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JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER . 
April  II.  1901. 
Thyrsacanthns  rntilans. 
It  is  now  several  years  ago  since  I  wrote  a  short  note  pointing  out 
this  uncommon  yet  brilliantly  coloured  stove  plant,  whose  merits  receive 
small  attention,  and  now  my  opinion  is  not  in  the  leaet  changed  when  I 
come  across  it  in  an  occasional  plant  collection.  But  what  a  change 
from  the  handsome  plants  we  used  to  see  grown  some  twenty  years 
back,  which  were  then  3  feet  high  and  as  much  through,  and  carried 
great  numbers  of  the  long,  graceful,  pendulous  racemes  of  intense 
scarlet  crimson  flowers.  These  last  a  long  time,  and  bear  removal  for 
grouping  in  the  house,  as  few  would  imagine,  and  that,  too,  without 
suffering  to  any  great  extent.  It  is  not  my  intention  to  submit  a  long 
cultural  account,  but  it  is  not  one  of  the  old-fashioned  things  to  be 
ignored,  and  I  should  like  to  see  it  more  often  included. 
The  present  is  a  useful  time  to  select  cuttings,  as  by  so  doing  there 
is  a  good  season  of  growth  given,  and  nice  sturdy  plants  are  secured  in 
a  month  or  two.  Almost  any  portion  of  the  shoots  may  be  selected, 
but  preferably  the  half-ripened  ones  with  good  points.  A  mixture  of 
three  parts  sandy  peat  and  silver  sand  will  answer,  using  3-inch  pots, 
and  inserting  to  the  first  pair  of  leaves.  A  temperature  of  65°  to  75° 
and  a  shady  position  will  insure  the  rooting,  but  quicker  results  are 
obtained  if  a  propagating  case  is  available.  When  rooted  repot  into 
4£-inch  pots,  using  two  parts  fibrous  peat,  one  loam,  with  a  little  leaf 
mould  and  plenty  of  sand,  potting  fairly  firm.  Growth  will  then  start 
in  real  earnest.  One  of  the  main  points  to  be  observed  is  that  the 
plants  should  be  kept  sufficiently  near  to  the  glass  so  as  not  to  get 
drawn,  yet  avoiding  intense  sunlight,  which  causes  the  leaves  to 
become  pale.  When  the  roots  are  discernible  through  the  bottom  of 
the  pot,  5^  or  6-inch  pots  will  answer  for  the  next  shift,  using  the  same 
kind  of  material  for  potting.  Do  not  let  the  plants  receive  a  check 
from  want  of  water  at  any  time,  as  the  racemes  are  never  so  long 
afterwards.  During  the  hottest  months  of  the  year  an  intermediate 
house  suits  them  to  a  nicety,  and  much  good  is  done  if  weak  supplies  of 
liquid  manure  are  given  once  or  twice  a  week.  Towards  the  end  of 
Bummer  remove  again  to  the  stove,  and  if  generous  treatment  is 
afforded  the  grower  will  be  rewarded  with  quite  a  handsome  return. 
Scale  should  be  looked  for,  as  the  large  brown  and  white  is  particularly 
fond  of  the  leaves. — R.  P.  It. 
- - 
Vines  for  Planting  and  Forcing. 
As  soon  as  roots  have  been  formed,  and  top  growth  is  made  to  the 
extent  of  leaf  or  two  on  eyes  inserted  early  in  February,  the 
strongest  of  the  young  plants  raised  in  beds  may  he  placed  in  5-inch 
pots,  the  weaker  in  3-inch  pots,  and  from  these  transferred  to  7-inch 
and  5-iuch  pots  respectively  when  fairly  filled  with  roots.  Eyes 
inserted  in  3-inch  pots  may  be  transferred  to  5  or  6-inch  pots  when 
the  small  ones  are  fairly  filled  with  roots  ;  the  canes  thus  potted  off, 
or  shifted  into  lar.er  pots,  may  be  arranged  on  a  bed,  or  on  shelves 
over  hot-water  pipes,  where  they  can  be  trained  near  the  glass,  or  in 
all  the  light  possible,  syringing  them  in  the  morning  and  at  closing 
time.  A  gentle  bottom  heat  for  a  month  or  six  weeks  is  helpful  to 
the  growth  of  the  canes  and  the  formation  of  roots,  but  this  is  not 
absolutely  essential  to  the  satisfactory  progress  of  the  Vines. 
