Jane 30, 1870. ] 



JOURNAL OF HOETICULTOEE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



455 



freely. They may be taken off at all times, but August, Sep- 

 tember, and March are the best months. Remove the lowest 

 pair of leaves after cutting below the lowest joint, and insert 

 the outtings singly in small pots, or about an inch apart round 

 the sides of a larger pot, putting them in up to the next joint. 

 Drain the pots well, and use a compost of two parts fibrous 

 sandy loam, one part leaf soil, one part peat, and one part silver 

 sand, the whole well mixed, surfacing with about half an inch 

 of silver sand. Place the cuttings in a hotbed, and they will 

 strike in a fortnight or three weeks ; or if placed in a cold 

 frame at the end of summer they will root quite as Bafely, 

 though they will be longer in doing so. Pot off singly, or 

 transfer to larger pots, and winter in a house or pit from which 

 frost is excluded. Cuttings inserted in spring will, of course, 

 require heat. All the plants require in spring is potting, 

 stopping, and to be grown so as to form good plants before 

 planting out. They ought, of course, to be well hardened off 

 before planting out at the end of May or early in June. — 

 G. Abbey. 



GROWING CELERY IN BEDS. 



Growing Celery in beds is, as Mr. Robson remarks, not new, 

 but how seldom do we see it practised. I believe if it were 

 given a fair trial this system would become more general for 

 the main crop. I myself first practised it eleven years ago 

 when at Trentham. I there for four years saw it did well with 

 ordinary treatment, and since then I have never seen nor had 

 the opportunity of growing Celery in this way, till I came here 

 three years ago. I had such good faith in the practice, that I 

 planted the whole of my main crop as described by me at page 

 399, vol. xvii. I have done the Bame in the present year, 

 with the exception of planting both trenches with four rows. 

 The family being less this year I do not require so much, and 

 I was rather short of plants at planting-ont time. I am certain 

 as good Celery may be grown five rows in a bed as three or 

 fonr. As Mr. Robson says, the earthing-up is the objection 

 lodged against the bed system, and yet it is as simple as for the 

 single or double row. My men were all asking the first summer 

 how it was to be done, yet when they came to do it it was 

 astonishing how quickly they did the work. — Stephen Castle, 

 The Gardens, Bent Hill, Prestwich. 



NEPETA VIOLACEA AND TRACHELIUM 

 GERULEUM. 



After the present rage for delicate bedding plants shall have 

 run its course, and the much-shorter-lived popularity of what 

 is called subtropical gardening shall have received a check 

 from an adverse season or two, it will be discovered, perhaps, 

 that there is, after all, some beauty in our present much- 

 despised hardy herbaceous plants, and they may have their 

 turn again. Attempts, it is true, are now and then made to 

 revive a taste for these useful auxiliaries to any flower garden, 

 and there is little doubt that showy hardy plants will be more 

 cultivated in future, and new additions made. The popularity 

 of Yiola cornuta is but the forerunner of that of other beauties 

 of a hardy class ; Spiraa japonica, which I have grown to 

 some extent for the last twenty years, has, I find, come out 

 under another name, and assumed a higher position than 

 before ; while perhaps the most admired plant in all flower 

 gardens for the past three months or more, and up to the pre- 

 sent time (the middle of June), has been a hardy plant, the 

 Golden Feather of the day, a Pyrethrum, which for spring and 

 early summer is certainly without a rival in its way. Other 

 plants, as Cerastium, are also indispensable to most arrange- 

 ments, and the number of such plants is yearly increasing. 



The plant whose claimB to attention it is my purpose to ad- 

 vocate is an old acquaintance, Nepeta violacea, a hardy plant 

 with lovely bluish-violet flowers, and of a spreading habit like a 

 Verbena. I am not certain whether it is a variety of N. chama?- 

 drifolia or a distinct species, but it certainly has a flower of a 

 much darker blue, and no plant can be more hardy or accom- 

 modating. I do not think we have lost a plant since we had it, 

 either from the weather or any other cause, and its propagation 

 is so easy that we took off a quantity of cuttings in March from 

 oat-door plants that had not had the least protection or assist- 

 ance, and they were struck and planted out in some ribbon 

 borderB, where the plants are spreading and flowering now as 

 well as those of greater age. Young plants produce a greater 

 succession of flower spikes than older ones where these are 

 much crowded. I expect they will continue to flower for a long 



time, and as the plant requires no attention, no tying up, no 

 pegging down, it commends itself to all who have not the means 

 to attend to plants requiring more labour. Although it may 

 not claim a place amongst Pelargoniums and plants whose ap- 

 pearance late in September is of more consequence than now, 

 it forms an excellent boundary for a shrubbery, its wide- 

 spreading branches will effectively conceal the withered foliage 

 of spring bulbs or similar plants that may stand in front of it, 

 and viewed from a distance nothing can look more compact. 

