342 THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION, September 1, 1857. 
piece will make the best plants. These should be about 
three inches long, cut across at a joint, with two or three 
joints above, and inserted from half an inch to one inch 
in tbe soil. It matters not whether there are leaves above 
or not if there are buds at these joints. Of course each of 
these joints with a bud would form a plant; but this is an 
extra productiveness that window gardeners need not often 
strive after. When the plants are thus cut down do not 
keep them dry, but dryish, for a week or so, when they may 
be watered. If in a pit or any convenience of that sort I 
should prefer watering the bottom on which they stood for a 
fortnight to watering the pots. When the young shoots 
are about an inch long reshift the plants into clean similar¬ 
sized or even a smaller-sized pot, using fibry, sandy loam 
and a little leaf mould, just nipping off the points of any 
straggling or decayed roots. Water, and keep close and 
shaded from bright sun until the roots are working freely 
in the fresh soil. If transferred to a smaller pot they may 
need a larger one about February. Such plants, if the shoots 
come regularly, should not be stopped, and they will bloom 
in June. Other plants, younger, repotted later, or whose 
shoots were stopped, will bloom later. Bear in mind that 
the smaller the pot, the better and finer the flowers will be 
in proportion, though entailing more care as respects 
watering. 
4. Fancy kinds may be treated much the same, only they 
should not be pruned in quite so much when the-flowering 
is over. They should not then, nor afterwards before they 
break, be kept so dry as the more succulent, strong-growing 
kinds. They should have smaller pots in proportion, and 
a little heath soil in the compost; and the cuttings even in 
July and August would do best under a shaded liandlight. 
The best plants are made from little side-shoots taken off in 
March and April, struck inside the window, sheltered by 
a paper funnel or a shaded bellglass, and potted once 
or twice during the summer. These and the large florist 
Pelargoniums will bloom well and early the following season, 
though not so freely as plants a year or two older. 
5. Some continuous bloomers, if supplied with the neces¬ 
sary amount of light, heat, and water, as the sweet Prince of 
Orange , Citriodora , the free-flowering Floribunda , and the 
beautiful Uniques , of which Rollisson's Purple and Gaines's 
Scarlet are the best, may be treated much in the same way, 
and are great ornaments of the window, only all propagation 
should, if possible, with window gardeners, take place from 
March to June : not only will the cuttings strike better, but 
nice little plants will be secured before winter. Be it observed 
that none of these, except old established scarlet Geraniums, 
can do without light and the necessary attentions as to air 
and water in winter. Old scarlets will do very well if the 
temperature is dryish, and not below 33° for any length of 
time; all the others should seldom be below 40°, and the 
finer Fancies, the Sweet-scented, and Uniques will like it to 
range from that to 45°. During winter, if the fire dries the 
atmosphere of the room, syringe and moisten the foliage in 
the forenoon, but avoid very cold direct frosty draughts. 
Pentstemon gentianoedes and its varieties are more fit 
for the balcony tlian the inside of a window. Seeds reproduce 
their varieties pretty truly, and plants are easily raised from 
cuttings in spring and autumn. Any cool, dampish place 
free from frost, and having access to light and air, will keep 
them safely over the winter. Common soil, if not too ad¬ 
hesive, will suit them. 
Petunia. —Most of the purple and light varieties come 
pretty truly from seed. Flowering plants for summer from 
cuttings should be struck in April. Plants to stand thickly 
over the winter should be rooted in August and September. 
Firm side-shoots from one inch and a half to two inches in 
length make the best cuttings. They should be inserted in 
sandy soil, and covered with a bellglass or square of glass 
shaded, or be placed under a glass frame, close and shaded 
during the day, and with air left on at night. Rich, fibry, 
sandy loam suits all of them well. They are more fitted for 
the flower garden and balcony than the window. 
