THE FLOEAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 265 



bedding are Stella, Cybister, Kate Anderson, "White Perfection, 

 H. W. Longfellow, Lucius, and Duchess of Sutherland. Of fuchsias 

 make sure of Bo Peep, Sir Colin Campbell, Yenus de Medici, 

 Excellent, Duchess of Lancaster, Clio, and Ploribunda ; and if you 

 contemplate using fuchsias as bedders secure Alpha and Count de 

 Boileau, the two best to weather the chances out of doors, whether 

 the season be good or bad. In a good season all the free-growing 

 fuchsias, double ones included, do wtII in beds ; Grazania splendens 

 will always be a favourite for rockeries, baskets, and roots in sunny 

 positions. Kow is the time to put in cuttings, as they can be got 

 without spoiling the appearance of the blooming plants. Fill pots 

 or boxes with any poor sandy stuif, with plenty of drainage ; make 

 the cuttings of growing shoots in preference to old woody stems, 

 and dibble them in about an inch apart all over, and in those pots or 

 boxes let them remain until they begin to grow in spring, when they 

 must be potted singly. Among seedling lobelias will always be 

 found a few better than the rest, and worth keeping on from cuttings. 

 If these are allowed to bloom themselves out, and are then potted 

 just at the commencement of winter, they will probably be lost. 

 Lift a chosen plant now, and spread the growth of its neighbours 

 right and left to fill the place ; clip off the blooming stems, and pot 

 the plant in a five or six-inch pot, in a mixture of turfy loam one 

 half, and the other half rotten dung, leaf-mould, and silver sand. 

 AVhen watered, shut it up in a frame for a week, then put it out of 

 doors, and let it grow as it likes till the end of the season, when 

 house it, and in spring force it into growth for cuttings. Half-a- 

 dozen plants treated in this way will supply cuttings next season for 

 a garden of almost any dimensions, but if taken up at the end of 

 the season they rarely live through the winter. Treat petunias and 

 verbenas in the same way, or as these strike now, and have plenty 

 of time to grow before winter, secure cuttings of the kinds most in re- 

 quest, treat them the same as recommended for fuchsias, or if you have 

 a gentle bottom-heat, place them on it, and their progress will be safer. 

 These may be got into 48-sized pots before winter, so as to be strong 

 and serviceable to furnish cuttings next spring ; whereas, when old 

 plants are taken up in October or IS'ovember, there is a great pro- 

 bability that many will die in the Pebruary following. It may be 

 worth something to amateur readers to know that seed of lobelias 

 can be saved by simply cutting ofi" the tops and laying them, to dry 

 on a cloth in a sunny place well sheltered from wind. The seed will 

 fall out in the form of fine dust, and every pinch large enough to 

 cover a shilling will be worth a shilling, and produce its three or 

 four hundred plants. If these plans are considered troublesome, 

 there is yet another way of making sure of store plants to propagate 

 from. At the end of September, take up two each of all the varieties 

 of verbena, petunia, tropseolura, and other soft-stemmed trailing 

 bedders, lift them with as little damage as possible to the roots, put 

 them in five-inch pots, and place them in a west aspect, with very 

 little water at the root, but a sprinkle overhead every morning. Do 

 not cut them back, but let them flower as they please till there are 

 signs of frost, then trim them in moderately, tie their long stems to 



