880 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULIURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ October 23, 1884. 
trusses o£ flowers there to be seen, a goodly number will be 
guaranteed till the end of the year. Not the least perceptible 
improvement was the clean, healthy, vigorous, and short-jointed 
growths; indeed, the plants were compact bushes nearly a foot 
through and quite different from Bouvardias which have had to 
endure a stove temperature; even Humboldtii corymbiflora is 
much more compact and dwarfer than usual. Besides all this, 
there must of necessity be a great diminishing of labour in 
favour of this system over all others, which is a point gained, to 
which add clean-grown bushy plants; all the varieties, both 
single and double, are grown in this way which are worth culti¬ 
vating. The plants are turned out as soon as weather permits 
each year, and it seems so far well worth copying. Good fibrous 
loam with plenty of burnt ballast mixed with it is the soil used 
for them. 
Ag^thcea ccelestis. —Long before Tom Thumb Pelargonium 
had its being this charming plant had a home in many gardens, 
but it is not so now. Gardeners of the old school prized it and 
used it extensively as a bedding plant, and we admire their 
choice; but it seems to have gone with the host of other plants 
which had to give place to the scarlet Pelargonium. Such 
being the case, we have the privilege left us still to recommend 
its use as a bedding plant. One of the few cases of which we 
know where it is used as such is in the gardens of S. E. Bouverie 
Pusey, Esq , Pusey House, Earringd m, Berks, where Mr. Brown, 
the gardener—who, by the way, seems an ardent admirer of old- 
fashioned plants—has a considerable quantity of it in various 
ways in the bedding ari-angements, the effect of which is very 
pleasing. It is extremely floriferous ; the colour in bouquets is a 
good one, and as a conservatory plant for cut bloom in the 
winter months it is unique. Some industrious nurserymen have 
caused its somewhat wider distribution of late under the new 
appellation of the Blue Marguerite. 
GIVING LIQUID MANURE, 
I APPRECIATE “ Thinker’s ” resolutions with regard to perionalities this 
week, and as I have not indulged in any myself nor suggested them to 
“ Thinker ” I need say no more on that point. 
As to the reasons why I did not apply our hose sooner to the Potatoes 
(which affords a basis for “Thinker’s” assumptions on that head) I have 
only to say that that is a subject outside the question, which is the correct¬ 
ness or otherwise of “ Thinker’s ” thoughts about liquid manure ; but I 
may explain that I did not apply the hose sooner and qftener because there 
was no water in the reservoir above the fire-supply mark owing to the 
drought and other matters, and the watering I did give was obtained by 
special permit. I have for a good time this season been, and am now, 
carting the water for all purposes. The hose is laid down for the fire 
supply, but as our gathering ground is limited, so also is the garden supply 
from that source, especially in seasons like the present. 
My contention is simply that “ Thinker’s ” theories are contradicted 
by common practice, from which none of the evils he predicts follow. 
Between applying guano to crops in a soil parched with drought as soon 
as a shower falls sufficient to wash it in, and applying guano in the 
same way and washing it in with a hose or a watering pot, I say there is 
no difference, nor has “ Thinker ” shown there is ; and it is the same with 
liquid manure made before applying. If there be a difference, then my 
contention is wrong, and if there be no difference “ Thinker” is in error, 
and I trust he will see that it remains for him to accurately explain that 
difference. This he can surely do without writing so many paragraphs. 
“ Thinker ” takes up quite new ground this time. At first it was “ injury 
to the plant ” he dwelt on ; now it is the “ waste of the manure ’’—dry 
soils, it appears, absorbing less liquid manure than moist soils, which is a 
new notion to me, and amounts to saying that a bottle already half full of 
water will hold more than one that is quite empty. Surely soil must 
hold most when its interstices are empty. I did not speak of soils that 
had “ lost their absorbent power,” as “Thinker” puts it this week, but 
of ordinary soils and states of the ground that gardeners are accustomed 
to deal with. I decline also to notice or accept what “Thinker” calls 
“ his case theoretically,” and relating exclusively to “ a horse.” I am 
more at home in my own domain, and to make a theory in regard to a 
horse and then apply the same to a plant is what I would never think of 
doing. I wonder “Thinker” does not see the grotesqueness of such a 
mode of reasoning.— Non-Believer. 
P.S.—When I wrote last I did not speak of nor contemplate the example 
of a Chrysanthemum allowed to get dry “ while the leaves wither,” but 
of “Thinker’s” advice “never” to give liquid manure “ when the soil 
was dry,” apprehending the writer in no exaggerated sense, but in the 
ordinary way.—N.-B. 
ANDROSACE CARNEA. 
