MARCH. 69 



them, both in brmging out their colours and maintaining the plants 

 in health. Watch narrowly for the green-fl}'^ and the mildew. 



Cold Frames. Plants which have been kej)t in the cutting- 

 pots during the winter, should now be potted off. For Verbenas 

 and other bedding plants, four and five-inch pots will be sufficiently- 

 large ; but the drainage should be so arranged, as to be effective 

 and in a small compass ; therefore place one flat piece of crock over 

 the hole in the bottom of the pot, and upon this drop a few finely 

 broken pieces and then some rough fibrous bits of soil. In this 

 way the largest possible portion of the contents will be available for 

 the support of the plants, and as the latter will have to exist in these 

 small pots for some eight or ten weeks, it will be worth a little trou- 

 ble to secure sufficient support for them. Use rich light soil. After 

 potting, the plants may require a little artificial warmth, but this 

 will altogether depend upon circumstances ; if they are strong and 

 healthy, and the weather continues mild, a sufficiently high tempera- 

 ture will be obtained by keeping the frame rather close during the 

 day, and covering it at night. It is a very common error in the 

 management of bedding plants, to consign them after potting to a 

 place where the temperature would suit tropical plants ; here they 

 make rapid progress for a few weeks, and fill their pots with roots ; 

 they are then unceremoniously placed in some sheltered spot, where, 

 with their tissues full of sap and their roots confined to a few^ inches 

 of exhausted soil, the effects of the change of climate is soon mani- 

 fested in their impaired health. Plants thus treated are technically 

 termed hardened, and very properly so, as they invariably remain 

 hard for weeks after they are planted in their summer quarters. 

 Such plants will require the protection of evergreen branches, to 

 shade them from the rays of the sun, and with all possible care 

 they remain long in a miserable state of existence ; whereas plants 

 propagated last autumn and kept growing slowly until they are 

 planted out, will be sufficiently hardened and vigorous to enjoy the 

 full strength of a June sun, and will not be in any way injured by 

 a slight hoar frost ; but such would prove the death of the hardened 

 tribe. The proper management of such plants is, to propagate them 

 early ; this will allow of their being kept hardy without hardening 

 them. But where such things have to be propagated during the 

 spring, it will be necessary to subject them to a w^arm moist atmo- 

 sphere, particularly in instances where the cuttings have to be grown 

 as well as rooted and established. Where such work has yet to be 

 done, no time must be lost. The best method at this season is to 

 insert cuttings of the half-ripened wood, in pans well drained, and 

 filled with silver-sand; this allows of their being removed for potting 

 without breaking or injuring the roots. The propagating frame 

 should be kept warm (60° at night, and 75° with sun-light), and as 

 soon as the plants are rooted, air should be freely admitted ; this may 

 be done without allowing the temperature to become very low, and 

 the plants will gain size without being so full of sap and so tender 

 as would be the case if warmth and moisture were applied to them. 

 Inure them to the full force of the sun and air as soon as possible. 



