November, 1905 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



165 



224. Never set out in the spring an old geranium 

 plant that has been in the cellar all winter or you 

 will get leggy, straggling plants, liKe half-grown roosters. 

 Watch this old stump 



atmosphere, and if possible more heat. 

 This can be secured by covering with a 

 bell glass, or the flats may be surrounded 

 and covered with panes of glass, thus forming 

 a complete case. A coleus will root in 

 from seven to ten days in a dwelling house, 

 but if the cuttings once get thoroughly 

 wilted they will never recover. 



If only a few plants are needed, two and one- 

 half or three-inch pots can be used instead 

 of flats. Use leaf mold and sand, the 

 same as in the window boxes, and insert 

 the cuttings so as just to touch one another 

 around the edge of each pot, and the same 

 treatment as described above holds good 

 in every other respect. 



PLANTS THAT GROW FROM' LEAVES 



There are a few plants which can be 

 readily propagated from leaves. Of these 

 the most useful are rex begonias, gloxinias, 

 umbrella plant (Cyperus altemijolins) and 

 peperomias. 



The leaves of the Rex begonia can be cut 

 into pieces, each piece having one or more 

 of the larger nerves or veins. Fill a shallow 

 box or flower pot with sand, just as you 

 would do for the geraniums, and stick the 

 end of the leaf fragment into this in the 

 same way as you would put in any other cut- 

 ting. It does not matter if they are crowded 

 together. In due time bulbils will form at 

 the end of each vein or midrib, and very soon 

 roots and young leaves will develop. When 

 these little plants are large enough they 

 may be lifted out of the cutting box and put 

 into small pots, singly, using a light soil. 



Pepper elders (Peperomia) and gloxinias 

 must have a part of the leaf stalk attached. 

 Dibble them into the sand quite deeply and 

 water once thoroughly; afterward water 

 sparingly, because the leaves, being soft, 

 are liable to decay before bulbils form. 



Leaves of Cyperus altemijolins root very 



readily in water. They will float on top 

 of a tank or basin of water and need no 

 further care. Young plants form in the 

 axils of the leaflets, and when large enough 

 they may be removed and potted in soil. 



PLANTS TO BE CARRIED OVER 



Alternantheras do better if the old plants 

 are potted and kept in a sunny place, moder- 

 ately dry, till spring, when they will make 

 lots of young growths, which can be taken off 

 as cuttings. Old plants of Begonia Vernon 

 taken up and potted now will flower abundant- 

 ly all winter, and numerous cuttings may 

 be had from them next March and April. 

 All the common flowering maples {Abutilon 

 Thompsoni, Souvenir de Bonn and Savitzii) 

 will also give plenty of plants in the spring, 

 but they must be cut back severely after 



225. The same plant three weeKs later, after it has 

 had a chance at light and water 



lifting — say to within nine to twelve inches 

 of the pot. 



Both kinds of the popular ornamental 

 asparagus, usually grown as house plants 

 {Asparagus plumosus and A. Sprengeri), are 

 raised from seed. Sprenger's asparagus 

 flowers readily when the plants get large, 

 and the red berries are one of the prettiest 

 features. Save seeds from these and sow 

 in early spring in a light, well-drained soil. 

 Asparagus plumosus very rarely produces 

 seed when grown in a pot. 



Ferns of the Boston type can be readily 

 increased at any time by breaking off some 

 of the small plants (with roots intact) that 

 grow around the edges of the large pieces. 

 Pot them up in any size pot that is suffi- 

 ciently large to contain these roots, but 

 never "over-pot" them (over-potting is 

 putting a small plant in a big pot). They 

 form roots much more quickly in a small pot, 

 and they can be repotted as often as they 

 require it. Any plant needs to be repotted 



226. A good geranium slip. You want to cut 

 square across with a sharp knife right under a joint. 

 All sorts of cuttings, as a rule, root better there than 

 between the joints 



into a bigger size as soon as its present pot 

 gets full of roots, and no sooner. Growth is 

 much quicker, too, if only a small shift is 

 given each time. It is best to use a pot 

 about one size larger, or say from a three- 

 inch to a five-inch, from a five-inch to a 

 seven-inch pot, and so on. 



"HARD" AND "SOFT" WOOD CUTTINGS 



Cuttings are of two kinds, viz., "hard- 

 wood" and "soft-wood." Hard-wood cut- 

 tings are more difficult to root than the 

 "soft-wooded." A soft-wood cutting will 

 "callus" or heal and form roots, no matter 

 where the cut may be. 



The azalea and abutilon are hard-wood 

 cuttings; the geranium and coleus are types 

 of the soft-wood cutting. Hard-wooded 

 plants have a woody stem, a pithy centre (in 

 a young state) and a well-defined bark; a 



227. Now we shall raise new plants from cuttings 

 and beat the old plants "all hollow" 



