556 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ Dec imber 23,1888. 
about ? Maintain the fertility of gardens all over the land 
and look to them for the answer. Full crops are more elo¬ 
quent than argument, and where good gardening is en 
conraged, and conducted, the crops are as good as ever. 
There is no degeneracy there. 
It is more than ever incumbent for all who are employed 
in gardening to strive for supremacy in the work of cultiva 
tion. The best of whatever may be required must be grown 
in the best and most economical manner. There must be 
no waste of material or of force. The object to be attained 
must be kept clearly in view, and the method of attaining it 
precisely determined. It is not given to every man to see 
his way directly to every point. The path to succsss is often 
intricate. Byeways abound, offering an apparently easier 
course ; but they may yet be wrong, and though smooth at 
first lead from instead of to the goal. Guides are 
necessary, who have explored the labyrinth and learned the 
safe route, and this followed perseveringly leads to the 
object of their desire. Who are those guides? Look back 
over the volumes of this Journal, and some will be found 
there ; look through the present number and judge by their 
directions as to whether they know their way or not. We 
think they will not mislead ; but on the contrary, they have 
tried both the byeways and the highways, and know, if any 
travellers do, the nearest and the best way to where they 
essay to lead. They will continue to give the light of ex¬ 
perience, and, so to their own credit, our satisfaction, and the 
benefit of those wayfarers that need a helping hand, illumine 
the path that leads to success in gardening. 
And now we once again repeat the salutation that 
never appears to grow old or hackneyed, but is as fresh 
and welcome as the flowers in their seasons, and to old 
and young, gardeners and amateurs, writers and readers 
of every grade, that salutation i3 
A Merry Christmas. 
NEPENTHES. 
The different species and now numerous varieties of this genus 
are most interesting plants to the physiologist and botanist, and 
never-failing objects of curiosity to all casual visitors to gardens 
where they are grown. Though perhaps not so useful from a de¬ 
corative point of view as are many of our stove plants, Nepenthes 
can nevertheless be most effectively used in what may be termed 
domestic exhibitions of plants, in which combinations their distinct¬ 
ness from all other plants renders them objects of peculiar attrac¬ 
tion and interest, so that wherever even a few plants requiring 
stove temperature are cultivated, some Nepenthes, in numbers pro¬ 
portionate to the accommodation, should find a place, more espe¬ 
cially as they require to be suspended from the roof, and do not 
encroach on the space that might be considered more profitably 
occupied. They always constitute a pleasing feature in a houseful 
of tropical plants, and are not by any means difficult to manage. 
The propagation of Nepenthes was long considered a difficult 
art, and only to be accomplished with certainty and success in 
nursery establishments, where they might be more or less of a 
specialty. There cannot be a greater misconception, as I have 
repeatedly proved that there is no greater difficulty in propagating 
the great majority—in fact, nearly all them—’than in stiiking a 
Croton or Dractena, and the process can be carried out in any sea¬ 
son of the year. Various methods have been adopted by nursery¬ 
men and gardeners. After having tried some of them, I have found 
the most successful to be the insertion of the cuttings infiesh saw¬ 
dust, placed to the depth of 6 inches in any position where a bottom 
heat of 80 to 85° can be steadily maintained with a top tempera¬ 
ture of a propagating case placed over the sawdust of 5° or 10° 
lower. The great virtue of the sawdust is that it retains sufficient 
moisture without very frequent applications of water beyond the 
dewing over of the cuttings once a day. They also root well in 
clean rather coarse river sand, and I have to-day (December 7th) 
potted nineteen cuttings that were inserted in the latter material 
on October 8th. They had whorls of roots much like a Carnation 
layer, and not one of them went wrong. They require much more 
water in the sand than in the sawdust, and may be watered freely 
every second day at least. 
The selection of the cuttings is a point of considerable im¬ 
portance. The worst of cuttings are the soft tops of growths and 
the hard woody ones from their base. The best are the moderately 
firm short-jointed side shoots. Longer growths of strong-growing 
sorts can be made, and into several good cuttings, two joints being 
sufficient, terminal cuttings being put in whole and not topped till 
well rooted. Cuttings of two joints should not have the bottom 
leaf removed, but be inserted into the sawdust or sand with the 
shoot. The cuttings should not be disturbed for two months, when 
(with the exception of such as N. Veitchi, which takes a week or 
two longer) they are .always found well rooted. 
