i8Si.] THE FLOWER-GARDEN. 349 



over the surface, and it does well here without interfering with the 

 crop, as the heads push up through it. Odd corners are the positions 

 for Mustard and Cress. 



Autumn -sown Onions are another good addition to our winter 

 salads. As sown for the following year's culture, they are often too 

 late to use in winter ; but if a good bed of Giant Rocco is sown early 

 in August, the produce will become a nice size for drawing throughout 

 the whole winter. 



Witloef, about which there has been much said in favour of its 

 winter salad qualities, does not differ materially with us from the 

 common Chicory. Those who grow the one need not have the other; 

 but one or the other should be grown by all who have salad to provide 

 in winter, as they are most useful for this purpose. As I stated some 

 little time ago in the ' Gardener,^ Chicory-seed should have been sown 

 before now ; but if put in at once, small roots would soon be produced 

 that would give much useful salading in winter. The natural leaves 

 die away in severe weather, and the roots may then be lifted and 

 potted in clusters if placed in boxes, and set in any warm corner in 

 mushroom-house, cellar, or other structure, when beautiful tender Let- 

 tuce-like leaves will sprout out and prove excellent for any kind of salad. 

 Generally speaking, it will be found more satisfactory to have a suc- 

 cession of different things coming in in small quantities throughout 

 the whole of the winter, than to have a large quantity of anything or 

 everything in at one time, and nothing for long afterwards. In 

 winter, everything should be drawn together as much as possible, and 

 very small quantities of anything thoroughly well grown are more 

 pleasing than an expensive quantity grown extensively and of an 

 inferior description. J, Mtjik. 



THE FLOWER - GAE:DE:^T. 



Geraniums. — No time is better for putting in Geranium cuttings to 

 strike root than from the first up to the third week of the present 

 month. It is not always convenient to get them in just at this period, 

 but it is worth a little extra trouble trying to do so. Cuttings put in 

 now strike root quickly, and are well rooted long before the winter sets 

 in — one of the greatest helps in wintering these plants cheaply and suc- 

 cessfully. In order to save the bloom in the beds as far as possible, it 

 is best to cut always above an open flower- truss ; and as Geraniums 

 strike better for being cut under a leaf-joint, this is also done at the 

 time the cuttings are taken. In seasons like those we have lately 

 experienced, it will be found advantageous to allow them to lie 

 in a cool shed, that the extra sap may be dispelled somewhat before 

 planting them into boxes. Twenty-four hours is long enough to 

 let them lie thus. Then as to their size, I confess I like big ones. I 

 have seen several lots of plants this season which were not so large, 



