April 13, 1901. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
526 
weather till they have fairly started to grow. The 
smaller cuttings may be firmly inserted in pots of 
sandy soil and the pots stood in a cold frame, which 
should be kept close till the cuttings begin to grow. 
You can put the plants out into nursery lines as soon 
as rooted, but you must shade them for a few days, 
if the weather is warm, till they get a fresh hold of 
the soil. 
When to take Fuchsia Cuttings.— F. S. Wise : 
You can take cuttings off as soon as they are 3 in. 
long or a little more. If they are getting a little firm 
at the base so much the better, as there will be less 
danger of their damping off. Fill some pots with 
very sandy soil; water them with a rose can, and 
about half an hour afterwards you can insert the 
cuttings rather firmly. Place the pots in a frame 
and keep the latter close till the cuttings begin to 
root. Shade for a time if the sun is bright, to 
prevent flagging. 
Cut Flowers of Daffodils.— Thos. Reid : The plan 
for getting Daffodil flowers in the cleanest condition 
is to cut them with long stems while the flowers are 
still only half expanded or even less. Drop the stems 
into a pail of water nearly their full length, and keep 
them in a warm place but shaded from the sun till 
they open. 
There are a score and more varieties of the Hibis¬ 
cus-single and double, purple, white, and blue— 
but the dark crimson blotch at the base of each 
petal is shown off to best advantage in the single 
forms to which category the Observatory specimen 
belongs. The Hibiscus evidently delights in a deep 
gravelly soil, such a so l as suits the Spanish Chestnut, 
for of both there are few larger specimens than may 
be found in the Royal Park at Greenwich.— A. D. 
Webster. 
CHEMISTRY FOR THE GARDEN. 
(Continued from Vol. xui, p. 587) 
XI.—Soils. 
What is soil, and whence did it come ? are questions 
which often present themselves to the mind of every 
individual. Without the aid of the geologist and 
the chemist, the answers, however, are not so easily 
solved. The geologist tells us that in its initial form, 
soil necessarily consists of nothing but mineral 
matter. The chemist also tells us where this same 
mineral matter came from, and the various forms 
through which it had gone, before it arrived at the 
stage of crystallisation in the shape of consolidated 
rocks. There is much in the theory of the formation 
of the earth that is highly instructive for gardeners. 
It gives them a clear conception of a material which 
proper situation for a new garden, or to make him 
feel quite at home with the soils of a garden in his 
charge. There can be no doubt but the gardener 
and the farmer have been, to some extent, in the past 
working greatly in the dark, and consequently very 
much labour and expense were being expended un¬ 
necessarily, as always is the case in such circum¬ 
stances. Nowadays we are glad to say there are 
facilities everywhere to enable all who make tillage 
of the soil their profession a much more intelligent 
calling as well as a more remunerative industry. 
Moreover it is gratifying to observe that the wise and 
unbiased take full advantage of these aids. 
Soils vary according to the nature of the rocks of 
a district. In the vicinity of volcanic rocks such as 
Edinburgh the soil is light, and therefore poor, 
requiring much manure to give good returns. In the 
neighbourhood of Devonian rocks, such as Hereford¬ 
shire the soil is very fertile, requiring very much less 
manure for its support. In carboniferous districts 
the soil is generally clay, and though one of the very 
worst adapted for gardens, it is notwithstanding 
among the richest soils we have. Tne maritimal 
tracts to be met with on the east coast of Scotland 
exemplify this. Then there are the Lanarkshire beds 
in the Clyde valley ; a more fertile soil could not be 
met with anywhere. 
The distribution of clay soils is widely spread all 
THE SYRIAN MALLOW (HIBISCUS 
SYRIACUS). 
Growing on the line of the first meridian within the 
grounds of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich 
Park may be seen one-of the largest and healthiest 
specimens of the Syrian Mallow that is to be found 
anywhere in this country. Certainly, though perched 
on the hill top it has the friendly shelter of the 
Observatory buildings, with a western aspect and 
suitable soil, conditions that have no doubt largely 
aided in bringing about its present unusual size and 
flourishing condition. How freely the conspicuous 
semi-double flowers are produced will be seen from 
the accompanying illustration (from a photograph 
taken by one of the Observatory staff), which reveals 
not only its floriferous character, but bright, healthy 
foliage and far-reaching branches. The height is 
about 12 ft., and the branch-spread 21 ft., and when 
viewed from the lower drive during the flowering 
period,which is of by no means short duration, speci¬ 
ally in bright sunlight, the effect is truly surprising 
and fully justifies the exclamation of visitors, that 
when well developed the Hibiscus is one of the 
handsomest of hardy shrubs. 
The Syrian Mallow. 
it is their daily duty to manipulate, besides the 
grandeur that ensues the extension of our minds, 
by such studies. 
But not to be digressive, soil began to be formed 
originally by the action of the elements upon the 
rocks. These agencies were chiefly frost, rain, and 
carbon dioxide. The same process is still going on 
around us. This will be more obvious when a hilly 
part of our country is visited, and where we see 
terrible enough evidences of the disintegrating 
influences of the above untiring servants of Nature. 
In the course of time, in the world's history, the 
botanist steps in to tell us how organic life in the 
form of plants of a lichenous type, came to possess 
and inhabit the partially disentegrated rocks, and 
how by their decomposition every succeeding race 
gained stronger foothold. Thus therefore Nature 
was carrying on two great acts simultaneously, the 
growth of the plant as well as forming an essential 
part of the plant's food, the organic mould arising 
from the decomposition. 
It will be apparent that a knowledge of the geo¬ 
logical formation of the district is of great importance 
to a gardener, whether to enable him to plan out a 
over the kingdom, and their presence in a locality 
may be quite independent of the general geological 
structure. Their formation has been brought about 
in two ways, viz. : precipitation, and glacial action. 
What is known as boulder clay is the result of the 
latter, and our maritime and lacustrine clay tracts, 
that of the former. Every soil contains some 
quantity of clay. For a test a person should take 
a small quantity of any soil, and put it into a becker, 
wash this thoroughly and decant the turgid liquid 
into another vessel. Repeat this until the residue in 
the becker is washed clean. The proportion of clay 
will be found precipitated on settling at the bottom 
of the other vessel.— Oxygen. 
(To be continued.) 
Drying Fruits—Apropos to what was written in 
our leader in the issue of 1st December, a corres¬ 
pondent to a contemporary re-echoes our remarks. 
He says : " Whether the drying of fruit will ever be 
made a profitable industry in this country is a matter 
of conjecture, but it seems that there is a screw loose 
somewhere when on a little island like this, with its 
