334 THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



of tbings are put into them and live for a time, but death makes an 

 end of the affair at last, and in some cases the dead plants remain on 

 the shelves for months, to render the dreariness of the so-called 

 " conservatory " the more horrible. We cannot pretend, or at least 

 I shall not pretend in this my first contribution, to cure the apathy 

 of householders who have these conservatories, and never make use 

 of them. That is a moral disease I do not pretend to cure. But I 

 feel certain that in many cases, if people were well advised, and 

 would take good advice, in their management of these places, they 

 would acquire a love for plants and a taste for gardening. There are 

 many kinds of plants adapted for these structures, and there are 

 many more unfit. "If this should meet the eye" of any person 

 who wishes to make the best of one of them, and has not succeeded 

 yet, my first advice is, throw away all calceolarias, heliotropes, 

 petunias, pansies, in fact all the popular flowers, including — no, never 

 mind, not including geraniums. 1 know you won't throw away 

 geraniums, else I would ask you to do it ; but you may keep a few 

 of them, just because when they flower they are very gay, and they 

 will live through very hard treatment. AVell, now you have got rid 

 of the plants you doated on, but which never thrived because they 

 were roasted in summer and frozen in winter — now begin again 

 by obtaining from a respectable nurj^ery, where we will suppose they 

 will let you have the plants you ask for, with legible labels attached, 

 and not impose upon you because you are not a botanist. 



Tour first selection should be from amongst the clieapest and 

 hardiest of succulent plants, for these will endure starvation, forget- 

 fulness, and extremes of cold and heat. But you are not to neglect 

 them, they are to have water regularly all the summer, and a little 

 now and then in the winter, in fine mild weather ; moreover, you are 

 to shake them out of their pots and repot them into larger pots, 

 when they require it, but you are to be careful to put plenty of 

 drainage crocks into the pots when this is done, for to be over-wet 

 at the roots at any time will be seriously injurious to your plants. 



While on this part of the subject, I will say a word to those of our 

 friends who do not know how to repot a plant. We will suppose it 

 has grown too large for the pot it is in, and must have more room. 

 Procure an empty pot one size larger than the one the plant is 

 in. Put into the empty pot enough small cinders, pebbles, or 

 broken bricks, so that when the pot containing the plant is dropped 

 into it, the upper rims of the two pots will be level ; next fill in 

 between the two pots with any good sandy soil you can obtain, and the 

 job is done. You will not have disturbed the roots at all, yet you have 

 provided more room for them, and they will soon find their way- 

 through the pebbles or bricks, and ramify amongst the new soil 

 between the two pots. Suppose a year to have elapsed since this 

 was done, and the space between the two pots is quite full of roots. 

 Pind an empty pot just large enough to receive the whole aff'air, and 

 allow a little space between. Prepare this with a bed of broken bricks 

 or pebbles, drop the two-fold pot and plant into it, and fill_ in 

 between as before. Thus you may keep the plant always growing 

 ■vigorously until the whole aff'air becomes too heavy to allow of any 



