IO8 NEW ZEALAND GARDENING. 



Soil. Mellow, strong, yellow loam, one-half ; well-decom- 

 dosed hotbed manure, one-quarter ; and one-year-old 

 decayed tree leaves, one quarter ; with a little sand all 

 thoroughly mixed will form a suitable compost. 



Propagation: by Seed. The seed should be carefully- 

 gathered when ripe. As the seeds are developed in a pulp, 

 it is necessary, in order to preserve them, to cleanse them 

 effectually. This is done by washing ; bruise the berries 

 with the hand, and mix them with water ; as soon as the 

 pulp is all washed off, pass the liquor through a hair sieve 

 fine enough to catch the seed, wash it repeatedly till it is quite 

 clean (a fine gauze bag will answer the purpose equally well), 

 then dry it gradually ; put it up in brown paper, and keep it 

 in a dry place till Spring. Sow early in September in a 

 mixture of light sandy loam and peat, cover slightly, and 

 place the pots in a gentle hotbed if available. When the 

 seedlings are half-an-inch high transplant them in rows across 

 pots five inches wide these will hold about twenty or thirty 

 plants each and then replace them in a hotbed, cold frame, 

 or greenhouse. In these pots they may remain for a month 

 or six weeks, and then they will require potting off singly 

 into three-inch pots. Place them for a few days in a cold 

 frame, and keep pretty close and shaded till fresh roots are 

 formed, and they are then able to bear the full light and a 

 moderate admission of air. Give plenty of the latter as they 

 acquire strength, and when the pots are full of roots give 

 another shift into four-inch pots, and let them remain in 

 these last till they flower. Many of them will flower the 

 first year, and then is the time to make a selection. The 

 selected ones should be repotted, and grown on to the end 

 of the season to prove them. Cuttings of the best may be 

 taken off and propagated, and the whole kept in the coolest 

 part of the greenhouse or cold frame during the Winter. 



By Cuttings. There are two seasons when cuttings may 

 be made with advantage early in Spring and in Autumn. 

 In September, when the old plants will be sending out 

 young shoots, these should be slipped off as soon as they 

 have formed two or three leaves remember the cuttings can 

 hardly be too short insert one each in a thumb pot filled 

 with fine compost, largely comprised of sharp sand ; place 

 under glass, water and shade for a week. They will strike 



