128 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ February 16, 1893. 
By cutting, and at once placing in water, I have found Pentstemons 
very serviceable. 
Of Dahlias no doubt Juarezii is the best. Other good varieties 
are Henry Freeman, white; Honoria, yellow; General Gordon, 
salmon ; Role't Maher, Panthea, and for some purposes Glare of 
the Garden. I always cultivate a few of the single variety 
Chilwell Beauty for cutting. In order to have these in flower 
early the old tubers ought to be planted, and not, as is generally 
the case, young plants raised from cuttings.—R. P. B. 
PROPAGATING BEDDING PLANTS. 
During the next three months millions of plants of various 
descriptions will be propagated in the private gardens of this 
country. In some instances the work will be carried out under 
adverse circumstances ; in others the labour-saving appliances of 
modern times will render it simple, easy, and highly interesting. 
No matter what difficulties have to be encountered the energetic 
gardener generally overcomes them, and when the time for bedding- 
out arrives there is frequently not much to choose between the 
plants which have been raised and forwarded under difficulties 
and those produced under the most favourable conditions ; but 
there is a vast amount of difference between the attention required 
in the two instances. In the former a great amount of wasted 
force has been expended to produce results which in the latter 
are accomplished with ease. This being so it is obvious that a 
few pounds expended in the erection of a suitable propagating 
house or pit, having at command plenty of bottom and top heat, 
is money well spent. When, however, this convenience does 
not exist it is a great advantage to know the various conditions 
under which different plants may be rooted with certainty, for it 
is a curious fact that propagators who are equally successful some¬ 
times adopt totally different methods of procedure, and the man 
who is thoroughly conversant with these opposite methods will 
genei’ally be able to successfully adopt one of them. 
The first step to be taken is to see that all plants which are 
to be rooted in well heated structures receive a fair amount of heat 
for a couple of weeks previous to the insertion of the cuttings. By 
t iking this course the sap is incited into activity, and the sap vessels 
being fully expanded are in the right condition to ensure the speedy 
emission of roots. Many causes of failure might be traced to the 
non-observance of this practice, which is generally easy enough to 
carry out, because a large number of bedding plants are grown in 
vineries and other fruit houses, one or more of which are started 
at the beginning of January. If the earliest batches of plants 
to be propagated from are arranged in this early started house the 
first cuttings will be ready a few weeks after, and others will then 
be quickly produced. In cases where neither of the fruit houses 
is pushed on early the work of propagating may with advantage 
be correspondingly delayed, unless other houses or pits can be 
devoted to the purpose. Another point which deserves more 
attention than it receives is to allow the cuttings to become strong 
before they are taken from the parent plant, for nothing is gained 
—indeed, much is lost—by beginning too soon. Weak cuttings 
produce poor plants ; and, moreover, the parent plant is increased 
in vigour by additional growth. The next batch of cuttings 
come quicker, and are more robust, when this course is followed 
than when the opposite practice is adopted. 
Pelargoniums. 
Given a temperature ranging between 60° and 70° few plants 
are more easily rooted than Pelargoniums. The soil I prefer for 
the majority of cuttings is old potting soil which has lain for a few 
days on the top of a boiler at work or against a chimney stack. If 
turned a few times while in these positions it becomes thoroughly 
sweetened, insects are dispersed, and the requisite warmth is 
also obtained. If a heap of such material is sifted through a 
half-inch sieve, with a little leaf soil, crock dust, or sharp sand 
added, it can afterwards be varied to suit the special require¬ 
ments of various plants. Cocoa-nut fibre refuse is an excellent 
substitute for the leaf soil where that is not easily obtainable. 
This mixture will be found especially suitable for Pelargonium 
cuttings, as they are generally somewhat soft, and are less liable to 
decay at the base when inserted in rather poor soil. 
Where the space can be spared the best of all methods is to 
insert each cutting—after having made a clean slanting cut just 
under the joint—in a small 60-pot. There is no possibility of 
overcrowding when this plan is followed, the growth is firm and 
sturdy from the start, and no further potting is required. One 
< rock, covered with moss or rough leaf soil, is all the drainage 
necessary. Open stages placed on the hot-water pipes in vineries 
or shelves near the glass are excellent positions in which to stand 
the pots. Well heated pits with a stage formed of boards, over 
which a little cocoa-nut fibre refuse or sifted coal ashes have been 
placed, afford an exceptionally good position for them. Cuttings 
of the Tricolor and Golden Bronze types should, if possible, be 
giv^en such a position ; they can then be kept quite close and given 
the exact treatment required. 
