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JOURNAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ April 22, 1873. 



block it IB necessary to place some spbagnum on first, and then 

 fasten the sphagnum and the plant to the block with copper 

 wire. If grown in a pot it ought to be quite three parts filled 

 with drainage, and the compost should be sphagnum, turfy 

 peat, and broken pots in equal proportions. When the young 

 growths are being made the plant ought to be shaded from the 

 sun and kept in a temperature of 65" at night. The leaves are 

 easily injured, and must be kept free from insect pests at all 

 times ; but thrips and red spider must be carefully guarded 

 against when the plant is making its growth. — J. Douiilas. 



SALVIA PATENS. 



from frost. The soil should never become dust-dry, or the 

 roots will shrivel at the neck and the eyes will refuse to start 

 in spring. This good old plant is commended to gardeners 

 generally, and to admirers of blue flowers particularly, as 

 worthy of extended cultivation, — A SnHKEY Gaedeneh. 



Both as a pot plant and as a border flower this well-kuown 

 Salvia unquestionably possesses high merit. Twenty years 

 ago it was more commonly met with than at the present day, 

 yet in beauty it is not superseded by any other species of the 

 same genus, or surpassed in colour by any flower that is grown 

 in hothouse or garden. 



As a conservatory plant it is deserving of more general at- 

 tention than it receives, as contributing a colour that is not 

 common to indoor plants, and which is fine by contrast with 

 other flowers of the same period, and, more than this, one 

 that is certain to be admired for its intrinsic richness and un- 

 doubted beauty. 



The plant is of the easiest possible culture. It may be had 

 in bloom over a long period of the year, and may be grown and 

 flowered small in a 48-sized pot, or be increased to the size of 

 a large bush carrying twenty or more spikes of bloom. It is 

 thus adaptable to small or large houses, and to various pur- 

 poses of decoration. It is a plant which, with gentle forcing, 

 will fill an important place after the Cinerarias are over, and 

 provide the colour which those plants have, in a measure, been 

 wont to give, and which is too often absent in Pelargonium, 

 Calceolaria, and Azalea time. For associating with those 

 plants in June the Salvia patens is extremely well adapted, and 

 cannot be too strongly recommended. 



For this purpose stools, established iu pots, have only to be 

 introduced into gentle heat in February, and be placed in a 

 light position, and by shiftiug-on they can be grown to any 

 size required. If small blooming plants are preferred the 

 young shoots can be struck in a brisk heat, when, by liberal 

 culture and without any pinching or stopping, they will be in 

 bloom in two or three months from the time of inserting the 

 cuttings. Rich soil with an abundance of water are the maiu 

 points leading to success. It should be stated that on break- 

 ing into growth the old plants should be carefully shaken-out 

 of the pots and be repotted in fresh soil. When full of roots 

 and in active growth they will require as much support as the 

 Chrysanthemum. It this is denied them they will not only 

 cease blooming, but will become infested by the red spider. 

 As summer and autumn-blooming garden plants, rows, clumps, 

 or individual plants in the mixed borders are very effective. 



How much this plant delights in moisture was evidenced by 

 the wet season of 1872, when it flowered uninterruptedly from 

 .July until destroyed by frost. Spring-struck cuttings of that 

 year grew into plants of immense size, and bloomed profusely 

 during the dripping period of that summer. 



If required in a dwarf state the plants can be pegged down, 

 but they are not suitable for fiUiog-in a panel — not only because 

 the growth is not close, but because during very hot weather, 

 when other plants are in beauty, these are apt to drop their 

 flowers, and would spoil the aggregate effect. It is for the 

 conservatory, for lines in shrubberies, or clumps in mixed 

 borders, that these plants are mainly suitable, and for such 

 purposes they should be universally cultivated. 



Their rich spikes are always in request as cut blooms, and 

 they last a considerable time — iu fact quite long enough — in 

 water. For this purpose alone this beautifully blue Salvia 

 should be provided. A lady armed with scissors and basket in 

 seeking to decorate her apartments will never pass by this 

 plant without a supply of its free yet imposing spikes of bloom. 

 A stock of this plant is easy to be had, for cuttings strike 

 quite freely at this season, and it is also easily raised from 

 seed. It is not a free-seeding plant, and not many can be 

 expected from a small packet. What there are, however, are 

 pretty certain in germination if afforded a genial heat and a 

 sufficiency of moisture. Plants from seed flower the same 

 season. 



Its tuberous roots will, in dry soil, and if covered with ashes, 

 survive the winter in the open ground ; but it is altogether pre- 

 ferable to take them up and store in pots or boxes quite free 



NOTES ON VILLA and SUBURBAN GARDENING. 



