Angnat 80, 1877. 1 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



171 



bsen doing splendidly, the latter being now covered with fine 

 blooms. I cannot omit to mention Perfection des Blanches, 

 although of no use as a Bhow variety. It is covered with buds 

 and blooms, and looks as if it would continue flowering for a 

 long time to come; indeed, there is no variety I know so 

 useful for cutting blooms from for the drawing-room and other 

 places where Roses are much used for decorating. Louis 

 Van Houtte is now blooming freely. Many other varieties I 

 could mention, but I must content myself with the few 

 already named. — Sheopshiee Gardener. 



KALOSANTHES COCCINEA CULTUBE. 



As greenhouse plants of easy culture, suitable alike for the 

 small house of the amateur and the imposing conservatory 

 of the aristocrat, Kalosanthes are specially recommendable. 

 Large speoimens also have a telling effect in collections of 

 plants at the summer exhibitions. Their neat fleBhy leaves 

 and compact growth render the plants anything but unsightly 

 even when not in flower, but when covered with their glowing 

 trusses they are really gorgeous ; they oontinue also a long 

 time in beauty. Quite small plants in 4 or 5-inch pots, each 

 having one Btem terminating with a head of flowers, are ex- 

 tremely useful for many purposes of decoration ; and plants in 

 proportionally larger pots, with from six to twenty and more 

 heads of flowers, are Bplendid objects where large plants and 

 rich masses of colour are required. 



For producing small plants for flowering next summer cut- 

 tings should be inserted at the present time. The extremities 

 of strong healthy shoots should be cut off about 4 inches in 

 length, an inch of the base of each cutting being divested of 

 leaves. The cuttings after being made should lie on a shelf 

 for a few hours for the sap to dry-up and the wounds to heal. 

 Each cutting should then be firmly inserted in the centre of a 

 small pot in a compost of loam, crushed bricks, and silver 

 sand, and be placed on a shelf in the greenhouse, and not 

 shaded from the sun. The soil must be kept moderately moist 

 but by no means wet, and each cutting will emit roots speedily. 

 Water may then be given more freely for a Bhort time until 

 the pots become quite filled with roots, when it must then be 

 given less copiously, and be gradually withheld as the dark 

 days of winter approach. The plants must remain in the 

 same pots on a dry light shelf throughout the winter, and for 

 three months (November, December, and January), scarcely any 

 water should be given to them, but the leaves should be per- 

 mitted to become limp and flaccid, and if they lose their bright 

 green tint no harm will result. The partially-drying process 

 induces the flower heads to form in the tips of the plants, and 

 as the spring approaches they may be plainly felt, each tip 

 when pressed between the finger and thumb feeling as if it 

 contained a small nut. When in that state and the days 

 become lighter and longer the plants may be watered again, 

 and the limp leaves will become rigid and their pale brown 

 colour will change to a lively green. 



They may then be shifted into their flowering pots, 48's, 

 potting them firmly in turfy loam and a little old dried cow 

 dung, incorporating also crushed bricks and charcoal freely. 

 The plants must still have a very light place on a shelf in the 

 greenhouse, and must have plenty of air to keep them dwarf 

 and Bturdy in habit. In due time the flowers will expand, and 

 not many plants will be found more useful nor be more gene- 

 rally admired. A dozen or a hundred of such plants — as may 

 be required— should be grown in all gardens where attractive 

 flowers are coveted during the early summer months. Few 

 plants can be produoed more easily, and scarcely any flower 

 with greater certainty when managed as above described, but 

 it is important that no delay occurs in inserting the cuttings. 

 I have occasionally had good flowering plants from cuttings 

 inserted in September, but August is the better month. 



When the plants have ceased flowering water should be 

 partially withheld, and they should be cut-down to within 4 or 

 5 inches of the root. Fresh growths will then form, which 

 must be thinned-out to the number required, and the plants 

 be repotted, removing a portion of the old soil. Growth should 

 be encouraged until October, when the plants should be partially 

 dried as before. When cut-down early and well managed the 

 young growths will flower the following year, but otherwise 

 they will not all do so ; and when really fine plants are re- 

 quired it is well to have two sets of them, so that a clear 

 summer's growth can be afforded — one set of plants flowering, 

 and the others growing for the following year's display. Satis- 

 factory results are then sure to follow, and plants produced 



which will do credit to any cultivator and add beauty to any 

 conservatory. *-s£?'Tp- 



A few attractive sorts are coccinea superba, splendens, 

 Napoleon grandiflora and miniata, the first named being, 

 perhaps, the best of the quartet.— Ex-Exhibitor. 



TEBBS' UNIVERSAL TRAVELLING POT. 



Under the above rather formidable yet expressive name a 

 paper flower " pot " has been submitted to us by Messrs. Blake 

 and Mackenzie, which we regard as a very simple, sensible, and 

 serviceable invention. The following advantages are claimed 

 by the inventors for this novel flower pot — great saving of 



Fig. 37. 



Showing plant placed in one 



of the pots. 



Fig. J 



Beady for market, &c. , or 

 carrying by hand. 



time in packing, as no mossing-down is required. Plants 

 packed in these pots occupy considerably less than the usual 

 space, and, being unbreakable, can be packed close together, 

 thus making a saving in packages. The plants being turned 

 out of their ordinary pots reduces 

 their weight to nearly one-half, 

 thus reducing the important item 

 of carriage considerably. They are 

 also cheaper than ordinary pots — 

 an important consideration where 

 large quantities of plants are sent 

 away, as the pots they have been 

 growing in can be retained for home 

 purposes only. Where large quan- 

 tities of plants are sent out for im- 

 mediate planting or bedding, or for 

 market purposes, the saving of 

 labour and cartage will be consider- 

 able. 



The above engravings show how 

 the pots are to be used — viz., turn 

 a plant out of the ordinary flower 

 pot, and while holding the ball in 

 one hand place one of the paper 

 pots over it, press it down, and fold 

 down the flaps ; these keep the whole in shape. They are 

 made of strong brown paper lined with a waterproof material 

 to retain the moisture about the roots, thus preventing the 

 plants suffering through any delay in transit. Upon arriving 

 at their destination they can be replaced into the same 6ized 

 pots from whence they were originally taken, or shifted into 

 larger, or planted out as required. The paper pots are made 

 at a cheap rate of various sizes from 2J inches to 6 inches in 

 diameter, and larger sizes will afterwards be introduced if 

 required. 



THE ROSE ELECTION. 

 Vert hurriedly a line in reply to " H. C.'s " suggestion as to 

 the limit of seventy-two varieties instead of forty-eight. I think 

 I recognise him and wish I could meet his views, but already 

 several of those named have returned their voting papers, 

 though I am sorry to add that thus far the nurserymen are 

 sadly in arrears, and comparatively few have returned lists. 

 I am afraid the suggestion coming so late would rather inter- 

 fere with the present election. I have no objection to try and 

 meet him this way. Very few amateurs, I fancy, ever stage 

 seventy-two, and it would perhaps interfere with the election 



Pig. 39. 



Plant packed for sending long 



distances. 



