JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
42G 
-- — 11 r 
[ November 9,1882. 
nurserymen have some thousands every year from seed. I should 
like to know the best edging plant for a Begonia bed. I find 
none so well suited for that purpose as Polemonium coeruleum 
variegatum. 
CULTURE OP FICUS ELASTICA. 
Of all plants that are useful for growing in rooms Ficus elastica 
is doubtlessly the best. The finest specimen I have seen had been 
grown in a house for several years. It was 8 feet high, with broad 
healthy foliage down to the rim of the pot. It had a good position 
in a bay window, and in such a position this Ficus looks very well. 
It is also well adapted for subtropical bedding. The best time 
to propagate it is the beginning of the year. If old plants 
have to be propagated from, cut off the leading growths about 
G inches long and insert them singly in small 60-pots, plunging 
them in a propagating frame in a bottom heat of 90°, where they 
will soon strike. If many are required take all the eyes with a 
leaf attached, and if each is secured to a small stick they may be 
readily placed firmly in their pots. After they have rooted they 
must still be kept in the same bottom heat to start them. After 
they have started well pot them firmly in 48’s, in a compost of two 
parts loam and one of peat. Give them stove treatment the 
following summer and winter, when they may be hardened off, 
and kept in a greenhouse for use as required.—A. Young. 
AUTUMN-PLANTED CABBAGES. 
Young plants which were inserted in their permanent quarters 
early in September now have a firm hold of the soil and will be 
growing freely. It will be a great gain in spring if they can be 
carried through without receiving any check. Severe weather 
may come and stop their growth, but this will not injure them so 
much as being disturbed at the roots, which often happens if care 
is not taken to earth up the young plants in good time. It is an 
excellent plan to have plants in drills 3 inches deep, as the soil 
can be levelled in from each side to the stems of the plants. This 
prevents the wind twisting them, breaking the roots, and thus re¬ 
tarding the growth considerably. In cold weather the earthing-up 
acts as a great protection to the young plants. In fact, we have 
noticed plants which have had no such aid completely swept away 
during a strong gale, or seriously crippled in severe weather, while 
those protected appeared little the worse.—J. M. 
PLANTING BOSES—SPRING v. AUTUMN. 
I see that our friend “ D., Deal," has raised a point in Rose 
culture of some interest—viz., as to whether it is better to plant 
Boses in the autumn or to defer doing so until February, and 
appeals to me to supply a few particulars as to the temperature 
of the soil at moderate depths during the late autumn, winter, 
and early spring months. This I have much pleasure in doing ; 
but since my own observations extend only over a few years it 
will be perhaps better to quote instead some of the mean values 
for six years given by Mr. G. J. Symons, F.R.S., in a paper read 
before the Royal Botanic Society in 1877 :— 
MEAN TEMPERATURE OF THE SOIL AT 9 A.M. 
At 1 foot. At 2 feet. At 4 feet. 
„ , , deg. deg. deg. 
October. 60.1 51.6 54.0 
November . 42.6 44.9 48.3 
December. 38.9 40.7 44.0 
January . 38.2 39.8 42.3 
February. S8.1 39.5 41.6 
March . 40.8 41.5 42.6 
Comparing the temperatures at 1 foot in the above table with the 
mean for the whole year (49.2°) I find the soil in October to be 
0.9° warmer, and in the remaining five months respectively 6.6°, 
10.3°, 11.0°, 11.1°, and 8.4° colder than this annual average. It 
will thus be seen that the ground is, as a rule, not only very much 
warmer in November than in February, but also a good deal 
warmer than even in March, while at the greater depths of 2 and 
4 feet these differences are of course still more marked. It will 
also be noticed that the most sudden fall in temperature is that 
which usually occurs between October and November. So that, 
given seasonable weather and taking the temperature of the soil 
alone as our guide, November would appear to be the most 
generally favourable month both for the removal and planting of 
Roses. 
In practice, however, I believe it will be found that the con¬ 
dition of the soil is a matter of far greater importance than its 
temperature. It is, therefore, my decided opinion that in a season 
like the present it would be advisable to defer the planting of any 
Roses received from the nurseries until the ground is in some¬ 
thing like really good working order. The careless and ill-timed 
planting of Roses is, I believe, the cause of more failures than 
any other that could be named.—E. M., Croydon. 
