FEBRUARY. 35 



being considered large enough to meet others of longer standing 

 Quality, however, overcame size — a point which should not be lost 

 sight of in any class of flowers for competition ; size with quality, if 

 you can, but size at the expense of quality will not often be admired. 



Having said thus much of large plants intended for exhibition, it 

 will be necessary to add but little respecting those intended to make 

 the home-stage gay ; and there is no class of plants that has a more 

 lively appearance in a house, or that gives more effect to the sur- 

 rounding foliage than this. Your last time of p otting should be re- 

 gulated by the month you wish to have your plan ts blooming at their 

 best. If early flowers are required, the plants should have had their 

 last shift not later than October ; and then they sh ould not have 

 too much room. A 32-sized pot, as a general rule, is enough ; 

 but this will depend on the age of the plant. If bloom is desired at 

 a later period, you can have them flowering at their best during the 

 month of July, by giving them a good shift in March. To retard 

 their bloom. Fancies may also have the points of the shoots pinched 

 out, which is a good plan if the plants are thin, causing them to break 

 out freely, making larger plants with later bloom. 



Royal Nursery, Slough. Wm. Frost. 



SIZES OF GARDEN-POTS. 



It is of great importance to the readers of this Miscellany, that 

 occasional correspondents or contributors should give the sizes of 

 garden-pots, not in numbers but inches; for although the former 

 nomenclature is well understood near London, it is incomprehensible 

 in some parts of the country. As a general rule, all well-made pots 

 are as deep as they are wide at the mouth ; the tapering is a matter of 

 taste, some like little, some much ; for summer flowering plants, the 

 wider they are at the bottom the better, and vice versa for winter. 

 There exists a deal of prejudice about the nature and form of pots ; 

 but it requires only a little consideration and experience to satisfy 

 any practical man, that a non-porous material, ay and wider bottoms 

 than tops, are equally well adapted for plant culture as their opposites. 



E. Beck. 



GALANTIIUS PLICATUS. 



A GOOD example of this beautiful Snowdrop was shewn at the last 

 meeting of the Horticultural Society ; although long cultivated in 

 gardens, it is hardly known to the public. It is from Caucasus, 

 whence it seems to have found its way to Constantinople about the 

 year 1592. It also appears to have been met with on the borders 

 of the Black Sea. It diff'ers from the common Snowdrop in having 

 much broader leaves, which are plaited, as it were, not flat ; its 

 flowers are also larger, and the green on the petals far more con- 

 spicuous. In every point of view it is a much finer thing than the 

 old Snowdrop, and it is quite as hardy, and easily managed. 



