on those kinds of Roses which push their buds early should be put in in September, or as soon afterwards as convenient.

HOT-WATER TANK. (Amateur Pot Plant Grower.)-You intend to strike cuttings of greenhouse and stove plants, and want to know what is the best material to plunge your pots of cuttings in. If you use tanners' bark or saw-dust, and the vapour gets through your floor into it, it will soon rot, and be worse than useless. Coal-ashes, finely sifted, having the dusty part taken from it, is the best material we have met with.

CANTUA DEPENDENS. (A Gardener.)-It does not like much heat, and, when in a stove, is liable to the attack of red spider. In a cool greenhouse, or well-ventilated cool-pit or frame, it flourishes admirably.

VACANT FLOWER-BEDS. (A Clergyman's Daughter.)-The vacant flower-beds may be made to appear cheerful, by obtaining cuttings from the Holly, either with or without fruit, Box, Lauristinus, Narrow-leaved Laurels, Weymouth Pine Firs, or other fine leaved species, Arbutus, &c. These being cut in lengths suitable to the extent of the bed, &c., and stuck in the soil, so as to be firmly fixed, and to compose a 'suitable covering, give them a neat appearance. Each bed of one kind, and the variety of foliage, colour, &c., where there are several beds, produce a pretty effect. Where there are large trees or shrubs, such cuttings can be obtained without damaging them. The shoots will keep their vigour till the end of April, if required, and may then be removed for other summer things. Beds thus filled with cuttings of Evergreens in autumn have a cheerful appearance for several months. If bulbs be planted in autumn in such beds, the Evergreens can be removed just before the bulbous class of flowers appear.

EARLY SHOWY SMALL FLOWER-BED. (Sarah Jane.)-You request to know what plants will make a show early in the spring, which are to be succeeded by scarlet Geraniums, &c. Early in February fill the bed as follows:-Have a margin six inches broad, of the beautiful single Anemonies, the scarlets, whites, parples, crimsons, and other colours produce a pretty effect; then fill up the bed with strong tubers of the white, yellow, and scarlet Turban Ranunculuses. Have a circle of the yellow next the Anemonies, then the white, and the rising centre of the scarlets. These may be procured cheap, and once had are easily kept for many successive years. We have seen beds thus planted have a charming appearance. Crocuses have been tried along with the above, but they went out of bloom too early for the others.

BANKSIAN ROSE PRUNING. (Enquirer.)—In previous volumes we have stated The flowers you had this year (1851) were produced on the shoots which pushed, in 1850. Therefore, thin away the young shoots which push next season, leave only enough to train in, similar to a Peach Tree, and they will supply the flowers of 1853. No winter pruning is necessary, unless too many shoots were left at the summer thinning.

CHARCOAL, SAND, AND LOAM.-These, sifted fine together, are found to form an admirable compost to strike soft-wooded plants in. They root very quickly, and scarcely does a single one fail.— Verax.

BEST CLIMBING ROSES.--The most elegant display we ever saw of these charming Roses was in a nobleman's pleasure-ground, where the Rose-garden was an acre in extent, and was surrounded by a broad walk, on each side of which were the best selected climbing Roses planted, and trained to neat festoons. The various kinds were then in full bloom, the colours well contrasted, and the drooping elegant branches in such graceful beauty, that no language can describe.

CARNATIONS AND PICOTEES.-I want a pair each of a few of the best varieties, give me the names of two in each class.-A Country Curate.

Carnations.-Scarlet Bizarre: Admiral Curzon and Martin's Splendid. Crimson Bizarre: Puxley's Jenny Lind and Lord Milton. Pink Bizarre: Falconbridge and Sarah Payne. Scarlet Flake: Cradley Pet and Justice Shallow. Rose Flake: Lorenzo and Madame Sontag. Purple Flake: Beauty of Woodhouse and Squire Trow.

