420 THE GARDENER. [Sept. 



first and second clips to supply a large demand. AVlien struck like 

 Verbenas in spring, scarcely one fails ; and as soon as they are 

 rooted, the pots may be placed in a cool pit until such time as they 

 can be planted in cold frames about April, when they will make fine 

 plants before planting-out time. Done in this way, I find less time is 

 occupied than when propagated by seed ; for there is first the sowing, 

 then the tedious pricking-ofF process, next the transplanting from the 

 boxes to the frames, and then the final planting out. 



It is yet time enough to propagate the Lobelia, and the best way is 

 to strike the cuttings in pans, and afterwards to pot off into 6-inch 

 pots, in light rich soil, and store the plants away on a greenhouse-shelf 

 or some such place during the winter and spring. They scarcely want 

 more heat before clipping time, and the cuttings are hardy and green 

 when taken off, which goes far towards success in striking them. 

 Last spring the two first clips set us up almost for stock, and the 

 cuttings were almost ready for inserting as soon as detached. Little 

 making is needful, as the shoots strike almost anywhere and anyhow. 



CENTAUREA. 



With this plant it is the very reverse. Many gardeners are at 

 much pains to secure plants from cuttings, injuring the old plants 

 in the first place in taking them off, and only succeeding, as a rule, in 

 striking a small percentage of them. By far the best way is to sow 

 in February or March, and afterwards pot off into 4 or 5 inch pots. 

 Any number of plants can be raised quickly in this way ; the trouble 

 of v.'intering a stock is avoided, as better plants are secured for bed- 

 ding, and seedlings make the finest growth. J. S. 



BEDDIISTG IN THE LONDOnST PARKS. 



FROM OUR LONDON CORRESPONDENT. 



The display of flowering and foliage plants, or sab-tropicals, is now about at its 

 best ; for though the next few weeks may improve some things, others will be 

 going back or losing their freshness, so that now is as good an opportunity as 

 any for making a few notes of the best combinations for reproducing next 

 season. The public taste just now appears to be in favour of small, dense- 

 growing plants, arranged neatly in symmetrical desigus, imder the technical 

 title of "carpet-beds;" and for this purpose many succulent plants, as Eche- 

 verias, Sempervivums, Pachyjihytons, Kleinias, ledums, and Saxifrages, are 

 grown. Other compact-growing flowering and foliage plants, of which Lobelia 

 erinus speciosa, L. pumila graudiflora, three or four varieties of Alternanthera, 

 Coleus, Verschaffeltii, Iresine Herbstii, L Lindenii, I, acuminata, Santolina 

 incana, Mesembryanthemum cordifolium variegatum, Pyrethi'um Golden Feather, 

 Salvia argentea, Stachys lanata, and Cerastium tomentosum, are the best and 

 most generally u.sed. In these carpet-beds and borders, the chief aim is to get 



