466 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ June 9, 1881. 
branching habit, such as Fuchsias, Coleuses, and Petunias, and 
repot them before they become rootbound.— AMATEUR. 
RAISING VINES FROM EYES versus LAYERS. 
In raising Vines for pot culture to fruit the following season I 
prefer eyes, about 1^ inch in length, prepared something similar to 
a Rose bud with the wood left in. These are placed horizontally 
just below the surface of the soil in GO-sized pots, using rather 
tine turfy loam. About the middle of February they are plunged 
in an ordinary two-light Cucumber frame, after which they are 
placed in a pit and shifted on, their final shift being in 10-inch 
pots, where they show fruit at every joint the following season. 
Of course they are treated liberally and afforded every opportu¬ 
nity to make wood and ripen the same thoroughly; and when 
the forcing time comes round they are placed on the front stage 
(stone slab over the pipes) of an early vinery started this year on 
the 20th of January, the pot Vines being eleven months old at 
that time. They are top-dressed with cow manure, and the soil 
in the pots well intermixed with bone meal, in my opinion the 
very best manure for the purpose yet obtainable. Six nut wands 
are placed at equal distances around each pot inside, and the 
Vines coiled around the sticks in the bottle-screw style : the sticks 
are not much over 2 feet above the rim of the pots. 
The variety we find to be the surest cropper is the Black Ham¬ 
burgh. We have had from ten to thirteen bunches on these Vines. 
Six of those Vines were exhibited at the Maidstone Horticultural 
Society’s Show the last August, and received a special award. If 
“ A Kitchen Gardener’s ” layering practice would be the 
slightest improvement on the above I would be pleased to adopt 
Fig. 105.—LAVATERA aIIBOI lE a VARIEGATA—NATURAL-SIZED LEAF. 
it, but I am very dubious. However, we will see what other 
growers may have to say on the eye system of raising Vines 
versus layers.—W. H. C., Tunbridge. 
LAVATERA ARBOREA VARIEGATA. 
Very rarely indeed does it fall to our lot to figure for the first 
time and introduce to our readers a new border plant so striking 
in appearance as the variegated Tree Mallow which we now submit. 
When Mr. Smith, The Gardens, Clevedon Hall, Somerset, first sent 
us leaves of his new acquisition we were almost startled by their 
markings, and on subsequently receiving flowering sprays of the 
plant we were still more convinced of its distinctness and beauty. 
T he history of the plant is brief, and may be told by its discoverer, 
who writes— 
“I found a plant G inches high growing in a neglected cottage 
garden. I made an exchange for a few bedding plants, and was very 
pleased with my bargain. I have propagated several plants, and I 
have not yet seen one but what is beautifully variegated. It is a 
fine shrubbery border plant, growing 6 or 7 feet high, and I find the 
leaves very useful for garnishing late Grapes when Vine leaves are 
not to be had. I believe the variegated Lavatera to be as hardy as 
the green species, which lives only through mild winters in this 
neighbourhood. The last two or three winters have been too severe 
for it. I kept my plants last winter in an unheated Peach house. 
I may mention that the entire stock is in my hands.” 
The figure on the next page is a truthful representation of one of 
the sprays sent to us, reduced in size, and the others were equally 
good. We have had a natural-sized leaf engraved separately, 
the artist having had instructions to show its markings with great 
exactitude. The irregular mixture of very dark green, pale greenish 
grey, and pure white impart to the plant a remarkable appear¬ 
ance. The plant appears to us to occupy a position amongst border 
plants similar to that of the Variegated Maple in shrubberies. 