“How would it answer to get Roses from the nurserymen as 
usual in the autumn and lay them in until February ? ” To this 
question, asked by “ D., Deal," on page 402, I for one can say 
the plan will answer well. It is certainly the safest method to 
adopt in districts where the winters are usually severe, because, 
as your correspondent observes, it is “ far easier to cover the 
Roses and protect them from frost” than if they were planted in 
the beds. 
I found the advantages of the plan indicated by accident, and 
subsequently adopted it as a system. Some fifteen or sixteen 
years ago a number of purchased Roses arrived late in November, 
and their planting was commenced forthwith ; but, fortunately 
as it proved, frost and snow came suddenly before half of them 
had been inserted, and the remainder—the bulk—were laid in by 
the heels near the ridges of late Celery, a row of Roses being 
placed along each ridge, not bundled together anyhow, and there 
they remained till the end of February. They were examined 
occasionally, and just when the roots were covered as with white 
specks, the first evidence of the production of new fibres, the 
plants were taken up carefully during a dull moist day and 
planted quickly in the beds, the roots not being permitted to 
become, even to the slightest extent, dry during the process of 
removal. The result was this: Every Rose so treated grew as 
well as it was possible for Roses to do, while every one planted 
in autumn was killed by the frost. Those near the Celery ridges 
were protected with the same litter that preserved the Celery, and 
thus no additional labour was involved in this respect. 
This method of protecting Roses in winter and planting in 
spring has ever since heen followed with the same good re¬ 
sults ; and I can only conceive it possible for failure to occur by 
permitting young roots to form and become dry when taken from 
their winter quarters and placed in the beds, and then the system 
would not be at fault, but the operator. 
I have not read what others have written on this subject, but 
simply record my own experience. So convinced am I of the 
safety of the practice, that if I had a thousand Roses to plant for 
next season I should order them at once, this being important, 
and treat every one of them as above described. 
The plants thus laid-in in November have never commenced 
rooting until spring. I have examined others at different times 
for determining this point, nor would they have rooted sooner if 
planted in the beds in autumn. 
I am convinced than the method described, carefully carried 
out, is the safest and best for northern districts, and “ D., Deal," 
might test the system in the south this season and let us know 
the results next year.—A North Countryman. 
[We have received other letters on this subject, which will be 
published next week.] 
NOTES ON PLUMS. 
The Plum is a very useful, and, where grown for profit, a remu¬ 
nerative fruit. It may be cultivated in several ways—either against 
wall*, or in the form of bushes and pyramids, or as standards 
for orchards. The Plum season may be prolonged considerably 
by planting suitable varieties. From Early Prolific, Plums may 
be had after the middle of July ; and with Coe’s Golden Drop and 
Ickworth Imp6ratrice, if the fruit are allowed to stay on the tree 
until they shrivel, then wrapped in soft tissue paper and placed 
in a drawer in a dry room, they may be kept until November. 
Some people think that about two varieties of Plums are sufficient ; 
but I find that most of the varieties do not bear well every year ; 
sometimes one kind bears extra well, sometimes another. So I 
find it is best to be prepared with six varieties or more. Standard 
Plums should be planted in orchards about 16 feet apart. If the 
trees are to be planted for profit, an orchard that is cultivated 
is the best, and then the trees may be planted bush shape 6 feet 
apart, to be thinned out to 12 feet. If the orchard is in grass and 
on gravel standard trees must be planted. 
As to pruning, standard Plums, like Apples, require the branches 
to be thinned out to prevent them crowding and for keeping the 
centre open. Pyramids and bushes require to be summer and 
winter-pruned, shortening the growths in summer and attending 
to them in winter as you would an Apple tree. Pyramid and 
bush trees, where planted in kitchen gardens, should be root- 
pruned or lifted every two years ; then the trees do not make so 
much growth and are more fruitful. Plums may be grown on all 
aspects or walls, but the south, east, and west are best. If a west 
or south wall can be provided for them the fruit is more luscious 