The genus to which this little gem belongs is rich, in numbers almost 
endless, of these true alpine beauties, and this one of which I shall now 
speak is one of the most beautiful. It inhabits the highest summits of 
the Swiss and Pyrenean Alps, where it nestles peacefully and happy be¬ 
neath its snowy mantle during the long-continued winter months. When 
this has disappeared its tiny rosy flowers are ready to open. It is easily 
recognised from other cultivated forms by its small pointed leaves, which 
are suggestive of Saxifraga juniperina. It possesses the merit of being 
one of the easiest managed of a somewhat fastidious and lovely genus, so 
that special care and attention should be bestowed it. Unlike many 
other species with downy leaves, and formed into tiny rosettes, it does 
not succumb to our variable English winters ; nor is it a victim to damp, 
as is the case with some. It is by no means a difficult plant either to 
cultivate or increase, and should be planted in deep well-drained soil, 
peat and rich sandy loam in equal parts, with abundance of grit, to which 
add about one-sixth of leaf soil thoroughly decomposed. In its mountain 
home it receives copious supplies of moisture from melting snow, and 
must in no case be allowed to suffer in this respect, or failure must ensue. 
Its roots descend to a considerable depth when established, when it will 
endure with impunity a long-continued drought. 
There is no reason why such a plant as this should not be grown in 
numbers in our gardens, but they are rarely met wi^h, and nurserymen 
soon dispose of their generally limited supplies. We are, however, by 
no means confined to such narrow limits as these, for it is a surprising 
fact how great a number of plants may be transmitted through the post 
for a few pence, and carefully packed in transparent oilskin stays evapo¬ 
ration considerably. I have received in this way small consignments of 
rarities such as these quite as fresh as though they had been just collected, 
so that anyone having friends abroad might with advantage use such a 
medium ; or, as the majority of the species seed freely, seeds may be 
gathered and be equally acceptable. These should be sown as soon as 
ripe in soil similar to the above-named, taking care not to cover it too 
deeply or to allow it to become dry. To prevent continuously watering 
newly sown seeds cover the pots or pans with a sheet of glass which has 
been previously thickly smeared with paint or clay. This not only saves 
watering, but, what is of considerably greater moment, it often saves a 
batch of seedlings which cannot endure excessive damp in their earlier 
stages.—J. H. E. 
WINTERING FLOWER GARDEN PELARGONIUMS. 
The past summer has been a very favourable one for these plants. 
The hot weather in June and July rather retarded their growth, but this 
was not a misfortune, as in wet seasons they often grow too much and 
produce a superabundance of wood and leaves, but comparatively few 
flowers, and this is not so satisfactory as the hardy short-jointed growths 
produced in such warm seasons as we have had this year. The blooms 
this summer were wonderfully profuse, and their richness of colour was 
equally remarkable. All the fine variegated Pelargoniums, too, were 
most brilliant in their markings. But the profusion of flowers and bright- 
coloured leaves are not the only favourable results of this season, as after 
the extra good ripening the wood has had there will be much less difficulty 
in keeping cuttings and old plants healthy during the winter than has 
been experienced many times. In large gardens and where the varieties 
are not specially valuable, the old plants are seldom lifted and preserved 
through the winter, as young plants from cuttings inserted during August 
or September require less space for storage, and are generally more con¬ 
venient for filling neatly arranged beds than the tall plants ; but there are 
many afraid to trust their entire stock as cuttings, and both old and 
young are kept. In other instances only old plants are dealt with, but in 
many cases the autumn stores are sadly thinned before April or May, and 
it is with the view of averting decay in all kinds of stock that these notes 
are written. It is no use trying to winter Pelargoniums successfully 
unless they have plenty of roots in the autumn, or by November cuttings 
in pots or boxes, which are sure to decay freely before March. WeU- 
rooted cuttings may be kept in cool airy frames until frost comes, but 
those with few or no roots should have the benefit of a little heat to im¬ 
prove them; but the worst of this is when heat is applied now it cannot 
be discontinued with advantage in the shortest days, and the best of all 
ways is to have the young plants well rooted and quite hardy now. As 
yet our Pelargonium cuttings are in the open air in the boxes which were 
filled with them in August, and they are very dwarf, hardy, and well 
rooted. Unless frost comes they will go through the greater part of the 
winter without fire heat. Before taking them into a cool Peach house or 
vinery the dead leaves and all the flowers and buds will be taken from 
them, and a heavy sprinkling of sand will be shaken over the surface of 
the soil amongst the plants, and not one in a hundred will perish during 
the winter. Abundance of light and plenty of air should be constantly 
admitted, and water should never be given unless actually required. No 
superfluous water should be used in moistening the soil, and in wet 
weather the soil and the foliage must be kept dry. If these conditions 
are strictly observed many Pelargoniums may be safely wintered in frames 
with little or in some instances no artificial heat. In dry sunny days 
full ventilation should be given, and in wet foggy weather keep the house 
closed. Many attempts are made to keep old Pelargoniums over the 
winter. Some succeed very well, others fail; but the latter is generally 
brought about by coddling the plants too much in the autumn, and 
thereby making them too tender to bear the trials in spring. 
To lift Pelargoniums from the open beds now, and place them in close 
frames or warm houses, is ruinous, as tender young growth is produced, 
which cannot bear the shortest days, and as they decay then the whole 
plants are affected and soon perish. It is not safe to allow plants in¬ 
tended to be kept through the winter to remain in the open beds after 
this time, as frost might occur any morning, and then their chances of 
keeping well during the winter would be greatly reduced. Take them up 
at once, and shake the roots free from soil, cutting the roots moderately 
close in, taking the tops off at the same time. Cut well into the hard 
