318 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ May 5, 1870. 



uame way. The rooted plants enable the gardener to dispense 

 with much watering. 



Cinerama maritima is generally hardy, but some winters 

 Rave killed the whole of ours. It is well to have a few young 

 plants in reserve. It strikes best from small sucker-like shoots. 

 It is easily raised from seed, but seedlings require to be in the 

 second if not the third season before they become so silvery 

 as old plants. After March very little protection will do for 

 young or old plants ; old plants are little injured that have 

 stood out all the winter. We have just cut them down close 

 to the ground, and if there should be a few vacancies, we have 

 some plants to supply the gap. 



Centaukea candidissiiia. — Last winter but one many plants 

 stood out well, but in the past winter all went except those 

 standing pretty high on a south aspect, though we put dry ashes 

 round the stools. Many of the plants, though rotten at the 

 top, seem to be fresh at the bottom, and it is possible they may 

 push again. This plant, however, for general purposes does 

 best when small plants are turned out. With a little protection 

 in the coldest nights, young plants may be exposed after the 

 1st of April. 



Calceolarias. — All the shrubby kinds will in general be 

 better out of doors after the 1st of April, with the help of a 

 little protection, the simplest being the piece of calico referred 

 to. My plants or cuttings have generally a space of from lj to 

 2 inches each in winter; when turned out I generally give 

 them from 4 to 5 inches, which enables them to be strong 

 plants showing bloom when turned out finally about the 20th 

 of May, or even at the end of it. 



Pentstehons and Cupheas are es hardy as, the former 

 hardier than, the Calceolaria, and like it do well planted out in 

 temporary beds. 



Koniga variegata is not quite so hardy, and does rather the 

 best when taken from a shallow box, so that the roots will not 

 ran far. I have lifted it nicely from a bed, but the above 

 method is the best. 



Verbenas, Lobelias, and Gazanias may follow in a few days, 

 say a week, after the Calceolarias, and like them, if planted out 

 in a bed, they will lift with good roots. If with any oi these 

 there be four or five plants in a small pot, it i3 a good plan to 

 ruffle the outside of the ball, and turn out the ball nearly 

 whole, packing the earth firmly against them, and dividing at 

 the final planting out, as the fresh roots from each plant will 

 extend outwards. 



Petunias are as hardy as the above, but they do best from 

 pots, as if planted out the roots become too straggling. The 

 same may be said of 



LlNCM GKANDIFLORUM EUBRUM AND GNAPHALIDM, Only they 



are more tender. The Gnapbalium should either be potted or 

 kept in boxes not more than 2 or 3 inches deep. 



Heliotropes and Ageratums, in general, should not be ex- 

 posed much until May. The Ageratums may be turned out 

 towards the end of April, with a calico covering in a common 

 season. That would hardly suffice for Heliotropes, as they are 

 more sensitive to cold in the spring than to a little frost in the 

 autumn. 



Tagetes. — All the tribe produce plenty of fibres, but in most 

 seasons they should not be exposed until the middle of May. 

 Half-hardy annuals succeed best when not sown too soon so 

 as to require much coddliDg before they are turned out. 



Teop^eolums of sorts, when raised in a house, should not be 

 fully exposed until the middle of May. They often do better 

 when sown out of doors at the end of April or the beginning 

 of May. 



Striped Maize. — To have strong plants this should be kept 

 in the greenhouse until the middle of May, and then be hard- 

 ened off with a little protection by the side of a wall before 

 planting it out. It even then requires a warm place to do well 

 out of doors. It succeeds best under glass. 



Foch?ias, to bloom well out of doors, should not be forwarded 

 much under glass, as the more forward they are the more will 

 they suffer from the change when breaking freely. They 

 should be planted out under a little protection by the middle 

 of April. The less lengthy the shoots, when turned out towards 

 the end of May, the belter will they bloom in the summer and 

 autumn. 



Cannas. — If you have plenty of room get these well forward, 

 turn them out under a little protection at the end of May, and 

 plant them out about the middle of June. Where there is not 

 room to grow them indoors, it is as well not to encourage 

 them to grow above a foot or so before you turn them out to 

 iarden, say at the beginning of May. If for such you could 



make a slight hotbed under the bed, and plant the rather back- 

 ward plants about the beginning of June, you would have fine 

 foliage in the autumn if the place were pretty well sheltered 

 from winds. I hoped to make a fine feature with Cinnas, and 

 with a little bottom heat obtained fine foliage and spikes of 

 bloom, but every season when there was a brisk gale in our 

 exposed place the fine foliage was torn, not merely to ribbons, 

 but to strings and threads. 



