74 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ January 28, 1886. 
subject as the Narcissi. The beautiful tall Iris ochroleuca perhaps 
prefers a damp situation, but it does well on an ordinary border, and 
there are many coloured English and Spanish Iris. The Pyrethrums, 
double and single, great Oriental Poppies, Papaver umbrosum with its 
crimson flowers and black blotch, and hosts of French and Opium 
Poppies which seed themselves only too freely. Delphiniums, 
among which Belladonna and Cantab are the prettiest of the pale 
blue kinds. Mrs. Sinkins Pink is very useful for cutting from, and 
so is Campanula coroData alba, figured in this week’s Journal, and 
the dwarf Campanulas pusilla and pusilla alba are charming for the 
front line, and so are the dwarf CEnotheras, the white taraxacifolia, 
and the yellow macrocarpa. 
Scabiosa caucasica is such a pretty soft grey, an unusual colour 
among flowers. We did not think much of it when it was growing in 
poor soil, but since the bed has been trenched, fresh soil dug in and 
replanted, it has rewarded us with a profusion of bloom all the 
summer. The dwarf Aster alpinus is very pretty, and the curious 
Eryngium amethystinum is well worth growing. Gaillardia grandi- 
flora is very handsome. The winters have been mild since we have 
had it, so that we have not been able to ascertain if it will resist a 
hard frost. We always protect it with eocoa-nut fibre. 
Besides Lilium candidum would not Orange Lilies—the scarlet 
chalcedonicum, and the buff excelsum or testaceum—thrive in the 
mixed border ; and the Tiger Lilies, tigrinum splendens both single 
and double? Lilium umbellatum is strong-growing, and a richer 
colour than the Orange Lily, Lilium croceum. We grow plenty of 
auratum and speciosum, but the former requires peat, and the latter 
is rather delicate for the mixed border. Then in September the lower- 
growing Michaelmas Daisies, such as Aster amellus and bessarabicus, 
make a pleasing group with RudbeckiaNewmanni. Sedum spectabile, 
too, with its bright pink heads is very useful at that time. 
For fine-foliage plants there are Funkias and Bocconia cordata, 
but the latter requires watching as it spreads so rapidly that it 
smothers all its neighbours. The soil here is very sandy and dry. 
We have abundance of water, having a pond and several streams, 
and as the garden lies low we suffer very much from frost, and lost 
far more evergreens, &c., than our neighbours in the cold winters of 
1879 and 1881. We also suffer very much from weeds. I do not 
know the Sweet Ash alluded to by “ A. M. B.,” at least under that 
name ; but I almost despair of succeeding in eradicating ground 
Elder, Rampion, and Bindweed from the wilder parts of the garden, 
while Dog’s Mercury is rapidly smothering Primroses and Periwinkle 
in the adjoining wood.—A. M., North Notts. 
PROPAGATING WINTER-FLOWERING CARNATIONS 
Tkee Carnations are deservedly popular, and to become a successful 
cultivator of them a beginning must be made early in the year—that is, 
if it is desired to have good-sized plants capable of producing a profusion 
of flowers. By the 1st of Januarj of the present year I had some 
cuttings of La Belle and A. Alegatiere well rooted. These I had secured 
from some old plants which was not intended for flowering, some old, 
almost worthless plants in fact, but which in the end produced serviceable 
cuttings that, if well tended, will make fine plants by midsummer fit for 
7-inch pots. Having grown and propagated this section of Carnations 
with fair success for some years I will detail the system adopted. 
Propagation should always be commenced as early as possible in 
January, since cuttings taken at that time will be comparatively firm and 
hard, and will root readily in the propagating house, requiring neither 
bellglasses or frames to keep them close, and if no air be admitted at 
this season. Throughout January and onward till the middle of 
February, they are benefited by slight bottom heat—say 60°—and 
partially plunged, but on no account cover them with glasses or lights. 
Let them remain open, otherwise they are likely to suffer from damp. 
I or later batehes of cuttings I prefer striking them without bottom heat, 
and for this reason: that with the advancing season the house will be 
kept somewhat warmed, the cuttings will be of quicker growth and con¬ 
sequently more sappy, which, coupled with the bottom beat, would soon 
place them beyond recovery. So long as I can procure hard woody 
cuttings I prefer gentle bottom heat, the cuttings being uncovered ; hut 
when obliged to resort to soft cuttings, then I prefer cool treatment, and 
employ bellglasses, and let it be remembered that the Carnation is a 
greenhouse plant, in fact nearly hardy, and consequently it is at no time 
benefited by too much neat. I have never found any cutting too hard or 
woody to root, but generally the woody cuttings root most freely and 
quickly. This is not so widely known as it ought to be, or we should see 
more Carnation flowers during the dull months of the year. Not infre¬ 
quently do the inexperienced deliberately cut off that portion of the 
cutting —i e., the heel—which is the readiest to emit roots. In all cases 
then, where possible, strip the cutting off with a heel attached, for though 
a cutting severed at a joint will root, the chances are greatly in favour'of 
the former method. Let the cuttings be from 3 to 4 inches long, though 
it will not be possible to get them of this length from all the varieties, 
owing to the difference of habit and growth, some being very erect 
growers, as A. Alegatiere, and others, as Miss Jolliffe, of dwarf bushy habit. 
Still, whatever may be the style of growth, it is always policy to wait for 
fair-sized cuttings before making a start. 
