290 



JOURNAL OF HOETICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GAKDENEK. 



t April at, 1809 



with strychnine placed near the plants would sweep off tha 

 feline Vandals ; bnt jon might protect your flowers, and spare 

 yonr neighbours' pets by bending over the Nemophilas an 

 arch of galvanised iron net. — Eds.] 



TENDER ANNUALS.— No. 2. 



CocHgcoMB [Cehsia cristata). — The best variety of this is 

 the Dwarf Crimson. There are several other dwarf varieties 

 of different shades of colour from crimson to sulphur. The 

 tall varieties are not now grown, and I think it well, as they 

 are anything but desirable ; for a Cockfcomh should have a short 

 stem, no higher than sufficient to btar the comb firmly, and 

 •when full-sized the two lower points of the comb will be on a 

 level with the rim of the pot, and the comb itself should re- 

 present the half of a circle. 



To have good Cockscombs good seed must be sown, and 

 that is difficult to procure. To keep them from becoming 

 "leggy," it is well to have seeds a few years old, as such do 

 not grow so strongly, and the combs are in general larger and 

 better formed than those from new seed, which grow too much 

 to leaf. 



The seed should be sown not later than May, but I like to 

 sow twice — once in March, and again in April. Rich light soil is 

 best for sowing ; scatter the seeds rather thinly in well-drained 

 pots and in fine soil, and cover them lightly. After sowing 

 place the pots in a hotbed where there is a temperature of 

 from 65° to 70° at night, and of 7.5° by day, with a rise from 

 snn heat. The pots should be plunged to the rim in a hotbed, 

 and when the plants appear they should be kept near the glass, 

 the nearer the better, so long as they do not touch it ; but it is 

 well to give them the benefit of a hotbed and bottom heat, for 

 a time at least, until they are of a size fit to handle, when 

 they should be potted-off singly in pots from 2i to 3 inches 

 in diameter, selecting those plants only that are the stiffest 

 and have the leaves in a cluster, or the joints not far apart ; 

 indeed, the more dwarf, and the nearer the leaves are together, 

 the better. In potting, the plants should be placed up to 

 the seed leaves in the soil, and it is well to preserve all the 

 roots possible by lifting them carefully with a flattened piece 

 cf wood. 



After potting replace the plants in the hotbed, and keep them 

 close and moist for a few days until they are established, and 

 then admit air freely, avoiding cold currents, and place them 

 near the glass, for no amount of after-care will make a hand- 

 some plant of one which is drawn up weakly in its early stages. 

 When the pots are filled with roots, if the plants are stiff, and 

 have short stems, with the leaves of a good size, and closely 

 stndded on the stem or clustered at the top, they may be 

 shifted into 4J-pots, sinking them a little, but not more than 

 an inch or so, unless the plants are tall, when the lower leaves 

 shonld be rubbed off the stem to a height of Ij or 2 inches a 

 few days before potting, and to that distance the plants may be 

 sunk in the soil at the time of potting. They will produce 

 roots from their stems at the parts from which the leaves were 

 removed, and their vigour will be increased as well as their 

 appearance improved. They sbouli be placed in a hotbed or 

 house having a brisk heat of from 00° to 65° at night, and from 

 70° to 75° by day, with a rise from sun heat to 85' or 90°, 

 assigning them a position near the glass, best on a shelf where 

 they will have an abundance of light and air to keep them from 

 becoming drawn. They should- not be further from the glass 

 than 6 inches, and between them and the glass no climber or 

 other plant must intervene. They will need to be turned 

 round occasionally, so as to keep the stems straight. Let the 

 plants be well supplied with water, but do not give any until 

 the soil becomes dry, but before the foliage flags, and then 

 enough to show itself at the drainage. The plants may be 

 sprinkled overhead twice a-day, morning and evening, and the 

 paths, walls, and other surfaces syringed twice or thrice a-day, 

 so as to maintain a moist atmosphere, which last is to be con- 

 tinned until the crowns or combs are full-sized, but the sprink- 

 ling overhead must be discontinued when the combs are show- 

 ing flower, as it is apt to discolour them. 



