THE FLOWER GARDEN. 



155' 



i'MU be had, they may he taken off and be put singly 

 into three-inch pots, a mode of propagation that 

 saves any further hindrance as to potting, &c., as 

 they can be transferred from these pots direct to the 

 beds. Place the cuttings on shelves, exposed to full 

 light, and a temperature of from 60° to 65°, then, 

 with careful attention in regard to watering, they 

 will strike just as successfully as in autumn. As 

 ah-eady remarked, further potting is really not 

 essential, but should extra good plants be desired it 

 ought to be done. Space for the plants, and time 

 for the operation, must decide whether this can be 

 done or not. 



"Violas. — Several varieties of these are scarcely 

 second to Pelargoniums for summer bedding, and all 

 are best propagated in autumn, and from cuttings 

 only ; the plants obtained by division never appear 

 to grow so compactly or so luxuriantly as those 

 obtained from the young side-shoots that spring 

 from the base of the plants, and which about the 

 middle of September are to be had in great abund- 

 ance. They should be split ofE with the fingers, and 

 win. generally be found to have a few rootlets 

 attached. These, if long, it is necessary to shorten 

 with a sharp knife, as the cuttings ought not to 

 exceed three inches in length. In the south of the 

 kingdom they strike and winter successfully on 

 sheltered borders without protection ; but the safest 

 and more general plan is to strike them under hand- 

 lights, or in cold frames, which may be kept rather 

 close till they get a firm grip of the soil ; then they 

 must have all the air possible. A mixture of loam 

 and leaf-soil — no sand — and the cuttings inserted 

 firmly, will end in a good strike. The reason why 

 we say no scmd is, that as the plants have to stand in 

 the cuttiftg-beds tiU transplanted to their permanent 

 quarters, they need a soil that will maintain them in 

 vigour till that time, and sand has none of these 

 properties. If the beds or borders that they are 

 intended to occupy be vacant, transplanting may 

 begin early in April, taking care to move them with 

 balls of eai-th attached; this the presence of leaf- 

 mould in the soil renders an easy matter. Deep 

 rich soil is indispensable to continuous flowering 

 and freedom from the parasite, mildew, to which 

 Violas are peculiarly liable. 



The foregoing treatment is in every particular 

 applicable to the propagation by mittings of Fansies, 

 Antirrhinums, Pentstemons, and Phloxes, all of them 

 so excellent for mixed summer bedding or for hardy 

 flower borders : — 



Seedlings. — Though favourite varieties can only be 

 perpetuated with certainty by cuttings, the strains 

 have now been brought to such perfection, that but 

 a small percentage of inferior kinds is now possible 



from seeds, which to those with limited accommoda- 

 tion as to hand-lights, or other shelter, is the best, 

 way to get up a stock. 



The seeds should be sown in March either in pans 

 or in hand-lights, the soil to. be light sandy loam, 

 with the merest sprinkle of a covering ; water with 

 H. fine-rose pot, and keep close till germination has 

 taken place ; then air freely, and prick ofE the seed- 

 lings as soon as large enough to handle. Again 

 keep close, for a week or so, then gradually inure 

 them to the open air, transplanting them as soon as. 

 large enough to their permanent positions, when they 

 will produce abundance of flowers throughout the 

 autumn. 



Calceolarias. — Of late years the culture of the 

 shrubby section of these has declined, the reason 

 given being their uncertainty of continuous flower- 

 ing, more especially in hot seasons, and their liability 

 to die most mysteriously from some affection that 

 attacks them at the ground-line. We have proved' 

 that both these evUs are preventible by high culture, 

 and therefore advise their continuance for bedding- 

 out purposes. 



It is well known that if any plant is predisposed 

 to disease, nothing more readily aids its spread than 

 lack of vigour, hence high culture should begin at 

 the very commencement, viz., with the cuttings. 

 These should be taken off early in October, those 

 springing from near the base of the plants, and that, 

 have not been smothered in foliage to render them 

 weakly, or what gardeners term " drawn." Cut 

 them with a sharp knife, and of such a length as 

 wiU admit of two joints being inserted in the soil, 

 leaving about three above. They are impatient of 

 artificial heat at all stages' of growth, and therefore 

 a cold pit, in the strictest sense of that term, is the 

 best possible structure in which to strike and winter 

 them. The soil, about six inches in thickness, should 

 be sandy loam and peat, or leaf-soil, in equal propor- 

 tions, which should be placed over a layer of rubble 

 — sittings of the same material — and be well pressed 

 down; then the cuttings to be dibbled in three 

 inches apart, this distance admitting of their stand- 

 ing in the cutting-pit without getting lanky, till 

 the spring, when they can be transplanted to any 

 sheltered nook, an excellent place being at the foot 

 of the fruit-walls, where they can share in the pro- 

 tection afforded by the trees. A good watering is 

 necessary as soon as the cuttings are put in, to well 

 settle the soU about them, this generally being all 

 the water needed till they are struck, which takes, 

 from six to eight weeks to accomplish, all of which 

 time the lights should be kept closed, and a slight 

 shade applied whenever the sun is powerful. At the- 

 end of that period air may be given freely, and suoJi 



