160 THE FLOKAL WOELD AKD GAEDEN GUIDE. 



same way are splendid, particularly when several kinds are mixed together, Nephro- 

 lepsis tuberosa is also first-rate for the purpose. Keep the plants well watered. 



Cryptomeria Elegans, etc. — Veronica. — Cryptomeria elegans is a beautiful, 

 free-growing, coniferous tree, grand for single specimens on lawns. You may pro- 

 pagate a few plants by taking cuttings in August, and planting them under a hand- 

 glass. We have had " Looker's" tiles in use four years, and they are as sound as 

 when laid down. Roshers, of Upper Ground Street, Blackfriars, make first-class 

 tiles, which are durable. You cannot act better than write to them upon the sub- 

 ject. We feel sure you will have no difficulty in filling your beds and borders with 

 plants that are not quite so evanescent as the ordinary bedding plants, if you refer 

 back to the ten volumes of Floral Worlb which you have. We pity you in having 

 to get up two thousand bedding plants every season. It depends entirely upon the 

 size and strength of your Tritomas whether they will flower this year or not. 



Greenhouse StxGtE.— Subscriber. — You cannot do better than have a walk 

 three feet wide down the centre, and that will give you four feet six inches on each 

 side for staging. If you have a stage in the centre, your house will be nearly all 

 taken up with path-room. A flat stage, three feet from the ground, and made with 

 laths three inches wide by one and a half thick, placed about an inch and a half 

 apart, will answer your purpose perfectly. 



Erecting a Greexhouse and Vinery combined. — Canariensis. — A lean-to 

 with south aspect will be most suitable for you. The slight loss of sun from the 

 projections of your house is of no material consequence. The front should lie about 

 five feet high — three feet of brickwork and two of upright sashes — and the back 

 carried up to within a few inches of the height of your wall. We should advise you 

 to have the border for the vines made above the level of your garden, and not sunk, 

 as is usually the case ; about ten feet wide will be sufiicient. Run a nine-inch 

 wall round it to keep the soil in its place. Have the front wall turned upon arches, 

 and make another wall two feet from it inside the house, so as to form a little bed 

 in which to plant the vines, and then the roots can extend themselves over the bed 

 outside. We should advise you to have hot water or a flue, for the other methods 

 you name will entail endless expense, and be of vei-y little practical service, more 

 specially in such an uncongenial climate as yours. If you have the flue, you will 

 not be able to plant the vines inside the house ; therefore you will not want the 

 arches in the front wall or the wall built inside, for the flue will occupy the space 

 of the little bed inside. Plant your vines four feet from each other. Maclc Sam- 

 lurgli and Royal Muscadine are the most suitable kinds for you. 



Renovating Drac^nas. — A Subscriber wishes to know what to do with several 

 old plants of Dracczna terminalis and ferrea that liave become leggy, and have 

 lost the whole of their foliage with the exception of two or three leaves on the top, 

 and would be glad of a little information upon their pi'opagatiou and afttr manage- 

 ment. We know scores of plants in the same condition as this correspondent's. 

 People are afraid to touch them with a knife, whereas nothing will stand cutting 

 about better. A very simple way to deal with your tall leafless plants is to cut 

 them down to within six inches of the soil ; and as you wish to increase your stock, 

 cut the stem up into lengths of four inches each, and pot them very firm in small 

 pots, and plunge the pots in a brisk hotbed, where they will soon push out side- 

 shoots. These can be taken off and inserted in sand under a bell-glass ; but it will 

 he scarcely necessary for you to propagate to that extent. You should let the old 

 plants get dry before you cut them down ; they will soon break, and then should be 

 taken out of the pots,"the soil shaken away, and repotted in smaller pots, and kept 

 rather dry for a time. If you keep the soil wet before the roots get established in 

 it, you will very probably lose every root they have ; in fact, you must not over- 

 water at any time. Repot the young plants as they require it, but guard against 

 getting them into large pots. Use plenty of drainage, and keep them quiet through 

 the winter, and not throw water over the foliage through that season. Peat, loam, 

 and leaf-mould will grow them to perfection. 



