December 12, 1878. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER, 
443 
I think, can imagine that the exquisite blooms of Mr. Sander- 
son in the same show would have been enhanced in beauty 
had they been shown on paper. Although the mode of ex- 
hibiting on paper may not be wrong, yet well-grown blooms 
of Chrysanthemums need no such artificial aids to display their 
beauty to the best advantage any more than do Roses, and yet 
a Rose show with the blooms placed on paper would present 
little short of a hideous appearance. The less artificiality there 
is connected with exhibiting flowers of any kind the better, 
and if the paper custom of Liverpool was done away with the 
show would not in the slightest degree be less attractive ; yet 
I would not withhold a prize from meritorious blooms because 
pause had been employed in their arrangement.—A LONDON 
UDGE, 
LEMONS. 
In most gardens of any pretensions there are a few Orange 
trees grown, generally for ornament, but very eeldom for use, 
because, as a rule, the fruit cannot be had of sufficient quality 
or quantity to be of service. This, I think, is more the fault of 
culture than anything else. Be that as it may, however, I find 
that Lemons can be cultivated more successfully than Oranges 
agarule. The trees require no more attention, and they fruit 
more freely. As to their value, Lemons are always in greater 
demand in the kitchen and still room than Oranges, and I 
think if every gardener had a good Lemon tree or two they 
would find them as useful as any other fruit tree. 
We have two Lemon trees planted out on the back wall of 
one of our conservatories from which we gather at least four 
hundred fruit annually, and as they are of a large size and 
very juicy they are much valued. Besides, we have ripe Lemons 
all the year round, and this is convenient in many ways: The 
trees are continually blooming and forming fruit, so that the 
supply is always kept up. The house in which they are growing 
is only heated sufficiently to keep out frost, and under this 
cool treatment we find the trees thrive better than in a 
warm house. The branches are trained on a strong wood 
trellis, and they are never allowed to become crowded. They 
are syringed sometimes to wash the dust off the leaves, but 
insects are kept away and the vigour of the trees sustained 
chiefly by attention to the roots. These have plenty of good 
loam and cow dung to work in, and at the same time they have 
often a large tankful of liquid manure emptied on them. 
The trees are thus kept healthy, and yet they are always fruit- 
ing so freely that the wood never becomes gross. 
One Lemon tree trained on a surface of wall, say, 12 feet 
square would yield a large quantity of fine serviceable fruit, 
and any of your readers with small trees in pots could not do 
better than plant them out. A bed 4 feet square and 2} or 
3 feet deep is large enough to sustain a very large tree ; if the 
root space is smaller than this, liquid manure and a rich sur- 
face dressing twice a year will do much good,—M., M. 
DRESSING FLOWERS. 
WHAT is all this about dressing flowers? Who is it that 
exhibits that does not dress, be it flowers, fruit, plants, or 
vegetables? Is somebody angry because somebody else wins ? 
or is somebody too lazy to dress the flowers—that is, set them 
so as to look to their best advantage? or does he not know 
how? And if he cannotcatch up and overhaul the old hands 
at the first, why, try again. One knows that in business the 
old hands and old established firms take a lot of beating ; and 
I believe it is and always will be the same in exhibiting. 
Please pray don’t grump because somebody else grows and 
shows—dresses, if you like, better than youdo! What is the 
use of Mr. wanting Roses to be shown without being dis- 
budded? or Mr. —— throwing up exhibiting and selling his 
boxes because he cannot win, or wanting special points for 
Teas? or Mr. wanting Carnations shown as grown? Why, 
we shall be getting disqualified because the wind has whipped 
off some of the Rose buds and they look ag if purposely dis- 
budded, and all sorts of disagreeables, if such stuff and non- 
sense is to be introduced in the rules. He who can show best 
will win. Why not? And as for dressing, everything is 
dressed. Are not Grapes dressed—i.e., shown to their best 
advantage? I fancy I remember seeing in our Journal in the 
autumn that somebody would have won only that “his Grapes 
were badly shown,” rubbed, &c. Is not all other fruit dressed ? 
