Notes and Gleanings. 239 



appear as if the sky were beyond it; and, from every point of this luminous sur- 

 face, light will radiate into all parts of the room." 



Primula-Seed Sowing. — To have good primulas, seed from good flowers 

 must be sown ; and, to secure this, the purchaser must give rather a high price. 

 Good primula-seed is dear. Our plan is this : The seed is sown in the first week 

 in March, in pans one-third filled with broken pots, an inch of moss, cocoa-nut 

 fibre, or the siftings of the compost, being placed thereon ; and the pans are 

 filled to the rim with turfy loam, sandy peat, leaf-mould, and silver sand, in equal 

 parts, passed through a half-inch sieve. The surface is made smooth, the seeds 

 scattered thinly over it, and just covered with the same compost. A gentle 

 watering is then given, and the pan is placed in gentle heat, such as that of a 

 cucumber-frame. Care is taken to keep the soil moist, but by no means wet ; and, 

 when the plants appear, the pan is brought near the glass, so that they may have 

 abundance of air and all the light possible. Here they remain until they are 

 of sufficient size to pot off. They are gradually hardened off, and removed to a 

 vinery or other house, and in June, or early in July, transferred to a cold-frame, 

 where they are shifted as occasion may require. 



Use of India-Rubber Bands for grafting Roses. — First, the Manetti 

 stocks were taken out of the ground previously to being grafted, their roots 

 trimmed, and their heads cut back. I also gave them a good washing before 

 taking them in doors, in order to keep all clean and tidy. The Indian-rubber 

 bands used were such as are commonly sold for the purpose of holding papers 

 together, and may be had at any stationer's. The length and breadth depend 

 altogether on the size of the stocks. Those I grafted being small, I found 

 a ring a little over two and a half inches in diameter, and not quite half an 

 inch broad in the band, sufficient for two. The operation is performed in 

 this way : Take the stock in your left hand, and place the thumb, with one 

 end of the band under it, on the lower end of the scion, when you have 

 it properly fitted, pressing it firmly to keep it in its place ; then, with the 

 band considerably stretched, bind upwards to half an inch or so on the graft, 

 and return ; taking care, in binding backwards, to close every opening in 

 order to prevent the admission of air, which, on account of the elastic nature of 

 the material employed, can be done most effectually. At the bottom, — that is, a 

 little below the junction, — fasten the end with a piece of soft thread or bast, to 

 prevent it springing back. This finishes the operation. 



In planting out, it is not necessary to slacken or remove the binding. The 

 bast or thread, being under the surface of the soil, will soon rot, and set the In- 

 dian-rubber free, which will unwind itself or expand as the stock increases ifl 

 size. — L. N, iti Cottage Gardener. 



LiLiUM AuRATUM. — This new and beautiful species seems to grow to an 

 immense size under good culture. We clip the following description from an 

 English journal : The bulb is now in a fifteen-inch pot, with three stems. The 

 largest two are each nine feet six inches high from the surface of the soil, — one 



