416 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
August 29. 
private grower could wish for, or provide, in one season. 
Then, if the first few inches of the top of that bed are 
scraped to one side, then a good spitful or spadeful is 
thrown out from all over the bed, and tbe bottom of this 
is loosed with the spade, it is ready for the compost, 
after first throwing the top soil that was saved into 
the bottom, as wall-borders are generally well-drained 
already. Tbe compost I would press very bard, and 
make the bed quite full with it; after that, 1 would go on 
planting, or putting in the cuttings, from time to time, 
till the end of October, as they could be had, and as my 
time allowed. 1 would not plant one of them with a very 
soft top to it; and would rather shorten the cutting to 
less than three inches than use soft green tops, which 
soon perish with the least mishap. D. Beaton. 
STANDARD GERANIUMS. 
“ Should we grow stocks, and graft, or be satisfied 
with them on their own roots? What is your experience 
of placing dwarf compact kinds on tbe to;) of strong- 
growiug kinds?” I can say but little of grafting, so far 
as my own experience is concerned, especially when the 
scion and the stock were different in habit. I have 
tried some kinds, such as Golden Chain, not very easy to 
strike, at times, but I bad no great success with it, 
though placed on sticks stronger, and also as weakly- 
growing as itself. A friend of mine grafted a number 
of tall shoots of Smith's and the Shrubland Scarlet with 
Tom Thumb, Ac., but, from their appearance now, a per¬ 
son could get as good standards of Tom Thumb, in the 
second year, by striking thorn early, and giving them the 
benefit of a close, warm pit during the summer; train¬ 
ing them to one stem until they got the necessary 
height, but leaving as many leaves on as possible, to 
throw strength into the stem. There is little difficulty 
in getting huge bushes of Tom Thumb —some three or 
four feet in height, and as much in diameter—when such 
unwieldy masses are wanted for peculiar purposes, 
provided you give them time; and when a series of 
branches can be thus grown, there can be no difficulty 
in growing single stems. From what I have seen, I 
should prefer c/c/'t-grafting to sfife-grafting; the former 
secures the scion more firmly, and the junction is loss 
observable afterwards. In side-grafting, and especially 
when stock and scion are very different, I have ex¬ 
perienced and noticed, in the case of others, that the 
junction does not always continue to hold good during 
the whole space ; but that frequently there are open¬ 
ings of daylight between tbe scion and the stock. All 
things considered, early in spring is the best time for 
grafting, when the wood of both stock and scion has 
been consolidated by the sun of the previous autumn, 
and comparative dryness at the roots during the winter. 
A little extra heat and moisturo then given will 
promote union and growth 
Standards have chiefly, hitherto, been adopted among 
the Scarlets, though, no doubt, many of the stronger¬ 
growing Pelargoniums, on their own bottoms, and many 
of the fancy kinds, if grafted, would make an interesting 
appearance, when so used, either for inside or outside 
ornament. I can say but little on this subject from my 
own experience; but my ignorance will be no ultimate 
loss, if it elicits more perfect information on the subject. 
I was lately honoured with a visit from a gentleman 
from the neighbourhood of Liverpool, and the sight of 
standards in beds having brought the subject forward, 
he stated, that one of the most imposing sights at the 
Floricultural and Horticultural gatherings there, was a 
•collection of fancy standard Pelargoniums, exhibited of 
great size, as respects tbe outline of the head, and by 
the same gardener, year after year. What, however, most 
forcibly struck my attention was, that the stock used for 
these small fancies was the strong-growing Shrubland or I 
Giant Scarlets. Few would have thought of trying such 
a stock As our friend, Mr. Errington, frequently goes 
to Liverpool, perhaps he will give an account of a 
process that is as yet new in this quarter. Our visitor 
informed me, that the heads of tbe small fancies grew 
with great luxuriance, and the stems of the stock were 
strong and straight as lines; the latter property being 
secured by the plants being raised from seed, instead of 
from cuttings, tbe leading point secured, and kept 
straight until it reached the necessary height, kwas 
also told, that there is little chauco of success when 
either stock or scion, or both, arc in a succulent, green 
state ; but that the wood of both should be well ripened, 
and comparatively inert at the time. Judging from I 
some comparative failures of my own, long ago, 1 should 
think that great stress will have to be laid on this latter 
condition—the ripeness of the stock and of the scion. 
However masses of people love flowers in tbe ab¬ 
stract (and 1 have only mot with a few who confessed 
their want of all relish for the. beautiful, in disliking 
them as trash and weeds), no one can experience the 
ardent glow of an enthusiastic amateur, who has not 
worked among his plants and attended, at least, to some 
of their many wants. Hence it is, that many an humble 
gardener enjoys the pleasures of tbe garden in a much 
higher degree than the lady or the gentleman who em¬ 
ploys him. 11 is well for gardening that this is the case; 
for, apart from this peculiar zest and enjoyment—this 
professional enthusiasm—many of the best gardeners 
would be led to seek a higher remunerating field for 
their talents Ilian they can ever expect to realize in gar¬ 
dening, Unless a desirable change takes place in public 
opinion. On tbe same principle, amateurs, for whom 
we chiefly write, receive the greatest part of their enjoy¬ 
ment from performing many of the necessary operations 
with their own hands. I know that raising plants from 
cuttings and seeds are, to them, operations deeply inte¬ 
resting; and that however blue aproners may complain, 
at times, at the length and minuteness of practical 
details, there is no complaint on this score from our 
amateur friends. Now this standarding and grafting of 
Geraniums arc rather new operations, and will, there¬ 
fore, have all the charms of novelty to recommend it. 
Besides, if the small fancies can bo made to grow on 
such strong stocks as Pelargonium giganteum, or, as in 
the case above, on the Shrubland Scarlet, a very plea¬ 
sant series of operations will at once bo presented to the 
person whose conveniences are limited, just because one 
large plant, containing a number of varieties, is more 
interesting, and requires, on the whole, much less atten¬ 
tion than a similar number of small plants in separate 
pots. Thus I have noticed, that when the Messrs. Lane 
exhibited their beautiful Union plants of Azaleas, so 
called because two or more kinds, allied in habit, were 
blooming on one stock, they created less interest among 
the great gardeners, who could easily find room for a 
specimen of each desirable kind, than they did among 
growers with small means and conveniences, because 
thus they could obtain a handsome plant, and several 
varieties in a limited space. Now, providing the graft¬ 
ing of these fancy Pelargoniums on strong shoots of the 
Scarlets so thoroughly succeeds—and whether they do so ! 
or not will not so very long remain a mystery—there will 
be no occasion for confining tbe grafting to the standard 
character, but the stock may bo first grown in the pyra¬ 
midal, or any other form, with so many tiefs of branches 
from top to bottom; and, provided those branches arc 
thin enough, each of them may sustain a different 
variety; and a large specimen, thus managed, would ; 
have many claims to recommend it in small establish- j 
ments, evon in an economical point of view. 
But if the question of standards alone, and especially 
of Scarlets, is the chief desirable thing at present, 1 j 
