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TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



Sweet William Culture. — A Novice. — Sow the seed at once in a shallow 

 box, and place in a cold frame if choice and limited in quantity; otherwise, sow a 

 small bed in the open air. When the plants get to a proper size for transplanting, 

 plant in a bed, in rows twelve inches apart, and half that distance from plant to 

 plant. Mark the best when in flower, and destroy the others. If you wish to 

 obtain first-class seed, you must destroy every inferior flower as soon as the first 

 flowers expand, or adopt some means for protecting the seed-bearing plants from the 

 influence of the pollen of inferior flowers. We should advise you to propagate the 

 best varieties from cuttings, for we see no reason why there should not be named 

 varieties, in the same way as Antirrhinums, Phloxes, and other herbaceous 

 plants. The cuttings will strike freely under a hand-light. Plant in deep rich soil, 

 if you are particular about the size of the plants and the quality of the flowers. 



Propagating Hollyhocks. — H. G. — Take the cuttings off with a small heel, 

 and insert them in pots, and place in a cold frame ; or dibble them in the open 

 border, and cover with a bell-glass or hand-light. 



Kepotting and Transplanting Liliums. — B. B., Yorkshire. — No apology 

 is required, for we are always happy to assist our readers out of their difficulties. 

 The exact time for repotting or taking np Liliums depends upon the sorts when in 

 the open border, and upon the time they were started when in pots. There is a 

 great diversity of opinion amongst cultivators as to whether it is desirable to repot 

 liliums without disturbing the old soil or not. The whole case lies in a nutshell. 

 The advocates for shaking out are those who repot in the autumn, and the other 

 side, which condemns the practice, are those who repot in spring. The opponents 

 of shaking out lose sight of the fact that all Liliums begin to make fresh roots 

 directly the flower-stems die down, and fancy that it is immaterial whether they 

 are disturbed or not in the spring. They consequently shake out in the spring, 

 and, because the bulbs make a poor growth the following summer, the practice is 

 condemned. It is very certain Liliums will not grow for ever in the same soil, and 

 if they are potted on regularly without reducing the old ball, where shall we get 

 pots large enough in which to pot them a few years hence ? besides having a mass 

 of old sour soil, full of dead roots, in the centre. When transplanted or repotted 

 directly the old stems have died down, they speedily re-establish themselves, and 

 have then a fresh supply of food to carry them through the following season. The 

 bulbs ought not to be denuded of every particle of soil, and pulled to pieces, as 

 generally practised, but, instead, potted in a lump, with a good thickness of soil 

 adhering to them. Nothing suits them better than good turfy loam and fibry peat, 

 broken up roughly, and mixed with a liberal proportion of rotten manure, leaf- 

 mould, and silver sand. 



Zonal Pelakgoniums for Specimens. — Constant Reader. — Never mind what 

 has been said in prize essays or elsewhere about taking up zonate pelargoniums in 

 October, to pot for specimens. Take yours up as quickly as possible after this 

 comes to hand, and pot them in as small pots as the roots will conveniently admit. 

 Let them remain in a shady place out-of-doors until there is a danger from frost, 

 and then house them. Shift them into their flowering-pots early in March. 



Selection of Gold and Silver Zonals for Pot Culture. — Anxious Inquirer. 

 — Twelve Gold Zonals : Achievement, Howarth Ashton, Jetty Lacy, Lady Sheffield, 

 Lady Cullum, L'Emp reur, Louisa Smith, Lucy Grieve, Queen Victoria, Sophia Cusack, 

 Sophia Dumaresque, Mrs. Dix. The price of the major part of these will range from 

 one to five shillings each, but two or three are worth from one to two guineas each. 

 The catalogue of a house which makes a speciality of this class of plants will give 

 the exact price. Six Silver Zonals : You will not require so large a number of 

 varieties of the silver zonals. The following are the most distinct : Banshee, 

 Caroline, Longfield, Imperatrice E'igenie, Italia Unita, Princess of Wales, and 

 Queen Victoria. Buy them in at once, and then you will have stout plants to 

 begin with in the spring, instead of cuttings just, struck in a high temperature. If 

 any of the plants are pot-bound when they come to hand, shift into pots one size 

 larger. 



Lady Subscriber can obtain roots of ginger {Zinziber offici talis) from the 

 principal London nurserymen. Probably her regular nurseryman would procure it 



