1869.] TO PROPAGATE DOUBLE STOCKS. — CLEMATIS THOMAS MOORE. 265 



TO PBOPAGATE DOUBLE STOCKS. 



JOUR Monthly Chronicle for October includes a short note on a mode by 

 which to perpetuate Double Stocks. The method referred to is a very old 

 one, although perhaps not generally known. It was practised by my 

 father nearly forty years since, and was published in one of the garden 

 periodicals of that day. I have extracted the following memorandum from 

 his MSS. :— 



" I have practised two methods of taking cuttings from Double Stocks, and 

 with equal success in striking them ; but I much prefer the one to the other, as I 

 find the two methods produce very different plants. The one I consider the best, 

 is to take the cuttings when the plants are in full bloom. On the side shoots 

 producing the flowers, beneath the existing blossom, another, and frequently 

 two other shoots, are produced. Take off those shoots at the lower joint before 

 they show flower, and with a sharp knife cut off the two lower leaves ; insert the 

 cuttings in pots filled with any light rich compost, and treat them as other soft- 

 wooded cuttings. When well rooted, pot them off in pots of sizes proportionate 

 with the progress they have made, and they will make plants equal in sym- 

 metrical beauty to any raised from seed, and will flower more abundantly." 



This method of propagating Stocks from cuttings, may, at first sight, appear 

 tedious, but it will not be found so in practice. Besides, there are some 

 advantages to be derived from it, which are not so strictly within our reach when 

 propagating from seed, viz., the certainty of commanding groups of this lovely 

 flower, all double ; and the equal certainty of perpetuating any favourite or 

 peculiar variety. This is surely a boon to us in these days of ribbon borders and 

 self-coloured beds, and should be practised, especially with the East Lothian 

 varieties, in order to keep the colours distinct, and to ensure double flowers. 

 Osberton. Edward Bennett. 



CLEMATIS THOMAS MOORE. 



"WITH AN ILLUSTRATION. 



iFwF the many beautiful forms of the Hardy Hybrid Clematis for which the 

 lovers of gardens have to thank Mr. George Jackman and the Woking 

 Nursery, that which we now figure is certainly one of the finest. It is, in 

 the first place, the largest at present known, since the flowers measure, 

 when expanded, as much as from 8 to 9 inches across. It is, in the next place, 

 one of the most striking and effective in its colours, which effect results from the 

 large spreading tuft of filaments in the centre being white, so that they contrast 

 strongly with the rich violet hue of the sepals, and give the flowers quite the 

 semblance of belonging to some giant passion-flower. It has the free-growing and 

 free-blooming habit of the other Woking hybrids, and must be set down as one 

 of the best and most distinct of the series. 



3rd series. — ii. N 



