THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 283 



influence of the weather, hut protect it from drenching rains, which 

 would soon wash all the nutriment away. After being exposed for 

 a few weeks to the full air, the outsidt-s of the ridges will be fit for 

 use ; but if it could be exposed for twelve months before using, it 

 would be all the better. Except for very strong-growing plants, 

 this soil is too strong for general purposes, and hence — more 

 especially, when used in a fresh state — a portion, say one-third, ot 

 fresh loam should be mixed with it. 



The above is a compost which we can recommend for soft-wooded 

 plants of all kinds, and in it, when properly prepared, plants may be 

 grown stronger and more healthy in three-inch pots than they are 

 generally seen in pots of double the size. Nurserymen would do 

 well to pay more attention to this subject, as they frequently put 

 their patrons to the expense of carriage of large pots when the 

 smaller ones would do. This, or soil similarly constituted, forms 

 the staple in which the magnificent pelargoniums, fuchsias, calceo- 

 larias, roses, etc., seen at the London exhibitions, are grown, and its 

 strength accounts for the wondrous growth attained in such small 

 pots. 



The spring is the best time to prepare such compost, keeping it 

 turned weekly throughout the summer; but a good stock should 

 always be kept, so that it may be properly sweetened before using. 



THE CANNA TRIBE AS BEDDING-PLANTS. 



|HE culture of this tribe of plants for bedding-purposes is 

 at once so simple, and attended with so little trouble, 

 as to deserve the attention of every one who has space 

 to spare for tbem. Their appearance, in suitable situ- 

 ations, is magnificent in the extreme ; and planted in 

 beds on a lawn, they impart an exotic character which no other 

 plant that I know of can be employed to produce. Last season I 

 succeeded in producing a very fine effect by planting six plants of 

 Ganna gigantea, at two yards apart, through a large bed of scarlet 

 geraniums, which, from being situated on level ground, and in a 

 conspicuous situation from several points, required something; to 

 break the monotony of the bed in that particular place. This 

 arrangement was much admired, and not without reason — for the 

 splendid foliage and bright flowers, waving grace'ully about with 

 every gust of wind, imparted an effect at once lively and unique. 

 Our plan is to take up the plants when the frost has cut them down 

 in the autumn, and to pot them in eight-inch pots, and place them 

 under the stage of a greenhouse, or the back part of a conservatory, 

 keeping them nearly dry until the first week in February, when 

 they are placed in an early vinery, and watered freely until they 

 have made a tolerable growth. We then begin to inure them 

 gradually to a lower temperature by transferring them to the green- 

 house, then to cold pits, and finally to the open air ; and in the last 



September. 



