THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
273 
July 31.] 
ought to be a tent appropriated to novelties exclusively, 
and very competent judges ought to be appointed to 
decide the merits of everything exhibited; not the 
common-place judges who go over the other portions of 
the exhibition, but persons who have a horticultural 
character to lose, aud whose certificate would tell for 
something in the horticultural world. 
Sidonia, a new Fuchsia, strongly recommended by us 
| last autumn, has been flowered by several amateurs, 
who have thanked us for calling their attention to it, 
and state, in various terms, their high satisfaction at its 
very beautiful habit, and exceedingly novel bloom. 
One of the qualities which add value to this variety is 
the length of time the individual flowei's stand in per¬ 
fection. 
Antirrhinums (J. D ).—We have so often condemned 
these weedy and ugly things, and now have so many 
before us without a redeeming point, that we had better 
say a few words at once to the raisers generally; they 
are all on the wrong tack. The antirrhinum, indepen¬ 
dently of its form, which we have often described, must, 
to be good for anything, be a brilliant self, or a distinct 
two-colours, not a shaded, cloudy, indistinct blending of 
darker and lighter colours, hut a positive, well-defined 
contrast. The striped kinds are intolerable, the speckled 
are worse. This dower is not adapted for pot-culture 
hut for borders, and everything for bedding must have 
colour. The old Picturn has a white tube and a scarlet 
crimson mouth; this looks well, it is the nearest to a 
good contrast of all the tribe. Seedlings from that may 
probably bring larger and better formed flowers, with 
the same contrast of colour. There are not half-a-dozen 
worth growing among all the named varieties, and not 
one so good as old Picturn, bad and ill-formed as it is. 
J. D. will now see why we condemn the whole 24 he 
has forwarded. 
Petunias (M. A., Oxon ).—These will never be worth 
growing until we can get thick petals and bright colours. 
All the veiny sorts pi’esent great sameness; we must 
have bright colours and good substance before we call 
anything first-rate. The Petunia looks always flabby 
when the sun has been out some time. The variety 
marked A 2, in this batch, is of excellent form, but too 
thin for anything; the rest not worth notice. 
FLORISTS’ FLOWERS CULTURE. 
Pelargoniums. — Propagation: By Guttings. — Cut¬ 
tings may be put in and struck from March to August; 
the general time, however, is when the plants have done 
flowering, and require cutting down to make bushy 
plants for the next season. This generally happens 
from the end of June to the beginning of August. 
The best place to strike the cuttings in, is, of course, a 
I well-constructed propagating house; but as every one 
lias not such a convenience, they may be very success- 
i fully propagated in a frame set upon a spent hotbed, 
; first removing the soil, and replacing it upon a thick 
j coat of coal ashes to keep out the worms. Upon this 
! coat place another of dry sawdust to plunge the cutting- 
pots. This dry sawdust will serve to absorb the moisture 
from the earth in the pots, and the necessary waterings. 
This being done, then proceed to prepare the soil and 
pots. The best soil is pure loam mixed with silver sand, 
j The size of the pots should neither be too large nor too 
small—five inches wide at the top is the most proper. 
Some use small pots, and only place one cutting in each. 
This, where the cuttings are few, and the convenience 
j small, will be suitable enough. It has this advantage 
! also, that the cuttings arc, after being rooted, more con- 
j veniently repotted, without in the least injuring the 
young and tender roots, but where the quantity to be 
increased is large, the former method of putting in 
several cuttings in 5-inch pots, will be more convenient, 
and, with care, equally as successful. Whichever method 
is adopted, the pots must be well drained with broken 
potsherds, the larger pieces at the bottom, and smaller 
at the top. Fill them to the top with the prepared loam, 
which should be put through a rather coarse sieve to 
take out the stones, roots of grain, and other extraneous 
matter. It should not be pressed down too hard, but 
made firm enough to hold the cuttings fast. Another 
point is to use it in a state neither wet nor dry. All 
these precautions and preparations being attended to, 
the next operation is making the cuttings. The side 
shoots which have not flowered, and are not more than 
two inches long, make the best. These should be cut 
off close to the stem from whence they spring. If cut 
off with a sharp knife they will not require to be cut 
again at the bottom, unless the cutting is too long, then 
they should have a clean horizontal cut just under a 
joint to make the cutting the right length. Cut off the 
bottom leaves close to the stem, leaving only two of the 
uppermost. Place the cuttings, after they are made, in 
a shady place, upon a dry hoard or slate, to dry up the 
wound. This will take an hour on a dry day, or two 
hours on a dull cloudy one. Then put them in the pre¬ 
pared pots, round the edge, inclining the leaves inwards, 
so that they may not touch the leaves of those in the 
contiguous pots when they are placed in the frames, or 
set upon the heated material in the propagating house. 
When a pot is filled, give it a gentle watering, and set it 
on one side to dry up the moisture on the leaves and 
surface of the soil. Then plunge them in the frame, and 
shade them carefully and effectually from the sun, or even 
from the light, till they form a callosity (a swelling at the 
base of each cutting). After that, reduce the shade gra¬ 
dually, using it only during bright sunshine. A little 
air may also be given every day, by tilting up the lights 
behind, if in a frame. The propagating house will only 
require air when the heat is too great, to reduce the 
temperature to 55° or 60°. The cuttings must be fre¬ 
quently examined, to see if roots are formed; and as 
soon as they are an inch long, pot them off immediately 
into the smallest 00-pots, which are generally about 
two inches diameter. A small addition of well-decom¬ 
posed leaf-mould may be mixed amongst the loam with 
advantage. When they are finished potting off, give 
another gentle watering, and replace them in the frame 
or propagating house until fresh roots are formed; 
renew the shading, but disuse it as soon as it is safe to 
do so, and then give plenty of air, to prevent them 
being drawn up and spindly. To cause them to become 
bushy plants furnished with branches close to the pot, 
nip off the top bud; the lower side buds will then break 
and push forth, and these must be again stopped as 
soon as they have made three leaves. The plants will 
then be ready to receive a second potting, and should 
be removed into the open air. The finest young gera¬ 
niums we ever saw, were in this stage plunged into a 
gentle hotbed, without any covering of any kind over 
them, a space being left between each plant to allow 
them to grow dwarf and bushy. In a very short time 
they became bushy, broad-leaved, healthy plants, and 
required repotting into 7-inch pots. They were again 
plunged in the now spent hotbed, and when the time 
came to remove them to the stage of the greenhouse, 
they generally measured seven or eight inches diameter, 
and were not more than five inches high; the foliage 
was dark green, healthy, large, and so dense that the 
soil in the pots could not be seen. 
The above remarks and directions, as far as the cut¬ 
tings are concerned, relate only to the as-they-are-called 
show varieties. There is, as is well-known, another 
class of pelargoniums, which are denominated fancy 
varieties. These are more difficult to increase by cut¬ 
tings, though our esteemed and excellent co-adjutor, Mr. 
