BBIF.F REifAHKS. 189 



sharpen one end. Then, at this dressing, thousands of little tops are 

 discarded as useless ; and a man is sent to the fields and hedges in the 

 height of summer, for whole days, to look out " pegs " to do what the 

 fuchsia tops would liave done much better, unless one chooses rather to 

 work on tiie old plan of training " by hooks and by crooks." 



Speaking of Geraniums in tliis the height of the crossing season, let 

 me urge on cross-breeders to try to get us a set of good bedding sorts, 

 with verj' small leaves and distinct colours. Pure whites and lilacs we 

 are very much in want of, and the large poppy leaves of the fancy 

 sorts are altogether unsuitable for bedding ones. Between one thing 

 and another, I sliall not be able to cross much this season, but from 

 what I have done I am quite satisfied of tlie possibility of originating 

 a section for bedding with very small leaves, and large clear-coloured 

 flowers. The best new seedling of this season whicii I have seen, has 

 clear wliite flowers about the size of those of Queen Victoria, and 

 much after the same shape, but tiie largest of the leaves could be hid 

 under a shilling ; but I did not learn if tiie plant is a perpetual summer 

 bloomer like the Queen, but I believe it is. I have seen another 

 seedling from the fancy sorts, which takes after the habits of the florists' 

 Pelargonium, of great beauty; the flower is quite round, the back 

 petals of that deep shade peculiar to Ibrahim Pasha, a clear white 

 eye, and the front petals light salmon. It is, tlierefore, beyond a 

 doubt tiiat the Pasha and Anais are capable of imparting their shades 

 to the better forms of tlie old sorts, although at first every breeder 

 thought this cross would be worthless, seeing the clouded and speckled 

 seedlings which the first two or three crosses brought to light. I 

 would recommend breeders to discard Atiais altogether, and employ 

 Ibrahim Pasha instead, and always as the mother plant ; for there is 

 not much truth in the idea, tliat " breeding in and in " will deteriorate 

 the offspring — not at least the flowers ; and if the leaves could be 

 rendered smaller tiiat way, it would rather be an advantage; but I 

 have little faith in that either. — D. Beaton, Cottage Gardener. 



On propagating Evergreens. — I have lately observed a method 

 most successfully practised by a friend of mine in Argylesliire, which 

 is not, I think, sufficiently known. He plants in an oval or circular 

 space, prepared as usual, as many shoots of the year's growth as it will 

 hold closely placed ; he fences the plot with brushwood, and never 

 thins them. In three or four years the shoots unite into an extended 

 and beautiful bush, and in two years they are an ornament to the 

 woods and shrubberies. 



My friend has some fine old Laurels, with bare and unsightly stems ; 

 he has planted round them, at tiie distance of a foot or more, a number 

 of these shoots, and the effect is extremely good, as they soon unite 

 with the old bush, and continue its dark foliage down to the ground. 

 This plan answers best with the Laurel, Laurestinus, Berberis, Ma- 

 tronias. and Rhododendrons. 



