THE GARDENIA, AND ITS CULTURE. 
553 
Pelargoniums are treated ; it may then be 
again shifted on for flowering when it gets 
established. A light loamy soil suits it ; and 
it may be increased by planting any little 
offshoots that can be obtained as cuttings. In 
summer it may stand with other choice half- 
hardy pot plants ; and in winter may be placed 
in a dry frame or greenhouse, as may be most 
convenient. 
THE GARDENIA, AND ITS CULTURE. 
There is no plant that we are aware of 
more fragrant, more handsome in its growth, 
or more easily cultivated than the Gardenia. 
There are several varieties, but G. radicans and 
G. florida appear the most popular and of the 
simplest culture. The flowers are white, dou- 
ble, full, somewhat ragged, but fragrant beyond 
measure. The plants grow well in a mixture, 
which we observe quoted in the Gardener's 
Almanack as a universal compost, and it is 
very nearly so. It consists of the loam in 
which the turf has been rotted, peat earth 
of the kind so generally used for heaths, cow- 
dung, and a little silver sand, the quantity to be 
varied as the compost may require to prevent 
its being too adhesive. It should be potted 
first in small pots and shifted as it grows. 
When you desire to propagate it you should 
select shoots of the last year's growth, or 
rather of the latest growth, which may be two 
or three inches long; take these off and cut up 
to a joint, remove two or three of the lower 
leaves, so as to leave nearly an inch to go into 
the soil; then take a wide-mouthed pot, and fill 
it first one-third with crocks for drainage, and 
then within half an inch of the top with the 
soil, let the bottom be struck two or three 
times on the potting bench, to settle it down a 
little and level the surface. Fill the pot up 
with silver sand even with the edge of the 
pot, and then, with a very fine rose that will 
not displace the sand, water it with soft water, 
so that the sand may be saturated and the soil 
be fairly wetted through. Now take a bell 
glass that will nearly reach the edge of the 
pot, and press it on the sand so as to make a 
mark. Take the cuttings one by one, and 
put them into the sand, so that the bottom 
of the cutting may reach the compost, but not 
go into it ; a slight sprinkle of water over the 
foliage, and to settle the sand close about the 
stems, completes the setting, and the glass 
may be put on and placed in a common hot- 
bed, with a slight heat, or, which is handier, 
better, and requires less care, plunged into 
the tan in a propagating house, there being 
required a slight bottom heat. A shade of 
paper should be placed over the glass, to keep 
off the rays of the sun. Every morning the 
glass should be wiped dry and then replaced. 
The hot-bed will do just as well if the heat 
has sufficiently declined, but cai*e must be 
taken to keep the temperature down. The best 
times to take the cuttings are when the shoots 
have made about two inches of growth, or else 
when the plant has set for bloom, and shows 
the difference between the blooming ones and 
those that will not, and this should be the 
guide in preference to any stated period, for 
with slight bottom heat, constant watching, 
regularly wiping the glasses, and watering 
the cuttings when they lack moisture, the 
plant strikes easily and in a moderately short 
time. If any of the cuttings when they begin 
to grow set for bloom, which is a common 
occurrence, the bud should be picked off, as it 
greatly checks the growth of so small a plant ; 
but if that be not an object, a well rooted 
cutting will perfect the bloom well enough. 
In a few weeks after the cuttings are inserted 
they will be found well rooted, and they must 
then be potted off: they may be first potted in 
large sixty-sized pots, in the same sort of 
compost they were rooted in. Prepare the 
pot by putting an inch of crocks at the bot- 
tom, or if it be plentiful you may fill one- 
third of the pot with clean but coarse moss, 
and then one-third more of compost ; this 
leaves a third to be filled. Strike the pot 
of cuttings on its side gently, so as to disturb 
the soil a little, and then with a piece of stick 
like the blade of a blunt knife thrust in close 
to the side where the compost is disturbed, and 
raise up the earth and cuttings together. Sepa- 
rate them carefully without breaking the roots, 
and holding one upright in the centre of the 
pot, fill up with the soil, pressing and adjust- 
ing the cutting, so that the soil shall come up 
to the under leaves, and the pots be full of the 
compost. Do this with the whole of them, then 
place them all in a slight hot-bed, water with 
a fine rose all over the foliage, and with soft 
water of the temperature of the bed, suffi- 
ciently to settle the earth about the roots, 
shut them down close and shade them ; in a 
few hours give them a little air, but not to 
let in wind ; see now that they are kept moist 
until they are well established ; when they 
have begun to grow give them air rather 
more freely, and always shade them from the 
hottest rays of the sun. One half the plants 
may now be topped, that is, the heart pinched 
out, to form the growth of lateral branches, 
and promote bushy growth, but the other 
half may be allowed to grow their own way, 
as the plant is inclined to grow handsome 
without any assistance. This, however, makes 
two very distinct kinds of plant, and you may 
keep them both growing until the pots are 
filled with roots but not matted ; you may 
now prepare to shift them into pots of the size 
forty-eight, by filling them with one-third 
