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By Henry T. Williams. 
Yol. III. 
NEW YORK, SEPTEMBER, 1874. 
No. 33. 
Price 12 Cents. 
CLIMBING VINES. 
Out of the many varieties of ornamental climbers 
(qualified for beautifying and decorating a home, I 
would choose the new Tropseolum Majus, King 
Theodore. The dark, crimsoned blossoms and bluish- 
green foliage of this strikingly beautiful variety de¬ 
serves of a place among the household pet plants; 
or, for creeping along the sides, and overarching the 
• window garden, to say nothing of its util¬ 
ity for creeping over out-door arbors and 
screens in summer. It commences to 
bloom while yet very small, and displays 
a vigor, unexcelled by anything of the 
kind I have yet seen, in continuing an un¬ 
interrupted array of blossoms during the 
whole summer. The stem is thick and 
strong, attaining a height of from ten to 
twelve feet in a single season, and branches 
thickly into masses of leaves, flower pe¬ 
duncles and side branches. The flower 
is trumpet-shaped, with dark, crimson- 
colored petals, that run into a stem at the 
base, leaving a void space between the 
stems that is tilled up by the upright 
calyx. The lower edge of the petals 
spread into a furze, like threads delicately 
fringed, and extending half way across 
the interior; calyx tinted with various 
colors on the outside, and pressed tightly 
against the petals. The inside base is 
yellow, shaded with crimson and tinted 
with dark markings; pistil dark, with an 
inclination to bend towards 
the peduncle; stigma pale- 
white, large and oblong, press¬ 
ing against the calyx, and 
sometimes forcing that portion 
of the trumpet to yield before 
it; leaves large, and of a 
bluish-green color, with nu¬ 
merous veinings of a pale- 
green, and very distinct. 
There is no need of flues, 
nor steam pipes, humid at¬ 
mospheres, glass houses, or 
any of the other scientific or 
artificial modes to propagate 
this plant from cuttings. My 
^practiced and very 5 " successful 
method is simply this: “Cut off some of the many 
side branches, and make cuttings three or four inches 
long; commence at the cut end and clean the leaves 
totally off two-thirds the length of the cutting; pre¬ 
pare a small bed of fine sandy soil in a cool, shady 
place, out-doors, and sink the cuttings therein; water 
immediately, so that the soil may settle around the 
cuttings ; keep the soil moist—not too wet—and 
sprinkle the leaves occasionally, so that 
the vitality of the cutting may be re¬ 
freshened.” This will also prevent them 
from drying out by evaporation, and aid 
nature to repair an injury. Cuttings of 
this kind will strike root very promptly, 
in pans, pots, or boxes in the house in 
winter, if judiciously attended to. The 
temperature should be a little higher for 
this purpose than is ordinarily used for 
house plants. 
None of the other trailing or creeping 
plants gives me more satisfaction than 
this new Tropasolum. When massed 
together in vases or rock works, it forms 
a truly prolific and peculiar forest of 
foliage, and blossoms in the... most ap¬ 
proved manner. Possessing, as it does, 
the rare capacities of domesticating itself 
in winter to the house, window garden, or 
greenhouse, it can bo directed at will 
to either droop or creep. The soil 
to grow this plant in should not be very 
rich. I find it to thrive beautifully in a 
mixture of fibrous-rooted loam 
and sand. 
Gurthunacra. 
Y\y. 
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Rustic Flower-Stand for the Lawn. 
To Destroy Worms in 
Pots. —The most successful 
plan that I have found, is to 
remove the plant, wash its 
roots in warm water; let it 
remain in water till the pot 
is refilled with earth well 
heated, so as to kill all the 
worms or eggs that may be 
laid within the soil. Wash 
the pot in water, wat'm enough 
to kill all that may adhere 
to it. 
Mrs. R. F. Phillips 
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