Picotees.-Light-edged Red: Dodwell's Mary, and Gem. Heavy-edged Red: Mrs. Norman and Prince of Wales. Light-edged Rose: Mrs. Barnard and Countess Howe. Heavy-edged Rose: Marris's Victoria Regina, and Grace Darling. Light Purple: Ophelia and Matthew's Seedling. Heavy Purple: Hollyoake's Duke of Rutland, and Alfred. Yellow: Topaz and Euphemia.

MEALY BUG IN PLANT-HOUSES.-I am aware that many recipes are in practice to cure this almost inexhaustible pest; although, perhaps, nothing new, but not generally known, I give the result of an experiment tried with spirits of wine. Those plant-growers that are troubled with this insect would do well first to wash their plants with a mixture of soft soap and warm water, made to a lather. After washing off all you can, procure a small paint-brush of a fine quality, dip it carefully in the spirits, and brush well all the joints and crevices in the stems and leaves. In a day or two look over again, and the few eggs that may have escaped will then have become hatched, and another application or two will completely eradicate them. The spirits ought to be used with great caution, according to the constitution and texture of the plant and leaf. If delicate, dilute the spirit with a little water; and if strong rough barky stems, add a little spirits of turpentine, say half a-dozen drops to a table-spoonful of wine, for when combined they are very powerful and searching. All plants with hairy leaves, such as some Clerodendrons, &c., require the spirits of wine diluted; and others, such as the Coffea, Laurel, &c., do not. It will also be found, if the rafters, sashes, and pots of the plants are infested, a moderate quantity of turpentine mixed in hot water, with soft soap, will be very good for washing with; for the turpentine kills all immediately. I find it will not do to wash the leaves of plants with turpentine, as it burns all it comes in contact with. Spirits of wine, if laid on with caution, will also effectually kill the thrip and red spider. In conclusion, I would recommend this practice for fair trial, as I am confident that it will be found good.-J. F. Roberts, Chelsea Botanic Gardens.

VICTORIA REGIA in the house in the Royal Botanic Gardens is now rapidly declining, as is usual at this period of the year; the largest leaf which it made during the season was five feet eleven inches and three quarters, the largest is now five feet three inches; the largest flower was fourteen inches, and one which expanded on this day week measured only eight inches. The number of flowers produced during the season has been, since February 5th, when the first flower appeared, seventy-one, and the number of leaves eighty-one.

PROPAGATING ROSES BY CUTTINGS.-It is generally believed by amateurs and others that Moss, Provins, French, Damask, and Bourbon Roses, are difficult to increase by cuttings, but by the following method these sorts may be raised in abundance. Let a bed of well fermented stable litter and leaves be made by the side of a north wall, and place a one or two-light frame on it, so as to face the north. In this put about eight inches of leaf mould, that has been previously well soaked with water, then spread over all about three inches of sharp pit sand, and make the whole firm and level. The back part of a span-roofed pit, running east and west, with a wall in the centre, is also suitable for the purpose. It should be filled to within a few inches of the glass with the same kind of material. In selecting the cuttings, tolerably weak wood of the present year's growth should be taken, if it is sufficiently ripened at the base, or has made one full-formed leaf. Strip the cuttings with the finger and thumb, and smooth the base, reserving the detached portion of the parent bark, cut them close above the first leaf, and insert them in the sand, but not so thick that their leaves will overlap one another. Whon this is finished, the bed should be watered, to settle the soil about them, and they should have plenty of air for the first four days, but it ought to be lessened by degrees, so as to gradually inure them to a confined atmosphere. As the preservation of their leaves in a healthy state is essential to success, the bed may be formed and the cuttings put in on the same day, without waiting until the material becomes heated, as a thin covering of cellular tissue should be formed over the wounded end of the cutting before that takes place. In the third week, the greater part will be rooted, and in the fourth they should be potted off into sixty-sized pots, in a soil composed of leaf mould and loam. They should be afterwards removed into a damp frame or pit, without any water being given to their roots; but they may be slightly sprinkled over their leaves, and when they become well rooted in the new soil, they may be hardened off, and either shifted into larger-sized pots, or planted in a sheltered border, where they will make fine plants for next year. By again levelling the surface of the bed, and making the cuttings to two eyes, always preserving one leaf, Tea-scented, China, Noisette, and Boursault Roses, &c., will root freely in it, without any further preparation; but if a considerable quantity of the first-named sorts are required, either the old bed should be taken down, and a little fresh fermented dung

