224 THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



for the boiler, such as doors and bars. Willi respect to tlie cost of heating the 

 bouse, your best plan will be to write to a firm that deals in hot-water appa- 

 ratus — and state the length and width of the house, and that you propose to have 

 four rows of piping the entire length, a 24-inch saddle-boiler, and all fittings, 

 and ask for the cost ; you will then know to a penny what the cost will be. 



Propagatixq Clematis. — J. J. Seaton. — Clematis are propagated by means 

 of layers, cuttings, and grafts, but as striking cuttings and grafting require con- 

 siderable experience to insure success, layering is tlis best method for amateurs to 

 adopt. The shoots, as soon as they have become moderately firm, should be layered 

 in pots filled with sandy loam. The best course is to place the pots round the 

 plants, and then bring down the shoots, and, after cutting them partly through, 

 peg them securely in the pot, and cover with sand, to encourage the emission of 

 roots. The cut should be made in a slanting direction, and commence about three 

 quarters of an inch below, and terminate at, the joint. In the spring the layers 

 will, if they have received proper attention in the way of watering, be rooted 

 sufficiently to admit of their separation from the parent plant. 



CucuMBEns IN Frames. — B. *S'. — Keep the shoots thinned out, to prevent the 

 frame from becoming overcrowded, and stop the laterals, or side-shoots, one or two 

 joints above the point of their emission from the main shoots, if there is no appear- 

 ance of fruit. If the young fruit; can be seen, stop one joint above it ; this assists 

 their development, and encourages the production of other fruit-bearing laterals. 

 When cucumber vines are allowed to grow wild they seldom produce wood, owing 

 to the strength going into the wood. Give plenty of air when the weather is any- 

 way favourable, and shut up close early in the afternoon, after giving them a skiff 

 with the syringe. Cucumbers, after they have once taken firm hold of the soil, do 

 not require shading ; indeed, they do best exposed to the full light, with plenty of 

 air, admitted by tilting up the lights at the back. After a period of very dull 

 weather, it is as well to throw a mat over the frame for a few hours in the middle 

 of the day, when it is followed with exceptionally bright weather. 



Exhibition Cockscombs . — R. M. — The grand point in the culture of Cocks- 

 combs is to have the flower very large and well coloured, the foliage healthy and 

 without a spot, and well developed, and the stem so short as to be invisible. The 

 best way of raising them is to sow early in heat. Prick out the young plants round 

 the sides of five-inch pots, and give only water enough to keep them bealtliy, never 

 to let them flag, but, above all things, to prevent any earl}^ luxuriance. When the 

 plants meet, prick them out again to check them, and promote stubbiness of habit ; 

 and when they show bloom, select the best, and cut off the heads with five or six 

 leaves only to each, and with two inches of stem to go into the soil, f'ot these 

 singly, within an inch of the lower pair of leaves in four-inch pots of rich soil; 

 plunge in a hotbed, give shade and water. They soon root, and must then have 

 moderate heat, manure-water occasionally, moderate ventilation, and plenty of 

 light, and be shifted whenever the roots touch the sides of the pot. Thus you 

 will have an immense breadth and luxuriance of plant without any lankiness of 

 legs. It is now too late to commence the cultivation of cockscombs this year. 



Propagating Pansies. — W. Smith. — You can easily increase the stock by 

 cuttings ; few things are so simple. If you have but half-a-dozen cuttings of a choice 

 kind, your best plan will be to take six-inch pots ; put plenty of drainage in the 

 bottom, mix up some nice light loam and lenf-mould, adding sufficient sand to 

 make it feel gritty ; fill the pots with this, and then on the top put a layer of 

 silver-sand. After this is done give it a watering with a fine rose, to make it; firm 

 and in a suitable condition for the reception of the cuttings. Short-joiiited side- 

 shoots are the best ; and in preparing them cut close under a joint and remove the 

 lower pair of leaves. Dibble them firmly in the sand, and after watering liberally, 

 place the pot in a cold frame or under a hand-light. A simple way of dealing with 

 a large number of cuttings is to make a bed for their reception under a nortli-wali, 

 or failing that, in the open ground ; in the latter case, the bed must be sha^^ed from 

 the sun with mats or other covering. The bed should be about tliree feet wide, dig 

 it up deeply, mix a little sand with the surface soil, and beat it firm with the back of 

 a spade. Cover with a layer of sand, and afier watering dibble the cuttings rather 

 thickly in rows six inches apait. Shade and water when necessary. 



