Sept. 0, 1S84. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
11 
nice balls of earth adhering to their roots, to be 
potted into 4-inch pots before they get crowded in 
the boxes or pans. From this time grow them on 
in heat near.the glass until they show flower. 
Browallia elata. —This beautiful old perennial, 
introduced so long ago as 1763, and figured in the 
first volume of the Botanical Magazine, t. 34, should 
be grown by everyone having a conservatory, 
greenhouse, or stove,to embellish during the winter 
and spring months. If necessary, it may indeed be 
had iu flower throughout the year by sowing a 
pinch of seed in January, and again in August or 
September; but it is as a winter and spring flower¬ 
ing plant that we shall here speak of it, because 
it is during those months that the plants, which 
are of branching habit, are most appreciated for 
decorative purposes. The blue phlox-like flowers, 
which proceed freely from the tops of the side 
shoots, are then of the brightest hue, and contrast 
effectively when associated with flowering plants of 
Eueharis amazonica, and Poinsettias, &c. A stock 
of these plants can be very easily raised from seeds, 
a few of which should be sown at once in 4-inch 
pots previously crocked and filled to the rim with a 
light compost—say 3-parts of sandy loam and one 
of leaf-soil. When the seeds are sown, place the 
pots in a warm house or frame, first covering them 
with a square of glass or some moss, which must be 
removed as soon as the seedling plants appear 
above the soil. From this time the seedlings must 
be gradually inured to light and air to prevent 
them from making a weakly growth, and with this 
object in view the plants should be grown on shelves 
near the glass. Three plants in a pot will be suffi¬ 
cient ; and the superfluous plants should be pulled 
out before they become crowded, and be trans¬ 
planted in 3in. or 4in. pots if necessary to increase 
the number of plants. The latter should have a 
small stick about 18 inches long put to each for sup¬ 
port, and be kept well supplied with water at the 
roots, and damped overhead on bright afternoons to 
prevent the attacks of red spider. If larger speci¬ 
mens are desired, a portion of the plants should be 
shifted into 6 or 8 inch pots, and those in the 43’s, 
which we find are large enough for all ordinary 
purposes, should be top-dressed with a mixture of 
pulverised horse-droppings and loam when the 
plants attain a height of about 9 or 10 inches. 
This will enable them to develope finer heads of 
flowers than would otherwise be obtained. 
NiGella dahascena. —This is a beautiful old 
blue-flowered annual, introduced from the South of 
Europe many years ago. It has several common 
names, but two of them, Love-in-a-Mist, and Devil 
in a Bush, are singularly apposite, both names no 
doubt given owing to the flower being enveloped 
in a dense entanglement of finely divided bracts. 
Sometimes people complain of there being so few 
blue-flowers of a common character, but here is 
one that is far too much neglected. It is a common 
hardy annual, needing no special cultivation, sowing 
itself freely, and coming up each spring. When 
the flowers open, and for two or three days, they are 
of a rich bright blue ; but after that they take on 
a paler colour. As the flowers are borne on long 
stems, they are very useful in a cut state, and can 
be employed in many ways for floral decoration. 
This beautiful annual must be placed among the 
things worth growing. 
Tuberous Begonia Cuttings. —A month ago I 
put in a quantity of these in heat and they rotted 
off one after the other until I lost them all. I put 
them in a cutting frame in the Melon House. Last 
year I was almost as unlucky with those I put in a 
cutting frame in a cool house. Can any of your 
readers tell me if there is anything peculiar in the 
way in which the cuttings should be made, and also 
the best time and place to put them in ?. — 
J. Cameron. 
Viola Chelsea Belle.— It may seem like ex¬ 
aggeration to say that Viola Blue Bell has been 
improved, so remarkably good at all points is this 
very popular flower; but Mr. Moore showed us 
recently in the Chelsea Botanic Garden a seedling 
from it, which is much deeper in colour and a better 
shaped flower’ 
VEGETABLES. 
Culture of the Cauliflower. —The Cauliflower, 
the Queen of the Brassica family, is at all times, 
but more particularly iu early summer, a favourite 
second-course vegetable, and its cultivation, there¬ 
fore, receives due attention at the hands of all 
practical gardeners, whose aim it is to secure a 
supply of good close heads as early in the season 
as possible, and to maintain it uninterruptedly as 
long as they can, sometimes into the new year. In 
order to do this, no time should be lost in sowing 
seeds of the following well-tested varieties. Dean’s 
Early Snowball, Early London, Walcheren, and 
Veitch’s Autumn Giant. These, coming into use in 
the order in which their names appear, will yield 
a suceessional supply of this much-esteemed vege¬ 
table from the end of April to the end of August 
the following year, if the cultural details set forth 
below are attended to. 
The seeds should be sown in a warm border in 
beds four feet wide (having an alley one foot wide 
between each bed), and be covered with about a 
I-inch thickness of soil from the alleys, or, if that 
be too stiff or heavy, with some from the waste-soil 
heap. Tliis should be raked and afterwards patted 
with the back of the spade to compress the seeds 
and soil, and then all must be covered with a piece 
of garden netting supported by short forked sticks 
as a protection from the ravages of birds. In the 
absence of rain, the beds must be watered through 
a medium-sized rose every other afternoon until the 
seedling plants appear above the soil. These, as 
soon as they are large enough to handle, should be 
pricked out, some in pots singly, the others six or 
eight inches apart, under hand-glasses, or in cold 
pits, in soil previously surface-dressed with wood- 
ashes and a sprinkling of soot, which will serve to 
protect their roots and leaves from the attacks of 
grubs and slugs. Finally, they must be watered 
through a long-spouted watering-pot with a rose, to 
settle the soil about their roots. In order to pro¬ 
mote a sturdy growth in the plants, during the 
interval from the time the young plants are pricked 
out until they are finally transplanted in the be¬ 
ginning or middle of February, according to the 
condition of the weather, they should have an 
abundance of air, the sashes and lights being left 
off during favourable weather; but whenever the 
appearance of the sky indicates the approach of 
severe weather, the sashes should be put over the 
plants, and in the event of frost ensuing a sufficient 
covering of dry fern to prevent its reaching them. 
