148 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[June 5. 
All bulbs whose roots perish annually with their leaves, 
as the tulip, may he taken up every year and dried with 
advantage, as well as for the convenience of the thing; 
but those bulbs having perennial roots, as the Amaryllis, 
should he disturbed as seldom as possible ; indeed, the 
whole practice hinges on whether the bulb has annual 
or perennial roots. 
Annuals. —The best annuals to sow in the early part 
of June, are Viscaria oculata, Coreopsis DrummoncUi, 
Virginian Stocks (white and pink), Sweet Alyssum, 
Candy tufts (white and purple), Calendula hybrida. A 
row of the yellow Esclischoltzia, sown from the tenth to 
the middle of June, will keep in bloom from August to the 
end of October. Except for very early flowering, this 
does best sown every year, and treated as an annual. 
Being one of the Poppyworts, it was, at first, supposed 
to be difficult to transplant, hut that is by no means the 
case ; it will easily transplant at any age, and being a 
perennial, the old or last year’s plants of it can he 
turned into suuny hanks, or into poor gravelly or sandy 
places where few things would grow, or where even 
seedlings of it would he very difficult to rear, when the 
ground is wanted for young stock. I believe if you 
could find foot room for the Escbsclioltzia on the barren 
lava of Mount Etna, or any other mount or mountain 
not too warm for it, it would live and flourish there for 
years. I once had a tuft of it from self-sown seeds on 
a natural rock 18 feet above the ground level, and where 
one could hardly expect a houseleek to live, yet it lasted 
seven years, and flowered finer than in the rich new 
borders at the bottom of the rock. It will transplant 
now if the tops are cut off. 
The Chinese Larkspur ( Delphinium sinensis ) is 
another carrot-rooted plant which makes a beautiful bed 
for a long time, and there are different coloured varieties, 
from blue to white. It is generally used as an annual, 
because the roots are apt to die in wet ground, or by a 
hard winter; hut the beauty of the plant is not fully 
brought out the first season. It does best the second or 
third year, and should have exactly the same way of 
treatment as the blue Salvia patens. Now is the right 
time to take up for potting the over stock of Dahlias 
and Salvia Patens, either to bloom intliepots, or to fill 
up places in the autumn beds. Early last Ajiril all the 
old roots of these were to be planted in the open ground, 
for the convenience of getting them out of one’s way 
when so many irons were in the fire, and here they are 
now lull of sap and vigour, and will no more mind being 
removed into pots than I would to go and see the Exhi¬ 
bition. 
Cuttings. —Early in June is the best time in the year 
to make cuttings of all such Geraniums as have done 
flowering. There is a long list of border geraniums, 
such as the Rising Sun and Priory Queen , which people 
force for coming in early in April and May. These get 
out of shape after a season or two of this forcing, but 
still may be brought in very useful. If cut down half¬ 
way now, and planted out in (be beds or borders, they 
will begin to Idooin early in July, and go on, though 
not very regularly, to the end of the season. The cut¬ 
tings from them, and, indeed, all geranium cuttings, 
from this time to the end of July, at least, do better 
planted out in the open ground full in the sun. 
Then come the fancy Geraniums , the gayest and most 
elegant of all the sections of the family, and some of 
them, as Queen Victoria, can only be rooted out of doors 
any time in summer, so that those who have not the 
convenience of a hot bed early in the spring to strike off 
a lot of them, are obliged to resort to out-door cuttings, 
and the earlier in June they are put in, the more sure 
they will root. Besides, the whole growing season is 
now before them, and they will make strong healthy 
plants before winter. It is a great mistake to consider 
these lancy geraniums more delicate, or less strong, than 
the old sorts, it is the usual mode of growing them which 
make them appear so. I have seen large bushes of 
Ibrahim Pacha, full five feet high in bloom this spring, 
and Queens half as high again. They do not make such 
large plants, however, nearly so soon from spring cuttings, 
because, as soon as they are rooted, and have made a 
little growth, they get into flower and weaken them¬ 
selves before they have time to make roots large enough 
to push them on, and cutting off the blossom buds only 
aggravates them; all this is got rid of by summer 
cuttings out of doors, and the plants are in full sap by 
September, when they are potted. Now the great secret 
to get them into large bushes, is to start with them from 
this potting, or, say from the middle of October, then, to 
the middle or end of next April, they will stand as much 
stove heat as the pine apple, and a great deal more than 
would be good for the “ fruiters.” A well-rooted summer 
cutting of Queen Victoria, potted at the end of September, 
and confined to one leader, and kept close to the glass 
in a good working stove, will grow full four feet high 
before it comes into bloom in the spring, and by June 
may be cooled^down to the temperature of the flower- 
garden, where, if you plant it in something rich, on a 
good sheltered border, it will form a bush five feet high, 
branch out from the bottom, and be in fine bloom by 
the autumn. A hedge of such plants, a hundred yards 
long, and planted a yard apart, would be something to 
look at. 
Oenothera Prostrata. —I forgot to say at page 112, 
that prostrata was only the garden name of this Qlno- 
thera. I had it from an excellent practical botanist, 
under the name CEnothera riparia, which I take to be, 
or will be, the book name for it. 
Roses. —All the perpetual roses should be budded as 
soon as possible in June, or else at the very end of Sep¬ 
tember, that the buds may start at once and turn out 
good healthy plants, and well-ripened shoots before the 
winter, so that the frost can do them no harm, or else, 
as in late budding, remain dormant during the winter. 
June, however, is a much better time to bud them than 
the autumn months. Those that are now in bloom for 
the first time from last year’s budding, should not be 
allowed to make many flowers, or to remain long in 
bloom. If we would but have a little more patience, and 
be satisfied with just enough to see that the sorts are 
true to the names or numbers, it would be a great gain 
to the plants afterwards. When gardener's have a full 
stock of roses, and have budded from their old plants, 
they seldom allow them to produce the first buds at all, 
but as soon as the buds are formed after the middle of 
May, they stop the shoots, and thus cause the plants to 
get more busby, besides husbanding the strength of the 
plants for a later display. About the turn of Midsum¬ 
mer, if the young plants come up strong, is a good time 
to cut the ends of the wild shoots down to the very back 
of the budded parts, so that the cuts may heal over as 
soon as possible. Let us all bear in mind the experi¬ 
ment I mentioned last year, of causing rose shoots to 
root in moss before they are cut off, and so get a stock 
of scarce sorts, or at any rate satisfy ourselves of the 
practicability of the thing. 
Yellow-berried Hollies, and all the variegated 
hollies, are best increased by budding, and, like the rose, 
the sooner they are put in in June, the better they will 
do. The holly with the yellow fruit is much stronger 
than the variegated ones, and looks far better when 
worked on a variegated sort; therefore it should not be 
budded on the top or leading shoot, as in that case it 
would soon run away with all the strength from the 
roots, and injure the variegated parts. Here and there, 
among the side branches, the yellow berries would look 
remarkably well in contrast with their own green leaves 
and the variegated leaves of the stock plant, without 
having much power to rob or injure the bush. 
I 
