242 EXTRACTS. 



bum clay is a certain method of fertilizing it, which induces me to hope I may 

 through the iustrumentality of your publications find a remedy for the soil I 

 describe. Stephen Cannon. 



On the Cultlre of Dutch Bulbs. — An article on the growth of bulbs 

 such as Hyacinths, Narcissuses, &e. in pots is very much wanted, and if given 

 would be very highly acceptable to a numerous class of the readers of the 

 Florkiiltural Cabinet. I hope some of your numerous correspondents will 

 take the matter in hand. J. B. Denton. 



On THE CcLTiVATioN OF GLOXINIAS. — You would much oblige me by the 

 following request in the FloricuUural Cabinet : — I am most anxious to obtain 

 information on the growth and mode of preservation, as a greenhouse plant, 

 of that beautiful tribe of flowers. Gloxinia maculata, G. speciosa, &.c. Did I 

 not think but that some other or others of its readers, would, in some measure, 

 be gratilied by an answer to my query, I should not presume to thus take up 

 part (however trivial) of pages, which have hitherto been devoted, with such 

 capital effect, to instructive intelligence on subjects which you, in their primi- 

 tive developement, promised they should contain. 1 congratulate you on the 

 fnltilment of your word. J. Bailey Denton. 



P.S. The plants I now have, I perceive, are daily decaying leaf by leaf from 

 moisture or damp. 



[Note. — We hope some of our correspondents will attend to the request of 

 Mr. Denton at an early opportunity. — Conductor.] 



ANSWERS. 

 On Tigridia patonia, bv Snowdrop. — This plant has always succeeded 

 very well with me, by planting the tubers in a bed the beginning of March, 

 about three inches apart and three inches deep, and I have enjoyed a constant 

 succession of bloom; but however large the bed, any one would be disap- 

 pointed who expected that e.\eTj plant would daily throw out a flower. The 

 tubers are very liable to rot, and great care should be taken to keep them dry 

 after they are taken up, which may be done as soon as the foliage begins to 

 decay. Snowdrop. 



Answer to Mr. John Emory, of Pimlico, page 183, on the Tipped 

 Dahlia. — I think I cannot better answer your respectable correspondent, Mr. 

 Emory, than by giving a short history of the Dahlia in question, which was 

 named by John Ward, Esq. " The Incomparable," on account of its eccen- 

 tricity. I raised it from seed gathered from an old sort known here as Wells's 

 Comet, in 1827. At first, I thought it very much resembled the sort it sprung 

 from ; but I observed many buds on the south side of the plant of a pale lilac 

 colour, and when they came into bloom I was surprised to find them tipped 

 with white. Many individuals supposed the tipping was produced by some 

 chemical process. The year following I struck a considerable number from 

 cuttings, and then divided the old roots according to the number of shoots, 

 all of which I planted in various situations. Some were planted upon an old 

 onion bed, which had the year before been manured with night soil, and 

 nearly all the flowers tipped. Others were planted on a north aspect, upon 

 the site where an old thorn hedge had been stubbed, and all of them tipped. 

 Others were planted in the regular way, and some tipped, and others did not. 

 The year following, upon the above two spots, scarcely any tipped. I was 

 advised to try peat, river sand, and half-rotten dung, and again all were self 

 colours. I gave Mr. Paxton (gardener to his Grace the Duke of Devonshire) 

 a plant, which was planted on a mound of rotten leaves, sand, &c., and every 

 bloom was mcst beautifully tipped ; they were very much admired. The 

 following year Mr. Pa.xton set a large quantity in the most conspicuous 

 places, and to his great disappointment there was not a single tipped bloom. 

 Any plan that may be taken cannot be depended upon : however, I would 

 recommend maiden soil, rotten leaves, sand, and a little half rotten dung 

 mixed together, to plant in ; and if the ground should be strong and wet, i 

 would recommend a quantity of stones to be put, to act as a drainage. — 

 If the plant is grown too luxuriant, it seldom or ever produces tipped flowers. 

 The more dwarf it is grown the better. Many persons in this neighbourhood 



