Fall Notes for the Flower Garden 



HK first early fall operation for the 



plant lover is to take cuttings or 



slips of any perennial plants that 



lare required for keeping over winter. 



fColeus, salvia, iresine (Achyranthes), and 



ageratum cuttings should be taken early 



in September before cold, chilly nights 



A Petunia Plant !n January 



Prepare this fall to have plants like this next 

 winter. Thin plant was dug up from the bord- 

 er in October. 



appear, as cuttings from these plants do 

 not root successfully after they have been 

 chilled, much less when they have been 

 frozen. Geranium cuttings may be left 

 until a week or so later on, but even 

 these should be taken before the leaves 

 are touched by frost, as they rot much 

 quicker and better. 



The best material to root cuttings in 

 is clean, gritty, rather coarse sand, sand 

 that will make good stone mortar. Pit 

 sand, river sand, or rinse sand from the 

 side of a stream or from the roadside 

 will do for the purpose. It should be free 

 from vegetable and woody matter such 

 as leaves, sawdust, or chips. A little 

 light soil with no fertilizer in may .some- 

 times be mixed with the sand but pure 

 sand usually gives the best results. 

 Moisten the sand well and pack it firmly 

 in a shallow box that lias holes bored 

 through the bottom for drainage pur- 

 poses. Empty fish boxes from the gro- 

 cery store that baddies have been packed 

 in do well for this purpose. .Soak these 

 boxes in water before using to dissolv< 

 any salt that there may be in them. 

 Flower pots may also tx; used to start 

 the cuttings in. 



Select a healthy growing cutting from 

 a terminal or side shoot. A fairly short 

 jointed cutting is usually best. The ba.se 



Wm. Hunt, O. A. C, Guelph, Oat. 



of the cutting should be cut flat across 

 with a sharp knife close underneath a 

 node or joint of the stem where a leaf 

 stem joins the stem ;the texture of the 

 base of the cutting is an important point. 

 It should not be too hard and woody or 

 too soft and pulpy. .'Vbout the texture of 

 a young tender carrot is about the right 

 texture. Securing the proper texture for 

 the base of the cutting is of far more 

 importance than the size or length of the 

 cutting. Cut off about one-half of the 

 lower leaves close to the stem. Remove 

 all bloom buds "and blossoms where pos- 

 sible. The stem of geranium cuttings 

 should be about four to, five inches in 

 length ; coleus iresine, salvia, and ager- 

 atum cuttings about an inch shorter than 

 the geranium cuttings. 



SETTING AND OAEiE OF OUTONGS. 

 A hole or drill should be made in the 

 sand deep enough to set about twcj- 

 thirds the length of stem upright in the 

 sand. Water the cuttings well and set 

 the box in a temperature of sixty to 

 .seventy degrees Fahr. .Shade them from 

 the hot sun and keep the sand well 

 moistened until cuttings are rooted, which 

 should be from four to six weeks or 

 longer after setting. Pot the cuttings 

 when rooted, singly, into two or two 

 and a half inch pots, or put them in shal- 

 low boxes about two inches apart in ra 

 ther sandy potting soil. The rooted cut- 

 tings may be kept in the sand all winter 

 and potted in the spring if the sand is 

 not kept too wet. 



KEKPING OI/D PLANTS 



Dig the plants about the end of Sep- 

 tember before the stems are frozen. Cut 

 the tops well back, about one-half the 



growth, and shorten the roots about one- 

 third their length. 



Plant the roots in sand or sandy soil 

 in pots or in shallow, well-drained boxes 

 about four inches deep. The plants may 

 be set quite close together. A box four 

 inches deep and twelve inches square will 

 hold sixteen or eighteen good-sized 

 plants when tops are cut off. Water them 

 well once and set the box in a cool win- 

 dow, temperature about fifty-five de- 

 grees. These plants may be potted after 

 five or six weeks' time singly into three 

 or four inch p>ots when rooted and start- 

 ing into growth. Or the box or pot may 

 be placed in a light basement or cellar in 

 a temperature of forty to forty-five de- 

 grees, and the sand kept only barely 

 moist. These may he brought out into 

 I he window in a temperature of about 

 sixty degrees later on, watered and start- 

 ed into growth, and potted singly into 

 four or five inch pots in good soil. Plants 

 treated in this way will usually make 

 splendid plants for the window in spring 

 and for setting out in the border in early 

 June. 



OLD PETUNIA PLANTS. 



If you have an extra fine double or 

 single flowering plant of petunia growing 

 in the border and wish to save the plant, 

 the top growth can be cut down early in 

 September to within about eight inches 

 of the ground, leaving any young new 

 shoots of growth at ba.se of plant. After 

 a week or so, dig the plant up care- 

 fully vvith all the roots and soil possible 

 attached. Pot the plant into a not too 

 large-sized flower pot, a four or five inch 

 pot, in good soil. Water it well and set 

 it in the window and keep the soil well 



Experimental Paeoniei at the Ontario Agricultural College, Guelpb, Ont. 



219 