The Flower Garden. — Much activity will be needed in this 

 department from now up to the time of bedding-out, not so 

 much from this branch alone, but while this is going on other 

 things must be thought of to produce a display of bloom after 

 other plants are out; however, by dividing the subject, and 

 beginning wi'h the outdoor part, I may be better understood. 



Dahlias. — If these have not yet been started into growth 

 under glass, it would not be a bad plan to plant them out now 

 where they are to flower. I have done so about this time for 

 two seasons, not having room to do otherwise, and they have 

 done well. Of course the ground must be well prepared and 

 deeply cultivated for them, and well drained, so that the water, 

 of which they require an abundance, may pass off quickly. A 

 sheltered situation is the most suitable, on account of the 

 brittleness of the wood and heavy foliage. In order to develope 

 themselves they should not be less than 4 feet apart, and when 

 planting cover the roots with a coating of coarse sand ; but first 

 add lime to the soil, in order to check the attacks of slugs when 

 the young shoots begin to show. After planting, a covering of 

 rough litter over a coating of coal ashes will protect them from 

 frost ; but when the shoots come above ground allow them full 

 liberty in the daytime, but cover up at night until all danger 

 from frost is over. Staking and tying will be a necessary opera- 

 tion in due time. 



Gladiolus. — The principal lot of these must now be planted. 

 The treatment as to soil is about the same as for the Dahlia, 

 excepting that it should be fresh and not over-rich. The com- 

 mon or hardier sorts, such as Brenchleyensis, are not so particu- 

 lar as to soil-preparation as the newer and more tender varieties. 

 Carnations. — It is quite time that all those not intended for 

 pot culture, and which have been kept in pots in cold frames 

 all the winter, should be planted-out where they are to flower, 

 and the others shifted into pots a size larger; or, if that has 

 been done some time, the earth will need a little renewing. 

 Picotees and Pinks must now be planted-out in the same 

 manner, as well as most other perennial flowering plants, such 

 as Swpet Williams, Lychnises, Campanulas, Columbines, Fever- 

 few, Foxgloves, Hollyhocks, Canterbury Bells, Pansies, Sweet 

 Rockets, Rose Campion ; while other plants, such as Polyan- 

 thuses, Primroses, double Daisies, Thrift, Hepaticas, Saxifrages, 

 and Geutianellas, ought to have been planted early in the 

 autumn, as they are now at their flowering time. 



After the above work is done, aud in order to advance matters, 

 all the flower beds that are to have raised edgings — as is the 

 custom now in both small and large gardens, and which look un- 

 commonly neat — if the plants to be used are either hardy or 

 half-hardy they may now be planted. I allude to such plants as 

 Echeveria californica, Echeveria secunda glauca, Gnaphalium 

 lanatum, and plants of that type, which make suitable edgings, 

 and will take no harm if put out now ; and as the operation dis- 

 arranges the beds, these can after this be the better prepared 

 for the more tender plants to be planted hereafter. 



The Ixdoor Detartmext. — Here there is much to be done. 

 The work of propagating, where the stock is yet short, must be 

 carried on vigorously. The last of all to be propagated are the 

 Alternantheras, Coleus, &c., because they from their tender 

 nature cannot be trusted outdoors so soon as other plants — 

 possibly not till the beginning or middle of June. If a quantity 

 of these are required it will savu time if they are put thickly 

 into boxes instead of pots, and they will come out just as well at 

 bedding time, Coleus excepted ; these producing larger foliage, 

 are more tender, and not quite so vigorous in rooting, will do 

 best if each plant can have a pot to itself. Keep these and all 

 other bedding plants stopped, so that they may make the better 

 plants and cover more ground when planted-out. Pot-off or 

 prick-out Amarauthuses, Stocks, Asters, Indian Pinks, Chilian 

 Beet, Ricinus of sorts as they require it, and have all the bedding 

 stuff into a settled condition as fast as possible, so that when 

 another week or two has passed away all may be placed under 

 temporary protection outdoors, and in a short tiine be finally 

 hardened-off preparatory to being planted-out; this will leave 

 room for such plants as ought to Ije seen to now in order to flll- 

 up the vacant places. 



The first of these is the Primula sinensis. Sow seed of the 

 white and red separately in pans or pots half filled with drain- 

 age, the remainder finely-sifted peat and leaf mould half and 

 half, with sufticient sand to keep it from binding. Do not fill 

 nearer than within half an inch of the top of the pot ; cover the 

 seed thinly and water gently ; cover the whole over with damp 

 moss to prevent the soil drying too suddenly, which, as I have 

 said before, after they have vegetated is very hurtful to them 

 or all small seeds; place them in a Cucumber frame or where 



