TUE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 233 



stage, because it will retain moisfure much better, and so reduce the 

 labour of watering. Let the soil be sifted and placed upon the 

 potting bench ; then fill a number of three-inch pots, placing them 

 on the hand-barrow aa the work prtigresses. When the barrow is 

 full, take it to the beds where the pots are wanted. Having selected 

 the runners, place a pot under each, and secure it to the middle of 

 the pot either by the weight of a small stone, or else use short pegs 

 to keep it in its place ; and in a short time they will emit roots. 

 The number must be regulated by the space at disposal. A few 

 more than the actual number required should be layered, as there 

 'are generally a few failures, cither from weak plants or deformed 

 crowns ; at the same time I would caution the inexperienced reader 

 against preparing more plants than he can house and care for pro- 

 perly, as it is a folly to prepare five hundred plants when the room 

 will only admit of one-fifth of that number being cultivated with 

 success. Having laid sufficient plants in the pots, and each one 

 secured in its place, all those runners extending beyond the plants 

 set in the pot should be pinched off', that all the strength may go to 

 the plant it is desired to save. This done, the cultivator's only care 

 for them for the next three weeks consists in keeping the soil in the 

 pots well watered, that the roots may have every chance to grow, 

 and to fill the pots full of roots as soon as possible. With the soil 

 above recommended, watering must be attended to at least every 

 alternate day, and in dry hot weather they would be the better for 

 a good soaking every night. There can be no doubt it would mate- 

 rially assist the formation of roots in the soil in the pots if the pots 

 could be plunged to their rims in the bed, as then the pots would 

 not be exposed to the drying influences of sun and wind ; and there 

 can be but one opinion that the more moisture we can retain in the 

 soil the more speedy will be the formation of roots. With ordinary 

 care in watering, plants so treated will generally fill their pots full 

 of roots in three weeks ; that is, if they are moderately strong in 

 the first instance. The young plants may then be severed from the 

 parents, and be taken to some shady spot under a wall or fence. 

 With abundance of water ibr a week in this spot, they will recover 

 from the check received, and in a few days after will be in a fit con- 

 dition to be placed in their permanent pots. 



Shifting them into their fruiting pots must be done carefully, or 

 they will not make a verj- satisfactory growth. The compost should 

 consist of equal quantities of mellow fibrous loam and rotten dung 

 from an old hotbed that has lain by for twelve months in a heap. 

 To these ingredients add one-third of coarse sand (the sharper the 

 texture of it the better), and to every barrow-load of this soil add 

 about one gallon of soot. Let the whole be well mixed, but not 

 sifted ; only broken up with a spade. The pots should be clean and 

 dry, and well drained. Six-inch pots are large enough for all ordi- 

 nary purposes, for setting aside the bulk and weight of larger pots, 

 I am satisfied that plants well grown in them will produce results 

 equal to those in a size larger. The principle to be aimed at in pre- 

 paring the plants ia to secure an early growth ; that is to say, to 

 give every possible encouragement to them to fill their pots full of 



July. 



