The Canadian Horticulturist. 



285 



The Grandest Exhibit of Begonias ever seen was made by the celebrated 

 nurserymen and seedsmen, Messrs. John Laing & Sons, of Forest Hill, London, 

 England, in the Crystal Palace, last July. We have before us a photograph of 

 this magnificent display, which covered 500 square feet of space, and carried off 

 four gold medals. This is one of the most interesting class of flowers for the 

 amateur, and a glimpse of such an exhibit as this arouses all one's love of the 

 beautiful, and makes one long for a few of the new and more excellent varieties. 



Samples of Simon's Plum, from Mr. A. M. Smith, are well up to the 

 size and beauty of those shown in our colored plate in July number, 1889. One 

 sample measured 7^ inches in circumference, and all are very beautiful in ap- 

 pearance. Ripening just in advance of the plum crop, they should be quite 

 saleable. 



-^ O^Cstici) 3)paLo^r. ^ 



PROPAGATING SHAFFER'S COLOSSAL. 



Sib, — When is the best time to propagate Shaffer's Colossal, and how do you proceed ? 



Alfred Limoges, St. Eustacfie, Que. 



The Shaffer raspberry is propagated in the same way as Blackcaps, its habit 

 of growth resembling theirs, so that new plants are procured from the tips and 

 not from the succers. This work should be attended to immediately after fruit- 

 ing season, and, if the ground has been well worked, it may be done very easily. 

 As fast as the young canes or branches drop within reach of the ground, an 

 opening should be made with a spade 

 in a slanting direction and the tip in- 

 serted and the ground pressed firmly 

 back with the feet. The rows should 

 be gone over in this way several times 

 during the season, as the new growth 

 reaches the proper length, and, if the 

 work is well done, they will hardly 

 fail to take root before the season is 

 over, and in the following spring a 

 shoot will start from each of these layers 



and will be found to be well supplied with fibrous roots which will insure 

 perfect success in transplanting. We give here an illustration, taken from Mr. 

 Green's book on the propagation of small fruits, showing the way in which lip 

 plants are propagated. 



