FEBRUARY. 59 



and place about an inch and a half of broken crocks over the bottom, 

 with a layer of moss to keep the soil from mixing with the drainage. 

 In fining the pots, I use the rougher portion of the soil first, and 

 the finer as the pots become nearer full. This mode of proceeding 

 secures a perfect drainage, which is of the highest importance'. My 

 pots filled, and lightly pressed down, I insert my bulbs, leaving 

 their crowns just below the surface ; I then give a good watering 

 with a fine-rosed pot, and keep them afterwards moderately damp ; 

 but I never allow water to stand in the pans, as they are impatient 

 of much moisture at any time, except when in full llower, and then 

 they require a rather plentiful supply. 



I always fix the trellis on the pot at the time of potting, as it 

 saves the roots from being injured, as would happen, if the operation 

 was delayed to a future time. I carefully lay in the shoots as soon 

 as they are produced, and fill every part of the trellis, which is 

 brought over the front of the pot to within four or five inches of its 

 bottom. This gives them a neat appearance ; and a month before 

 they come into full bloom, I contrive to have the shoots equally dis- 

 tributed all over the trellis ; for when this is the case, the beauty of 

 the plant is very much enhanced. 



December 14, 1849. T. R. 



ON THE SIMULTANEOUS CONTRAST OF COLOURS. 



BY M. CHEVREUL, 

 MEMBER OF THE ACADEMY OP SCIENCES, PARIS. 



Amongst the pleasures presented to us by the culture of flowering 

 plants, there are few that exceed what we experience from the sight 

 of a multitude of flowers varying in colour, form, and size, and in 

 their arrangement upon the stem that supports them. 



It is probably owing to the admiration bestowed individually 

 upon each, and to the affection cherished toward them in conse- 

 quence of the great care they have required, that pains have hitherto 

 not been taken to arrange them in such a manner as to produce the 

 best possible eff'ect upon the eye, not only separately, but collec- 

 tively. Nothing, therefore, is more common than a defect of pro- 

 portion observed in the manner in which flowers of the same colour 

 are made to recur in a garden. At one time, the eye sees nothing 

 but blue or white ; at another, it is dazzled by yellow, scattered 

 around in profusion. The evil effect of a predominating colour may 

 be further augmented w'here the flowers are of approximating but 

 still different shades of colour. For instance, in the spring we meet 

 with the Jonquil, of a brilliant yellow, side by side with the pale 

 yellow of the Narcissus ; in the autumn, the Indian Pink may be 

 seen next to the China Hose and the Aster, and Dahlias of different 

 reds grouped together, &c. 



Approximations like these produce upon the eye of a person 



