36 THE COTTAGE GARDENER. Octobeb 16. 
should go along with Cinerarias, Heliotropes, and Ame¬ 
rican groundsel, as these will require a little more 
moisture i n the atmosphere, and not quite so much air 
as the others mentioned. It will always be safer to err 
on the side of dryness, however, than the reverse; and 
though this division would be advisable, no harm would 
arise if all received the same treatment, though if 
the temperature get very low, the Heliotrope will lose all 
its leaves. 
2. Dry Atmosphere. —This must be secured by having 
a dry door, raised above the surface of the ground, and 
watering each plant individually and carefully, spilling 
as little as possible. In a succession of dry days and 
fine weather, a dusting from the syringe now and then, 
about eleven o’clock, will bo of service to Cinerarias, 
Calceolarias, Heliotropes, &c. 
3. Position. —For combining light and freedom from 
sudden changes, a medium distance from the glass may 
be from one foot to eighteen inches. If farther distant, 
the plants will bo drawn; if nearer, subject to sudden 
heats and colds. In deep pits, where an open, tempo¬ 
rary floor of boards is provided, or where there is a 
regular stage set in, the plants may stand nearer the 
glass, because the body of enclosed air prevents their 
being suddenly heated or suddenly cooled. Hence, 
with a moveable floor or a stage, a deep pit is better 
than a shallow one, and useful for many things in 
summer. 
4. Air-giving may be administered freely when the 
external atmosphere is mild, and ranging about 40°. 
In frosty weather, it should chiefly be given in bright 
sunshine, and the sashes shut close early in the after¬ 
noon, so as to enclose an amount of sun-heat. If the 
frost is likely to be severe, cover up before the sun goes 
off the lights. 
5. Protection. —First: Sides and end of Pots. In 
severe weather, a nine or fourteen-inch solid wall is soon 
penetrated; and when once the frost reaches the inside, 
the internal heat is soon dispelled by radiation. Hence 
the use of hollow walls. Failing that, the next best 
thing is not dung, nor damp earth, but dry straw, tied 
neatly against the walls for several inches in thickness, 
and which once put on, may remain the whole winter. 
The wall plates back and front would keep it dry, and 
so long as it is so, a powerful frost makes but a weak 
impression. Secondly: For the Glass. Whatever will 
keep the glass clean, enclose a body of air, and withal 
be waterproof, is next to perfection, if easily managed. 
I must now refer to past volumes for the elucidation of 
the principles, which are just identical with the cause 
why dew is formed upon clear nights, and not in cloudy 
ones. 
6. Removing the Protection. —When ? Whenever the 
outside thermometer ranges from 35° to 45°, remove in 
the morning. When frosty, but sunny, remove late and 
put on early, with a little air at mid-day. In cold, dark, 
frosty weather, when the thermometer never gets above 
the freezing point, and that in your pit is ranging from 
38° to 30°, uncover not at all. In continued snow¬ 
storms keep shut up; in increasing frost do the same, 
only it may be advisable to throw a little more litter 
over all, to prevent the thermometer within getting 
dangerously low. But at the freezing point, or even a 
degree or two lower, you will be perfectly safe with a 
l week or a month’s seclusion from light, though eight 
days in a temperature of 45° or 50° might send the whole 
lot, in such circumstances, to the rubbish heap. In 
fact, in all such extreme cases', the low temperature 
within, if not too low, is our sheet anchor ; but the 
i covering must be gradually removed, and not taken off 
! at the first change of weather. R. Fish. 
HOTHOUSE DEPARTMENT. 
EXOTIC STOVE PLANTS. 
Eleocaupus dentatus (Toothed E.).—A very elegant 
stove shrub. Nothing can exceed the delicacy of the 
pure white-fringed flowers of this very pretty plant. 
If any one knows the elegant flowers of the Alpine 
Soldanella, he will have a good idea of the pretty blos¬ 
soms of this Eleocarpus, only the flowers of the latter are 
white instead of blue, and are produced on short woody 
stems; several on a stem from the main branches of the 
shrub. It flowers in spring, and lasts three weeks or a 
month in bloom. The leaves are of a medium size, 
ovate and dentate, and of a beautiful bright green. A 
plant every way worthy of cultivation. 3s. 6d. 
Culture: Propagation. —This lovely plant is propa¬ 
gated by cuttings, and the best time for it is in early 
spring. Take a new or a clean pot, five inches across, or 
so near that size as to allow a bell-glass just to fit 
within it. Drain the pot well, by laying over the hole 
at the bottom, a largish piece of broken potsherd, prop 
this up on one side a little, with a thin small piece of 
the same, then lay round and over it a layer of rather 
less pieces, and upon this layer another of still smaller 
pieces. This drainage should occupy at least one-tliird 
of the depth of the pot, then cover the drainage with 
some open material that will prevent the fine soil from 
choking it up, a thin layer of what remains in the sieve 
after sifting the compost, will serve the purpose, or a 
thin layer of moss will do. After that fill the pot to 
within an inch of the top, with a compost of peat and 
loam in equal parts, freely mixed with as pure sand as 
can be procured. Then fill the remaining inch with pure 
sand alone. Give a gentle watering to settle the whole, 
and set the bell-glass upon it, giving it a slight pressure 
to show a circular mark. Then prepare the cuttings. 
Take the young tops of the shoots, not the very gross 
ones, but select rather the weak side shoots, and from 
them take the cuttings. These are not so full of sap, 
and are consequently less liable suddenly to damp off. 
Form the cuttings, by first cutting them the right length, 
to 1£ inch will be quite long enough. Smooth the 
bottom with a clean horizontal cut, with the sharpest 
knife, and cut off the lowest leaves close to the stem, 
without wounding the bark. The cutting should then 
have no more than two entire leaves left upon it, and is 
ready to be inserted in the pot. A small stick made 
quite smooth, and about the thickness of a crowquill, is 
the best dibble. Make a hole with this close to the 
circular mark made by the bell-glass, insert the cutting 
into the hole, arranging the leaves so as to point in¬ 
wards, then press the sand firmly to the base of the 
cutting, and proceed so all round, but close to the mark, 
till the circle is completed. After that have a little dry 
sand, and let a jiortion run out of the hand to fill up 
the small holes made by the dibble, pressing the sand to 
the bottom of each cutting. Then give a final watering 
to settle all close and level, and fix the bell-glass over 
them. The best situation to place the cutting-pot in, is 
to plunge it in a bed of tanner’s bark, in a propagating 
house, or set upon a heated bed of fine charcoal, with j 
the dust sifted out of it, or a heated bed of saud or coal- 
ashes. When not plunged, it would be of advantage to 
put a large hand-light over the cutting-pot and bell- 
glass, the object being to prevent too much evapo¬ 
ration till roots are formed to take up a supply. In I 
bright sunny weather, the cutting must be shaded, ! 
either by a canvass covering on the outside of the 
glass, or large sheets of paper over the bell-glasses 
and hand-light, inside. As at that season there are 
numerous other plants that will be under the same 
process of propagation, the same trouble of shading, will, 
as a matter of course, serve the whole. The formation 
of roots, will, in most cases, be known by the cuttings 
