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THE FLOEAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



could show you what I mean instead 

 of thus vaguely describing it ; but 

 suppose a pot broken so that you have 

 pieces consisting partly of the side, 

 partly of the bottom of the pot, that 

 I call an angular piece, and such 

 pieces fit closely to the holes in the 

 sides of large pots, and allow the 

 water to escape freely. Next a layer 

 of large convex crocks, hollow side 

 downwards, and then a few handfuls 

 of small, so as to make a fifth or even 

 a fourth of the entire depth of the 

 pot. Throw in a lot of the roughest 

 and most lumpy of the compost, then 

 more of it as it comes fine and rough 

 together. Then turn out the plant, 

 lay it down on the ground, and gently 

 crumble away nearly all the soil from 

 the roots. Let one person take all 

 the long rods in both hands to j revent 

 any snapping, while you attend to 

 the roots, which you place in posi- 

 tion and fill in and ram hard with 

 a wooden rammer until the pot is 

 filled to within an inch of the rim. 

 Next drive in a few stout stakes, ga- 

 ther the branches together loosely, 

 and tie so as to keep them safe, and 

 house them as fast as they are potted, 

 and for ten days after give them a 

 sprinkle every morning with the 

 syringe, and keep only moderately 

 moist at the roots till the points of the 

 shoots begin to have a fresh green 

 look ; then cease the syringing, give 

 more water at the root and tie out, 

 but rather close, with strong stakes of 

 the proper length. My large plants 

 were all showing bloom in the first 

 week of April, when I turned them 

 out and potted them into their pre- 

 sent pots tlds season, and by the first 

 week in May they were fit tor plung- 

 ing, and have from that time been 

 smothered with bloom ; they had no 

 help from bottom-heat. They, in fact, 

 had no heat, except that from the 

 Musgrave's stove, to carry them 

 through the winter; and, for the rest, 

 had the aid of his majesty King Sol 

 only in the lean-to ; and in such a 

 glorious spring as that of 18f 4, sun- 

 heat is quite enough for any kind of 

 geraniums. The smaller plants were 

 all potted at the same time, and in 

 the Bame compost ; and such a lot of 

 Attraction, Christine, Helen Lindsay, 



Lord Palmerston, Lmperial crimson, 

 and others, it would be hard to find. 

 They are mostly in seven-inch pots, 

 and to remain in those same pots at 

 least two seasons, and the smaller ones 

 then perhaps to be shaken out, but the 

 larger specimens, I hope never, as long 

 as I live. You must not suppose, by 

 my mention of Lord Palmerston, 

 Christine, and others, that they have 

 any part in the plunging system this 

 season. I have other uses for potted 

 geraniums, and Lord Palmerston is 

 not at all fit for the pur] ose, being of 

 very bushy habit, and hence better for 

 bedding and ordinary pot-culture than 

 for plunging ; in fact, the plunging 

 system requires plants of close habit, 

 themore rigid and columnar the better. 

 As I shall have more to say 

 on this subject, I will conclude 

 now with an enumeration of a few 

 subjects adapted for use in this me- 

 thod of out-door decoration. Ivies of 

 all kinds, the common British Hedera 

 helix, and the common Irish H. cana- 

 riensis are invaluable. H. taurica, 

 Hegneriana, Canariensis arbo^ea, and 

 Helix marmorata are also good ; in 

 fact, you cannot do wrong in obtaining 

 all the kinds of ivies you can lay your 

 hands on, to grow them on, and train 

 them up for winter use. Spirea Ja- 

 ponica will be a fine subject to make a 

 bed or circle of snow-white flowers in 

 May. It may be parted ad lib. in 

 autumn, and in five-inch pots makes 

 good specimens. As it is rather 

 tender, it must be kept under glass 

 till quite in bloom, but it does not 

 need heat even to keep it in winter, 

 Alyssum saxatile, for its lovely yellow 

 flowers in April, sow now in pans, and 

 as soon as the plants are large enough 

 to handle, plant them singly in five- 

 inch pots in good mixture, with extra 

 dose of sand or grit sifted from sweep- 

 ings ; encourage growth, and winter 

 them out of doors, plunged to the rim in 

 the reserve ground. These may remain 

 in the same pots two seasons. 1 have 

 some that have not had a shift for three 

 years, and they flowered this spring as 

 finely as ever. But I shall now shake 

 them out and repot. Meantime, I have 

 about a couple of hundred from a sow- 

 ing last autumn now in five inch pots, 

 which will beuselul next spring. 