I guess and calculate, as neighbour Jonathan says, that one 
would stand a poor chance indeed of winning if one’s fruit 
was jumbled up anyhow instead of being nicely arranged with 
leaves or moss, the best side outwards, and the best of all on 
the top. The same with plants. Would it look well for large 
and small plants to be mixed up without arrangement, shown 
as they grow—no training, no tying, no sticks, which are all 
dressing? Again, Cauliflowers and such like shown as grown ! 
I wish prosperity and long life to horticultural societies and 
exhibitions ; and for this, we must dress. Catch a fellow put- 
ting in a petal, or other swindle, then down upon him at once ; 
but to say exhibitors must not dress—that is, clean, arrange 
petals in flowers, remoye bad petals, cut out a damaged or 
mildewed Grape, or do anything else that will legally render 
one’s exhibits more showable and less defective, cannot be 
prevented. Let us be broad and large in our principles. Let 
us say simply that any attempt at deception shall be punished, 
and let the rest alone. Andas for Jones not winning because 
his soil is bad, or Smith not knowing how to set up his flowers, 
or Brown having a long journey by rail, while Robinson wins 
because his soil is good and can set up his flowers to win, and 
is close to the show, why Robinson is fortunate, but it will be 
my turn, perhaps, next time. Now Iam about it, I think it 
decidedly bad taste to call So-and-so Hercules or somebody 
else Goliath, and set up Smith, Brown, and Jones as sure to 
win. ‘There never was man so good but that another steps 
forward as good.—W. FARREN. 
THE CULTURE OF DRACAINAS. 
VALUABLE additions have been made during the last few 
years to this important family of plants, both by the intro- 
duction of new species and by hybridisation. The beautiful 
colouring of the foliage and the noble yet graceful habit of the 
plants render them suitable either for exhibition or house 
decoration, It is a great advantage that a stock of these 
beautiful plants can be worked up in a very short time. Ina 
young state their habit of growth is all that can be desired for 
the dinner table as well as their colour, which shows up mag- 
nificently by artificial light. 
Dracenas are propagated in various ways, sometimes by 
cutting the old stem up into pieces about an inch long, and by 
fleshy root-cuttings. But the readiest way I haye found to 
work up a stock is to take the old worn-out plants, shake all 
the soil from the roots, trim them in closely, cut the tops of 
the plants off and lay the stems lengthways on cocoa-nut fibre 
and sand in equal parts, covering them half an inch deep, 
where they will have the benefit of 75° or 80° of bottom heat. 
Give water sufficient to keep them just damp, and in a very 
short space of time they will emit shoots at almost every eye. 
When they haye grown a few inches high and haye emitted 
roots at their base they should be severed from the old stem 
with as much root attached as possible (when the old stem may 
be placed back again if more young plants are required), and 
potted into small 60-sized pots in a mixture of peat, leaf soil, 
and fibry loam in equal parts, with a little powdered charcoal 
and sand added. Plunge the pots in a bottom heat of about 
75° until the plants are well rooted, when they should be placed 
on the surface of the bed. Draczenas may be propagated with 
success at all times of the year, but I have found the spring 
to be the most fayourable season, as then there is ample time 
to grow the young plants into attractive specimens by the 
ensuing winter. The plants luxuriate in a brisk moist heat, 
and require to be shaded from strong sunshine, or they will 
not colour well. Great care must be taken not to overwater 
nor overpot them. Syringe once on bright days at closing 
time, working the syringe as much as possible under the foliage 
to keep down insects. After the small pots are filled with 
roots the plants should be shifted into 5 or 6-inch pots, as that 
is the usual size for decoration, using the soil a little rough, 
and which should now consist of equal parts of peat and turfy 
loam with a little charcoal and enough sand to keep the whole 
open. When the soil becomes exhausted a little of Standen’s 
manure or guano should be sprinkled on the surface, which 
will prove very beneficial. 
Where plants are intended for specimens those plants of the 
freest and best colour should be selected. Great care should 
be taken not to select those that are woody at their base, as 
such will never make good specimens. Or if there are large 
plants that have become leggy split a pot in halves, notch the 
stem of the plant, placing the pot round the notched part, 
fasten the pot with wire and fill it with soil. After the pot is 
well filled with roots the stem should be partly severed below 
the pot, and a week afterwards it may be severed altogether. 
