746 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
July 21, 1888. 
The Amateurs’ Garden. 
Budding Boses. 
The abundant rain has caused the bark of Bose shoots 
to be in that condition which is readily raised for the 
insertion of the bud. After a time the wood gets too 
firm, and the bark inseparable without tearing. It is 
not so much a question of season as to when Boses 
should be budded, provided the shoots are in the 
proper condition as to ripeness. There are, however, 
two particular seasons when the method of the 
operation and the results are somewhat different. In 
April and May a pushing bud is used, and a consider¬ 
able amount of growthis obtained during the first year. 
During July and August, what is termed a dormant 
eye is employed. By this is meant resting buds in the 
axils of the leaves. They are in the best condition 
when the shoots have become sufficiently firm, so that 
the piickles may be rubbed off with the hand. The 
Dog Bose, called also the Dog briar, is the best stock 
for all-round purposes, obtained by sowing seeds or 
else by lifting plants from the hedges and woods. 
W hatever the stock used, it should now be in readiness 
for receiving the bud. If bushes are desired insert the 
bud close to the ground, or by partly removing the soil, 
the bud may be placed where -it will afterwards be 
covered with soil. Should the amateur wish to form 
standards, he should use straight, cleaned-stemmed 
briars, and insert his buds at the very base of the 
branches, just where they diverge from the main stem. 
Make a "j”-shaped cut in the bark, so that the portions 
alongside of the leg of the T may readily be lifted with 
the thin end of a budding-knife handle. Before raising 
it, however, get the bud iu readiness. Cut off the 
blade of the leaf, allowing the stalk to remain. Then 
remove the bud with a portion of bark above and below 
it, carefully removing all the wood attached, with the 
exception of the core of the bud, which must in no 
way be injured. Baise the outer bark of the stock 
without bruising the inner one, and insert the bud 
immediately, tying the loosened bark over it wuth 
thread, worsted, or matting. The more expeditiously 
and neatly the operation is performed the more certain 
the success. Later on the buds must be examined to 
see that the ties do not interfere with the swelling of 
the stocks budded. 
Layering Carnations. 
The simplest and readiest way of obtaining a supply of 
young plants for next year’s work is undoubtedly by 
layering the young shoots of the present season as soon 
as they become firm enough. If done too early, the 
wood is too soft, and liable to snap in the operation ; 
but what is of greater importance, the shoot is apt to 
iot at the cut part if done while in this condition. If 
the season be far advanced before the work has been 
accomplished, roots are very imperfectly produced or 
not at all, so that it must be performed in July or 
-August at the latest. In preparing to commence 
operations, get a light rich compost in readiness. 
Some old potting soil would do by the addition of some 
leaf-soil and sand. The former should be sifted to 
remove the rougher material, and the whole mixed 
together. Then take out a shallow basin round the 
plant to be operated upon, or if the shoots are not close 
to the ground, the fresh material may be placed on the 
top of the soil, and a basin formed by heaping up the 
ordinary soil, so as to form a receptacle for water should 
it be necessary to have recourse to artificial watering. 
Prepare the shoots by removing a number of the lower 
leaves ; then take a shoot in the left hand, and with a 
sharp knife make a slanting cut from immediately 
beneath a joint upwards for about \ in. Bend the 
shoot downwards, so as to open the cut, and secure 
it in that position amongst the made soil with a hooked 
peg. Some prefer using wire ones, because when once 
obtained they last for some years. Iron pegs are, how¬ 
ever, liable to rust and corrode the layer, so that on the 
whole wooden pegs are to be recommended. They are 
easily made by cutting them from twiggy 7 brushwood, 
which is usually not difficult to obtain. Having 
fastened down the layer, proceed with the others on 
the same plant till all have been completed. Cover 
up the whole with some of the prepared compost, 
and proceed with all the other plants till the shoots 
have been layered. Give a watering to settle the soil, 
and should the weather prove dry and warm afterwards, 
give a good watering occasionally till the layers are 
rooted. Examine them early in the autumn, and when 
well rooted they may be severed from the parent plant 
and transferred to the beds or borders where they are 
intended to bloom next year. 
Sweet MTlliams. 
