MISCELLANEOUS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2199, 23 April 1896, Page 8

MISCELLANEOUS.

ANEMONES.

Few of our spring flowers are more charming than those of the anemone family. The varieties are so numerous, and embracd such various tints, ever/ shade of scarlet, white, yellow, violet, and even sky-blue (Anemone app&nina, the blue-wood anemone) being represented amoi-gst them, that a collection of the varieties would be worth having. They are all hardy, and can be grown best out of doors, their pots sunk in' a bed of ashes when needed for a room, to that they can be lifted into position when in flower and replaced at any time in their ash-bed as soon as their blossoms are over. Any ordinary compost will suit them, with a little leaf-mould and sand, and they do not require more water than the rain provides until they begin to throw up their blossoms in the' early spring, when they should on no account be neglected. ... KOSES FfiOH CUTTINGS. This is a good time to propagate roses from cuttings of the current season's growth. Select weU-ripened shoots, make them about Bin in length, and remove the upper unripened portion. Prepare the cuttings by removing the bottom leaves, and place them about" 3in apart in a trench 4in deep. Put sharp silver sand along the bottom to promote quick rooting. Make the cuttings firm, pro* sing them welt against the back of the trench with the foot. -This is of the utmost importance. In about a month's time put a goad layer of cocoanut fibre refuse between the outtings, otherwise hard freit may lift them out of the ground. BOLB9. No time ehculd now be lost in planting daffodil bulbs. When put in the ground early ths bulbs get well rooted by midwinter, and j there is a better prospect of obtaining large blooms in spring. It i* also desirable to plant the bulbous Spanish and Engliah irises ; ako liliums of all sorts, crown-imperials, leuoojums, 'Solomon's sefl, scillas, chionodoxas, puschkiniag, and bulbs generally that are included in the autumn catalogues. ixias, ' Among the numerous kind of bulbous plants for early spring blooming none are brighter in colour, more easily cultivated, or generally useful than the different varieties of ixias. The bulbs much resemble those of rather small crocus, and should be planted an inch or more deep in pots of light, loamy soil, placing from five to a dozen or more in each pot, according to its s'ze, and covering them np in the same manner as hyacinths, &?. The bulbs, if of even fairly good quality, cannot fail to bloom in spring ; and the spikei are so' neat,' so useful for cutting, and so rich and varied in colour that they are certain to be appreciated. THE GRAPB HYACINTHS. * A pretty flower of the present time that associates in a charming way with the daffodils is the grape hyacinth. The common kind, so plentiful and cheap in nurseries, should be planted by thousands in the grass. A fine picture has been the result of plauting it ia front of a large group of daffodils on a grass slope, and, eeeu from below, tho effeot ia dunning, the mast of blue merging into yellow. A few other distinct varieties are useful to make pr«tty groups in garden biida and bordors, one of tho best being that named oonicuno, which differ* grentily from tho oalluftty 10-m, h*vl»g a larg.s, long aplko of (loop blue Honor", M, negleotum majus Is a good grapo hyacinth Itmb comes oarly into flower and lasts long hi beauty. Jffcf ttownts *te ef au interne dark blue black colour. M, p>i'ft<io*u&], (,1)8 of the basb to bloom, also hfts fidnoftj filmeii blrtok, arranged thiokly oil v htig fionioftl Sfiiko ; M. azureum, the earliest of afl, dwarf, with lovely sky-blue flowera; and M, plumosuffi, the feathered hyacinth, embrace all fchoie really diutinct.— Field,