Pykethrum Golden Feather. — This plant is also mentioned 

 by your correspondent, and is said to be quite hardy. I suspect 

 it is about as hardy as Cineraria maritima and Centaurea can- 

 didissima. A great many of our plants in the open air died 

 this winter. Those in boxes in a cool orchard house seem all 

 right, though left to themselves. Xoung plants seem to have 

 the strongest vital powers, which is in this case an advantage, 

 as the younger the plants the better they answer, and the more 

 free are they from flowers and seeds. Seedlings, from sowing 

 under glass late in autumn or early in spring, mill, when 

 pricked off and finally planted out, give more satisfaction than 

 older plants. Seeds seem to come quite true. Plants, unless 

 in extreme cases, would be quite safe if kept protected in 

 winter and turned out in March. Of course, spring-sown plants 

 should be kept under protection until April or May. 



I have also omitted to refer to the Bedding Pelargoniums. 

 All the sections of large flowers, Nosegays, and Variegated, 

 as a general rule may come out of the house after the Calceo- 

 larias, and at the same time as the Lobelias. All the green 

 or horseshoe-leaved kinds are very similar in hardiness, and 

 all should go out a week or ten days before the variegated- 

 leaved sorts — Gold and Bronze, Tricolors, &c. The latter will 

 be the better of protection until the middle of May. The 

 commoner Scarlets will do well under calico after April. Oi 

 course in avery severe night a little straw, orevergreen branches, 

 &c, must be placed above the calico. Where immediate effect 

 is wanted, all Pelargoniums do best when turned out of pots. 

 We have, however, planted great Dumbers in temporary beds, 

 and raised them with less or more of a ball. In such case 

 there was generally a flagging and a withering of a few leaves, 

 but the plants quickly recovered themselves. This tribe do 

 well when potted in small pots, so as to form a ball, and then 

 planted out as stated for Calceolarias, as the ball will hold, 

 though there are plenty of wig-like fibres all round it. — R. F. 



GRAFTING VINES. 



The Vines in late houses which are now coming into full leaf 

 are just in condition for grafting, and the operation may there- 

 fore be performed. Vines are very easily grafted, when grafting 

 is done carefully, and when both the stock and scion are in 

 proper condition. When the operator understands what graft- 

 ing i3 — that it is simply the placing together two pieces of a 

 plant in such a position that the rising flowing sap of the one, 

 which is the stock, may intermingle with that of the other, 

 which is the scion, and that these juices becoming united form 

 one wood, and then the union is complete — he will the more 

 readily understand the conditions in which each part should be. 



In most cases grafting is performed juBt previous to the 

 commencement of active growth, or when the sap in the stock 

 begins to flow, the stock being somewhat in advance of the 

 scion. The Vine, however, if cut at that period has such an 

 exuberance of sap, that it is apt not only to injure the graft 

 but to bleed itself to death, and grafting then, is, consequently, 

 seldom a success ; and if we graft much earlier, there is the 

 danger of the graft drying up. The time, then, which I have 

 found the most favourable is just at the decline of the flush of 

 sap, when the first leaves have about fully expanded and are 

 able to draw up the crude juices, but while it is still flowing. 

 The exact condition may be discovered thus by just malting a 

 small cut in the stem, when, if it bleed freely, wait a day or 

 two ; if but slightly, then graft at once. 



The scions should in the meantime also be a little excited, 

 so that when cut a little moisture is observed. The best and 

 surest eyes to use are those which have been buried in some 

 moist soil, which feel soft and moist, and just show signs of 

 growing. To put on a hard dried-up eye is of but little use, as 

 it will but very seldom grow. 



It is desirable, in grafting, to leave a shoot beyond the graft 

 to draw up the superabundant sap for a time. This, however, 

 as soon as the graft is fairly taken should be destroyed. 



Bud-grafts may be put on now all over — on every part of the 

 stem if necessary. It is a good practice to make good blanks 



