THE FLOHAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



173 



grow roses and roses only. There is nothing else that will properly mix 

 ■with them when planted out, and the reader does not need to be told 

 that when planted out they are much less trouble to manage than in pots, 

 and they grow and bloom with considerably more vigour. 



SniELET HiBBEED. 



PEOPAGATII^G FOE NEXT SEAS02T. 



It often occurs to me that amateur 

 gardeners put themselves to much 

 unnecessary trouble to propagate in 

 spring, because anything and every- 

 thing can be got up nosv without the 

 help of artificial heat ; and generally 

 one autumn.struck plant is worth at 

 least tliree of the best of those struck 

 in spring. When we consider the 

 hurry of spring work, the vast amount 

 there is of it all at once, aud the evils 

 that result from delays, add to this 

 the labour of making up duug-beds, 

 keeping Waltonians and tanks at 

 work, and the chance of east winds 

 and frosts to keep the houses full and 

 check the growth of " young stuff," 

 how many reasons there are for 

 propagating yiow whatever is best 

 increased at this time of year. It 

 will be understood tliat though mine 

 is a very small establishment, there 

 is a considerable activity in the pro- 

 pagating department all the year 

 round. From the end of April to 

 this present time, I have had an old 

 Waltonian at work in my lean-to, 

 and about every fourteen days it is 

 cleared out, and refilled, so that in 

 the course of the season, during which 

 artificial heat may be dispensed with, 

 say from May to September, five 

 mouths, there are at least ten batches 

 of rooted cuttings turned out. If all 

 the cuttings are in four-inch pots, 

 there will be thirty-two at each batch, 

 or three hundred and twenty in all ; 

 and if there are only five cuttings in 

 a pot, the total of plants will be six- 

 teen hundred. This, of com-se, is 

 nothing wonderful; but although I 

 have every needful convenience for 

 propagating by any method, I prefer 

 the old Waltonian, for its conveni- 

 ence and cleanliness, and through its 

 aid I am almost independent of the 

 usual methods of propagating in 

 spring. I am so satisfied that the 



plan I follow is the best possible for 

 the majority of our readers, that I 

 shall risk being prolix, in order to 

 speak of this matter in detail. 



In the firtit place, then, the old 

 Waltonian is the one from which the 

 boiler was removed to furnish a sec- 

 tional view of the interior (Flokal 

 World, 1861, p. 248) ; therefore ifc 

 is no longer capable of being heated, 

 and is simply a box with gl^ss front 

 and glass top. Amateur propagators 

 have therefore only to provide them- 

 selves with a wooden box of reason- 

 able dimensions, say the same size as 

 the Waltonian, which is thirty-four 

 inches long and seventeen inches wide. 

 Let this box be fifteen or eighteen 

 inches deep. Fit it with some sort 

 of frame to hold squares of glass for 

 the top ; never mind glass at the 

 sides, it is of no use there. Burn 

 or bore in the bottom of the box a 

 fnw large holes to carry off water ; 

 and if with a little carpentry you can 

 place the glass top or lights on ihe 

 slope all the better. A smear of pitch 

 inside and of paint outside will be 

 further improvements ; but to make 

 a beginning in propagating the box is 

 all that is wanted, and it must be 

 covered with close-fitting glass of 

 some kind on the top. My old 

 Waltonian is just such a box and 

 nothing more ; it is covered with two 

 large squares of glass in zinc frames j 

 the old zinc tray is inside, but has no 

 sand or cocoa-nut on it, as I find that 

 useless, and so the pots stand on the 

 zinc ; and if the zinc were not ready 

 to hand, as a legacy from the days of 

 Waltonian experiments, the pots 

 would stand on the wood, as in the 

 supposition box we are considering 

 in imitation of it. The secret of suc- 

 cess is to place the box in a hot green- 

 house, and in the full sun, and at one 

 end, where the least amount of air 



