BRIEF REMARKS. G7 



Ena^land's Queen, deep rose, broad petal. Vulcan, deep crimson 

 centre, incurved. La Keine d'Or, rich yellow, very double, in clusters. 

 Fleur de Maria, white. Anemone-flowered. Barbette, bright rose. 

 Nelson, rosy-carmine, yellow centre. Philiaris, bright purple, lighter 

 centre, broad petal. Agenora, deep pink, very double. Vietorine, 

 rosy-salmon, broad petals, very double. 



Striking Cuttings of Shrubby Calceoi,arias. — I used to find 

 much difficulty in striking cuttings of these plants, and tiiat difficulty 

 I have found was in consequence of my attempting it at the wrong 

 time. I had considered them as requiring similar treatment to green- 

 house plants in general, and therefore put off Calceolarias from the 

 middle of April to the end of July, and placed the pots of cuttings in 

 gentle heat, as done with the stock of greenhouse plants. I never suc- 

 ceeded with a quarter of what I inserted. Reading over some of the 

 volumes of this Magazine last October, I saw you strongly recom- 

 mended cuttings and slips to be put in in autumn, and to be struck in 

 an exhausted hot-bed or cool pit-frame. I immediately put in a quan- 

 tity from the plants then just taken up out of the flower-beds ; also a 

 second lot in November ; and on looking them over a week back, I 

 found every cutting and slip had struck root. I am tlierefore satisfied 

 a cool atmosphere is essential to success ; even winter will do. — 

 Juvenis. 



Azalea indica. — This charming tribe of flowering plants is now 

 in floral bud. Care must be taken that the collar of the plant be an 

 inch above the rest part of the ball of soil, so that no water is allowed 

 to collect at the trunk. For want of this precaution I had several fine 

 plants die last season. I also give a liberal drainage when potting ; I 

 find that to be essential to health. I use crocks two inches deep, upon 

 which I place a layer of turfy-peat, broken into pieces. — Clericus. 



Verbenas. — From the plants that have survived winter take cuttings 

 early in February, and strike them in sand, in gentle heat, and pot off, 

 as soon as rooted, into small sixty-sized pots, and when requiring more 

 room re-pot into two sizes larger, and pinch off the tops, in order to 

 make the plants push laterals, and to form bushy plants. These side 

 shoots should be thinned, so as to leave only three or four at most, at 

 equal distances. Such as are for bedding-out may be allowed to grow 

 without pinching-in again ; but if to be retained in pots, for blooming 

 through the season, pinch off' the early blooming heads, and when fresh 

 side shoots are pushed thin them properly; only retain as many as will 

 furnish the plant so as to be open and free. Cultivated in pots, the 

 compost should be equal parts of rich loam, peat, and leaf-mould, with 

 a sprinkling of bits of charcoal. — A. B. 



On protecting Plants in Greenhouses, Pits, or Frames, from 

 Frost, &c. — The late severe frost has produced a considerable stir 

 amongst amateur gardeners relative to the cheapest, best, and readiest 

 mode of protecting plants in the above-named situations, and where 

 there was not the advantage of fire. I have adopted the following with 

 perfect success for the last two years. In April 1846, I procured in 

 Xiondon a number of the tliick woven bass mats, at 6*. per dozen, 

 which I had, being tightly stretched, nailed securely to a wooden 



