274 



JOUKNAL OP HOETICULTURE AND COTTAGE GAKDENEB. 



[ Aprn 18, 18G7. 



care must be taken not to make tlie soil in which the cuttings 

 are ineertej wet. Scarcely any water will be required from the 

 time the cuttings are put in until they are rooted, if they are 

 slightly sprinkled overhead every day, but this sprinkling 

 should not be performed too late in the afternoon. I find the 

 Jbest plan is to strike the cnttings in small thumb-pots, putting 

 one cutting in each pot. The pots should be well drained, the 

 soil pressed in moderately firm, and the cutting should also be 

 made firm in the pot ; the best mode of doing so is to make 

 some small hooks, and with them fasten to the soil two of 

 the leaf-stalks of each cutting. It is also important that the 

 base of the cutting should rest flat on the bottom of the hole 

 made by the dibber. An average temperature of 50° or 55°, 

 with all the air that can be given, is the most suitable for this 

 most valuable class of plants. 



Since writing the above I have been taking off cuttings from 

 some of my new Tricolor varieties, the greater part of which I 

 believe to be distinct from any at present in cultivation. As it 

 may interest some to know how these beautiful varieties were 

 obtained I will give their pedigree. Several raisers of new 

 Pelargoniums have employed Mrs. Pollock and Sunset as the 

 female parents, and this is the reason of many varieties being 

 so much like the two just named. As soon as these were 

 distributed to the public I obtained plants which were very 

 small, and it was some time before they became strong enough 

 to produce a truss of bloom. They were placed on a shelf in a 

 dry airy place to bring out their colours as much as possible, 

 and to starve them into bloom ; the desired effect was soon pro- 

 duced, and the pollen was immediately taken from their tiny 

 flowers and used for fertilising the blooms of Baron Pvicasoli, 

 and several of the darkest Zonal kinds amongst my own seed- 

 lings. As soon as the seeds were ripe they were sown, and the 

 only seedling I could save from the whole batch that came up 

 with variegated cotyledons — Beauty of Huntroyde — refused to 

 grow, and I was not able to propagate it till last year. This 

 season it grows very freely, and proves to be distinct from any- 

 thing I have seen amongst Messrs. Henderson's extensive col- 

 lection. The seeds were gathered from Baron Ricasoli, the 

 flower of which had been fertilised with the pollen of Sunset. 



From the same cross many of the seeds came up with yellow 

 cotyledons ; Beauty of Oulton was the produce of one of these. 

 All the green seedlings from this cross were saved, and showed 

 BO sign of variegation the first year, but early in the following 

 year I observed faint streaks of red and purple on the stems, 

 and as the season advanced these streaks of variegation on the 

 stems of the plants began to develope and extend, and by the 

 end of 1865 they had covered nearly one side of the stem. 

 Early last spring the tops were taken off, and the plants then 

 threw out some splendid sports. 



The variety named Lotty Wills is the produce of one of the 

 green plants ; this I consider a superb variety, it grows very 

 freely, and remains true to its character. The natural size of 

 the leaf is nearly double the size of the specimens noticed at 

 page 233. This variety has the beautiful colouring of Sunset, 

 but the colours are much more clearly defined ; it also has a 

 much stronger habit of growth than Sunset. The same truss 

 of flower produced Beauty of Oultou ; this fine variety took 

 more after Baron liicasoli, it received the yellow ground from 

 Snnset only. 



Aurora Borealis is also a sport from the same cross, and is, 

 perhaps, the best Tricolor Pelargonium ever produced. The 

 outline of the leaf is very handsome, the colours round the 

 margin are very distinct, and the centre of the leaf is perfectly 

 green, and most beautifully defined ; none of the beautiful 

 colours on the zone and margin of the leaf running into this 

 green portion, so that the plant stands the weather much better 

 than any other variety I have seen. 



The other three varieties are from my own seedling Zonals 

 crossed with pollen from Mrs. Pollock ; the female parents had 

 very dark zones, one of them was nearly black. 



Florence is one of the best sports from this cross ; it is un- 

 surpassed for depth of colouring, has a strong vigorous habit, 

 and is very distinct. The plant this variety sported from 

 remained perfectly green up to the summer of 1866. 



Of Fanny, the leaves are nearly scarlet when exposed to the 

 full sun in the open air ; the foliage is beautiful, circular, and 

 of good substance. This is also a sport. 



Of Northern Star, the specimens sent were very small, and 

 not .well coloured ; it is, however, one of the most beautiful. 



