CALENDAR OF OPERATIONS FOR MARCH. 



307 



or the young shoots would be 

 damaged also. Keep tliem rather 

 closer, and well syringed with tepid 

 water while the young shoots are 

 growing, and until tlie embryo 

 bloom-bnds are apparent at the 

 thickened tips of the shoots ; then 

 give more air and less water to 

 ripen and rest them. Those not 

 shifted should be surface-dressed 

 with ricli loamy soil, the fertilising 

 properties of whicli will be wasiied 

 down into the soil, and nourish 

 the growing parts. 



Chinese Primroses. — Towaixls the 

 end of the mouth sow some 

 seeds, to furnish a batch of early 

 autumn -blooming plants. Get 

 them potted sini^ly into small pots 

 as soon as possible, and placed in 

 a close pit ; but grow them during 

 summer in a cool frame. Any old 

 plants that are thought worth pre- 

 serving, especially the double- 

 flowered varieties, may be partially 

 reduced, and repotted into smaller 

 pots, in rather poor sandy soil, 

 and treated as seedlings in the 

 frames or pits. 



Chrysauthemiims. — A few cut- 

 tings should be put in for a supply 

 of plants for blooming in pots. 



Cinerarias. — Secure seeds of the 

 finer varieties, either impregnated 

 artificially, or from plants set 

 close tou;ether witli a view to its 

 being effected by natural agencies. 

 Any of the earliest plants that 

 may be declining bloom should 

 have the stems cut away, and be 

 set in a frame where they can be 

 kept rather close until suckers are 

 pi-oduced. If any late plants re- 

 main unshifted they should now 

 be potted at once. 



Climbers starting into growth 

 should be shifted into large pots, 

 and have their permanent trellises 

 if not already supplied. The 

 training of them should be care- 



fully attended to, from time to 

 time, before the branches get into 

 a confused and entangled mass. 

 Train them on their trellises as 

 they grow, that tlie face of them 

 may be always fair ; and if any 

 are of a form to requii-e a face all 

 round, the plant must be turned 

 to the light daily. 



Dressing. — Stir the surface of 

 the soil in all the pots that have 

 indicated damp and moss, examine 

 the drainage of any that appear 

 more moist than others, and see 

 that all is clear, for the wet would 

 soon destroy a plant. 



Ericas. — Large plants seldom 

 require repotting more than once 

 a year, and this should be done 

 with each particular variety just 

 at the juncture when it is ready 

 to renew its growth. Young plants 

 may be shifted oftener. Let all 

 those commencing growth be re- 

 potted forthwith. These plants 

 must never be allowed to get dry 

 at the root. Recently - shifted 

 plants require less water than 

 those which have their pots very 

 full of roots : if too much water 

 is given to the former the soil 

 gets sour and soddened, and in 

 that case the roots cannot make 

 healthy progress. 



Fuchsias. — Take off cuttings of 

 the young shoots from the old 

 plants, if they have been started 

 in heat. These cuttings, rooted 

 quickly in a hotbed frame, and 

 grown on during spring in a warm 

 greenhouse, make the handsomest 

 of all blooming plants for the 

 summer. The old plants now 

 growing freely must be repotted 

 according to their wants. These 

 old plants, if trained up to a single 

 stem, make handsome standards. 

 Start the roots of Fuchsia fnlgens 

 in a hotbed frame, and harden 

 them off, after they begin growing, 



