iSyi.] AUTUMN AND WINTER PLANTS. 311 



them where the sun, for about four hours in the middle of the day, did 

 not strike on them, it would be all the better (although we have seen 

 them do well in an open quarter in the garden). It is a good plan to 

 put three small pots inverted in the bottom of the pit, to set the pots 

 on. If the soil is carefully put round the pot, the triangle within the 

 three pots will be left hollow : they will grow very fast after this, and 

 will soon need to be stopped. If wanted early, they should not be 

 pinched after the middle of August. Watering should be regularly 

 attended to, and when the pots are full of roots, give manure-water 

 about three times a-week, with good syringings overhead every evening 

 after a bright day. If a handful of soot be put into a watering-pot 

 filled full of water, and well stirred, and sprinkled over the plants 

 through a rose the last thing in the evening, being careful that the 

 whole of the foliage is thoroughly wet, and repeating the same thing 

 the first thing in the morning with clean water, it gives the plants a 

 healthy hue. 



The same treatment is required for spring cuttings, but we do not 

 put them into such large pots, and leave them about fifteen days later, 

 pinching them the last time. We have a small white one, which was 

 in bloom with us in the beginning of September, and, by having suc- 

 cession plants, it continued flowering until Christmas. It is the best 

 for cutting purposes we know of. 



HOTEIA (sPIE^a) JAPONICA 



Can scarcely be had in large enough quantities where there is 

 great demand for cut flowers, and its foliage is a good substitute for 

 Fern-leaves when they are scarce. It also stands long in the conserva- 

 tory when properly and gradually hardened off, but it soon decays if 

 brought at once from a moist and high atmosphere. Its treatment is 

 much the same as the Lily of the Valley. It should not be too often 

 disturbed at the roots. When done flowering, care should be taken 

 that they do not receive a check in the growth and ripening of their 

 foliage by exposure to frost or cutting winds in spring. They should 

 be placed in a pit or frame, about the same temperature as the house 

 in which they stood while in bloom. Here let them stand until all 

 danger of frost is past, when they can be plunged out of doors. Never 

 let them suffer for the want of water. When the earliest begin to 

 show signs of the foliage changing colour, lift them and place them 

 in a cold frame, giving no more water than keeps them from flagging ; 

 and let them have all the sun possible, keeping the lights rather close 

 for a short time, which will help to ripen them better. Before start- 

 ing them, we generally take them to the potting-bench, examine the 

 drainage, remove all the loose soil from among the crowns, but not to 



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