4 FLORICULTURAL GLEANINGS. 



leads the grower to form a very erroneous opinion of the merit of the 

 varieties thus imported. This is a well-known fact, and should 

 always be borne in mind by the amateur who wishes to purchase. 



Secondly. The next thing to be done will be for the " Young 

 Beginner " to stick his plants carefully ; and if he does it so that the 

 tops of the sticks may appear in three straight longitudinal lines, 

 they will look very regular and neat. He will now look over his 

 plants daily ; and as their stems begin to push, he will tie them up 

 carefully with matting, or, which is far safer, with good strong pliant 

 twine, lest the matting should give way, and, after some windy night, 

 he should have the mortification of finding some of his favourite 

 Kings, Queens, Doctors, or Grace Darlings prostrated to the surface, 

 and their stems broken off, to his great disappointment for another 

 season. After the experience, however, of a year or two, he will turn 

 cautious, and few such disasters will befall him. His plants will 

 now keep progressing till the first or leading pod will begin to fill ; 

 and if he is a member of a competing florists' society, he will pro- 

 bably reduce the number of pods upon each stem to three or four, 

 according to the strength of his plants. It is, however, very ques- 

 tionable whether the size of the flowers is much improved by this 

 reduction. 



Thirdly. On healthy, vigorous plants the " Young Beginner " 

 will now find that the most of the shoots are sufficiently long to admit 

 of layering, which operation I would on no account advise him to 

 delay, whatever may be the time when they are ready for it. Some 

 will tell him th^t it will weaken his blooms, and others that it will 

 make them run in colour the ensuing season ; but I would advise 

 him to make sure of securing an increased stock for the next year 

 while he has the influence of the sun's rays to aid him, the above 

 objections being, in my opinion, entirely groundless. He will find 

 that those layered early on in the season are always the best-rooted 

 and most vigorous plants, and can be potted off as they become 

 ready ; while the remainder can be put down as soon as they admit 

 of it, and potted off afterwards as time permits. This is a far 

 pleasanter way for the amateur florist than putting off layering alto- 

 gether till late on in the season, when a great deal has to be done all 

 at once, which is often the cause of apart being done imperfectly and 

 in a hurry, to the sure destruction of a part of the layers. The sun's 



