February 26. THE COTTAGE GARDE NEE. 335 
superba, a little extra care is needful, in order to insure 
success in increasing them. This extra care consists in 
choosing two or three back bulbs, and with a sharp knife 
cutting out a piece of the rhizoma, or leading root-stock 
that connects the pseudo-bulbs together. Let this cut 
| be rather more than half through the stem, but be care¬ 
ful that the knife does not slip entirely through it. 
Leave the plants then entire, till the dormant buds at 
the base of the back bulbs begin to swell and show 
I signs of growth, then cut out a little more, leaving only 
| the bark underneath entire. The bud will then swell 
rapidly, and just before it shows a leaf, divide it entirely 
from the old plants; take it carefully away, and fix it to 
: a naked block of wood proportioned to its size; hang it 
up in a shady part of the orchid-house and syringe it 
daily. In a very short time the bud will grow and fresh 
roots will appear, and then, with proper attention, the 
young plants will be secured. Other kinds of Gattlexja, 
such as G. labiata, G. Mossice, and G. Harrisonii, may 
have the back bulbs cut off at once, potted in the usual 
| way, be tied firmly to short sticks, watered but little at 
| first, and more as they grow. In this way, all the more 
common and hardier kinds may be readily increased. 
Chysis. —This handsome genus should bo increased 
by dividing the rhizoma, and leaving the parts in the 
basket, or pot, or block, till the back bulbs begin to 
grow. As soon as the new roots appear, take the pieces 
off' from the established plants, and place them on 
blocks, with a little green moss. Syringe slightly every 
day, and in other respects treat them like the old plants. 
In three years they will, if properly managed, produce 
flowers. T. Appleby. 
(To be continued.) 
MR. GLENNY ON FLORISTS' FLOWERS. 
The Petunia is one of the most obstinate of our 
bedding-out flowers. It is naturally flimsy, and seems 
inclined to continue so; we have, it is true, seen occa¬ 
sionally a seedling of thicker texture, and when such an 
advance is obtained, it should be taken away with one 
or two bright-coloured ones, and the seed carefully saved 
from the thicker one only. But people carelessly save seed 
from anything and everything, and the objectionable 
character of the flower seems permanent; but we feel 
certain it is to be overcome—if one will come thicker in 
the petal, others may be obtained thicker still. With 
our present varieties, an hour’s sun makes them look 
half dead, and, however difficult it may seem to change 
their texture, it is to be done, as well as it was done 
with the hollyhock, which, in the hands of Mr. Baron, 
of Saffron Waldon, was improved from a flimsy and 
poor, to a good, leathery, strong petal, that stands any 
weather. We do not say that the petunia will ever be 
capable of standing four or five hours’ sun, but that it 
may be very considerably improved in the hands of any 
one who will set about it in the right way, we feel quite 
assured. There is this difference between the manage¬ 
ment which is necessary and that which is now generally 
adopted: those who raise seedlings may perhaps go so 
far in the right direction as to save from the best 
flowers; they perhaps go carefully over their seedling- 
bed, and mark half-a-dozen, or more, which they think 
remarkable; they are very large, or very nicely formed, 
or the parties, who are really attentive to properties, 
may go so far as to select the thickest petals, and care¬ 
fully save all the seeds from the few thus promoted, 
and the next year they have another bed, on which the 
hunting for improved varieties is just as hopeless; and 
all this comes of saving the seed of the favourites among 
hundreds of worthless things. The proper way is, to 
separate them immediately; removal to another place 
is more objectionable than throwing away the bad ones. 
We recommend that when a bed of seedlings begins to 
bloom, the instant the first flower on a plant opens, its 
fate should be decided ; if no improvement, pull it out 
and throw it away, and if there be one of fine form, very 
brilliant colour, thicker petal, or good habit appears, 
throw a gauze over it; but the removal of every common 
thing should be instantaneous when it can be detected 
by the opening flower, until you have nothing in the 
bed but the selected few, and these may then be un¬ 
covered. There will be a manifest improvement in the 
next produce. This sowing of seed may be rendered 
still more effective by potting all the plants, and bloom¬ 
ing them in small pots. Have a bed ready, away from 
all other petunias, and the instant a flower opens that 
exhibits an improvement, turn it out of the pot into the 
bed, getting rid of the others as you please, giving 
them or throwing them away if you can do nothing 
else. The few you select, on the first good flower 
appearing, will then yield good seed. If, by overlook¬ 
ing it, any one gets a few flowers out before you see 
it, they might become fertilized with the rubbish, but 
all the mischief will be got rid of by picking off’ every 
open flower before bedding out. 
The chief improvements to be looked for, are—1st. 
Thick petals; 2nd. round form; 3rd. brilliant colours; 4tli. 
fine shrubby habit. There is no plant easier to manage 
than the petunia, for a friend of ours who cultivated 
mignonette in pots for the market, having a packet of seed 
given to him, sowed at the same time, and in the same 
manner; thinned them out to four or five plants in a pot; 
kept them in the same frame, and subjected them to the 
same treatment, and although they were good-for-no¬ 
thing as varieties when they bloomed, they were capital 
specimens of well-grown plants, and would have been 
better had he thought it worth wdiile to pot them singly, 
instead of leaving them like his mignonette, four or five 
plants in a pot. He who wishes to begin should pick 
for himself, from a nurseryman’s collection, half-a-dozen 
which come nearest to our description of what is 
wanted, and first picking off all the open flowers, bed 
them out together somewhere away from all others of 
the family, and then follow out our hints. They will 
thus gain a season; for to buy petunia seed, and raise 
plants, would be hopeless, and to a young beginner, 
heartless work. Petunias will strike under a hand-glass 
in a common border; but all cuttings, from no matter 
what plant, can be facilitated in rooting by the bottom- 
heat being slightly greater than the heat above, and 
when a good variety is obtained it should be propagated. 
(James S., Reading.)— Camellias are worthless when 
ragged at the edges, and thin in the flowers. Neither of 
the varieties are worth propagating. The light one is 
the best, but Presse’s Eclipse is better. 
(K.J. —The flowers of the Cinerarias will come better 
yet; not one of the varieties deserved the character 
given to them by the raiser, or the paper, but they will 
be much better then they are now, for the growth is 
evidently starved. 
Polyanthuses (J. W.). —Flowers too small if the 
plant is strong, but the worst fault is that they are un¬ 
equal, and will never make a good truss. (L. L.). — 
“ The side truss ” is rather promising than otherwise, 
but we do not wonder at so few being good, and none 
being new in character. We have already said, that for 
colour and general properties, the pin-eyed flowers beat 
the others, and when we want to raise good show flowers 
with some novelty about them, we shall save the seed 
from the pin-eyed varieties, and impregnate them our¬ 
selves with the pollen of the best we have. There will, 
perhaps, not be one thrum-eyed flower among fifty, but 
it is the only chance of novelty. The polyanthuses saved 
from our show varieties, come the same thing over and 
over again, for they fertilize themselves. The thrum 
being above the pistil, and actually covering it so that 
