NOVEMBER. 247 



March, the best should be selected and plunged in a gentle bottom- 

 heat in a temperature of from 60° to 65°, to start them into growth ; 

 when this commences they should, if in good health, receive a 

 liberal shift — say from a 5-inch to a 9-inch pot, care being taken to 

 remove any impure soil, and to gently disentangle the matted roots, 

 without destroying the ball more than is necessary. After repotting, 

 the plants should be plunged as before, and encouraged into vigor- 

 ous growth. With the increase of solar heat at this season, a free 

 use of the syringe should be resorted to on all favourable occasions, 

 using water of the temperature of the house or pit in which the 

 plants are placed ; during bright sunshine a slight shading should be 

 provided, any indications of flower-buds removed, and the points of 

 the stronger shoots topped, to preserve a dwarf bushy habit. When 

 requisite, a second shift should be given into 13-inch pots; and 

 afterwards the treatment continued as before. With due attention 

 to air, water, stopping, and tying out the branches, fine compact 

 plants will be obtained. A little observation will shew the cultivator 

 how far stopping will be beneficially consistent with the due produc- 

 tion of flower-buds ; when this is secured, the plants may be gradu- 

 ally hardened and wintered as before. 



If the plants are required in bloom at an' early period of the fol- 

 lowing summer, say May, they should be placed in heat by the early 

 part of February, or later, as may be required; when the blooms 

 begin to expand, the plants may be removed to a warm part of the 

 greenhouse or conservatory. After the flowers are exhausted, the 

 shoots may be pruned back to a well-placed joint, and the plants 

 removed to a close situation in heat, until the buds have broken 

 freely. At this time they will require repotting. If the pots are 

 well filled with healthy roots, a larger shift may be given. The 

 required size must, however, now be determined by the convenience 

 or inclination of the cultivator ; but I may state, that G. Fortuni is a 

 free-rooting plant, and the flowers are usually larger and more abun- 

 dantly produced when allowed plenty of pot-room ; if want of space 

 does not allow" of large pots being used, the ball of soil should be 

 considerably reduced, and the plants repotted in the same-sized pots ; 

 in this way they may be kept in vigorous health for some years ; and 

 when eventually overgrown or unhealthy, they may be replaced with 

 some of their young and now vigorous progeny. 



I find this Gardinia to luxuriate in a compost of equal parts of 

 fibrous hazelly loam and peat soil, broken up in a rough state, adding 

 a sufficiency of sharp sand to preserve porosity in the soil. With the 

 above a liberal supply of charcoal, broken to half-inch size, is mixed ; 

 this acts as a fertihser, and assists in keeping the soil in an open, 

 healthy condition. Any more stimulating matter I prefer applying in a 

 liquid state during the season of growth, when a watering twice a week 

 with clear manure-water is highly beneficial. Should that tiresome 

 pest the mealy bug make its appearance, no time should l)e lost in 

 its extirpation. This is most successfully accomplished by taking 

 the plants outside the house, and, after laying the pots on one side, 

 w^ell syringing the foliage with water at 150 degrees; by repeating 



