Propagating Poinsettias

Poinsettia Pulcherrima, with its carmine-rose bracts, is as brilliant as any flowering plant, and there are few gardeners who do not grow it. It is not an easy plant to strike from young shoots, but portions of old wood, such as pieces of stem with a bud or two on each, will generally root at this time of the year if inserted in sandy soil, and put in a propagating case.

Whiter Plants In Spring

Plants which have been used for winter decoration in a greenhouse or conservatory, such as Zonal Geraniums, Bouvardias, and berry-bearing Solanums (Winter Cherries) will have passed their best by the end of April, and may be pruned back to the older wood, and placed in a warm house if wanted for further use. If syringed regularly, they will throw out fresh shoots, and some of those may be taken off and struck as cuttings.

Propagating Crotons And Dracaenas

The present is a good period to make a slit in the upper part of the stems of Crotons and Dracaenas which have grown too tall, and bind the part round with moss. If the plants are kept in a warm, moist house roots will be emitted, and the tops can then be cut off and potted.

Propagating India-Rubber Plants

The India-rubber Plant, Ficus Elastica, can be propagated in the same way as Crotons. The variegated form is an attractive plant.

Room Plants

Plants which have spent the winter in rooms are likely to be somewhat worn and dingy when spring comes, and will be the better for exposure to warm showers, or for being sprayed regularly. This will be especially grateful to Palms, Aspidistras, and India-rubber Plants. Periodical cleansing of the foliage has almost as important a bearing on the health of these popular foliage plants as watering. From the present time, and throughout the summer, the plants will want a great deal more water than they have required during the winter. Whether they will need it every day or not will depend on two things - the state of the weather, and the size of the pot. In bright, dry weather, a supply of water is likely to be called for every day; it is almost certain to be needed if the plants are growing in small pots, which are tightly packed with roots. In case of doubt, the grower can always settle the point by rapping the pot, and noting whether the sound emitted is hollow and ringing (water wanted) or dull and heavy (water not wanted).

The present is a good period to repot room plants that need what gardeners call "a shift." Repotting for the sake of repotting should be avoided, because it is not convenient to have large, heavy pots in rooms; but when the pots get very full of roots one of three things should be done: (1) the plant given a larger pot; (2) the plant turned out of the pot, part of the ball of roots and soil crumbled away, and the plant replaced with fresh soil rammed tightly all around it; (3) the plant left in the pot, some of the top soil scooped out, and a top-dressing of fresh given. Plan No 1 had better be adopted if the soil is thoroughly permeated with, and surrounded by, roots. If things have not gone quite so far as that, either of the other two methods may be resorted to - No. 2 for preference. Fresh loam, with about a quarter of decayed manure and some coarse sand, will form a suitable compost. While the plants are out of the pots the drainage should be rearranged, one large crock being placed over the hole, smaller pieces lapped over it, and the whole surfaced with moss. It is better to get an increased quantity of soil into the pots by hard ramming than by filling up so near the top that less than an inch of space is left for water. The water space cannot be stinted without grave risk of the plants suffering far more than they would from a slight loss of soil.

Room plants are as much benefited by fresh air as human beings, but they soon suffer if they stand in a draught. A steady, diffused flow of air is the desideratum, and it can be secured generally by keeping the window open and the door shut. Such slight draught as is created by air flowing from window to fireplace is not likely to do any harm except when the wind is flowing strongly from a cold quarter; in such circumstances the plants should be moved while the window is open. Ventilation should always be provided when gas or a lamp is burning.

Planting Gladioli

The brilliant and graceful Gladiolus is one of the grandest of late summer flowers, and the price of corms has been reduced considerably in recent years. Everybody cannot afford to buy the newest hybrids, but there are very few who cannot afford mixed corms, and the varieties are sure to be good if purchased from a dealer of repute. The plant will succeed on almost any soil that is drained, but it certainly does not like sticky ground. The greatest obstacle that I myself have encountered is not a degree of lightness or heaviness in the soil, or of a week earlier or later in planting, but the onslaught of wireworm. This exasperating pest has to be taken very seriously when Gladioli are being planted on ground from which turf has been recently lifted. It is quite equal to spoiling a pound's worth of corms and the whole season's bloom. A Gladiolus expert once told me that if I rolled or trod my beds quite hard after planting ("about as hard as a macadam road" was the way in which he put it) wireworm would cease from troubling. Alas! the sufferer from this practice was not the wireworm, but the gardener, whose extra labour only seemed to inspire the wireworm to fresh deeds of destruction. Apterite or Vaporite should be worked into the soil, and baits of Potato may be embedded.

The ground for Gladioli should be deeply dug. If heavy, it should be dressed with bone-flour at the rate of two ounces per square yard; if light, with well-decayed yard manure. The corms may be put eighteen inches apart and three inches deep.