JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
73 
July 28, 1881. ] 
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Concluding Sale of Mr. Cay’s Orchids at Mr. Stevens’ Kooms, 
Helensburgh Rose Show. [Covent Garden. 
Southampton and Liverpool Shows. 
7th Sunday after Trinity. 
Cottagers’ Show at South Kensington. 
WINTER AND SPRING FLOWERING PLANTS. 
not unfrequently happens when flowers 
abound during the summer months, that gar¬ 
deners and cultivators overlook or neglect to 
give the requisite attention to those plants that 
are to maintain the supply of bloom during 
_ winter. No doubt the propagating season is a 
busy and important one, and many then deter¬ 
mine to excel the supply of past years in winter. I have 
known cultivators who have been stimulated early in 
the season, probably by a visit to a neighbour’s garden 
and seeing the rich display there, to propagate a good supply 
of winter plants. In spite of these exertions, as the season 
has advanced the winter plants have been neglected or care¬ 
lessly grown, and in the end the supply is little or no better 
than in previous years. To achieve success in the production 
of abundance of choice flowers during the winter and spring, 
the end for which the plants are grown must be kept in view. 
Much intelligence and forethought are requisite from the time 
the plants are raised from seed or cuttings. To be seasonable 
perhaps no time is more important than from the present 
onwards if satisfactory results are anticipated. The propaga¬ 
tion of the different kinds should have been effected before 
this, except in the case of a few which may be rooted now 
and grown with success. 
Poinsettias are useful plants for winter, and the main batches 
should now be growing sturdily. If properly treated and well 
hardened they will now do without the aid of artificial heat. 
If grown in strong heat they invariably become excessively 
tall and produce only moderate-sized bracts, losing their foliage 
towards autumn. When grown under cool treatment they 
advance slowly and strongly, and retain their leaves well if 
removed to -warmer quarters in autumn before being checked 
with the cold. If the final potting has not been done it should 
be attended to at once ; 5 or 6-inch pots are large enough, and 
when these are full of roots liquid manure may be liberally 
supplied. If strong cuttings can still be obtained from the 
6tock plants they should be inserted at once, or not later than 
the end of the month. They root readily if kept close under 
handlights or bellglasses in heat. The cuttings can be inserted 
singly in 4-inch pots. 
Euphorbia jacquiniaeflora can still be propagated, and if 
rooted without delay useful plants will be obtained for the 
front edge of the stove stage. It is advantageous to root four 
or five cuttings together in each 4-inch pot, as then they pro¬ 
duce a better display than if grown singly. They must after 
being rooted be grown in a light position, plenty of air being 
needed to ripen the wood as it is developed, as upon this 
depends to a large extent how the plants flower afterwards. It 
must be borne in mind that rapid growth is not the essential in 
their latter stages ; weakly plants cannot produce fine bracts 
or brilliant flowers. Time and labour are wasted in growing 
many winter-flowering plants unless constant care is taken to 
produce well-ripened and solid growth. 
Scutellaria Mocciniana I have hitherto found rather difficult 
to manage to produce a good supply of its fine flowers in winter. 
If rooted early and grown freely, pinching the shoots, they have 
generally failed to give me satisfaction. The finest trusses of 
bloom can be produced by constantly striking cuttings and 
growing them without check until they flower. A batch or 
two rooted now and grown rather quickly would prove very 
useful at a time when such flowers generally are scarce. 
Abutilons succeed best in winter if rooted about this time. 
They should be inserted in 3-inch pots, to be afterwards trans¬ 
ferred to 5-inch pots. The plants must be grown for a time in 
a close warm pit until established. Cultivators not unfre¬ 
quently make a mistake in winter by placing the plants when 
in flower in too cool a structure. They thrive in cool con¬ 
servatories during the summer months, but in winter the case 
is very different ; they soon become checked in a cold house, 
and discontinue producing their flowers. When growing them 
to be of service they should not be tall to start with ; thus late 
propagating is recommended, and if sturdy plants are pro¬ 
duced by November not more than 9 inches or 1 foot in height 
they will do well. After that date a suitable temperature 
must be given them, when growth will continue and flowers be 
produced in succession for a long time. They will continue 
growing in a temperature of 50’, and even in the stove they 
grow more rapidly and produce their flowers more quickly than 
when placed in an intermediate temperature. It is desirable 
to have a batch in the stove as well as in a lower temperature, 
and the succession of flowers is maintained over a greater 
length of time. They well repay any trouble if solely grown 
for the stove during winter. The following are useful varieties 
and flower profusely in a small state—Boule de Neige, white ; 
Marshal, reddish cinnamon ; Aurelia, light golden yellow ; 
Desboisi, Letitia, and venosum roseum, rose colour, the flowers 
of the latter being darkly veined ; Darwinii is also useful. 
Such varieties as Boule d’Or grow too strongly and large before 
producing flowers in small pots. 
Clerodendron fragrans flore-pleno is a useful autumn - 
flowering plant not generally cultivated. It can be had in 
flower in succession through the greater part of the summer 
as well as the autumn. Its flowers, which are white when 
produced in autumn, are slightly shaded with pink during the 
summer; they are double, and well adapted for wiring for 
buttonholes or for bouquets. The flowers are produced in 
compact heads at the termination of the shoots. When grown 
in 4-inch pots it is very suitable for small vases. It succeeds 
best when grown in small pots, and flowers freely if con¬ 
fined at the roots. If allowed plenty of root room it is sure 
to fail, as the growths are strong and soft and do not produce 
flowers. If the pots are plunged in tan or leaves the roots 
quickly enter the plunging material, and very strong growths 
result with quantities of young shoots from the roots outside 
the pots. Some time ago I gave a plant to a friend, who 
planted it out when he returned home. It quickly grew to an 
immense size, producing leaves nearly as large as Rhubarb 
Ho. 17.— You Ill* Thus Series. 
Ho. 1713.—You LXYI„ Old Series 
