January 25, 1896. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
339 
pruning should be seen to now, in order to allow 
them time to break into fresh growth before it comes 
to their turn to be potted. They always do better 
afterwards when caught just at this stage. 
A sufficiency of soil, both of peat and loam, may be 
got in readiness without delay, drawing upon the 
supplies taken in last autumn and stacked in the dry. 
Should it transpire that the required loam has to be 
taken from an outside heap, it should be dried some¬ 
what before it is chopped up, otherwise it will be 
made somewhat pasty by the operation. It must be 
looked over very carefully for wireworms. 
We take it for granted that a goodly part of the 
dull season has been spent in the thorough cleansing 
of all the plants from the various insect pests which 
prey upon them. It is of great importance that the 
season should be started with a clean bill of health. 
Climbers.— The pruning of these, except Begonias, 
must be finished as soon as possible so that every¬ 
thing may be put ship-shape overhead. 
Gardenias. —These are notoriously dirty subjects 
—in fact, they seem to afford a refuge for every pest 
imaginable. Sponging the leaves with soft soap and 
tepid soft water will soon get rid of the disfiguring 
greasy black deposit that is so often seen upon their 
leaves Young plants struck from cuttings last year, 
and which have been kept in small pots, may now be 
treated pretty liberally with a solution of cow manure 
and soot on alternate waterings Large plants that 
will produce any amount of fine flowers may be thus 
kept in relatively small pots. 
Achimenes. —Although during the flowering period 
these popular plants may be accommodated in an 
ordinary greenhouse, they need a stove temperature 
up to the time that the flowers commence to open in 
order to do them properly. Hence they fairly come 
under the heading of stove plants. The tubercles 
should not be all started at once, but in batches at 
intervals from now till the middle of April, in order 
to produce a succession of bloom. It is quite time 
now that the first batch should be started. The 
tubercles may be shaken out of the old soil in which 
the plants grew last year, and transplanted into the 
pots or baskets in which they are to growiduring the 
coming season. A compost of equal parts of loatrq 
peat, and good leaf soil with a nice sprinkling of sharp 
sand will suit them well. Thirty-two sized pots are 
the handiest to use, and these, it may be observed, 
must be clean and well drained, as whilst in full 
growth the plants need plenty of water. 
Pits and Frames. 
Gloxinias. —In order to have young plants to 
flower from the commencement of June onward, it will 
be necessary to sow a packet of seed now. Make up 
some pans, well-drained, and filled with fine sandy 
soil, level the surface down carefully, and sow 
thinly. A piece of glass placed over the pan, and 
resting upon the rim, will assist germination by 
preventing rapid evaporation of the moisture from 
the soil in which the seed is lying. Watering over¬ 
head must be conducted very carefully and only 
through the medium of a very fine rose can. 
Petunias in pots. —These will come in very handy 
for conservatory decoration presently, when the 
forced stuff is all over, and the glory of Chinese 
Primulas and Cinerarias has departed. A sowing 
made now will furnish plenty of plants for this 
purpose. A uniform temperature of not less than 
0 o° Fahr. will insure prompt germination. This 
sowing must not be confounded with that made 
with a view to supplying plants for bedding purposes, 
as such need not be made before the last week in 
February or the first week in March. 
Antirrhinums, raised from seed sown within the 
next week or so, will produce plants which will flower 
towards the middle of the summer. A gentle heat 
like that recommended for the Petunias will 
be necessary. 
Dahlias.— Where a large stock of these is required 
it is quite time to start propagation. The old roots 
may be placed in boxes, covered with a layer of soil, 
and introduced into heat. They will soon break into 
growth if given a place in the early vinery. They 
should be lightly sprinkled with water from a fine 
rose can about twice a day. The shoots should not 
be allowed to get too long before they are taken off. 
They strike very readily when they have made a 
couple of joints of growth. They do best when 
inserted singly in small thumb pots, the latter being 
plunged to the rims in ashes or cocoanut fibre—the 
former preferably. In all cases a brisk bottom heat 
is essential to the procuring of a good strike, and the 
house or pit in which the cuttings are placed must 
be kept rather close for the first week or two. 
Hollyhocks.— Roots of these which were lifted 
from the open ground last autumn, laid in boxes and 
covered with a thin layer of soil, may now be taken 
out of the cold frames in which they have passed the 
winter and introduced into heat, treating them the 
same as the Dahlias. The best method to pursue 
with these is to graft the young cuttings upon 
a short portion of the thong-like root, fixing the two 
together by means of a pin or a long thorn, and 
potting up singly in small pots. Any quantity of 
strong young plants may soon be obtained by the 
pursuance of this method. 
Alternantheras and other delicate bedding 
plants such as Mesembryanthemum cordifolium 
variegatum, Iresines, Coleuses, Heliotrope, etc., 
from which it is desired to propagate, may be given a 
place on a shelf near the glass in a warm house or 
pit. Plenty of cuttings will soon be forthcoming in 
a few weeks, and then the work of taking these off 
and striking them may go on apace. 
Lobelias. —Stock plants of these should not be 
subjected to quite so much heat as the foregoing 
subjects or the cuttings will be weak and difficult to 
coax into healthy growth. A temperature of about 
50- by night, rising to 55 by day will be quite 
sufficient for them. — A. S. G. 
