EDITOR'S TABLE. 



Pelargoniums will soon be in perfection. Keep tliem regularly supplied with water, and 

 cut off the faded blooms. They will keep in llower for some weeks, if regularly attended 

 to in these particulars. 



Fuchsias. — Attend to repotting in time, that a speedy growth may receive no check, b^^t 

 do not give them very large pots, unless your object is a large plant and no flowers. They 

 only bloom well when growth is completely checked by the pots being filled with roots ; an 

 eight inch pot will grow a specimen large enough for ordinary decorative pui-poses. 



Achenienes require rough, turfy soil, and one-fourth of the pot filled with drainage. Strong 

 growing sorts like pedunculata, grandiflora, hirsuta, &c., may be placed singly, or two or 

 three in a pot ; by constantly pinching out the young points, they may be grown very large, 

 even from single roots, but they increase so rapidly by the roots, that jilants are always 

 abundant. Longiflora, coccinea, rosea patens, &c., may be planted thickly ; they will thus 

 soon form a large mass, and a succession of flowering plants may be had by keeping a few 

 well pinched down. Syringe them frequently, and do not keep the soil too wet. Gesneras 

 and gloxinias reqixire similar treatment. The tuberous roots of the latter are apt to decay 

 if the soil is kept wet before the flbry roots extend. 



The house will now be much crowded. Plants intended for the flower garden maybe set 

 out of doors ; so may, also, a few of the earliest flowered camellias, acacias, azaleas, together 

 with pittosporums, myrtles, oranges, &c., that are intended for out-door decorations. Be 

 guided, however, by the condition of their growth. They will certainly be checked, unless 

 the young shoots have completed their growth. Choose a spot where they will be shaded 

 from morning sun ; a few degrees of frost will then do no harm. 



During the month of February last, I was shown into a small conservator}'', containing 

 more bloom than I ever saw in similar space. The vigor and health of the plants attracted 

 notice. I was informed, that a few days previous to my visit, through an accident, the 

 thermometer got down to 22°, thus subjecting the plants to 10° of frost ; shading was imme- 

 diately resorted to, and the temperature allowed to rise gradually. Not a leaf or flower was 

 harmed. Cinnerarias, geraniums, Kennedias, epacris, euphorbias, gesneras, and even the 

 cjTpripediums, insigne, and venusta, were all unhurt. This much for simply shading after 

 frost. 



Chinese primrose, for seeding, may now be allowed to flower ; leave only one flower-stem 

 on a i^lant ; set them near the glass, where they will get air when the house is opened. 



Climbing plants and rustic baskets, hanging about a greenhouse, create a pleasing variety. 

 Baskets for this purpose are readily made with small branches of trees, or pieces of oak and 

 hickory bark. Any jjlant that forms slender branches, or partakes of a spreading character, 

 is suitable. Climbing plants are not at all adapted for this .purpose. Nemophilas, lobelia 

 erinus, torenias, eschynanths, hoya bella,mahernias, mimulas, petunias, and lophosijernums, 

 if well pinched back when growing, lantana sellowii,and lycopodium denticvxlatum, are well 

 suited for this method of culture. 



Orchids. — There are but few who have special structures for the growth of this family. 

 They are proverbially of easy culture, and many of them grow well under ordinary green- 

 house treatment. Like other plants, they have a season of growth, and one of rest. While 

 growing, they require a warm, humid atmosphere, and a dry and comparatively cool tem- 

 perature when growth is completed. Were these simple facts kept in view, we should see 

 them flower more profusely than when kept in continual growth, by maintaining a sufio- 

 cating atmosphere, saturated with moisture as they are generally treated. We shall never 

 see these curious plants come into general cultivation until the present mode of management 

 is completely changed. 



Flower Gaeden. — Plants intended for the borders should be " hardened off'" — that is, 

 accustomed to the weather for two weeks before planting out. The hardier kinds, as vei-- 

 benas, should be planted early. If left until the end of May, as is usually the case, the 

 ■warm, dry weather sets them to flower instead of growth ; and, unless planted very thick at 

 first, the ground will not be covered for mouths. A few degrees of frost will not harm them, 

 and they will take to growth before overtaken by sultry weather. 



A.iters, balsams, and other annual flowering jjlants, may bo sown in a fiame, or a sheltered 

 corner, in shallow drills, to be transplanted when of sufficient size. 



Hollyhocks are very effective in masses, or singly, in shrubbery borders. Procure seed of 

 good varieties, and sow it at once ; transplant in nursery rows when about a couple of inches 

 high. The following season, they may be placed where wanted to flower. 



Dahlia roots that have not commenced to grow, may be planted out towards the end of 

 the month. They are increased by division of the roots, and cuttings root quickly if not 

 kei)t too close and damp. 





