322 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ April 24, 18&4. 
seen. The plants are also placed near to the glass to keep them 
sturdy. 
The present is a good time to take the first batch of cuttings. 
These should be taken from plants that are adapted for early 
blooming. The following are excellent varieties :—Scarlet De¬ 
fiance, Kingston Beauty, Le Grant, Mrs. Lewis Lloyd, Albion, 
Venus, Madame Favart, Lucie Lemoine, Maid of Kent, Emilie 
Everard, .Virginalis, Scarlet Gem, and Pink Perfection. The 
same varieties, with the following added, are useful later in the 
season :—Duchess of Bedford, Triomphe de St. Mande, Regalia, 
Prince of Wales and Digby Grand. The cuttings should be 
inserted singly in small 60-pots, the soil consisting of equal 
parts of leaf soil and loam with a little sand. Place them in a 
temperature of 55°, when they will soon root. The later batch 
will strike readily in a frame or pit. 
After the cuttings have rooted freely harden them ; take out 
the points of the shoots after they have grown enough to require 
it. When they have started repot into 48-size pots ; if they are 
to receive another shift repot first into 54 -size pots and next 
into 32’s. The soil should consist of three parts fibry yellow 
loam (not sifted), one part dried horse manure that has been 
prepared by being turned over frequently, and about an eighth of 
leaf soil. The leaf soil and horse manure must be sifted. Pot 
the plants very firmly, and place them in cold frames or pits 
close to the glass. After they have rooted in the soil ventilate 
freely, removing the lights on fine nights. Two stoppings will 
be sufficient; at the last care should be taken to shorten all the 
shoots on the plant at the same time, so as to insure an even 
growth. 
By the end of September the plants must be housed, placing 
them, if possible, in a light position and free ventilation. The 
earliest varieties must be kept growing all through the winter. 
They must also receive a little heat; about 50° will suit them 
admirably until the buds are well advanced, when 55° will be the 
best temperature to insure early flowering. On the first appear¬ 
ance of the bloom buds a little liquid manure will be beneficial, 
or a little Standen’s manure. As they increase in growth they 
will require liberal treatment until they show colour, when only 
clear water must be given. Ample ventilation is needed all 
■through the winter, at least on all favourable occasions, to keep 
them sturdy. The later plants must be kept cool and receive 
very little water during the winter, at least up to the middle of 
February. The plants must on no account be crowded, or they 
will become tall with little foliage at the base. The plants 
should also be fumigated about every fortnight to keep aphides 
in check.—A. Young. 
CHLORIDE OF POTASH. 
In a recent number (page 285) is an account of a powder for manuring 
plants, and one of the ingredients is chloride of potash. On reading 
the article it struck me that there is no such substance as the above- 
mentioned, and I am borne out in my opinion by a druggist to whom I 
have applied. I conclude the writer means chlorate of potash, and if so 
it shows that “a little knowledge is a dangerous thing;” for in these 
drugs, although the terminals of the names are a good deal alike, the 
substances are very different, and a harmless one may be next kin to a 
strong poison.—M edicus. 
[The writer of the article in question has perused the above letter, 
and the following is his reply :— 
“ I can scarcely understand “ Medicus” when he states there is “no such 
substance ” as chloride of potash, and then goes on to say the “substances 
(chloride and chlorate of potash) are quite distinct.” Chloride of potash is 
obtainable from any dealer in manures. The commercial salt is obtained 
from the Stassfurih mines, and is considered one of the best mediums 
for presenting potash to the soil. It is found in all fertile soils, and is 
also present in plants. The writer has repeatedly proved it to be bene¬ 
ficial mixed with other manures and given to plants. A chemist can 
produce chloride of potash by dissolving caustic potash in hydrochloric 
acid. We believe that both chlorate of potash and the chloride result 
from a current of chlorine gas being passed through a strong solution of 
caustic potash, the latter being separated from the former by crystalli¬ 
sation. “Medicus” doubtless appreciates the value of the chlorate to 
people who are subject to sore throats ; of the chloride it may be said 
that it is equally valuable to people suffering from garden on the brain.”] 
ANEMONES. 
