64'4 General Notices. 



exclude the air and keep the bud cool, consisting of two thirds cow-dung and 

 one third stiff loam. The bud requires no untying, and gradually grows so 

 closely into the stock as hardly to be distinguished from a shoot, and is not so 

 liable to be blown out or injured. The composition is applied in a liquid 

 state, with a small brush. (^Henry Curtis, in Gard. Chron., vol. i. p. 453.) 



Pru7iing Roses. — The large showy roses that flower in June and July should 

 be pruned in February. As many of the strongest young shoots as the tree is 

 capable of supporting should be left, and the rest cut out ; the branches left 

 for flowering should be shortened back about one third, and those intended for 

 next year's wood to about three buds. By this method of pruning I have 

 many roses with shoots from 3 ft. to 6 ft. long, covered with blossom-buds. 

 Those standards which have long slioots are hooped over each other, and pro- 

 duce a beautiful effect. Those dwarfs that admit of it have their shoots pegged 

 down, or, if planted close together, they are intertwined, and thus the ground 

 is covered with roses : if a little attention is paid to colour, a very pleasing 

 effect may be produced. The young shoots intended for the next season are 

 allowed to grow erect; and have the full influence of light and air. My reason 

 for this kind of pruning is, that, as rose trees usually begin to grow early, the 

 first 12 in. of a shoot 3 ft. long are produced when the soil is moist and the 

 sun has but little power ; the second 12 in. are added when the soil is becom- 

 ing drier, and the sun has greater influence, in June, July, and August, and on 

 this part of the shoot the best flower-buds are formed ; the last growth takes 

 place in the autumn, when the days decrease in length, and consequently this 

 part of the shoot is not well matured. Roses should always be thinned in 

 summer, to increase the strength of those shoots intended to produce flowers 

 next season. In November I cut back the arched branches, and cover the 

 ground with a coat of well rotted dung, and in the spring peg down the young 

 shoots, as above described. {R. Arnofl, in Gard, Chron., vol.i. p. 117.) 



Propagation of Pinks. — The pink is propagated by Mr. Mearns, something 

 after the manner in which he coils the vine. He makes the soil much firmer 

 than is usually done in the general manner of piping. " I do not use a dibber 

 to plant with, but my fore-finger. I lay the lower end of my slip horizontalli/ 

 upon the surface of the soil, and so press it down into it ; when, from the 

 firmness of the soil, the slip is compelled to clip round the end of the finger, 

 with the other hand 1 turn up the top to its perpendicular, and press the 

 lower end down till the tail is about half an inch beneath the soil ; I then make 

 the soil firm, and the operation is complete. If the slips are too long, I cut 

 them up to a joint, to a suitable length. I have slipped off hundreds, and 

 have not even cut off the rag left on in slipping, and by the above process not 

 one cutting has failed ; yet it is better that the ragged end be cut off, either 

 with a sharp knife or with scissors, which is generally the most expeditious 

 method. I planted 1700 slips this last season, not twenty of which missed, 

 and all my plants are firm and stocky." (^Ibid., p. 19.) 



Cidture of the Amaryllis. — Directions are connnonly given to repot the 

 plants as soon as they show flower, or before they begin to grow. " When 

 first I cultivated amaryllis I pursued this plan, to the destruction of many of 

 my bulbs, and whenever I have recurred to it since, or seen it tried by others, 

 the same effect, either of complete or partial decay, has followed. If ama- 

 ryllis be shifted into fresh pots, either soon after the leaves die off, or just 

 before they begin to grow, the whole of the young roots perish, and decay so 

 begun extends to the coats of the bulbs, forming a canker which it is almost 

 impossible to cure. The management which I should reconnncnd is in- 

 variably to repot such bulbs as require it wiien their foliage is in full vigour 

 or still growing, say in June or July, or earlier, according to the treatment 

 they have received. When the foliage dies at the tips, water should be gra- 

 dually withheld, and the bulbs kept dry till the flower-buds appear. When 

 the stem is half-grown water may be administered very moderately, but the 

 plant should not have much till its leaves arc G in. long." (Gard. Chron., 

 vol. i. p. 629.) 