In the meantime a piece of ground should have 
been liberally manured and trenched, in readiness 
for early sowings and plantings of Peas and Cauli¬ 
flowers. In this, as early in February as the weather 
will permit of its being done, draw drills, running 
north and south, three inches deep and two feet 
apart, some potted plants of Dean’s Early Snowball 
and Early London should be planted with a garden 
trowel, disturbing the soil and roots as little as 
possible in turning them out. Press the soil firmly 
about the roots, and when this is done make a 
circle of soot and lime mixed around the individual 
plants, with a view to keeping slugs from inter¬ 
fering with them ; then, as a protection from frosts 
and cutting winds, stick some spruce boughs firmly 
iu the ground on either side of the plants. These, 
after an interval of a few weeks, should be removed 
from the west side of the plants to prevent their 
making a weakly growth, and, weather permitting, 
a couple of weeks later they can be removed alto¬ 
gether, and the plants be earthed up in due time. 
It will be obvious to many of our readers that 
plants thus treated (grown in pots) are subject to 
little, if any, cheek in the process of being trans¬ 
planted, and that a few plants turned out of the 
pots carefully, and planted about the same time at 
the foot of south walls, and protected from the 
ravages of slugs, as above directed, will yield an 
early supply of small, useful heads. Later plant¬ 
ings should be made, from the plants pricked out, 
in pits at intervals of a week or two; the plants 
being taken up carefully with as much soil adhering 
to the roots as possible, and be transplanted in. 
the manner detailed above. About the middle of 
January a sowing of Early London, Walcheren, 
and Veitch’s Autumn Giant, should be made in a 
pit containing a gentle bottom-heat and near the 
glass, to prevent the seedling plants from be¬ 
coming drawn. These, when large enough, should 
be pricked out in boxes, be gradually hardened off, 
and in due time planted out as above described. 
Sowings of the same varieties should be made in 
the open on a warm border about the middle of 
April, May, June, and July, and plants resulting 
from these sowings, if subsequently attended to as 
already described, will yield a supply of Cauliflowers 
well into the new year. 
In summer the leaves should be bent over the 
“ flowers,” with a view to keeping the latter firm, 
as well as retarding them by protecting them from 
the direct rays of the sun. In early winter the 
same practice should be carried out as a protection 
against a few degrees of frost. With the same 
object in view several heads, with the greater part 
of the stems attached, should be cut on the approach 
of frost and be placed on the floor of a cool house 
or shed, where neither frost nor damp can harm 
them, and the Cauliflowers will remain fresh and in 
good condition for two or three weeks. 
Lettuces: Seed-sowing. — Where not already 
done, no time should now be lost in making a sow r - 
ing of the following varieties of Lettuces, to be 
wintered in cold frames or on sunny borders for 
transplanting in early spring—viz.. Hick’s Hardy 
White Cos, the black-seeded Bath Cos, and Lee’s 
Hardy Hammersmith. These should be sown on a 
warm border, and as soon as the plants are large 
enough to handle, they should be pricked out in a 
cold pit, from which frost can be excluded, in rows 
three inches apart, and at the same distance apart 
from plant to plant in the rows. The soil should 
be previously dusted over with wood-ashes and soot 
to keep the slugs at bay. Plants should be put out 
in the same way, and at the same distances apart, 
in a warm, dry border out of doors, where, during 
frosty weather, they can be protected with a sprink¬ 
ling of fern, which should be removed and put on, 
as circumstances necessitate. In due time a paper 
will appear in our columns upon the culture of this 
much-esteemed salading plant. 
Winter Spinach. —This vegetable is in denumd 
in most gardening establishments, and in order to 
have a good supply of it when called for, seeds 
should be sown not later than the 1st. or 2nd. week 
in September, in shallow drills, not less than from 
16 to 18 inches apart. The drills should be closed 
in with the feet after the seed is sown, then trod¬ 
den to compress the soil, and subsequently raked 
with a medium-sized iron rake. The only after 
attention necessary to insure success with the crop 
is to thin out the young plants to five or six in. 
ches apart in the rows as soon as they are large 
enough to handle ; to keep them free from weeds ; 
and to stir the soil between the rows with a Dutch- 
hoe to accelerate growth. This later operation 
should be carried out as often as the condition of 
the soil will admit of the work being done during 
the interval from September to May. It is almost 
unnecessary to remark that the ground should be 
manured, dug, trodden, and raked previous to the 
drills being drawn at from one to two inches deep 
for the reception of the seeds. 
What a Lilac Bush Did. —Two cut stones form¬ 
ing a part of a corner foundation of Dr. Asa Gray’s 
residence at Cambridge, Mass., have been displaced 
by a lilac bush which some years since insinuated 
itself into a very close joint in the stone-work. The 
lower stone wdiich has been misplaced is three feet 
long, about a foot high, and eight inches deep. 
Upon this rests a stone of similar shape, two feet 
long. These stones form one end of the wall. In 
the joint between the lower stone and the main 
body of the wall the lilac sprout established itself. 
The bush, now scarcely more than an inch in 
diameter, has forced the lower stone an inch away 
from the remaining wall in a horizontal direction. 
Moreover, the upper stone, being- attached to the 
lower by mortar and being held down by the weight 
of the building, has shared equally in the displace- 
ment,-—Botanical flazeU?, 