added, or a new one should be made, using the same sort of materials as are recommended above. The young wood should be taken before the blooms are expanded, and the cuttings prepared similar to what I have already described. The young shoots of what is called the second growth may also be used for cuttings. They should be taken when two full-formed leaves are made, smoothed at the base, and cut down to the first leaf, and then planted in a bed of the same construction as above. When they are rooted, they may be hardened off, and allowed to remain in the bed until spring. Plenty of air should be admitted in favourable weather. In this way they will occupy less room than when placed in pots, and they will stand the winter better. Cuttings of Roses, like those of many other hard-wooded plants, are more certain of rooting when they are made short, especially if a healthy leaf is attached to them, and kept there till they are rooted. This, however, can never be accomplished, if the soil in which they are placed is subjected to the alternate action of wet and drought; but by placing wet leaf mould between the dung and sand, an uninterrupted supply of moisture is obtained, and no water is required from the time the cuttings are put in till they are rooted in the pots. So suitable is this treatment, that when the bud at the axil of the leaf has been damaged, or is otherwise abortive, those at the root are excited, and suckers are produced. All kinds of Roses will root freely under this treatment.-Midland Florist.

BLOCKS FOR ORCHIDS.-After some years' experiments, I find that the best of all possible blocks on which to grow Orchids, are formed from the root of Elder. They must be allowed to dry, so that the bark strips off, and they should be sawn into suitable sizes. Their gnarled and rugged surfaces appear to be peculiarly agreeable to the roots of Orchids. I have long used Elder for this purpose, finding it by far the most durable of soft woods, and at the same time spongy, so as to absorb due moisture; but it is difficult to obtain it of suitable size and form. The roots which I have only tried during the last year or so, seem perfect, and such plants as Cattleya Mossiæ, Dendrobium aggregatum, and Jenkinsii, soon cover the blocks with their roots, which are thus preserved through winter without the slightest injury. If the bark be retained, minute insects (and I believe young woodlice) harbour and are troublesome; the naked wood is free from these objections.-J. R.

TRANSPLANTING EVERGREENS.-In some previous Numbers remarks on the best time to perform this business with the best success has been inserted. From the middle of September to the middle of November, it was stated, was the best period. Last year I had a large shrubbery planted, which was done at the above-named period, and although I had three acres of it, there has not been one evergreen failed. I had a pond close by the shrubbery, and had every plant watered at the time of planting, but have not repeated it, and all have grown admirably. I am fully persuaded the above-named period is the best to plant evergreens in general, whether shrubs or trees.-A. G. Phillips, Liverpool.

PROPAGATING CHRYSANTHEMUMS.-During the present month (October) I visited a floral establishment in the vicinity of London, and noticed a vast collection of these fine autumnal flowering plants, just removed into two large double-roofed greenhouses, which had side-sashes to open the entire length (on both sides). The plants were from half a-yard to two feet high, each having from four to six upright shoots well furnished with flower-buds. The plants were clothed with foliage down to the rims of their pots, and in the best health. Struck with the beauty of their growth, I was told by the manager, that old plants had been turned into the open ground in spring, where the branches could be spread at length, regularly around. In June, or early in July, 48-sized pots were plunged to the rim around the plants, near to the ends of the shoots, and one shoot was layered into each separate pot. As soon as it was perceived they had struck root the top of the shoot was cut off, leaving the stem from four to six inches high, this stopping caused the production of side shoots, which were duly secured to sticks, so as to have them grow erect. When the plants had got well furnished with flower-buds, they were cut from the parent plants, and then introduced into the house to bloom. Such uniform, handsome-grown specimens, and so admirably supplied with flower-buds, I never saw before. A London Amateur Florist.

