THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 263 



into lengths of six to nine inches ; there is no occasion to cut close 

 under a joint because the wood between the joints will root as freely 

 as the joints themselves. Remove as many of the lower leaves as 

 will enable you to plant the cuttings half their length deep. Plant 

 them in rows a foot apart, and about four inches asunder in the rows. 

 When planted tread the ground firm between the rows, and the work 

 is done. 



In case the weather should be unfavourable for operations at the 

 time advised for the first planting, seize the first opportunity that 

 occurs afterwards. Cuttings may be put in from the 20th of Sep- 

 tember until the end of November, but the earlier the better after 

 September is out, as owing to the warmth of the soil, the formation 

 of a callus takes place quickly, and this is the first stage of the 

 rooting process. 



A severe winter will kill a great many of the cuttings, and some 

 will die in a mild winter, or in the following spring. Nevertheless, 

 by this offhand mode of procedure, you may reasonably expect 

 seventy-five per cent, of the cuttings to become plants, provided 

 only they are such cuttings as are advised for the purpose. Sprin- 

 kling dry hay or straw over the plantation during sharp frost, will 

 be some protection. Our rule has been, however, to allow them to 

 take their chance of all weathers, and we have raised thousands of 

 roses in this simple way. 



There is greater certainty when beds are made up in frames, and 

 this advantage also; that softer wood may be used. Now it is 

 obviously an economy of the shoots removed to plant all the hardest 

 and stoutest cuttings in the open quarters, and all the softer ones 

 and the tops in frames. 



The whole plantation should be allowed one season's growth 

 before being disturbed, to keep down weeds being the only important 

 part of the management. In the autumn they should all be care- 

 fully lifted and planted out to grow in well manured ground. Very 

 many will bloom in the first season, that is to say, while in the 

 cutting bed, but all will bloom the second, and from thenceforth will 

 rapidly increase in size and value. S. H. 



HYACINTHS FOR EXHIBITION AND HOME 

 DECORATION. 



lULBS of all kinds have been under experiment here 

 for several years past. We grow entire collections of 

 the popular kinds, and make notes upon them when 

 they are in flower, using them with batches of certain 

 kinds that are particularly well adapted for the purpose, 

 in the "plunging system," which is the hungriest system of gar- 

 dening ever thought of, and affords the cultivator no rest either by 

 day or night. Noting how much certain kinds differed in colour at 

 exhibitions, and in our own specimens, I set to work to discover the 

 cause, and we grew a certain number of bulbs of certain varieties, 



