74 THE FL01UST. 



POT-CULTURE OF THE PETUNIA. 



Allow me to say a few words in favour of the Petunia as an object 

 for pot-culture, for with care it may be grown in pots sufficiently 

 bushy to render it one of the handsomest plants in the greenhouse. 

 To have plants in perfection in May or June, I take cuttings early 

 in February of the plants which flowered last year, and which were 

 cut back in order that they might furnish cuttings for next season. 

 These are struck in a little bottom heat ; and as soon as they are 

 ready, they are potted in small pots, in leaf- mould, loam, and sand. 

 They are then introduced into a temperature of 55° or 60°, where they 

 remain until they get well started, after which they succeed in any 

 light part of the greenhouse. I stop at two or three inches high, in 

 order to get as many shoots as 1 want for tying out, which are 

 generally ten or twelve. About this stage of their growth they want 

 repotting. I shift into pots six inches across, using peat, loam, and 

 leaf-mould, in a roughly chopped state. In this they grow strongly, 

 and soon require sticking. This latter is effected by placing a few 

 small sticks round the side of the pot, and one in the centre ; to these 

 I train the young shoots. 



"When the plants have filled the pots they now occupy with roots, 

 they should be repotted once more into twelve-inch pots, using the 

 same compost as before. I then get some nice straight sticks two 

 feet long, and removing the small ones, replace them with these, 

 leaving the one in the centre a little longer than the others. The 

 side-sticks are inserted in a slanting direction, following the sides of 

 the pots. The shoots are carefully trained to these sticks ; and by 

 the time they reach their extremities, they are covered with flowers 

 of good size, the plants are healthy and stout, clothed with green 

 foliage from top to bottom, and, trained in the above manner, they 

 look better than when trained on wire trellises. 



Those who have not a stove or cucumber-frame to start them in 

 early, should not attempt to strike cuttings before March, for the cut- 

 tings root more freely as spring advances. 



Warrington, Jan. 15. Edward Green. 



CULTURE OF HYACINTHS IN THE OPEN GROUND. 



Hyacinths are but little known in England, except as forced in 

 glasses or in pots, or as a border flower ; and a general impression 

 prevails that our climate is unsuited to their growth, except for the 

 first year of their importation. I think, however, there is reason to 

 doubt the correctness of this opinion ; first, because the neighbour- 

 hood of Haarlem, the great region of their production, is on the same 

 parallel with the centre of England, nor is the difference of climate 

 at the season of the year when Hyacinths are under its influence per- 



