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CASSELL'S POPULAR GARDEXIXa 



for stock. For this purpose, square pans a foot 

 square are best. These hold about three dozen 

 €uttings, and a half a dozen pans will produce an 

 immense quantity of cuttings in spring-. Like most 

 other succulent j^knts, this grows best in an open 

 and freely-di'ained soil, and the drainage of the pans 

 should therefore be well done, and if with the soil — 

 light loam and sand— a small proportion of finely - 

 broken potsherds and charcoal be mixed, there will 

 be less liability of the plants suffering from an over- 

 dose of water during the winter. As soon as the 

 ■cuttings are put in, a good watering will be neces- 

 sary, but no more should be given till the soil seems 

 reaUy diy, or is observed to be cracking from the 

 sides of the pans. They never fail to strike if placed 

 on a shelf over hot-water pipes, no shading or 

 propagating-glass being needed. They will winter 

 satisfactorily in any light position and in a green- 

 house temperatm-e. In Febi-uary they must be put 

 into heat, and cuttings may be taken as soon as to be 

 had of a couple of inches in length. At this season 

 they strike most readily under glasses in bottom 

 heat, in the same manner as most other soft-wooded 

 plants, and as soon as struck must be transplanted 

 into boxes or pans, and kept in heat till they have 

 recovered from the check of removal ; afterwards 

 cool houses and pits, coupled with careful watering, 

 will keep them in slow but vigorous growth. 



Hoots and Tubers. — Single varieties of Dahlias 

 have lately become so popular, that they must have 

 the first i)lace on the list under this heading. The 

 mania for them still spreads, and the consequent e\il 

 is abeady apparent, viz., that of sending out innu- 

 merable varieties which are different only in name. 

 It would be well if growers would content them- 

 selves with half a dozen kinds, and grow that number 

 ivell in groups and masses for distant effect, or alter- 

 nate, as to colour, in mixed flower bordeis. They 

 are most readily raised from seeds, which ought to be 

 sown in heat in February, then good plants may be 

 had for planting out in June, and will be in full 

 flower by the beginning of August. Sow in pans of 

 light loam, covering the seeds thinly with sand, 

 water, and place them in the propagating-pit. As 

 soon as germination takes place the pans should be 

 shifted nearer the glass, say a shelf in a plant-stove, 

 pine-jjit, or a ^dnery that is being forced ; here they 

 may remain, being well supplied with water, tiQ the 

 plants are large enough to be potted singly into 

 thumb -pots, to be grown on as rapidly as is possible 

 so long as the growth continues of a robust de- 

 scription. Five-inch pots will be none too large for 

 the second potting, which will be needed at the end 

 of April, or early in May. Xamed kinds can only 

 be had true from cuttings. Stock-roots placed in a 



bottom heat of 65° in February or March will a5ord 

 cuttings within three weeks. Sever them from the 

 old root with a bit of it adhering, and put them in 

 thumb-pots, plunge in bottom heat, keep moist and 

 shade. The cuttings ;.hould never be allowed to flag, 

 or the chances are that they will fail to stiike, or if 

 this does not happen they will be double the time in 

 striking wiiich those are that do not flag. As soon as 

 rooted, treat them exactly the same as advised for 

 seedlings. The double or show kinds can only be had 

 from cuttiags, and are propagated in the same way. 



C annas. — These are about the most stately of 

 foliage bedders, and their cultm-e and jDropagution 

 being of the simplest desciiption, admits of no excuse 

 for their not being used in quantity. Old roots can 

 be wintered in any out-of-the-way shed or cellar, 

 light or dark is quite immaterial, so long as thei'e is 

 freedom from fi-ost. If lifted with soil adhering, none 

 other is needed; but if bare, they may be roughly 

 heeled in, packed closely together in any kind of 

 soil, sawdust, or cocoa fibre ; and in this form they 

 may remain till the end of April, except such roots 

 as are needed for increase of stock; these may bo 

 brought out and parted into single cro'W'ns, and be 

 potted in such sized pots as the size of crown demands. 

 Till new roots have begun to work in the fresh soil 

 there will be little top gTOwth; therefore, the plants 

 may stand in any out-of-the-way place, under stages 

 or trellises, without injury accruing to them ; but once 

 top gi'owth has started, light and gentle warmth must 

 be afforded, else the gi'owth will be of an attenuated 

 nature, and get crippled as soon as turned outside. 

 Seeds sown in January in strong bottom heat make 

 good plants by bedding-ovit time ; but they will not 

 compare in ^igour with the strong crowns that are 

 taken from old stools five or six weel^s later. 



Salvia patens, Verbena i/enosa, Terennial Lobelias, 

 and 2Lan:el of Peru, are all of them indispensable in 

 summer bedding ; indeed they may be called every- 

 body's plants, as they are easy to grow and increase, 

 and above all to winter, which they do safely in any 

 place from which frost is excluded. The roots of 

 the Salvia, and Marvel of Peru, only require to be 

 surrounded with any kind of rough soil, to prevent 

 the shrinking of the tubers. The roots may be 

 divided for increase of stock any time during the 

 month of ]March ; boxes are the most convenient for 

 planting them in, and with cold-frame treatment 

 afterwards, they will make good plants by bedding- 

 out time. Verbena venosa generally winters well in 

 the open gToimd, but the flowers do not come so fine, 

 or the growth so regular and robust, as when the 

 roots are lifted annually, and covered thickly with 

 dry soil during the winter, and aie propagated 

 afresh in April by cutting up the most fleshy parts 



