CHAP. XVII 



VILLA GAEDENING 121 



or grafting, using the roots of the common herbaceous varieties as 

 stocks, placing the scions on the crown ends of the tubers, then 

 potting them and keeping them close in a frame till united. In 

 potting, bury the junction to keep out the air. Grafting is best 

 done in spring just before the buds break, or in siunmer when the 

 wood is getting a little firm. In the latter case the roots which 

 are to form the stocks shoukl be kept in pots. Cuttings of the 

 yoimg wood getting firm in summer, taken oft" with a heel of old 

 wood, and planted under a handlight in a shady border, will root, 

 and soon form nice little plants. The moutans are beautifid in 

 pots forced gently into blossom early in spring, the colours of the 

 flowers coming out brighter and purer under glass than in our 

 bleak climate ; and as they naturally flower early, a very little 

 forcing will bring them into blossom in February. They are 

 beautiful in a cool conservatory. 



Delphiniums or Larkspurs. — After along period of neglect 

 these, like all really good things, are coming to the front again. 

 In the old-fashioned" herliaceous border the Delphiniums were 

 conspicuous objects; but when the rage for bedding out set in 

 the Larkspurs were found to be unmanageable subjects, and so 

 were discarded, and now many of those people who rooted them 

 up are seeking them again. They are cheap enough, for a good 

 collection may be bought now for the price of one of those little 

 parti-coloured Geraniums of a few years ago. They are easily pro- 

 pagated by division of the roots or crowns, and also by cuttings 

 and seeds. They are not particular as to soil or situation, and 

 they are hardy enough to plant in groups in the wild garden. 

 They usually flower in June and Jidy, but by thinning out the 

 shoots when a foot or so high a succession of flowering spikes are 

 produced all the summer ; and where a number of plants are used 

 as backgrounds, by cutting down half the plants when about a foot 

 high in June, those so treated will be coming into flower about the 

 time the others are going oft". By a little management, a long 

 succession of their brilliant and eff"ective spikes of flowers may 

 be obtained. On looking through a list of varieties published 

 in 1850 I find sixteen names mentioned there. Through the 

 exertions of continental and our own florists, four or five times that 

 nmnber of varieties are now grown in good nurseries. The fol- 

 lowing list oft'ers a good selection : — 



Single -Jioicered Varieties. — Agamemnon, Azm-eum, Barlowi, 

 Belladonna, Coronet, Cantab, Enchantress, Formosum, Hender- 

 soni, Life Guardsman, magnificum, violacea. 



bouble-jfoicered Varieties. — Barlowi versicolor, General Ulrich, 

 Azm-eum "plenum, Avocat, DeUege, Hermann Stenger, Keteleeri, 