When  the  pots  are  well  filled  with  roots,  and  the  canes  have  made 
good  progress,  the  most  promising  may  be  shifted  into  11  or  12-inch 
pots  for  fruiting  the  following  season,  treating  them  in  the  manner 
presently  to  be  described  for  “cut-backs;”  but  those  intended  for 
planting  out  another  year  should  not  be  shifted  into  such  large  sizes, 
6  or  7-inch  for  the  weaker,  and  8  or  9-inch  pots  for  the  stronger  canes 
being  quite  large  enough,  the  endeavour  being  to  secure  a  mass  of 
fibrous  roots,  short-jointed  and  well-ripened  wood.  Such  may  be 
obtained  by  potting  in  rather  light  gritty  soil  without  manure, 
feeding  at  the  surface  with  phosphatic,  potassic,  and  magnesic  manure, 
such  as  three  parts  dissolved  bones,  dry  and  crumbling,  two  parts 
sulphate  of  potash,  and  one  part  sulphate  of  magnesia,  mixed,  using  a 
pinch  of  the  mixture,  taken  between  the  thumb  and  finger,  as  in  that 
of  snuff,  per  pot,  sprinkling  on  the  surface  and  washing  in,  applying  at 
intervals  of  about  three  weeks.  The  mixture  is  best  applied  with 
about  four  times  as  much  well-rotted  manure  or  turfy  loam  as 
fertiliser.  The  laterals  should  be  stopped  at  the  first  leaf,  and  to  one 
joint  of  subsequent  growths,  and  the  Vines  grown  in  all  the  light 
possible.  It  is  important  that  the  Vines  make  and  complete  their 
growth  in  a  light  structure,  due  attention  being  given  to  ventilation, 
watering,  and  providing  atmospheric  moisture.  When  thoroughly 
ripened,  and  the  leaves  fall,  the  Vines  should  he  kept  rather  dry, 
yet  the  soil  must  be  sufficiently  moist  to  preserve  the  roots  sound  and 
the  buds  plump.  I  find  they  winter  best  on  a  bed  of  rather  damp, 
but  not  very  wet,  ashes,  in  a  light  airy  house,  from  which  frost  is 
excluded,  or  nearly  so. 
Cut-backs  for  Growing  into  Fruiting  Canes. 
V  ines  raised  from  eyes  in  the  preceding  spring,  and  not  of  a 
strength  for  fruiting  or  planting,  or  left  over  from  the  latter,  should  be 
cut  back  to  an  eye  or  two,  as  near  the  soil  as  possible,  dressing  the 
cuts  carefully  with  styptic,  patent  knotting,  or,  best  of  all,  French 
polish.  In  a  house  with  a  temperature  of  60°  to  65°  at  night,  and 
rise  of  10°  to  15°  in  the  daytime  from  sun  heat,  they  will  soon  start 
into  growth,  being  introduced  at  the  beginning  of  February.  When 
they  have  made  2  inches  of  growth  shake  them  out  of  the  pots  and 
repot  in  turfy  loam,  rather  rough,  with  a  sprinkling  of  finely  crushed 
steamed  bcnes,  6  or  7-inch  pots  being  quite  large  enough.  The  pots 
may  be  plunged  in  bottom  heat, but  this  is  not  essential;  suffice  if  the 
house  is  kept  at  a  temperature  of  60°  to  65°  at  night,  and  70°  to  75° 
by  day,  advancing  10°  to  15°  from  sun  heat,  and  the  Vines  are  trained 
in  abundance  of  light. 
If  two  buds  are  left  on  a  cane  at  shortening,  rub  off  the  weakest 
shoot  at  potting  or  soon  afterwards.  Place  a  stake  to  each  Vine  and 
secure  the  cane  to  it.  Immediately  the  fresh  soil  is  well  occupied 
with  roots  shift  into  9-inch  pots,  and  from  this  size  transfer  to  11  or 
12-inch  pots.  These  sizes  are  quite  large  enough  for  the  Vines*  to 
fruit  in,  especially  for  early  forcing,  but  some  growers  afford  13  and 
15-inch  pots  to  Vines  that  are  fruited  in  recently  planted  vineries,  the 
varieties  being  midseason  and  late,  or  even  Muscat  of  Alexandria. 
