December 1, 1863. ] 



JOURNAL OF HOETICULTTJEE AND COTTAGE GAEDEXEB. 



431 



By the middle of July the plants will be growing vigor- 

 ously, when, if the pots are full of roots, they must be 

 potted into 32-sized pots in the same compost as before. A 

 gentle bedewing of the plants overhead after hot dry days 

 will much refresh the foliage, and watering being duly at- 

 tended to they will make rapid progress. When the leader 

 shows for bloom put in a stick in the centre, which should 

 be about 2 feet long, a trifle less than the thickness of the 

 little finger, and painted green. Pinch off the bloom on 

 the leader on its fii'st appearance, which will cause the side 

 shoots to grow strongly, the blooms on them being pinched 

 out as they appear. This pinching is to be continued through- 

 out the summer until further notice. Take care that the 

 plants do not root through the pot, it being a good practice 

 to Uft them frequently to see that they do not. Tie the 

 leader to the stake, and peg down the side shoots so as to 

 feather the plants to the pot. 



In August pot them into 24 sized pots, using a compost 

 of light turfy loam half, the remainder leaf mould or peat 

 and cowdung two years old in equal parts, adding a liberal 

 sprinkMng of silver sand. The drainage should occupy about 

 one-thii-d the depth of the pot, and must be made perfect. 

 A little sphagnum or cocoa-nut fibre placed over the crocks 

 will prevent the di-ainage becoming choked. They will 

 Tequu-e but little water, but they must not be allowed to 

 suffer from the want of it. When they reaBy need watering- 

 give them enough to reach the drainage. 



Early in October they should be potted into their blooming 

 pots, 9 inches in diameter, which are large enough for ordi- 

 nary pm-poses. The drainage must be well attended to, and 

 the neck of the plant kept somewhat high. After potting 

 they should be i^laced in a cool, dry, light, well-ventilated 

 greenhouse, and as near the glass as possible. They will 

 Tequire but little water, and yet the foliage must not be 

 allowed to turn yellow from the want of it. 



Provided the plants have been duly pinched — i.e., the 

 flowers nipped off — and the shoots regulated so as to form 

 an even-shaped plant feathered to the pot, and tapering 

 "upwards, they will be fully 20 inches in diameter, and fi-om 

 18 inches to 2 feet in height by the middle of December, 

 after which time the flowers should not be pinched oft", but 

 allowed to bloom. No water must be given so long as the 

 soil contains enough moisture to maintain the plant without 

 flagging, and then water must be given freely ; for a little 

 to-day and a di'op to-moiTow is slow poison. Very weak 

 liquid manure may be given at every alternate watering, but 

 it should be heated to a few degrees over rather than a 

 few below the temperature of the house in which the plant 

 is growing. The plants will bloom finely through the winter, 

 and are the delight of the ladies. Care must be taken to 

 cut out all spikes done blooming, as they weaken the plant, 

 and ai-e unsightly. The plants will continue in good bloom 

 until June, when they may be cut back a little, some soil 

 "being taken out of the pots, and its place supplied with fresh 

 compost. The plants will grow freely and bloom continu- 

 ously through the summer in a cold, light, weU-aii-ed gi-een- 

 house or conservatory, and on through the autumn and 

 ■winter ; but the blooms they afford are not equal to those 

 from younger plants either in fi-agrance or size. It is 

 advisable to raise fresh plants annually, retaining the old 

 until such time as the young commence flowering. By this 

 plan Mignonette can he had every day in the year. 



In conclusion, I would make a few general remarks. 

