes" ripe in June and sound in September. The only drawback against a much more extended culture of them is their extreme liability to be eaten by birds, wasps, flies, &c.; for, unless they are covered, it is impossible to preserve them; and this covering adds much to the expense of culture. To revert to our original point-the pruning-we may observe that except a little shortening back of the young shoots for a year or two after planting, very little pruning is requisite with the cherry. When the trees become old and somewhat exhausted, they sometimes require some large half-decayed limbs to be entirely removed; yet, as they, in common with most stone fruits, are liable to gum, it is well to defer such operations as long as possible; and, when performed, to close the wound over with some composition to keep out the wet and also to exclude the air. Such composition should be covered with something of the "macintosh" character, or it may crumble away. It must be borne in mind that if the cherries are to receive nets or other protection, the pruning must be regulated accordingly. The tree must be compelled to grow in a compact and somewhat upright form; and, of course, the pruning knife must be exercised in curtailing, or removing, straggling shoots. We cannot stay now to advert to the Kentish and other cherries, sometimes met with in the ordinary orchard, but must return to them at another time.

It will thus be seen, that of all the orchard trees, the apple requires most attention as to pruning, and next the pear. In all cases of lopping off large shoots or limbs, we would leave a portion of the alders. These alders and some birch had been planted evidently with the intention of sheltering the apples, and this was good policy; but the fostering friend of their early days had become the foe of maturer years. Such trees ought to have been occasionally lopped back. The owner asked if he had better cut them all down; here, however, would have arisen another

stump. In the case of thriving trees, and limbs of moderate size, they may be cut closer; for here the sap being abundant and active, the wound, it nicely managed, may soon become healed over. But with old trees, which make but little wood, the case is very different. It is vain to expect the healing process here; and the only thing we can do is to apply a plaister, with a covering, as before observed. By these means the lodgment of moisture, and the entrance of air, may be prevented, which is very prejudicial to the healing of wounds in fruit trees. Every one must have witnessed the ill effects of the want of covering a wound in a large elm which has received a wound in its main stem. This plainly points to what injury arises from neglect in such cases. Another point is to form the cut so that water cannot lodge. A slope, forming an angle of about 45° with the stem of the tree, will be good; as, if cut perpendicularly, there will be some difficulty in getting the plaister to lodge.

Whilst on the subject of pruning the orchard trees, we may as well wind up this division of the subject by directing attention to the pruning, or otherwise dressing, of orchard hedges, or boundary trees. We were in an orchard the other day where a row of alder and other trees, between it and the stack yard, so completely overhang the orchard side, that a whole line of Keswick Codling apples, which were within six feet of this boundary, were bent almost half down by the pressure and trespass of the evil. The stems of the orchard trees have become tender through this coddling system; for, indeed, I found the bark on some of these Keswicks as thin as though the trees were scarcely seven years old. We advised a progressive removal, cutting a few entirely down, some half way, and others to about hedge height. We are no advocate for shelter, as it is termed, close to an orchard, having always found that in proportion as the fruit trees are shelteredalias coddled-so do insects abound: what shelters the fruits favours the hatching of myriads of orchard spoilers. We like the shelter of elevated grounds or of plantations, the latter at a considerable distance, if possible. Those who have orchards with crowded boundaries, then, will do well to exercise the bill and the hand-saw whilst orcharding is proceeding. R. ERRINGTON.

THE FLOWER-GARDEN.

SOWING GRASS SEEDS. Of all the news or novelties of gardening brought before the readers of these pages perhaps that of sowing grass seeds at the end of November sounds the most odd. We are so much accustomed to ancient rules and precepts, that when any one ventures out of the common ranks to recommend anything new, or to advise an old rule to be crossed or given up, he has to explain the reasons and conclusions for so doing as minutely as if it were a disputed point of civil law. Dry, hot summers often destroy the finer grass on our mown lawns, and the frosts of winter are also as destructive on heavy, wet soils, and the constant sweepings necessary to keep a clear, clean surface is likewise against the more tender grasses, which give a soft velvety touch to a well-kept green sward; so that, between one thing and another, the coarser grasses prevail and occupy the surface, thus giving a rough, and often a ragged, appearance to that which always ought to be as soft and as smooth as a carpet. To remedy all this, as far as it is practicable, recourse is had to grass seeds thickly sown over the surface, and