PIN 



459 



PIN 



President (Creed's.) 



Prince Alliert (Leg<;'s). 



Prince of Wales (VVilmer's). 



Queen of England (Hale's). 



lloseana (Churclrs). 



Triumphant (Ibbet's). 



Warden (White's). 



Characteristics of Excellence. — Flow- 

 er circular when viewed in front ; semi- 

 globular in profile, and uniform in size 

 on the same plant. Petals stout, smooth- 

 edged, each row smaller than those be- 

 low it. Colour, ground white; lacing, 

 whatever its tint, should have a border 

 of white beyond it; colour of the lower 

 limb of the petal extending so as to be 

 seen above the while edge of the petals 

 above. Lacing unbroken. 



Raising Varieties. — M. Fries Movel, 

 gives these directions: — 



" Just before sunrise open carefully 

 the Hower to be operated on, and ab- 

 stract the anthers with small pincers. 

 About eight or nine o'clock place the 

 ripe pollen from another flower upon its 

 stigma, and repeat this two or three 

 times in the course of the same day. If 

 the act of impregnation has taken place, 

 the tlower will fade in twenty-four or 

 thirty-six hours; but if not, the tlower 

 will remain in full beauty, in which 

 case, the attempt must be repeated. 

 This should always be done in fine 

 serene weather, and care should be 

 taken to defend this impregnated tlower 

 from rain and mists. Plants raised from 

 seeds which have been crossed always 

 bear the form of the mother, but take 

 the colours of the male parent. Fewer 

 seeds arc produced by art than by na- 

 ture alone; and the impregnated flow- 

 ers are less visited by bees than others." 

 — Gard. Mag. 



Layering. — Mr. J. Mearns, of the 

 Manchester Zoological Gardens, says 

 that he thus conducts this operation : — 



" I do not use a dibber to plant with, 

 but my forefinger ; I lay the lower end 

 of my slip horizontally upon the surface 

 of the soil, and so press it down into 

 it; when from the firmness of the soil, 

 the slip is compelled to clip round the 

 end of the finger. With the other hand 

 I turn up the lop to its perpendicular, 

 and press the lower end down till the 

 tail is about half an inch beneath the 

 soil ; I then make the soil firm, and the 

 operation is complete. The pipings 

 are best left with no other attention 

 after planting, besides occasional water- 



ing in dry weather, and keeping them 

 free from weeds till the time for plant- 

 ing out, which may be done at any time 

 after the plants are perfectly rooted ; 

 the usual season, however, to plant 

 out for the flowering in the highest per- 

 fection is Septeniber, and for propaga- 

 tion all the month of June, even to the 

 middle of July." — Gard. Chron. 



By Pipings. — In selecting the grass 

 (stems) lor pipings, strong and short 

 jointed shoots should be chosen. The 

 piping should be cut off" with a sharp 

 knife immediately below the second or 

 third joint from the top of the shoot, and 

 it may then be readdy disengaged from 

 the two leaves which surround its base, 

 and which are commonly termed a 

 sheath. Tlie tips of the leaves should 

 be shortened for the sake of conve- 

 nience, otherwise when planted it will 

 be difficult to prevent the hand glass 

 from resting upon them, or from dis- 

 turbing them whenever it is removed. 

 As the pipings are prepared, they should 

 be put into a basin or pan filled with 

 water to prevent them from flagging be- 

 fore tliey are planted. For this and 

 similar delicate operations the cool 

 hours of the evening are most suitable. 

 In planting the pipings they should be 

 pressed firmly into the soil to the depth 

 of about half an inch, leaving them 

 an inch and a half apart every way; 

 and after being properly secured, they 

 should be gently watered through a fine 

 rose to settle the mould closely round 

 the stems, and as soon as the leaves 

 become thoroughly dry, a bell glass 

 should be placed over them. The glass 

 should be pressed lightly into the tnould, 

 to prevent as much as possible the in- 

 gress of air. In sunny days, the bed 

 should be shaded from seven to eight 

 o'clock in the morning until five or six 

 in the evening ; and if there is any ap- 

 pearance of damp amongst the pipings, 

 the glasses should be occasionally taken 

 ofl" to allow them to dry, and all plants 

 so attacked should be immediately re- 

 moved. It is very probable that the 

 pipings will not recjuire to be watered 

 until the greater part of them have taken 

 root ; should watering, however, be ne- 

 cessary, the leaves must be allowed to 

 become dry before the glasses are re- 

 placed. As soon as roots are formed 

 the hand glasses should be slightly 

 raised on one side, and may be gradu- 

 ally withdrawn. The young plants. 



