594 PROPAGATOR'S CALENDAR. 



DECEMBER. 



Kitchen and Hardy- Fruit Garden. A few Peas and Beans may be 

 sown on a warm sheltered border. See after fruit-tree stocks if not 

 already done, and scions may now be procured of desirable varieties. 

 These last can be buried on the north side of a wall or fence until required 

 for working. Head back old fruit-trees for regrafting. If the weather is 

 fine and open, Horse-radish may be planted in deep well-manured trenches. 

 Now is a good time to look over the seed-room and examine the remains 

 of the past season's supply. Clean out all drawers and boxes, and put 

 things to rights, so as to make room for next year's supply. Calculate what 

 will be required, and confine your orders to old or well-tried kinds rather 

 than to novelties of which the quality is unknown to you. Many amateurs 

 have given up gardening in despair simply through ordering new varieties 

 from attractively got up catalogues, and the failures experienced thereby. 

 "Few and good" should be the amateur's motto in ordering seeds. Peaches, 

 Plums, and other stone fruits may now be root-grafted on either the free or 

 wild Plum stock. In America, where the winters are much more severe than 

 with us, this method is largely practised. The seedling or wild Plums 

 are taken up in the autumn, care being taken to break as few of the 

 fibrous roots as possible. The whole root of the seedling, from 6 inches to 

 I foot long, is used to make one root-graft ; after which the whip-grafted 

 roots are packed in earth in the cellar, to be planted out after all danger 

 from frost is over. The success or failure depends greatly upon the amount 

 of small roots upon the seedling stocks. Stocks that have been once 

 transplanted are still more certain to be successful when root-grafted. 



Flower-Garden and Shrubbery. Little can be done in the flower- garden 

 this month. Rose cuttings may still be inserted, and Water-lilies may 

 now be taken up and divided. The principal work to be done outside is 

 trenching ground for spring planting or sowing. Many more seeds should 

 now be gathered, such as Haws, and seeds of Ash and Holly. These 

 should be mixed with sand and kept in pits until sowing-time in the fol- 

 lowing year, as they do not braird if sown the same season as gathered. 

 Such Pine cones as are now ripe should be gathered and stored away in a 

 dry state until the extracting of the seeds at "odd times," as when the 

 weather is unfavourable for other operations. Cuttings of Poplars, Wil- 

 lows, and other deciduous trees not propagated otherwise, may be made at 

 any time and kept covered over with earth until suitable time or weather for 

 planting arrives. Seeds of Gorse or Whin, Broom, and other cover plants 

 may now be sown at once during fine dry weather. Carefully examine all 

 seeds saved during the past season, and finish cleaning and packeting them 

 during bad weather, seeing all properly and neatly labelled to prevent 

 future confusion at sowing-time. It is an excellent plan to mark the date 

 when seeds should be sown on all the packets, so that by looking over the 

 seed-drawers once a-month nothing escapes notice. 



Plant and Fruit Houses. The propagation of bedding-plants may now 

 be commenced. Sow Cyclamens, Pyrethrum Golden Feather, Phlox, 

 Pentstemon, and Viola seeds in a gentle bottom-heat. Put in cuttings of 

 such Aralias as root with tolerable success, to serve as stocks for the new 

 and choice kinds. Fuchsia, Verbena, Heliotrope, and other plants may 

 now be propagated from seeds sown in heat. Gardenias, Tabernsemontana, 

 and other shrubs may be increased by cuttings. Sow seeds of Acacia, 

 Camellia, Abutilon, Euphorbia, Epiphyllum, Aponogeton, Ouvierandra, 

 and other stove and greenhouse plants. Increase Achimenes, Gloxinias, 

 and other Gesnerads by seeds or by dividing the tubers. Sow seeds of 

 Begonias, Fuchsias, Palms, and Fern spores in heat. Graft Aucubas in a 



