THE FLORAL -WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 237 



THE HYDRANGEA. 



1HERE are several distinct species of Hydrangea in culti- 

 vation, but the best is H. hortensis, which produces pink 

 flowers when grown in rich loam, and blue flowers when 

 grown in either peat or loam in which there is a decided 

 trace of the salt of iron. It is one of the best plants 

 for the conservatory or entrance court, and looks well amongst 

 groups of pot plants near a summer-house or fountain. The shortest 

 and surest way of insuring large heads of flowers with the least 

 possible trouble, is to procure, during the month of May, cuttings 

 from the lower part of the stems of strong plants-, and young shoots 

 with four or five joints ; not more than five joints are preferable to 

 those with three. Remove the two lowest leaves from the cuttings, 

 and pot them singly in thumb-pots, in a mixture of leaf-mould and 

 peat, with a very little sand. They must then be placed on a moist 

 bottom-heat of not more than 60°, either over a propagating tank 

 or a frame over a dung-bed. They will require to be kept mode- 

 rately moist, and will bear to be closely confined until they form 

 roots. Air should be given moderately after the lapse of a week, 

 and thenceforward increase the supply, so that by the time the pots 

 are filled with roots the plants will be hard and thrifty. When pro- 

 pagated on a large scale, the cuttings may be dibbled into wet sand 

 placed over a tank or dung-bed; but it is better to pot them 

 singly at first, as it i3 a decided gain in the end. "When the thumb- 

 pots are filled with roots, shift to 60-size pots, using a compost 

 of peat, leaf-mould, and loam from rotted turf, equal parts of each ; 

 keep them in the greenhouse or warm pit, water frequently overhead 

 and at the root ; give plenty of air, and keep the plants near the 

 glass. When these pots are full of roots, shift into six-inch pots, 

 the compost to be strong turfy loam, full of fibre ; turfy peat, rotten 

 manure, and leaf-mould, equal parts ; no sand. For drainage of 

 these pots use only one large oyster-shell, placed over the hole in 

 the pot hollow side downwards. The plants should be shifted into 

 these pots without breaking the balls of earth formed in the 60's, 

 and at once placed on a bed of coal ashes, or a hard pavement in a 

 shady place out-of-doors, or plunged to the rim in a bed of cocoa- 

 nut refuse. They should have abundance of water, and by the end 

 of October should have attained a considerable size, and have ripened 

 plenty of hard flowering wood for the next season. The plants should 

 be housed at the end of October. A cold pit suffices for their protec- 

 tion ; they should have a little water occasionally, and be kept clean, 

 aa they lose their leaves. In severe weather a little care should be 

 taken to prevent their being severely frosted. Prom this point the 

 cultivator may proceed either to force a few at a time or allow them 

 to bloom naturally as the season advances. The first thing to do is 

 to cut them back to about six eyes from the bottom of each well- 

 placed ripe shoot, removing any weak inside shoots that might 

 crowd the head without improving the plant. Next give them a 

 shift to pots seven and a half inches in diameter, with the same soil 



August. 