A great quantity of beautiful garden flowers for border 
decoration may, with the smallest amount of trouble, 
be obtained by raising Sweet Williams (Dianthus 
barbatus) from seed. If it is desired to increase the 
stock of any good variety it may easily be done by 
layers or by propagation from cuttings, as they root 
without any difficulty whatever, and shoots may even 
be found on the mother plant already rooted. Great 
interest is, however, attached to the raising of them 
from seeds. Mow that the old plants are in flower go 
over them carefully and note the very best varieties, 
which should be labelled, with the intention of saving 
the seeds when mature. When the seedlings come into 
flower make another careful selection of the best, and 
by pursuing this plan a very fine strain of showy plants 
will be obtained. If the operator understands the 
method of cross-breeding he may even get quicker and 
better results than by leaving it to bees or to chance. 
Endive and Lettuce. 
For the main winter supply of Endive, seed sowing 
must not be longer delayed. Some prefer to sow a few 
seeds at regular distances, thinning out the seedlings 
to the proper number in the row when they have 
developed a few leaves. Mo check is given to the 
young seedlings by transplantation when they are 
thus sown in their permanent quarters, but cultivators 
generally find that better results are obtained by sowing 
in beds in the usual way, and transplanting to newly- 
dug or prepared soil. When re-established, they come 
away rapidly in the fresh soil, and attain a larger size 
in the long run. A sowing of Green Paris Cos Lettuce 
should also be made at the present time for use during 
autumn and early winter. 
Winter Onions. 
Ground should now be prepared for making a sowing 
of Onions to stand the winter, and furnish a supply 
during the early part of summer, when the old ones 
have become soft and almost useless by growth. They 
do not root so deeply as Leeks and some other crops, 
but a rich and deeply-dug or trenched soil always gives 
the best results with this kind of crop. Manure 
heavily, breaking and pulverising the soil well as the 
work proceeds —an operation which will not be difficult 
to effect, especially after so much rain. The soil 
should be moderately dry, however, while being worked, 
otherwise it will get pasty and puddled. After the 
digging has been completed, tread the soil firmly all 
over and rake it level. Then draw shallow trenches 
about 1 ft. apart, and sow the seeds rather thickly, as 
they may afterwards be slightly thinned out, leaving 
just sufficient to make good any gaps that may have 
occurred during winter. As they grow slowly, however, 
they need not be severely thinned till spring, when the 
thinnings may be pulled as they are wanted for im¬ 
mediate use. Early White and the Queen are good 
early sorts, while some of the red or dark-skinned 
varieties are, perhaps, hardier. Sowings made now 
will come into use about April or May next. In 
choosing the ground, select that which is naturally 
inclined to be dry, and fully exposed on all sides to 
the influence of the weather. If shaded in any way or 
under the drip of trees, they are certain to succumb 
during winter. 
-- 
SUMMER AND AUTUMN- 
FLOWERING PHLOXES. 
Notwithstanding the value of these old-fashioned 
garden subjects for border decoration, they have prac¬ 
tically been neglected for some years past, in the 
southern counties at least. In former years they were 
not only grown to great perfection out of doors, but 
even in pots and for exhibition purposes. Their un¬ 
popularity would easily be accounted for should we be 
visited by many dry and warm summers, such as we 
had last year, when all the taller-growing and summer 
or autumn-flowering Phloxes were literally a failure. 
The present wet summer, should it continue for any 
length of time, may injure the quality and quantity of 
bloom from an opposite cause ; but a fair amount of 
moisture is always a desideratum for these tall-growing 
kinds. 
The summer-flowering Phloxes proper have been 
derived from P. glaberrima suffruticosa, a rigid-stemmed 
variety from the South United States, not exceeding 
18 ins. or 24 ins. in height, and flowering variously 
from April to July, according to latitude and local 
conditions with regard to shelter, soil, season, and 
other matters regulating growth. A great number of 
beautiful varieties have been derived from the original 
by cross-breeding, seed-saving, and selection. In spite 
of their beauty and dwarf habit, which adds greatly to 
their value, they have proved altogether unsuitable for 
general cultivation in the southern counties, except in 
very favourable soil, which should be rich and deep in 
order to secure a continuous supply of moisture by 
capillary attraction from the subsoil during the period 
of flowering, when the atmosphere is usually very dry 
and warm, trying the duration of the blooms very 
severely. 
