THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION, April 7, 1857. 
they grow, and others will guess it near enough. Do not 
graft very old hard wood or soft young wood, and let 
the stock be about the same. The plan and principle 
are very nearly the same as in grafting Cactuses, only 
that Cactuses, being very tenacious of life, may be used 
with little regard to ripeness. The best stock for grafting 
Geraniums ought to divide into two branches just where 
you wish to put in the graft; then, by splitting down 
between the fork one inch, or an inch and a half, it is 
ready to let in the graft in the shape of a true wedge, 
and if the bark on both edges of the wedge could be 
made to join the bark of the stock, all the better. If 
not make one side quite in union, bark to bark. Tie up 
with worsted thread, and clay with clay paint; that 
is, a lump of soft clay squeezed into the bottom of a 
small pot, then a little water over it, and worked with an 
old stumpy brush till it is as thick as cream, when it is 
the best thing in the world for grafts, and for killing scale 
insects on smooth wood; every coat of paint over a graft 
to be dried immediately , by shaking as much dry sand over 
it as will suck up the wet. Every graft ought to have two 
or three coats of this paint, and the paint on very soft 
wood, as on some root-grafting, ought to be kept free 
from damp till the scion and stock are united, and 
that is easily effected by having an inch of loose silver 
sand all round the parts, an inch above the grafted 
part, an inch below it, and one inch deep all round. 
This is a most effectual way of securing half-herbaceous 
| grafting wood from damp, and is equivalent to earthing 
; up grafts out of doors. The sand is held round the 
grafts by folding a piece of paper like grocers fold soft 
sugar papers, in the funnel-shape way, the pointed bot¬ 
tom to be tied firmly round the stock a little below the 
| graft, and to draw in the top to a barrel shape, and fill 
j the barrel with half dusty peat and half dry sand, and 
that would hold against water and all damp much longer 
than the paper. The graft should not have many leaves 
on, and the top parts of the stock need not be stopped 
for the first three weeks after grafting. 
Gardeners will take a plain stock without forking, 
i cut off the head, split it in two and put in the graft, clay, 
sand, and support it in half the time it takes to write 
out the story for ordinary readers. 
Geranium wood takes a very long time to unite, 
i therefore side-grafting is not so good for them as this 
i wedge-grafting; and very soft green shoots are so liable 
to rot or damp before they take that it is next to useless 
to try them. But the fact is we have our p’s and q’s to 
learn yet about them. These explanations, however, 
| being founded on facts, which I could hardly misap¬ 
prehend, may be relied on as sufficiently near the mark 
for an ordinary shot. D. Beaton. 
STEPHANOTIS FLORIBUNDA CULTURE. 
So much has been written about this extra fine 
favourite that I will try and meet the wishes of “ A 
Subscriber” from Ireland , and another from Bristol , 
in as short a space as possible 1 . 
History. —This plant is a native of Madagascar, an 
island of which we are soon likely to know more, as it is 
being opened to the missionary enterprise, which will 
soon be followed by commercial intercourse and an ad¬ 
vanced state of knowledge of everything connected with 
it. From the position of the island we should expect 
to find the plants such as delight in a high tempera¬ 
ture and a moist atmosphere, and but little influenced 
by variations of the season. We can never treat such 
plants quite naturally, because we cannot give them the 
sunlight which they have at home in our winter months. 
Our object, therefore, should be to grow and ripen the 
wood of these plants in our finest, brightest weather, 
and to rest them in our dark winter months, just keep¬ 
ing them healthy enough to start with vigour as the j 
fine sunny days of spring arrive. Many failures have 
arisen from keeping the plant too warm in winter, and 
thus encouraging it to grow in comparative shade and I 
darkness when it ought to be resting. The following j 
remarks are based on successful practice. 
Propagation.— -This is best done by slipping off close 
to the stem short, stumpy pieces about three inches long, 
removing, with a razor or sharp knife, a few of the scaly- 
like leaves at the base, and inserting the cutting in a j 
small, well-drained pot filled half full with sandy peat, 
and the other half with silver sand, watered, covered 
with a bell-glass, and the pot plunged in a briskish hot¬ 
bed such as would grow early Cucumbers. 
Soil. —This we would regulate by the age and the | 
state of the plant. For instance, in potting off a cutting 
we would use three parts of peat earth to one of loam, 
and a good sprinkling of silver sand. Were I turning a 
nice healthy plant in a four-inch pot into one of from 
six to eight inches, I would use about equal portions of 
fibry peat and fibry loam, with a little silver sand, and 
nodules of charcoal and old cowdung or leaf mould form¬ 
ing nearly another part. Were I turning such a plant 
again into a flowering pot or tub from twelve to eighteen 
inches in diameter, I would have three parts of the 
compost of good fibry loam in a rough state, that is, 
the great proportion should be little bits of the size of 
large peas, beans, and walnuts, and after breaking all 
with my hands I should very likely use a fine sieve, and 
give the loam a shake or two in it, so that the very 
finest matter should be got rid of. To this I would add 
one part consisting of equal portions of dried, old cow- 
dung, leaf mould, bits of charcoal, and silver sand. The 
preponderance of loam in such a shifting is to cause the 
shoots to come strong and short jointed. 
Time of Potting. —It matters not what time during 
summer young plants are potted; but those intended to 
bloom should not be potted later in summer than it may 
be expected that the pots will be pretty full of roots 
before winter. If the potting has been neglected until 
spring the sooner it is done after fresh growth is com¬ 
mencing the better. Like all such free-rooting plants 
the drainage must be ample. 
Time and Age of Flowering.-— A nice plant from a 
cutting may be expected to bloom in the third year, 
earlier if extra care and coddling have been given to it, 
such as encouraging it to grow freely in a sweet, moist 
hotbed. Properly rested during winter it generally com¬ 
mences to bloom about May, or a little earlier, and con¬ 
tinues on for several months, the length of the time of 
flowering depending much on the mode of 
Pruning and Training. —When the long shoots are 
cut back to a few well-ripened buds the young shoots 
that come from them will continue to bloom as they 
grow for most of the summer. If the shoots during 
the ensuing summer are grown rather thin, so that there 
is room for each leaf to have plenty of sunshine, then, 
after these shoots are well ripened in autumn and rested 
in winter, they will produce flowers from most of the 
buds, and thus there will be a greater profusion of bloom 
for a certain period, but it will not continue so long as 
by the other method. A mixture, combining longish 
shoots and cutting back, suits best for general purposes, 
where an abundance and a continuance of bloom are 
demanded. Provided the shoots are not too thick it mat¬ 
ters little how the plant is trained, whether up or down 
a rafter, longitudinally along a house, round a barrel¬ 
shaped trellis, or over one with a flat surface. 
Persistance of Foliage. —Like all true evergreens a 
few leaves will fade now and then, but there is no general 
shedding of foliage, as in a deciduous plant, unless there 
has been something very wrong in the treatment. 
Position and Temperature. —In its young state it 
greatly delights in being plunged in a sweet dung or bark 
