JANUARY. 19 



ness will be diffused over our whole walk ; others will take know- 

 ledge of us that we have been with Jesus. 



The second passage of Scripture in which the Rose is mentioned 

 is prophetic, and would carry us beyond our present limits. I need 

 only say that the simile of blossoming as a Rose, applied to a place 

 that had previously been a desert, is abundantly beautiful, as setting 

 forth that succession of bloom peculiar to some Rose-trees, which 

 are never without their blossoms from one end of the year to the 

 other. 



SHANKING-OFF OF PANSIES. 



I HAVE grown during the last twenty years nearly all the different 

 kinds of Florists' flowers, and with tolerable success ; but the Pansy 

 has always been my favourite, and has had the most of my atten- 

 tion. I would recommend those who wish to be successful in its cul- 

 tivation, &c., and to excel at floricultural exhibitions, to read and act 

 upon the instructions given by Mr. Turner, of Slough, in the former 

 Numbers of your truly valuable work. 



This is by far the best article on the subject that I have seen ; if 

 any one has any doubt about it, I would direct him to the success 

 which attends Mr. T. at all the places where he exhibits ; I have no 

 recollection of ever finding his stands any thing but first. I have 

 also observed that the stands placed second and third have, in many- 

 instances, contained nearly the same varieties ; to me di sufficient 

 proof of the superiority of Mr. T.'s mode of culture. 



In vol. i. p. 24, Mr. Turner says : " Entire beds have been 

 known to shank-off during a very hot summer ; and all we can say 

 on this part of the subject is, that the farther the Pansy is removed 

 from its original state by high cultivation, the more they shank-off 

 in this manner : plants that appear to be full of health and vigour in 

 the morning will be down before midday, as if they had been severed 

 with a knife." This is a fact well known to all Pansy growers; 

 moreover, watering, shading, &c. will not restore them after they 

 have once fallen. To remedy the evil must be our next consideration. 

 My plan is simply this : as soon as I find the plants drooping, I im- 

 mediately take off all the young shoots, and prepare them in the 

 usual way (as cuttings) ; I then insert the lower parts of the stems in 

 cold water (say one inch deep) for twenty-four hours; and have inva- 

 riably found, after this simple treatment, the withered shoots so far 

 renovated as to take root, and grow almost as well as if nothing had 

 happened. 



In conclusion, allow me to recommend all cultivators of what are 

 termed Florists' flowers to use charcoal broken into pieces the size 

 of a nut, or smaller ; for quantity, say a tenth part of the whole. I 

 have used this year for striking or rooting Pansy-cuttings, Pink- 

 pipings, Pvose-cuttings, &c. equal parts of charcoal, leaf-mould, 

 yellow loam, and sea-sand, and I never succeeded so well, or had 

 my plants in such fine condition. 



Whithy, Dec. 6th, 1849. W. F. 



