THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 69' 



the ritn, and if other subjects are placed in the same bed, the potting will 

 be the most convenient method for the beginner. When replaced in the 

 bed, and linings supplied, soak the bed with water, without wetting the 

 leaves of the plants, and soak the soil in the pots with tepid water, and 

 shut up and shade. 



The compost for potting should be the same as before, peat, leaf, loam, 

 and S-md ; but, where cocoa-nut dust is used, the peat may be dispensed 

 with, and the compost maj^ be half turfy loam to oue and a half cocoa nut, 

 with a tuft of the fibrous part of the cocoa waste for drainage, and only 

 one crock over the hole in the pot. As the flower-stems rise, give air 

 carefully and water plentifully, and as soon as the flowers begin to show 

 colour remove them to the greenhouse or conservatory, and they will 

 bloom to perfection. When the bloom is over, place them on a warm 

 pavement out of doors, and water moderately, giving less and less to 

 encourage them to go to rest, and, when the stems are nearly dead, 

 lay all the pots on their sides on the top shelf of a lean-to house, where 

 the autumn sun will thoroughly roast them. By the first of October they 

 ought to be well ripened, and should be put away where they will have 

 an average temperature of 45'. As those who are likely to grow them 

 in this way have usually no better place to keep them than a closet in- 

 doors, it is best to remove them early for fear of injury by damp, and a 

 place anywhere in the top rooms of a dwelling-house will be the best 

 place for them till spring returns again, 



Seedlings. — Pine collections may bo raised from seed, and the seed 

 sent out by the trade is generally good. Seedlings may be raised in a 

 dung-bed as easily as in the stove. Sow it any time in March, and till 

 the fifteenth of April. Shallow seed-pans should be filled with first a 

 layer of cocoa-nut dust, and the remainder peat, broken fine and mixed 

 with a fourth part silver sand. Sow thin, and cover the seed with a 

 dusting of peat powder, and cover with squares of glass. Place the pans 

 in a heat of 70', and, when the seedlings have each two good leaves, 

 transplant them singly into thumb pots in the same mixture as recom- 

 mended for flowering plants, but with fine sandy compost to fill in next 

 the roots, lleplace them in the bed, and, when they fill the pots with 

 roots, shift to 60-sized pots, and in these let them remain for the season 

 and till the next spring, taking care to ripen them off well in the autumn. 

 These will not fiower till the second year. By sowing in February, and 

 growing them on with great care in a steady moist heat of 70', some will 

 flower the first season. 



Propagatiox by Cuttings. — These plants readily increase by leaves 

 and cuttings, but leaves are used only when some scarce variety is required 

 to be increased in great quantities, and we must defer the consideration 

 of that method till next month. Tuberous-rooted varieties muj be easily 

 increased by division of the tubers. To grow them from cuttings, take 

 the cuttings off at the second joint from the top, dibble them into a 

 mixture of half peat and half sand in shallow pans, cover with bell- 

 glasses, and place paper over the glasses or smear the glasses with wet 

 clay, and place the pans on a moist heat of 70'. Keep them moderately 

 moist, and, when rooted, pot them off in small pots in one of the mixtures 

 already recommended. After potting, plunge to the rim in a warm bed 

 and keep shaded till they begin to grow again. Then let them have 

 full sun, water frequently, and sprinkle the leaves lightly, but ne 



