644 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER, 
[ December 22, 1892. 
thick straw mats, which I find answer the purpose well. I think 
it is a mistake not to give the old stools some stimulant, as almost 
the whole of the nature of the soil must have been exhausted by 
the time the blooms have been finished. In order to get good 
strong cuttings I give two doses a week of weak manure water 
made in the usual manner from cow or sheep droppings. It is also 
a good plan to give a slight top-dressing of good loam. The 
further the cuttings can be procured away from the stem the 
better, and never take any from the stem itself if it can possibly 
be avoided. 
It is a good plan, I think, when the season is in full swing, to 
take careful notes of all the varieties and make out a list of the 
sorts you intend to grow for another season and the number of 
cuttings you will require of each. It will be found necessary to 
grow more of some varieties than of others which are equally good 
as to the flowers, as some are very brittle and suffer much from the 
wind ; others will carry three or even four good flowers, and 
some only one. Some are also much more difficult to bring out to 
time. TheD, again, certain varieties must be discarded every year 
to make room for new ones of greater excellence. Let us then 
suppose that we have our list drawn up and the time for taking the 
first cuttings has begun. It will be found necessary to strike or 
attempt to strike quite 25 per cent, more cuttings than you will 
have room for as full grown plants. Some of the cuttings will not 
strike, later on some plants will be lost through various causes, and 
it is best when the time for the final potting comes to have 
extra plants, so that only the strongest and those which promise to 
come right as to time shall be grown on through the summer. 
Propagating and Potting. 
The season of striking cuttings begins in the second and third 
weeks of December, and goes on at intervals till the end of 
February. I strike all my cuttings in a close frame in a warm 
greenhouse and use no bottom heat. The soil is composed of well 
rotted top spit with plenty of sand and some charcoal. Last season 
I adopted the plan suggested by Mr. C. E. Shea of adding a little 
of the ash produced by burning the old stems and foliage of the last 
season’s plants. This, I think, is of assistance to the plants when 
they have become rooted and established in their first pots. I do 
not propose in this paper to give a list of all the varieties we grow 
and the dates at which their cuttings should be taken. These will 
be found by referring to the excellent work of Messrs. W. & G. 
Drover. Of course the time must vary slightly with the district. 
As a general rule the latest varieties should be struck first and so 
on, though there is some modification in this when stopping in 
April is practised. The cuttings are kept fairly close till rooted, 
after which they are taken out and placed in cold frames and have 
no heat till they are finally housed. It is most important to give 
them plenty of room in the frames. If this is not done they will 
get drawn up, leggy and weak, and will never make good plants. 
I think it is a good plan from the first to keep each variety by 
itself ; by doing so the grower will save a great deal of time, as 
certain varieties require more shifts than others, and as these shifts 
are given at no fixed dates, but when the plants require them, it 
can easily be understood that to have to look through, say, 800 or 
1000 cuttings for twenty-five of Avalanche, would be a lengthy 
process if all were indiscriminately mixed together. It is im¬ 
portant to place the rooted cuttings near the glass on a cool bottom. 
The plan I adopt is by resting corrugated iron sheets on inverted 
pots and then putting 4 inches of sifted coal ashes on them. This 
makes a cool bed, and can be adjusted to any desired height. The 
frames I use are Boulton & Paul’s span-roof ones 8 feet wide. 
They have an admirable method of top ventilation, which is especi¬ 
ally useful for the plantsdn their early stages, when very often the 
east wind is too cold to allow of the lights being raised. Frost is 
excluded by the use of thick straw mats, and no artificial heat is 
used. The plants are kept well apart from each other, and are 
given more room as they require it. This is most important. 
Never let the plants in their young state get root-bound. Some 
varieties will require four shifts, others only two. No rule can be 
laid down, but all must be repotted when they require it. Every 
now and then the different varieties are looked over, and any that 
require it are repotted. The same compost is used, but with 
less sand and a little leaf mould is added. 
We will suppose that we have now arrived at the month of 
May. The plants are now strong, and some may be placed oufside 
the frames, placing a stick to any that require it ; the rest may 
remain in the frames, and the lights removed. No definite rule 
can be laid down for the final potting. We begin about the 
last week of May, when the first plants require it, and then work 
steadily through the whole stock as they require it. The operation 
msts with us about three weeks. The compost I use is as follows :— 
Four-fifths prepared fibrous loam, one-fifth leaf mould, to this is 
added some sand, half-inch bones and charcoal. No manure of any 
kind. The loam we use is the best top spit cut 2 inches thick, 
which is stacked in layers, turf downwards, and covered with cor¬ 
rugated iron to keep out the rain. It is chopped up rough, and all 
fine parts put on one side. It should be on the dry side rather 
than wet. For certain weak growers, such as Mrs. Alpheus Hardy, 
I use two-fifths loam, two-fifths peat, and one-fifth leaf mould. 
