16 
THU COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, October 9, 1860. 
memorandum-book: the first form was a successful 
attempt at potting a plant fifteen feet long from the open | 
ground, which was effected in August by first cutting | 
one-half of the roots in the border to within six inches 
of the stem of the plant; then putting two handfuls of 
leaf mould under them and around them, and closing it in 
with the common soil, which was then pressed down firm 
after a slight watering. In twelve days the cut roots made 
a mass of new fibres in the leaf mould, and then the other 
half of the roots was similarly treated. The plant was 
then watered daily, or once in every two days, till the 
rootlets from the second-cut half of the roots occupied 
the leaf mould. The mass was then got carefully into a 
large pot with some good loam. The top of that plant 
was in training all that time, and, with a few of the bottom 
leaves gone, suffered no other change. 
Two strong layers from another large plant of the same 
Brilliant were made at the same time in August—a fine, 
late autumn followed—and these were not taken in-doors 
till late in November. The Dahlias and Chrysanthemums 
were in bloom together at the time in the London squares. 
These plants bloomed in the conservatory till March, 
but so sparingly as not to warrant a repetition of the 
process. 
Some members of the establishment (the Experimental) 
say—for the trial was made there—some of the experi¬ 
mentalists maintain to this day that the plants were out 
too long by six weeks; or that they ought to have been 
into the conservatory before the 10th of October to give 
them a fair chance of proving the value of the practice 
for getting winter flowers on an easy scale. Others of 
the witnesses assert that Brilliant was at fault as a 
winter bloomer; that, although it was then the best 
breed from Lobbianum, it did not inherit so much of its 
merit as a winter bloomer as would pay the expense of 
rearing it on purpose in competition with Lobbianum 
itself; which, when done properly, is the very best winter¬ 
blooming plant of all the climbers, and the one which 
pays the best for cut flowers for Covent Garden, or any 
other flower mart in the three kingdoms. 
Six weeks back I called on Mr. Kinghorn at his 
nursery, West Sheen, near Richmond—a private business 
visit, but there I saw a case in point. They were un¬ 
ravelling a huge monster specimen of Tropseolum Lob¬ 
bianum, as I understood them to say. It was in a large 
ot, and it was then remodelled, to be set off again for 
looming this autumn and next winter. Mr. Kinghorn 
told me then that cut flowers in winter paid better in 
Richmond than any branch of his business ; and I think, 
in reference to the big plant the men were training, that 
Mr. Kinghorn told me then Lobbianum was still the best 
of them all for winter blooming. 
Now there is a question of some marketable value in 
these Tropseolums, and one of great private interest, 
which “ G. D.,” of Hammersmith, just touched upon in 
the last number of The Cottage Gardener, page 7. 
But, in the first place, it is of great practical value to 
hear and know how new plants for any purpose succeed 
under different circumstances, and particularly that Tro- 
pseolum Stamfordianum does not do on some soils and 
under ordinary training so well as elegans. You recollect 
our accounts of it were from Wrotham Park, Shrubland 
Park, Archerfield, and Dalkeith Palace—four places at 
which they take four times more pains to grow new 
plants on the right model than they do in more ordinary 
places. Our information now amounts to the fact, that 
Stamfordianum requires in a wet season to be in light, 
dry soil, and under the highest style of management to 
make it at all equal to elegans. But my own elegans is 
just a wonderful botheration to me ; it is nine feet high 
and ten feet through;—seeds like a “varmint,” and 
never ceased the whole season to give me a weekly crop 
of yellow leaves ; and yet it is such a love of a thing that 
one hardly grudges it all the care to make it tidy. But 
if this dear elegans of mine were out this season for the 
first time I should never recommend it for a general 
favourite, not knowing its capabilities: therefore, the 
more we hear of, for or against, a new plant, the sooner 
we shall we be able to fix it at its proper value. 
Again. The first Punch which came to London—I 
mean the Geranium Punch—was to Broom House, at 
Fulham, the honourable proprietor and all his family 
being previously aware of its merits on its native soil; 
but Punch was a dead failure at Fulham, and at Bromp- 
ton too, with the late Mr. Conway, to whom the second 
lot to London was sent. But Punch is now well known 
to be the best plain-leaved Scarlet Geranium after the 
Crystal Palace Scarlet, which is three years older than 
Punch. Therefore, kinds like Punch and Stamfordianum^ 
which appear to be peculiarily affected by soil and situa¬ 
tion, should be experimented upon in all large places before 
they are admitted into the great family of bedders. 
The second toucher is about the flowering of Elegans,. 
Stamfordianum, Triomphe de Hyris, and “ Triomphe de 
Univers,” a long-legged, starved-looked thing, which 
was florally committed last month to oblivion, and these 
were incidentally mentioned as blooming through the 
winter by “ G. D.,” Hammersmith ; and the question is,. 
What is the best way to prepare the plants to bloom all 
the winter in-doors, and is that a cheaper way than the 
manner of doing Lobbianum for the same purpose P And 
as there is no practical difference between the cut flowers 
of Lobbianum and any of these kinds of crosses, it may 
be of great use to know the kinds which can be brought to 
market the cheapest. As for private conservatories, and 
for filling flower-glasses from the home growth of the 
place, there is no end to the ways and means. Some will 
go the shortest and cheapest way to work, like the sales¬ 
men; some will go round and round the bush, or take 
the longest route and the greatest number of kinds which 
his eager hands can lay hold on; and some will steer 
only to the points between the extreme limits. 
Now, has any person kept Tropmolum elegans, or any 
other variety of the breed of Lobbianum in flower during 
the past winter? or has the idea of doing so occurred 
just now ? I have a case before me, in which I believe it 
possible to keep elegans in bloom the best part of the 
winter, and I mean to follow out the inquiry. It is this : 
Last spring, and once on a former occasion, we had 
found at the Experimental that the autumn cuttings of 
elegans kept badly through the winter, and were very 
shaky in the spring to get early cuttings from. We then, 
or last April, resolved to change the practice of taking 
cuttings of it in the autumn, and resort to the old ex¬ 
pedient of keeping store plants of it from the late spring 
propagation in pots through the summer; and now we 
have nice little bushy plants of it in No. 48-pots, which 
will furnish a supply of early cuttings safe enough in the 
spring. That practice I would strongly recommend to 
those who have met with the same difficulty as we found ; 
indeed, to all those with moderate means for keeping 
plants as they ought through a long winter* Early last 
September, when Mr. Kinghorn told me that Lobbianum 
was the best of the race for blooming all the winter, it 
occurred to me that our little plants of elegans might 
very easily be brought into competition with Lobbianum 
for the same purpose, and I potted one of them then for 
the trial into a 32-sized pot and rich compost. That 
plant is still out of doors, but it has made a start to grow, 
and has nine or ten blossoms on now, and a healthy set 
of leaves ; and if I had one hundred such plants I think 
nothing could be more easy than to keep them in growth 
and bloom till next February, and that in a very small 
space indeed as compared with the large extent of sur¬ 
face room which would be necessary to obtain the same 
quantity of bloom from so many, or any number, of the 
true Lobbianum. 
To finish and clear up the season with these Tropseolums, 
you will see one called Garibaldi in the first advertise¬ 
ment of the last number of The Cottage Gardeneb, 