 From what I have seen of it here and elsewhere, I should 

 think it is likely to do best where there is an abundance of lime 

 in the soil, and not so well where peat prevails, and I rather 

 imagine the colour of its flower is a more decided blue in such 

 a position, although the reverse is the case with Lobelia 

 speciosa. Of this, however, I speak with some diffidence. 



Differing widely in habit from this Nepeta, and also in the 

 character of its flower and time of flowering, though not so 

 much in the colour of its bloom, is Trachelitjm c.eruletjij, 

 also an herbaceous plant of upright growth, producing a pro- 

 fusion of corymbs about 2$ feet high. This plant, however, 

 is not so hardy as the Nepeta, but it produces seed in the 

 greatest abundance, and this, if sown in the ordinary way in 

 fine soil in March, will produce plants that will bloom the 

 same season ; so there is no trouble in propagating it. Cut- 

 tings or rather slips put in about September in a cold pit 

 strike freely, and might remain there all the winter, be planted 

 out in spring, and will do well. The plant often stands the 

 winter when the weather has not been severe. Thus its culture 

 is not difficult, and I believe it is one of the best to withstand 

 dry weather, a property which now and then is serviceable — 

 for instance in 1868, and possibly it may be so in 1870. 



This is one of the plants I would recommend to those who 

 think seriously of decreasing the number of their tender bed- 

 ding plants, and substituting others hardier and more easily 

 propagated. In general its flowers are of a pretty lavender 

 colour, but now and then a good blue will present itself, and 

 not unfrequently white, but I do not approve of the latter. 

 Attention in selecting seed from the best-coloured flowerB 

 would no doubt result in the best purple being obtained ; but 

 as it is, the colour of the flowers, as well as their form and 

 the profusion in which they are produced, renders it a favourite 

 with all who have seen it, and I have every confidence in re- 

 commending it. — J. Robson. 



ARCHIMEDEAN LAWN MOWER. 



Mant things have been published which tend to disparage 

 the above machine, and as I have had one in constant use for 

 the last three months, I wish to say a few words on the sub- 

 ject. I have always used Green's lawn mower, and have been 

 satisfied with it, but I have almost discarded it in favour of 

 the Archimedean. Iapprove of the Archimedean for the follow- 

 ing reasons : — First, that it will do more work, and do it with 

 far greater ease, than any other that I have seen. Mine is a 

 14-inch machine, and one man can cut as much ground, and 

 with less fatigue, as two men can with Green's 16-inch mower. 

 Secondly, It will cut any length of grass with ease. Thirdly, 

 It will cut perfectly when the grass is wet. Fourthly, It will 

 cut slopes, and many places where I cannot use Green's. 



Now, with regard to the untidiness caused by the grass being 

 left on the ground, no one could be more prejudiced against 

 the machine than I was on this account, and as I am very 

 particular about my lawn, I would not use one for some time. 

 I must confess that I have been surprised at the actual result ; 

 the cut grass is not to be seen in a few hours after it is cut ; 

 and as a lad can work my 14-inch machine with ease, there is 

 no excuse for the grass not being kept in such close trim as to 

 present any untidiness whatever on this account. After a 

 complete experience, I have no hesitation in Baying that the 

 Archimedean is superior to any machine I have seen. The 

 fault of our English machines lies in having rollers in front of 

 the knives, they press down the tough bents of grass, and the 

 knives pass over them without cutting many of them, whereas 

 the Archimedean cuts the grass as it stands. — D. A., Norfolk. 



English and Spanish Irises.— At the present period of the 

 year no flowers are more brilliant or more varied in colour 

 than these, and we never Baw more effective specimens than 

 those jnet sent to us by MeSBrs. Barr & Sugden, of King Street, 

 Covent Garden. The Spanish Iris is the Iris Xiphium of 

 botanists, and the English Iris I. xiphioides. We are asked, 



