LOO 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[June 26 . 
between two joints, therefore, is not so easily or so soon 
killed by damp, or any other kind of injury. In making 
layers, we also begiu the cut just under a joint, but only 
half-way through it, then, by turning up the edge of the 
knife, we split the knot or joint in two, and the sjffit 
part we call a tongue; a shoot that will bend about, 
without being easily broken, as a young willow, may 
have this tongue cut on the underside of it; but brittle 
ones that are apt to snap asunder on being bent must 
be tongued on the upperside, and some there are which 
few can tongue without some breakage. Then come 
a number of contrivances to help the rooting and 
tonguing, such as giving the shoot a gentle twist, taking 
off a ring of bark, and sometimes a shoot is split by 
thrusting the point of a knife right through a joint, and 
putting a wedge in, to keep the parts open, till such 
times as roots are formed. Whatever way the shoot is 
prepared for layering, the cut part is buried an inch or 
so in the ground, to make roots ; and a little clean sand 
put round the layer, will both help the roots, when they 
come, to push along, and also the tongue from taking 
harm from too much damp. 
Within the last few years, they have found out a 
famous way of getting a large stock of Hollyhocks from 
cuttings made in July, in a very curious way, which, 
although often mentioned, I must not let slip in the 
Companion for the month. When the hollyhocks are 
tied up to the stakes for the last time, all the inferior 
stalks, or those that are likely to hide the rest too much 
from the sun, or, indeed, any that are too much crowded 
or ill placed, were cut away as useless formerly, but now 
they are made into cuttings, to increase good sorts, or 
save one the trouble of sowing seeds of them every year. 
Every leaf on a shoot will make a cutting, if you take a 
part of the stem and the eye at the bottom along with it; 
but the easiest way is, first of all, to cut the shoots into 
as many pieces as there are leaves or joints, then to 
split the pieces down the middle, so that every half has 
its own bud and leaf stalk; the blade of the leaf is not 
necessary, but it is best to keep two inches of the leaf¬ 
stalk ; the soft pith in the centre of the split parts 
should be scraped out, as it is liable to cause damp or 
mouldiness; the pieces are then planted an inch deep 
in sand, under a hand-glass, or a cold, close frame, and 
sometimes with no better help than the shade or shelter 
of a north wall; part of the leaf-stalks are above the 
sand, and mark the centre of each cutting; the bud at 
the bottom of the stalk will soon push, make roots, and 
be in all respects as good as a seedling, besides being 
true to the sort. Now, I dare say, there are hundreds 
of plants that may be increased just in the same way, 
as well as the Hollyhock, although we have never found 
them out. Who knows but the old Fraxinella, or the 
Tree Poeonies, that are so difficult to increase, might not 
root, if thus tried early in July. Perhaps hundreds of 
roses would come that way also; for what is the process 
after all, but a kind of budding, only we take more sub¬ 
stance along with the bud, therefore, let us all try how 
many things each of us can root on this plan, and all 
that remains for me, is to advise the use of hand¬ 
glasses where the shoots are small, or with little sub¬ 
stance ; and, for such that it is more likely than not 
that the leaf will be of great use in hastening the for¬ 
mation of roots, and, also, that leaves thus detached in 
| July should never see the sun, or be exposed to free air, 
; till roots are formed. 
Pot Geraniums .—I would not throw away the oldest 
and most straggling Geranium I ever saw in July, as 
! some people do, as soon as they are done flowering. I 
would cut them down half-way of the greenwood, and 
plant them out somewhere to take their chance; they 
would flower in the autumn, and be useful to get late 
cuttings from besides. I would do the same now with 
all kinds of greenhouse plants, heaths, and all that were 
too old, or too big, or too anything I did not like; after 
the middle of July there is hardly a stove plant in the 
country but would do planted out for two months or 
more, so that old, worn-out subjects, even from the 
stove, need not be thrown away altogether. Mr. Barnes 
planted out beds of pine-apple plants, and ripened their 
fruit in the open kitchen-garden; and I am quite sure 
that two or three-year-old Ixoras, now showing for 
bloom, might be safely planted out in peat beds, or on 
sheltered borders, and that they would flower that way 
as freely as the Rhododendron. All the beds ought to 
be now full. All plants that require stakes should have 
them, but not to be tied up close and stiff. Every seed- 
pod should be cut off, aud every annual jiullcd up when 
it is past its prime. D. Beaton. 
GREENHOUSE AND WINDOW 
GARDENING. 
A Chapter on Generalities. —A traveller who wishes 
to retain in his mind's eye a vivid recollection of the 
scenery through which he is passing, is not satisfied 
with looking right a-head, or even to the left and the 
right, as he passes along, but will frequently stand still, 
and look behind him, that the objects that arrested his 
attention may be seen from as many points of view as 
possible. If be does not do so, bis idea of the landscape 
panorama would be so imperfect, that in beholding it 
afterwards from some different position, he would 
scarcely recognise it to be the same. Great as are the 
advantages of the rail, it totally' prevents these linger¬ 
ing, but fast-holding-upon-memory, glances; and the 
only consolation is, that we can so quickly and easily see 
the same objects again. Though little noticed by our 
philosophers, there is reason for believing that this very 
ease of travelling, with all its advantages, will have a 
tendency to change our national characteristics, and 
thus superinduce the light, airy, and superficial—instead 
of the high-toned, deep-felt, and enduring. Cheap 
literature is the railway of knowledge. Its advantages 
are next to incalculable for the present, and gloriously 
hopeful as to the future; and yet the very ease with 
which knowledge is obtainable, is apt to produce a care¬ 
lessness of application, and a merely superficial ac¬ 
quaintance with, instead of the close study of a subject 
in all its diversified bearings. If true in any thing, this 
tending to superficiality is peculiarly true in respect to 
a considerable number of the readers of the cheap 
periodicals on gardening. Few, indeed, are the sup¬ 
porters of this little work, even when meeting with a 
fresh idea, that would ponder over it with equal earnest¬ 
ness, until every detail was mastered, as many of our 
leading men must have done in the case of the first 
expensive periodical on gardening, conducted by the 
strong-minded, noble-hearted, Loudon. The very diffi¬ 
culty of acquiring, with its mournful drawbacks, brought 
with it at the same time, in the case of the few, an 
intenser application. These are railway times, intel¬ 
lectually as well as physically, and writers and readers 
alike must rattle along with locomotive speed. Hence, 
the puzzling and seeming discrepancy upon any subject, 
merely because the writers have looked at it from dif¬ 
ferent aspects; the difference, striking it may be at first, 
melting into nothing as the reader takes in a more 
comprehensive scope for his vision. Hence, too, the 
importance in these days of speed, and the working 
out of the give-me-as-little-trouble-as-possible principle ; 
of glancing again and again at the same objects from 
similar and different points of view, that repetition may 
ultimately accomplish what the studious iormerly ac¬ 
quired by their intenser application ; that, in one word, 
hints to memory may be given, in unison with those 
ideas that tend to future progression. 
