G2 THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



steady, pack the plants together in a mixture of old dung and leaf-mould, and lay 

 boards over the frame to keep out the light. A still better method is to take up 

 the plants, and pot them into Pascall's seakale pots, which totally exclude light, 

 and enable the amateur to gather the cnjp without soiling his fingers. Rhubarb 

 should be placed in the light, as darkness spoils its flavour. Our sujiply began 

 with the new year from old stools [potted into fifteen-inch pots, not in soil, but 

 waste fern and moss, tucked in round the roots, and heaped up over the crown ; 

 the pots were placed under the stage of a warm greenhouse, and the stalks pushed 

 directly, and had enough substance to be well-flavoured and of a beautiful colour. As 

 the supply from the open ground will soon be abundant, the potted stools will be 

 planted out in trenches richly manured, and will not be gathered from all the 

 season, so as to be strong for forcing next winter in the same manner. 



Potatoes. — S.B. —To save potatoes for seed, sort out at taking-up time well- 

 ripened potatoes of a middling size—neither tlie very smallest nor the largest. Lay 

 them in the sun till they are green and dry, then sprinkle a little dry hay in some 

 shallow baskets, and strew the potatoes in a thin layer upon _the hay, and put the 

 baskets on a dry shelf, out of the reach of frost. At the end of the year, place the 

 baskets in a full light, in a warm place, till the sets have made little purple shoots 

 of half an inch in length, and then plant them. That is the state seed potatoes 

 should be now in for planting. 



Rhododenuroxs. — B. W. — Eliododendrons may be increased by seed, layers, 

 and cuttings. In the month of May, scoop out a little hollow under a branch 

 suitably placed for layering, and fill it with sandy peat or half-rotted moss, well 

 chopped up with silver sand, bend the joint down, fix it with a hooked stake, so 

 that there will be no fidgeting with it after the branch is cut. Then loosen it from 

 the peg, and with a sharp kniie cut half through the stem and upwards an inch and 

 a half towards the top of the shoot, taking care to leave suflicient wood and bark 

 on the side not cut to maintain the branch in health. Insert a small pebble or slip 

 of wood to keep the incision open ; bend the branch down again, and bring the 

 head of it upright, or nearly so, without breaking it at the cut part, and fix it 

 firmly under the hook to the stake. Press the peat firmly about the tongue, and 

 lay a bunch of moss over, with a stone or tile to prevent it being blown away, and 

 leave the rest to nature. The branch will not be sufficiently rooted for removal 

 for a year, when it may be cut away and carefully planted, with others similarly 

 treated, in a nursery-bed of peat, and well supplied with water. 



LiLiuMS FROM Seed. — A. B. S. — All kinds of lilies are troublesome plants to 

 raise from seed, as however good the seed may be, it is very slow to germinate. 

 Seeds of the pretty L. temiifoiium we find are exceptions to the rule, for these 

 germinate freely ; but seeds of auratum and giganteum, about which you par- 

 ticularly inquire, remain a long time after sov/iug without making sign of a move. 

 Some years ago we raised a batch of giganteum from imported seed by a very 

 simple plan. The seed was sown in a large box filled with sandy peat, the seed 

 being covered fully an inch or more, and the box was put out of doors, and so 

 remained about fifteen months, when the seedling plants began to spear through. 

 Lately we have got up a few good batches of both thi:^ and auratum by sowing in 

 large pans, and keeping the pans in a warm corner of a pit, where we were com- 

 pelled to see them occasionally. Whatever plan be followed, patience must attend 

 it, and the soil should not be disturbed for a whole year, after the first seedlings 

 make their appearance. 



AucuBA Japonica. — A B. >-. — All who possess male plants must now be on the 

 alert to obtain pollen for fertilizing. It is best to have the plants that are to be 

 operated on under glass if possible. That aucubas in the open ground will become 

 generally fruitful by the introduction of male plants amongst them has been demon- 

 strated by experience. As to the raising of plants from the berries, we were unable 

 to speak with any definiteness when penning the article which appeared in the No. 

 for May, 1867. "But having raised a number of plants from seed, we must repeat 

 the advice offered in the note on Liliums, in favour of the exercise of patience. Not 

 one of our seeds has germinated in a less period than six months, and some have 

 not pushed their green blades through until the lapse of twelve months from the 

 date of sowing. We have not tried them in heat, but in a cold pit only. But as 

 we had a lot of seedling plants just pushing through at the commencement of 

 winter, we removed the pans into a warm house for fear of losing any by damp or 

 severe frost. We expect all seedling aucubas to bloom in their third year j perhaps, 



