159 



GARDEK .'LND GREENHOUSE WORK EOR JULY. 



Annuals sown now will flower beauti- 

 fully during September and October. This 

 ia the best time of year to sow Nemopliilas 

 in shady places ; the bloom is niucli finer 

 sind more lasting than of those sown in the 

 usual way in spring. 



Auricula seed to be sown as soon as 

 ripe, and tlie old plants to be potted. 



Azaleas may be propagated from cut- 

 tings of the young wood, planted in silver 

 sand under hand-lights. 



Cahnations to be layered and piped. 

 Seedlings to he transplanted six inches 

 apart. 



Chktsanthemums to be stopped for the 

 last time, keep the plants clean, never ne- 

 glect the training, give plenty of water, and 

 shade from the midday sun those intended 

 for specimens. 



Dahlias, to bloom in the conservatory 



in pots late in the season, should now he 

 propagated by cuttings. We grev/ some 

 standards last year by taking up straight 

 stems disbudded, and they were very attrac- 

 tive, though rather lumpy headed. 



Propagate in the open ground gera- 

 niums, herbaceous plants, and hardy shrubs 

 from cuttings of this season's growth. 



Strawbekrie.s for pot culture should 

 be potted at once into six inch pots, filled 

 with a rather firm and rich compost quite 

 to the rim, and rammed in hard before the 

 plunts are inserted. Stout runners of the 

 season make the best plants, and if they 

 are only just forming their roots will do as. 

 well as those that are plentifully furnished. 

 Put them into a pit or frame and shade for 

 a week, and then give good culture to pro- 

 mote the formation of roots and the ripen- 

 ing; of the crown. 



TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



Wild Floweks. — We have received from the 

 Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 

 parts 1 and 2 of " The Flowering Plants of 

 Great Britain," ahandsome octavo work now in 

 course of publication. We cannot t^peak too 

 highly in praise of the coloured plates, and the 

 descriptions which accompany them. Accurney, 

 and beauty of delineation, the grouping of 

 epecies on a most judicious plan, and the adop- 

 tion of the natural system as ihe basis of popu- 

 lar descriptions, are recommendations which 

 we have no doubt will baTe great force with our 

 readers. This is certainly the best and cheap- 

 est reliable work on wild flowers in course of 

 publication. 



Tjik Finest Spau in England is the flag-staff 

 lately erected in Kew Gardens. It is a speci- 

 men of the Douglas Pine, and is twice as high 

 as the highest trees that surround it. Its total 

 length is 157 feet ; cubical contents, 160 feet; 

 total weifiht complete, 4 tons 8 cwt. 2 qrs. It is 

 fixed in a brick well, and 11 fett 6 inches are 

 sunk below the level of the ground. The age 

 of the tree which supplied the spar was al out 

 200 years, and its total height 220 feet. For 

 this handsome and appropriate gift to the royal 

 gardens, the pubhc are indebted to Mr. Stamp, 

 of Eotherhithe. — Recreatice ffcience. 



Names of Plants and notes about thbm. — 

 A. B. — Your shrub is Corchorus Japonicus, 

 now called Kerria Japonlca, in praise of which 

 it would be scarcely ptissible to say too much. 

 The yellow flower is TroUius Europeans, a 

 hardy British plant, which grows and blooms 

 abundantly in the damp meadows about the 

 New Forest, where we have seen it produce 

 effects that could not be equalled in any flower- 

 garden. The shrub you sent was Cotoneaster 

 mycrophylla. There is as much differenca be- 

 tv.een it and Candleberry myrtle as between a 

 magnolia and a gooseberry. — W. S. — The little 

 scrap sent we cannot name ; it is probably a 

 veronica. All veronicas require to be liberally 

 grown and well supplied with water. V. Au- 

 dersoni, Lindleyana, speciosa, and others of 

 like habit, do first-rate in the open border, and 



in mild winters take no harm. Old plants 

 should be shortened in every spring, and en- 

 couraged to grow; and they will flower we'd 

 through September, October, and November, 

 and be useful to group with chrysanthemums. 

 — Hrentingbt) Cottuge. — The fiowerini; specimen 

 is doubtless a pentstcmon, but we cannot make 

 it out as to species. "Wo should like a live 

 plant if that be possible, as it appears to be 

 an interesting thing. — The New Zealand seed ia 

 evidently fome piipillonaceous plant, order Le- 

 guminosce, tribe Hedysarese. — Huh. Ennhccrthy . 

 — Yours is a beautilul herbaceous plant, now 

 not much known. It is Monsonia speciosa, 

 figured in Loddige's " Botanical Cabinet," No. 

 iiyS. It is a Cape plant of tasy culture. " Melo- 

 dar" is a name we do not understand — TF. P. — 

 Specimen in blue-ribbon Sagina procumbens, 

 white-ribbon Spergula pilifera, green-ribbon 

 Spergula .'aginnides. Cut out from the turf ail 

 the tults of Sagina procumbens, aud plant them 

 together to make a separate turf; the two sper- 

 gula.': allow to remain together, the difference 

 between them is very slight, aud you are rather 

 fortunate in obtaining both species from the 

 same packet of seeds. Sagina procumbens is 

 one of the commonest British weeds. — E. B. — ■ 



1. Clematis azurea grandiflora, prune it close 

 back in spring, when just about to break. 



2. Jasminum revolutum, young side-shoots will 

 strike now under bell-glasses or hand-light.s. 

 As soon as your plant fills its pot with roots, 

 shift it into a larger one ; do not prune it all, 

 except to regulate the growth, and it will bloom 

 next year if assisted now with warmth and 

 moisture, and the wood well ripened in the 

 autumn. 3. Daphne odora, grow in turfy peat, 

 with a liberal admixture of sand, plenty of 

 water \^hile growing, at other times to be kept 

 only moderotely moist. The cool greenhouse 

 is the best place for it. 4. We cannot name 

 from part of a leaflet. It is an acacia. You 

 had better not cut it down ; make a standard 

 of it, aud let it grow as it bkes till it flowers, 

 and if it proves to be good propagate it from 

 firm side-shoots. 5. Cotoneaster mycrophylla. 



