218 GARDEN MANAGEMENT. 



tainly two, tlii-ee, or four-year-old plants flower more freely than any cuttings 

 ■whatever. Boxes of geranium-roots that have been stored in cellars thi-ough the 

 winter, may now be brought out into the light of day, and, if they have been 

 carefully managed, the whole surface will be alive with buds and shoots. A 

 hundred such roots will furnish a thousand well-rooted plants betore bedding- 

 out time, and leave the old roots still' available — the best of all plants for the 

 centres of beds. For this purpose, however, they must be placed in bottom- 

 heat until the shoots are two or three inches long. Then thin the stools by 

 heeling off the cuttings ; that is, taking them off quite close to the old stems. 

 Place the cuttings singly in small 60 -sized pots, or three round a large 60 ; or 

 in pots or boxes of any size : place them in a house or frame with a tempera- 

 ture of 60°, and in three weeks they will be well rooted. If a frame is used, 

 it must have a little air night and day, as geraniums are very impatient of a 

 close atmosphere. For several years past, I have used a house for this purpose 

 in which cuciunbers and melons are grown in summer. The bottom-heat is 

 derived from open iron gutters ; over these gutters is a slate extending all 

 roimd the house, with a path down the centre. On the top of this slate two 

 inches of rough leaf-mould is strewed for drainage ; over that, three inches oi 

 Bandy loam ; and on the top of the loam, half an inch of common pit-sand. 

 The cuttings are inserted with a small dibber on this prepared bed, the siu"- 

 face watered until it is perfectly level — a point of great moment. A tempera- 

 ture of 60° is maintained. The house is never shaded ; and in less than a 

 month we thus root 4,000 plants, with about 1 per cent. loss. Verbenas also 

 root well in the same way ; but in bright weather they require shading. How- 

 ever, for verbenas, ageratums, and calceolarias, in the spring, no place is 

 better than a pit or frame with top and bottom heat of from 60° to 70°. If 

 any or all of these have been gradually hardened off in the winter, the store 

 pots ought to be now plunged into a temperatui'e of 50° or 60°, for a week or 

 fortnight before the tops are removed for cuttings. Within certain limits, the 

 more tender the shoots of such plants are, the more rapidly they will emit 

 roots. Place dahlia-roots, also, in heat at this time, to excite healthy growth 

 for cuttings. 



569. Sweep and roll turf and gravel ; finish laying turf ; top-dress, turn, 

 renew, and relay the edgings of walks ; and let cleanliness and neatness com- 

 pensate as far as possible for the absence ot floral beauty. 



570. Shruhheries. — Push forwai-d the digging and clearing of shnibberies. 

 The great point in the management of shrubberies, however, is so to plant, 

 prune, and train the shrubs, as to render these operations unnecessai-y. The 

 raw edges, and masses of bare soil, that render digging and cleaning an inju- 

 rious necessity, also mar the beauty and grandeur ot masses of shrubs. As a 

 Tule, their branches should sweep the edges of the turf; and the culture ol 

 •herbaceous plants should never be attempted among them. 



571. Where digging has to be perfoiTned, it should assume the character of 

 pointing. Among shinibs, this operation should be performed by running the 

 »i:)ade along the whole length, about three inches beneath the s\U"face, and in- 



