i873-] HARDY FLOWER GARDENING. 417 



The size of the shift must be regulated by the habit of the variety 

 — some grow much more robustly at both root and top than others. 

 These may be put into well-drained 9-inch pots, using fibry rough soil 

 and always plenty of sand. The less robust in habit will have shift 

 enough by being transferred to an 8-inch pot, when less turfy soil 

 must be used. They should not be put into a pot that they cannot 

 thoroughly fill with roots by autumn. In shifting this time the same 

 rules apply as in the first instance, and the same temperature and 

 general treatment, until the pots are in their turn well filled with roots, 

 and the bloom-buds can be discerned in the tips of the young growths. 

 Then more air, more light, and less moisture in the air will be required, 

 in order to get the wood well consolidated and ripened, so that the 

 plants will yield a crop of bloom the following season. While they 

 are fully exposed to all the air and light possible, be sure that at the 

 same time they are kept moist and cool at the root. 



By this stove-plant treatment it is astonishing what large plants can 

 be produced in one season's growth. Of course, grown so rapidly, they 

 do not produce so very dense a crop of bloom as more established 

 plants with less robust growths do. Still, after undergoing a process 

 of gradual but thorough exposure to sun, and consequently thorough 

 ripening, what is wanting numerically is obtained in the size of 

 individual blooms. 



It is always found during the season of this rapid growth that much 

 pinching and repinching of shoots is necessary to produce symmetrical 

 and well-furnished plants. 



After being perfectly matured in growth, a greenhouse temperature 

 is high enough for wintering them in ; the chief points being not to 

 overcrowd the plants, and to keep them steadily and moderately moist 

 at the roots. 



Some varieties arrive sooner at the stage when it is desirable to 

 decrease the heat and moisture, and require exposure to more light 

 and air than others ; and, if convenient, these should be drafted into 

 another house or pit when they have formed their buds. 



HARDY FLOWER GARDEK'IlSrG AT BONNIJSTGTOK". 



To those who cannot discern beauty or merit apart from a high degree 

 of perfection, a visit to such a place as Bonnington will have little 

 interest. 



The proprietor. Sir Charles Ross, not having resided on the estate 

 for a number of years, it is not kept in first-rate order ; yet there are 

 few places where more is to be learned by the practical gardener in 



