Dec. 20th, 1884. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
251 
Seasonable Work in the Plant-houses.— 
Many of the Bouvardias will now have done flow-ering, 
and some of the sorts, if dried off and cut back at 
once, will give a crop of flowers again early in the 
spring. The plants should not be cut back until they 
are quite dry in the pot, and no water must be given 
for at least a fortnight after the plants are pruned, 
and then they should only be slightly sprinkled until 
they begin to start into growth. The following sorts 
will be found amongst the best for spring flowering :— 
B. Jasminoides, B. longiflora flammea, B. rosea oecu- 
lata, and B. Dazzler. Ferns require a little extra 
attention at this time of year, especially the denser- 
growing sorts, which are liable to damp if the old 
fronds are not removed as soon as they begin to decay. 
Although care must be taken not to wet ferns over¬ 
head at this season, yet they should never be allowed 
to get too dry in the pot. All kinds of hard-wooded 
greenhouse plants require great care in watering at this 
season. Where plants are standing on a dry stage 
they will sometimes become dry at the bottom of the 
pot when the surface appears moist, and although an 
overdose of water is very damaging, yet it is equally 
damaging to allow any kind of hard-wooded plant to 
become too dry in the pot. The present is a good time 
to get any plants that require tying attended to. In 
tying out Ericas, Aphelexis, Dracophyllums, and, in 
fact, all kinds of hard-wooded plants, the fewer sticks 
used the better it is for the plants. 
Tree Carnations.— Now and then these are to be 
met with in gardens in fine condition, but in every 
case when this is so, I always find the plants in light 
airy houses or pits, where there is gentle heat and 
free ventilation, without which latter the shoots of the 
Carnation soon draw and become too weak to bloom. 
The finest I have seen were planted out on a slightly 
fermenting bed of leaves, and for top warmth had a 
pipe running round the pit, which generally had a 
little air on, and the quantity of flowers these plants 
yielded, when compared with others in pots, was 
something astonishing. When pursuing this mode of 
cultivation, the best way is to plant the plants out in 
good soil, and so let them have their summer growth 
in the open, and then lift them with good balls in the 
autumn, when, by replanting them on a slight hotbed, 
they soon get fresh hold and hardly feel the removal. 
Those who would have them good next year should 
begin propagating now, as it is only by getting early, 
struck cuttings that strong plants can be grown. The 
way to induce the cuttings to root is to insert them 
in sandy soil around the edge of a well-drained pot, 
and then stand them in the propagating-box, or on a 
shelf, with a sheet of glass supported above them, to 
prevent them from flagging. Later in the season it is 
a good plan to dibble them in on a dung lining, under 
shelter of a hancllight, where, with the warmth below, 
they strike quickly, and seldom damp off.— Alpha. 
Allium macranthum.— This is well figured in the 
| December number of The Botanical Magazine , t. 6789 ; 
where it is described as one of the finest Alliums yet 
brought into cultivation. It is a native of the Eastern 
Himalaya, and was brought home alive by Mr. Elwes, 
who obtained it in an excursion to the Chumbi Valley. 
Sir J. D. Hooker had previously brought home a dried 
specimen, which he collected in 1848, in the Lachen 
Valley, Sikkim, at an elevation of 13,000 ft.; con¬ 
sequently it will probably prove hardy with us. It is 
a robust plant, with numerous broad linear leaves 1 ft. 
to 1 ft. 6 ins. long, and scarcely any bulbous rootstock. 
The scapes are several to each plant, 2 ft. to 3 ft. high, 
each bearing fifty or more bright mauve-purple flowers 
in a loose globose umbel. 
Salvia paniculata.—This is a handsome South 
African plant, which has recently flowered in the 
Cambridge Botanic Garden, under the able manage¬ 
ment of Mr. Lynch, who obtained it from the Botanic 
Garden at Ghent, some four years ago. A cutting 
was struck and pdanted out against a wall, where it 
grew to 6 ft. or 7 ft. high, and produced large and 
loose panicles of large pale lilac-blue flowers. The 
leaves are comparatively small, measuring 1 in. to 
2 ins. long. It was introduced to cultivation by Phillip 
Miller in 1758. It grows wild in sandy places at 
Worcester, Clan William and on the east side of 
Table Mountain, and belongs to a group of twelve 
species, which, with the exception of S. canariensis, 
from the Canary Islands, is peculiar to the Cape of 
Good Hope. It is figured in the December number 
of The Botanical Magazine, t. 6790. 
-- 
Solanum capsicastrum.— It is a good plan to 
take off the green points of the berried Solanums at 
this time of the year, and insert them as cuttings, 
placing them in a warm house till rooted, when they 
should be removed to a cooler house, or pit, and be 
potted up with the ordinary bedding plants in spring, 
and planted out in an open and sunny position out-of- 
doors, in the end of May or beginning of June. With 
me winter - struck cuttings have a considerable 
advantage over those rooted in spring.— C. TV. 
Propagating- Cinerarias. — A correspondent 
writes as follows :—“ I had last year what is said by 
some of my gardening neighbours to be a very fine 
strain of Cinerarias. I took seed from a few of 
them, sowed it in August, and have now in a frame 
about one hundred fine young plants that will bloom 
in March. If there are among them any varieties of 
special merit, how can I best propagate them other 
than by seed?” Let us state that when the plants 
have done flowering, the decaying flower-stems should 
be cut away to within 3 ins. of the surface soil, the 
plants placed in a shady situation out-of-doors, and, 
if necessary, protection be given from continuous 
rain. Here they throw up growths or suckers from 
the roots, and it is these that make the best cuttings— 
much better cuttings than growths put forth from the 
stem. These cuttings should be put into pots of light 
sandy soil, and place them in a cold frame, shading 
from the sun if necessary. When they have rooted, 
they should be potted off into small pots in a compost 
made up of turfy loam, leaf-mould, and a fair quantity 
of silver sand. The pots can then be put into a frame, 
keeping them close for a few days until they have 
produced root action, sprinkling them overhead in 
the morning, and drawing off the lights during 
midday when the weather is favourable, in order to 
dry the foliage, and prevent the appearance of 
mildew. 