STACKING ICE.-Ice may be stacked-plain English ice, or snow well beaten down into a mass, after the Roman fashion, which answers for all economic purposes every bit as well. This is the mode of stacking ice or snow, which has been found

to succeed most thoroughly at Chatsworth:-In the first place, let the owner of the dairy-farm select, not the coolest and shadiest spot, as he inevitably would do without better instruction, but the openest and sunniest, because driest, bit of ground he can find-the sunnier the better. At Chatsworth the first trials were made in shady places, and proved far less satisfactory, because a dry place is required, and the dryness which the sun occasions more than compensates for the temperature of its beams. The platform having been judiciously selected, dig all round it a sufficient trench, which is to contain the water that will, more or less, inevitably drain from the completed stack; let the bank of the trench be lower on the outer side, and, if necessary, a siphon tube may be put in to drain off any excess. The object of the trench is, firstly, to prevent any of the drainage water from spreading over the platform; therefore to keep the platform dry; and, secondly, to preserve this drainage water, which is very cold, and can be used for making butter. Then lay over the whole platform a bed of straw, six or nine inches thick. Straw is a sufficient and convenient non-conductor, and ice wrapped in straw is tolerably well protected from external influence. Upon the straw bed make your stack, building up with sides perfectly upright. The sides are to be thus perpendicular, in order that whatever melts may at once flow into the trench, and not soak into and spoil the ice, which remains otherwise unmelted. If the stack happens to be long, partitions of straw should be inserted at convenient distances, for the protection of one part while another portion is in use. The stack being erected in this manner, coat round the whole outside of it, and thatch it with a straw defence of eighteen inches thick. If you build the stack of snow, build it in the same manner, but take care to batten it down. A stack of ice or snow, so made and so defended, will remain good through the hottest summer, and will obviate the necessity for any ice-house. Remember that all this will be done in mid-winter, when your labourers have comparatively nothing to do; when your horses are eating their heads off, and your cart-tires are rusting from idleness.-Dickins's Household Words.

REVOLUTION IN CLIMATE.-It has been an opinion universally adopted of late years, that the generality of our summers are more wet, and consequently colder, and our winters less frosty, and more mild, than they formerly were. This change has taken place since about 1770, and may be attributed to the increased evaporating surface of country, caused by the enclosing of the open fields and wastes; the multifarious intersections of them by fences, especially with hawthorn; and to the increased luxuriance of our green crops, by a general system of improvement in agriculture. To these we may add the increase of pasturage, productive of a serious disproportion between that and tillage; the numerous plantations, especially of foreign trees, whose exhaling power is prodigiously great, and the immense bodies of nearly stagnated water in the numerous canals that have been cut within the above period. The noise and vapour that accompany railway engines have, also, added nothing to the goodness of our weather.-Cyclop. Magazine.

GLASS WALLS.-The recent appropriation of glass sides and coping to form hollow walls, provided with wire trellises, under which fruit-trees and floweringplants may be grown and forced successfully, is, I think, capable of improvement. The inventor, Mr. Ewing, has his models with upright sides, sliding on rollers or opening like doors, this certainly affords some advantage, but it would be much better to have the sides sloping, so as to catch, in the early part of the year, the more direct rays of the sun; and, if desired, a hot-water pipe might be fixed along the front, both north and south. The sliding of the fronts could be as readily constructed in either case. I think many of the fine kinds of large growing stove and greenhouse and half hardy shrubs, &c., might be well grown in such cases; and melons, cucumbers, vines, and fruit-trees would be cultivated most successfully therein, and have a beautiful appearance, and the produce of vegetable fruits would be much greater on trellises herein than in the usual hot-bed frames.An Amateur Gardener.

HARDINESS OF THE JAPAN LILIES.-During the end of last summer we visited Mr. Groom's floral grounds at Clapham Rise, and then saw a complete forest of these charming Lilies, viz., L. lancifolium album, roseum, punctatum, and other varieties, in vigorous bloom in the open beds of his garden. They are treated in all respects as his other hardy Lilies are. Their hardiness being thus established, surely every person with a garden for flowers will find room for some of these most beautiful Lilies, and which can be had at so reasonable a cost.

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