* 
With the beginning of each year most gardeners 
replenish their seed stores with sufficient material for 
the whole season. To an experienced hand the 
selection of varieties most suitable for his require¬ 
ments affords few or no difficulties, but to the new 
beginner it is very often a source of considerable 
anxiety and trouble to know what to grow to enable 
him to keep up a constant supply of the best 
varieties of vegetables. His first thoughts will 
naturally lead him back to bis past experience, and 
here he may for the first time begin to realise the 
valuable opportunities he had lost of note-taking in 
days gone by. The locality, of course, is an impor¬ 
tant point to consider, and to begin with he would be 
well advised to consult some reliable authority near 
at hand as to what would be the most likely varieties 
to suit him best. 
To those who make a practice of obtaining large 
Onions, I advise that the seed should now be sown. 
Shallow trays or boxes are the most convenient, and 
after filling them up with a mixture of two parts 
loam, one part leaf mould, and half a part of old 
hotbed manure, all put through a J-in. sieve, the soil 
should be made firm and even and well watered. 
After the water has been allowed to drain off, the 
seed should be sown thinly, and then covered about 
half an inch deep and placed in a temperature of 
about 6o°. In about ten or twelve days they will 
show signs of life, should be kept near the glass, and, 
when 2\ in. high, pricked into other boxes 2 in. apart, 
using a somewhat richer and rougher compost. As 
soon as they are growing away freely, a cold frame 
will suit them best and in due time hardened off and 
transplanted. Cranston’s Excelsior and Ailsa Craig 
are two of the best and largest varieties for this 
method. 
Leeks. —Where these are required for exhibition, 
a sowing should be made now and similarly treated 
as the Onion, only I prefer, when ready for pricking 
off, to pot them singly instead of transplanting into 
boxes; 3-in. pots are large enough to begin with. 
The great object with Leeks, is to make sure that 
they receive no sudden check, otherwise they are 
liable to run to seed about August. There are many 
varieties that are good but with really no great 
distinction. The true type of the Lyon & Dobbie's 
Champion are the best I know. 
Cauliflower. —A pinch of Cauliflower seed 
should now be sown for a first crop. Sow thinly in 
boxes, and as soon as above the soil, remove them to 
a cool house or frame, otherwise they become liable 
to damp off. When water is required, soak the boxes 
instead of watering overhead, so as to reduce all 
chance of damping in their young state Early 
London, Sutton's First Crop, and Veitch’s Pearl are 
worthy of being sown now, with a pinch of Veitch's 
Autumn Giant for succession 
Cabbage. - As a safeguard against possible destruc¬ 
tion of Spring Cabbages, a sowing should also bu 
made of a good early variety, of which Sutton's 
h lower of Spring is good. 
Peas — For an early crop of Peas, it is well to be 
making the first sowing under glass. Sowing in pots 
of 5 in. in diameter is the best method, placing four 
or five seeds in each. A cold house or frame with a 
temperature of 50” is warm enough for them at this 
period .—James Gibson , Devunhurst, Chiswick. 
BOUVARDIA PROPAGATION. 
The Bouvardia in its various colours plays an 
important part in the decoration of our Diant houses 
during the autumn and winter months, and is often 
met with in a robust and healthy condition. But 
after all that has been said about its propagation 
and culture, there are yet many who find a great 
difficulty in increasing the necessary stock early 
enough in the season to produce good plants for 
autumn and winter flowering. Now is the time to 
take the plants in hand to be prepared for another 
season's supply, and although you have had several 
articles appearing in your columns on their propaga¬ 
tion and treatment, many still keep to the old system 
of cuttings for propagation. It is quite twenty years 
since I began propagating Bouvardias for stock, and 
the difficulty of striking the cuttings and the length 
of time they took are quite fresh in my memory, 
when I had not convenient means for the purpose in 
view. That difficulty, however, was removed years 
ago, when someone discovered that a more simple 
method of increasing the number of plants was in 
growing them from root cuttings. Although this 
system has been before the public for a good number 
of years, it does not seem to be so well known as it 
ought to be. So, for the benefit of those who may 
not know it or those who may have heard of it and 
not tried it, I should like to bring it to the notice 
of your readers so that they may have an opportunity 
of trying both systems and so deciding which is the 
most useful. 
The usual treatment of the Bouvardia is to dry the 
plants off after they have done flowering, and about 
this time to place the plants in heat to produce 
cuttings where young plants are required The 
cuttings are taken with a heel, that is. they are cut 
close back to the old wood. When the young growths 
are about 2 in. to 3 in long, they are inserted into 
prepared pots, filled with a sharp light soil and 
placed in the propagating frame or on a hotbed. 
To obtain root cuttings the plants are dried off in the 
usual way, and instead of the plants being placed 
into heat to produce young growth, they are shaken 
out and the soil removed from the roots which are 
cut back within an inch or so of the stem. Those 
roots are then cut up into lengths about one and a half 
inches long, and then spread over the soil in prepared 
pans. Any light soil is suitable. They are then 
covered about a quarter of an inch in depth with 
finely sifted material, and placed in a convenient 
spot in the stove. If there is room in the propagating 
frame, so much the better, but it is not essential. 
The growths from the small pieces of roots will be 
found to be almost equal in growth to those pro¬ 
duced from the plants introduced into heat in the 
pots; but we have this great difference, namely, 
that the growths from the roots are already plants, 
while the cuttings on the old plants have to be 
rooted. It is here the great saving in time comes 
in. While your cuttings are forming rootg, your 
rooted cuttings are making plants and gaining an 
immense advantage,while the cuttings are at a stand¬ 
still. By this means we also get over the difficulty 
so often met with in propagating from cuttings. 
After a long trial of the two systems I should be 
sorry to return to cuttings where I wanted strong 
plants for decoration. The after treatment would 
be the same as that recommended for plants struck 
from cuttings, whether they were grown on in pots 
or planted out, and lifted and re-potted as required. 
—Norwoodense, January 20th, 1896. 
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