22 THE GARDENER. [Jan. 



intended to take. Watering will be best performed through a fine rose; 

 and they will also be benefited by a sprinkling of water overhead when 

 the pit is being shut in for the night, on the afternoons of fine days, 

 after air has been freely admitted through the early part of the day. 



The compost most suitable for growing Mignonnette is turfy loam, 

 rotten manure, and a small proportion of soot — the two latter forming 

 about a third of the composition, supposing the manure is in a proper 

 working condition ; if this is not the case, a third of rough leaf-mould 

 and horse-droppings can be substituted, and will answer the purpose 

 very well with a dash of soot added : a fertiliser of no small value in 

 the cultivation of large or small specimens. 



I may now observe that in potting, and in all future details, the 

 cultivator, whether his requirements are great or small, must, in the first 

 place, determine what form or forms of training will answer his pur- 

 pose best ; and in potting the first time, the plants should be arranged 

 in order to prevent confusion afterwards. Those that are intended to 

 form umbrella-shaped standards should be encouraged on one clean stem 

 to the required height, and pinched by merely "breaking off the point 

 of the shoot " in the soft young wood, so as to get a number of free 

 breaks which, in process of time, will multiply themselves, and cover 

 the whole trellis. The neatest and best furnished at the joints which 

 promise to grow with vigour should be selected for growing into pyra- 

 mids, and those of a more dwarf habit will come in for growing into 

 bush specimens. 



Having supposed the plants to be healthy at the root, and to have 

 been shifted at the proper time, — that is, when the soil in the seed-pot 

 was like a block of mushroom spawn — when broken a mass of white 

 fibrous roots, — it is a fact that many young plants get more food than 

 is good for them at this stage, the roots naturally run to the side of 

 the pot first, when there is hardly a single root in the centre of the ball, 

 then comes overwatering and consequent bad health ; instead, therefore, 

 of giving certain dates for shifting, I would say be guided by personal 

 inspection, and act accordingly. After the plants are shifted into 5- or 

 6-inch pots, as the case may be, they should be returned to their old 

 quarters, and shaded from strong sun for an hour or two in the middle 

 of the day, and only syringed overhead in the meantime till they begin 

 to root afresh. The great object from this date is to keep them in a 

 continually growing state by supplying them carefully at the root with 

 water and syringing them constantly overhead whenever the weather 

 is favourable, — this keeps the young growths soft and increases the 

 number of shoots rapidly. In changing the position of the plants, as 

 the days lengthen, to one of natural shade, it should be done when the 

 weather is likely to be settled for a few days so that the change will 

 not result in a check to growth ; and, of course, they will still have the 

 protection of glass in cold weather. If there be any secret in the culti- 

 vation of these plants, it is in not pushing growth too fast at the com- 



