lOG 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
March  8,  1900. 
to  cut  down  the  old  stock  as  previously  advised,  and  regraft  with  some 
known  good  variety.  A  new  tree  wilt  form  much  quicker  than  from 
a  maiden  tree. — {Paper  read  before  the  Reading  Gardeners'  Association 
by  klr.  T.  Keve,  Sindleshani.) 
(To  be  continued.) 
SEASONABLE  HINTS  ON  FLORISTS’  FLOWERS. 
The  winter  is  now,  we  hope,  past,  and  the  variableness  of  the 
season  is  manifested  by  the  conditions  in  w  hich  gardeners  find  them¬ 
selves  in  different  localities.  In  this  south-east  corner  of  England 
where  in  many  years  our  roads  have  been  completely  blocked  with 
snow,  and  our  gardens  hidden  under  its  white  mantle,  we  have  had 
hardly  any  snow  or  frost*  though  friends  have  written  of  their  gardens 
being  covered  to  a  depth  of  from  6  to  10  inches.  Our  springs  were 
dry,  and  we  were  wondering  whether  we  were  ever  to  have  a  full 
supply  of  water  again.  Now  floods  have  supervened,  the  ditches  are 
full  to  overflowing,  and  the  cry  is  heard,  “  When  shall  we  have  dry 
weather  again  ?”  Of  course  this  affects  our  gardens,  and  considerably 
puzzles  those  who  are  engaged  in  cultivating  florists’  flowers. 
Auriculas. 
1  am  in  a  somewhat  peculiar  predicament  as  regards  these  flowers. 
I  have  given  away  many  of  my  plants,  and  my  collection  is  con¬ 
sequently  much  reduced.  I  cannot  look  after  them  as  I  used  to  do, 
and  just  at  the  present  time  a  spring  has  burst  in  my  pit,  and  there 
is  about  6  inches  of  water,  but  as  this  has  happened  befoie  without 
causing  any  particular  damage  I  regard  it  philosophically.  It  is  not 
much  that  the  Auriculas  require  at  this  season  of  the  year,  for  the  old 
practice  of  top-dressing  them  has  been  wisely  abandoned,  as  experience 
proved  that  the  formation  of  the  truss  had  been  completed  before 
this,  and  stimulation  could  be  better  applied  in  the  form  of  liquid. 
One  has  only  to  stir  the  surface  of  the  soil,  remove  all  dead  foliage, 
and  give  the  pits  and  frames  a  slight  fumigation. 
One  cannot  touch  upon  the  subject  of  Auriculas  without  lamenting 
the  falling  off  in  their  culture.  Our  largest  grower  for  sale  in  the 
south  said  to  me  the  other  day,  “  There  are  no  Auriculas  to  be  had 
anywhere,”  and  although  this  may  be  perhaps  a  little  beyond  the 
mark,  yet  there  is  no  doubt  that  the  stock  of  them  in  the  country  is 
being  gradually  reduced.  To  one  like  myself  this  seems  a  sad  condition 
of  things;  we  get  hardly  any  novelties,  and  when  three  or  four  of  our 
present  growers  pass  away  it  does  not  seem  as  if  there  were  anyone  to 
take  their  places. 
Carnations  and  Picotees. 
The  season  has,  I  think,  been  a  favourable  one  for  these  where  they 
are  wintered  in  pots,  but  it  must  have  been  trying  for  those  planted 
in  beds.  Where  an  even  temperature  is  maintained  and  the  plants  are 
kept  free  from  damp  they  winter  well.  My  own  culture  of  these  is 
confined  mainly  to  the  varieties  raised  by  Mr.  Martin  R.  Smith  and 
Mr.  Douglas,  and  they  are  now  so  widely  raised  from  seed  that  there 
is  far  less  trouble  taken  with  them  than  there  used  to  be.  How 
anxiously  one  used  to  watch  over  the  named  varieties  and  guard' them 
from  the  vicissitudes  of  temperature  through  which  they  had  to  pass. 
