388 



JOUBNAL OF HOETIOULTUKB AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ Ma; 20, 1875. 



cow mannre for the leaf monld and diminiBhing the pro- 

 portion of peat. In this final potting mixture lampy char- 

 coal was freely incorporated and the pots were well drained, 

 for although Poinsettias require copious supplies of water, any 

 approach to stagnancy must be avoided. The foliage will turn 

 yellow and drop off either by drought or excessive wet ; there- 

 fore both extremes must be provided against, as by losing their 

 leaves the plants are robbed of half their beauty. In potting 

 it is well not to fill the pots within 1^ or 2 inches of the top ; 

 and then, when the bracts, show a top-dressing of cow mannre 

 can be given, which will increase their size and colour. The 

 routine culture in frames is attention to air and watering. In 

 bright weather water must be used freely to supply the loss 

 by transpiration from the large leaves. In the afternoon, at 

 closing time, the plants should be freely sprinkled overhead. 

 Always use tepid water. In sultry weather the removal of the 

 lights at night is very beneficial. The plants so treated at- 

 tained a height of 2 feet and perfected good heads. It is im- 

 portant that they be removed from the frames when the night 

 temperature falls below 00°. Care must be taken that they 

 are not placed suddenly in a dry atmosphere, or the foliage 

 ■will inevitably turn yellow and decay. Any check to the roots 

 by whatever cause is also a certain precursor of bad foliage, or 

 none at all. 



For dwarf plants I strike yonng shoots in summer. These 

 small plants are after all the most useful. They may be had 

 from 4 inches high to 1 foot, and are invaluable for many pur- 

 poses of decoration. Propagation is also effected by the old 

 ■wood somewhat after the manner of Vine eyes, but for dwarf 

 healthy plants I have always found the striking of the young 

 shoots the most satisfactory. The cuttings may be put in any 

 time during the summer. If plants a foot high are wanted 

 the eiid of July is a good time, and for very dwarf plants a 

 month later will be a suitable time to take the cuttings. With 

 due care and attention not one in twenty will fail to strike. 

 The conditions are brisk heat, a close atmosphere, and, for a 

 time, dense shade. For striking the cuttings a bottom heat 

 of 90° is not too much. This may be afforded by fermenting 

 manure, on which is placed close-fitting handhghts or a frame 

 — that is, in case no proper propagating house is at hand. 



The cuttings should be selected from stout short-jointed 

 shoots and be inseited singly in thumb pots, using light soil 

 surfaced with puie sand. They should be laid for half an 

 hour, or less, to dry the wound previous to being put in. For 

 the first few days they must be densely shaded, gradually 

 inuring them to the light. In ten days the young roots will 

 protrude throueh the pots, and the plants can, after being duly 

 prepared, be thifled into their blooming pots, having one or 

 several plants in a pot as desired. These cuttings if well 

 managed will not lose a single leaf, and the bracts they pro- 

 duce will be as fine as if the cuttings had not been severed 

 from the plants. Long-jointed sappy growth will not strike, 

 but select those shoots with the leaves near together, and take 

 them oft at a time when the stems have attained a dark green 

 and become mature, and they will strike freely. Indeed few 

 wUl fail. 



Thus with plain homely materials and starting late may a 

 eupply of these attractive plants be had. So long as a pro- 

 perly heated structure is provided in which they can bloom 

 their summer culture need not be a source of trouble. Cold 

 frames transformed into miniature stoves by conserving the 

 Bun heat, and cuttings of the young shoots being put-in in the 

 growiEg season will result in a stock of admirable plants to 

 brighten up the dark winter months. The glowing heads will 

 last for weeks either on the plants, or cut and inserted in moist 

 sand for using as cut flowers in rooms. 



For this plant there is no substitute, and I advise all who 

 have the means of growing them to increase their stock by the 

 striking of cuttings as fast as they can be obtained, still wait- 

 ing until each shoot is stout and in a measure matured before 

 it is severed from the plant ; success is then certain with 

 correct treatment and attentive care. — A Subrey Gardener. 



OVERCROWDING OF PLANTS AT EXHIBITIONS. 

 In Mr. Tymon's notes on the Manchester Auricula Exhibi- 

 tion is a sentence demanding prominence at the present time. 

