JUNK. 135 



drained pots, filling them up nearly to the top with the soil prepared, 

 leaving half an inch on the top for silver-sand ; into this place your 

 cuttings thickly, and put a bell-glass over them ; then remove them 

 tc your propagating-frame, where a brisk damp heat is kept up. 

 Plunge them half way up their pots, and give them a slight sprinkling 

 of water, keeping the frame close and shaded from the hot sun ; and 

 in a month or six weeks they will require potting off, which should 

 be done as soon as they are rooted. For this purpose select some 

 small sixty or 3-inch pots well drained, and compost as recommended 

 for the cutting pots, bearing in mind not to sink the plant deep into 

 the soil, but rather (if it is found that it cannot support itself) place 

 a small stick to secure it in its position for a few days, until it has 

 become rooted sufficiently to stand alone, when the stick may be re- 

 moved. When potted place them in a close warm frame, where the 

 temperature should be kept from 70° to 75°. When well-established 

 in their pots pinch out their tops, which will make them dwarf and 

 bushy. As they advance in growth keep them continually shifted 

 into larger pots, and after each potting top their shoots, giving air 

 more liberally and less heat. This will cause them to make nice 

 dwarf bushy plants. In the latter end of September they should be 

 removed to the stove, where the atmosphere is kept dryer, and the 

 watering partially withheld. This will retard their growth and pre- 

 pare them for rest in the dull days of winter, a point of the greatest 

 importance ; for after a good rest when spring arrives they are ready 

 to start to work in good earnest. 



In the month of March, when we receive some assistance from 

 the sun, and when the atmosphere is more light and clear, start them 

 into growth, commencing first by examining their roots, which, if 

 found in a healthy state, give them a fresh pot ; and a few days after 

 potting, attend to topping them as before recommended, keeping 

 them still in the stove, and frequently syringing them over their tops 

 with clean tepid water, and never allow your temperature to rise 

 higher than from 60° to 65°. This is the time when especial care is 

 required for establishing a good blooming plant ; years of experience 

 have taught me this lesson, and warrant me in making the assertion. 

 Instead of placing your plants in a warm, damp atmosphere, and 

 plunging them in bottom-heat, keep them in the stove, and never 

 after this give them any bottom-heat, but expose them to the sun and 

 air as the season advances, and the result will be that you will get 

 fine, healthy, sound, short-jointed wood, which will bloom at every 

 point at the proper season, and at the same time establish a fine spe- 

 cimen, which will afford you both pleasure and ornament in your 

 collection for many years ; whereas, by placing them in a strong 

 damp atmosphere, and plunging them in bottom-heat, you will get 

 more growth, and your plants will make a specimen in much less 

 time — but what is your specimen worth ? You will find it to consist 

 of long-jointed, soft, unripe wood, and such as will never afford you 

 a good regular head of bloom. I have no hesitation in asserting 

 this is the cause, and the only cause, why we now see so many plants 

 with only a few solitary heads of flower upon them. The object in 



