224 THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



"When growing, an occasional sponging of the leaves with tepid soft water will do 

 them good, but they must not be exposed to the sun while the foliage is wet. 



Peopagation of Clematis. — <S'. Jones. — The best way to propagate Clematis 

 is to select a vigorous shoot and lay it down. Let it spring up again, and then 

 nick with a sharp knife the back of every joint, and peg each joint into a pot 

 filled with a good potting compost, and plunge each pot to the rim. Every joint 

 will thus make a plant, and every plant will be better than those from layers 

 made in the ordinary way. 



Tiffany Houses. — P. W. Bagshot. — The larger you make your tiffany 

 house, the more secure will it be against frost. Roses, Azaleas, Camellias, and 

 all nearly hardy fruit trees, such as the choicer kinds of pears, peaches, etc., do 

 admirably in these houses, but they are quite unfit for soft-wooded greenhouse 

 plants during winter. You should build the house in a substantial way, in order 

 that it may be proof against storms, and it will be best to use stoutest tiffany. 



Hyacinths. — Constant Reader. — Your hyacinths have done growing now, and 

 you can do nothing but store them away till the end of September, and then 

 plant them out in rich sandy soil six inches deep, and in the spring cut away the 

 bloom spike as soon as it can be removed without injuring the leaves. The next 

 autumn you may have them potted for flowering. 



Planting Fountains. — C. IS. C, Moreton. — For the vicinity of a fountain 

 nothing can be better than Pampas grass, Elymus glauca, Tritoma uvaria, 

 Hydranges, Fuchsias, Lysimachia thyrsiflora, (Enothera Fraseri, Calla Ethiopica, 

 Osmunda regalis, Athyrium filix femina, Arundo donax, and other such plants 

 of graceful habit and fond of moisture. You cannot have anything grand to 

 flower in winter, but you can plant the bank with Winter Aconite, Christmas 

 Rose, and Primroses. In a sunny, dry position, one or two Lauristinas would be 

 UBeful for winter bloom. 



Cineearia Maeitima and Ceeastium. — 2?. W. H., Farringdon. — Cineraria 

 maritima is a hardy plant, and on elevated positions, where the soil is chalky, it 

 will survive the winter. But in gardens it is generally taken up and potted, with 

 liberal drainage, ajid may be wintered in a frame or pit. It may be propagated 

 either by seeds or cuttings. The cuttings do not root quickly, but hardly one 

 would fail if put in three-parts sand and kept moderately moist. It can be propa- 

 gated at all seasons without bottom heat, but April is the best time for novices. 

 Cerastium tomentosum may remain out all winter, and be taken up in the spring 

 and divided. If wanted in quantities, the young tops may be struck either with 

 or without the help of heat. 



Ranunculuses in Wintee. — R. F. — In Holland, in order to have Ranun- 

 culuses in bloom in winter, the bulbs are planted in July or later, up to Novem- 

 ber, in frames or cool dung-beds. Should the weather prove bad in the 

 autumn, lights are put on the frames, and removed whenever the external 

 temperature of the air will allow. 



Veebenas. — P. P. T. — Your verbenas wanted bottom heat to give them a 

 start after potting. It is common enough for people who work without the aid 

 of artificial heat to lose all their plants in spriDg, through repotting them. In 

 future, if you succeed so well in keeping your plants through the winter, leave 

 them alone until quite the end of April or the beginning of May ; indeed, you 

 might have left yours until the time to plant them out. 



Lilies of the Valley. — A Perplexed Subscriber. — It is probable that your 

 lilies of the valley are starved, through being kept so long in the pot without a 

 change of soil. They should have a shift into a larger pot in September, or better 

 still, shake them out completely, and repot them in rich turfy loam. To force 

 them into early bloom, place them on a hot-bed in February, and when they have 

 done blooming, keep them in a warm place until their leaves are thoroughly ripe 

 and then put them out in a sheltered place, where there is no danger of the foliage 

 being torn by the wind. 



Apple Teees. — C. TV. H. — Your apple trees are wrong at the root. You do 

 not say what age tbey are, or in what soil they are growing. You can do but 

 little for them now ; but it would afford some help, if some of the surface soil was 

 removed, and replaced by a mixture of half fresh loam and rotten dung well 

 chopped over; lay the mixture down, and tread firm. In autumn they must be 

 lifted and root-pruned. 



