304 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ October 1, 1885. 
igour of winter satisfactorily. Avoid cold draughts, and husband sun 
heat by early closing. 
Where there is a second house the plants from seeds sown at the close 
of August or early September will have reached the first wire of the 
trellis, to which they will need to be trained in the usual course. Add 
more soil to the hillocks, as the roots protrude through the surface of the 
soil, and afLrd water when necessary. Those in pots and boxes will need 
a copious supply frequently. Attend to the stopping, thinning, and tying 
of the shoots as necessary. Maintain a genial condition o the atmo¬ 
sphere by syringing early on bright afternoons and damping available 
surfaces two or three times a day. Should green or black aphides be trouble¬ 
some fumigate with tobacco paper of good quality moderately a couple of 
evenings in succession, when the foliage is dry, being careful not to give 
an overdose, which will prove highly disastrous if not fatal. 
PLANT HOUSES. 
Calla cethiopica. —Where a system of planting out has baen practised 
these must be lifted and placed into pots at once. It is a great mistake 
to leave them in the ground until early frosts compel them to be lifted and 
housed. They become established in their pots much earlier outside than 
under glass, unless there is special provision for them, ft is not necessary 
to lift the plants with large balls of soil attached, but as many fibry roots as 
possible should be retained. The greater part of the soil may bo removel 
from the roots so that they can be placed in from 6 to 10-inch pots accord¬ 
ing to their size. Strong plants can be accommodated in the smallest size, 
and these are most useful for decoration. A few large crocks only are 
needed at the base of the pots for drainage, and the plants should be 
potted in a compost of good loam and decayed manure, about one-third of 
the latter may be used with advantage. After potting, well soak the soil 
with water and syringe the foliage for the first week. If this is done, and 
the plants stood in a shady position, they will soon commence rooting 
afresh, and in about a fortnight will be ready for housing in any cool airy 
position. They should, however, be left outside as long as the weather 
remains favourable. 
Solanums. —The varieties of Solanum capsicaslrum that have been 
planted out must also be lifted. Only reduce the ball of soil suffi¬ 
ciently to allow of placing them in suitable pots. If lifting and potting 
is not done carefully the foliage of these plants is very liable to turn 
yellow, and when this takes place their value is destroyed. The healthier 
and darker the foliage can be retained the more beautiful are the plants. 
This can be accomplished by careful treatment after lifting and potting. 
The soil and their foliage must be kept thoroughly moist, even a dry 
atmosphere must be avoided until the formation of fresh roots, when 
they may be gradually removed to a lighter and more open position 
until it is necessary to place them under glass. Plants that have been 
plunged in soil, ashes, or other material can now be lifted, removing all 
the roots that are outside the pots. Afterwards give the same treat¬ 
ment as advised for those that have been planted out; no injury will 
then result from the removal of the roots, and the ioliage can be 
retained in a healthy condition. 
Bouvardias, Salvias, Eupatoriums. —These and similar plants that 
have been placed out during the summer should be lifted and established 
in pots ready for housing at the approach of frost. They soon establish 
themselves in a shady po-ition outside if given the same treatment as 
advised for Callas and Solanums until they commence rooting freely. 
When lifted and stood together they are much more readily protected 
from slight frost than when growing in the borders outside. Do not 
remove them indoors until established, and in case of frost they can easily 
be placed on their side and covered with mats or tiffany. Slight pro¬ 
tection like this is ample, and allows of the plants being left outside longer 
than would otherwise be possible. 
Lilacs and Guelder Roses. —Where these are retained in pots and 
forced every alternate year they will now possess bold prominent flower 
buds on moderately strong growths. Some of the terminal buds of the 
former are showing signs of starting again into growth, which frequently 
is the case when heavy rains or frequent showers follow long spells of hot 
dry weather. Growth was brought to a standstill early in the season, and 
to preserve the buds in good condition the plants must be lifted from the 
sril in which they are plunged and all roots outside the pots removed. 
This will check the plants sufficiently to prevent further growth. 
THE FLOWER GARDEN AND PLEASURE GROUND. 
Lifting Old Bedding Plants. —While the beds remain fairly bright and 
rn amental some diffidence is felt in lifting any old plants that maybe 
required for stock purposes, but if they cannot be had from the mixed 
borders they must be taken from the flower garden before they are injured 
by frosts. If a sufficient ni^nber of cuttings of such kinds as Coleuses, 
Alternantheras, Iresices, and Heliotropes have not been struck, an 
attempt mu9t be made to pot up a number of old plants, and these if safely 
wintered will afford abundance of cuttings in the spring. Only small 
halls of soil should be taken up with the roots, especially when the soil 
in the beds is rather heavy, and clean well-dra ned 5 inch and 6-inch 
pots are quite large enough for any of them. All should be placed in a 
warm frame, pit, or house, and shaded from bright sunshine for a time. 
