468 JOURNAL OF THE KOYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



the tank. When pumped through the pipes the liquid is the colour of 

 strong coffee. 



Whence come all the plants, sufficient to fill a range needing one or 

 two hundred thousand plants ? Heretofore it has been customary to plant 

 with young stock every year, on the theory that one winter's forcing 

 sapped the strength of the plants and gave the best blooms that the plant 

 was capable of. Now there is a tendency to carry them over for two and 

 even three years. The propagation of such a number of plants is in 

 itself no small item either of time or labour. A small house having a 

 northern exposure is set apart for this purpose ; this has one bench run- 

 ning its entire length, boarded in underneath that the temperature may 

 be evenly maintained. The bench, carefully cleansed after the manner of 

 the large houses, is lined with slate and filled with clean, sharp, river-sand 

 to a depth of about three inches. The temperature of the sand is kept 

 from 65 to 70 degrees Fahr. Every precaution is taken to keep out the 

 cutting bed fungus, a most unwelcome guest. In case of an attack, 1 part 

 of mercuric chloride to 1,000 of water could be used. Personally I know 

 nothing of this remedy except that it will kill plant life, the only question 

 being whether it will not kill too much. The sand, thoroughly wetted, 

 pounded and settled, makes a firm resting-place for the cutting after it 

 has been made. The cutting should have at least two eyes. When the 

 cuttings are made they are set in the sand with about one inch between 

 them in the row and two or three inches between the rows. They are flooded 

 into position and then watered as needed. At the end of three or four 

 weeks they are ready to be taken out of the sand. The length of time 

 depends on the variety. When sufficiently rooted they are potted in 

 2{-inch pots, with finely-screened fibrous soil. In six to eight weeks 

 they are ready to be shifted into 3^-inch pots, with some manure and 

 ground bone. In six weeks more they are ready to be planted in the 

 benches ; they are there kept in a growing condition, carefully disbudded, 

 until they are good-sized plants. The first few weeks they are only 

 allowed to mature the best buds, the " seconds " and " thirds " being 

 cut off. 



For grafting, Manetti is the most generally used stock in this country. 

 Experiments are being made to see if one of our native varieties will not 

 serve us better. The suckering of the Manetti is one of its worst faults, 

 and if this energy could only be put into the right channels everyone 

 would be very much better satisfied. According to reports made at the 

 last meeting of the American Rose Society, as yet nothing has been 

 found. The modus operandi is as follows : — The Manetti, on its arrival 

 from English or Scottish shores, is carefully looked over and potted into 

 21,-inch pots. It is then placed in a cool dark house and kept at a 

 temperature of 40-45 degrees Fahr. ; when the roots have started well 

 the temperature is gradually raised to the growing point. The grafting 

 is done with whip-grafts, except where the stock is so large that the scion 

 cannot be made to fit, when cleft-grafting is resorted to. Then the next 

 step is putting the plants into " Wardian case." For this several false 

 ends are made, so that it may be divided into as many individual cases as 

 are required, thus making it possible for each grafting of plants to have a 

 compartment to itself and be treated satisfactorily. As there are ques- 



