56 THE FLOEAL WORLD AND GAEDEN GUIDE. 



hardy perennials. They are best propagated, supposing there being 

 no other convenience, on a shady border under a hand-glass or small 

 frame, which is not difficult to construct ; or cuttings may be struck 

 in moderate sized pots, which are half filled with soil, the cuttings 

 put in, and a piece of glass laid over the top of the pot, thus cover- 

 ing them in as completely as by a hand-glass. Cuttings of almost 

 anything may be struck in this manner, and a good substitute for a 

 hand-glass is a large flower-pot with the bottom broken out, and a 

 piece of glass laid iu its place ; the sides of this will act as shades. 

 Any soil will do for the purpose, but if it be not very porous it 

 should be made so with sand, care should be taken that it be made 

 thoroughly moist before putting in the cuttings. The best time to 

 strike all bedding plants is July and August, the ground being then 

 a natural hotbed. Calceolarias may be as well left to September 

 or October. To strike scarlet geraniums, all that is necessary is to 

 plant the cuttings as we do cabbage-plants ; there will be no fear of 

 their striking root ; but for verbenas, etc., a little more care is 

 necessary, but not so much as is generally supposed. Take the 

 cuttings rather small, insert them in moist earth by merely thrust- 

 ing them down ; cover them up, and leave them for the next fort- 

 night or three weeks, and nineteen out of every twenty will be 

 struck. They should then be potted up and kept out of doors as 

 long as possible, when they may be kept in windows during the 

 winter, taking care that they are not treated too tenderly, so as to 

 be drawn up. We have often kept such things in a common frame, 

 by merely banking earth round it thick enough to resist sharp frosts, 

 and by well attending to the covering and uncovering with litter. 



Having kept these till May, they are then planted with due re- 

 gard to height and colour ; the bright yellow of the calceolaria as a 

 centre, the vivid scarlet of Tom Thumb geranium round them, these 

 surrounded by white verbenas, and these again by blue lobelias, will 

 harmonize together, and have a fine effect. But it is as well not to 

 be guided by rule or precedent ;• our object should be to work in 

 harmony with Nature, and yield rather to her freedom or irregu- 

 larity than to our own stiff and formal designs. If the ground 

 where bedding plants are grown is planted with bulbs, when they 

 come off, the bulbs will flower in the spring, so that the ground 

 will not be long bare ; but bulbs, unless taken up every one or two 

 years, are sadly in the way of digging or trenching the ground, and 

 if the borders are kept neat and clean, and frequently stirred, they 

 will by no means have an unsightly appearance, or they may be 

 stuck with small boughs of evergreen to take off the bareness. 

 Many persons have a particular passion for roses, and this beautiful 

 and fragrant class of plants deserves all the attention it receives. 

 There are few gardens wherein is not found a rose of some kind, 

 from the fragrant tea-scented, to the old York and Lancaster. A 

 little garden may be planted entirely with roses, and if rightly 

 managed, will have a beautiful and interesting appearance during 

 the summer months ; let a few standards be planted about where the 

 borders are widest, and let the ground be filled up with dwarf plants 

 of China or perpetual roses, which may be procured on their own 



