M 



JOOBKAL OF HOBTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEB. r Jonmrra, 1866. 



the empty pot placid over the oUicr docs not make tlie surface 

 too hot. " \\'hfno\-cr tlio apuvm bcgius to nm tlie temperature 

 will rise. In practice, a little snrfiicing of hay before the 

 Mashrooms appeared would be iis good as the inverted pots. 

 — Ed8.] 



IRESINE IIKRCSTU FOR DINNER-TABLE 

 DECOn.\TION. 



Mi;cu li.ts been said of late both for and against this plant. 

 Some are strongly in favour of it, and are very sanguine as to 

 its future ; others are as much the other way, and condemn the 

 plant alto|:ether. I f-liall certainly not now class myself with 

 the latter, for tho more I Bee of the Xresiue the better I like it. 

 If it prove a failiuo as a be<iding ))laut after it has had a fair 

 trial next summer, there is another important purpose for 

 which it will be used, and for which it cannot foil to be appre- 

 ciated — well-c^rown jilunts cannot be surpassed for drawing- 

 room and dinner-table decoration. 



The way to grow plants for table decoration in the winter is 

 to strike cuttings early in August. As soon as they are struck 

 they should be potted off in large CO-pots, and placed in a tem- 

 perature of 05' or 70°, and as near the glass as possible ; this 

 will canso them to grow stocky. Care must be taken not to 

 put them too closely together ; they should be placed so that 

 the air may circulate freely amongst them and in positions 

 where they will receive the same amount of light on iiU sides. 

 A euspended shelf is a good position. Thus placed, the plants 

 will grow regularly all round. The top must not be pinched 

 out, but the side shoots should be stopped after they have made 

 the second pair of leaves. 



As soon as the plants have grown to a height of 1^ inches, 

 they should be kept rather dry. They wUl by this time be fur- 

 nished with side shoots from top to bottom. They shfiuld then 

 be shaken out and repotted in -iS-sized pots ; the most suitable 

 soil is a mixture of jicat, leaf soil, loam, and sUver sand, in 

 equal proportions. After potting, the plants should be placed in 

 a similar position to that which they previously occupied, and 

 where they will soon till the pots with roots. All the side 

 shoots must be stopped as soon as the3' have fairly wade a pair 

 of leaves above the joint at which they were stopped before. 



When the plants are well established they should be supplied 

 about twice a-week with weak gnauo water ; this will bring out 

 the colour of the leaf in great perfection. There will be no 

 necessity for putting the plants into larger pots than those 

 named above. If the pots are larger than 4} or 5 inches in 

 diameter the plants often have to be turned out of the pots in 

 order to make them go into gold or silver cups, and the roots, 

 consequently, are fi-equently very much injured, and the ap- 

 pearance of the plant is then soon spoilt. 



The plants should be stopped as above directed till about the 

 last week in September ; after that time all the shoots may be 

 allowed to giow. By the end of October the plants will be per- 

 fect models, and the colour of the leaf will fai' surpass anything 

 we have for dinner-table decoration. Small plants, if grown as 

 described above, when mixed with any light-foUaged plants, 

 such as Centaurea candidissima, and Ferns, Mosses, &c., are 

 very chaste and beautiful for stands in drawing-rooms and 

 vestibules ; and large drawing-room vases arranged as follows 

 would produce a verj- neat and beautiful effect : — Place one large 

 pUmt of Iresine in the centre, tlien a ring of small plauts of 

 Centaurea candidissima and Iresine alternately, aU round. If 

 the vase is white, and it is large enough, a margin of Adiantum 

 cuneatum, or any otlier dwarf and graceful Fern, would make it 

 perfect. The vase, however, in the daj-time should be placed 

 between the line of vision and the li^ht, the colours would then 

 be seen to perfection. 



In the selection of cuttings care must be taken to take them 

 only from plants that arc perfectly healthy and in a free-grow- 

 ing state, and all the leaves should be perfect as to shape, &c., 

 as they will all be retained by the plant from tho time that it is 

 a cutting until it is full-grown. — J. Wills. 