This  shift  should  be  given  early  in  June,  always  before  the  last 
week  in  that  month.  The  drainage  must  be  thorough,  not  less  than 
an  inch  in  depth  of  gocd-sized  creeks  and  another  inch  of  smaller,  all 
clean,  secured  with  a  layer  of  the  rougher  parts  of  the  compost.  This 
may  consist  of  three  parts  fibrous  loam  and  one  part  in  equal  propor¬ 
tions  of  old  mortar  rubbish  and  sweetened  horse  droppings,  using  the 
loam  rather  rough,  and  adding  to  the  compost  a  pint  of  steamed  bone- 
meal,  a  pint  of  soot,  and  a  quart  of  wood  ashes,  per  bushel,  mixing 
thoroughly,  and  using  moderately  moist  at  the  same  temperature  as 
the  house  in  which  the  Vines  are  growirg.  The  potting  should  be 
compact,  and  very  hard. — Grower. 
(To  be  continued.) 
Notes  on  Grafting. 
Spring  goes  on  apace,  and  on  all  sides  we  find  Nature  bestirring  its 
long  dormant  members  into  activity  again.  The  silvery  catkin  of  the 
Willow,  the  golden  fragrant  bud  of  the  Balsam  Poplar  and  the  scarlet 
raceme  of  the  Bibes,  peering  out  of  its  winter  casing,  tell  us  in  language 
too  plain  to  be  misunderstood,  that  time  and  opportunity  wait  no  man. 
This  being  so,  it  behoves  the  intending  operator  in  the  art  of  grafting 
to  see  to  it  that  he  has  the  necessary  appliances  at  hand  convenient 
for  using  when  weather  and  growth  permit.  The  first  important  part 
of  the  preparation  will  be  to  have  sufficient  shoots  of  last  season’s  \yood, 
of  the  various  varieties  of  trees  which  he  wishes  to  perpetuate,  cut  off 
and  buried  to  the  depth  of  a  few  inches  on  the  north  side  of  a  wa’l 
or  hedge. 
In  this  position  the  buds  of  the  scions  are  retarded  and  keep  safely 
until  the  stocks  are  in  an  active  condition  and  the  weather  suitable  for 
grafting.  This  laying  in  of  soions,  if  not  already  seen  to,  should 
receive  attention  at  once,  for  the  Cherry  even  in  this  northern  locality 
is  rapidly  swelling  its  buds.  I  might  here  mention  that  instructions  as 
laid  down  in  many  of  the  older  and  even  modern  gardening  works 
anent  the  proper  time  for  the  taking  off  of  scions  are,  according  to 
some  of  the  best  authorities,  somewhat  erratic. 
One  of  the  last-mentioned,  writing  in  the  “  Fruit  Grower’s  Year 
Book  ”  some  years  ago,  said  that  in  order  to  test  the  method  as  laid 
down  in  the  above-mentioned  works  he  gave  instructions  to  his  foreman,, 
that  instead  of  cutting  bis  scions  at  the  usual  time  of  about  three 
weeks  before  grafting,  he  was  to  do  so  much  earlier,  in  foot,  if  my 
memory  serves  me  rightly,  at  least  two  months  beforehand,  and  take 
special  note  of  the  result. 
The  percentage  of  failures  resulting  from  the  experiment  was  found 
to  be  much  in  excess  of  the  normal,  and  never  again  will  these  two 
gentlemen  credit  this  much  circulated  theory.  The  next  item  required 
will  be  tying  material,  which  is  easily  procurable,  raffia  or  the  longi¬ 
tudinal  threads  of  an  Archangel  mat  cut  into  convenient  lengths.  These 
are  easily  manipulated,  and  where  speed  is  desired  no  more  suitable 
material  can  be  got. 
Clay  as  a  protective  agency  has  had  its  day,  and  although  I  freely 
concede  that  it  had  many  good  qualities,  yet  there  is  nothing  to  justify 
its  retention  compared  to  the  modern  compound  and  its  facility  of 
application.  Of  grafting  wax  preparations  there  are  many,  and 
receipts  are  often  given  for  the  same  in  which  the  variety  of  ingredients 
seem  to  be  quite  superfluous,  for  as  far  as  my  .experience  takes  me,  a  simple- 
is  quite  as  good  for  all  practical  purposes  as  a  complex  mixture.  The 
following  is  easily  made  and  thoroughly  satisfactory  :  Two  parts  of 
rosin,  one  of  lard,  one  of  pitch,  with  as  much  finebrickdust  as  will  give 
it  consistence.  All  that  we  now  require  is  a  keen  edged,  medium 
sized  knife,  with  a  straight  rather  than  a  curved  blade. 
