RUSTIC SEATS FOR GARDENS. FOLLOWING up this subject, we may, by the accompanying diagrams, or sketches of what has been done, form a tolerable notion of what may be done, and, from a quantity of the loppings of trees, select all the oddshaped pieces that we can find, with the bark perfect, and divide these into two classes; first, all those which, whatever be their shape, lie perfectly flat on the ground; and second, all those which, however curious, are crooked, and will not lie flat. The former we can use for duplicates, because, if cut through the middle, they form two, in all respects, similar figures; if we place them back to back they make one kind of design, and if placed the other way they form another. To illustrate this we will use a very simple means, say they are the form of an L, they, being both merely reversed in figure, may, for particular purposes, be placed so L, or 1, in either case the other will match, and no matter what be the form, it can be brought in for something, whether it be arches of windows, sides of doorways, or

All the foregoing sketches are from articles already manufactured. We might multiply these to any extent, but the examples already given fully explain the mode of applying duplicate pieces.

Another kind of rustic-work is applicable to flat surfaces, and consists in applying split wood, like the common wood used for hoops; these may be displayed in patterns of various kinds by cutting it into lengths and fitting them according to fancy; here is a sample of patterns which will give an idea of their application, and from which it will be seen how the fancy may be indulged in this kind of work. It is applicable to tops of tables, or the seats of sofas. It may be put all over the sides of a plant-box, or any plain surface; half a tub may be covered to form a rustic basket, or plant-vase; in short, this kind of fancywork may be used in such a variety of shapes, that it would be difficult to set a limit to its application; but the few cuts here subjoined exhibit it in various ways, and persons of taste could find hundreds of different modes. By rights, this kind of work, when applied to table tops and all other horizontal surfaces, should not be subjected to wet, because it lodges in the corners and in time rots it; where, however, it is unavoidable, and it must be exposed to the weather, a strong transparent varnish should be laid on, for it is a great preservative. The small brads, or tacks, used to fasten it, should be galvanized or tinned, for damp will rust the

The sketches show the most simple application of the work, which is pieces of the same length placed side by side, and this is frequently done round the edge of a table. They also exhibit more elaborate patterns for flat surfaces; and one is taken from the top of a very elegantly-designed table. The first and best practice is to get a bundle of hoop wood, which, if split from end to end, and has all the bark preserved on it, with this you may do all that has been done in these articles from which our sketches are taken.

HOW THE PUBLIC MAY TAKE A LESSON FROM GARDENERS.

"What is Sauce for the Goose is Sauce for the Gander." Ir is curious enough that people who live in dwellinghouses are taking lessons from gardeners. Almost everybody knows that the entomologial pests in houses are as troublesome in their way amongst people, as lice and mealy bug are among plants. Our mode of extirpating the enemy has been simplified by the invention of the Neal pastil, which we light in proper quantity and shut up a few hours, and destroy every living creature that the fumes reach. Now in dwelling-houses they have visitors just as inconvenient and annoying as any of our garden pests. Even new houses are put into the keeping of poor persons who reside in a room rent free till the house is let, and generally leave some living testimony that the room has been inhabited; we have strongly recommended fumigation, even when tobacco or a tobacco paper was the principal though troublesome material in use, and left behind it a most offensive smell. Nevertheless, we say it advisedly, nobody ought to go into a new residence, much more is it to be avoided in an old one, without fumigating all the rooms. Nothing is to be dreaded more than moths, for they are as destructive to furs, woollens, and other fabrics, as the green fly is to plants, and more dangerous, because they do all the mischief before they are seen. There are other pests which prefer attacking persons to clothes, but fumigation is a cure, and we have proved its efficiency in more than one instance. To builders do we especially recommend it, before even a house is let. By setting light to two or three pastils in each room, and shutting them up for the night the thing is done,

