HINTS O.N THE CULTIVATION OF AUTUMNAL ROSES. 253 



ARTICLE IV. 



ON USING BROKEN POTSHERDS IN COMPOST FOR POT 



PLANTS. 



BY MR. WILLIAM CHITTV, OF STAMFORD BILL) NEAR LONDON. 



It may be of use to some of the readers of The Floricultural 

 Cabinet to know, that potsherds broken very small with a hammer, 

 so that none of the pieces are larger than a moderate-sized pea, is a 

 very excellent material for mixing with the soil in which plants are 

 potted ; in my estimation, very far superior to charcoal. Within the 

 last twelve months I have used it very extensively, and found it to 

 be very beneficial. My first experiment was in the latter part of 

 August, 1845, with a plant of Pimelea spectabilis, which required 

 shifting, and which had made poor progress all the previous part of 

 the summer, but immediately on being potted in the broken pot- 

 mixture took to growing vigorously, and produced a fine head of 

 bloom in the spring. Since that time I have used it to almost every- 

 thing grown in pots. My Gloxinias and Achimenes have this sum- 

 mer been unusually fine, in consequence, I presume, of a large ad- 

 mixture of this material with the soil, and the facility it affords their 

 fine roots for permeating every part of the soil. A plant of Crassula 

 coccinea has likewise produced much larger heads of bloom, potted 

 in the same mixture. I am so well satisfied with the results, that I 

 would recommend the plan to every person who has the wish to see 

 plants flourish. The material is always at hand where many plants 

 are grown in pots ; and on wet days, &c, as much may be broken up 

 as will last for a considerable time. 



ARTICLE V. 



HIx\TS ON THE CULTIVATION OF AUTUMNAL ROSES, 



BY MHSSUS. WILLIAM WOOD AND SON, WOODLANDS NURSERY, MARESF1ELD, 



UCKFIELD, SUSSEX. 



Perpetual and Bourbon Roses should be planted in a good mixture 

 of turfy loam and half-decomposed manure (at least one wheelbarrow 

 full to each plant) ; and if standards, they should be carefully staked. 

 The shoots require to be shortened in spring to about three eyes, 

 cither in February or March, according to the season. During the 