 The sentence is this — "The plants looked hudd.'edup,andit was 

 nearly impossible to make out what plants belonged to any one 

 exhibitor." That is an evil common to most exhibitions me- 

 tropolitan and provincial, and, moreover, it is a growing evil. 

 The good old plan o£ dividing collections by strips ol list is 



being generally departed from, to the no small confusion o{ 

 visitors and causing unpleasant crowding, as each examiner 

 is often obliged to stop to count the plants, and, as well as he 

 can, determine for himself where one collection ends and the 

 next begins. By less crowding and clearly-defined divisional 

 lines the groups of plants would show to better advantage, and 

 the exhibitions would be much more enjoyable to the general 



public. — Ex-ESHIBITOE. 



THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



The present state of the affairs of the Koyal Horticultural 

 Society is most bewildering. Who could ever have imagined 

 that a Society of so long standing, so honoured at home and 

 abroad, and privileged with the title of "Koyal," could have 

 fallen so low as that it should be sued for the payment of the 

 prizes it voluntarily offered and which it is unable to pay? 

 There is a heavy responsibility resting on the shoulders of 

 those men who were instrumental in turning out the old 

 Council, and who came before the Fellows with bland speeches 

 and promises which have never been fulfilled. They and their 

 nominees now on the Council are answerable for all this, and 

 if they have any sense of honour they will acknowledge their 

 fault, and resign a position they never ought to have held, and 

 which they are unable now to hold with credit to themselves 

 and with advantage to the Society. In these remarks it must 

 be understood that we except those gentlemen who were no- 

 minated and accepted office as representatives of horticulture, 

 but who it is well known have been overruled and all but 

 ignored in all the negotiations that have been carried on be- 

 tween the Council and the Royal Commissioners. It is true that 

 lately since the crisis is come and their help has been needed, 

 they have been shown more consideration ; but the mischief 

 is done, and let those who have caused it bear the responsi- 

 bility. Every official position in the Council since that cala- 

 mitous day when the old Council unfortunately resigned hag 

 been filled with a Kensingtonian Fellow. President, Vice-Presi- 

 dents, Secretary, and Treasurer were all Kensingtoniana till a 

 month or two ago when trouble was at the door, and then, for 

 decency sake probably, the Hon. and Kev. J. T. Boscawen was 

 made a Vice-President, and that was the first compliment paid 

 to a horticultural member of Council. It cannot be said, there- 

 fore, that the present difficulties were brought about by a hor- 

 ticultural Council, of which one would suppose a horticultural 

 society ought to be composed. 



But what is to be done ? The men in power seem helpless, 

 and have no remedy to propose.- It is high time the FeUowa 

 took the matter in their own hands. Why should not a com- 

 mittee be appointed to confer with the Council, and act in 

 unison with them in negotiating with the Royal Commissioners, 

 or even to approach the Commissioners themselves ? Let this 

 be composed of earnest business men with a love of horti- 

 culture in their hearts, and imbued with the spirit and tra- 

 ditions of the Society. Let them not be of those fussy par- 

 tisans who lately have shown themselves so prominently at 

 the Society's meetings — such men, for instance, as complain 

 of the Secretary's neglect of duty, and when appealed to have 

 mistaken the wrong man for the Secretary — of such as puts 

 himself forward so prominently that an inexperienced Council 

 make him an Auditor of the Society, in which capacity he so 

 egregiously fails as to pass accounts as paid which never have 

 been paid, and of which he could never have seen the vouchers. 

 It is not such men who are to form such a committee. 



Another step might be taken which would help to mend 

 matters. Let there be a committee nominated to make a 

 house-to-house visitation over the whole of the South Kensing- 

 ton estate and solicit subscriptions and donations to enable 

 the Society to meet its present difficulties. Some such course 

 must be taken or the Society must lapse. But first of all let 

 us see a strong Council of men in whom the Society can have 

 confidence — men with statesman-like views, who can and will 

 grapple with the present difficulties. Until we have such a 

 Council there is no hope, let whatever may be done by Royal 

 Commissioners or the public, that the Society will or can go on. 



PREVENTING GREEN FLY. 

 Your correspondent ("Constant Reader") on orchard- 

 house management in your last number. May 13tb, suggests 

 instant fumigation on the first appearance of aphis. I find 

 that prevention is better than cure, and with the exception of 

 this year (I was without tobacco rope at the proper time) when 