The so-called autumn-flowering Phloxes have been 
derived from P. panieulata, P. p. acuminata, and P. 
maculata, better known under the name of P. decussata. 
The first-named grows from 3 ft. ,to 4 ft. in height, 
according to circumstances, while P. maculata is a 
dwarf-growing plant seldom exceeding 2 ft. in height, 
and in light sandy soils it does not even attain those 
dimensions. The species mentioned, however, have 
become so blended by hybridisation and cross-breeding 
that the progeny now found in gardens cannot with 
certainty be referred to any one parent type. A deep 
heavy loam is that most favourable to the full de¬ 
velopment of this group, now represented by a large 
number of forms. AVe had incontestable evidence of 
this during the long-continued drought of last summer, 
which unduly hastened them into bloom. In many of 
the southern and eastern counties, in gardens especially' 
where the soil was light and sandy or shallowly culti¬ 
vated, the plants flowered prematurely, while the 
blooms were miserably small, and shrivelled away 
almost before they were fully expanded. The foliage 
also withered away, showing them to be plants wholly 
unsuited to withstand drought. 
In northern aud cooler counties, both summer and 
autumn-flowering kinds flower in great perfection 
almost every year on account of the better supply of 
moisture, both in the soil and atmosphere. Reasonable 
success may, however, be attained in the south by good 
cultivation, always choosing a soil that is naturally 
heavy and somewhat inclined to be moist. By deep 
cultivation, by mulching the beds, and by giving an 
occasional watering during dry weather, the plants 
will grow with a vigour, and produce such a quantity 
of bloom that few herbaceous subjects can equal, 
and they are furthermore flowers of a beautiful and 
very refined kind. The reason so much attention must 
be given to moisture is because these Phloxes are 
practically very shallow rooting plants. The surface 
soil gets literally a mass of roots, hence the benefit 
derived by mulching with manure or other moisture- 
retaining, and at the same time feeding material. 
All these kinds are readily propagated by seeds, by 
division, and by cuttings. The former method is 
employed in order to obtain new varieties, while the 
last mentioned is the best when strong, vigorous 
specimens, with branching panicles, are desired for 
exhibition purposes. Cuttings put in pots or boxes 
now and covered with a frame or handlight will be well 
rooted before winter, and should be planted out next 
spring, treating them like established plants.— B. B. 
--nAn-- 
Hardening Miscellany 
Pinks from Newry. 
A boxful of various species of Pinks (Dianthus) comes 
from Mr. T. Smith, Daisy Hill Nursery, Newry, 
Ireland, redolent of the fragrance for which this class of 
plants is noted. Mr. Smith says that flowers are very 
abundant everywhere this season—a statement in which 
we can acquiesce, for the abundant rain has been very 
favourable to outdoor vegetation, although the extreme 
cold has kept most things in a late and backward 
condition. Rosa, Picturata, Sprightly, and Circe are 
single varieties of the common garden Pink (D. 
plumarius), differing in the size of the flowers and their 
particular shades of colour ; but Black-Eyed Susan is 
decidedly the best of the singles, with large, shallowly- 
cut, pink petals, and a large brownish crimson blotch 
at the base of each, which renders the flower both con¬ 
spicuous and handsome. W. Bruce is a double rose 
form, with a bright dark crimson blotch on each petal ; 
while Accident is a brilliant rose-red double variety, 
having the petals prettily mottled with white. It is 
evidently a form of D. chinensis, as evidenced by the 
broad leaves and long bracts subtending the calyx ; it 
has no scent, however. Accompanying the above were 
half a dozen other species or forms of them. D. 
petneus albus is a slender-growing plant, with long, 
fringed, white petals and fragrant ; while the variety 
D. p. oculatus is rendered very pretty by the addition 
of a blackish purple blotch on the base of the petals, 
just lining the throat of the flower. The blooms of 
D. monspessulanus albus are larger and pink in bud, 
becoming pure white as they expand, and are also 
deliciously scented. Something in the way of the 