they may then find soap and water effective in a final clean up; but if they do nothing else, they or the parties coming in should fumigate the rooms that have been occupied by the poor people who "minded the house till it was let." Three pastils that cost one shilling should be placed in earthern pans or old plates, in different parts of the room, stop up the chimney, and close the bottoms of the doors so that the fumes cannot escape, and insect life within reach of the fumes will be totally destroyed, if there be millions. When the room is entered the next morning have the door open till the smell, which is not so nauseous as tobacco, goes off, and then clean the rooms. In plant houses we fumigate in the evening, shut the pastils after lighting, for the night, by taking care to use enough to fill the house. Millions of the green fly, if there were as many, would be found in the morning dead, but we immediately wash the plants with a syringe to wash away the bodies, and of course we should recommend immediate cleaning in dwellinghouses. A friend of ours took a house in which there was a closet that had been used to hang up coats and other woollens in, and on opening the door, after the house had been empty some time, there was a cloud of moths. It was this circumstance that induced us first to try the effect of the pastils, and judging from the size of the room, we put open the closet door, closed the windows and chimney, lighted four pastils, one in the closet, and three in the room, and the dead moths were next day actually swept up, but we would have served every room in the house alike. There are other cases in which fumigation should be adopted instantly, we allude to rooms in which there has been death. The moment the corpse has been removed, two or three pastils should be lighted and the room closed for the rest of the day, and this is doubly desirable if the death. has taken place from fever or other doubtful or dangerous disorder. We feel confident that many will hereafter thank the gardeners for their now expressed convictions, that what has proved so efficacious in their hands, will be of the greatest benefit in domestic matters. It is not our fault if it be not invariably serviceable in all cases of plague and pestilence.

THE YEAR'S MANAGEMENT OF THE CARNATION AND PICCOTEE. JANUARY.-The plants require this month little else than securing for them a free circulation of air; they are in frames, in forty-eight sized pots, one pair in a pot, and, properly wintered, on a dry bottom, from which the water that runs through the pots can run off. If there be hard frost, they may be covered up, for that can do them no. harm, while, if it were severe enough to get through the sides of the pots, the fibres would be injured. Yet the plant is pretty hardy, if planted in the open ground. To secure this circulation of air in perfection, the glasses should be quite opened or taken off, and the frames should not be deep. These plants will stand almost anything but damp, and that is fatal, for it engenders mildew and canker, and the destruction of all the energies of the plant follows as a thing of course. They require very little moisture, but must not be suffered to dry up altogether. If, therefere, the weather is mild, they cannot have too much air, and, if frosty, they should be covered; they must never have the glasses off at night, for there is no dependence on the absence of frost twenty-four hours. The plants out in the open beds may have light litter upon them to keep off frost, but they must not be smothered up too much, and the litter ought to be dry.

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FEBRUARY.-There can be no difference made in the treatment from last month, except what the weather enjoins. If it be frosty, the glasses should not be opened, except freezing point, which it will, in protected places, in the when the sun temporarily raises the temperature above the middle of the day. It is as necessary, however, to protect from wet as from frost, and snow is almost poison to them; so that, except the watering given to them to keep a little moisture in the pots, there ought to be no fall allowed to reach the plants. Take off the yellow under-leaves; and if there be a spot on the foliage, or the ends of the leaves beginning to turn yellow and decay, cut off the decaying earth, if it begins to turn mossy; and if any of the pots part down to the sound green leaf; stir the surface of the keep moist while others are dry, examine the drainage. Now mtx up some loam and well-rotted cow-dung. the loam has the turf rotted in it, and has been formed of turfs cut thick on purpose, two-thirds will be loam, and three parts of the loam and one of cow-dung, although the one-third rotted vegetable matter, and it would require should be laid together this month, after being well mixed, turfy loam alone would grow them well. The mixture and scrupulously examined to see if there be any wire-worm, or grub, or bot, and to get them perfectly cleared out. The sun getting more powerful enables one, even if there be frost, to open the frames much longer in the middle of the day, and give air, which is more essential than anything occasionally remove the pots from the frame, and sweep to the well-being of the plants. It is essential, also, to out all the dirt, dead leaves, and brush all the sides of the pots; in short, to clean everything properly, for cleanliness is everything in the culture of this family. If you pick off dead leaves, or cut off any portions of the foliage, by no means let any of the stuff go into the frames, for nothing is more destructive than decaying vegetation. Always keep in mind that a free circulation is the first thing to secure, and the next a clean frame and a dry bottom, although the free circulation will very often counteract the effects of a wet one.

