390 THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN'S COMPANION.— September 2,1850. 
which is distinct in its effect. The middle one, consist¬ 
ing of seven beds (among which 9, 13, 25, but especially 
9 and 25, produce the effect peculiar to this section), is as 
gorgeous as it is possible to imagine—gold and purple, 
heightened by silvery-white predominating, while, in 
the remaining two sections of nine beds each, scarlet is 
conspicuous, sufficiently toned down by neighbouring 
colours—in one, by pink and white, in the other by blue 
and white. The first I consider scarcely susceptible of 
improvement; the two latter, however, would easily ad¬ 
mit of it. 
I cannot conclude without saying a word in favour 
of the free use of edgings. As for myself, I shall never, 
in future, plant Calceolarias or green-leaved Geraniums 
without an edging, either of the variegated Alyssum, 
or Cerastium tomentosum, a common rock-work plant. 
The latter I consider the most valuable edging plant we 
have; and any one may have tens of thousands of it 
to plant out iu the spring, as it strikes readily, and 
stands the severest frosts without any protection at all. 
The usual error in planting is a deficiency of light 
colour, and if we remedy this by white beds, they be¬ 
come staring: the simplest way of putting light into 
the garden, if I may so speak, is by silvery edgings. I 
consider that the Cerastium, used pretty freely in this 
way, gives the finishing stroke to a good arrangement 
of the more glaring colours.—H. C. K.,- Rectory. 
P S.—On some future occasion, if it is thought desir¬ 
able by the Editor, I will show how, by an outlay of dll 1 
to begin with, and at a cost of 5s. per annum, a garden 
of these dimensions can be certainly and easily filled 
every year. 
[Pray do.— Ed. C. G.] 
On the 27th of August, Messrs. Farebrother and Co. 
sold, at Garroway’s, the House and Gallery of the 
London Horticultural Society, being 21, Regent Street. 
It is held at a ground-rent of ill50 a-year, upon lease 
from Government, of which lease sixty-two years are 
unexpired. It was knocked down for 414,000. 
PROPAGATING GERANIUMS FROM LEAVES, 
FLOWER - STALKS, AND CUTTINGS. 
The very last exploit in the “Experimental Garden” 
goes to prove that every leaf, and stalk, and flower-stem 
on a Geranium or Pelargonium may be rooted with the 
greatest ease. Yes, every single leaf upon a Tom 
Thumb may be turned into a bedding-plant; but you 
must take the bud along with it, and preserve the blade 
of the leaf. Insert thi3 as you would a cutting, round 
the sides of a cutting-pot; the base of the leaf will soon 
make roots; the bud starts into leaf iu a short time, 
and appears at the side of the leaf stalk like a young 
seedling. Nurse it as you would a seedling, and in 
process of time you have a bedding-plant as I said. 
Here, then, is au immense step gained by those who 
raise a superior seedling, or who deal in multiplying 
plants trom other people’s seedlings. Instead of three, 
lout, or five leaves to a little cutting, you may have as 
many plants at once, which, although longer on the 
way, wdl tell abundantly in the course of one season’s 
propagation. Again, when you pay 7s. Gd. or 10s. Gd., 
or three times the amount for a bedder or a Pelargo¬ 
nium, increase it by leaf and bud till you havo a full 
stock; after that, go on in the old way. 
Next to this in importance is the fact, accomplished 
in the “ Experimental,” that every part of the stem of 
a Geranium cutting will root just as soon and as easily 
as that part immediately under a joint. By this mode 
you may increase by the first numeral in the multipli¬ 
cation table—twice 2 are 4, and so on to 12; cut just 
above a joint, and the spared joint will make the next 
plant, instead of a bottom to the first one only. This i 
is another stride when you are most anxious to increase I 
a given sort to the utmost. 
A Geranium leaf will root just as well without a bud j 
at its base as with one; but from the middle of April to j 
the end of August is not a sufficient time for the leaf to i 
originate a bud, and it is now doubtful if such a leaf 
has the power to do that. Such leaves do not*form a 
knob or callosity at the bottom, as some other leaves and 
most cuttings do, from which a new bud might be ex¬ 
pected. The roots from these leaves come direct from 
the base or bottom of the leaf-stalk without a previous 
swelling of that part, so that nothing would be gained, 
save the curiosity of the thing, by rooting a leaf without 
a bud to it. 
As a matter of detail, I may observe, that although 
you might take a leaf and bud from a standing shoot 
with no more “ flesh” or substance than would be done 
in taking off a Rose bud to “ work,” you may gain time 
by taking as much of the substance of the shoot as you 
can spare, or can divide with it, providing always that 
the part of the substance is opposite to the bud and 
below it. When the “ splice ” is taken from above the 
bud, that upper part may damp or die back to the 
bud, and may kill the bud before it stops the decaying 
process. Still, this upper part above the bud need not 
necessarily die. A careful propagator would watch 
against that; but, as all are not so ready-eyed as a pro¬ 
fessed man, the safest way is to keep to the first part of 
the story. 
I here is now no room to doubt all this; there are 
fifty instances to assert the facts in the borders of the 
sanctum to the “Experimental Garden" at this moment; 
and if no more should be heard of this garden, this of 
itself is sufficient to pay for all the labour, and anxiety, 
and expense we have incurred, together with all the 
responsibility on account of the undertaking. It is 
true that no great pledges would be broken if the 
Experimental should break down, because no such 
pledges have been given concerning it; still, I feel a 
certain degree of public responsibility is attached to the 
undertaking, the greatest of which is this—from the 
very first set of experiments it has resulted that an un¬ 
scrupulous manager, a man of sharp practice, might 
cheat the public to a most enormous extent, without 
running the smallest risk of ever being detected in 
any sort of fraudulent dealings ; but now I am going to 
relate facts which will guard the public, and save the 
responsibility at the same time, and after that or this I 
shall feel no such thing as a responsibility to the outer 
world. f 
Be it known, therefore, to all whom it may concern, 
but to cross-breeders in particular, that in the Experi¬ 
mental Garden they can root the flower-stalks of 
Geraniums quite as easily as the shoots, or cuttings, or 
leaf-stalks; that if a cross-breeder shall send a truss of 
flowers to be seen and judged, the people of the 
“Experimental” are so clever, that they can not only 
root the stalk of the truss, but get the remaining portion 
of the flower-buds to open, use the pollen of such flowers I 
on their own breeders, or extract the anthers, and make | 
