HYDRANGEA. 



Greenhouse and Stove PlanU. 



•l\-6 



stood in places where there is comparatively 

 little light, even under the shade of other 

 plants, in positions that few if any other 

 lowering subjects would bear without 

 being so injured as to be useless after- 

 wards. 



There is a larger variety of the common 

 form, with the individual flowers of which 

 the head is composed, as well as the head 

 itself, much bigger than the older more 

 generally known kind. This is the best to 

 grow, difieiing in no way as to the ti'eat- 

 nient it requires in propagation, soil, and 

 time of flowering. Cuttings will strike at 

 any time of the year that they can beobtained 

 in a half or three parts ripened state, but 

 to ensuie the large heads on small plants 

 such as al:)ove described, the best method is 

 to have a few plants grown out in an open 

 •sunny situation, where they keep strong 

 and short-jointed. These, according to the 

 early or late character of each season, will 

 generally get sulhciently matured to be 

 taken oft in August, at which time the buds 

 will be formed in the points, in which 

 state they should be taken oft' at about the 

 third joint below the bud, and inserted 

 either singly in small pots or several round 

 the side of a 6-inch one. Place a few bits 

 of crocks in the bottom of each, on these 

 a little fibrous material, and dry or flaky 

 rotten dung, such as has been used for 

 mulching a Vine border or Asparagus bed. 

 They are in no way particular as to soil, 

 Ijut if it is preferred to have some of a blue 

 .sliade and others the normal colour, a 

 portion may be struck and grown in sandy 

 peat and the others in loam, in both cases 

 using it for the cuttings in something like 

 a proportion of one-fourth sand to the loam 

 or peat. The cuttings should be severed 

 at a joint, and inserted firmly in the soil, the 

 leaves, except those at the base which must 

 necessarily be removed, being retained. 

 A slight hot-bed should be prepared, on 

 which place an ordinary frame with glazed 

 lights ; in this plunge the pots, keeping 

 them well moistened and shaded from the 

 sun, but with the lights tilted night and 

 day, so as to keep the tops cool, otherwise 

 the heat will have a tendency to cause them 

 to break into growth, and they would be 

 spoilt for flowering in the dwarf state they 

 are intended to assume. They will soon 

 strike, after which the shading must be 

 dispensed Avith, and when they are well 

 furnished with roots at once remove them 

 to 6-inch pots, in which they may be 

 allowed to flower. Keep them cjuite cool 

 through the autumn — any pit, frame, or 

 house will answer, in which they will not 

 get frozen — it is better not to subject them 

 to frost ; thev will cast their leaves before 



I winter, nothing remaining but the woody 

 I shoot with the bud at its extremity. Bu't 

 ^ never allow the soil to become dry, or the 

 roots will sufler. If desired, a portion <>t 

 [ the plants may be had in bloom early by 

 [ piitting them in a moderate heat at 

 j Christmas, such as a vinery or peach-house 

 at work, or anywhere where an inter- 

 mediate temperature is kept up ; here 

 ' they will soon commence growing, making 

 two or three pairs of leaves below the 

 '• flowers. As soon as they begin growing 

 [ freely those that are intended to come Avith 

 l)ink flowers may be assisted once a week 

 A\ath moderately strong manure-water, 

 which will cause the production of much 

 larger heads of bloom ; but, we have never 

 been able to produce flowers of a decided 

 blue colour if manure-water was used ; 

 when it has been given to them even when 

 they were grown in all peat, or with alum 

 or iron in the soil, they have come neither 

 one thing or other, but a not very pleasing 

 mixture of both. Such as are wanted later 

 may be put in a little warmth, and some 

 allowed to come on with the assistance of 

 solar heat in an ordinary greenhouse 

 temperature. So managed a succession of 

 flowers can be kept up for six months. If 

 suckers are produced at the base these 

 should be removed until the plants come 

 into flower. After the blooms have got 

 shabby the shoots that have borne them 

 may be cut out at the bottom, as suckers 

 are sure to spring that will make more 

 compact plants ; plunge them out-of-doors 

 for the summer, winter out of the reach 

 of frost, and in the spring, just as they 

 show signs of beginning to grow, head 

 them right down to the bottom. They 

 will quickly throw up shoots that will 

 produce large heads of bloom on much 

 shorter growth than if borne upon the old 

 wood formed the preceding year. We 

 have kept plants for three years in the 

 same 6-inch pots they were first potted in 

 Avithout either change or addition of soil, 

 simply by using manure-water during the 

 time they were growing ; in the second and 

 third years they produced from three to 

 half-a-dozen fine heads, showing what can 

 be accomplished Avith the aid of liquid 

 manure to such plants as Avill bear it— in 

 this case they may be said to have been 

 altogether supported by it, as the small 

 quantity of soil in Avhich the roots were 

 placed must, after the first year, haA^e 

 become so exhausted a? to be nothing more 

 than a medium through Avhich the liquid 

 sustenance was conveyed to them. For 

 anything perceptible in the appearance of 

 the plants as to \-igour and ability to 

 produce floAvers, they would have gone on 



