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OXALIS DEPPEI. 
soil, was allowed to flower as it liked, and it 
was a splendid and lasting bloom ; but half 
the roots perished, and all came up very small. 
Liquid Manure. — As my carnations came 
into bloom I watered them with liquid manure. 
I put the quantity of one pint of rotten cow- 
dung to ten quarts of water, and stirred it up 
several times. I used it the second day after 
it was made. I was told it would bring up the 
colours well, and I think it does. Put the 
first two quarts of water hot and let it be well 
stirred, then add the other eight : I used this 
water instead of common water all the while 
they were blooming, beginning just before 
they burst. Gabel put something else, which 
lie would not mention, but mine was as good 
as his. 
Piping Pinks. — I have been laughed at 
because I never cut the leaves of pipings of 
pinks, or layers of carnations. They tell me 
that cuttings and layers perish through evapo- 
ration of the juices faster than they are sup- 
plied, and that the greater the surface the 
more this evaporation takes place. Perhaps so, 
but it must be as bad to cut 'off half the juices 
in the half leaves you take away, as to let 
them evaporate by the increased surface. But 
I don't believe a word about their being worse 
for leaving them on. How do we know that 
the leaves do not absorb moisture as well as 
give off moisture? I find they make better 
plants. 
Labels. — I find the best are lead or pewter, 
and they can be cast as easily as possible in a 
mould cut out of common hearth-stone. Get 
two squares and cut them perfectly flat on two 
of their faces, so as to go together close. Cut 
into the face of one any figure you like ; 
make a groove from the figure to the edge of 
the stone, and at that place, when they are 
close together, open the hole the shape of a 
funnel, to pour the lead down. The best use 
you can make of the lead is to stamp figures 
on and refer to a book. It is a bad plan to 
name every thing, and you become quite as 
familiar with numbers as names. Sheet lead, 
such as they roof houses with, would do, cut 
into three-inch lengths, rather angularly, half 
an inch wide at one end, nicely pointed at the 
other. The advantage of figures stamped in 
the lead is, that nothing can obliterate them ; 
and the advantage of casting is, that you have 
all uniform in size and no waste weight. 
Blooming Auriculas. — If an auricula 
receives the slightest check from the time 
the truss shows till the flowers are open 
flat, they are almost certain to be cramped — 
there is nothing so delicate. I would rather 
let them take their chance and bloom too early 
or too late, than change their temperature ten 
degrees ; and when they begin to open they 
ought to be taken to a sheltered nook, and be 
placed on a table, covering them with a hand- 
glass : covering them warm at nights, and 
shielding them from the sun by day — but all 
shading should lie done by a wall of matting 
at a distance, and not by covering the glass. 
If you can ensure the flowers against any chill 
while opening, and they have not already re- 
ceived a check in their advancing state, they 
will naturally open very flat ; but if they are 
chilled before they open flat, some of the 
petals will be so fixed in their crumpled state 
that they cannot unfold themselves and open. 
OXALIS DEPPEI. 
This species of Oxalis is a native of 
Mexico, and was introduced to this country 
in 1827. It is also known in some conti- 
nental gardens as O. zonata. It appears to 
have attracted attention in France as an escu- 
lent about eight or nine years ago, and has 
been cultivated with great success in Belgium, 
by Professor Morren of Liege and others, and 
where it is highly esteemed. Almost every 
part of the plant is used, the flowers and leaves 
in salads, and the latter in soups ; and as a 
vegetable, in the same way as sorrel. The 
roots, which appear to be a reservoir of food 
for the plants, but which do not appear to be 
capable of producing plants themselves, are 
dressed in the same way as asparagus, and are 
also stewed with white sauce like celery or 
endive. In whatever way used they are said 
to be very tender, nutritious, and agreeable. 
The roots, under good management, may be 
procured from three to four inches long, and 
an inch and a half through. They are of a 
whitish, semi-transparent colour externally, 
white, and generally rather hollow inside, ta- 
pering gradually to the end, and furnished 
with a few small fibrous roots. On the crown 
of these roots grow a great quantity of small 
scaly bulbs, from which the leaves and flower- 
stalks rise, and by which the plant is propa- 
gated. The leaves are composed of four leaf- 
lets, each with a dark mark across them, and 
the flowers are bright rose-coloured. It is an 
ornamental plant, and has been found to an- 
swer well as an edging to shady walks, in 
woods, and similar places. 
In order to grow the roots to their full size, 
a very light, rich, sandy soil must be prepared, 
where not naturally at hand, as it will not 
succeed even in loam; and on clay, even with 
considerable preparation, the result has proved 
very unsatisfactory. In such a soil as men- 
tioned above, the scaly bulbs should be planted 
about the middle of April, placing them only 
just below the surface, in rows one foot apart, 
and the bulbs six inches from one another in 
the rows. The crop should be kept regularly 
watered whenever there is a deficiency of rain, 