Plumbago Capensis. —A beautiful blue flower, blooming 
freely when in a young state. When flowering and growing 
give water freely; give less in autumn to ripen the buds j 
prune back to within a bud or two of the older shoot in 
autumn. Give little water, but a fair portion of light and 
air, and freedom from frost in winter, and increase the water 
as the young shoots come away in spring. Sandy, fibry 
loam, with a little leaf mould or heath soil, will suit it. 
Polyanthuses and Common Primroses for windows treat 
as recommended for Auriculas , though requiring less 
attention. 
Primula Chinensis (Chinese Primrose).—Sow if possible 
under a square of glass in April or May, keep shaded until 
the plants are fairly up, prick off, and water; then pot and 
repot separately, and by July keep the plants on a dry 
bottom, and in a position out of doors shaded from direct 
sunshine until it is time to house them in winter, when the 
nearer they are to the light and the glass the better will 
they bloom, and the more bright will the blooms be. Rich, 
fibry, sandy loam, with a little leaf mould and good drainage, 
will grow them well. When seeding give less water, and 
sow as soon as ripe. Young plants of this year, deprived of 
all their old withered leaves, and which have been kept in 
smallish pots, will, on being properly shifted and attended 
to with watering and shading, bloom early and very freely 
the following year. 
Ranunculus, of the Turban and other florist kinds, if 
potted in fibry, sandy loam in October and November, will 
bloom freely in the windows in spring. Keep the pots in a 
cool, dark place until the plants appear, when they must be 
moved into light and kept from frost. 
Roses. — The Chinese varieties are the best for windows, 
though Bourbons, Teas, and Perpetuals answer very well. 
The small fairy Roses answer extremely well, as taking up 
but little room, and they and the Chinese bloom very early 
and very late, if not even through the winter. For the 
latter purpose the plants should be pruned pretty freely 
after Midsummer. Cuttings strike freely from spring to 
autumn, and all flourish in rich loamy soil well drained. 
When done blooming plunge the pots into an open medium 
out of doors, water well in summer, and keep rather dry 
and free from severe frosts in winter. 
Salpiglossis. —The varieties are endless, but if kept 
separately they reproduce themselves, as to colour, pretty 
accurately. Sow in April under a square of glass in the 
window; prick and pot as soon as practicable, and you will 
obtain very pretty plants for the outside of the window after 
June, or for boxes on the balcony or beds in the flower 
garden. Any light fresh soil will grow them well. 
Salvia. —We have seen many species flourishing in win¬ 
dows. Perhaps the best two are the variegated - leaved 
variety of scarlet Salvia fulgens and the blue Salvia patens. 
The first is easily raised from cuttings in spring and summer, 
and if topped and potted will make a fine neighbour to 
Chrysanthemums in the first months of winter. Plants of 
that age when done flowering may be freely cut back, kept 
from frost, and turned out of doors after the middle of May, 
and if pinched back in summer, and supplied with water 
and pot room, will make a nice flowering specimen by Sep¬ 
tember and October. The patens may also be raised from 
cuttings, but does better from seeds sown under a pane of 
glass in April, pricked off, and potted, when they will bloom 
all the summer. It forms a bunch of tubers, which, if kept 
dry and from frost in winter, will bloom freely the following 
season, but tubers much older are not to be depended on 
so well as seedlings. We have no blue equal to it, unless 
it is some of the new Delphiniums , as formosum and Hen- 
dersonii. 
Saxifraga sarmentosa. —Pot in rough fibry loam, with a 
little peat and sand in it. When a fair size incase it with 
its saucer in a little basket, suspend it from the top of the 
window, and allow the young runners to dangle from it 
for several generations, or as many as you like. Each of 
these little runners will form a plant. Just keep it from 
frost. R. Fish. 
TREES, SHRUBS, AND FLOWERS FOR 
TOWN GARDENS. 
(Continued from page 327.) 
In a paper lately published in The Cottage Gar- | 
dener I condemned trees as screens. That paper had 
reference more particularly to gardens at a distance 
from manufacturing towns. In gardens near or in j 
