lYO 



THE GARDENER'S MONTHLY 



[June, 



The dyes for grasses, &c., are made in the 

 ame way. 



To Preserve Asters. — Place a vessel containing 

 muriatic acid and sulphur in a suitable air-tight 

 box, and hang the Asters in it. 



To Bronze or Gild Grasses, &c. — Take a solution 

 of equal parts of oil of turpentine and copal 

 lac, and immerse the grasses, such as Anthoxan- 

 thum, Briza, &c., and, before they are quite dry, 

 strew them over with gold, silver, or copper 

 bronze. All other colors for grasses are put on 

 as follows : Dip the grasses in a very thin solu- 

 tion of gum arable, and, when they are partially 

 dry, lay on the color with a soft pencil. 



To Dye Asters, d'c. — Take a pint of water and 

 add an eighteenth part of sulphuric acid, and 

 dip the newly cut flowers into it singly, after- 

 wards hanging them up to dry in an airy, shady 

 place, when they will assume a beautiful red 

 color. Zinnias, Pansies, Pelargoniums, Fuch- 

 sias, &c., may be dipped in a very thin gum and 

 afterwards dried, care being taken that the 

 leaves retain their natural position. Where the 

 leaves happen to stick together they may easily 

 be parted with a penknife. — Gardener's Chronicle. 



Propagating Roses. — "A. Rose" says : " Please 

 inform me what mode of treatment would be 

 best to adopt with spring prunings of roses, in 

 order to make them strike. They are tied in 

 bunches, labelled, and buried in damp sand. I 

 beg you not to advise me that the Fall is the 

 best time to propagate roses from cuttings. I 

 have noticed this question asked frequently, 

 but the answer is never satisfactory. I can 

 and do grow roses from cuttings wintered 

 over in a cold frame, but cannot succeed with 

 spring cuttings. It seems a pity that so much 

 wood should be wasted, and I think there must 

 be some plan to utilize it. (1.) Can roses be suc- 

 cessfully grafted on pieces of the root of other 

 roses (like apples are grafted) ? If so, please de- 

 tail the process. (2.) Can Spring budding of 

 roses be successfully performed, and if so, is it to 

 be done when the buds of the stock are pushing, 

 or earlier? (3.) I don't find satisfactory infor- 

 mation on these points in any of the authorities 

 on roses (Parsons, Parkman, &c., &c.), and am 

 therefore impelled to ask you to enlighten my 

 ignorance." 



[1. Old wood, if taken ofi" in the Fall, kept in 

 moss in a place cool enough not to encourage 

 mould, and planted out in a place that is par- 



tially shaded, and will keep just damp without 

 watering, will root very well. Cuttings taken off 

 in Spring will not root. 



2. Roses can be and are grafted in Winter on 

 pieces of roots, as apples are. The Prairie roses 

 make good roots for this purpose. Manetti 

 roses are also used, but it is objectionable through 

 its suckering propensities. Splice or whip graft- 

 ing is employed. It is immaterial what plan, so 

 that the edges of the bark of scion and root 

 meet, at least on one side. 



3. Good sound wood, kept over wdnter, buds 

 easily on healthy stocks. The buds are to be 

 put in as soon as the bark runs in Spring. — Ed. 

 G. M.] 



NEW PLANTS. 



New Hybrid Gloxinias. — Mr. Alex. Newett, 

 gardener to H. P. McKean, Esq., of this city, has 

 flowered some of Messrs. Veitch's new hybrid 

 Gloxinias, and they prove to be very handsome 

 things indeed. On the continent of Europe as 

 well as in England they are turning their atten- 

 tion to this new race. The Uhistration Horticole 

 thus describes some new ones raised in France : 



" Madame Duval, flowers nearly 2J inches in 

 diameter, with obcordate lobes, waved at the 

 margin, of a velvety carmine-red or crimson, 

 passing into pink at the circumference and 

 shaded with dull red in the throat, which has a 

 white ground spotted with red ; a superb variety, 

 of perfect shape ; perhaps the finest red in the 

 group. Phedre, flowers perfect in shape, about 2 

 inches in diameter, of a violet-blue,* paler towards 

 the margin of the lobes, with a darker ring suf- 

 fused with fiery red at the mouth of the tube. 

 Colore Nova, flowers nearly 2J inches in diameter, 

 of a deep brown-red or claret color, paler towards 

 the centre; throat white; a new color in Gloxinias. 

 La Rosiere, flowers beautifully formed, about 2 

 inches in diameter, pure white with a half-circular 

 ring of delicate pink in the centre, radiating in 

 lines corresponding to the lobes, and bordering the 

 lobes; a handsome and free-flowering variety. 

 Papillon, flowers large, of a beautiful lavender- 

 blue, rayed, dotted, and veined with a deeper tint, 

 forming a new design, which recalls the mark- 

 ings on certain butterflies with blue wings. 



