THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



89 



their own way. The blossoins ought to 

 be as large aud waxy as double camellias, 

 and the plants perfect trees on stout 



stems, and without a single gap anywhere 

 in the filling out of the side bx'anches. 



BOB. 



THE aUILLED GEEMAN ASTER : ITS CULTURE FOR 

 EXHIBITION. 



BY E. H. BETTERIDGE, ESQ. 



I THINE the great cause of failure often 

 arises from the seed being sown too early, 

 so that the plants begin to flower in the 

 long days imperfectly, and by September 

 they are too far spent to produce line 

 blooms in their proper season. My memo- 

 randum-book informs me that, for the last 

 nine years, I have sown sometime between 

 the 26th of April and the 14tli of May. 

 In 1856, I sowed on the 5tli of May, 

 pricked out on the 12th. of June, and 

 finally planted out to bloom on the 28tli. 

 The plan I adopt is to sow the seed in a 

 cold frame under glass, in drills six inches 

 apart, and not too thick in the drdls, say 

 the first week in May ; the plants come up 

 in a few days, when they must have plenty 

 of air ; and as soon as they are about an 

 inch high, take the glass quite off for two 

 or three days, and then prick them out on 

 a slight hot-bed three or four inches apart; 

 here they will take root in a day or two 

 •without shade or glass. Before the plants 



begin to run up in the stem, plant them out 

 where they are to stand for blooming, in 

 well manui'ed soil, being careful to remove 

 them with as much mould attached to the 

 roots as possible ; let the rows be one foot 

 apart and the plants ten inches or a foot 

 apart in the rows. If the weather is dry, 

 they must be watered, until they take root ; 

 afterwards keep clean from weeds, stir be- 

 tween the plants, and about the first week 

 in August, top dress with rotten dung 

 from an old hot-bed (the one on which the 

 young plants were pricked out will be in 

 good state if well beaten up), and give a 

 good soaking of water over all if the soil is 

 dry. The plants will now require to be 

 tied to small stakes, and as soon as it can 

 be seen which buds are likely to make good 

 blooms, thin them out, leaving only three 

 or four to a plant. It will be necessary 

 to protect such blooms intended for exhi- 

 bition from wet, or friction from the 

 wind. 



GREENHOUSE PLANTS : DAHLIAS AND REDDERS TOR 

 TOWN GARDENS. 



Will you be kind enough to teU me 

 where the Acaeias, mentioned at page 179 

 of your first volume, are to be got ? Were 

 they plants easily procured, I^ would not 

 trouble you, as it is unfair to expect you 

 to recommend nurserymen; but these are 

 out of the regular catalogue varieties, and 

 I have only been able to pick up two out 

 of the whole. Why do not growers adver- 

 tise what greenhouse plants they have, and 

 how much they want for selections of 50 or 

 100 ? A little book on the culture of 

 greenhouse plants, giving some idea of 

 growth and bloom, and pointing out the 

 best sorts, with the many little peculiari- 

 ties in the cultui-e and propagation of each 

 family, would, I think, be of much service 

 to those who, like me, are tired of the 

 eternal Geraniums and Fuchsias, whose 

 charms would be much enhanced by con- 

 trast with their harder wooded brethren. 



Existing works do not give half the infor- 

 mation required by novices. Here is an 

 instance of how badly we are off for infor- 

 mation : I and my co-amateurs had read 

 of Plumbago Capensis several times, and 

 asked each other, " Wliat is this thing ? We 

 have never seen it at Kew, or any other 

 garden. The name isn't very encouraging 

 (Black-lead), audit is old too; so, if it 

 were worth anything, everybody would 

 have it, but nobody sees it. And there is 

 the new P. Larpentcc, that has blooms so 

 flimsy, so we'll cross it out of the list of 

 good and safe plants." But one of us hap- 

 pened to fall in with it at an obscure 

 nursery, and, I'll be bound for it, there is 

 no better greenhouse plant for the end of 

 summer, grow it in any shape you wUl. 

 You see how we have to put every scrap 

 of information together, and often arrive at 

 a wrong conclusion, because a plant has an 

 E 2 