It is well to keep the plants iu small pots until the combs 

 show, as it tends to dwarf them, and the best plants can be 

 selected, those being chosen that have a wide comb — that is, 

 those measuring most aorisg and having the comb entire, as a 

 split comb is an irremediable defect. The comb should have 

 a good supply of leaves, and have the points considerably 

 lower than the centre, rejecting plants with crooked and straight 



or flat combs. The plants should be potted in 6-inch pote, 

 sinking them in the pots 1 or 2 inches deeper than they were 

 before, and removing the leaves to that extent from the stem a 

 few days prior to potting ; and when these pots are fall of roots 

 the plants may be shifted into 8-inch pots, which are quite 

 large enough, and for decorative purposes G-inch pots answer 

 tolerably well, and are in some cases desirable. At the last 

 shifting the plants should be sunk deeper in the soil, but not 

 deeper than 1 or 2 inches, and in no case so as to bring the 

 flattened portion of the stem too near the soil ; indeed, the 

 plant ought to have 6 iucbes of clear stem, and more than half 

 of it round, not thin and flat. At the last potting the drainage 

 must be good, and the shift ought to be given before the combs 

 are showing clear cf the leaves. 



The compost beet suited to the Cockscomb is as follows: — 

 The top 11 inch of a pasture, where the soil is a good rich 

 loam, neither heavy nor light, but inclined to the latter, should 

 be laid up for six months, and previous to use torn in pieces 

 vrith the hand, and made rather fine, but not sifted ; to this 

 add a fourth part of old cow dung or well-rotted and rather dry 

 hotbed manure, and about one-sixth of silver sand, well mixing 

 the whole. In potting, the soil should be pressed rather firmly, 

 but not very tightly, so that the water may pass freely through 

 it, and yet it should not be very open, as the plants are apt to 

 run too much to leaf when the soil is loose, and the sides of 

 the ball if very closely matted should be loosened by scratching 

 with the point of a label, or other pointed piece of wood, before 

 potting. 



When the pots, after the last shift, become filled with roots 

 manure-water may be applied at every alternate watering. A 

 good liquid manure is formed of one peck of sheep's drop- 

 pings in thirty gallons of water, well stirred up ; or two pecks 

 of fresh cow dung to the same quantity of water may be used 

 instead. In uo case ought the soil to be kept in a saturated 

 condition, but the plants are to be well supplied with water, the 

 soil being dry before any is given. 



After the weather becjmes hot and dry no place is so good 

 as a cold pit, which may be kept sufficiently warm by giving a 

 moderate amount of air and shutting up early in the afternoon, 

 after sprinkling every available surface with water ; best if the 

 water ie from a tub in which one peck of soot has teen mixed 

 with thirty gallons of water. Keep the plants near the glass, 

 which is essential, and not less so is a moist atmosphere 

 without wetting the combs so as to produce discoloration ; and 

 too much light cannot bo afforded. Shade ia destructive of 

 colour, and only tends to cause lanky growth. 



Vv'hen the comb is so far advanced we must trim. All Cooks- 

 comb-growers know that the true flowers are produced on the 

 sides of the combs. Now, these flowers must be carefully cut 

 away, as they appear, with a pair of scissors — nothing is so good 

 as Grape scissors — and it must be done neatly, the object 

 being to give the comb a trim appearance, increase its size, 

 and keep it longer an attractive object. CUp off every appear- 

 ance of flower on the sides of the comb, both sides alike, and 

 on no account allow seed to mature. The plant will then pro^ 

 duce a finer comb, and of considerably larger size than one 

 not so trimmed. 



To secure seed a few plants' must be allowed to flower, bnt 

 for that end it is well to thin the flowers and allow the finest 

 only to mature seed, always saving it from the best-shaped 

 combs, shape being preferred to size, thoug'u the latter is an 

 oljcot. Good Cockscomb seed is scarce, at least latterly the 

 plants I have generally seen were neither so well grown, nor 

 had such fine, wide, v/ell-foimed combs as I have seen many 

 years ago ; one-half of them having feathered, and torn, flat, 

 and crooked combs. — G. Abbey. 



MISS WATSON TRICOLOR PELARGONIUM. 



liiviNQ recently paid a visit to Mr. Watson's New Zealand 

 Nurseries, at St. Alban's, I was struck with the magnificent 

 display of Tricolor Pelargoniums. The variety which is to be 

 most admired is Miss Watson, for without doubt it is a gem. 

 To my great astonishment, in looking through notes subscribed 

 by your worthy correspondent " D., Deal," I find it pronounced 

 to have been considerably overrated, and not worthy of the 

 praise which has been bestowed upon it. If "D., Deal," 

 should chance to be within twenty or thirty miles of the locality 

 in which these Pelargoniums are briUiantly displayed in snob 

 numbers, he would not think his time lost if he were to call 

 and take a glimpse of th«in, and piobaWy his opinion of Miss 



