352 THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



velvety brown, dwarf, spreading, and free growing. Perilla Nankinemis, bronzy 

 black; vigorous in growth, suitable for large beds only. Saxifraga densa, deep 

 green, compact and spreading ; &. hypnoid.es, rich green, very useful for small 

 beds ; S. pedata, deep green, free-growing, yet compact. Sedum anglicum, green, 

 dense, compact and free-growing, useful for small beds ; S. corsicum, light green, 

 spreading, quick in growth ; 8. glaucmn, grey, spreading rapidly, invaluable for 

 small or medium-sized beds ; S. hispanicum, light glaucous green : free-growing 

 and effective. Thymus lanuginosus, green and yellow, very compact, and only suit- 

 able for very small beds ; T. citriodorus aurea, golden yellow, dwarf and spreading, 

 very effective ; T. citriodorus aureus niarginatus, leaves margined yeliow ; com- 

 pact, erect growth, useful. Trifolium repens aureum, greenish yellow, for carpeting 

 only. Vinca elegantissima, pale yellow, suitable for beds filled with subtropical 

 plants. 



Name of Fern. — Lastrea filix-mas, Romford. — You are right in your con- 

 jectures with respect to the name of the fern of which a complete frond was 

 sent. The scrap is from a frond of one of the Aspleniums, probably A. vivi- 

 parum. The specimen is too small to permit of our speaking definitely. Several 

 species of Asplenium form young plants in the manner mentioned. 



Amateur's Sanctum. — J. T. B. — If due care is taken to avoid throwing the 

 water about on the pathway, there will not be much possibility of the damp injuring 

 the indoor apartments, especially if all watering is done early in the day, and air 

 admitted to permit of the superfluous moisture drying up before the house is closed 

 for the night. The plants will require very little moisture during the winter months, 

 and they should not be watered when the weather is not sufficiently favourable to 

 permit of the ventilators being opened. 



C. Hippersley. — The rose mentioned will most likely flower more satisfactorily 

 next season, if not pruned too hard. The magnolia should not be pruned unless 

 under exceptional circumstances. 



Pruning Zonal Pelargoniums. — Amateur. — The plants taken up from the 

 beds and potted with a view to their being used in the flower-garden should not be 

 pruned. If the shoots are cut back now some will decay, and a few of the plants 

 may perish. Leave them their full length, and prune about the end of February, 

 and the plants will commence to make new growth at once. It is a serious mis- 

 take to prune zonal pelargoniums in the autumn which have done duty in the 

 flower-garden during the pievious summer. 



Spergula. and the Carpet Chamomile. — An Old Subscriber. — Spergula 

 would certainly not grow on the floor of a bee shed, but with careful management 

 it might do very well on the banks alluded to. The grass may, however, be 

 wonderfully improved by dressing it with phospho-guano at the rate of one pound 

 to five square yards. The " Carpet Chamomile," Pyrethrum Tchihatchewi, which 

 is now procurable at most good nurseries at a moderate price, would probably grow 

 well in the bee shed, if supplied with water when necessary. It will flourish in dry 

 places where grass and many other plants would perish ; but of course it will not 

 live without some degree of moisture. It is of great value for planting under the 

 shade of trees on dry banks and other places where grass will not live, and the only 

 attention required to keep it in order is to remove the large daisy-like flowers 

 wbich make their appearance in the early part of the summer. It would soon form 

 a dense carpet of green on the two dry banks you speak of, but it is not desirable in 

 places where grass with prcper management succeeds. 



j£ j£ m River-sand is not useless for propagating bedding plants, but is not so 



o-ood for propagating hard- wooded plants as silver-sand. For striking geraniums, 

 calceolarias verbenas, and other plants of this description, we would quite as soon 

 have it as the best of silver-sand. 



Clematis. — A New Subscriber, Prestwich. — The plant mentioned is probably 

 growing in soil which has become impoveiished. To insure continuity of bloom 

 there must be continuous growth, and to maintain a vigorous giowth the soil must 

 be of a generous character. The rose mentioned may be grown in pots, but Mare- 

 chal Neil is far superior in every respect. The seedling peach-tree will bear fruit 

 without budding or grafting, but it will in a 1 protab.J.ty exhaust your patience 

 before it becomes fruitful, and then the chances are very small against the fruit being 

 fit to eat. If you have room for a peach-tree, grow a good variety like the Royal 

 George or Noblesse, and not waste it by occupying it with a seedling which will 

 be years before it beats fruit, and then in all probability prove worthless. 



