July ii, i9° 8 - 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
457 
Propagating Oleanders. 
C 
Striking Cuttings in Water, 
How to Obtain Miniature Plants. 
n-e burst into leaf. Fuchsias, for in- 
ance, which have been dried off in win- 
r, should in no case be shaken out of 
eir old soil till they have expanded a 
w leaves, and all pruning required in 
feir chse should be done before the roots 
e disturbed. Evergreen plants, such as 
amellias, Oranges, and Myrtles have a 
articular season at which the roots 
ongate or increase with more rapidity 
an is usual at other stages of their 
owth, and under ordinary circumstances 
at season is immediately they have 
ade their growth in branches and leaves. 
S. E. Gent. 
Kings Lynn. 
-- 
Sew ContiniioHS Spray Syringe. 
We are in receipt of a new ingenious 
ivention termed a new continuous spray 
-ringe from the Boundary Chemical Co., 
td., 27 to 31, Cranmer Street, Liverpool, 
nd have given it a thorough trial in the 
praying of plants. It consists of a 
fringe of large calibre, but being a spray, 
is something more than a mere syringe. 
: is of the nature of a force pump and 
•ringe combined. It is furnished with a 
ece of thin hose or indiarubber tube 
[rich dips into a watering pot to furnish 
supply. The piston of the syringe is, 
course, shorter, than the body, and the 
r end contains a device by which the 
ater is forced out not as in an ordinary 
ringe, but in a continuous spray so long 
the operator keeps working, and for a 
tie while after he ceases. 
The apparatus is fitted with two forms 
nozzle, one of which has a short curved 
be with a nozzle, and this is meant to 
ach the under side of the foliage as well 
the upper. The other nozzle, which 
screwed on the side of the syringe when 
>t in'use, gives a much coarser spray, 
id may be used when circumstances re- 
rire it. Those who want a very fine 
iray and a continuous one for Orchids 
id similar plants, will find it in the 
:rved nozzle. 
Bv means of this apparatus a large 
imber of plants of whatever kind may be 
bjected to a fine spray in a very’ short 
ne. Half a gallon of water will fur- 
sh the means of going over a whole 
■useful of Orchids. All parts of the ap- 
ratus are made of brass, and the end 
the indiarubber tube is furnished with 
aiece of fine brass netting to prevent grit 
rubbish from getting into the syringe. 
1 parts necessary to get at can readily 
unscrewed by the operator, so that it 
ed not get out of order in the hands of 
y ordinary gardener. 
This continuous spray syringe will be 
traduced Jby the Boundary Chemical Co. 
xt season. The apparatus complete is 
be sold for 14s. 6d., carriage paid, so 
at gardeners will have a really good 
tide at a reasonable figure. The com- 
ny will offer it on approval terms, so 
at readers have an opportunity of seeing 
ie apparatus before actually buying it. 
The Royal Horticultural Society, at 
eir fortnightly exhibition of flowers and 
ants, on June 23, received a deputation 
about 100 members of the Societe 
horticulture de France. 
The Nerium. more generally known as 
Oleander, does not require much heat, a 
winter temperature of from 45 to 55 de¬ 
grees, and a summer temperature of from 
55 to 65 degrees, suiting tne plants admir- 
acly. Being evergreen and producing 
sweetly scented flowers during the spring 
and early summer, they form excellent 
subjects for the amateur’s greenhouse. 
Plants can be raised from cuttings, which 
strike readily either in the spring or dur¬ 
ing the early part of July, half-ripened 
shoots without flower spikes being the best 
for insertion during the latter mentioned 
period, and if possible, these should be 
taken with a h'eel or small portion of old 
wraod attached at the base as Fig. 1, other¬ 
wise they must be prepared by cutting the 
stem across just below a joint, as Fig. 2. 
One of the best and most interesting 
methods of striking the cuttings is to 
place them in bottles of rain water to¬ 
gether with a few pieces of charcoal, and 
either stand them on a shelf in a warm 
house, or hang up the bottles as shown in 
Fig. 3. Roots will be emitted in about 
six weeks, when the cuttings should be 
potted off singly into small well-drained 
pots filled with compost, consisting of two 
parts turfy loam, one part peat, and one 
part sand. If desired, the cuttings can 
be rooted in pots, each shoot being firmly 
inserted in a small thumb and plunged in 
a propagating case, hot-bed, or box of 
cocoa fibre refuse placed near the heating- 
pipes. 
A very interesting and novel method of 
obtaining miniature plants, each having 
a spike of bloom, is to prepare shoots 
about eight inches long on which flower 
buds have just formed, into cuttings and 
place them in bottles of rain water 
plunged in a hot-bed or box of cocoa fibre 
placed against the heating pipes as shown 
in Fig. 4. Roots will be produced so 
quickly that they will support the ex¬ 
panding flowers. As soon as roots are 
observed in the bottles of water the young 
plants should be potted into small pots, 
and again be plunged in the hot-bed until 
well established. Oleanders do not re¬ 
quire large pots, but should be re-potted 
annually during the month of March, 
compost composed of three parts loam, 
one part peat or leaf-mould, one part 
dried cow manure or old hot-bed manure, 
and one part sand, suiting them best, 
whilst, as soon as the pots are nicely filled 
with roots, the plants should be fed with 
diluted liquid manure applied once a 
week. Abundance of water must be given 
during the summer, whilst a daily syring¬ 
ing and occasional sponging of the leaves 
will assist in keeping them health}-. 
Ortus. 
-- 
During the flower season just ended, 
130.000 boxes containing sixty million 
blooms were dispatched from the Fens to 
the large towns of the North, the Midlands 
and London. 
