280 THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



much better when grown in the cold frame through the winter than 

 they are in heated structures. They make better plants, and are 

 ready for turning out earlier in the season, and are consequently 

 better able to become established before the dry hot weather sets in. 

 We never take much trouble with them, but make up a bed of soil 

 about six inches in depth in a frame or turf-pit, and mix a little 

 thoroughly-decomposed dung with the loam, and sprinkle sand 

 over the surface, and give it a good watering. The cuttings are put 

 in about an inch apart every way, and after another watering the 

 operation is completed. The lights are put on and a mat thrown 

 over them in bright weather. They will require very little water 

 besides a sprinkle with the syringe to keep the foliage fresh when 

 they are first put in. So soon as the cuttings can bear air, give a 

 little at first, and afterwards as much as the weather will allow, for 

 by this time we shall be in the midst of winter. In the spring, 

 they can either be potted up into three-inch pots, or, what is better, 

 planted out in a bed of good soil in a cold frame ; or, failing that, a 

 temporary one may be erected with a few boards for the sides, and 

 strips of wood across to keep the mats, with which the frame will 

 require to be covered, from falling on and breaking the plants. 

 Plants ti'eated this way will come up with good balls of soil and 

 take root in the fresh soil much better than those kept in pots ; 

 such, at least, has been my experience with them. 



Violas. — A fresh stock of these should be propagated every 

 year, for the plants become weedy if left in the beds the second 

 season. They must not be coddled, and the best way of dealing with 

 them is to put in the cuttings during the first or second week in the 

 present month, in a cold frame, in boxes. Then early in the spring 

 plant them out as suggested for the calceolarias, and plant out early. 

 The frame must not be kept shut up during the winter, excepting in 

 very damp or frosty weather, or mildew will be developed and a 

 large proportion of the stock will perish. Flowers of sulphur dusted 

 over the foliage will be the best means of checking mildew after it 

 makes its appearance. 



Miscellaneous Beddees. — Under this heading will be included 

 the whole of the other remaining subjects which require attention 

 at this season, such as Verbenas, Heliotropes, Variegated Alyssum, 

 Petunias, dwarf Lobelias, and other plants of a similar character. 

 The general way is to strike this class in the autumn, in a cold 

 frame, and frequently with very good results, but I have long 

 been convinced that it is by no means the best. Nothing equals a 

 mild hotbed for placing the cuttings on after they are inserted in 

 the cutting-pot. "When there is plenty of time, room, and cuttings, 

 this is not of much importance ; but where there are no more of 

 these things than is just sufficient, a mild hotbed will repay itself 

 twentyfold in a much larger proportion of rooted cuttings than 

 would be the case were they placed in a cold frame. The cuttings 

 should be removed to colder quarters directly they are rooted, for it 

 is impossible to keep them too stocky. The pots require filling 

 with light sandy soil, a layer of sand on the top, and a good drainage 

 at the bottom. Five or six inch pots or shallow pans are the best 



