THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



39 



ted by Messrs. Harrison." This is the old 

 Floricultural Cabinet re-modelled and issued 

 weekly. — " Plymouth Seed Company's General 

 Price "Current o I Kitchen, Garden, Flower, and 

 Farm Seeds for 1860." The enterprising suc- 

 cessors to Mr. Kendle do wisely in keeping up 

 the excellence of the price current as a power- 

 ful agency in extending the business of the 

 house. It is well-arranged, and the leading 

 subjects in each department are indicated on a 

 principle which conveys a vast amount of in- 

 formation in a small compass. Cultivators of 

 grasses will glean something useful from the 

 list of farm seeds. 



Floral World. — The second volume, hand- 

 somely bound, price 6s., is still on sale. A few 

 copies of Vol. I. may also be had, price 6s. The 

 '■ Garden Oracle" has sold more extensively 

 this year than last, and is prouounced the best 

 garden almanack extant. Many nurserymen 

 have adopted it as a gift-book for their cus- 

 f outers, first for its intrinsic merit, and secondly 

 because it is independent of all trade interests, 

 for dealers who publish books must of necessity 

 draw large connections to the injury of such of 

 the trade as advertise with them. So many 

 congratulatory letters have come in during the 

 past month that we must here acknowledge 

 them generally. AVe are thankful for the in- 

 creased and increasing support. Every hint 

 and suggestion will have consideration, and 

 every request for information will be complied 

 with as far as our power to comply may be 

 equal. 



Greenhouse Plants.— J. B— The best time to 

 inarch camellias in a greenhouse is April. 

 Grading can be performed from September to 

 March, and the best method is by tongue- 

 grafting. Inarching is the most certain and 

 the easiest mode, but the plants are rarely so 

 neat as those well grafted. The method called 

 graffe etouffe may be practised all the year 

 round. The best Correas are alba, pulchella, 

 rufa, and speciosa; and, to bloom them from 

 November, you must stop them when they 

 show bloom at their proper season, which is 

 June, and stop them again in September, and 

 give extra heat to get winter flowers. Old 

 plants may be cut in. The best stock for graft- 

 ing choice kinds on is alba, which must be pro- 

 pagated from half-ripe cuttings, in sand, with 

 bottom-heat. They can be increased by layers, 

 but the process is a slow one, and makes bad 

 plants. The cuttings of passion-flowers can be 

 had in the season at a nursery ; inquire of the 

 best nursery in your own district. Propagate 

 hard-wooded plants for which you have no bot- 

 tom-heat in June. Acacias, Chorozemas, and 

 Hoveas come from seed with little trouble, and 

 make better plants than from cuttings. The 

 Tecoma ought not now to be pruned close ; 

 leave at least a yard of last year's wood. We 

 do not understand the query about Plumbago 

 capensis ; Fend a pen-and-ink sketch of the 

 "angle," that we may see the place in our 

 mind's eye. The other matters will be thought 

 of, but we can make no promise. 



Briars for Budding. — Old Subscriber. — The 

 " Old Gardener," in Floral World, and Mr. 

 Hibberd, in " Garden Favourites," both agree 

 in recommending the removal of thorns when 

 the briars are planted. Is it not obvious that 

 it is a mere matter of convenience ? If they 

 are not removed at all it is of no consequence ; 

 they never think of such a thing at the nur- 

 series, but in a private garden the briars can be 

 more comfortably handled for staking, pruning, 

 budding, etc., if their stems are clear, and, by 

 removing them at planting, the thing is at an 

 end once and for all, and the bark heals over 

 neatly. The author of the " Rose Garden" ad- 

 vises their removal as a preliminary to budding 



at budding-time, and he is so thoughtful of 

 people's Angers that he suggests the use of a 

 large key to push them off with ; we always 

 u-e the thumb. Mr. Rivers recommends the 

 choice of buds from flowering wood, other 

 writers from growing wood. It all depends on 

 the state of the bud taken ; if hard, ripe, plump, 

 and not at all swelled for expansion, it matters 

 not which of the branches it comes from, and 

 in the nurseries they take them indiscriminately, 

 but the buds on a ripe shoot that has not flowered 

 geuerallypartfrom the wood easiest, and writers 

 think of the difficulties beginners must encoun- 

 ter, and commonly shape their instructions so 

 that no mistake shall be made. 



Potatoes Sprouted. — A. JB.—The description of 

 potato sets at page 225 of Vol. I., places before 

 the reader two distinct matters — first, if the 

 sets have sprouted in the dark, the sprouts will 

 be weak and worthless; second, if you must 

 use large potatoes, it is better to cut them into 

 sets with four or five eyes to each, than use 

 them whole. Previous to making these state- 

 ments, the writer says, " use none but whole 

 sets of middling size." These three points are 

 distinct from one another, but you appear to 

 lump them into one. If potatoes make blanched 

 sprouts of two or three inches long, there is, 

 of course, no way of restoring them to the state 

 they were in before they sprouted, and in 

 planting them, many of the sprouts will be 

 broken off, and those that are not broken off are 

 already so weak as to be of little use. Potatoes 

 sprouted in full daylight can be handled in any 

 way without breaking the sprouts, if the 

 sprouts are short. The only way to avoid hav- 

 ing the sets spoiled, is to sprout them in the 

 light, as described at page 226 of the same 

 volume, and iu the best article on potatoes 

 that has appeared in any of the journals since 

 the disease. 



Mistletoe. — M. If. XT. — Save the berries in sand 

 till April, and then make a tongue in the bark 

 of an apple, pear, thorn, or lime tree, and in- 

 sert a berry so that the tongued bark will close 

 down over it. Choose good positions on the 

 trees, such as a fork in the main buughs, about 

 eight feet from the ground. A mere slit in 

 the bark will suffice to hold a berry, but the 

 birds will find the berries and eat them, unless 

 they are covered, and the best way to protect 

 them, is to lay over the incision a tuft of moss, 

 and bind it down with a strip of bast. Mis- 

 tletoe grows slowly, and requires at least seven 

 years to form a feature on the tree which sup- 

 ports it. Ferns are raised from seed in various 

 ways. The simplest is to powder the dust-lika 

 spores, on a block of wet sandstone, cover it 

 with a bell-glass, and put it in the stove, or a 

 dark and warm part of the greenhouse. It is a 

 subject that cannot be dismissed with a brief 

 word here, and it is worthy of being dealt with 

 at length some day. 



Green Ginger. — H. 2?. S. — The best way to 

 grow a small supply is in pots. Plant the sets 

 in February, in a mixture of fibry peat and 

 fresh silky hazel loam, using six-inch pots for 

 each division of the root. Plunge the pots in a 

 bark-bed, or in a dung-bed, newly made up as 

 if for cucumbers, but surfaced with tan. Give 

 no water for a few days, then but little, and 

 gradually increase the supply as the plants 

 progress. Give air in hot weather, and keep 

 well supplied with water till September, when 

 you will have a fine stock of roots for the pre- 

 paration of a delicious sweetmeat. The dinger 

 is a stove herbaceous plant, with red flowers. 

 It is propagated by root division, winters at 45°, 

 and requires a summer temperature of 65° to 

 85°, and may be grown by all who can manage 

 melons. When a large supply is required, the 

 sets are planted in beds over a hot-water tank, 