EAINF.^LL AT jUU)DARROCH, DUiMEAETON- 

 SHIRE. 



I SEND yon an account of the rainfall here for the last twelve 

 years. The gauge is SO feet above the level of the sea. The 

 climate here is very mild ; we very seldom have any frost, and 

 evergreens thrive remarkably well, especially Ithododendrons. 

 Seedlings of these grow bo freely among the plantations, that 



we often require to hoe them up jo our wood walks ; but it 

 requires great care to keep Grapes that are ripened in August 

 hangmg till the month of December. 



leu. l»65.ll8St. je;7.|lKs.|iMr,. 1960. leei.'laK. 18«3. 



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67.20 «.as 67«:0O^S 71J(S|7SJ6ira.93 86« 8SJS T7« 70.60i60.79 



— W. ilcA., Gardener. 



CULTURE OF GOLDEN V.ARIEGATED 

 GER^VNIUMS. 



I QriTE agree with what Mr. Eeid has said in regard to the dis- 

 appointment that many have met with in the growth of these ; 

 also in regard to the reciprocity between root and branch, that 

 there i.5 a deficiency of fibrous roots as compared with other 

 bedding Geraniums. I find, however, that if they receive the 

 following treatment they will have tho required amount of roots 

 and branches like other varieties, and at present I have a stock 

 which, I am sure, cannot be surpassed for health and vigour. 



The following is my mode of treatment : — When the cuttings 

 are taken off, say about the beginning of September, they are 

 inserted in a cold pit in a compost of two parts of loam that 

 has been used for growing Melons, one part of old Mushroom 

 mauure, and one part made up of silver sand and leaf mould. 

 When the cuttings have been put in they are well watered to 

 settle the soil round them ; the lights are then drawn on, and 

 no ah- given let the sun be ever so bright. When the cuttings 

 become dry, which they wUl do first at the back of the pit, or 

 frame, give water, but not overhead, as Geraoituns are not often 

 benefited by such waterings. 



As soon as the cuttings are rooted, which they will be in the 

 course of five weeks, they ought to have a httle air for eight or 

 ten days, when potting should be commenced without delay. 

 In doing this use large (id-pots and the same compost as before, 

 with the exception of adding a httle more sand. After potting, 

 if there is a frame from which Jlelons have just been cleared 

 out, no place could be better adapted for them, as there will be 

 a gentle bottom heat. By keeping close for six or eight days 

 gi'owth will recommence, when air ought to be given very 

 gently at first, but the amount should be gradually increased 

 till the young plants are fuUy exposed. There they may be 

 kept till the nights become too cold, when they should be 

 placed near the glass in a house where a little heat is main- 

 tained throughout the winter, for they are very impatient of 

 cold auu damp, and when exposed to such conditions soon lOBS 

 their foliage and perish, or become useless. 



In spring, ."ay about the end of March, I take them out of 

 the houses where they have been kept growing from the time 

 they were strack. They are now removed into pits or frames 

 according to circumstances, and plunged in old Mushroom 

 manure to about 1 inch above the rims of the pots. Thus they 

 remain till planting-out time, when they are foimd to have 

 rooted over the rim of the pot into the manure. If carefully 

 removed to the beds a portion of the manure is carried along 

 with each plant, and the plants begin to root at once and ex- 

 perience no check. 



Treated as above, the plants at bedding-out time are found 

 to be as fine as any of the strong-growing varieties. 1 may 

 mention that I have tried other plans, but none seems to suc- 

 ceed so well and give so much satisfaction. The plants are 

 generally the admiration of all who see them during the sum- 

 mer mouths. 



The tricolor-leaved varieties I treat in the same manner, bnt 

 my experience is more limited with them but cqnaDy satis- 

 faotorj-. — JiitES SiEWAKT, ^'uncliam I'ark. 



Primcla sinensis. — The finest and richest coloured Chinese 

 Primroses we have yet seen are those raised by Messrs. Cut- 

 bush, Highgate NurserieB. 



