56 
TIIE AMATEUR’S FLOWER GARDEN. 
averaging* three or four inches in length, and remove only as 
many leaves as will make half the length of the stem hare for 
inserting in the ground, remembering always that the more 
leaves that can be kept alive on cuttings, the more quickly 
will the cuttings root. Insert them firmly in the soil, and as 
close together as possible, so that their leaves do not over-lap. 
While dry weather continues sprinkle them with water every 
evening for a fortnight; and thenceforward, until they are 
taken up, do not give them a drop. In the cool autumn the cal¬ 
ceolarias should be propagated, but in a somewhat different 
manner. The best plan is to prepare for the cuttings beds of 
light rich earth, consisting, for the most part, of leaf-soil, or 
peat, or thoroughly decayed stable manure in a pulverized 
condition, with a considerable admixture of loam and sand. 
The situation of the bed should be dry and sheltered, and it 
should be covered with a frame ; or, better still, makeup a bed 
in a brick pit, with a view to leaving the calceolaria cuttings 
where they are first planted for the winter, as there is no 
necessity for potting them if they can be protected from damp 
and frost, as they are almost hardy. In great establishments, 
where hundreds of thousands of bedding plants of all kinds 
are used, the greater part are struck and wintered in pits 
which rise only one to three or four feet above the ground 
level, and have the aid of hot-water pipes sufficient to keep 
the contents safe from frost. As a matter of course, whatever 
cuttings of tender plants are struck in the open borders must 
be taken up and potted for preservation through the winter, 
and this should be done as early as possible after they have 
made good roots, and before they begin to acquire a luxuriant 
growth in consequence of the warm autumnal rains. The 
small earthenware boxes and frames known as “ Lendle’s 99 
and “ Looker’s,” which have been described and eulogized in 
all the horticultural periodicals, are worthy of all the praise 
that has been bestowed upon them, for they can be employed 
to assist in summer propagating, and for preserving nearly 
hardy subjects through the winter, and for raising seeds on 
sunny borders in spring, and for many other purposes of the 
utmost importance to the amateur, and especially such an one 
as cannot boast of capacious plant-houses and endless ap¬ 
pliances in aid of cultivation. 
The great demand for space in greenhouses and pits is a 
matter of consideration in every garden where bedding plants 
