150 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[June 5. 
great departure from the general principle, that cut¬ 
tings root most readily when the wood is neither hard 
nor soft, hut in a fortunate medium state. Excep¬ 
tions there are, in numbers, when young wood only 
must be used, and others again in which firm, well- 
ripened wood can only be trusted with safety; but with 
I these cases, at present, we do not intermeddle. Florists’ 
Pelargoniums are no departure in this respect from the 
general principle. The good order of the mother plant, 
| from which the cuttings are removed, and our own con¬ 
venience in securing the simplest mode of increasing 
the stock, are the reasons that induce us to prefer the 
middle and end of summer for performing that operation, 
] and not because we could not more quickly raise cut¬ 
tings from more spongy wood at an earlier period. But 
in this latter case we must resort to slight hotbeds, and 
: liandlights, and shading, and frequent dampings—enough 
j to weary the patience of any ardent beginner. The in¬ 
serting such cuttings in a border in the early part of the 
season would just be so much labour lost, as in its 
watery state each slip would be destitute of organisable 
material to meet the influences of light and air. On 
the other hand, the chief reason why Fancies and firm- 
wooded, sweet-scented geraniums cannot be successfully 
j propagated in the end of summer, if they have been 
well managed, is, that there the growing has given place 
to the accumulative process, and the wood has become 
too indurated for the hasty production of roots. I say 
hasty, because, if proper conditions are secured, along 
with a patience that will not tire, plants will ultimately 
be formed, but at a vast sacrifice of time. Thus cuttings 
of Unique, Fancies, and such kinds as Citriodora, &c., 
inserted in a shady border in the end of July and in the 
beginning of August, with even the advantage of a light 
put over them, were ten or eleven weeks before they 
showed languid signs of rooting. Small pieces of the 
tips of the shoots, where they could be spared, or where 
shortening was desirable, taken off in April, from an inch 
and a half to three inches in length, cut clearly through 
at alower joint, where the wood wasjusta little firm, the 
ends dried in the air for a few hours, and then the cut- ! 
tings inserted round the sides of well-drained pots, and 
plunged in a mild, sweet hotbed of a medium temperature 
of from 50° to 00°, and slightly shaded and syringed, 
produced beautiful rooted plants in less than a fortnight. 
Inserted firmly in a border, and rather larger cuttings 
used any time after the middle of May until the end of 
June, with a handlight over them, they generally would 
root in somewhere about three weeks. In June, strongish 
cuttings, but not too hard, may be planted out in a 
border, making drills, and filling up before planting 
with any light sandy material. I have, however, even 
after resorting to shading with branches, &c., seldom suc¬ 
ceeded with these on the open border in any thing near 
to the same degree as with the older florist kinds. Where 
our friends fond of these ornaments for their window, 
have no pit or frame, the handlight is their next best 
resource. To attain, even here, the acme of success, the 
light should not be set upon the ground, but a founda¬ 
tion of at least half a dozen of inches of clinkers, coal- 
ashes, &c., above the level of the soil, salt sprinkled 
anongst them to prevent the access of worms, and over 
that placed rough soil, and then finer, for the reception 
of the cuttings. Without the handlight, the best substi¬ 
tute is to place the cuttings in small, well-drained pots 
in the window, so that they may be shaded by the other 
pots in hot sunny days, and even in extreme cases set 
down on the floor for two or three hours. Mind, I have 
spoken of the propagation of these plants on the suppo¬ 
sition that they were receiving fair treatment in pots. 
If you plant them out of doors in summer, and attempt 
to propagate from them then in August or so, your suc¬ 
cess will be as dubious, not because the wood is too ripe, 
but from the very opposite cause—its sponginess and 
luxuriance. If circumstances should compel you to try 
cuttings even from such plants, choose the stunted side 
shoots, and not the points of the luxuriant ones. Much 
farther trouble will, therefore, be avoided by getting cut¬ 
tings inserted before June has run a great part of his 
course. R. Fish. 
HOTHOUSE DEPARTMENT. 
EXOTIC STOVE PLANTS. 
Plants with Variegated Leaves. —There are, in our 
stoves, a considerable number of plants, of which the 
leaves are so beautifully varied in colour, as to render 
them objects of great admiration, even when the flowers 
are, comparatively speaking, insignificant and uninter¬ 
esting. It seems to be a rule almost without exception, 
that if a plant has beautifully coloured leaves, its flowers 
are deficient in colour and form; but there are some ex¬ 
ceptions to this rule—the Oesnera zehrina, for instance, 
and some others of the same tribe. Having been lately 
very much pleased with some well-grown specimens of 
plants with various colours and charming tints in their 
leaves, we have thought that a few examples and de¬ 
scriptions of them would be acceptable, and there is 
this in favour of such plants whose foliage is persistent 
(evergreen would be an improper term), that their beauty 
is unlike that of flowers persistent also,—they are beau¬ 
tiful at all times and in all seasons. There are a few 
persons who object to variegated leaves, because they 
consider them as indicative of disease ; but when the 
variegation is regular and constant, and the plant con¬ 
tinues to grow and produce healthy and large foliage, we 
opine they can scarcely be considered unhealthy. 
The Aucuba japonica is a case in point. It always 
apjiears more or less variegated, yet who will say that it 
is diseased? Besides, the more this fine hardy shrub 
is exposed to the light, which is, in most cases, consi¬ 
dered the cause of the beautiful green colour of leaves, the 
more increases very considerably the amount of variega¬ 
tion, and still the shrub flourishes, all other points neces¬ 
sary to the well-being of even green-foliaged plants being 
present. And this holds good with all permanently 
variegated plants, whether we refer to the beautifully 
Striped Holly of our shrubberies, or the finely-tinted 
foliage of the Groton of our stoves. Both continue to 
perform, in a healthy manner, all the functions of deve¬ 
lopment of stems, branches, and leaves, and even pro¬ 
duce flowers and seeds. It is, nevertheless, quite true 
that blotched, or pale-coloured, or yellow leaves, in some 
cases indicate disease, as in the Camellia tribe, but such 
instances do not apply to what we have termed perma¬ 
nently variegated plants. There is generally a cause 
and a remedy for such temporary deficiency of the 
usual colour. The cause will be found either to be 
diseased roots, too much water, or a deficiency of light, 
and the remedy will be the removal of these causes of 
deficiency of the green colour. The observer, then, 
need not think, when he is admiring the beautifully 
tinted or varied foliage of the plants we are about to 
describe, he is looking upon a poor, sickly, diseased 
thing, that instead of yielding delight, ought to be looked 
upon with pity or aversion. 
Ancectochii.us setaceus, and its varieties. We have 
already described the inimitable and truly exquisite 
leaves of this most lovely-foliaged genus at page 224, 
vol. iii., of this work. Though this is a native of Ceylon, 
and generally grown in the orchid house, it will thrive 
well in the warmest part of a common stove, provided a 
bell-glass is kept constantly over each plant. 
Achimenes picta (Painted A.).—A beautifully varie¬ 
gated plant, native of Mexico. The leaves are of a deep 
green, with lines of white intersecting each leaf. It 
begins to grow during the early part of summer, and 
continues in beauty till Christmas. It has beautiful 
I 
I 
I 
