70 THE FLORIST. 



the bed in an untidy condition longer than is desirable, the best plan 

 is, to take up the bulbs carefully, soil and all, and remove them to a 

 sunny place in the kitchen-garden, until they may be stored away 

 with safety. 



The stock intended for filling the beds in the summer months 

 must be looked over, and kept in a shrubby, compact mode of growth ; 

 each plant should be treated so as to develop its energies fully, that 

 it may be prepared to start into bloom as soon as it is turned out 

 into the parterre. Beds filled with Verbenas, Pelargoniums, &c. 

 often have a miserable appearance for weeks after they are arranged, 

 because the plants are crowded together and neglected until April or 

 May. If treated as greenhouse plants, they will at once convert an 

 empty bed into one of great beauty. They should be gradually 

 exposed to the open air, that they may experience no perceptible 

 change when placed in the situations they are destined to occupy. 

 Annuals should now be selected and sown. A gentle heat, with a 

 small frame, is the best mode of raising them ; but they may be 

 sown at once in the beds, if covered with a flower-pot in very cold 

 weather. 



The Bury, Luton. Henry Burgess. 



WINTER TREATMENT OF THE CARNATION. 



I erect a light wooden frame over the place where the plants are to 

 be wintered, fixing it against a wall having a north aspect. This 

 frame is four feet high at back, and two feet high in front. On the 

 bottom, where the pots stand, I lay slates, in order to prevent the 

 ingress of worms ; I then place my pots in rows, beginning at the 

 back of the frame, and fill up with sand to within about an inch of 

 the rim of the pot, — the sand keeps the roots in an equable condition, 

 protecting them against intense frosts. For covering, I use calico 

 done over with oil mixed with a small portion of white lead, — the 

 latter gives substance to the cloth, and prevents rain from penetrat- 

 ing it. On all favourable opportunities I throw off the cover, in order 

 to admit all the air and light that I can ; but when rain, snow, black 

 frosts, or boisterous winds occur, I keep it on. 



In open weather I examine the plants every night with a lighted 

 candle, and remove any slugs that may be feeding on them ; by 

 attending to this, and to what some may call trifles, great losses are 

 often prevented : the careful florist who attends to the minutias of his 

 calling, though he may only have fifty pairs of Carnations, will fre- 

 quently beat the careless cultivator of 500. Out of near a hundred 

 plants, I only lost some seven or eight ; and the plants I wintered as 

 above were far stronger, less drawn, and healthier, than some which 

 I got in spring, and which had been wintered under glass. 



G. Burton, Jun. 



Kilburn, Oswaldkirk, Yorkshire, Jan. 11. 



