THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. l&BA 



liable to get some portion of the bottom breaks below the surface of 

 the soil, particularly such as are known amongst growers as of a 

 " miffy" habit, that is, of a delicate coustitatiou and high breed, which 

 require great care to be taken as to their watering and drainage. 

 Siqjpose then that -we have a plant in a forty-eight size pot, eight or 

 nine joints high, ready for its first stop, take the crown clean out, 

 midway between the two joints, keep the plant dry for three or four 

 days, unless the season of the year should be hot and cause it to 

 flag, theu a slight watering overhead would aid the action of the 

 sap in the foliage. The first breaks will soon make their appearance, 

 provided the root action be all right; after the first breaks have 

 attained the length of six or seven joints, they should have their first 

 stop whatever mode of training may be adopted. The training 

 usually followed is pegging the shoots out; I prefer tying a piece of 

 bast round the pot, close underneath the rim, and bracing the shoots 

 down to it, which is a neat and ready system. When the breaks 

 have attained the length of six or seven joints they may be stopped 

 again and tied out. The exact time of stopping must depend upon 

 the quickness of growth in young plants, but avoid stopping after 

 March if possible, and at farthest not later than the middle of 

 April, otherwise there is not sufficient time for ripening the wood, 

 a matter of the greatest importance to insure good quality of bloom. 



SHRUBBY VERONICAS. 



[HERE are various ways of growing shrubby Veronicas. 

 They are sometimes planted against dwarf walls, and 

 in sheltered places do not greatly suffer from the frosts 

 of winter. The writer remembers in a garden in 

 Hampshire a dividing fence formed of V. Andersoni, 

 which presented a remarkable and most beautiful appearance at all 

 seasons, and especially when in flower. For ordinary decorative 

 purposes pot specimens have the best effect when formed into regular 

 pyramids with an even distribution of furniture from top to bottom. 

 A good specimen should measure four feet in height from tbe rim of 

 the pot, and four feet through at the base, tapering thence regularly 

 to the summit. When grown for plunging out-of-doors to form 

 autumn groups, a columnar style of training will be the best, or say 

 an outline approximating to a Lombardy poplar, as this allows of 

 placing the plants close together, and a better effect is produced 

 than by plunging specimens broad at the base. 



To grow line specimens, the soil should be good turfy loam, 

 enriched with a third part of decomposed hot-bed manure, and with 

 an admixture of broken crocks or bricks to keep the soil open. The 

 young plant should be trained perfectly straight, so as to secure a 

 Btrong leader, from which in subsequent growth a regular disposition 

 of side branches will proceed. From April to August the plants 

 are to be shifted to larger and larger pots as they require them ; 

 they ought never to be thoroughly pot-bound until they have attained 



May. 



