S62 



PRACTICE OF GARDENING. 



Part III. 



method, which I would recommend as a never-failing way of propagating this beautiful flower. If a 

 person has but one plant of rocket, and is anxious for its flowers, the first thing is, after the flower is 

 beginning to fade, to eat down the stalks and divide them into ordinary lengths of cuttings ; next to cut 

 off the leaves, and smooth the ends ; then to make three slits with a knife in the bark or rind, longways, 

 so as to separate or raise the bark for half an inch in length. When the cutting is inserted in the ground, 

 the loose bark naturally curls up; and it is from this bark that the young roots proceed. The partial 

 separation, and the turning up of the bark, seems to promote a tendency to throw out roots. The cuttings 

 may be put into flower-pots, as they may thus be sheltered during winter with more ease ; or they may be 

 placed in the natural earth, provided the soil is light and fresh. Covering them with a hand-glass will 

 forward the rooting of the cuttings ; or with the aid of a hot-bed they will succeed excellently. I 

 have used this simple way for six years back, and never without success ; not one in twenty having 

 failed. This method, it may be remarked, will hold good in cuttings of stock-gilliflowers, and double 

 wallflowers." 



Subsect. 20. Cardinal Flower. — Lobelia, L. Pent. Monog. L. and Campanula- 

 ceee, B. P. Lobelie, Fr. ; Kurdinalsblume, Ger. : Fior Cardinale, Ital. ( fiss. 613. 

 and 614.) J 



6459. There are three species of lobelia which rank high as florists' flowers. 



6460. The common cardinal flower (L. cardinalis) (Hot. Mag. 320. and fig. 613.) has 

 roots composed of many white fleshy fibres, oblong 



leaves, stalks erect, about a foot and a half high, 

 terminated by a spike of flowers, " of an exceed- 

 ingly beautiful scarlet color," appearing in the end 

 of July and August. It is a native of Virginia ; 

 and it is found abundantly by the side of rivers and 

 ditches : introduced in 1629. Justice is in rap- 

 tures with it, describing it as " a flower of most 

 handsome appearance, which should not be wanting 

 in curious gardens, as it excels all other flowers I 

 ever knew in the richness of its color." There is a 

 dwarf variety, but it is very liable to perish. 



6461. Propagation and culture. By seeds, offsets, or cut- 

 tings ; but the former method produces the strongest plants. 

 Sow in pots of rich earth soon after the seed is ripe, and place 

 them under the protection of a frame. The seeds will appear 

 the following spring ; and after they have two or three leaves, 

 should be planted in separate small pots, and shifted into 

 larger ones once or twice during the season. Place them in 

 an eastern exposure, and supply them freely with water. 

 Protect, during winter, by a frame ; and the following spring, 

 shift them into pots, six or eight inches diameter, in which 

 they will flower. If not much exposed to the sun, they will continue long in beauty. The roots do not 

 last above two or three years ; and therefore a succession of voung plants, from seed or slips, should be 

 regularly provided. (Miller.) 



6462. The fulgent cardinal flower (L. fulgens, W. en.) (Bot. Rep. 659. and fig. 614. a) 



is a native of Mexico, and was introduced into 

 England in 1 809 : flowers in July and August. 

 Though a native of a warm climate, it has been 

 found to bear the severity of our winters, by 

 being immersed in water, as an aquatic, and with 

 this treatment has flowered well by the sides of 

 ponds and in cisterns. 



6463. Propagation. By suckers or cuttings, which strike 

 with remarkable facility in any shady situation ; and by 

 seed. According to Professor Van Mons, " the seed 

 should be sown, as soon as it is ripe, in earthen pans ; the 

 earth should be moistened, and after it has imbibed the 

 water, the seed must be spread over it without being 

 covered. The pans should be sheltered from the frost, 

 and the young plants may be transplanted in April and 

 May. Very few of them remain, more than the second 

 year, without flowering." 



6464. Culture. This plant has assumed a character of 

 uncommon magnificence under the management of 

 Hedges, which is thus detailed by Sabine: " In October, 

 he takes off the suckers, which are thrown up from the 

 roots of the old plants, and puts them into small pots, one 

 in each pot, and keeps them in a cold-frame till the mid- 

 dle of January : he then removes them into a cucumber- 

 frame, where the heat is kept up to 65 degrees of Fahrenheit's scale, by linings of hot dung ; a pine suc- 

 cession stove of the same temperature will equally suit them. In the middle of February, they are shifted 

 into pots a size larger ; and at the end of March,' or in the beginning of April, they are again moved into 

 larger pots, and in the middle of May they are a third time shifted ; the pots to be used for this last shift- 

 ing are twelves. As soon as the plants are well rooted, after the last removal, they are carried into a 

 peach-house or green-house, in which they continue till they flower, and are hardv enough to bear the 

 open air. When they are preparing to throw up their flowering stems, and during their growth, it is 

 necessary that they be kept very moist, which is effected by putting pans under the pots, and keeping the 

 pans constantly filled with water. The plants thus managed, begin to flower earlv in July, and the spikes 

 continue to blow, and are covered with flowers through the autumn. The compost used in the pots is 

 formed ot equal parts of brown or yellow loam, and of leaf or bog mould, to which is added sand, equal to 

 one fourth of the previous composition, the whole being well mixed together. The plant of Lobelia 