The above are a few out of a stock of several hundreds of 

 fine varieties. This should teach those who wish to raise dis- 

 tinct varieties of Pelargoniums not to be too hasty in throwing 



away their gresn-leaved seedlings, but to preserve them for at 

 least two years. I have some very promising seedlings from 

 the double Pelargoniums that have been distributed during the 

 last year or two ; a description of these and some curious sports 

 shall form the subject of another paper shortly. — J. Wills. 



VINES AND VINE BORDERS. 



My remarks on the above subject have induced many of your 

 correspondents to join in the discussion. " A Gaedenee" 

 (page 22), who " thought it was really requisite for some one 

 of experience in the matter to make a few remarks as quickly 

 as possible," treats us to an account of some Vines, which, 

 having all the good things Vines are supposed to care for, acted 

 somewhat in the way your correspondent himself would have 

 done had he feasted for six days off a joint of meat, and found 

 his stomach unequal to the effort of another go in on the 

 Sunday; and so the roots of " A G.vedexee's " Vines, refusing 

 the food so carefully prepared for them, bored through 6 inches 

 of grouted brick pavement, perforated the subsoil beneath to a 

 depth of 9 feet, and were then, when cut through, found to 

 have a thickness equal to a man's finger ! Very extraordinary 

 roots, I admit, for Vines to make in two years; and if "A 

 G.^RDENEK " had measured them at their base, where their 

 diameter would have been twice as much as he found it at 

 12 feet 6 inches from the stem, and given us the circumference 

 of the latter, the account of his Vines and their roots in the 

 second year of their growth w«uld have been complete. The 

 Vines of " A Gardener," with their enormous roots " cribbed, 

 cabined, and confined," in their vaxilt-like structure, will give 

 him good Grapes I have no doubt. They would do the same 

 with one-tenth part of the trouble and expense he declares to 

 be so necessary. Then why incur either the one or the other ? 



" G. H." (page 117), calls the system Mr. Wills advocates 

 the " show system," and thinks I should be satisfied with a 

 success equal to the cost incurred even it I never took a London 

 prize. This is not a fair statement of the question under dis- 

 cussion. Mr. Wills wants a large supply of fine Grapes for his 

 employer's table, and gives us a good idea of what the cost 

 will be to obtain them. I want a still larger supply of equally 

 fine Grapes for those who choose to buy them, and I gave a 

 candid statement of everything I had done to grow them. I 

 asked Mr. Wills for further details of his arrangements, and 

 desired to knovr whether my Vines would have grown more if 

 I had incurred greater expense in the planting of them. Mr. 

 Wills is silent on the subject, and so the question of economy 

 I'ersiis extravagance must remain as it is for the present. 



I wish to correct the assertion of " G. H.," that in France 

 " the Vines are cultivated on hill sides, upon terraces, which 

 are formed by bringing down the soil at intervals, thus exposing 

 the rock, or a rough wall built up to support the next terrace 

 to the full sun heat." This is true only to a certain extent. 

 The Vine crop of France, worth £30,000,000 per annum, is not 

 so grown. 



" G. H." says " ' H. S.' gives us as his idea of Vine tem- 

 perature the forty-fifth degree of north latitude, with a mean 

 temperature of from 70° to 73°;" and, again, '-but I should 

 to make a true calculation, take the mean of the year as 

 ' H. S.' does." When I said that near the forty-fifth degree of 

 north latitude in a mean summer temperature of 70° to 73°, 

 Vines grew and produced good fruit without cultivation, I 

 merely mentioned a fact which every gardener ought to be ac- 

 quainted with. 



" G. H." must not think the above temperature is neces- 

 sarily accompanied by an intense sun heat such as he mentions. 

 The "direct rays of the sun have less to do with the growth of 

 plants, and the maturity of their fruits, than is generally 

 imagined. Provided the autumn be warm and dry, there wiU 

 be no perceptible difference 'in the fruit of the Oak, whether it 

 be taken from one side of the tree or the other, and Black- 

 berries will be equally large on the north side of a hedge as on 

 the south, and just as good in flavour. 



In hot countries vegetation follows the waterconrses, and 

 plants of low growth are most luxuriant where partial shade is 

 afforded by neighbouring trees. Climbing plants, as a rule, 

 are fond of shade and moisture, and if a climber be found in 

 the open, it is always a miserable object, unless the rainfall has 

 been excessive. In addition to the shade which plants and trees 

 afford each other when growing in close proximity, the sky is 

 always more or less obscured, and the temperature compara- 

 tively low till the leaves become fully developed. Within the 



