10-2 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
I 
[December Hi. j 
and hybrids the segments are of a different colour to the 
rest oi' the tube. In general, where the tube is of one 
uniform colour, or where it is short and the segments so 
reflexed as to resemble petals, there is less to attract 
attention. 
Four or five have generally been recognised as species, 
such as virens, green; alba and rufa, white; pulchella, 
pinkish scarlet; and speciosa , crimson and green. The 
two latter are the prettiest, and most distinct, though 
they have been hybridised. There is not much difference 
between the whites, unless in the foliage, it being shorter 
and rounder in rufa. The foliage of alba, as well as the 
flowers, is whitish, and presents no great claim as an 
object of beauty; it will succeed very well against a con¬ 
servative wall, and will even stand out in the border 
with a little protection in severe weather in winter ; the 
leaves are used by the settlers in New Holland as a sub¬ 
stitute for tea. Notwithstanding its rather dingy appear¬ 
ance it is even valuable here, as it strikes very freely, 
and forms a good stock for inarching or grafting the 
more rare and shy sorts. The speciosa, with its some- | 
what leathery leaves, loaded with flowers as above 1 
described, is still our favourite. 
Whether these be distinct species or not, hybrids have 
been raised from them, chiefly by Messrs. Gaines and j 
Story. Many of them are very beautiful, and, in our 
estimation, are pretty in proportion to the modicum of \ 
speciosa they contain ; as instances, I might mention | 
Rubescens, a free grower, long tubular flowers, and bright 
red in colour; and Picta, free growing, long tubular 
drooping flowers, crimson tipped with green. The only 
advantage these have over speciosa is their free growth; 
in this respect they equal, if not excel, the Pulchella. 
Pallida, alba delicata, with short tube and reflexed seg¬ 
ments ; ferruginea, form similar, and the names of which 
intimate their colour, may also be grown where there is 
room; and so may also such hybrids as Harrissii longi- 
fiora, Grevilli, &e., some of which, however, I have not 
seen. 
Propagation. —This is effected by cuttings, and graft¬ 
ing or inarching. First— by Cuttings. All that I have 
met with may be raised by this method, but speciosa 
takes a very long time, and is very uncertain, and, there¬ 
fore, it is generally grafted or inarched. The whole 
family, however, except alba, and even that requires 
attention, is very impatient of moisture when in the 
cutting pot, and yet they must not be allowed to get dry. 
If the common process is followed, the pot should be 
three parts filled With drainage, some rough material 
strewn over it, sandy peat and loam over that, and sur¬ 
mounted by at least half an inch of silver sand. The 
following method, however, is better, not only in the pre¬ 
sent case, but in all others of any difficulty :—Take a six 1 
or seven inch pot, and two small ones of three inches; i 
invert one of them over the hole in the bottom of the 
larger pot, and on it thus inverted place the other, 
standing upright; its rim will be on a level, or nearly ! 
so, with the rim of the larger pot; fill up the space 
between these and the other pot with draining material, j 
to with n two inches of the surface, taking care that the i 
upper ayer is broken small; on this place a mere 
sprinkling of green moss, and then fill up to within 
three-quarters of an inch of the surface, with sandy peat 
and loam, having even that in several degrees of fine¬ 
ness, and, over all, place clear silver sand. Press it 
firm; set the pot then in a pail of water until it is I 
thoroughly soaked, and then allow it to drain in a shady I 
place for 21 hours. The best time for taking cuttings 
is, when fresh growth has been made in April and May; 
select stiffish but young little shoots, from an inch to an 
inch and a half in length, and if with a heel at the base : 
all the better; cut smooth with a knife like a razor, 
remove a few of the lower leaves, and insert the cuttings 
firmly round the sides of the small pot in the centre, ; 
and so thinly that no paid of one cutting touches the 
one next to it. Put a little silver sand in the holes made 
by the dibber, water with a fine rose, and when the ! 
cuttings are dry place a bell-glass over them, its base 
resting anywhere between the inner and outer pot. 
But here, again, selection is necessary; and 1 mention | 
it the more particularly, because the same safeguard i 
against damping will be necessary in similar cireum- I 
stances. Let the bell-glass taper to a point at the top, I 
in the shape of a cone, instead of being nearly flat- j 
headed, as they generally used to be. When I wanted I 
such conical glasses some dozen years ago, they had to be 
made to order, now they are common enough. The con- j 
densed moisture, instead of, as in the flat glasses, dropping I 
on the cuttings, will in these conical ones trickle down i 
the sides into the sand, &c., outside of the cuttings. If, i 
in addition, a little air is given at night—by putting a j 
peg beneath the glass on one side—the laboiu- and ; 
trouble of wiping glasses dry in a morning may be I 
pretty well dispensed with. “ All very well,” say some | 
of our young friends, “ hut, now, what is the use of the 1 
empty little pot in the centre, around which you have 
firmly fixed the cuttings ? we guess the use of the in¬ 
verted one on which it stands to be the securing of per¬ 
fect drainage.” Quite right, and so likewise the pot in 
the centre answers important purposes; though 1 must 
not enlarge, else I may receive a hint from our orderly 
Editor, that such matters would have been better dis¬ 
cussed in a chapter on propagation. First, then, cuttings 
always strike best at the side of a pot, and with a bell- 
glass over them you could not well place them round 
the outside pot, nor yet, in the present case, round the 
inside of the inner one. “ But why do they strike best 
in such circumstances ? ” Because the resistance thus 
given to the expansion of these tissues causes roots to 
protrude, as naturally as the wielding of the hammer 
strengthens the sinews in the arm of the blacksmith. 
In many cases, the inner pot might contain the cuttings, 
and the outer one be filled with drainage, earth, or moss, 
on which the bell-glass might stand; but then there 
would be no such security against damping as the empty 
pot in the centre supplies. If placed on the shelf of a 
greenhouse, and shaded when necessary, most of the 
water wanted may be given outside the bell-glass; but if, 
as we prefer, the pot be partly plunged in a frame or pit, 
where, however, there is little or no heat, except what 
the sun gives, then a little water at times may be poured 
into the pot, its ascent by evaporation stopped, by plug¬ 
ging the hole at the bottom with clay, when the heat 
will draw it up through the drainage to the base of the 
cuttings, and render surface waterings next to totally 
unnecessary ; a matter of importance where delicacy of 
operation must be attended to. 
Having said so much of these double pots for pro¬ 
pagating, I may add, that when waterings on the surface 
are unadvisablo, and yet a moist atmosphere requisite, 
the above arrangement of pots may be adopted, only the 
upper may be plugged at bottom and filled with water. 
Where bottom heat is the chief essential, a smaller pot 
may be inverted inside of a larger one, so that the bottom 
of the former is on a level, or nearly so, with the rim of 
the latter. If a bell-glass is used, a potsherd or a piece f 
of clay over the hole will prevent too much heat getting 
into the atmosphere of the cuttings. The inside of the j 
pot may be kept moist by pouring a little water down, j 
and then plugging up the vent. For such purposes ! 
piorous pots are very useful. 
As soon as the Corraeas are struck, they should be ! 
potted off singly into small pots, using equal parts loam I 
and peat, or rather more of the latter, with silver sand i 
to make it light, and replacing them in the pit, and \ 
keeping them close until the roots were working freely 
in their new quarters ; resliifting again when necessary 
The more difficult kinds, such as speciosa, were long 
