THE GARDENING WORLD 
457 
July 6, 1907- 
f ine. The soil should be enriched at 
anting time with an admixture of rotten 
LureJ taking care to keep it from 1m- 
r;diate contact with the roots; it must 
*;o be remembered that all Magnolias 
A V erv impatient of root disturbance. 
The propagation of these fine plants is 
,'ected by seeds and layering; both pro¬ 
ves are, however, extremely slow. The 
I tier plan is to start with fair r sized plants 
1 rchased from a reliable nursery. 
F. A. 
-4~f4- 
Horticultural Societies’ 
Diary 
of Forthcoming Meetings. 
Abbreviations used. 
-Association H.—Horticultural 
. t.—Amateurs M.I.—Mutual Improve 
i r—Chrysanthemum ment 
(..—Committee meeting m.m.—Monthly meeting 
1,t—Cottage or Cottagers S.—Society 
-District w.m.—Weekly meeting 
.-Gardening or gardener 
Thus The Templeton G. Am. and Cott. M.I.H.S. 
rdenersj Amateurs’ and Cottagers’ Mutual Improve- 
nt Horticultural Society. 
July. 
h.— Horsforth G.M.I.S. (w.m.); Sutton- 
in-Ashfield H.S. (m.m.); Hast¬ 
ings, St. Leonard’s and D. 
H.M.I.S. (m.m.). 
?h.—Gloucester Rose S. (show); Society 
of Jersey Gardeners (m.m.); Mil- 
ton and Sittingbourne H.S. (m.m.). 
th— R.H.S. great exhibition of flowers 
and fruit at Holland House, Ken¬ 
sington, two days (9th and 10th). 
The private gardens of Holland 
House will be open for inspection. 
3th.—Croydon H.S. (show); Southend 
H.S. (show); Formby H.S. (show); 
Ancient Society of York Florists 
(show); Bath Floral Fete (show, 2 
days); Durham, Northumberland 
and Newcastle-on-Tyne Incorpo¬ 
rated Botanical and H.S. (show at 
Newcastle-on-Tyne, 3 days); Lee 
and Blackheath H.S. (show, 2 
days); Hereford and West of Eng¬ 
land Rose S. (show); East Anglian 
H. Club (m.m.); Sheffield Chy. S. 
(m.m.); Nottingham and Notts 
Chy. S. (m.m.). 
ith.—Eltham Rose and H.A. (show); 
Farningham Rose and H.S. 
(show); Helensburgh H.S. (show); 
Potters’ Bar and D. Am. Rose S. 
(show); Finchley H.S. (show); 
Westhere H.S. (show); Epsom H.S. 
(show); Harrow H.S. (show); Wok¬ 
ing H.A. (m.m.). 
2th.—Ambergate Cott. G.S. (m.m.); 
Weybridge and D. H.S. (m.m.). 
3th.—Manchester Botanical and H.S. 
(show); Wood Green and D. Am. 
H.S. (show and gala); Leeds Pax¬ 
ton S. (w.m.). 
-- 
-issochilus gigantea. 
This is indeed a giant for the stems 
I'hown at the R.H.S. on the 25th June 
I vere 7 ft. high, although not fully grown, 
j Twelve flowers were open and many buds 
emained to expand. The petals are 
jroadly oval, of a clear mauve, and the 
ip is paler and tinted with blue. First- 
-lass Certificate to the Hon. Walter Roth¬ 
schild, M.P. (gardener, Mr. A. Dye), 
Tring Park, Tring. 
Layering Strawberries. 
/ —■ ^ 
Four Methods Described. 
Strawberry plants are usually in¬ 
creased by layering the runners, which 
are stalk-like growths produced round the 
plants, and at the end of each of which a 
tiny plantlet will be found. From late 
June to early July is the best season to 
perform the work, as the resulting plants 
become well established in good time, and 
make better progress than those rooted 
later, but a little discretion must be used 
in selecting the runners if a good crop of 
fruit is desired the following year. 
It is a mistake to layer runners from 
barren or fruitless plants, even if they 
are the largest and most vigorous on the 
into the soil and firmly peg them down as 
shown at B, the soil round about being 
made quite firm. The best of all methods of 
layering strawberries is to peg the runners 
into 2 )/ 2 in. pots. Each pot should have 
a small piece of turf placed in the bot¬ 
tom and be filled up to the rim with a 
mixture of good loam and leaf soil. The 
pots may either be plunged in the ground 
as at C, or stood on the surface as at D, 
the runners being pegged into the soil 
and made quite firm. The reason for 
plunging the pots is that they do not get 
overturned and the soil does not get dry 
so quickly as when they stand on the sur¬ 
Layering Strawberries ; A, ordinary 
runner layered in a -pot plunged in th< 
plunged; E, runner layered in a small 
bed, as in all probability the resulting 
plants would also be fruitless, the good 
and bad points of the parent plant invari¬ 
ably being transmitted to the offspring. 
Four or five runners to one plant is quite 
sufficient, and the remainder should be 
removed. Many runners will produce two 
stolons in the manner shown at A in the 
accompanying sketches, but second 
stolons should never be layered when 
sufficient “first” can be obtained, and im¬ 
mediately the seconds are noticed it is the 
best plan to cut them off. 
The runners may be layered in several 
ways, three being shown in the sketches 
herewith. The most common method is 
to layer the runners in the soil of the bed, 
and when this is done all weeds and de¬ 
cayed leaves should first be cleared off 
and the surface covered with a little good 
mould. A number of wood layering pegs 
or wire pins should be procured, and the 
soil underneath each runner loosened with 
a handfork. Press the selected runners 
runner; B, a runner pegged down; C, 
ground; D, runner layered in a pot not 
box. 
face. Another method of layering is 
shown at E, the runners being pegged 
into squares of turf sunk in the ground 
grass side downwards. 
Layering being completed, the runners 
should be given a good watering, and the 
soil afterwards kept in a moist condition. 
The runners should be examined occa¬ 
sionally, and in five or six weeks they will 
be well rooted and ready for severing 
from the parent plants, after which they 
should be planted out in ground that has 
been well dug and enriched with manure. 
ORTUS. 
-- 
Cirrhopetalum gracillimum. 
The flowers of this Orchid are of small 
size and densely arranged in the form of 
three-quarters of a circle. They are deep 
purple with an.orange base and a pink 
lip. The lateral sepals have slender tails 
2 in. long. Award of Merit when shown 
at the R.H.S. on the 25th June, by Sir 
Trevor Lawrence, Bart. 