For propagating purposes the soil I use is sandy loam, with about 
half an inch of coarse dry silver sand on the surface, and, having inserted 
the cuttings I give sufficient water to penetrate the whole of the soil, and 
allow them to remain till the following day before the glasses are placed 
over them ; they will be dry by this time—an important matter, for damp 
may be said to be one of their greatest enemies in this stage. The 
glasses should be removed daily and wiped; beyond this they will need 
little attention. They will not often require water. Thus treated they 
will root in about a month or five weeks, depending to some extent on 
the weather, and when ready may be placed into 2J-inch pots, using fairly 
rich loam, making it rather sandy. If leaf soil is obtainable U9e it in pro¬ 
portion of one-sixth to that of the soil, taking care that the loam is free 
from wireworms. The only safe remedy I know is to catch and kill 
them, and this seems the one recommended by the older florists, as the 
following quotation from “ Hogg on the Culture of the Carnation and 
Auricula, Ac.,” will show. Speaking of the wireworm among other pests 
the author says, “ I met with two a few days ago, and tried what effect a 
little quicklime had upon them. I scattered a little over them, but it 
seemed to make no other impression than to induce them to move from it 
with more speed than they are accustomed to do, I brought them back to 
it again, and kept them there for a couple of minutes, but they were still 
able to crawl from it, apparently not much hurt by it. The only sure 
way to deal with them is catch and kill them.” Its existence, too, is all 
the more to be dreaded, seeing that it works beneath the surface and is 
rarely detected save by the plant syringe. 
When the plants have become well established in the small p its they 
should be stopped—that is, if they have attained a height of 3 or 4 inches, 
so as to make them bushy, or at least produce two or three breaks from 
the base of the plants ; those that require a second stop will speak for 
themselves. By the end of May they will be ready for 5-inch pots, and 
should be in frames out of doors, where they may receive abundance of 
air, and as the season advances they should be staked ; and, finally, about 
July be shifted into pots 6 inches or 7 inches in diameter according to the 
size of the plant. Use rich fibrous loam chopped fine and not sifted, 
with about one-third its quantity of well-decayed manure and leaf soil, 
with sufficient sand added to keep it open. A 5-inch potful of Clay’s 
fertiliser to each barrowful of the compost may also be added. 
Some of the best varieties are—Vulcan, A. Alegatibre, Lucifer, Prince 
of Wales, all scarlets ; while among whites we have La Belle, White Swan, 
The Bride (Hodges), the last a very fine flower. Miss Jolliffe is a pleasing 
flesh colour, Mrs. Hawtrey and Pride of Penshurst are good yellows, so 
also is Andalusia when well grown, though I have never been so fortunate 
with it as Mrs. Hawtrey, and my experience of it is that it is not so free- 
flowering.—J. H. E. 
AGATELEA CCELESTIS. 
No garden should be without a few representatives of this truly 
charming winter-fl iwering plant. It is one of the easiest plants to 
cultivate, as with only ordinary care it will bloom profusely all through 
the winter months, while with a little extra attention it may be had with 
luxuriant dark green foliage and an abundance of its Daisy-like flowers 
all the year round. The flowers, as the specific name implies, are of a 
beautiful sky-blue tint with yellow centre, and by way of variety they 
are very u-eful for decorative purposes in a cut state. They are produced 
singly upon the branches of the plant, and are borne on erect and slender 
stalks. The plant prefers a rich loamy soil such as suits ordinary Pelar¬ 
goniums, and when showing flower it will receive great benefit from 
occasional supplies of liquid manure. Plants required for winter-flower¬ 
ing should be struck early in spring, and then be potted and grown in 
a mild heat and gradually hardened off by the end of May. They should 
then receive a final shift into 6-inch pots, and after they have become 
established they can be plunged outside in a position well exposed to the 
sun. The effect of this plunging outside in a sunny position will be to 
produce bushy plants with thoroughly ripened growth, a state of things 
which it will be very difficult to obtain if the plants are grown in a house 
or frame ; and besides, if the plants are plunged outside they will not 
require nearly so much attention as regards watering as they would do if 
they were otherwise grown, nor will they be so liable to the attacks of 
insects. 
When plunged, care must be taken that they are not allowed to root 
through the pots, as they might thereby receive a severe check when the 
inclemency of the weather demands their removal indoors. On the 
approach of frost in autumn the plants may be taken in, and, if possible, 
placed in a cool house or pit where the atmosphere is dry and airy, but 
where a little heat could be turned on if damp or dull weather prevailed. 
All dead flowers and foliage should then be removed, and with a watering 
of liquid manure about once a week they will yield flowers in abundance. 
The only pests which are found to trouble the plants to any dangerous 
extent are the green and black flies, and these can easily be removed by 
syringing with diluted tobacco water when the plants are outside, or by 
fumigation when they are under cover. This plant is sometimes called 
the Blue Marguerite, on account of the great resemblance its flowers bear 
to those of the popular Parisian Daisy. The plants are members of the 
same natural order, and the flowers of both are very similar in form, but 
in all other respects they are distinct. It is a native of the Cape of Good 
Hope, and was introduced into this country about the year 1759.— 
Prunes. 
COLLINSIA MULTICOLOR. 
Every gardener knows how difficult it is to keep up a gay’appearance 
during the sort of interregnum which succeeds the flowering of thejspring 