Two sizes of pots are used, 8j and 9J inches in diameter. Those 
made extra deep as supplied by Messrs. Sankey are the best I have 
used. Give plenty of drainage, and some rough soil and half-inch 
bones over it, and pot very firm. After potting the plants stand 
in the shade for gome days till the roots begin to take hold of the 
new soil, and the plants have got over the check. No water at the 
roots will be required for some days, but a sprinkling or syringing 
twice a day will be all that is necessary. Labels should be new 
and long, so as to give plenty of room for notes as to time of taking 
the bud, and other details. 
Treatment During the Summer. 
As soon as the plants can stand the sun they are placed in their 
summer quarters in the open, so as to get the full benefit of 
sun and air, and carefully tied to two strands of iron wire. The 
plants during the summer stand over iron troughs filled with water. 
In these troughs are placed 6-inch lengths of 5-inch drain pipes on 
which the pot stands. Each plant is thus surrounded by water. 
This almost entirely prevents earwigs from getting on the plants, 
and also produces a moist atmosphere on very hot days. The 
plants grown over water have with me better foliage than those 
placed on the ground. To further keep the earwigs at bay we tie 
cotton wool soaked with paraffin round the posts, and renew the 
wool and oil once a week. The result of this experiment has been 
that during this season (which has been an unusually bad one for 
earwigs) we have, out of some 560 plants, only lost three or four ; 
while in an ordinary way I should expect to lose fifty or sixty. I 
may add that my plants are grown on the grass, which harbours 
the earwigs and makes them more troublesome than they other¬ 
wise would be. The rows run east and west, and the plants are 
turned round twice during the summer. We give plenty of room 
between the plants, so as to ensure ripe wood and good foliage. 
The lines are about 10 feet apart. 
The principal work during the summer is that of watering and 
also of tying the shoots as they grow. Every plant is tapped with 
the knuckle to find out the amount of water required. Too much 
is almost as bad as too little. Any neglect of watering may mean 
the total loss of all your exhibition chances. No cold water from 
the mains should be used. All water should stand for twelve 
hours in tubs exposed to sun and air before being used. Rain 
water is the best. As to feeding, I give no stimulants at all till 
the last week in August. In this I believe I am almost alone, as 
most growers begin in July. I believe, however, that if the potting 
soil is really good that the end of August is quite soon enough. I 
use five or six different manures, but always in a liquid form, never 
giving the same fertilizer twice running. I believe that liquid manure 
from sheep, cow, or horse droppings, prepared by placing in a sack 
and allowing it to soak in a tub of water for a night, is one of the 
very best stimulants. Be careful not to use it too strong to start 
with. Of prepared manures there are many very good. Pure 
Icthemic guano, Wood’s and Standen’s manures being my 
favourites. Sulphate of ammonia is only used to hurry up a late 
bloom, and must be very carefully used. Between every watering 
with stimulants we give two or three days with clear water. This 
I think keeps the ball clean and the plant healthy. Never use 
stimulants in strong doses ; the result will be burnt roots and a 
ruined bloom. 
One of the most important details with regard to growing for 
exhibition blooms is the timing of the blooms— i.e ., to get the bulk 
of your varieties out at about the same time. Now, while we have 
some varieties that are naturally early, and others late, we must find 
out means of retarding the one and accelerating the other. I 
cannot go deeply into this subject, as it is too large. I will only 
say now that we arrive at the desired end bv stopping —i e., taking 
out the point of the leader—the plants at different times. Thus a 
plant of Mrs. Alpheus Hardy or Mrs. F. Jameson, stopped in April, 
will give good blooms from crown buds about the second week in 
November, whereas if they had been grown in a natural way they 
would never have given an exhibition bloom. Taking the buds is 
a subject that is now so generally understood that I will not enter 
further into it, beyond saying that if a plant is found to be too 
early or too late for the shows it is waste of time, so far as 
exhibiting is concerned, to bother further about it. The room of 
such plants is more valuable than their company (from an 
exhibition point of view). Of course with new varieties one must 
keep all to find out what their habits and what is their natural 
time. In the case of the older varieties their time is known within 
a few days, and such varieties when out of time should not be 