The Windfiowers, as tlie Anemones are popularly termed, 
appeal to tlie taste of all lovers of flowers, from the florist with 
his severe and, if I may use the term, classical ideas as to form 
and colouring through the medium of A. coronaria and A. hor- 
tensis, with their numberless single and double forms. The 
lover of the wild garden may, on the other hand, be gratified by 
sheets of the white A. nemorosa or the bright golden yellow of 
A. ranunculoides, the former so lovely when seen in the open 
spaces of the shrubbery or near a woodland walk in association 
with the wfild Hyacinth; while the cultivator of alpine plants 
may be pleased by the silky blooms of A. vernalis, or in the 
recesses of his peat bed the double forms of A. palmata or 
A. thalictroides For general border decoration and cutting, 
too, what can be more valuable than the stately A. japonica and 
its white variety Honorine JobertP who, though far behind the 
other varieties in the order of their arrival, are if possible even 
more valuable on that account, coming as they do at the close 
of a long procession of beauties more or less pretentious, com¬ 
mencing in January with A. angulosa and lasting with but 
slight intermission until October or even November. 
The culture of most of the species and varieties is very 
simple, a few only needing any special soil or attention, and by 
humouring these in a few of their special requirements no one 
need despair of success with even the most fastidious. The 
majority prefer a tolerably rich light loamy soil, deep and well 
drained when qiossible. In plants grown on rockwork this 
cannot be too strongly urged, as many alpine plants have long 
roots, and being often, from their position, exposed to great sun 
heat, the importance of a deep mass of soil for their roots to 
ramble in is obvious. Most of the species may be easily propa¬ 
gated either by seed or division of the roots. The latter method 
may be practised at any time during the resting season, but 
preferably from January to March, according to the mildness 
of the season. A. alpina and its variety A. sulphurea do not 
submit kindly to removal or division, and the greatest care 
should therefore be taken to avoid breaking the small fibres 
which spring from the long and strong roots, and also to secure 
as good a bud as possible to each portion, as both of these are 
often turn or even three years before making vigorous growth 
after being so treated. A. japonica and it3 varieties emit shoots 
so freely from all parts of their roots that it is only neces ary 
to cut the roots into queces about an inch in length, and place 
them in a box or pan in any light compost, covering them with 
about half an inch deqitli of soil, to produce as many plants as 
may be desired; in fact, this property of producing suckers is 
so pronounced in these varieties that in many gardens were it 
not for their great beauty they would be voted a nuisance. The 
varieties of A. coronaria and stellata, if carefully divided with 
a bud to each piece, will bloom the first year nearly as well as 
established plants ; but care should be taken not to allow them 
to become either very dry or very wet, or they will decay and 
so cause loss and annoyance. 
The seeds consist either of roundish bodies terminating in 
long feathery tails, or are of a roundish somewhat flattened 
shape, tailless, and enveloped in a downy substance which causes 
them to c'ing together in such a manner that it is only by 
rubbing them for some time in either sand or finely sifted soil 
that they can be disengaged sufficiently t) allow of their being 
sown at all evenly. The seed should be sown if possible as soon 
as ripe; if not, then about February or March in pots or pans 
of light soil, and covered with about a quarter of an inch of 
very finely sifted material and placed in a frame without arti¬ 
ficial heat, which should be kept as dark as possible until 
germination has taken place, when they should at once be 
removed to lighter quarters. They should when practicable be 
allowed to make their first year’s growth without removal, and 
when at rest may be planted out in their final position in the 
border or rockwork. Although not wishing to deal with the 
subject of florists’ Anemones, which has been treated of by 
some of our best authorities, I may mention that by purchasing a 
packet of mixed Anemone seed and treating them in the manner 
described above wondrous effects of colouring may be obtained 
by many who would not desire to grow the choice and expensive 
named varieties. 
In describing the species in detail it will not be necersary 
to consider the subject from a strictly botanical point of view, 
as in writing as a gardener and to gardeners it is more con¬ 
venient to note general resemblances in form, colour, and habit 
of growth than to inquire into the real affinity which often exists 
in the essential organs of the plants. It may be perhaps as well 
to select some well-known species as a type around which to 
group other species and varieties having the greatest general 
resemblance to it. The various groups are—first, A. puleatilla 
section, containing amongst others A. qralsatilla, an alpine well 
marked by having the seeds ending in long feathery tails and 
having thick somewhat fleshy roots. Second, the A. nemorosa 
section, with seeds ovoid and tailless and the roots tuberous; 
examples, A. nemorosa. the common Wood Anemone, and the 
florists’ varieties. Third, the A. sylvestris section, having more 
or less compressed tailless seeds and the roots a mass of small 
fibres; types, A. sylvestris and narcissiflora. Fourth section of 
A. japonica, consisting of that species and its varieties, easily 
