100 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[November 14. i 
To attain equal success now, you must move your soil 
and pot to the plant, and raise it with a good ball, using 
for this purpose rather a large pot; and this will take 
up your room, and require a littlo attention to shading 
and picking off decaying foliage. You may raise your 
plants, reduce their tops, shake a part of the soil from 
their roots, so as to squeeze them into smallish pots, 
and then set them in your window and greenhouse; 
and though in the dull weather of winter, from the 
little evaporation from the foliage, the plants ,will look 
tolerably well, you may consider yourself fortunate if 
you lose not more than fifty per cent, before the month 
of March, after all your labour, when young plants 
would have been getting better every day, and merely 
because there was no growth of roots commensurate 
to the demands made by sun and air upon the branches. 
Supposing that you had no means of bottom-heat, the 
plants would have done better transferred with all the 
soil that would adhere to them, and laid in, in a cold 
frame or pit, after reducing the tops, or packed in a large 
deal box, and set in a cool corner of the greenhouse ; 
because in both cases the roots would escape the alter¬ 
nations of temperature and moisture to which they are 
liable in pots. But if you can command a little fer¬ 
menting materials—such as tree leaves and dung, which 
should be thrown in a heap, to heat well before using it, 
in order that the slimy gentlemen may be set a-flitting— 
and, in addition, you have such a thing as a spare frame 
or pit, then success with your plants is next to certain. 
Whether you pot your plants singly or reduce them 
both in branches and roots, so as to squeeze half a dozen 
of them round the sides of a largish pot—say eight 
inches,—in either case plunge them to the rims in 
the fermenting material, if not above 70°; or, if it 
please you better, put some light sandy soil on its 
surface, and turn the plants into it without pots. 
Whatever plan is adopted, ah- should he left on back 
and front in all weather not very cold and frosty; the 
object being not to excite the buds into growth, but the 
production of fresh healthy roots, so that when the 
returning warmth and sunlight of spring set the top 
moving, there may be plenty of resources in the root 
to maintain a reciprocal action. During winter, if the 
soil was fair for moisture, little or no water would be 
required in such circumstances; but the foliage in sunny 
days would need a little dusting from the syringe. 
Propagation .—By saving a few of such plants you 
may increase your stock to any desirable quantity in 
spring. If to be set in a window or greenhouse, the 
young shoots should be taken off when from one to two 
inches in length, aud before they are drawn and spongy, 
inserted in pots half filled with drainage, the other half 
with sand, loam, and leaf-mould, in equal proportions— 
the roughest over the drainage, the finest at the sur¬ 
face, and over that a slight dash of pure sand, which 
keeps the surface firm, and does not allow the air too 
freely to penetrate to the base of the cutting. Water, 
and then place a bell-glass over them, and shade from 
bright sunshine; or, plant in small pots, to be set in 
larger ones, and a square of glass over each, when 
shading will in most cases be unnecessary, as the sides 
ot the larger pot will in general be sufficient. The bell- 
glass and the square of glass are to prevent evaporation 
from the foliage. After the first watering, little more 
will be required than dusting the foliage in the day¬ 
time. But if a quick return is desired, the plants 
should be allowed to grow a little more, and a hotbed 
must be prepared—a cucumber bed, in March or the 
beginning of April, especially its front, would just be 
the place; and there, if fifteen inches from the glass, 
aud kept close, they would require neither bell-glasses 
tipon them nor any shading. A slight dust from the 
syringe, when the sun was bright, would suit them 
better. In autumn it is as well to cut to a joint when 
making a cutting, because, though the roots seldom 
come from thence, it is so far a security against the 
base of the cutting damping; but in spring, when the 
hotbed system is resorted to, there is no necessity for 
pruning of any sort, but merely take the cuttings with 
a sharp knife—joint or no joint—and insert them imme¬ 
diately. The close atmosphere and the moist exhala 
tions from the fermenting matter prevent the transpi¬ 
ration of the juices of the cuttings, and present them 
with a feeding medium. The air admitted is given 
almost solely at night, in order to afford a fresh stimulus 
from fresh oxygen. 
Our friend who failed in striking these plants in a 
hotbed in July, even though he gave air every day, will 
now see that, as that was the height of the flowering 
season, ho would have succeeded better if the place had 
been the coolest and shadiest,—if, in fact, he could have 
mingled an atmosphere of the dog days with three 
atmospheres borrowed from an ice well; and, also, that 
though there are exceptions, yet, as a general rule, the 
closer cuttings are kept the sooner they will strike. A 
deciduous cutting of a Gooseberry requires no shading 
from air and sun, because it possesses a store of ripe 
organised material; and the same warmth and liglit 
that expand the buds expand the part in the soil, and 
cause the protrusion of roots. A green cutting of a 
Calceolaria, &o., has not its juices so fully organised—air 
and light admitted would, by the medium of its leaves, 
deprive it of its juices; and, therefore, we exclude the 
one during the day, aud subdue or diffuse the other 
before reaching the cutting—so that the leaves shall 
evaporate slowly, and feed slowly upon the surrounding 
medium, until roots are produced, and the balance of 
a perfect plant again restored. 
Those wishing to propagate now, will find it is not yet 
too late. They may place them in their window or 
greenhouse, as never needed in spring, but after a week 
or two they must give them the warmest corner. They 
will also do well in a slight hotbed, where the tem¬ 
perature is at the bottom from 50° to 60°, the top 
ranging from 40° to 45°. They will also do well 
under a hand-light by the side of a wall, where drench¬ 
ing rains are thrown off But in such a position you 
must secure them from worms by a sprinkling of salt; 
from being soaked by a drainage of cinders, &c., below 
the soil; and then be provided with a nightcap or two 
to place over them in the time of frost and snow. They 
stand damp in winter wonderfully well. 
I prefer the end of September and the month of 
October for the autumn propagating, and then place 
them under hand-lights, or in pits without any artificial 
heat. This season having a few old lights at liberty, I 
thought I could try them a little earlier, and stick them 
in a north border, and also some fancy Geraniums in the 
end of August, laying the lights over them, and closing 
the space up all round. With the exception of very few, 
they are now struck ; not one in five hundred has died; 
there is scarcely any above one inch in height. They 
have been left in a great measure to themselves. But I 
have already exceeded my space, and must give the out 
line of their simple treatment at some other time. 
R. Fish. 
RS.—I have been informed there is, though 1 have 
not yet read it, an article on the propagation of Calceo¬ 
larias in the The Gardener's Magazine of Botany , by 
my old friend J. C., to whom flower gardening is so 
much indebted. I know not whether our practice be 
similar now, but my uniform success for many years 
arose from imitating his method, when some fifteen 
years ago he stood almost alone in the ease and cer¬ 
tainty with which he managed these flowers. He has 
also raised several varieties, valuable alike for pot and 
bed. Every one who loves compactness of growth, with 
smotherings of bloom, must be acquainted with Caie's 
