96 



THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



would be like a revival of the customs 

 of the dark ages ever to dispense with 

 it again. If the portion of the ground 

 to be dealt with on the plunging sys- 

 tem is to be kept gay by that system 

 during winter and spring only, it will 

 be no difficult matter to remove the 

 cocoa-nut dust, and replace it with 

 loam for planting the summer bed- 

 ders in ; and wherever the refuse is 

 placed in the reseive ground, it will 

 be the best of all substances in which 

 to plunge the stock of potted plants 

 while making their growths for the 

 season, for by its powers of resistance 

 the plants will be saved all the injury 

 that commonly results from the burn- 

 ing heat of the sun acting on their 

 roots through the exposure of the 

 pots. 



As this paper is only introductory, 

 I shall conclude with a sketch of the 

 general scheme of plunging for one 

 year round. Beginning at the com- 

 mencement of the winter, potted 

 coniferous trees, hollies, laurestinuses, 

 aucubas, ivies, and a few berry- 

 bearing evergreens, form the bulk of 

 subjects immediately available for 

 forming handsome groups. As the 

 spring opens, potted crocuses and 

 snowdrops are brought from the pit, 

 and plunged in the front rows. When 

 these fade, the hyacinths grown with- 

 out forcing are in a fit state to suc- 

 ceed them. This present season I 

 have had hyacinths in perfection out- 

 of-doors, by plunging, from the middle 

 of March to the middle of April, and 

 by changing the plants as the batches 

 in the pits came into bloom, the 

 display continued twice as long, and 

 was twice as good, as would be pos- 

 sible by planting in the open ground. 

 When the hyacinths are done, their 

 places are taken by potted Alyssum 

 saxatile, Iberis sempervirens, and 

 Aubrietia purpurea, the three best 

 hardy spring flowers we have; and if 

 these are grown in sufficient quantity, 

 all the evergreens may be removed, 

 and the flowers may be disposed in 

 true bedding style, and the result 

 will be a glorious display of true 

 spring colours, at a season when 

 everybody is rejoicing at the burst- 

 ing of buds and the blooming of trees, 

 and nobody has a flower of any kind 



in those portions of the ground which 

 are professedly set apart for flowers 

 only. These will all be done in time 

 for the true bedders ; and as these 

 never flower so well as when planted 

 out, no doubt a combination of the 

 planting and plunging systems will in 

 the end be the most useful. But I 

 shall not consider combinations in 

 this series of papers any more than I 

 can help, but deal with the plunging 

 system pur et simple. 



Well, then, we come to the bed- 

 ders, and you will see that by the 

 plunging svstem you may use asters, 

 balsams, fuchsias, and other subjects 

 that make their effects in separate 

 efforts ; and you may, by growing 

 plentifully of suitable subjects, make 

 any number of those charming groups 

 which may usually be seen at nur- 

 sersies, where masses of potted plants 

 are plunged out to catch the eyes of 

 pedestrians. Then again, as some- 

 times a line in a ribbon turns out a 

 failure, or some species or variety 

 adopted in a bed disappoints the cul- 

 tivator, by the plunging system he 

 needs but to move his furniture, and 

 there is an end instanter of any ex- 

 cuse for reproaching his taste, for the 

 defect is no sooner known than it is 

 mended. Then, instead of needing 

 geraniums and verbenas in such quan- 

 tities as they are generally required 

 for bedding, the plunging system 

 allows of the use of plants of any kind 

 that are suitable to produce an effect; 

 and nearly all the inhabitants of the 

 greenhouse and many from the stove 

 may be turned out for a season, and 

 be benefited by their sojourn in cocoa- 

 nut dust, and the decorations may be 

 rendered the most gorgeous possible 

 consistent with the contingencies of 

 outdoor work and the peculiaritiesof 

 our climate in the summer season. 

 I can say this much of summer effects, 

 that I never saw a group produced by 

 planting in the open ground which 

 was worthy to be compared for a 

 moment with groups that I have pro- 

 duced by plunging ; and the reader 

 may be tlie more inclined to believe 

 this when I say that the principal 

 subjects in my grand group were 

 Gauntlet pelargoniums, five feet high, 

 double petunias of the same height, 



