1883.] 



THE AMERICAN GARDEN. 



149 



or October, when plants must be repotted or 

 taken from the borders for winter flowering. 

 Add one-third of this compost to two-thirds 

 of garden soil, and pot the plants very firmly 

 in it. Loose planting is a fertile source of 

 failure in repotting plants. Press the soil 

 about the roots with a small stick, or, better 

 still, with your own fingers, the best imple- 

 ments God has given us. And true lovers 

 of flowers can never consider their fingers 

 too dainty to use them in the care of their 

 plants in every possible way, any more than 

 true mothers can object to give every need- 

 ful attention to their children. 



August is the month to make preparations 

 for window gardening, and to strike cuttings 

 of all kinds of succulent plants, such as 

 Begonias, Geraniums, Coleus, Achyranthes, 

 etc., for their stems are filled with sap now, 

 and tiny roots will strike out 

 from the smallest cutting that 

 is kept moist and warm. An 

 experiment may also be tried 

 with Geraniums by cutting 

 through a branch two-thirds, 

 leaving enough upon the main 

 branch to let the sap circulate. 

 In two weeks or so the white 

 shoots will appear, when the 

 cutting should be severed com- 

 pletely and planted in a small 

 pot of sandy loam. 



All cutting's strike more rapid- 

 ly in saucers of sand, kept con- 

 stantly moist, than in pots of 

 earth. 



I find it an excellent plan to 

 break off slips from my flowers 

 at this time, and plant them in 

 a little sand, under large Rose 

 bushes, or any shrubs which 

 partly conceal the slips. The 

 hose is played freely upon them 

 every night when it is dry, and 

 by the middle of September I 

 have plenty of well-rooted plants 

 for my window garden, or to give 

 away to friends, who will gladly 

 receive and treasure them care- 

 fully through the gloom of the 

 winter. 



LAYERING ROSES AHD SHRUBS. 



Now is also the time for layer- 

 ing Roses and delicate shrubs of 

 all kinds which you may desire to propagate. 

 Select a strong, luxuriant branch which is 

 near enough to the ground to bend down 

 easily, and to be pressed into the soil just 

 where a bud will strike out roots. Dig away 

 the soil a little, add some sand to it, press 

 the branch firmly into it, cover it very lightly, 

 and stamp the soil down with your boot-heel. 

 Water it, when the day is dry, every night, 

 and keep it closely in the ground, and in four 

 weeks the branch may be cut off, taken up 

 carefully, and planted out in border or lawn, 

 or potted for winter. 



The Chinese method of layering plants will 

 sometimes work better than ours. A branch 

 full of sap is selected and stripped of all the 

 lower leaves, — which should also be done in 

 the above process of layeriug, — and at a bud 

 or axil cf the branch, which will bend closely 

 to the soil, a deep cut is made horizontally, 

 through two-thirds of the branch, leaving 

 •two sharp tongues. A little gritty sand is 



sprinkled over the cut where it is placed in 

 the ground, and a handful of cut grass or 

 moss is laid over the top of it to keep it 

 moist. When firmly planted it must be 

 watered daily, and in three weeks it will 

 generally have made enough growth that it 

 can be detached from the main root without 

 injury. Large hair-pins are handy imple- 

 ments for layering, as they can be placed 

 directly over the branch of a Rose, Hydran- 

 gea, Clematis, etc., and hold it very firmly 

 in the soil. Moss Roses may be increased 

 readily in this manner, and large additions 

 can thus be made to one's supply of many 

 kinds of plants with very little trouble. 



Daisy Eyebright. 



TEITELEIA UNIFLORA. 



This very handsome little liliaceous plant 

 indigenous to South America, was first 



TRITELEIA UNIFLORA. 



brought to Europe in 1836; but its good 

 qualities were not generally recognized until 

 quite recently. It is nevertheless possessed 

 of considerable beauty and sterling worth, 

 being a free and profuse bloomer in the 

 house as well as the open ground. 



From a small bulb resembling that of 

 the Narcissus, a mass of long, narrow, dark- 

 green leaves, slightly depressed along the 

 mid-ribs, are produced, which when growing 

 in a pot rise a little above the rim and droop 

 gracefully over the sides. Several slender 

 stalks about six inches long push forth from 

 among the leaves, each bearing at its tip a 

 single flower — from which the plant derives 

 its name — an inch or more in diameter. 

 The petals are bluish-white, shading to light- 

 blue at the tip, and are depressed along the 

 middle, making a slight convolution. The 

 flowers remain in bloom a long time and fol- 

 low each other in regular succession for sev- 

 eral weeks, after which the leaves die down. 



For house culture, from four to six bulbs 

 may be planted in " six-inch " pots in a medi- 

 um rich loam mixed with a small portion of 

 sand, and single bulbs may be planted in 

 three or "four-inch" pots. They may be 

 potted at any time during autumn ; and by 

 keeping the pots in a cool place at first and 

 removing them successively to the window 

 or plant-room, flowers may be had all winter. 

 After flowering, the bulbs should be taken 

 out of the pot and kept in a dry, cool place 

 until fall, when they should be planted in the 

 open ground, as bulbs do not force well two 

 seasons iu succession. 



For outdoor culture prepare a bed exactly 

 as for Hyacinths or Tulips, plant the bulbs 

 about two inches deep, and when cold weather 

 sets in cover thickly with some light mulch- 

 ing material. As an edging to a bed or a 

 border of Hyacinths or Tulips, they would 

 be very appropriate, and if planted in a bed 

 by themselves their modest 

 beauty and the delicate fragrance 

 of the blossoms cannot but be 

 admired by all lovers of spring 

 flowers. Ike Ivy. 



HOT WATER AS AN INSECTICIDE. 



Hot water, says a correspond- 

 ent of Gardening Illustrated, is a 

 clean, safe, and effective means 

 of destroying green fly on pot 

 plants. To the amateur whose 

 stock of plants might be small, 

 or who might not have accom- 

 modation for fumigating, it would 

 be found a convenient remedy. 

 There is a margin of many de- 

 grees between the lowest tem- 

 perature that will destroy this 

 insect and. the highest that a 

 plant will stand with impunity. 

 One hundred and thirty degrees 

 is a proper temperature, or as 

 hot as the hand can be held in 

 two seconds. The plant should 

 be plunged into and withdrawn 

 from the "water instantaneously. 

 The smaller body and more del- 



icate skin of the insect is more 



quickly acted upon than that of 

 the plant. 

 Should any one be afraid to 

 ? employ the remedy, let him, if 



he has several plants affected, 

 try it on one first, and the next 

 day, when he sees that it has suffered no in- 

 jury, ho will have no misgivings about treat- 

 ing the rest in the same way. 



WORMS IN FLOWER-POTS. 



The common angle-worm may generally 

 be removed by turning the ball out of the 

 pots, or by a few applications of lime-water. 

 The small white worms, or grubs, which fre- 

 quently infest the soil of potted plants, are, 

 according to our correspondent, Mrs. S. P. H., 

 quickly made harmless by an application of 

 one teaspoon of liquid camphor in a pint of 

 water. This will destroy them instantly ; 

 but as a preventive against the young broods 

 the dose should be repeated once a week. 

 Camphor water acts not only as an insecti- 

 cide, but as a stimulant to the plants, which 

 thrive splendidly under this treatment. It 

 has been tried on Roses, Geraniums, Lilies, 

 Begonias, Oxalis, Cactus, and other plants, 

 with good success. 



