166 MISCELLANEOUS INTELLIGENCE. 



On the Culture of Agapanthus umbellatus. — A Subscriber wishes 

 to know the best method of keeping and treating the Agapanthus umbella- 

 tus. Being advised by a professional man to plant them in water, which he 

 considered their natural element, I tried it, but it did not answer my ex- 

 pectations. I have several plants which flower when planted inlarge pots in 

 garden mould, which have little attention, but well supplied with water in 

 .summer, and placed in a cold frame in winter ; they also flower planted 

 in a south border, and during winter a hand glass placed over them: but 

 the most successful mode of culture is what I desire to know. 



Waltham Cross, Herts. Young Flora. 



On the Spindling of the Carnation. — The sulphate of lime used, is 

 the stone from which plaster of Paris is made by calcination ; it is by no 

 means so difficult to powder as Ignoramus imagines; a boy with a broad 

 faced hammer would powder a barrowfulin a day to the consistence of coarse 

 sand, which is fine enough. It may be bought of all respectable plasterers, 

 and shipmasters trading to France or Arabia. C. N. is informed that the 

 practice I adopt with such Carnations as spindle up in winter, is to break 

 off the flower stem about a fortnight before planting them to flower. The 

 grass then upon the plant will immediately begin to grow. When they have 

 made three or four joints, cut them all off but one (the strongest) between 

 the third and fourth joint ; these stumps will throw out plenty of grass for 

 layering ; the one left entire may be trained up to flower. I am seldom 

 troubled with this complaint, except in fresh bought flowers, which I attri- 

 bute to my plan of layering, viz. I divide my flowers into three classes, 

 early, middle, and late flowering ; the latter, such as Spitfire, I layer in the 

 middle of this month — the middle class in July — and the early, the second 

 week in August ; by pursuing this plan, my flowers are all in bloom at the 

 same time. When layers are removed from the old plant, be careful to cut 

 them to a level with the nib from which they have struck root; and after 

 they have been potted a fortnight, they will have struck from this part also, 

 which renders them in no way inferior to pipings. Two-year-old Auriculas 

 are best grown in 21's ; and I should consider 12's large enough for any 

 plant C. N. keeps his compost properly. Innovator. 



June 6th. 



REMARKS. 



On Gladiolus psittacinus. — I procured last spring three roots of the 

 Gladiolus psittacina, each the size of a large nutmeg; these I planted in the 

 open border, in a compost of leaf mould and rotten dung. (Inly one of the 

 bulbs produced a flower, which was a very superb one indeed, having twelve 

 blossoms on one stalk; a more beautiful Gladiolus I never beheld. 



I dug up the roots in the fall, and instead of the three roots wliich I 

 planted in the spring, I found five, two of the original roots having divided; 

 each of these roots was as large as a middling sized onion ; but I was sur- 

 prized by finding what I considered an extraordinary number of bulbs ad- 

 hering to the roots, eight of them the size of a hazel nut, as many more as 

 large as a pea, and above six hundred the size of grains of wheat. 



I do not know whether there is any thing very extraordinary in this re- 

 sult, though I cannot but anticipate, that in a very few years this magnifi- 

 cent plant (roots of which three or four years ago were selling at 7s. each) 

 will, from its abundant increase, become the ornament of every cottage 

 garden. T. W. 



May 20th, 1834. 



On Budding the Wild Roses crowing in Hedges. — Last year I 

 budded a number of the garden variety of Roses, upon the wild ones growing 

 in my hedge rows. I selected different shades of colour in the kinds, and 

 such as are highly fragrant. They are now in blooming, and to view the 

 variety of shades in colour, and to inhale the delightful odoriferous scent 

 they impart, is most gratifying. I suggest to the numerous readers of the 



