174 THE FLORIST. 



four pounds would secure accommodation for as many plants as would 

 be necessary to furnish most amateurs with the means of making a 

 grand display during the summer and autumn. I find a three-light 

 box, which cost four pounds, ample accommodation for 200 4-inch 

 pots, and perfectly suitable for propagating and wintering most of the 

 fashionable bedding-plants. All amateurs should be forward with the 

 propagation of these things, so as to have a good supply of well-rooted 

 plants, inured to the sun and air during the day, and the cold at 

 night, in order to prepare them for the damp months which will ere 

 long overtake us. The principal secret of preserving half-hardy 

 plants over the winter with indifferent accommodation, lies in their 

 being rooted early and gradually hardened afterwards. I find July, 

 or early in August, the proper time to put in cuttings. It will be 

 found that in rooting them after this season damp will be a great 

 enemy to contend with : use light porous soil with plenty of sand, 

 and admit air daily; but only just sufficient to prevent the cuttings 

 from damping-off, until they are well-rooted, then give it gradually 

 in abundance, and allow the potting-oft' to stand until the sunshine of 

 March. 



As soon in autumn as the bedding-plants become unsightly, I re- 

 move them, and set about digging and manuring the ground if the latter 

 be necessary; and this I do well, as the ground is empty no more for 

 twelve months; for as soon as it is ready, I plant early-flowering bulbs, 

 and in the beginning of March I sow amongst them some annual 

 seeds. But these are at all times kept within strict bounds, and are 

 not permitted to interfere with the bulbs or the bedding-plants ; and 

 in order to do this, they must be trimmed weekly, and gradually re- 

 moved as the bedding-plants increase. They prevent the naked ap- 

 pearance which otherwise is the case during the end of May and June, 

 and if properly kept within bounds they do not injure either the bulbs 

 or bedding-plants. By attention to the above method of proceeding, 

 I am seldom short of a tolerable supply of flowers from February to 

 November, for it is seldom that the Verbenas and Roses are quite cut 

 off before November, and February is generally gay with Aconites, 

 Crocuses, Snowdrops, &c. I hope every amateur reader of the Florist 

 may be as well supplied. Method and perseverance will accomplish 

 the whole matter. Omega. 



HOTHOUSE FERNS. 



In your last Number (p. 144) are some observations on the culti- 

 vation of Tropical Ferns and Lycopods, with the names of a few 

 genera, in which are found some of the most beautiful among exotic 

 Ferns. I now annex a list of all the best herbaceous stove kinds 

 that are in cultivation, and which will all luxuriate in the tempe- 

 rature of an Orchid-house. I have omitted the arborescent kinds, 

 as from their more robust liabit and rapid development they soon 



