274 MISCELLANEOUS INTELLIGENCE. 



On Watering Beds ofGeraniums, Heliotropes, &c. — Instead of doing in the 

 evening, as heretofore, I have this season watered my beds early in the morning, 

 and nothing can be more satisfactory. When done in the evening, a sudden 

 check by the cold water is given to the plants,' which increases till the 

 return of the next day's warmth ; this injures the blooming of the plants ; apply 

 it early in the morning, and the soil soon gets warmed. Once a-week I give 

 what will sink six or eight inches deep, but at other waterings about two inches 

 only. This attention has been amply repaid in the beauty of my flower garden 

 this summer of fine dry weather. A Lady Amateur Florist. 



On the using of Charcoal for Flowering Plants, &c. — 1 have proved the 

 use of charcoal in some thousands of instances with astonishing success. What 

 led me at first to attempt it, I had observed the same effects of charcoal in woods, 

 and as nature made use of it so successfully, it struck me I could derive benefit 

 from it with the plants under my care. I noticed that in the wood, where there 

 was even a yellow stiff clay, and the subsoil a rock of clay and gravel, and 

 where what was growing there was stunted and unhealthy, when a pit of 

 charcoal had been burned near, and the refuse, dust, &c. scattered around 

 the comparatively barren spot became rich and luxuriant. I use it in nearly all 

 ways and forms. I put it in bags, and place them in cisterns of water, and into 

 manured water ; I mix it amongst the earth, and drain almost every plant with it, 

 and I am more and more fully satisfied with its purifying qualities. I there- 

 fore strongly recommend its use by all who wish to have their floral beauties in 

 perfection. A Nobleman's Gardener, 



July 9, 1841. 



On preserving Half-hardy Plants,Pelargoniums, &c, duringiWinter. — It 

 being now the season to prepare for a young stock of Pelargoniums and other 

 half-hardy plants for the open beds next season, it brings the subject before 

 us of the best mode of keeping such a stock in as little space, and cheap- 

 ness, as possible. Frost and damp are the things to be guarded against ; 

 therefore a cold pit, whose bottom is half a yard deep of brickbats, or some similar 

 absorbing material, is indispensable to success ; a wooden frame must be laid 

 over that substratum, upon which the pots can be placed, or a layer of cinders 

 upon the brickbats, and over it somewhat finer ashes to allow the pots to be 

 placed even. There must; be provision made to admit a free supply of air by 

 ventilation at the front and back, at which openings rain will not be admitted. 



If a pit be kept in a wet state, frost of course is more powerfully operative 

 there, but to keep it dry the contrary. If there be the provision of a small fire- 

 flue along the front, just to heat the pit for an hour or two when occasional 

 damp prevails, it will be found very serviceable ; but it ought only to be heated 

 in the seldom cases named. A small metal stove pipe passing along the front 

 will do quite as well as a brick flue. All possible air, I repeat, when dry must 

 be admitted. Watering must be done sparingly ; only be applied when abso- 

 lutely necessary, and never apply it over the foliage. When the pit is to be 

 dried by applying a little fire heat, take care to allow an opening at the back of 

 the pit for k the damp td escape, for if kept closed, it will only pass into the 

 sides and ends, and on withdrawing the heat be as damp as before. If no fire 

 flue provision, then the dampness must be remedied by admission of air. 



On the Double Rocket. — It now being the time for increasing this lovely 

 sweet-flowered plant, so well meriting a place in every flower garden, I am in- 

 duced to state the plan which I have for many years pursued to perpetuate so 

 charming a plant. As soon as the plant ceases blooming, which varies a little, 

 from the early part of August to the end thereof, I cut off the shoots, and in 

 dry weather take care to water the plant ; this induces the production of offsets. 

 As soon as I find, by examination in the soil, that they are rooted, which is by 

 the end of September or early in October, I separate them from the parent 

 plant, put them three or four in a pot, or if small-sized pots, one in each ; place 

 them in a frame to get them established before winter sets in. I keep them in 



