THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GDIDE. 15 



are full of roots, sliift to tv/o sizes larger, that is into pots of six inches 

 diameter, the compost for this shift to be strong turfy loam, full of fibre ; 

 turfy peat, all the dust and fine black powdery part removed, rotten dung 

 and leaf-mould, equal parts, no sand. For the drainage of these pots we 

 use only one large oyster-shell, placed over the hole in the pot, hollow 

 side downwards. The plants are shifted into these pots without breaking 

 the balls of earth formed in the 60's, and are at once placed on a bed of 

 coal ashes, or a hard pavement in a shady place out of doors, or plunged 

 to the rim in a bed of cocoa-nut refuse. They have abundance of water, 

 and before the end of October they have attained to an immense size, and 

 have ripened plenty of hard flowering wood for the next season. We 

 neither stop nor tie, but allow the branches to fall over as they please, 

 which gives the plants a graceful contour, far preferable to that produced 

 by any kind of training. 



The plants are housed at the end of October. A cold pit suffices for 

 their protection, and they have a little water occasionally, and are kept 

 clean as they lose their leaves. In case of severe weather a little care 

 must be taken to prevent them being severely frosted. 



From this point the cultivator may proceed either to force a few at a 

 time, or allow them to bloom naturally as the season advances. The first 

 thing to do is to cut them back to about six eyes from the bottom to each 

 well-placed ripe shoot, removing any weak inside shoots that might crowd 

 the head without improving the plant. 'Sex.t give them a shift to pots 

 seven and a half inches in diameter, with the same soil as the last, and 

 with a mulch of rotten dung an inch thick on the top. Ordinary green- 

 house temperature will set them going very early in spring, and the 

 blooms will show immediately. Provide some neat green stakes, slender 

 but strong, eighteen inches in length, and tie every shoot as soon as the 

 bloom is visible loosely to a stake, as when the flowers are fully expanded, 

 their weight when wet with a shower will sometimes cause them to fall 

 over and break the stems. All they need after this is abundance of water. 

 They can scarcely have too much at the root, or be too often sprinkled 

 overhead. When the roots begin to run upon the surface, assist them with 

 liquid manure, rather strong, once a- week, and by this time the blossoms 

 will be expanding and colouring, and after acquiring their proper cha- 

 racter, will continue in perfection a longer period than those of any other 

 plant in our gardens. 



These plants are not to be shifted again tiU the next spring ; then 

 they are to be cut back to about eight buds from the base, and shifted into 

 10-inch pots, and they will make enormous specimens. The next year they 

 may be shifted to 1 5-inch pots, and after that it is not advisable to increase 

 their bulk any further. A few cuttings to furnish small useful plants 

 should be put in every year in April or May ; or if there is no convenience 

 to strike by bottom-heat, they may be rooted under bell-glasses without 

 heat in June, but it is best to strike them not later than the first week in 

 May to insure the formation of ripe wood for blooming the next year. 

 For ordinary purposes the most useful are yearling plants, which, when 

 they have bloomed once, are to be destroyed. To force them is a mere 

 matter of temperature, and they take a moist heat from Christmas onwards 

 as kindly as any greenhouse plants in the catalogue. 



Hydeangeas out of Dooks. — As the hydrangea is so nearly hardy, 

 there is little difficulty in growing it in the open air in the s;)uthern 