These lilted plants must be very carefully supplied with water, and the 
three first named are best wintered on shelves or stages in a forcing 
house. The Heliotropes may be kept in a warm greenhouse. Dwarf 
Lobelias are best propagated in the spring by division of stocky old plants, 
these sturdy little plants thus easily obtained being of much better habit 
than the best of seedlings. A considerable number of plants well 
furnished with growing shoots may well be lifted (as there is almost 
certain to be a number of losses), and these each with a fairly good ball 
of soil and roots may be packed thinly in ordinary shallow Pelargonium 
b xjs, using good loamy soil. They may be sto >d in a shady position for 
a time, or be placed in a cold frame or pit. A cool dry house or a pit in 
which heat is turned on in either very damp or very frosty weather best 
suits them during the winter, both excessive heat and dryness, or cold and 
damp, being most injurious. Choice variegated and Zonal Pelargoniums, of 
which the stock is limited, ought also to be potted, every uninjured 
shoot, if preserved during the winter, being available for striking early 
in the spring. No attempt should be made to secure a ball of soil, but 
care should be taken to damage the roots as little as possible. They may 
be placed singly in 3-inch pots, or five or six plants may go in an 8-inch 
pot. When they are thus crowded together it is advisable to pick off the 
hulk of the oil leaves, as these are liable to damp off and spread decay 
all round. Supposing the plants are given fairly moist and good loamy 
soil, but little water will be needed, especially if they are stood in a cold 
house or frame. If placed at first in a slightly heated pit they will 
recover more surely and quickly from the check received. 
Begonias. —When the beds are broken up before a severe frost has 
been experienced, them are frequently still blooming freely. All will lift 
readily, and when carefully potted and stood in a shady position, 
either in a conservatory or greenhouse, they will continue to bloom for 
some time longer. Begonia weltoniensis lifted from the beds are very 
effective for a time, and the same may be said of the tuberous varieties. 
None of them should be kept very dry when at rest, nor, on the other 
hand, must they be stood under the drip of various plants on a staging 
overhead. If the tubers are left in the ground later than October many 
of them are liable to decay during the winter, but we hav& seen them 
wintered in the open ground, the position in this case being warm and the 
soil of a light nature. 
Propagating Shrubby Calceolarias. —Shrubby Calceolarias have been 
surprisingly bright and effective this season, but cuttings are rather 
scarce. Fortunately they will strike if put in any time during October 
and till late in November, but it is not advisable to defer propagation 
very late or severe frost may spoil the cuttings. A cold frame or pit is the 
best place for striking and wintering the cuttings, and if a heated pit is 
used the heat in the hot-water pipes should be turned on in frosty weather 
only, the aim being to keep the plants alive but not in active growth. A 
fairly dry and well-drained position should be selected for the frames or 
handlights. No heating material whatever should be used, but the frames 
may be stood on a shallow firmly built bed of spent manure and leaves, 
more of this material being placed in the bottom of the frames ; on this 
to be put about 0 inches of fairly good loamy soil, finishing off firmly and 
evenly with half that depth of light sandy soil, a surfacing of sand com¬ 
pleting the bed, and this should bring back the cuttings when inserted to 
within 6 inches or less of the glass. Hard “wiry” cuttings are not 
suitable, and the preference should be given to those that are fliwerless, 
short-jointed, and fairly but not over-succulent, and they should be 
trimmed and put in at once. All should be about 3 inches in length and 
cut t) a joint, the lower pair of leaves only being trimmed off. They may 
be dibbled in about 3 inches apart each way, every cutting touching the 
bottom of the hole made and firmly fixed. A watering through a fine- 
rose watering pot to be given, and the frame, pit, or handlights, as the case 
may be, kept close and shaded from bright sunshine till the cuttings are 
rooted, this taking from six weeks to two months to accomplish, after 
which time they should receive abundance of air on all favourable 
occasions. 
Gazania splendens. —Cuttings of this good old-fashioned edging plant 
may be put in at the same time as the Calceolarias, and in precisely the 
same manner, but in this case spring-struck cuttings are equally as good 
for bedding out as those struck in the autumn. Consequently only half 
the required stock need be struck now, and these will furnish a number of 
good topi in the spring, which will strike readily in a little heat. 
Dahlias.— Only the best of the seedlings are worth preserving, and 
these should be marked before frosts cut them down. All the sorts, if 
not correctly named, should be labelled, in order that their respective 
heights and colours may be known in the spring. When the soil is of 
medium texture and the plants not too large they may sometimes be safely 
potted. If the attempt is made to secure a large ball of soil and 
roots large portions are apt to break away, and failure is the result. We 
have frequently succeeded in establishing large lifted plants in 12-inch 
pots, and these, after being stood in a cool shady position for a few days, 
have been transferred to a conservatory, where they continue to flower 
till Chrysanthemums are abundant. Constance or the White Cactus lifts 
fairly well, and the blooms thus secured are of great service. Juarezii is 
apt to grow too large to be lifted safely, but the smaller and very showy 
Glare of the Garden is well adapted for pot culture. 
Marguerites. —These also can be readily potted, and if kept shaded 
from bright sunshine for a time will continue to blossom for some time 
longer. They are very stocky this season, and are more floriferous as well 
as more easily lifted accordingly. 
American Blackberries. — I believe Mr. Muir is right in his estimate- 
of the value of these. The Parsley-leaved Bramble has been growing in 
the garden here for some years, and annually produces a good crop of 
fruit, which I consider decidedly inferior to that of the common Bramble 
growing about the place. This variety is worth growing as an ornamental- 
