THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 199 



early iu September, but those potted up after the end of the month 

 must not be shifted until the spring following, as they winter so 

 much better when the pots are well tilled witli roots. Suckers with 

 a good stout base are the most useful, and when they are received 

 they should be sorted, and all that exceed fifteen inches in length 

 will require eight-inch pots, and those of smaller size five and six- 

 inch pots. Four or five pieces of rather large crocks, covered with 

 the roughest portion of the compost, will suffice for drainage. To 

 pot the sucker is easy enough, for it is simply necessary to place it 

 in the centre of the pot, with the base resting upon the drainage, 

 and then fill in with soil, and in so doing press it so firm that the poc 

 and soil could, if needed, be lifted up by taking hold of the sucker. 

 When potted, plunge the pots to the rim, and as the work proceeds 

 arrange them regularly according to their height. Very little watei* 

 will be required until the roots begin to run round the outside of the 

 ball of soil, and then the supply may be increased moderately. In 

 Septembei' the strongest may be shifted into pots two sizes larger, 

 provided they have well filled the pots with roots. 



In the spring following, the plants which have remained in the 

 small pots thi'ough the winter will require a shift into eight-inch 

 pots, and in August into ten or eleven-inch pots, which will be quite 

 large enough for the final shift. The others will not require re- 

 potting, as the pots into which they were put the previous autumn 

 will be quite large enough, and most probably some of them will show 

 fruit towards the end of the summer ; the others, if kept rather dry for 

 two months or so early in the year, will throw up at the beginning of 

 the summer. In subsequent years the better course will be to remove 

 the suckers from the parent plant shortly after the fruit has been 

 cut, and pot them at once. The strongest suckers only should be 

 selected, and in case any of the plants produce a considerable number 

 of suckers, as they frequently will do, they should be thinned down 

 to the two largest. By this means strong suckers will be obtained 

 without diverting the energies of the plant from the support of the 

 fruit. A great saving of time will be effected, as strong suckers 

 will arrive at a fruiting condition from six to twelve months before 

 those of small size. By potting up the suckers as they are ready, a 

 regular succession of fruit will be obtained, which will be of more 

 importance to the amateur than a considerable number at one time. 

 It is not difficult for the practical man to have the plants in fruit at 

 any particular moment, but it would require too much space for the 

 whole process to be explained here, and before it could be carried 

 out in a thoroughly satisfactory manner some practical knowledge of 

 pine growing is essential. 



The stock should, as a rule, be overhauled twice a year — March 

 and August — and those requiring more root-room shifted according 

 to their requirements. As a rule, they will require repotting twice — 

 the first from the pots into which they were put as suckers into eight- 

 inch pots, and from these into the fruiting pots of eleven inches 

 diameter. The pots must of necessity be clean and well drained, 

 and the compost, which should consist of two parts of turfy loam to 

 one part of hotbed manure, decayed to a powder, or horse droppings 



July 