When the roots have reached the sides of the pots, 
the plants must have a shift into, say, 5-in. pots, the 
compost the same as before, but at this stage adding 
some good rotten cow-dung. On fine mornings, when 
it is warm and drying, a sprinkling should be given 
overhead, drawing the lights off on favourable 
occasions, and looking well after the appearance of 
green-fly or mildew. In about six weeks or so a 
further shift will be required, say, into the next 
sized pots ; and, indeed, it may be remarked that 
frequent shifts are best, because if the roots become 
in any way pot-bound, it is apt to drive the plants 
to bloom prematurely. If mildew appears during the 
autumn and winter, a little flour of sulphur should be 
sprinkled on the under sides of the leaves, doing this 
occasionally until the mildew is conquered. 
The best place for the plants during the winter is 
an ordinary frame heated with hot water, but it will 
be necessary to apply it only when frost is severe. 
The Cineraria is a somewhat hardy plant, and does 
not require a great deal of fire-heat, and any plants 
that are wintered in the frame with the Cinerarias 
should be of a character that will not require a large 
amount of artificial warmth during the w-inter.-— Quo. 
Forget-me-KTots. — Both the blue and white 
varieties of Myosotis dissitiflora, are excellent subjects 
for spring decoration, whether it be in the room, the 
conservatory, or the greenhouse. Plants that were left 
over from the spring bedding, if potted up into 3-in. 
or 4-in. pots according to their size, and placed in a 
cold frame till the middle of February, then introduced 
into a greenhouse or conservatory, will soon throw up 
their innocent and ever welcome flowers.— C. IF. C. 
Forcing Potatos.—In most gardening establish¬ 
ments a daily supply of young Potatos from the 
beginning of March is expected as a matter of course 
and quite as indispensable in the dining-room as 
Asparagus, Seakale, and French Beans. Bearing this 
fact in mind, no time should be lost in getting the 
first batch of the most forward tubers of some good 
early variety of the old Ashleaf kidney type either 
into boxes of leaf-mould or singly in 3-in. pots in the 
same kind of soil to start them into growth, or, at 
least, to thicken as well as increase the growth they 
have already made. With this object in view the 
boxes or pots (we prefer the latter for the reason that 
the tubers or plants experience no check through 
being transplanted) containing the Potato-sets should 
be put in an early vinery or Peach - house, near 
the light, to prevent them from maldng a weakly 
growth. 
In the meantime, if there is no hot-water pit at 
command for this purpose, a cold pit affording 
sufficient depth for 3 ft. or 4 ft. thickness of 
fermenting leaves and soil, as well as 15 ins. to 
18 ins. head room for the plants to complete their 
growth without coming in contact with the glass, 
should be got ready for planting the Potato-sets in, 
when they have made 2 ins. of growth. Oak or 
Chestnut leaves to the thickness indicated should be 
put into the pit, or pits,. and be trodden firmly 
together ; making allowance for the same subsiding a 
little. This done, place a couple of inches thick of 
rotten dung over the leaves, following this with 5 ins. 
or 6 ins. thick of fight garden soil, in which to plant 
the Potatos in rows 1 ft. apart and 9 ins. asunder in 
the row. Turn them carefully out of the pots, so as 
to disturb the soil and roots as little as possible in 
the process of transplanting, and plant them the 
same depth in the bed of soil as they were in the 
pots. 
When the haulms have attained to a height of 5 ins. 
or 6 ins., earth them up by putting 3 ins. or 4 ins. 
thick of soil between the rows and plants. Give 
plenty of air on all favourable occasions, with a view 
to inducing the plants to make a sturdy growth. 
Potatos thus grown are not likely to require much 
water at the roots, but should the soil get very dry, 
which under the circumstances is very unlikely, they 
should have sufficient tepid water given to moisten 
the soil. A covering of mats or other protecting 
material must be put on at night to exclude frost. In 
order to maintain the supply of young Potatos, pits 
should be planted at intervals of three weeks—more 
or less frequently according to circumstances—in the 
manner indicated. 
We fancy we can hear some of our practical readers 
say, “ We have sent young Potatos to table at 
Christmas, why wait till March? Why not ripen 
off some of the young tubers in June, and plant in 
some spare pit or frame, about the middle or end of 
August ? ” Our reply is that this is very true, and very 
easily accomplished too, where plenty of space is at 
command to keep up the supply. It is all very well 
to be able to send a dish of young Potatos to your 
employer’s table at Christmas, but before doing this, 
the question should arise—can, or shall I be able to 
maintain the supply? If not, wait until you are 
able to continue the supply of the same, whether it 
be Potatos, Asparagus, French Beans, &c.— H. IF. 
Ward. 
- - - 
Chou de Burg-hley.—This excellent Cauliflower- 
flavoured Cabbage has been doing us good service the 
last five or six weeks, and is likely to do so for some 
weeks to come, after which the supply will be supple¬ 
mented by a series of miniature heads, which, the 
stems first beheaded, are now producing freely. In 
short, this is a variety which every gardener having 
a variety of palates to please should grow, and depend 
upon it that once Chou de Burghley finds its way to 
the dining-room, there will be no room there afterwards 
for “ Chou ordinaire.” Gardeners should take care 
not to omit Chou de Burghley from their seed order 
next month.— H. W. IF. 
i 
