198 THE FLOEAL WOKLD AND GAEDEN GUIDE. 



is not necessary, and I have raised hundreds of young plants in a 

 cold fraine, which is about the best place for the cutting-pots until 

 the cuttings are rooted. I have raised a great number, too, in open 

 beds, with a few branches of yew, or something of that description, 

 stuck between the rows to shade from the sun ; but I don't like 

 this way, for sufficient command cannot be had over the quantity of 

 water the cuttings receive. If dry weather sets in, it would be all 

 right, but we cannot depend upon this; and should we get a lot of 

 rain immediately they are put in, the probability is that most of 

 them would damp oft". With these considerations before us, I should 

 advise my readers to confine themselves to the cold frame. After 

 the cuttings have been in a few days, they will, perhaps, require 

 watering. I need not say that a fine rose watering-pot must be 

 used to prevent the cuttings from being washed out or displaced ; 

 but it will be as well for me to say that they must not have too 

 much ; a light sprinkle is all that they require ; and a greater 

 danger exists in giving them too much than not enough, for they 

 will stand getting dry without injury, but with too much wet the 

 stems rot through, just under or on a line with the surface. During 

 the first fortnight or so they will require shading when the sun is 

 powerful, but give a little air at all times by tilting up the back 

 lights, and draw the lights oft" for a couple of hours, morning and 

 evening. Fancies are rather more difficult to strike than the show 

 kinds, and therefore require more care and attention, and it is as 

 well to give them the advantage of a mild bottom-heat, if available ;. 

 but the atmosphere must not be moist with steam arising from fer- 

 menting materials. 



Immediately the cuttings get nicely rooted, and before the pots 

 are crowded with roots, pot off into small 60-size pots. Use- 

 loam, leaf-mould, and a little decayed manure for this potting, and 

 replace in the frame ; water carefully and sparingly at fi.rst, but 

 when the roots begin to feel the outside of the pot, it must be 

 administered more liberally, and the plants must have an abundance 

 of air. At the same time, nip out the growing point at about the 

 fourth joint from the base, and the young growths which push from 

 this stopping must have their points nipped out at the third pair of 

 leaves from the main stem. Before this is done, the small pots 

 will have become full of roots, and require a shift, which this time 

 must be into a five-inch or 48. After the plants have been kept 

 close for a few days to assist their recovery, and the young roots 

 begin to take hold of the new soil, will be the time for stopping. 

 Never stop and repot at the same time. 



This last potting ought to be done some time in September, so 

 as to give the plants time to get established before winter sets in. 

 During the winter, keep them in a temperature ranging from 40^ to 

 45°, with as little fire-heat as possible, just sufficient to keep the 

 atmosphere dry, and the frost out, and water with caution. "When the 

 plants are kept too wet at the roots, or in a damp atmosphere, the 

 foliage becomes spotted, and covered with mildew, and when kept 

 in a temperature too high they get drawn and weakly. To guard 

 against these evils is simple enough, for all that has to be done is tO' 



