JULY. 



201 



SALVIA GESNEILEFLORA. 



I PROPAGATE and cultivate this without heat. I take cuttings in 

 March or April ; good plants always push from the base or the roots 

 in March ; as these are useless for flowering, I cut them off, and select 

 cuttings from them — strong short bits, with three joints. I take the 

 leaves from the bottom joint only, and insert the cuttings singly in the 

 middle of thumb pots filled with loam, silver sand, and charcoal, 

 sprinkling them with water, and covering with bell glasses. 1 then 

 place them in the shade in the greenhouse, sprinkle the leaves, and 

 wipe the damp from the glasses once a day ; and thus managed, they soon 

 strike. I inure them to the air of the house, harden them gradually, 

 then place them in a cold frame ; when the pot is filled with roots, I 

 shift into a pint pot, when that is filled into a two-quart pot, and when 

 that is full of fibres give the final shift into eleven-inch pots. They 

 must not be allowed to get pot-bound till they have had the last shift, 

 or they will be stunted. Each plant requires one stick to keep it 

 upright. I never stop the leader, nor any shoot, but let them take 

 their own natural form, which is pyramidal. The frame will preserve 

 them from injury by wind, for I never put the lights on, except to 

 preserve the inmates from frost and excessive wet, and I always tilt 

 them during rain. I introduce the plants to the greenhouse in October, 

 let them have plenty of room and light, and water when necessary. 

 As the pots are very full of roots, I give water till it runs through the 

 hole at the bottom. When the flower buds show colour I give weak 

 manure water every watering. If the house requires smoking while 

 they are in bud or bloom, they should be removed to some other place 

 for the night, or they will lose their flowers and forward buds. The 

 soil I use is light loam, mixed with a little old cow-dung and silver 

 sand, and a liberal quantity of broken charcoal. 



T. 0. 



SCOTTISH PANSY SOCIETY. 



The fifteenth annual competition of this Society was held in connection 

 with the Edinburgh Horticultural Society, in the Victoria Hall, Royal 

 Zoological Gardens, on Saturday, the 4th ult. 



The long continuance of hot and dry weather during the month of 

 May prevented members from being able to bring forward as great a 

 number of stands as we have seen on former occasions. Notwith- 

 standing these adverse circumstances, however, the competition was 

 extensive and well contested. The censors, after a most careful and 

 laborious scrutiny, awarded the prizes as follows, viz. : — 



Nurserymen's Prize, for the best 24 dissimilar blooms: 1, Messrs. 

 Downie & Laird, West Coates, with Royal Standard, Miss Hill, Miss 

 Talbot, General Vernon, Duchess of Wellington, Mary Lamb, Mrs. 

 Hope, Countess of Rosslyn, Mr. J. Graham, Lord Cardigan, Lady 

 Matheson, Nepaulese Chief, Mrs. Laird, Leviathan, Colonel Windham, 



