THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



171 



•water with caution : keep just free 

 from frost during winter ; in 

 spring, pot nice busby plants in six- 

 incb pots ; place out of doors in sum- 

 mer; pinch back long sboots, and 

 pick off blossoms; towards autumn, 

 withhold water, so as to ripen the 

 wood ; when housed, give them the 

 warmest end ; water with liquid 

 manure, and allow them to flower. 



Cyclamens, of which there are now 

 several distinct varieties, are good 

 things for winter flowering. If bulbs 

 of the named variety are bought, 

 procure them in August or Septem- 

 ber, put at once in peat and loam, 

 and set out of doors, they will break 

 into growth at their natural season, 

 and may then be placed in an aiiy 

 part of the greenhouse to flower. 

 Seeds should be sown as soon as ripe, 

 and must be left two years in their 

 seed-pet before they are fit to pot 

 singly. 



Hydrangea. — These are showy 

 summer-flowering plants, and a few 

 may be grown to assist in dressing 

 vases, stepe, or balconies. As they 

 may, if kept rather dry, be put away 

 under the greenhouse stage in winter, 

 in spring they must be brought for- 

 ward, and hare good-sized puts, and 

 plenty of liquid manure. The weak 

 shoots must be thinned out, so that 

 the principal shoots on which the 

 next year's flower is to appear may be 

 as strong as possible. The variegated 

 variety is worth growing for its fo- 

 liage ; their flowers may be changed 

 to blue by mixing iron filings and 

 scales from the smith's forge in the 

 eoil. And very neat flowering speci- 

 mens, only six inches high, may be 

 had by taking off the points of the 

 strongest shoots in September, in- 

 serting them in three-inch pots. Tie 

 up their heavy leaves to a small stick ; 

 water freely, so as never to allow 

 them to flag ; place under bell- 

 glasses till struck. The following 

 season they will each produce a large 

 truss of flower. 



Campanula pyramidalis, chimney 

 campanula, may be increased by 

 offsets taken from the side of the 

 flowering plant, or may be raised from 

 seed sown in spring, and, like other 

 small seeds, should be sown on firm 



soil and very slightly covered. Place 

 over the pot a piece of glass to pre- 

 serve the surface from the drying 

 effect of the air, yet care must be 

 taken (and it holds good in all cases 

 where seed-pots are covered in this 

 way), that the glass is taken off at 

 some period when the air is still, to 

 dry the foliage of the seedlings, or 

 they would damp off. Pot a few only 

 of the strongest plants, the rest may 

 be nursed on an outside border, as 

 they are almost hardy. As they pro- 

 gress in size, shift into larger pots, 

 and pick away all side-shoots, so 

 as to concentrate the strength of 

 the plant in the main stem. 



Tree Violets. — To form these, take 

 runners of the double purple and 

 white violets ; pot them, and, as they 

 grow, carefully pick off all side- 

 shoots or runners, until the stem has 

 attained the desired height. Turn 

 them out of doors the moment they 

 have done flowering in a shaded place 

 until November; frequently water 

 overhead, as they are much subjected 

 to red spider ; and when taken into 

 the greenhouse give them an airy 

 situation, they cannot bear confine- 

 ment. 



Mlgnonnette.— This must be sown 

 in the pots it is intended to flower in ; 

 and when the plants are lnrge enough 

 to handle, they may be thinned to one 

 or three in each pot, according to the 

 time of year it is sown ; if sown in 

 May, for tree or pyramid al specimens, 

 then one plant in a pot will be suffi- 

 cient, and may be trained in the form 

 desired by pinching off all flowers as 

 they appear, and such shoots as are 

 not wanted for the form desired. 

 These will flower in autumn and 

 winter. Those sown in August may 

 have three plants left in each pot, the 

 blossoms to be pinched off during 

 autumn to form dwarf flowering 

 masses in spring. Mignonnette may 

 be grown throughout in a light situa- 

 tion in the greenhouse. In giving 

 water, avoid as much as possible w et- 

 ting the stems and leaves, as this 

 plant is impatient of moisiure about 

 its stem and leaves, although its 

 roots must not be stinted, and liquid 

 manure may be given when once it 

 has attained to a flowering state. 



