THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 361 



have found that a better growth is obtained by a depth of three or 

 four inches than by complete immersion. I potted up a lot, and 

 plunged them to various depths in a water trough made for experi- 

 ments with water plants, and we got the best growth in every case 

 from pots that stood in only a few inches of water, and we actually- 

 had to knock out some that were deeply immersed, after obtaining 

 from them only one small gathering. So interested was I in this 

 pretty fad that I tried every method I could think of, and actually 

 grew a fair sample in common punnets filled with moss and floated 

 in pans of water. The deep pot is better than the shallow pan, 

 and the soil should be good enough for fuchsias or pot roses ; 

 say cucumber bed, or something of that sort. It matters not how 

 rough it is, and to mix sand with it is to waste time and material. 



A flfceen-inch pot will supply at one cutting half a peck of first- 

 rate cresses in the height of the growing season. At this time of 

 year one good pan would yield by careful gathering a quarter of a 

 peck. Three full gatherings are the utmost you can take from the 

 pan in the summer, and as soon as the growth becomes wiry it 

 should be knocked out and replanted. The same hard stuff may be 

 used again and again, but the soil must be fresh, and the smallest 

 cuttings make the best growth. The management will of course 

 vary somewhat with the seasons. If I were planting now for frame 

 culture, I should put in rather large, well-rooted pieces, and should 

 peg them down to promote surface-rooting. In the summer the 

 growth is so rapid that you may gather in a fortnight from the time 

 the pots are started, but as the heat declines the growth, of course, 

 is less rapid. We have a nice lot now that were planted in fifteen- 

 inch pans on September 18. On October 8 I gathered from them 

 a nice dish — a period of twenty-two days. Some that were planted 

 on October 11 are now (November 6) just fit to supply a first 

 cutting, and will probably be several times cut from during the 

 winter. la this case from planting to first cutting is a period of 

 twenty-eight days. 



Although the season is far advanced, there is time even now for 

 anyone to make a fair beginning with watercresses in pots. It is 

 not at all needful to look after any particular variety in the first 

 instance, for all are good, and it is the easiest thing in tlie whole 

 range of horticultural practice to convert into plants the young tops 

 taken from a bunch of shop cresses, or even to use the partially 

 rooted stems for the same purpose, provided they have a few healthy 

 leaves upon them. As a matter of course, there must be a frame 

 or pit for their protection, or a place on the stage very near the 

 glass in a greenhouse ; but while the weather continues mild they 

 should be fully exposed night and day. Those who begin with 

 a few will in due time enlarge the undertaking, and find it capital 

 amusement to supply the table with the most delicious watercresses 

 by the system I have thus hastily described. S. H. 



December. 



