March 16, 1871. ] 



JOUENAL OP HORTICULTUBB AND COTTAGE GAEDENEB. 



205 



them. Soot water is good to put in evaporating-pans, and so 

 is guano water, but the latter must be used with more care, as 

 the vapour might injure tender subjects. We have known 

 Maiden-hair Ferns almost tilled by the fumes from guano, 

 tobacco smoke when strong, and even from the use of sulphur 

 on a hot-water pipe when the pipe was too warm. It is rare 

 that soot water would throw ofi so much ammonia as to be 

 injurious. ^ 



OKNAMENTAL DEPAKTIIENT. 



The heavy showers told very beneficially on a piece of fresh 

 turfing, and furnished the opportunity of passing a heavy roller 

 over the turf to bring it to a uniform level. The rains showed 

 also where there was any deficiency, so that any little knolls 

 could get an extra beating down before the roller was applied. 

 Lately we alluded to some precautions to be taken in turfing 

 where inexperienced hands are employed, and now, as respects 

 rolling fresh-laid turf after heavy rains, the rolling cannot 

 be done too quickly. The necessary number of men should be 

 employed, so that without any straining the ground can be 

 gone over quickly. A slow motion under such circumstances 

 will be almost sure to leave the ground in humps and hollows. 

 Even rolling walks and the sides of flower beds has a tendency 

 to raise the grass there hy degrees, and the working of hand- 

 mowing machines exerts the same tendency, the rising being 

 so gradual as not to be noticed at first, but it is sure to leave its 

 mark in the course of years. We have frequently had to lower 

 the sides of walks and a space round beds for a width of from 

 ,2 to 3 feet, when the rest of the lawn was as level as could be 

 desired. Grass verges by the sides of walks often become un- 

 level from the same cause, and should be frequently rectified, 

 as when not level, or dipping now to one side and now to the 

 other, the beauty of their appearance is greatly impaired, and 

 more time is taken in mowing and machining them. A small 

 hand-mowing machine is invaluable for such verges, as it takes 

 all the cut grass up as it goes. 



We are as yet afraid to place many plants out of doors, with 

 nothing but a little protection over them, but we are greatly 

 straitened from want of room, and now under all glass the 

 contest is a serious ona between what will be merely ornamental 

 and what must appear at table as the merely useful and agree- 

 able. Among other matters, pricking-off seedlings, and the 

 making and forwarding of cuttings will be of importance this 

 mouth, so as to bring many things forward before the middle 

 and end of May. Large plants may be prieked-off singly, but 

 in_ the case of very small seedlings it is often preferable to 

 prick them off in shallow pans or pots, not singly, but in little 

 patches, and then as these grow they can be divided again and 

 again. Not only is this a good plan for preventing damping, 

 but the young plants thrive all the better in these little groups, 

 and come on more quickly than if the little plants, almost un- 

 touchable, had stood at first an inch apart. Such work with 

 seedlings and cuttings will succeed better with a little extra 

 heat, and if anything in the way of a slight hotbed can be 

 secured, so as to command a little bottom heat, all the better. 



As respects cuttings, the rules applicable in autumn and 

 spring should in general, for all half-hardy and tender plants, 

 be reversed. In autumn we should give bedding plants time 

 to strike in a cool temperature, and the cooler they are struck 

 the more robust and hardy they will afterwards be. The 

 merely growing tendency is then naturally on the decline, and 

 we shall do well to humour it, instead of forcing it out of its 

 natural habit. In spring plants in general are on the move, 

 and in taking cuttings it is well to give an impetus to the move- 

 ment. For example, if we inserted cuttings of Calceolarias in 

 a cool place in October, we should be perfectly satisfied if they 

 began to root in from eight to twelve weeks ; but we should 

 expect them to root in less than that number of days in a 

 slight hotbed now, and if well hardened off before full exposure, 

 they will make fine plants. 



So far as Verbenas are concerned (and here we must thank 

 those who have responded to our wishes on this matter) we 

 have generally preferred those struck in spring, and we never 

 had better beds than when we struck our supply in a rather 

 wholesale way with the help of a slight hotbed and frames. 

 The bed being made and the frame set on, there was first a 

 layer of rotten dung placed over it, say 2 inches deep, then 

 another inch of leaf mould and rough compost from the noduled 

 loam ; next, 2 inches of light sandy loam, with a little leaf 

 mould in it, and just one-eighth of an inch of sand all over. 