If space cannot be afforded to place each cutting in a separate 
pot, box' s sh uld be used. If made about 2 feet in length, 
10 inches wide, and 21 inches deep, these will afford room for 
from forty to fiHy cuttings, according to their size. Half an inch 
of cinders or broken crocks, covered with a layer of rough leaf 
soil or moss, supplies sufficient drainage and leaves ample room for 
the soil, which ought to be pressed moderately firm with a board 
made to fit easily into the box. This is a very convenient method, 
as large numbers of cuttings can be raised in a limited space ; but 
of course they should be placed into pots as soon as the cuttings 
are well rooted, by which time higher temperatures prevail in the 
majority of glass structures. When only a few cuttings of many 
varieties require to be inserted 6-inch pots answer admirably. 
These will accommodate nine cuttings, and are of the right size 
for standing on hot-water pipes and in dry corners where many 
things do not flourish, but Pelargoniums root quickly. In all cases 
the soil should be surfaced with sand, and the cuttings, when 
inserted, receive a good watering. The subject will be resumed. 
—D. W. 
LILIES VHRSUS ROSES. 
I SUPPOSE that for one person that cultivates Lilies 500 culti¬ 
vate Roses. In all summer horticultural shows Roses occupy the 
first place, but Lilies take a back seat. There are special Rose 
exhibitions and a National Rose Society ; the modest Lily 
hangs its head in obscurity. Why is this ? Is the Lily inferior 
to the Rose ? I think not. For purity of colour no Rose can 
touch the Lily ; for fragrance, in my opinion (a matter of 
individual taste), no Rose can equal in delicacy the perfume of 
the speciosum or longiflorum group, including L. Browni, or in 
strength that of L auratum. For lasting as a cut bloom, whether 
as regards colour or fragrance, the Lily will keep good during a 
week ; the Rose is gone in twenty-four hours. Under glass one 
may have Lilies all the year round in bloom ; not so Roses. For 
grace and stateliness, granted equal excellence of growth and 
cultivation to both, there is no comparison between any Rose bush 
and L. auratum, longiflorum, or speciosum. Whence, then, the 
difference in popular cultivat'on ? I suppose that the Lily is 
generally held to be far more difficult to grow than the Rose ; that 
after flowering the bulb often perishes, that renewals are costly 
and troublesome ; but surely this is because the cultivation of the 
one is less understood than that of the other. A deciduous bush 
renews yearly only shoots and flowers ; the Lily, in addition, has 
to make a bulb, on the size and soundness of which its future life 
depends ; ffience a greater demand that its environment should be 
suitable and its requirements understood by the cultivator. 
Now, as regards environments. It is true many soils do not suit 
Lilies ; they require moisture and a fair amount of sunshine ; light 
sandy soils therefore do not suit, neither do heavy cold clays. Given 
partial shade, abundant moisture combined with drainage, and a 
fairly open retentive soil, Lilies will do well. If you wish to see 
them well grown go to Kew and admire the beds there. Now this 
environment is more restricted than that required by the Rose, and 
it cannot be found in many garden^, but it can be had artificially. 
In my town garden of 20 feet by 50 feet I grow in pots magnificent 
groups of longiflorum, speciosum, and other Lilies ; but I take 
care that the pets are large enough, and never use less than a 
10-inch pot for a single bulb. Large bulbs or several bulbs together 
require a pot up to 15 or 18 inches wide. Sankey’s pots are deeper, 
and therefore give more room to the requirements of the roots. 
The soil I use is a fibrous loam with some sand and peat to keep 
it open, and the plants get sunshine about half the day. They 
are kept well watered, this being most important. If not plunged 
they get soaked every evening at sunset; if plunged, every other 
day ; during growth some Clay’s fertiliser is also added. I have 
magnificent growth, splendidly coloured, and fine blooms, and 
grand bulbs for the next year, and this in a town garden. If 
one can do this so easily, why not others ? A grand pot of 
L. longiflorum or speciosum in flower is a graceful, beautiful sight, 
well worth a little trouble. Green fly does not infest my Lilies 
like it does my Roses, and no caterpillar eats the buds. 
I finish, therefore, by again asking. If Roses why not also 
Lilies? 1 could add much more in favour of Lilies, but one point 
more should be mentioned. A Lily coming in flower in the open 
garden may be taken up with care for its roots, potted, and well 
