M Alien 17. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
Ri9 
I 
! 
easy” way to got into a good stock of tliem is tins— 
Save your seeds from the best-coloured plants, and those 
with the shortest footstalk to the leaves; or, if you buy 
seeds, get it from six dillbrcnt shops, else you may lose 
six years in getting a good plant. Sow about the middle 
of Ai)ril, and before tlio end of l\lay prick out the seed¬ 
lings about four inches apart, in a cold frame, under 
a high nortli wall, the bod for them being four inches 
deep, and of sifted stulf from the rubbish hea]). 'Wdicn 
they “prick their cars,” or, in other words, when tlic 
leaves stand firm and erect after planting, open hvlh 
ends of the frame, not top and bottom in the usual way, 
and allow the lowest current in the air to sweep over 
them, day and night, and sprinkle them with a fine-rose 
[lot every evening the last thing in hot weather. If the 
leaves get too close together before they show for bloom, 
ho cuts away the oldest of them, without “ stint or i 
spare.” Early in September they begin to open their | 
tlowers. If it is a good hit, one flower out of fifteen is ! 
worth marking as first-rate; at other times, two really 
good llowcfs can hardly be got from so many hundred I 
seedlings. All the decidedly bad he pulls out the first ' 
moment ho sees them, and when a good one is fi.xcd on, 
the flowers are cut away, the plant is pressed bard down 
in the soft bed so as to make a better ball by about ton 
days afterwards, when he pots it, and then shuts it up ; 
in a close frame till it overcomes the change. To keep 
a really good strain, ho divides the crown of the old j 
plant in.)line, and puts the cuttings under a hand-glass I 
out-of-doors behind a wall, and after rooting he pots 
them ahout the beginning of Sejitcmber. 
Hut I lose sight of Regent Street and the Society. 
The best plants from the garden of the Society were the 
largo Nejiaul Evergreen llerbory. Berheris Nepalensls 
(in bloom) Diosnut amhujua, which always flowers thus 
early, and is thcrefoi-o one of the most useful of these 
greenhouse plants; and Genlradcniajlorihunda andioscif, i 
stove plants, and the only ones of that class they could 
venture out on such a day. There was also a large ^ 
plant of a Chinese Azalea, with small crimson flowers, 
and called ohtusa, which is very little known in country 
places; also some Heaths and Epaorises. 
The Honblo. Mr. Straugways, who never fails in his 
contributions to these meetings, sent a bunch of cut- 
flowers from the ojien air, in Dorsetshire, in which was 
the Russian Ilellcboms, mentioned in my last report, 
and in which the name is not rightly given ; it is the 
llelleborus abschasiciis, a nice blush flower, quite hardy, 
and well worth having for a spring flower. There were 
two Irises among these cut-flowers, a very rich deep 
blue one, with three light markings in the eye, it is 
called retioulata, and is the best in the section of the 
genus to which it belongs. It is also sent up, year by 
year, from the same garden, to these meetings, yet no 
one seems to half jiri/.o it enough, while Iris tuberosa, 
the second one in this lot, is, and always was, in every¬ 
body’s mouth since I romemhor, although its ugliness j 
is the only redeeming point in its features that I over 
could make out. The very large yellow Auricula, called 
after the unfortunate pilot (Palinurus) of Aeneas’s ship 
(/-'/•»)(!«?(« i’nftHMri), was there, and is a spring flower, 
highly deserving of cultivation, and looks as if it would 
cross with the florist’s varieties, and a suggestion to 
this etiect was made more than twenty years since, when 
the plant was figured ; but that the race has any of the 
blood of Palinurus in it is more apocryphal even than 
the existence of such a personage. 
Dr. Bowring sent a large supply of the seeds of the 
'Tea plant, from the north of China, to H. Winch, Esq., 
Seacombe, Cheshire, and this gentleman, very obligingly, 
sent them to be given away to any of the members at 
this meeting who might wish to grow their own tea, if 
they could. Gardeners will understand the looks of 
them, when I say they are hardly distinguishable from 
Camellia seeds. There was a large supply of grafts of 
now Plums and Cherries given away from the Society’s 
collection. I invito Mr. Errington to look after a new 
Plum among them, from America, said, in the lecture, 
to bo very good indeed, and as big as a Washingtown 
Plum. The name is Ilalinr/’s Superb Plum. 
D. Bkaton. 
.JOTTINGS FOR THE GREENHOUSE IN ! 
MARCH. j 
Cai.ckolahias.—T hese I glanced at last week. Few | 
things will surpass the large-flowering herbaceous and 
semi-shrubby kinds in April and May. They thus form ! 
excellent forerunners for Pelargoniums. It is very dilli- j 
cult to keep fine plants in healthy luxuriance in-doors 
in summer, because they cannot thus bo kept cool ! 
enough. A shady border, out-of-doors, is the best jilace 
to bloom those that arc raised from seeds sown in 
spring. To have fine large plants in bloom, in April, j 
the seeds should be sown at the end of -July. August 
and September will do for successions. Hhrubby kinds, 
sown now, will bloom in summer and autumn. As 
some may wish to sow now, I will again repeat the 
process. Fill pot or jian half full with drainage ; cover 
that with rough material, and then with one inch of 
light sandy loam and peat, so that when firm there 
will bo hali’-au-inch between the soil and the to]) of the 
pot; then set the pot in a jiail of water until drainage 
and soil are saturated. Allow the pot to drain for a 
day, then scatter a little sandy soil on its surface ; press 
down level, and then sow the small seed; dust over 
with a little lino sand, gently press down again, cover 
the mouth of the pot with a square of glass, over that 
lay a piece of paper, or any other oiaiquo substance, 
such as moss, and then place the ])ot in a shady place, 
and in a temperature of from 45° to 50°, and little 
more attention will bo requisite until the tiny plants 
ap))ear, when light must bo- given them, and air by 
degrees—pricking them out as soon as it is i»ossible to 
take hold of them. If the surface soil gets dry, water 
very carefully; but it is safest to keep the outside and 
standing place of the pot moist, in preference to watering 
at all, before the plants are fairly up, and even then it 
is better to set tbe pot in a pail of water, and let the 
moisture rise from beneath, in jireference to using cither 
spout or rose above. The same remark applies to all 
very small seeds. I have already stated that the com¬ 
post can scarcely be too light and rich; if deficient in 
old sweet manure, use sandy loam and a little peat, with 
charcoal to keep it open, and then use manure waterings. 
Weak solutions of cowdung I have found the best for 
this tribe, and the water should not bo heated above the 
average temperature. An average night temperature of 
from 45“ to 50“ will grow them to peri'ectiou ; and from 
5° to 10° rise from sunshine, with plenty of air, will 
bloom them well, and secure fine healthy foliage, hang¬ 
ing over and almost concealing the pot. A much higher 
temperature will bring hosts of insects ; and when once j 
a leaf is fairly attacked with green Hy its beauty is gone , 
for ever. Never wait to see two green Hies; smoke wlien- ! 
ever the first presents itself: nay, it is advisable to - 
smoke slightly every week, even if you see none. I’or 
valuable plants use the best shag tobacco ; and, how¬ 
ever used, sec that the smoke is cool before reaching ! 
the jilants. 'Tobacco paper, &e., should only bo used ! 
for robust kinds. As soon as bloom appears set about 
hybridising, if the llowcrs are good. One or two pods j 
will be quite sufficient on a plant. I mention this the I 
more particularly, because all the herbaceous kinds are 
difficult to preserve after blooming; but by the above 
method seedlings are easily raised, and, if saved from 
