January 31,1889. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
83 
them closely together in flat boxes. If the roots are small or merely 
a tuft then they are best tied tightly together, and any packing 
placed round after the complement has been made up. 
Some trade growers are adepts at packing small plants. I do 
not refer to a few cuttings in a tin box, but several hundreds of a 
variety with good bushy roots. I have had such come several 
hundreds of miles, and every plant in the tightly packed box was 
in as good condition as if they had been taken from our own houses ; 
and in the case of cheap plants the whole consignment carriage and 
all not costing so much as the carriage would have done under 
ordinary packing from establishments not a tenth of the distance 
away. 
As a rule I cannot say I prefer small rooted cuttings, though in 
some cases they do very well. I am sure, however, that growers 
for sale might do much to cheapen the cost of transit in plants were 
they more careful in selecting small pots. I do not so much object 
to a bigger pot if there are plenty of roots in the soil and the 
plant itself bears any relation as to size to the pot employed ; but 
it certainly is cause for fair objection when large pots come to hand 
the greatest part of the goods. It is most unfair to send masses of 
soil with no roots running through it. In fact, I have received 
goods which have to all appearance been potted on purpose to make 
the plants look better ; but when such come into the hands of 
people who are inquisitive about what is contained in the pots it 
looks bad for the future. 
Individually, we cannot do much in these matters apart from 
desiring small pots being selected, and where possible doing with¬ 
out pots altogether ; but especially in the case of the hardier 
plants, if growers could get something in the way of these “godets 
de plomb,” which Frenchmen layer their Carnations in, we should 
get a great step in advance.—B. 
MISTLETOE. 
Ax article on the cultivation of the Mistletoe in your Journal 
of 3rd inst. came under my notice recently. An allusion is 
made in it to my successful cultivation in former years, with a call 
for information as to the process I adopted. I shall at once answer 
the question and communicate the rules and particulars of my process. 
1, To look out in the autumn for a place where the Mistletoe is 
growing naturally, in order to get seeds that are thoroughly fer¬ 
tilised. 2, To select good shaped white berries, to be found on the 
ground under the wild Mistletoes, in order to have them of perfect 
maturity. 3, To preserve them during the winter in a cool place, 
covered with a little soil, not too dry. 4, To select some young 
healthy and vigorous Hawthorn plants (Cratfegus oxyacantha), 
with stems as thick as a little finger, well established, and planted in a 
sheltered situation. 5, To look out for fine growing weather, when 
the sap commences rising in spring. 6, To fix each seed with its 
own natural glue on the clean bark of the main stem, exactly under 
a lateral branch, in order that the rain may not wash it down, and 
that the birds may not easily find it out. 
If the weather remains mild and moist you will soon see the 
seed swelling, the radicle come out horizontally, about a quarter of 
in the sixth or the seventh year. If the plant is vigorous, and 
all circumstances favourable, the twin leaves sometimes produce 
three instead of two twigs. 
It may be observed here that the Mistletoe is a dioecious plant, 
and that each individual is either a male or a female plant, like the 
Aucuba, and the Yew. We have also remarked that several seeds 
contain two embryos and produce two plants, which, when grown 
up, have always proved to be, one male, and the other female. I 
may add that I have not been lucky with the seeds obtained on 
such double-sexed twin plants. 
To form little standard Mistletoe trees, our plants, after three 
years’ sowing, are transplanted, and this must be done with the 
greatest care, for they often die when the roots have been cut too 
an inch long, as in fig. 1. A few days afterwards you will see 
this radicle bend or bow itself in half a circle, and touch with its 
point the bark of the Hawthorn, as in fig. 2. In this state it 
remains generally the whole summer, during which it pierces the 
outer bark, and endeavours to be fixed, and to identify itself with 
the inner bark to find out the sap for its nurture. 
The following spring at the growing season the radicle stretches 
itself out again in a horizontal direction, but this time in the 
opposite way, and in such a manner that the seed stands outwards 
on the basis of the radicle, as in fig. 3. If the weather is hot 
and dry, the young seedling remains generally in this state another 
summer and winter, and if no accident arrives, the cotyledons come 
out the following spring and present themselves as in fig. 4. 
At this period the young Mistletoe may be considered as saved, 
and it stands again a whole year before it produces its two first 
leaves, which the next year will produce two little twigs with two 
leaves each. A year afterwards the same process continues, the 
two little twigs produce four others with eight leaves, and so on, 
doubling every year the number of its leaves, and producing flowers 
FIG. 13— A STANDARD MISTLETOE. 
HEIGHT OF STEM, 3| FEET ; DIAMETER OF HEAD, FEET. 
much, or -when it is done out of season. The best time is in the 
spring, a week or two before the Hawthorn is starting. At the 
sameliime the leader of the stock is cut and shortened to form a 
round head and to give more air and light to the Mistletoe, and in 
the following years we continue to cut in the twigs of the stock 
and to let only a few sprays remain for drawing the sap. Treated 
in this manner the Mistletoe forms a very fine round evergreen 
head. We have a plant twenty-five years old with all _its leaves 
from the first year. It stood our severe winters of 1870-71 and 
1880 without being sheltered and without having suffered. 
We have also tried at the time to graft the Mistletoe by means 
of small twigs on the Hawthorn and other stocks cultivated in pots 
and under a convenient temperature. We have tried to grow it 
from cuttings, but all was in vain ; in a few days the leaves fell off, 
and the whole disarticulated itself and fell to pieces. When sowing 
the Mistletoe I should not recommend to insert the seed in slight 
