32 
THE FLORIST AND POMOLOGIST. 
crocks only are used at the bottom of the pans. A good layer of old Mush¬ 
room dung is then placed over the drainage, and then the pans are filled up 
with loam and finely-sifted horsedung, with a slight addition of sand. The 
cuttings are pricked into these about 2 inches apart, and placed for a few days 
in the cold frame, and are soon fully exposed night and day, except during con¬ 
tinued rains. In such wet soil they make a very different figure to those struck 
in heat, and they are either left in the cutting-pots or potted off into small pots. 
If a system is to be judged of by its results, this method is all that could be 
desired.” 
To this outline of experimental doing is supplemented a statement of the 
fact that the plants “ do not require to be picked over once—not a spot of mil¬ 
dew appeared on them,” so satisfactorily does the method work; and not even 
Purple King, a variety that is very apt to be affected by mildew, was stained or 
discoloured by it. 
From these plants come the cuttings from which are raised the plants re¬ 
quired for “ bedding-out.” They are planted thus:—“The cuttings are put 
into large boxes which will contain 500 each, and as soon as rooted they are 
pricked off into [smaller] boxes, always using rich soil;” and here they remain 
till “bedding-out” commences, when they are lifted by the hand and placed 
where required. “ Such plants fill their beds far quicker, and keep up a better 
succession of bloom than miserable rusty plants struck and kept in poor sandy 
soil till planted out.” 
This method, so simple, and yet so thoroughly satisfactory in its results, is 
best commended from such considerations. The plants from which it is in¬ 
tended to derive the “vesture of beauty” during the summer months should 
always be spring-struck, young, but vigorous and healthy. Autumn-struck 
plants should be employed only by the propagator, not by the bedder-out; 
for when the best possible effect is wished for they should not be employed to 
produce it. The young plants can be propagated to a great extent when such 
a system of wintering is attended with satisfactory results, and the stern 
necessity too often inseparable from the old system, which at best could only 
yield decimated ranks, of using old plants, will be in a great measure removed, 
if not wholly set aside. E. W. 
INTERNATIONAL HORTICULTURAL EXHIBITION AND 
BOTANICAL CONGRESS. 
In addition to the patronage of Her Majesty the Queen and H.R.H. the 
Prince of Wales, that of their Royal Highnesses the Duchess of Cambridge, 
the Duke of Cambridge, and the Princess Mary of Cambridge has been ex¬ 
tended to this important undertaking. The Treasury have also granted the use 
of the site of the Great Exhibition of 1862 at South Kensington, for the 
purposes of the Great International Show, and tents, or a suitable building to 
the extent of three acres, will be required. Further, the Lord Mayor, Aider- 
men, and Court of Common Council of the City of London have unanimously 
granted the use of their ancient Guildhall for the banquet to the foreign visitors, 
&c. Each day the dimensions of this great undertaking appear to widen ; and 
in May next a spectacle will be presented altogether beyond what has ever 
been witnessed in the annals of British horticulture. The donation fund 
already exceeds the sum of £3,400, and the guarantee fund that of £4,200, 
but a much larger sum than the former will be required, and there is no doubt 
will be subscribed, before the 1st of May next. All who are interested in 
