588 PROPAGATOR'S CALENDAR. 



look over the seed-drawers and sow any old flower-seeds which are not 

 wanted for sowing in autumn. Rose-budding begun last month may now 

 be carried on rapidly in warm weather. This is the time to strike cuttings 

 or eyes of Roses in a close frame or pit, where they should be syringed 

 frequently to prevent the leaves flagging. Rose " eyes" are prepared just 

 as for budding, but more wood is cut away with the bud, and the leaf is left 

 intact. Insert these not too thickly in pans of light rich soil surfaced with 

 white sand, and in three or four weeks they emit roots and begin to grow. 

 Prepare Rose cuttings by cutting the shoots into lengths, leaving three or 

 four buds to each. Cuttings of many choice or rare Conifers may now be 

 inserted in well-drained shallow pans, and rooted in a brisk bottom-heat of 

 80 to 85. In preparing the cuttings, leave a heel of the old wood, which 

 will emit roots all the more freely if it is inserted so as to touch the crocks. 

 By the end of the month the coniferous seeds should be well brairded, and 

 the "bird-watchers" dispensed with; but, from practical experience, it has 

 been proved that red-lead applied to the seeds of Scotch Fir, Spruce Fir, 

 Larch, and suchlike, just before sowing, is a sure preventive of the 

 ravages of birds : the young plants do not appear to suffer from the "coat- 

 ing " of the seeds ; but whether the ground, if sown with red-leaded seeds 

 for years successively, would not be "sickened," is a question well worth 

 studying. Gather Elm seeds, and sow at once, before the coating of the 

 seed hardens. Many rare and curious shrubs may now be budded, such as 

 Moss and other Roses, Italian Jasmine, Variegated Hollies, male Aucubas 

 on the female plant, &c. 



Plant and Fruit Houses. Propagation of stove-plants may still be 

 carried on by cuttings, layers, or seeds. Dracaenas, Ficus, Dieffenbachias, 

 &c., may now be cut down for cuttings. Lay Dracaena and Dieffenbachia 

 stems on a genial bottom-heat, and the young growths thus developed from 

 latent buds form excellent cuttings. Nepenthes cuttings now root freely in 

 bottom-heat, and are best pushed into a bed of living sphagnum moss or in 

 small pots of Derbyshire spar. Sow seeds of Cinerarias, Chinese Primulas, 

 Calceolarias, and other tender annuals for spring flowering. Insert Helio- 

 trope and Eupatorium cuttings, and sow Mignonette in pots to remain for 

 winter blooming. Grafting various stove and greenhouse shrubs, such as Cle- 

 rodendrons, Bignonias, Aralias, Ficus, &c., on thick pieces of root furnished 

 with a few fibres, may now be done. Cut the upper end of the roots clean, 

 and operate with a sharp knife either cleft-grafting or veneering being the 

 best methods ; after which tie firmly and neatly, apply a coat of cold wax 

 or mastic, and pot at once, covering the union with soil, and then plunge 

 the pots in a moist and genial bottom-heat of 75 to 85. Grafting on cut- 

 tings as stocks, or inarching, may also now be practised, if not done pre- 

 viously. Seed-sowing is nearly always going on indoors, and it may be as 

 well to draw attention to the fact that seeds germinate more quickly and 

 regularly if the pots or pans are placed in the dark or covered with a slate 

 so as to exclude light. Messrs Lawson & Co. of Edinburgh use blue-tinted 

 glasses for covering seed-pans, &c. , with the best possible results, and 

 the plan is well worth more general adoption. In striking Gloxinias, 

 Begonias, Melastomads, or other plants from leaf-cuttings, it is as well to 

 remember that old or fully-developed leaves strike root most freely. Young 

 leaves on a cutting live to a great extent on the older ones, and when used 

 alone as cuttings generally fail. Leaves in the process which precedes the 

 actual production of roots form starch largely, especially in " callussing," 

 and this accumulation of starch enables a rooted leaf to live longer than if 

 it had been left on its parent stem. 