In potting them I use 2Linch deep pots, well drained, and 
the material used is the toughest fibre of Orchid peat that can be 
obtained, with every.particle of fine soil either beaten or washed 
out of it, and fresh sphagnum in the proportion of two parts of the 
former to ODe of the latter. They are potted firmly, and a stake 
put to each to steady it if necessary; they are returned to the pro¬ 
pagating case, kept close for a week or two, and then gradually 
exposed to the temperature of the house, which in case of the cut¬ 
tings I have referred to is 60 3 to 65° at night. 
When the young plants have thoroughly stretched their dark 
threadlike roots into the little balls, they are transferred to baskets 
of teak or wire, or, as in our case just now, into glazed pans. They 
do not require large bulks of material to grow in ; and when 
established thus do not require much attention to keep them 
healthy, beyond being syringed once or twice a day to keep them 
clean and the material in which they grow moist. To have com¬ 
pact pitcher-producing plants they should not be allowed to make 
rambling growths in their younger stages, but be topped at every 
second joint till a good foundation for the specimen is formed. 
When well established they luxuriate all the more if supplied 
occasionally with water just coloured slightly with good fresh 
guano, and I have sometimes crumbled a little dry sheep or horse 
droppings on the surface of the balls with much benefit to the 
plants. They should be transferred into larger baskets when they 
have well taken possession of those they are in. In carrying 
out this operation some care is necessary. And all the decayed 
effete particles that may be about the roots should be removed. 
The best way of doing this is to carefully turn the plants out of 
their baskets and immerse them in a pail of tepid water, and to 
press the ball with the hand, so forcing all slimy matter out of the 
ball, and allowing it to drip awhile before being put into the new 
basket or pan. The fresh material should be pressed firmly round 
the roots, and I have often, in the case of large plants, mixed 
in a proportion of lumps of clean charcoal, to which the roots 
cling. 
By treating Nepenthes according to this general outline I have 
produced some pitchers of enormous size. One of N. distillatoria 
held a pint and a wineglassful of water, and others in proportion. 
I believe some I sent to London several years since were dried, and 
are now in the Museum at Kew. The only species I tried to grow 
that beat me was N. Rajah. It made leaves, but as fast as it made 
one leaf it lost another, and ultimately expired. By the way, I 
have not heard of any decided success in humouring His Majesty. 
Before the collection here was broken up it consisted of nearly 
thirty sorts, but there are only a few specially compact-growing 
favourites now, such as I would commend to those whose space is 
limited and who have not much head room. They are N. sanguinea, 
Mastersiana, and Veitchi, all unique in their way. Mastersiana is 
probably—taking it all ways—the finest British hybrid in existence. 
N. sanguinea, of which we have eight plants, is a beautifully high- 
coloured pitcher, and the construction of the pitchers of Veitchi 
is very distinct from almost any other, and so is its colour—a light 
pea-green shaded with brown. We have a plant of it just now 
with leaves over 18 inches long. To these might be added the com¬ 
pact neat-growing Northiana, and where there is head room enough 
N. Hookeriana and N. Rafflesiana make distinct additions of such as 
are not now high-priced.— David Thomson, Drumlanrig Gardens. 
HARDY BERRIED PLANTS. 
Mistletoe.— Two thousand years of civilisation has not obliterated, 
bnt increased the hold of the Mistletoe on the popular mind. It grows 
on the Thom, Crab, Lime, and Poplar, and does not despise the lowly 
Gooseberry ; indeed it will grow on most trees, but is most prolific of 
berries on the Thorn and Crab. Seeds put on the smooth bark, to which 
they adhere by the viscid pulp of the berry, are sure to germinate, only 
insure them againtt birds. In this way every garden might have its 
Mistletoe. It is much valued for its silver berries and golden-green 
leaves and branches. 
Ivy. —The common purple-berried Ivy (Hedera Helix) is of great 
decorative value, and for constructing with it we hav: the yellow-berried 
(H. Helix fructu luteo), which also assumes a tree form. 
Holly. —What can equal sprays of well-berried Holly (Ilex aqui- 
folium) for decoration? and it grows in town or counry, in valley or on 
hill, in sunshine or in s^ade ; but fine as the common Holly is with 
seines, haviog a more picturesque leaf, and well berried, I think pre¬ 
ference would be giv n by manipulators or dec.rators to the smooth- 
