178 THE FLOEAL WOELD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



ciently symmetrical to gladden the heart of a florist ; hence they 

 possess a greater degree of value from a decorative poiut of view. 

 At the same time I would guard myself against appearing to recom- 

 mend them in preference to the others, and all that I am desirous of 

 advocating is the importance of their being grown for the purpose of 

 afibrding a supply of flowers before the others are at their best. 



Many amateurs, and professionals too, fail in ensuring results so 

 satisfactory as could be wished in the culiivation of the early kinds, 

 and in a very few words I hope to be able to explain the cause of 

 these failures. To secure an early bloom it is needful that the 

 plants should be propagated early enough in the season to afford 

 them time for becoming strong and well established in the pots in 

 which they are to bloom by the middle of the autumn. This is 

 seldom done, because, owing to the greater convenience, propagating 

 is usually performed late in July ; consequently they do not acquire a 

 sufficient degree of strength to admit of their flowering much before 

 the ordinary varieties, when they are hardly required. The proper 

 course is to remove the plants from the conservatory immediately 

 they go out of bloom. Place them in a cold frame where they will 

 be fully exposed to the weather, keep rather dry at the root, and by 

 the Ist of June the wood will have become matured sufficiently to 

 admit of their being cut down, and the cuttings struck. I shall 

 not dwell upon the latter point, because it is now well known 

 that portions of the wood consisting of two joints each, the upper 

 one furnished with a young shoot, form the best cuttings, and strike 

 freely in a warm or cold frame ; they may be inserted singly or 

 several together in each pot, and in any case require moderate 

 sprinkling. Wiien they are rooted pot them. If separately, using 

 small go's, and from these transfer them to 4S's as soon as 

 they are nicely established. No further shift will be required, 

 and until danger from frost is apprehended, an open position out-of- 

 doors, with a hiyer of coal-ashes underneath the pots, will be the 

 best place. Severe pinching is unnecessary, and from one to two 

 stoppings will suffice, the first to consist in the removal of the 

 terminal point of the main shoot soon after the planta are potted off 

 singly, and the second in pinching the points out of the side-shoots 

 in ten days or so after the shift into pots of larger size. If, how- 

 ever, from three to four side-shoots are produced from the first 

 stopping that will suffice, and no further pinching be required. 



Those who have no stock to propagate from should purchase, 

 with as little delay as possible, plants that were struck la^^t autumn, 

 and are now nicely established in three-inch pots. These will 

 require pruning moderately, or stopping, as the case may be, and be 

 kept rather dry for a fortnight or so, then shake them out and repot, 

 using six-inch pots and a fresh compost, and otherwise manage them 

 in the same manner as the summer struck cuttings. 



Mellow turfy loam, leaf-mould, and silver sand will form a most 

 excellent compost, the proportions being three parts loam to one 

 part of the Ifaf-mould, and sufficient sand to give the con)post a 

 gritty appearance, usually one part of the sand to six parts of the 

 compost is sufficient. During the late autumn and early part of the 



