88 
THE FLOBIST AND POMOLOGIST. 
[June, 
in appearance, efforts should be made to 
improve upon it. 
The ground colour of these Striped Fancy 
Pansies is reddish-cream or yellow, and the 
stripes and blotches are fiery maroon, orange 
maroon, and deep velvety maroon; but they 
vary in depth, colour, and density in various 
flowers. They are of good size and well- 
formed, and a few blooms make a very attrac¬ 
tive posy. Already such names as Harlequin, 
Punch, &c., have been given to varieties, and 
we may look for more of these being offered. 
They are certain to become favourites if those 
who offer them will only wait till they have 
something worthy of being named. 
So far good compact habits of growth ac¬ 
company the striped forms, and the flowers, 
rising just above the foliage, present to view 
charming tufts of blossom. When the hot 
weather sets in, the colours will pale with the 
heat, and become less attractive; and then, 
by means of top-dressings of rich soil, and 
attentions as to water, &c., the grower can do 
something to assist in the development of 
flowers of the best quality. A few years will 
see great improvements in the Striped forms, 
and the more marked the measure of improve¬ 
ments, the more acceptable will the varieties 
be to gardeners. But let us hope improve¬ 
ments in the former will not he made at the 
expense of vigour and compactness of habit.— 
R. Dean. 
WIRING TO ROOT ROSES, &c. 
HE demand for plants of all sorts was 
never so pressing as now ; and though 
methods and means of propagation 
have vastly increased, yet the cry for 
more plants is constantly arising from all 
quarters, and is ever becoming more urgent. 
Hence the importance of giving prominence 
to any easy mode of increase, such as the 
wiring of the stems or branchlets of plants. 
The process is by no means new. Most 
systems of layering, from that of carnations 
up to roses, shrubs, or trees, proceed on the 
assumption of arresting the flow of the sap. 
This may be done by a slit, a ligature, a peg, 
a ring, or a heavy weight such as a brick or 
Btone. The object in all these cases is to fix 
the branch in one spot, and also to check the 
flow of the sap. The arrestment of the sap 
favours the emission of roots at the point 
where its flow is checked. 
Now, nothing arrests the sap more easily or 
completely than a strand of wire twisted firmly 
round the bough of a Rose or other twig. A 
wire ligature is easily applied, and it is at 
once tight and unyielding. It should not, 
however, be placed too firmly round the bark, 
else it will cut it through, and practically the 
wiring will become ringing—that is, the same 
as the cutting out a line of bark all round the 
stem. By using wire pins instead of wooden 
pegs, most of the advantages of wiring may 
be secured in the layering of pinks, carna¬ 
tions, &c. It is found that the thin parts of 
their surface may thus be wired round without 
injury, but rather to the hastening of the 
rooting of the grass. 
But wiring is more useful with hard-wooded 
plants, such as roses and other shrubs, espe¬ 
cially those that root slowly. The wire holds 
on without rotting for several years if needful. 
The longer it remains the tighter it becomes, 
and consequently the more effectual. Copper 
wire is the best alike for its pliability and 
durability. With the layers tightly wired the 
processes of slitting and tongueing may be 
safely dispensed with, and it is these that 
prove so troublesome to novices. But any 
one with a pair of pliers may twist a thread of 
wire round a branch, and bury and peg it down 
into the ground in the usual way. The wiring 
hastens the rooting of plants that root readily, 
and forces many to root that can hardly be 
made to do so by any other means.—D. T. 
Fish, Hardwicke. 
THE DOUBLE WHITE HEPATICA. 
S this to be regarded as the “ Mrs. Harris ” 
of floriculture, or has it ever existed, 
if it does not now exist ? I was reading 
in an old gardening book, a few days 
ago, an account of a double blue Hepatica, 
that sported (so it was said) to white, and so 
produced a double white Hepatica, but the 
following season it reverted to the original 
blue colour. 
A few years ago I had a letter from Mr. 
Max Leichtlin on this subject. I had been in¬ 
formed that he possessed a true double white 
form, and inquired if this was so. He wrote 
in reply that “ the white double Hepatica has 
