21G 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
June 26. 
altered, or made up afresh, to suit the size of the panes 
and of the cutting pots. The best place for this kind of 
box to stand is the angle in front at the east or west 
end of a greenhouse, and if that end he of glass, all the 
better; put the box endways against the front glass, and 
the back of it will bo against glass also ; but all this 
light docs no harm, as the box is square on the top, 
and can only let in perpendicular light. From the end 
of May to the end of August there is no end to the uses 
to which a simple contrivance of this kind may he put; 
but for great nicety, such as for delicate seedlings, Heath 
cuttings, and such like, a layer of pure white sand must 
be used for the bottom, for without the sand, or soil, 
to stand the pots on, the arrangement would be a dead 
letter. It is by watering the same, or not, watering it, 
at times, that you regulate tlie climate of the box. 
Perhaps it is the best invention that ever was thought 
of for striking sucli cuttings as cannot stand bottom- 
beat, or that must'have a month or two to form the 
knobs at the bottom, before they are brought to a hot 
bottom bed. All the sides beiug of wood, and the light 
only perpendicular, seem to be the principle, whatever 
is in it. Mr. Walton’s case is the bottom-heat edition 
of it. The Waltonian case is heated by a lamp acting 
inside a “ false” bottom, different from all other appli¬ 
cations of hot-water. The alteration I wished, consists 
of a coil o fthe smallest gas pipe to pass through the 
water backwards and forwards—like putting hot-water 
pipes through a tank; then, with a small jet of gas, or 
by a common lamp, one of the nicest hotbeds, or propa¬ 
gating cases, that ever was made, or thought of, could he 
had ; the end of the pipe should pass out near the top 
of the box, and into the open air, to get rid of the smell 
of gas or oil. A turn in the domestic wheel has yet 
prevented this application of heating the Waltonian case 
being put in practice; and until it is in force and 
proved, it would be rash to give a plan of it; but any¬ 
body who understands tin-work could do the tin box, 
and put in the piping without a drawing. I am rather 
satisfied, than not, that this new case has not been 
engraved yet, as, in all probability, to have it square on 
the top, instead of sloping like a hotbed, will be an 
improvement, or, at all events, a convenience; as little 
or no shading will be necessary when the light strikes 
perpendicularly; but my own box will teach me all that 
before the season is out. 
CHRYSANTHEMUM CUTTINGS. 
As soon as my cuttings were rooted in 48-sizod pots I 
topped them, but did not pot them off, for potting off is 
a bad plan on this system. I then planted out the balls 
entire on a warm border, and as soon as the fresh shoots 
from the stopped cuttings were one inch long, I took up 
the balls and separated the little colony, planting each 
plant singly. By so doing, I did not check the growth 
so much at first, which was a saving of time; and when 
I did give the check, it was necessary; and 1 hold that 
a gentle check should he given every ten days or a fort¬ 
night to Chrysanthemums which are grown out in the 
borders, with a view to having them put into pots for 
blooming. After the middle of July they grow too fast 
by one-half that is good for them; hut that is no harm, 
if they are not intended for pots. The old plants of last 
year were kept in the pots all the winter, and till after the 
middle of May, wheu the shoots wore from four to six 
inches high; the shoots were then thinned and cut hack 
to different lengths, according to their size, and in ten 
days they were in leaf again from the “ fresh start.” 
Then the whole of the soil was shaken from the roots, 
the halls, or plants, were divided into four, five, or six 
pieces, and the old roots were cut hack more than one- 
half their length, and the separate pieces were planted 
in rows, like so many cabbage plants, only that they 
were planted but a few inches asunder. 
When the well-readman—my fastfriend—called, these 
plants, at least many of them, were forward sufficiently 
to be “stopped” the second time, or say the first time, 
after being divided and planted out separately. One 
plant, however, will suffice to show the two opposite 
modes of stopping Chrysanthemums and a great num¬ 
ber of other plants. This plant was Daphne, one of the 
best dark Pompones ; it had two shoots much stronger 
than the rest, which, if they were not stopped at all, 
would take the lead, and he the only two shoots that 
would flower, the rest beiug half-starved. There were 
five of them, making seven shoots in all, which might 
he considered a fair lot for making a hush plant without 
stopping; hut we have two reasons for stopping. The 
one is to get more shoots when that is necessary; and 
the oliicr, to keep the plants more dwarf; to check, in 
fact, under another guise. Then, if my plant was high 
enough without stopping to induce more shoots, will it 
no he too large, or too bushy, if I get two or three shoots 
from every stop? To be sure it would ; but I can thin 
the shoots as much as I choose, and the cheek, by stop¬ 
ping, will give me a dwarfer plant; besides having so 
many shoots to choose from, I can have my bushy plant 
more regular. 
These being the facts and the reasons for my guidance, 
and which were as plain to my friend, as 1 hope they 
are made to you, the cause of the error in stopping 
will be the more clearly made out against one of us. 
Now, with two strong shoots and five weak shoots on a 
young plant, which shoots would you stop first, the 
strong or the weak? Or would you stop the seven at 
the same time? My friend was for stopping the two 
strongest shoots at first, and, as soon as they broke into 
a fresh growth, he would stop the weak ones, and not till 
then; and I had to go into a long course of practical 
argument before I could make him understand how 
wrong his ideas were ; hut he could see, at last, that his 
plan went to make a had case worse than it was at first. 
It was bad enough to have the shoots so different in 
strength ; but worse to operate upon them so as to make 
the difference still greater, as nine-tenths of general 
readers do, in such cases, without taking into considera¬ 
tion what they are about. But we gardeners are a good 
\ deal to blame for this ; we do not explain the difference 
between stopping a strong shoot on a fruit-tree, and one 
on a bush, or plant, which we desired to he more bushy 
from the bottom. 
[ It is not to make a fruit-tree more bushy that we 
stop the robbers, as we call the strongest shoots, hut to 
stop the current of the sap, and so force it into the 
weaker branches, which are seldom stopped at all. 
When it is necessary to stop all the shoots on a plant, 
the weakest ought to he first stopped, in order to get 
them stronger, which seems a puzzle to those who do 
not know the practical part of our calling; hut at this 
season you can prove it in a month on a common 
Laurel. Take a branch with two young shoots—the one 
is very strong, and the other a weak one; stop the weak 
one, and allow it to push two or three eyes into leaf; 
then stop the strong one, and before *it can break 
again, the shoots on the weak one are a good way on, 
and able to draw on the sap more than those which 
are merely breaking bud on the stronger shoot. Then, 
suppose we leave only two shoots to come from the 
weaker parent, and four or five shoots on the stronger, 
the balance of strength is restored in a month, and 
you have six shoots of equal, or nearly equal, strength ; 
hut if you stop the strongest first, and allow it to break 
into three or four fresh ones before you stop the weak 
shoot, these three or four having the start of whatever 
the weakest shoot will give out, they will keep a-head to 
the end of the season, if they do not starve the weaker 
and later shoots altogether. If we could stop the growth 
of the strong shoot till such time as the weak shoot was 
