JANUARY. O 



judicial than otherwise ; but with these lazy varieties, perhaps a slight 

 bottom-heat might accelerate matters. 



As soon as the plants have pushed the young roots through to 

 the sides of the pots, they should be shifted into 3'2's or 6-inch pots, 

 similar soil being used to that in which they were struck -, and after 

 receiving a good watering, be again placed in the frame, and shut up 

 close for a few days, until they get established. The only difficulty 

 during the remainder of the summer will be to prevent their running 

 up ; the best mode of effecting this is to plunge the pots on a north 

 border, where they will only get a little morning or evening sun, to 

 allow them only just water enough to prevent their flagging, and oc- 

 casionally to lift the pots in order to prevent their rooting through 

 into the soil beneath. But notwithstanding all the care that can be 

 taken, some few plants will probably commence running up in the 

 course of the summer ; these must be headed back as soon as they get 

 three or four inches high, when the eyes which were left below will 

 push, and make good plants by the autumn. 



A collection of strong healthy plants being thus provided, the 

 next question that arises is as to the best method of wintering them. 

 The soil must be very dry and the situation peculiarly favourable to 

 allow of their being turned out in the autumn into the open border; 

 unless a hand-light could be assigned to each plant, this is much too 

 hazardous a plan to recommend. They can stand a good deal of 

 cold, but a continuance of wet, damp weather is fatal, and where 

 slugs abound they are very injurious. We have had more than half 

 the number of plants turned out in the autumn (strong healthy plants 

 too) ruined from these causes. By far the best method is to winter 

 them in large pots in frames. About the middle of September the 

 plants should be shifted into 10 -inch or Carnation pots, in soil con- 

 taining a smaller proportion of sand than that previously used ; three 

 parts of loam, two of leaf-mould, and one of sand, will be about the 

 thing. They should then be placed in a frame in a warm sheltered 

 part of the garden with a southern aspect, and raised up by means of 

 cinder-ashes to within six inches of the glass. Let them be well 

 watered, and shut up close and shaded for a few days, if the weather 

 be bright ; but as soon as they are again established, they must have 

 all the air possible day and night throughout the autumn and win- 

 ter, the lights being used merely to protect them from heavy rain 

 and severe frost, and during wet weather being propped up at both 

 ends, so as to keep off the rain without excluding a free circulation 

 of air. They will now require very little water, and the best mode 

 of supplying it is to take advantage of mild gentle showers. Weeds 

 must of course be pulled up as soon as they appear, dead leaves re- 

 moved, and vermin killed, and the surface of the soil in the pots 

 occasionally stirred. Plants wintered in frames as above recom- 

 mended will be far stronger and healthier in the spring, and will 

 bloom earlier than those turned out into the open border in autumn. 



The next point to be attended to is the preparation of the border 

 in which the plants are intended to flower. A medium soil, neither 

 too heavy nor too light, and a situation where they can get plenty of 



