COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION. 
May 15. 
Ill 
was planted out in a narrow border against the back 
wall, and was spread out irregularly on the trellis that 
bad been put up to tie creepers to. There it flowered most 
abundantly, and the bunches of blossom were of a very 
large size, and most brilliant colour, caused, no doubt, 
by the great amount of light, and no less by the great 
space it had to spread its branches and leaves to the 
full light. There can be no doubt but the more light 
the leaves of a plant have, the more it perfectly will per¬ 
form its functions of producing flowers to produce seeds, 
—the grand end of perfect fructification. One predis¬ 
posing cause of the plant at Frogmore, like the one 
at Wortley, flowering so freely, was the narrow space 
the roots had to spread in. In planting out many rapid 
and rampant-growing stove-creepers, we make a great 
mistake in giving the roots too large a space and a soil 
too rich. This would not be a mistake if we had a 
Crystal Palace, like that of Sydenham, for the creepers 
to have ample space to spread out their foliage to a 
great supply of light. In such spacious buildings, the 
peculiar sap that causes a plant to produce its flowers 
has time and space to be generated, especially if heat 
and moisture is combined with light to have the desired 
effect. I have no doubt, the reason why many fine 
plants, natives of warm climates, do not flower with us 
as they do in their native regions, is the want of space 
to expand their leaves, and a deficiency of light. Plant 
cultivators are generally too anxious to have too many 
plants in their stoves in proportion to the space; hence, 
many never or very rarely flower. This point is well 
understood by the exhibitors at the great metropolitan 
shows. They take care that every specimen stands 
alone, in order that it may have its due share of the 
stimulants to bloom, namely, heat, moisture, light, and 
a season of rest. I go into many stoves, and generally 
see too many plants by more than half thrust in, 
and so crowded, that it is impossible that they should 
give any satisfaction I, if my advice or opinion is 
asked, always say, cast one-half of your plants to the 
dunghill, and then the remainder will have a chance to 
grow well and flower freely. 
Position. —The Bignonia venusta should always be 
planted out in a somewhat confined space and rather 
poor soil. The branches should be spread out, not tied 
in a bundle to a rafter, and should have plenty of space 
to grow in. 
Culture. —It should be well supplied with water during 
summer, but stinted in winter. The heat., during the 
growing season, should average 70°; 5° below by night, 
and 5° above by day. In winter, but little water should 
be given, and the heat should be at least 10° lower by 
night and by day than in summer. The shoots in 
autumn, after the bloom is over, should bo cut in freely, 
for the flowers are produced on shoots made the same 
year. With this treatment, this truly fine climber will 
produce most abundantly its noble heads of rich orange 
blossoms. 
Propagation. —It is propagated by cuttings; short, 
stubby shoots, taken off close to the branch are the best. 
Put them in sand under a bell-glass in heat. They 
require a rather long time to root, but will do so in time. 
T. Appleby. 
STRAWBERRIES FOR FORCING ANOTHER 
YEAR. 
The case of a correspondent, writing from a cold, bleak 
situation, on the best method of obtaining plants of 
Strawberries for forcing, being one very likely to interest 
many others similarly placed, a few words bearing on 
the subject will not be out of place here, especially as it 
may reach many readers before they have made all their 
arrangements for the current year. 
Our correspondent says, he has a quantity of last 
autumn runners in small pots, of Keen's Seedling , 
Hoopers Seedling, and British Queen Strawberries; and 
he wants to know if potting them into larger pots, and 
growing them on during the summer, will not be a I 
better way than trusting to the runners of the current 
year; as lie says, that in spite of carefully pegging down 
the earliest runners he can get into small pots, and 
repotting them into larger when ready, he is not able to 
get plants large enough for forcing early. Now this is 
no unusual case, neither is it confined to cold, bleak 
situations, for warm, dry, sunny ones are equally liable 
to such disappointments, where the soil is not one 
adapted to Strawberries; for I have seen such soils 
where ordinary vegetables flourished well, and most ■ 
fruits admirably, where the Strawberries only dwindled ! 
out a sort of wretched existence, being merely supported j 
by such auxiliary assistance as was afforded by a favour- 1 
able season, or the addition of moisture, or other means, i 
as a mode of supplying the wants of the plant with that 
food which the ground denied it. 
In the first place, we will suppose the grower to have 
a quantity of Strawberry plants in three and four-inch 
pots, which have been standing out all the winter, pro¬ 
tected at times by some covering, hut at the present time 
giving tokens of a wish to have more room to grow in. 
Now, there are two modes by which this can be effected, 
differing in detail, but leading to the same result; the 
first, is to repot them into larger pots at once ; and the 
I other, is to plant them out on some piece of good ground, 
where they will have a chance to grow well and strongly, 
and be in readiness to take up by September, to put into 
, pots suitable for introducing into the forcing-house; the 
latter of these modes is the one that I would adopt, and 
is, in fact, the best one to obtain good plants for forcing 
in such places as are not congenial to the Strawberry. 
The best mode for the enquirer to pursue would be 
to select a nice open piece of ground, where the plants 
will have the full benefit of the sun, and then put out 
the plants in rows about two feet apart, but they may 
| be something less apart in the row. Then let them grow 
on until September, when they may be taken carefully 
j up and potted into tolerably large pots, as we may fully 
expect them to have made good, useful plants by that 
| time; but they must not he allowed to grow as they 
like during the time, otherwise the object is defeated, for 
they would be exhausted by the production of fruit and 
runners. It is, therefore, imperative to clear away all 
| fruit-blossom as it appears, and likewise to cut away all 
runners as they show themselves, so that the plant may 
accumulate such matter as will enable it to produce fruit 
the ensuing year, when subjected to the trying ordeal of 
1 forcing; for, be it remembered, the same description of 
i plants which will in ordinary seasons yield a fair crop of 
fruit in June, will not always do so in March and April; 
the reason is obvious ; forcing is an ordeal which none 
but the most robust will successfully undergo ; hence the 
propriety of having only well-matured plants put on that 
' trial ; observe, in cutting away all runners in summer, 
the leaves of the parent plant must not be injured, for 
they have a duty to fulfil in common with the leaves 
of all plants, and if now and then a few runners were 
left on a week or two they would do no great harm; for 
the close cutting away of all that show themselves tends 
to the quick production of others, which weaken the 
plant as much as if some had remained on; but do not 
by any means allow them to remain on long, and the 
sooner the plant ceases to produce any, the quicker it 
forms its embryo buds for the ensuing year, and is 
soon in a condition fit to be taken up and repotted; but 
many things will determine this; the season, in particular, 
will have most influence. 
The second method would be to repot tbe runners 
that are in small pots into larger ones, but adopting 