 Mignonette, when subjected to artificial treatment is impa- 

 tient of damp, particularly in its early stages, but this is 

 obviated by keeping the plants outside, for it is not un- 

 common not to sow the seed until the beginning of August, 

 which inures the young plants to the fatal moisture of the 

 autumn months. Watering overhead is a dangerous but 

 indispensable process, and should only be practised on bright 

 sunny mornings, and then it should be given through a fine 

 syringe. The shoots are so easily parted from the stem that 

 syringing should not be so copious as to cover the foliage 

 with water and render it unable to carry the weight, or 

 the shoots are sure to slit or become detached from the 

 stem. Better not to syringe at all as do this, for nothing 

 makes a specimen look uglier. The plant is also extremely 

 susceptible of vaxiations of temperature, extremes of heat 

 and cold being positively iniurious to its well-being. The 

 temperature should, therefore, be kept steady, and ranging 



near 45°, never lower than 40° or higher than 50° except on 

 rare occasions. Too much air and light cannot be given nor 

 too much sun during winter. Another essential is that the 

 plants be kept near the glass, so as to prevent cfrawing, and 

 to give them all the strength possible. These points at- 

 tended to, the plants wOl grow with a vigour equal to the 

 wishes of the most sanguine cultivator or admirer. 



Lastly, allow me to protest against the practice of tying 

 every shoot to a stake. Some people imagine or have a 

 fancy that every shoot requires a stake, and one it must 

 have. Nothing, however, looks so unnatural. Symmetry 

 can be had without stakes ; and if a plant cannot stand on 

 its own legs it is grossly maltreated by being tied and made 

 to assume a figm-e at once unnatural, extremely disagreeable 

 to refined taste, and altogether unlike assisting Nature. 

 It is deforming her, and generally meets with the disap- 

 pointment that violations of Nature's laws so justly merit. 

 — Geoeok Abbey. 



[The above is written to meet the wishes of " J. J. J." 

 her query at the time being replied to briefly.] 



BTIEYIiS'G DEEPLY THE EOOTS OF EOSES. 



Having made a Moss Eose-bed last spring, and being now 

 desirous of raising it i) or 10 inches, I wish to know if put- 

 ting earth up the stems of the Eoses to that height will 

 injure them. I do not wish to take up the Eoses again, 

 fearing it might spoil their flowering. — A. M. A. 



[To earth-xip the stems of your Eoses to such a height 

 would be decidedly injurious. If the Eoses are in good 

 condition they wOl bloom next year if carefully lifted and 

 replanted, which is the only way that will admit of the soil 

 being raised so high without being injurious. If the roots 

 are carefully disentangled from the soil, and as few of them 

 broken as possible, at the same time preserving a ball of 

 earth at the stem if it can be done, and if planted imme- 

 diately, there is no fear of thefr not flowering.] 



GAUDENEES' li^AMES EOE FLOWEES. 



My only reason for taking up this subject was simply to 

 condemn those who, having themselves secured the advan- 

 tage of a liberal education, are inclined to sneer at the short- 

 comings of others, who, without any fault of their own, have 

 in this respect been less fortunate. 



Gardeners are themselves very freqviently the sons of 

 gardeners, and the employers of gardeners must know full 

 well that their gardeners are, generally speaking, seldom 

 in a position to give tlieir sons an expensive education, how- 

 ever anxious they may be to do so : consequently classically 

 educated gardeners arc not to be expected. StiU, by dint of 

 patience and perseverance, assisted by the numerous works 

 on horticultural subjects wliich are almost daily issuing from 

 the press, including accentuated catalogues of plants, &.C., 

 many gai-deners do and nearly aU may attain to something 

 approaching a coiTcet pronunciation of the names of flowers. 



I admit that, on hastily perusing the first letter of your 

 reverend correspondent, the " Wiltshire Eector," on this 

 subject, I felt inclined to say with young Norval — 

 " That there are men 

 Who borrow friendship's tongue to speak 

 Their ecorn," &c. 



But I am now quite ready to admit that I have judged 

 yom- correspondent wrongfully ; and if my former commu- 

 nication to you on the subject contained anything offensive 

 to him I sincerely regret it, and from the conciliatory and 

 kind tone of his last letter I feel quite sui-e that he has 

 freely forgiven it. I have no hesitation in fully agreeing 

 with him that it is much better to endeavoiu- to raise the 

 men to the correct standard than to sink the standard to 

 the men. And I sincerely trust that the kindly advice of 

 your reverend coi-respondent may be instrumental in stimu- 

 lating young gardeners, at least to endeavour to attain a 

 correct pronunciation of the names of the plants which 

 many of them succeed in cultivating so well. — G. 



Mistletoe on the Goosebbeey. — I saw in a garden near 

 Maidstone, Kent, Mistletoe growing on the Gooseberry 



