38 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
plants. I strongly recommend you, especially those who are wanting 
spikes for exhibition purposes, to allow the plant to ripen a small 
portion of its seed. If, however, specimen spikes are not wanted, 
the plant can be cut down immediately after flowering. It will then 
be necessary to give a liberal dressing of well-rotted manure and an 
occasional watering with manure water. 
During the winter months Delphiniums are often attacked by 
slugs, with most disastrous results. As a precautionary measure 
carefully remove the soil from the crowns and cover with 2 or 3 
inches of very fine ashes. This I have always found most effective, 
and certainly more reliable than the many patent remedies now on 
the market. I also recommend the plants to be divided and trans- 
planted every third or fourth year. 
There are several methodsof propagating — divisions, layers, cuttings, 
and seed. The most popular method of increasing stock is by division ; 
this should be done during March. The practice I annually adopt is 
to lift my plants towards the end of February or in early March, when 
the stock is quite dormant, and place in a cold frame. Immediately 
they have started into growth they are again lifted and divided, cutting 
away as much of the old root as possible, leaving two or three crowns 
to each division. They are then laid back in the frame for another 
three or four weeks, kept close for a week or two, and are then quite 
ready for planting, in their permanent quarters. Care should be taken 
to select favourable weather for this operation, and, above all, do not 
let the young stock suffer from drought. 
The best time for taking cuttings is during the early spring. Care- 
fully remove the soil from the parent plant and take the young shoots 
about 3 or 4 inches high, selecting the weak spikes, taking the 
utmost care that a little of the old plant adheres to the young cutting. 
Place in a cold frame in sandy loam, keeping closed for a week or 
ten days, and after that period give air daily. When they are rooted 
they should be transplanted or potted, ready for planting the following 
autumn or spring. Cuttings may also be taken during late summer 
and autumn from plants that have been cut back for a second crop of 
flowers. Select non-flowering spikes, securing as much as possible of 
the mother plant ; insert in sandy loam in a closed frame. I cannot 
recommend this method, as I find on my wet and heavy soil losses 
have been very severe, and I only revert to this unsatisfactory method 
when I have been unsuccessful with some particular stock during the 
spring. 
I have raised large stocks of many of the finer varieties by layering, 
and can with every confidence recommend this method of increasing 
stock. I usually start layering towards the end of May and through 
June. It is necessary to make a neat cut at the extreme base of the 
stem, well covering the cut with fibrous loam, carefully securing the 
stem to a centre stake to hold it upright. Leave the layers on the 
mother plant until the following spring ; in this way I usually secure 
good stocks of healthy youngsters. Occasionally I have been com- 
