THE FLORAL "WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 
71 
worth growing, and that is the old Purple Sprouting. However, 
tlie new White Sprouting is wortli liaving where there is plenty of 
room, and a variety cf spring vegetables is required. It is altogether 
too unproductive for a small garden. 
Scotch Kale must be sown early and planted out early, and it 
cannot be too liberally cultivated from first to last. But if the 
ground is poor and the practice not quite first-rate, this is the best 
of all the winter greens, for it will make a finr return when badly 
treated. As to sorts, the old Tall Green Curled is the best, and 
we cannot advise the sowing of any other. 
We plant Sprouting Broccoli and Scotch Kale in rows four feet 
apart, alternately with potatoes, and the plants touch one another 
long before winter, and present a most noble appearance. S. H. 
SEASONABLE NOTES ON BEDDING PLANTS. 
BY THOMAS TRUSSLER, 
Head Gardener, Knighton, Buckhurst Hill. 
HE amateur who would have his flower-garden embel- 
lished in the most rich and tasteful manner during next 
summer must now be on the alert, and make prepara- 
tions for propagating bedding plants of which the stock is 
insufficient, and for potting off geraniums and other 
things which were propagated in sufficient quantities last autumn. 
These matters are very frequently left until it is too late in the 
season to afford the plants an opportunity of becoming strong and 
properly hardened off, or until the pressure of other work prevents 
its being done with that care necessary to insure success. This 
being the case, it has occurred to me that a few hints will be of con- 
siderable service to many readers of the Floral World, who may 
be anxious to do their best in raising a good stock of bedding plants. 
Zonal pelargoniums, which have now become of such great im- 
portance in flower-garden arrangements, are best propagated in the 
autumn, as spring-struck plants do not flower so early when planted 
in their summer quarters. Yet if the stock of any of the varieties 
is short of the requirements, and the autumn struck plants have made 
sufficient progress to yield a supply of strong cuttings, a stock of 
healthy plants may be secured, provided there is no unnecessary 
delay. The most desirable way of propagating geraniums at this 
season of the year is to take off the tops and insert them round the 
sides of five-inch pots filled with light sandy soil ; they strike more 
freely with the aid of a dry bottom-heat, and it is a most excellent 
plan to stand the pots on slates placed upon the flues or hot-water 
pipes. They may, with care, be struck on a hotbed, but with the 
moisture necessary for such things as verbenas or lobelias, they soon 
damp off. Whether the cutting pots are placed on hot-water pipes 
or not, water must be applied sparingly until they are furnished with 
March. 
