482 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
March 24. 
quaiter oi' an inch. Many accidents from sudden sun- i 
shino during tlio day might be obviated by this simjde 
jirccaution, and especially in circumstances whore con- 
I stant attention cannot bo given for many hours during 
the day. Huch a bed will yield a bottom-heat from 0.')° 
to 8b°; a)id when wo want loss, wo must cither plungo 
shallow, or bore holes, or remove a piece of the dung 
outside, oiiposito a faggot, so that the extra heat may I 
escape, for much air will just cool as cUcctually as the 
introduction of a little, in circumstances referred to, 
will cause fermentation to begin anew. 
bthly. For what shall we use such a bed? — Just 
imagine the courteous writers in this work congre¬ 
gated before such a bed, and you saying to them, 
“ 4’hcro, gentlemen, that is all you can have; make tho 
best of it between you.” Are you prepared for the 
noisy Rabel, polite though it would be, of appeal and 
expostulation — each striving to get a fair share of 
tho prize ? One would be thinking of Cucumbers, 
Capsicums, Love-apples, and ever so many lovelies 
besides. A second would see a rare opportunity for 
young tropical jdauts, and affording a ricli luxuriance 
to his Ixoras and Cape Jasmines. Visions of Pine- 
suckers, Vine-cuttings, and line handsome Melons, would 
cross the mind of a third. A fourth would cover every 
inch he could got with cuttings of bedding plants, after 
reserving a corner for some carefully-saved hybrid seeds 
from bulbs, of wliich ho can so write as to make us feel 
very Ulllc indeed. A fifth would bo thinking of tender 
annuals for his greenhouse—settingup an hospital for 
some ricketty customers, or changing the appearance of 
some plants by grafting them with fresh varieties; while 
a sixth, and the typo of the most numerous class of all, 
would bo debating how each and all these things were 
to be attended to in a very small amount of space. 
GRAFTING. 
I confess that comjilaints of want of success in pro¬ 
pagating by cuttings, and, more especially, by grafting 
greenhouse plants, as previously recommended, and 
chiefly, as it was believed, owing to something being 
wrong about tho beds, have led mo to the subject just 
now, but which I hoped to have compressed into a tiiird 
of the space. Perhaps our Captain will allow me a 
little more room just to glance at a few other things 
that such a bod will bo a great hclji to when grafted. 
Oranges. —Large plants of these may be done as was 
mentioned about Azaleas, provided the plant is not too 
large to be laid down on the bed, as setting it ujiright 
once a-week, or so, will be quite sufficient for watering : 
with a little sliade the scions will soon take. Tho 
bottom temperature may range from 70° to 75°; the 
top tempoi'ature from 00° to 75°. Small young plants, 
however, are the neatest things to manage. From seeds 
of Lemons, or oven Oranges, sown in a little heat last 
summer, there will bo nice little stocks in tho green¬ 
house now'. Set them in the bed for a week, shorten-in 
their heads a little, then take a small strip of wood and 
bark from the base of tho stock, making a horizontal 
cut to the depth of the piece removed; prepare the 
scion, a piece of last year’s wood not yet pushed, to fit 
it, seeing that there is a bud at its base, and at least 
one more near its point, tie them together, rub with a 
little clay if you like, and then set in the bed, and keep 
rather close. The union will probably be effected in a 
fortnight. Shorten-in the head by degrees, and when 
the scion grows freely cut away all the stock about it, 
and harden by degrees. 
Camellias may be grafted successfully by tbo same 
mode, but five degrees lower in temperatui'e would suit 
them, there are various modes of notching tho stock 
and scion, so that fitting each other thejfcwill be kejit 
more secure; but the above is the simplest, and, perhaps, 
not far from being as good as any. Under such a mode 
i I like to eut in a little horizontally at tho base of tho , 
stock, to furnish room for standing on for a similar ; 
horizontal cut of tho scion at a bud, in fact, with tlic ! 
exception of removing tho strip of wood and baik to fit | 
tho stock tho scion would just resemble a cutting. 
Rhododendron arboreum — Varieties. — Almost all 
these are splendid objects in greenhouses after Christ- 
1 mas, if an average of 45° at night is maintained; and 
with a lower temperature they will come in later. Nice 
young ])lants of varieties of Ponticuvi or Catawbiense, 
one foot or more in height, and with single stems, make 
stocks The grafting may bo done in a similar manner, 
or notched, or with the scion a little longer than tho cut 
in tho stock, so that tho end of the scion rests in the 
soil. A close hotbed is necessary, but a lower tempe¬ 
rature, by from 5° to 10°, than would suit Oranges. 
Roses. —Grafting is chiefly done with the Tea kinds, 
and scarce and tender varieties, so as alike to increase and 
render them more robust. They may be grafted close 
to tho soil for dw'arfs, or at any height for standards. 
In every case, however, whatever may be the mode 
adopted, a modification of side-grafting, such as de¬ 
scribed above, is generally used; tho top of the stock, 
in every case, being allowed to remain, or juirt of it, to 
draw up the sap, until the graft has taken, when it is 
gradually reduced, and at last cut clean off at the junction. 
It is advisable that growth be commencing in the stock 
either naturally or by artificial jncans, before grafting; | 
and, also, that tho plant bo established in the pot by 
having been potted some time the previous year. They 
will tlion thank you for a sweet bottom-lieat of from 
05° to 75° ; and a top heat of from 55° to 00° ; and kejit 
rather close, and shaded from sunshine until the union 
was efl’ectcd. We used the Perpetual Rose, tho Dog 
Rose, and several climbers, as stocks; but though 1 have 
not tided it, all accounts agree in speaking favourably of 
the Manetii. 
Ocraniums. — These wo recommend grafting in a 
similar manner. It is a mode not sulliciently adopted 
for increasing kinds difficidt to strike, and giving 
strength to weak-growing fancies. Mr. Appleby adverted 
to tho subject tbo other week, and recommends cleft 
grafting. In such hands success will bo certain; but 
when 1 tried experiments on these tribes I was more 
successful with side-grafting, leaving a part of the 
stock above tho scion to draw up the sap. As !Mr. 
Appleby has so lately referred to tho two groups of 
Pelergonhms, I need not allude to them ; but much may 
be done in this way with the Scarlet Geraniums; and, 
as they will stand almost any heat, such a bed, and 
a temperature between the roses and the oranges would 
suit them. I saw some strong stems of tlio Giant, and 
Shrubland Scarlet, so grafted, at Luton Hoo Park, the 
other day. Mr. Eraser had them in a hothouse, where 
he coidd shade them, and the scion was guarded with 
moss. I had discarded these strong-growing kinds some 
time previously, but I got a few cuttings for future use, 
and already visions of nice standards on these strong } 
stocks of Flower of the Pag, Mountain of Light, and ; 
Golden Chain, &c., are looming before my mind’s eye. 1 
R. Fisii. 
CONIFERrE. 
{Continued from page 41-1). 
dan—SECTION OF PINUS, WITH LEAVES FIVE IN A 
SHEATH. 
PiNus Apulcensis (Apulco Pine).—So named because 
of its being found in Mexico, near to Apulco. This 
species has short leaves, with very silver-grey young 
shoots. The cones, however, are its chief specific dis¬ 
tinction, for they aro covered with pyramidal elevations, 
which are sometimes lengthened out and contracted in 
