THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[August 14. 
I 300 
Diosma. —To have these to bloom early in the green 
house, in spring, they must now have a full exposure to 
sun and air. It is now too late to shift, but the drainage 
may be examined, and the pots be surface-dressed with 
fibry peat and a little loam. Pimeleas will require 
similar attention;—as much light and air as our climate 
will permit, without being subjected to pelting heavy 
rains, is what these peculiarly require to secure abun- 
! dant and early blooming. 
Dryanbra. —Those fond of this singular tribe of 
plants will have a good opportunity of increasing their 
stock, hy taking off cuttings of rather better than half- 
ripened shoots, inserting them in sand, over sandy peat 
and loam, under a bell-glass, in a cold frame; and if 
there is plenty of substance beneath the sand, allowing 
them to remain in the cutting pot, after being struck, 
until the following March or April. If there is nothing 
but sand in the cutting-pot, the plants would require 
potting off at the end of autumn; it is safer, therefore, 
to have something for the plants to feed upon during 
the winter, and not to transfer them to fresh pots rmtil 
the invigorating influence of spring comes round. This 
rule holds good with respect to all plants struck in the 
autumn, that are at all shy in their habits. Even when 
in the Gardener's Dictionary it is recommended to strike 
the plants in sand, it is understood that they will not 
remain there long after being struck. In every case 
where the plants are intended to stand in the cutting- 
pot over the winter, there should be placed beneath the 
sand such compost as the plants naturally delight in. 
Echinocacti.— These, as formerly observed, hardly 
come under our province, though we see nothing to 
prevent many of them flourishing in a greenhouse, or in 
the parlour-window, provided that a high and somewhat 
moist temperature is given to them during summer, and 
a high, but dry temperature during the latter part of 
this and the following months, followed by a dry atmos¬ 
phere, and a cool temperature, say from 40 a to 50° in 
winter. Amateurs who are fond of the eccentric and the 
singular, though not deficient in beauty, may cultivate 
at the greatest minimum of care and trouble, these and 
their allies of Melocacti and Mammallaria, and many 
succulents of the Mesembryanthemum order 1 . At this 
season the red-spider is apt to attack them in fine sunny 
weather, and the amateur cannot do better than pack 
them all in a close box, or frame, fill a large saucepan 
with boiling water, or rather boil the water in it, put on 
the lid close, after smearing it with flowers of sulphur, 
and then, as quickly as possible, lift the saucepan into 
the box, after having taken due care to remove the 
plants to a safe distance that they be not scalded or 
scorched with the heat. This repeated once or twice, 
with a good syringing, will be apt to send the trouble¬ 
some gentry scampering, if it does not altogether destroy 
them. Although at present I have got few or none of 
these little plants myself, I can conceive few things more 
interesting for the limited space they occupy, and as a 
farther recommendation to those who would like to try 
the hardiest in their windows, I may mention, that if, 
in severe weather in winter, they were placed on a table 
in the centre of a sitting room, they would feel much 
less inconvenience from such a position, than the 
soft-wooded and hard-wooded plants so generally cul¬ 
tivated. 
Elichrysum. —Seeds of these must now be looked 
after, where it is desirable to increase the stock by that 
means, saving it over the winter, in dry quarters, until 
sowing it in a slight hot-bcd in March or April. Where 
a fine show early next season is desirable, the plants 
must shortly be deprived completely of all their flowers, 
and be set in an airy situation. 
Epacrisks. —If these have been kept close in the first 
part of the summer, the young wood will now be made, 
and what is wanted is to get it fully ripened by exposure 
to sun and air, so that a flower-bud may come at the 
base of every leaf on the fresh growth. Plants look 
tolerably well with bloom all over, on short shoots or 
spurs, but far more elegant when the flowering is chiefly 
confined to long young shoots. To secure this, the plants 
must now have as much air and light as possible; the 
latter, especially, must be given if the beautiful green hue 
is somewhat exchanged for a brownish-russet, but if no 1 
rapid change is made from shade to sunshine, there will i 
be no great danger even of this. If a sudden change is 
made, the leaves are apt to drop when the plants are 
transferred for a time to the greenhouse or conservatory; 
an open, airy situation is now, therefore, requisite. If they 
were not shifted in spring, as fresh growth commenced, 
they may be shifted now into sandy fibry peat, but the 
shifts should be small, and consist chiefly in re-arranging 
the drainage, and getting rid of a little of the old soil. 
These must be closer and more shaded for a fortnight or j 
three weeks, and should be allowed to bloom all that 
time later. The impressa and campanulata groups used , 
to be the finest for winter and spring blooming, but now | 
they are surpassed by the red and white varieties of 1 
hyacinthiflora. In addition to the beautiful minita, 
there are also very pretty somewhat later blooming 
kinds, resembling grandiflora, such as conspicua and 
grandiflora rubens, and a large-flowered pink one, named 
Kinghornii, but I am not sure that these three last are ! 
yet in the market. The impressa, the campanulata, and 
the hyacinthiflora, are the best that has yet been found, J 
so far as I am aware, for early blooming in winter and 
spring. One great recommendation is, that they can 
stand a close, and even a moist atmosphere for a time, 
without alarming you with the mildew disease, which is 
so fatal to heaths, that it is almost impossible to cultivate 
them with any chance of great success, along with soft- 
wooded-flowering plants. 
Pelargonium. (Florists). —These having been har¬ 
dened, after the beauty of the flowers were gone, by 
standing in full exposure to the sun, may now be cut 
down so as to prepare the plants for another year. The 
form of the plant will greatly depend upon the mode of 
pruning now, some liking a flat squat, and others, 
i ourselves among the number, a somewhat pyramidal 
shape. Fancy varieties, such as Queen and Statiuski, 
(the latter a capital thing both for pots and beds), must 
not be cut quite so close as the more succulent florist 
kinds. The cuttings may either be placed in rows, in 
prepared light soil, in a south border, or in similar rows 
under a glass, in a cold frame or hand-light. Anything 
in the shape of bottom-heat for such things just now is 
to be avoided. The drying of the plants before cutting 
down is advantageous alike for plant and cutting, as 
both respectively thus possess more highly organised 
material. The cutting can, therefore, stand more hard 
treatment with ease, and the plant is more capable of 
breaking freely and healthily. This effort should be 
confined almost entirely to the stored-up concentrated 
juices of the plant, as the less water the plants receive j 
before they have broken afresh, the better and healthier 
will be the growth. Syringing the tops, and even a moist 
atmosphere, is very different, in such circumstances, 
from deluging with water at the roots. When cut down, ! 
to avoid even drenching rains, the plants would be better \ 
under glass, but with plenty of air. When the plants 
have broken afresh, then, and not before, they may be j 
repotted into smaller pots, kept close, and duly encou- ! 
raged with moisture, hardening them with more air and 
light before the approach of winter. The re-shifting 
iuto larger pots, according to the time bloom is wanted, 
has already been referred to. 
Roses. —Though not following in the sequence of j 
orthography, this may well follow, if interest and esteem 
for its beauties be sufficient to constitute a claim. 
Whether for future display in the garden, or in pots in 
