June 23. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
221 
in a similar manner. To bloom well next spring, the cut¬ 
tings should have been inserted in March or April. At 
that time, after standing a week rather cool, they soon 
strike when placed in a briskish bottom-heat. Even 
those propagated now, if grown on, will yield a few 
llowers in small pots next spring; and these, pruned 
back, potted afresh in summer, will furnish a splendid 
display in the greenhouse, without any forcing, after 
Christmas. At that season, few things could be more 
beautiful than a large plant. There are many varieties, 
but all beautiful. I may add, that I can do little with 
these Wallflowers out-of-doors, unless they are kept as j 
carefully as Geraniums in winter. In winter and spring | 
they make fine ornaments for the greenhouse. For 
them, and the Roses, a rich sandy loam will answer I 
admirably. 
Perpetual Carnations. —I lately gave an outline of 
the management of these. If you have got any small 
plants in pots, turn them out, and treat them as I have 
advised, until you find a better method. I do not know 
a better at present, as the success has been strikingly 
ample. It is too late to strike or borrow cuttings now to 
obtain plants that will bloom well in the following 
winter and spring; but still, a few cuttings will be valu¬ 
able, even if you should stay to the end of the autumn 
of 1854 to be rewarded for your labours. I would ' 
advise inserting them immediately in a pot, in pure 
sand, over sandy loam, well drained ; and when well 
watered, and the foliage dry, place a bell-glass over 5 
them, and place the pot in the warmest part of the green¬ 
house, or in a slight hotbed, shading it from bright sun¬ 
shine, but giving all the light the plants will endure ; 
and giving a little air at night, by raising one side of 
the bell-glass a little. I disapprove of shortening the 
tops of the foliage. I may, also, mention a very quick 
and successful mode for making the cuttings, and which 
is applicable to the whole Carnation and Pink tribe. 
There is little question, that if we do not wish to be run 
down, we must steam away with the age. I look back, 
with something like regret to the old mode of making 
such cuttings, technically called pipings, in the olden 
time; everything spoke so much of comfort and ease. ! 
First, the gardener walks round and cuts off a bundle 
of shoots; then he sets him down comfortably in a 
sbed, with his bundle before him; he takes up one 
shoot, or cutting, and strips off a number of leaves from ! 
the lower part, until he gets high enough, or near 
enough to the point, to find that the stem is getting i 
somewhat soft; he there cuts through at a joint, with 
a knife that could not be made sharper: but that is 
not all ; to make assurance doubly sure, he inserts his 
knife, at the middle of the horizontal cut, and by cut¬ 
ting upwards for from a quarter to half-an-inch, thus 
divides the base of his cutting in two—the object of 
which, no doubt, is the exposure of more solt, alburnum 
matter, so as to facilitate the protrusion of roots. Then, 
previously having procured a pan ol damp sand, each 
cutting, as thus made, is inserted in the sand until there 
is a sufficiency accumulated to warrant the propriety of 
the operator getting off his perch, and sticking or dib¬ 
bling his cuttings under hand-lights, or bell-glasses. 
Now this very mode was carried out fully in not a few 
large establishments last season. I prefer the following, 
because it secures the necessary neither-hard-nor-soft 
condition to the base of the cutting; it does not inter¬ 
fere much with the appearance of the parent plant, and 
because the time employed is reduced to a minimum. 
Take hold of the base of the shoot with the fingers and 
thumb of the left hand, so as to steady it there, and 
with similar instruments of the right hand, catch the 
point of the shoot about the second joint downwards, 
give a gentle but sudden pull, and outcomes the cutting 
from the joint, cleaner and more perfect than any cut 
ting of a knife could make it, and ready to be at once 
inserted in the propagating pot. In a few cases, a slight 
film may adhere to one side at the base, and that is all 
the knife will be useful for. This seeming digression 
will not be lost, as the general propagating period for all 
these things is now at hand. 
But to return to our Carnations for ornamenting the 
greenhouse, and that are to be inserted as cuttings now— 
the following is the outline of treatment: — Pot off 
singly, as soon as struck; if they are growing strongly 
by the end of autumn, stop them by removing the ter¬ 
minal bud, which is best done by catching two or three 
of the small leaves at the point, and pulling them to 
you, which will bring the terminal point along with 
them. If not very strong, delay the stopping until 
March; pot in light sandy loam ; keep them in a cold 
pit, or a cool place of the greenhouse, in winter; by 
April, small side-shoots will begin to show themselves. 
During that month, or the first days in May, transfer 
them to a well-dug border, enriched with decayed dung 
and some road-drift. Aspect — east, west, or south. 
Give them water as they require it. If there should be 
only one or two shoots, remove the central bud, and you 
will soon have several. See that the plants do not get 
broken down during the summer. Towards the end of 
August lift them carefully with balls, and pot them into 
rich open soil; shade for a few days, and from the end 
of October until April, or even as long as you like to 
keep them, you will have one of the finest ornaments, 
either for the window or the greenhouse. I am inclined 
to believe that the Anne Boleyn Pink might be treated 
in the same way, and bloom far better in winter and 
spring than when forced. 
Hydrangea hortensis. —This is quite hardy enough 
to stand uninjured, out-of-doors, in the southern parts ol 
the island ; and though the top parts, farther north, 
are often destroyed by the frost, it will often send up 
flowers from its lower buds, just as in such cases is 
done from a Fuchsia stool. Where plenty of light can 
be obtained to mature these lower buds in summer, a 
protection of moss, thrown over the bottom of the plant 
in winter, would save the plant sufficiently to bloom 
out-of-doors in summer. As a denizen of the green¬ 
house, however, we have to do with it here, and there 
it is not only always attractive, whether as a small 
plant with one flower, or a large one with many flowers, 
but a well-grown specimen always testifies to a consi¬ 
derable amount of pains-taking effort. It is easily pro¬ 
pagated, either by the older shoots, or those merely two 
or three inches in length, which it is often necessary 
to thin out: the latter strike very quickly in a slight 
hotbed. With nothing but a greenhouse, you will not 
have much of flowering-plants next season, unless you 
can grow them extra well. You are quite as likely to 
have a flower this autumn, or two months hence, it the 
young shoot you have selected proceeds from a well- 
ripened bud. Your flowers, next season, depend upon 
the maturing of your young shoot or shoots this au¬ 
tumn. The having your plants struck any time this 
summer and autumn, and keeping the plants in a cold 
pit, or in a cool, shady place during winter, in the 
greenhouse, will give you an advantage over spring- 
propagated plants. 
I shall describe the treatment necessary for a young 
plant next season, and that will also shew what is vyanted 
for the present. Nothing is so grateful for the aid of a 
hotbed, either when striking, or when you are startiug 
the plant into fresh growth in the spring. Sandy loam 
and decayed cow-dung will grow the plant well. A seven- 
inch pot will grow a nice plant with from one to three 
large heads of bloom. For a large plant, a twelve or 
sixteen-inch pot will be necessary. With nothing but 
the greenhouse, growth will be less rapid, and you must 
delay operations until the sun has gained strength in 
March and April. Then, as your small plant pricks up 
