18& MISCELLANEOUS INTELLIGENCE. 



FART III. 



MISCELLANEOUS INTELLIGENCE. 



v 



QUERIES. 



On the Culture of Pelargoniums." — A few remarks on Pelargoniums 

 are requested in tbe August number not later. 

 July l&ih. A Young Gentleman. 



The query came after our original communications were printed ofl, we 

 however give the practice of the most eminent growers around London. 



As soon as the old plants have done blooming, say, by the end of June at 

 latest ; cuttings are taken off, cutting each clean, horizontally, close 

 under a joint, dressing off any leaves as far up as the cutting is to be 

 inserted in a mixture of sand and loam, equal parts. These are struck 

 on a slight hot-bed, from hot sun ; in a month they strike root, and are 

 then potted into 60's, in a compost of sandy loam and peat, or vegetable 

 mould, then shading for a few days in a frame till struck afresh, when 

 they are exposed to the open air. By the middle or end of August, 

 they are repotted and the top of each plant is cut off, to cause a pro- 

 duction of laterals which get pushed a few inches before winter, to fur- 

 nish blooms next year. This latter attention is essential to have them 

 bloom fine. By the early part of October the plants are all housed, 

 and kept in rather a dry state through winter. In February following 

 or early in March, the plants are repotted into a very rich loamy soil 

 using a good degree of drainage, a free supply of water is given through 

 the following season. When the young shoots have pushed, if too many, 

 they are stemed out in April, and a few left to bloom vigorously. Such 

 plants are cut down in September, re-potted. &c, as stated is done to 

 the above. We will however give an article more in detail in another 

 number. — Conductor. 



On Benthamia Tragifera, (Or Corrnus Capitata). — An Old Subscri- 

 ber to Harrison's Floricultural Cabinet, requests to be informed of the best 

 mode to bring the Benthamia Tragifera plant to flower and fruit. Tbe 

 writer of this has three good sized plants of four or five years growth, and in 

 a good healthy state, but have never flowered. For the last two winters 

 they were kept in large pots and housed. 



Bath, June Alh, 18S8. 



We hope our respected correspondent, who sent us the fruit in the first, 

 instance from Cornwall, will favor us with the mode of treatment which 

 had been produced so as to have a plant fourteen or more feet high, 

 and proportionably bushy. We had a plant at Downham, Norfolk, 

 planted in the open ground last July, which remained out in a very 

 exposed situation during the last winter ; the branches and upper part 

 of the stem were destroyed by the frost, but the lower part fit the stem 

 survived and is now pushing forth shoots. If the precaution of pro- 

 tecting the plant by matting, or even the stem wrapped up with straw 

 handage, &c, we arc of opinion that only the lateral branches would 

 ha\ c suffered. 