MARCH.-This month is treacherous at all times: biting, cold frosts, heavy falls, drying winds, and storms, are not unfrequent, and all must be provided against as carefully as possible; giving air whenever the weather will permit must ing for the vermin, is a very necessary duty, and providing be a first consideration; turning over the compost, and huntfor potting into the blooming pots must not be neglected; procure the sizes called sixteens and twelves, the former for pairs and plants, the latter for threes; let them be well baked, and stand level. The treatment of the plants in the frames must be according to the weather-the same as if the same weather were in January or February.

APRIL. This month you may commence potting the plants in the blooming pots, and you should first provide a large quantity of crocks for drainage: that is to say, broken flowerpots made into still smaller pieces, to fill about two inches of the large pots with, before you put in the compost; then bring plenty of the compost to your potting-table, and

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supply of the crocks, and having your plants and the blooming-pots all ready, fill the latter about two inches up with crocks, first covering the holes with pieces large enough to stop the smaller ones from going through; then put on compost, high enough to enable you to place the ball of earth containing the plants at a proper height; now place your fingers on each side the plants in the small pots, and, turning the pot wrong side upwards, strike the edge against the edge of the potting-table or bench, and the ball of earth will leave whole; let the loose crocks of the small pot fall away, but do not use force to remove them, as, if the fibres have got around them, it is far better not to disturb them; placing the ball in the left hand, the upper surface of the soil of the small pot may be removed as far as it can without touching the fibret; then, with both hands, place the ball in the centre of the large pot, pressing it gently down among the new compost, to bring the collar of the plants, which is

the base of the lower leaves, within half an inch of the level of the top edge of the pot, then fill up with the compost all round the ball, pressing it gently down, but not pressing the ball out of its place; fill up the pot to the top, and, lifting it level with both hands, strike the bottom gently against the table, to settle it all down; and, making it all level, the pot may be placed in any sheltered spot, under canvas if possible, to keep off heavy falls of rain or hot sun. The hoops or irons used for Tulips are well adapted for this; and if the pots are placed according to their number, so as to form the proper length and width, the irons can be placed over them, and canvas or mats be thrown over or in front at night, or during heavy falls. Continue potting till the whole are done that you mean to do, and if there be any over, plant them in a bed made on purpose with the same compost; or, if not exactly the same, with a good dressing of rotten dung (that is dung fairly rotted into mould), in the ordinary garden soil: there ought to be three inches in thickness laid on the top, and forked in with about six or eight inches of the garden-mould; they should be planted in rows, so far apart as to enable you to walk between them to layer them-say a foot apart in the rows, and the rows two feet apart; or it is better, perhaps, if ground be not scarce, to plant two rows eighteen inches from each other, and then leave three feet between them and the next two rows, because that gives very good room to operate, and does not waste so much space as if they were in single rows. In planting out, the balls should be planted whole, the same as when potted; and whether there are two plants or three in the pots, the balls should be eighteen inches apart in the row. After potting and planting, gentle watering is necessary to settle the earth about the balls, and they will require but little further care until they begin to shoot up their bloom stems. MAY.-The potting for bloom, and the bedding out of the plants not potted, should, of course, have been done last month; but if there be any not yet disposed of, one way or the other, no time should be lost, as from the instant they shoot up the flower stems, or begin to grow up in the small pots, they sadly lose strength, until they are released, and they mostly commence their growth before this month is out. Those in these large pots should be placed on boards or shelves, standing on feet, placed in pans of water, to prevent earwigs, and other crawling vermin, from getting up the pots to the plant. Refresh them with water when they approach dryness, but do not keep them too wet. ordinary rain will not hurt them, because you have already secured good drainage by means of the crocks at the bottom. As the plants are very brittle when they begin to rise, the proper Carnation sticks ought to be carefully thrust into the pots without damaging the roots, and the end that goes into the soil ought to be pitched all over to prevent its rotting; the sticks should be an inch diameter at the bottom, and half an inch at the top, tapering all the way from the surface to the top. Glasses are made, and shades also, about a foot in diameter, with a socket in the centre to admit these sticks, and a screw to fix them in any part of the stick, so that whatever height the flower may be, the shade can be adjusted at the actual spot; these sticks are to be put to the plants early, that they may not damage the roots, which soon spread all over the pots if they go on properly.