Here,  again,  there  is  little  to  be  done  but  to  keep  the  plants  clean  and 
the  surface  of  the  soil  stirred,  and  where  they  are  bloomed  in  pots 
everything  now  ought  to  be  made  ready  for  potting.  The  soil  should 
consist  of  turfy  loam,  well-decayed  manure,  leaf  mould  and  sand, 
mixed  and  placed  under  shelter,  so  that  it  can  be  used  at  any  time. 
Gladioli. 
It  will  be  well,  if  any  favourable  opportunity  occur  and  the 
ground  is  in  good  condition,  to  fork  the  beds  over  and  prepare  them 
for  planting  towards  the  middle  or  end  of  the  month.  Here  again 
the  practice  of  growing  named  collections  has  been  largely  abandoned 
and  seedlings  are  substituted  for  them.  The  most  careful  growers 
now  fertilise  their  plants,  and  the  forms  obtained  from  hybridised 
seed  are  very  different  from  those  that  used  to  be  put  on  the  market 
where  no  care  had  been  taken  in  crossing,  as  these  produced  very 
inferior  flowers. 
Ranunculus. 
The  sodden  state  of  the  ground  effectually  prevents  the  planting 
of  these  tubers,  but  it  is  much  better  to  wait  than  to  plant  under 
present  conditions.  How  people  would  open  their  eyes  if  one  of 
George  Lightbody’s  catalogues  of  Ranunculus,  where  some  are  priced 
as  high  as  218.,  were  placed  before  them,  and  yet  one’s  earliest 
association  of  that  which  was  most  beautiful  in  our  garden  is 
connected  with  the  old  Dutch  varieties  of  this  beautiful  flower.  There 
is  no  product  of  the  garden  in  which  greater  variety  of  colour  is  to 
be  seen,  while  the  exquisitely  modelled  forms  are  sure  to  attract  every 
lover  of  the  beautiful. 
Roses. 
As  far  as  I  can  judge  our  Rose  plants  {have  come  through  Uhe 
winter  grandly ;  there  have  been  no  frosts  sufficiently  hard  to  injure 
them,  and  the  shoots  are  strong  and  healthy.  The  pruning  knife 
will  now  be  called  into  requisition ;  Hybrid  Perpetuals  may  be 
pruned  early  in  March,  and  Teas  and  Hybrid  T^as  a  little  later.  *<So 
much  has  been  written  on  the  subject  of  pruning,  and  so  complete 
and  accurate  a  treatise  has  ’oeen  put  forth  by  the  National  Rose 
Society,  that  no  grower  of  Roses  who  wishes  to  prune  his  plants 
properly  can  plead  ignorance  as  to  what  he  should  do.  There  is  one 
golden  rule  which  ought  ever  to  be  borne  in  mind :  where  you  have 
to  prune  a  weak  variety  use  the  knife  freely,  cutting  down  to  two  "or 
three  eyes,  while  in  the  case  of  the  stronger  growing  varieties  five 
or  six  may  be  left. — D.,  Deal. 
LOTHIAN  STOCKS. 
No  Stocks  are  more  valuable  for  Avinter,  spring,  and  summer 
decoration  than  are  these.  Sowing  the  seed  in  July  and  August  has 
been  frequently  recommended,  but  I  find,  after  many  trials,  that  those 
periods  are  too  late  for  producing  the  best  display  of  which  these 
sweet  and  massive  flowers  are  capable. 
It  may  be  well  to  explain  what  I  mean  by  the  “  best  display  ” — I 
mean  large  plants  of  double  white,  purple,  and  scarlet  Stocks  in  the 
depth  of  winter.  It  is  easy  to  obtain  Stocks  in  spring  and  summer, 
and  even  at  those  seasons  they  are  beautiful  when  the  plants  are  well 
grown ;  but  they  are  far  more  attractive  from  November  until  April, 
and  withal  they  are  easily  produced  at  that  period.  When  the  sowing 
of  Lothian  Stocks  is  deferred  until  July  or  August  the  plants  do  not 
flower  until  late  in  the  following  spring,  continuing  through  the 
summer  precisely  when  other  Stocks  are  plentiful.  The  true  Lothian 
Stock,  it  should  be  remembered,  requires  a  longer  period  of  growth 
before  flowering  than  does  the  ordinary  type  of  the  Intermediate 
Stock;  the  Lothian  also  lasts-  considerably  longer  after  it  commences 
flowering  than  the  Intermediate — indeed,  longer  than  does  any  other 
Stock  in  cultivation. 
