MISCELLANEOUS INTELLIGENCE. 187 



Cai.anthb maslca. — A terrestrial orchideous plant, flowered at Messrs. 

 Rollisson's, a native of Ceylon, Nepal, and other parts of India. The flowers 

 are of a deep violet colour, very handsome. 



Aristoi.ochia gigas. — From Guatemala, and has bloomed in the Chiswick 

 Gardens. It is an extraordinary blooming plant, the tube is six inches long, 

 and the limb even more, and the terminating tail is longer still, 



Sieversia ei-ata. — From Nepal io the London Horticultural Society. It has 

 bloomed at Chiswick. It is a hardy herbaceous plant with deep pinnatifid 

 leaves. The flowers are large, produced in panicles of four or five each, large 

 of a deep yellow. 



PART III. 

 MISCELLANEOUS INTELLIGENCE. 



QUERIES. 



On striking Cuttings ok Garden Roses.— I have, this spring, purchased a 

 number of the Roses recommended by the Conductor of the Cabinet in a former 

 Number, which are now in bloom, and fully justify all that was said of them. 

 I am desirous to increase them. Can this be done by cuttings P If so, when 

 and how am I to proceed ? An early answer will be a "favour conferred on 



A Rose Bud. 



[Cut off young shoots close at their origin with a sharp knife ; dress off a few 

 of the bottom leaves. If there be the advantage of an exhausted cucumber-bed, 

 take out the old soil, put in some fresh sandy soil, and insert the cuttings in 

 firmly round the stems, and water them freely as soon as put in. Keep the 

 frame close, and shade from mid-day sun. Occasionally sprinkle them overhead, 

 doing it early in the morning or afternoon. If there be no convenience, a slight 

 hot-Led, earthed, and cuttings properly inserted, and covered with a hand glass, 

 will do. In many cases cuttings inserted in the natural ground, having a warm 

 situation, and covered with a hand-glass, shaded as required, will succeed quite 

 satisfactory. — Conductor.] 



To have the Hydrangea hortensis with Blue Flowers. — A subscriber is 

 anxious to be informed what method she must adopt in order to cause the Hy- 

 drangea hortensis to produce blue flowers. It' the Conductor, or some reader, 

 would give an early reply, it would confer a great favour. 



[Plants grown in a yellow loamy soil, which contains a considerable portion 

 of oxide of iron, will bloom blue ; though not always becoming so the first season, 

 they will the second, and every following year whilst so treated. A prepared 

 compost of other kinds of loamy soil, mixed with one-eighth of iron filings, or 

 what the blacksmiths, &c, term smithy-slack, the fallings off their heated iron 

 when beating it into desired forms, mixed with one-sixth of loam, have been 

 used with success. The yellow loam is the best we have adopted; with it 

 flowers of an intense blue are produced. 



If any of our readers know how to prepare a compost which will answer 

 equally well, we shall feel obliged by the favour of a communication for insertion 

 in the Cabinet ; it will be especially useful where yellow loam cannot be readily 

 procured. — Conductor.] 



REMARKS. 



On causing Cactuses to bloom Freely. — Some persons break off the ends 

 of the shoots in order to check their growth ; but whoever notices the plants ex- 

 hibited at the London shows will not tail to see that coiling the branches round 

 the trellis causes the production of a profusion of bloom by checking the sap. 



T. B. 



R 'Z 