 In this the cuttings were inserted in lines 3 inches apart and 

 2 inches from each other in the row, and were watered with 

 warm water, were sprinkled two or three times in hot days. 



and received no shading when they would do without it- 

 The cuttings thus treated struck quickly and grew freely,. 

 making fine stubby plants, had air given them as they could 

 bear it, were fully exposed before planting out, and then, 

 lifted with nice balls, the fine fresh roots ready to enter at 

 once into the well-aired soil of the beds. We cannot, however, 

 to-day, enter into the details of propagating by cuttings, we 

 shall merely advert to a few matters that have come before us, 

 in our correspondence, and respecting which icquiries have 

 been made by our amateur friends. 



First, then, we adhere to what was stated lately — that the^ 

 great point is never to let a cutting sufier from its severance 

 from the parent plant more than is unavoidable, and especially 

 in propagating in spring. We cannot help it if " Anxious "" 

 cannot see how that treatment is to be reconciled with the- 

 directions so often given for making cuttings in the usual 

 way, and then leaving them long enough for the cut bases to 

 harden before inserting them. For all cuttings except those- 

 with milky juice, or which bleed freely, or which are of a very, 

 succulent nature, we should consider all such drying treatment 

 as next to barbarous. Even in the case of the succulents, and 

 very fleshy Scarlet Geraniums, if we did allow the cut ends- 

 to become a little dried we would damp or shade the tops, so- 

 that there should be no drying nor exhaustion of vital energy 

 there. In all other cases, the sooner tho cutting is inserted 

 after it is made the better is the chance of its soon becoming, 

 a plant. We have no faith in the little things lying exposed 

 on a potting bench. After many experiments we have never 

 found, except in the cases referred to, any benefit from drying, 

 the ends of cuttings before inserting them. 



The second inquiry has reference to the use of shallow com- 

 mon saucers for striking cuttings in sand, and the use of- 

 warmed water — whether it is better than striking in pots in the- 

 usual way, where there is some open soil beneath and a layer 

 of sand merely on the top, and if any other shallow vessel would' 

 be better than an earthenware vessel with or without drainage 

 holes in the bottom. The common earthenware flat or saucer- 

 will answer very well ; and if the cuttings can only be firmed, 

 the shallower the vessels are the sooner will the cuttings root> 

 We should prefer zinc vessels, however, for such work. We 

 have never found cuttings do better in any vessel than in pieces- 

 of partly worn-out zinc spouting, and, if the waterer is careful, 

 in such shallow pans the drainage hole is a matter of little 

 importance. The rapidity with which many cuttin gs strike under 

 such circumstances is owing to the cutting going close to or on 

 the bottom of the vessel, which thus presents an obstruction 

 to the swelling and the callusing there, and this in self-defence- 

 causes the somewhat earlier protrusion of the roots. This is 

 also aided by the fine sand alone being used. In these matters 

 the supposed superiority of the system consists. Its counter- 

 vailing disadvantage is, that as soon as rooted you must remove 

 and pot the cuttings. They will not long thrive in the sanS 

 after rooting. Hence for general purposes there is not so much- 

 gained over using small pots in the usual way, draining them 

 well, filling with prepared light compost, covering with a layer 

 of sand, chiefly for keeping air from the base of the cuttings,, 

 inserting these cuttings round the side of the pot, and the base 

 touching the side and leaving the centre of the small pot unoc- 

 cupied. By this mode the cuttings can remain for some time 

 after they have rooted and yet flourish, can be broken off with 

 little balls when it is desired to pot or plant them, and will not 

 snSer so much as roots taken from pure sand and treated with- 

 compost however light, but containing some portion of loam. 



With regard to the confusion about shading, we can only say- 

 at present that every extra ten minutes' shading not necessary 

 to prevent flagging, weakens and drains the cutting, and prompts- 

 it to lengthen upwards instead of sending roots downwards. A. 

 skiff with a syringe over the tops will often be much better 

 than shading ; and if the cuttings are from 24 to 30 inches 

 from good glass, the greater diffusion of the light, and, as 

 stated above, a dew-like skifl' from the syringe will reader muck 

 shading unnecessary. — E. F. 



TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



Hardy Oechids (J. H,). — You sboii]d apply to some of the imrserynieE- 

 who advertise ia our columns, for the Orchids and; other J3owers you. 

 name. 



■Weather Predictions (Amateur, Cirencester). — V,^e cannot ask the gen- 

 tleman you name to predict the weather of the coming summer. 



Flower Bed (F. I. C ).— We approve of the proposed mode of arrange- 

 ment. For the second border v,e T\-ouId have a narrow line of Cerastium, 

 then blue Lobelia, Golden Chain Geranium, and a dwarf scarlet variety for 

 the centre. 