Seed  sown  in  February  or  early  in  March  produces  plants  which, 
if  well  managed,  commence  flowering  about  July,  and  continue  until 
destroyed  by  frost.  Such  plants  make  most  effective  beds  in  the 
flower  garden — beds  as  decided  in  their  beauty  and  lasting  as  long  as 
any  other  ‘‘  bedding  plants.”  As  thus  managed  Lothian  Stocks  are 
very  valuable.  July  and  August  sowings,  as  has  been  mentioned, 
produce  plants  which  flower  in  spring,  lasting  also  a  considerable  time ; 
but  the  time  of  sowing  for  producing  the  best  display  I  have  found  to 
be  April,  say,  for  the  purpose  of  fixing  it  on  the  memory,  on  All  Fool’s 
day.  By  sowing  at  that  time  I  have  had  plants  in  8-inch  pots — • 
plants  18  inches  high  and  about  as  much  in  diameter,  perfect  masses 
of  double  Avhite  and  scarlet  flowers  (the  purple  is  not  so  effective 
during  winter)  at  Christmas  and  onwards  until  April.  It  is  not 
necessary  to  dwell  on  the  value  of  such  plants  for  affording  an 
abundant  supply  of  cut  flowers  of  the  first  order  of  merit,  neither  is  a 
laboured  eulogium  necessary  as  to  the  commanding  effect  of  the 
plants  in  the  conservatory.  At  their  period  of  flowering  few  plants- 
can  equal  them. 
My  plan  of  raising  the  plants  is  to  form  a  bed  of  leaves  and 
litter  about  2  feet  high,  nail  four  boards  together  to  form  a  rude  frame, 
and  cover  the  bed  with  frame  lights.  Four  or  5  inches  of  soil  is  placed 
on  the  bed,  and  in  this  the  seed  is  sown  thinly,  very  thinly,  in  drills. 
The  plants  are  thinned  to  an  inch  or  more  apart  as  soon  as  they  can 
be  handled,  and  the  glass  is  removed  entirely  during  favourable 
weather.  About  the  middle  or  towards  the  end  of  May  the  plants  are 
very  sturdy,  and  are  placed  into  small  pots  just  vacated  by  bedding 
plants.  In  these  small  pots  the  plants  remain  until  they  show  flowers, 
when  the  spike  of  each  double  flower  is  cut  off.  Side  shoots  speedily 
grow,  and  as  soon  as  these  ara  seen  the  plants  are  potted  firmly  in 
rich  soil  in  their  flowering  pots.  These  are  placed  on  a  hard  bottom 
so  that  the  roots  cannot  penetrate  into  the  ground  to  any  great  extent, 
and  a  little  litter  is  placed  between  the  pots  to  aid  in  keeping  the  roots 
cool  and  moist. 
The  plants  are  subsequently  treated  as  to  watering  the  same  as  are 
Chrysanthemums,  giving  them  liquid  manure  occasionally.  They 
commence  flowering  in  October,  and  an  inch  of  the  surface  soil  is 
removed  from  the  pots  and  replaced  with  a  rich  top-dressing,  after  the 
manner  of  surface-dressing  fruit  trees  in  pots.  The  plants  are  then 
placed  under  glass  in  a  minimam  temperature  of  45°  to  40°.  They 
flower  splendidly  all  the  winter. 
This  is  the  best  way  that  I  know  of  producing  a  fine  display  of 
Lothian  Stocks.  The  plan  is  applicable  to  most  gardens,  and  when 
plants  are  well  grown  they  are  worthy  of  a  place  in  the  choicest 
collection  of  conservatory  plants  during  the  winter  months. — W.  J. 
