June 30, 1863. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



475 



head of which has been taken off to form a cutting, and the buds 

 of which are breaking into young shoots. Three Bhoot9 are pro- 

 duced, and those after growing to the length of 4 or 6 inches 

 are stopped by pinching out the points, produce their lateral 

 shoots and flower in the autumn ; and after being thoroughly 

 ripened by exposure to the full sun, are cut down as represented 

 in fig. 2. This is what, in nursery parlance, is termed a young 

 stool or bottom, and is the sort of plant which an amateur 

 should select to grow into a nice specimen. In fig. 3 we have 



Fig. 3. 



the same plant grown another Beason and cut down ; and here 

 it will be seen it has added materially to its size, and has 

 become a really fine ground-work for a speeiineu plant. But to 

 form these bottoms is not quite so easy as to write about them. 

 Young Pelargonium shoots are formed of brittle material, and 

 hence considerable care and patience are necessary to get the 

 shoots into the requisite form. We first begin with long hooked 

 pegs, and peg the shoots into their places a little at a time, say 

 depressing each shoot a little every three or four days until it 

 gets into proper shape ; always, if possible, taking advantage of 

 the sunny part of the day, and allowing the plants to be rather 

 dry at the time. In the afternoon of a sunny day, and before 

 watering the plants, you may take much greater liberties with 

 the young shoots of a Pelargonium than would be safe in the 

 morning ; and hence that time should always be chosen. When 

 the plants get too large for pegs, small sticks of the necessary 

 strength are used, placing them wherever it is necessary to draw 

 the branches to, and to avoid using many stakes a band of bass, 

 mat, or wire is passed round below the run of the top and made 

 fast ; a piece of fine matting or string is then tied to the various 

 branches, and each is drawn into the position it is destined to 

 occupy. When the branches are depressed below the level of 

 the rim of the pot, an arrangement of this kind is indispensable, 

 and independently of that, it is a very neat way of accom- 

 plishing our aim. Without a properly formed stool it is 

 impossible to get a perfect plant ; and, therefore, no pains must 

 be spared to arrange the branches properly before they get too 

 much crowded with foliage. Sometimes branches are liable to 

 split in the fork — that is, where they start from the parent stem, 

 and then, before attempting to train them, the branches must be 

 tied together by means of strong pieces of soft matting. Thus 

 arranged, with perseverance and patience, the plants may be 

 made to assume any form you please, but they must be gently 

 handled ; and hence, never attempt to train a plant except 

 when you have leisure to do so carefully, and without hurry. 



Fig. 4. 



In fig. 4 we have the plant advanced another year, and it is 



now of a size sufficiently large for all ordinary purposes. Such 

 a stool, with proper management, and if of a free-growing kind, 

 such as Queen Superb or Reino des Francais, would form a plant 

 from 4 to 6 feet in diameter, and should produce more than a 

 thousand trusses of flowers — a eight worth seeing, and an ample 

 recompense for the trouble that has been taken in its formation. 

 Such stools are rarely to be bought ; those who have them do 

 not like to part from them. The stools represented in our 

 engravings are not ideal sketches, but actual portraits of plants 

 growing in our own establishment, which we shall be happy to 

 show to any one who may call upon us. No. 2 is a young stool 

 of Jenny Lind; 3, that delicate kind called Picturata; and 4, 

 Queen Superb. Larger stools of the same kind may be found, 

 but not more perfect than Nos. 3 and 4. Of such free-growing 

 kinds as Queen Superb, it is possible, by sacrificing the flower, 

 to grow a plant of the size in one season ; but of Picturata, 

 Formosa, or Fairy Queen, it would be good work to get them of 

 the same size in three seasons. The reaBon is this, they only 

 produce wood-buds at or near the base of the shoots, and hence 

 we have no choice but to cut back to them ; but the Queen-bred 

 ones, as they are called, grow more vigorously, and hence may 

 be cut much longer. — W. P. Atbes, " The Fancy Pelargonium." 



LEAVES OF BEGONIA GEIFFITHII ROOTING. 



On the 4th of June, 1S62, some of the leaves of Begonia 

 Griffithii, along with numerous others of the same class of plants, 

 were given to a lady in this vicinity. I was surprised to learn 

 about three months ago that one leaf of Griffithii was still 

 fresh as the day when it waB taken off the plant, and had actually 

 made roots in the glass of water wherein it wa3 put at the time 

 the others faded and died. But to have a full conviction of the 

 fact I examined it on the Sth of this month, being one year and 

 five days since I took it off the plant. Well, its silky-looking roots 

 fold round the inside of the glass which contains nothing but 

 pure rain water ; and all up the Btem, which of course is con- 

 stantly immersed in water, there are a dozen or more young 

 plants showing themselves, but none at the base of the leaf, 

 where it is generally propagated from. Griffithii was in close 

 succession after Eex was introduced. It is a well-known face 

 that Begonias like a moist close place; but becoming an aquatic 

 is another matter. — Alpha. 



[The fine-leaved Begonias have, many of them, singular powers 

 of vitality. We have found slips and pieces of leaves rooting on 

 damp floors, where they had been accidentally dropped. They 

 will do even with little water if the atmosphere is at all moist.] 



TYING MATEEIAL. 



Ha VINO read Mr. Bobson's article in No. 116 of your Journal 

 I beg to inform him that I have received from Messrs. Dickson, 

 Hogg, & Robertson, of No. 22, Mary Street, Dublin, three 

 samples of different materials as substitutes for matting and 

 Cuba ba9t. They are labelled, " Japanese Flax," " Green 

 China Grass," and " White China GrasB." The two latter are 

 best ; they are cheaper than bast, and much superior to it for 

 both in-door and out-door work. They are first-rate for tying 

 pot-plants, as they can be drawn to a hair-like fineness ; they 

 are mucli improved by being put in water for an hour before 

 use. 



I think when they become better known they will entirely 

 supersede Cuba bast and matting for garden purposes.- — G. G., 

 Wells. 



JOTTINGS FROM PARIS, 1863. 



Undeb this head there is in page 432 of The Jot/bnal OP 

 Hobticttltuke a sort of account rendered by " D." of Deal, of 

 the vegetable part at the last horticultural show in Paris. Having 

 been absent from home I only yesterday became acquainted with 

 the article in question, the real motive of which I leave others 

 to appreciate. 



Had my Strawberries really been Buch as "D." of Deal finds 

 particular pleasure in representing to the readers of The JoubeaIi 

 op Horticultube, I am sure that not only the Judges would 

 not have given them a first prize, but they would not even have 

 been admitted by the parties charged with the arrangements of 

 the Exhibition. If "D." of Deal did possess a little more 



