VAllIETIES FOR POTTING. 201 



the pot, they may be much shortened, merely 

 taking off the tips of the small roots and fibres. 

 Stems from four to six inches may be taken 

 generally as tlie most eligible height; but, to form 

 plants for the back row, varieties of the following 

 families may be on stems one foot to eighteen 

 inches : they will increase the effect ; viz. Hybrid 

 China, Hybrid Bourbon, and Hybrid Perpetuals. 

 Many of these will form, when in full bloom, fine 

 rounded heads. When plants of the above de- 

 scription have been selected, they may be potted 

 into No. 16's, or 9-inch pots, in a compost of two 

 parts of nice turfy loam and one part of rotten 

 dung; the loam should, if possible, be more 

 rich and adhesive than that recommended for the 

 plants under greenhouse culture. If some of the 

 plants are very strong, pots a size larger, called 

 31 -inch or 8s may be used; they should then 

 be plunged in the open air on the surface of the 

 soil, in sawdust, rotten leaves, or old tan, which 

 should be four inches deep on the surface of the 

 mould in the pots, care being taken to place the 

 bottom of each pot on a slate, for reasons before 

 given. I recommend the pots to be placed on 

 the surface, rather than to be plunged in the 

 ground, as they then receive the full influence of 

 the sun to their roots. Towards the end of Febru- 

 ary each plant must be pruned to within six or 

 eight buds of the base of the strong shoots, and 

 to within two or three buds of those that are more 