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JUNE.-Sow seed in large pots; rather thinly, the first week, and be careful to water amd shade it. As the bloomstems rise, they must be tied loosely to the sticks, for if tied tightly the stems elongate and bend, and not unfrequently break; the tie ought to be so loose that the stems, as they grow; can push the tie itself up; they require frequent examination and watching, and attention. As soon as the buds are large enough to lay hold of, they must be reduced, in the great majority of cases, to two or three at the most on a stem, to the end that those left on may have all the strength of the plant. There are some exceptions to this, but they are few; the flowers which have short pods, and are too full of petals, may be all the better for leaving on every one of the buds until they have swelled considerably, but we do

not recommend the growth of flowers of this description, and experience alone will teach people which varieties are strong enough to bear such treatment; in the mean time the plan of disbudding, as it is called, that is, the reducing of the buds to three on each stem, should be adopted. As the buds swell, they must be tied round the middle with a bit of bass-matting, or coarse worsted, and the tips of the calyx, or case of the bud, may be torn down to the bass-matting at each division; it enables the flower to open even instead of its bursting out on one side, and secures a more uniform bloom. As the petals come out, the largest, or what are termed the guard petals, should be brought down to form a lower dish, as it were, for the rest to cover; to help the laying of them it is usual to place a card on the bud, half way up it, where the tie is; this card and the bud are held in their respective places by means of a piece of copper wire stuck into the stick, and bent into a round hook or loop, almost closed at the extremity, in which the stem is put, and the wire bent, so as to keep the card in its place as well as the bud, projecting it generally about four or five inches from the stick. These cards are cut round, and in the centre a circle is drawn, about as large as the largest bud is, say as large as a shilling, then with a sharp knife cut across this circle four times opposite ways, right through the substance, when by pushing a pencil through it, or a taper stick, like a vent-peg, it pushes the points out, and they form so many springs to hold the card in its place, even if the wire were not used to put them on the bud: the card is slit from the centre hole to the edge on one side only, the stem is introduced through this slit to the centre hole, and the card is pushed up to the bud, which partly goes into the hole, and is kept there. The lower or large petals, as they open, are brought down on the card to form the outer row, which should be circular. The petals of the next size are brought down one over each place where the others join, and form a second row; the petals yet rather smaller, are to be placed on the joints of the second row, and so form a third; when all that can be placed in rows are adjusted, the remaining ones, if any, should be placed in the centre, upright, to form a crown; but if there be a petal all of a colour, or without any colour, or if there be any in a bizarre which has only one colourall bizarres ought to have two-they should be pulled out, for any one of them would disqualify a flower, and in showing, cast it out. These instructions more particularly belong to July, but, as in many seasons the flowers come in June, it is necessarily placed in this month. Attend to the watering, for while plants are growing and blooming, they require a good deal of moisture.

JULY. Stir the earth between the seedlings, and as soon as they are large enough to hold, thin them out to two inches apart, pricking in the young seedlings taken away into other pots. Having given the treatment for the two months nearly complete in one, there remains little else than repetition. But all the small shoots that are not likely to be long enough for layering, should be taken off and struck, like the pipings of pinks, under a hand glass, on a little mild bottom heat. They make excellent plants in general, though they do not make so much increase. The pipings only require about three joints of a shoot, for so that there is a sound stem, the shorter they are the better. This month you may begin layering-an operation which is thus performed:-Cut off the leaves pretty close to the stem of all the shoots that are long enough to lay down under the surface, all but the top three joints, then make an incision in the stem, on the under side, half way between the second and third joints, under the lower leaves left on, and to nearly the middle of the stem, bearing the knife upwards, right through the second joint, and cut off at the joint the sloping piece below it; the place to peg it down on must be dug up, or loosened with the knife, and a little sand should be mixed, and with a peg made like a little hooked walking stick, four inches long, peg down the layer, so that the whole of the slit part is under the surface, which must be filled up level; and all the shoots are to go through the same process.

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