BRIEF REMARKS. 19 



Tass thrown over a temporary wooden framing ; or they can be sown 

 in pots, and these plunged in fermented material in any hot-bed that 

 happens to be in use. When the young plants appear, they should be 

 potted in small pots, and kept for a time in a warm frame or green- 

 house, and afterwards transferred to an open frame, which should be 

 covered at nights in cold weather, till they are required for trans- 

 planting. About the middle of May they should be transferred to the 

 open ground ; but a dry sheltered border or rockery must be prepared 

 for them, and the soil should not be of a wet or retentive nature. They 

 will thus flower during sunshine (for the flowers do not expand except 

 under the direct rays of the sun) for a lengthened time, and seldom 

 cease before the arrival of frost. 



To PREVENT Pinks bursting. — An Indian-rubber ring sliould be 

 placed round the bud when it is approaching the period of the calyx 

 opening ; this being done, slit the calyx with the point of a penknife, 

 or the sharp end of a pair of tweezers, and again replace the ring as 

 the large petals of the flower develop themselves ; place them carefully 

 down, bringing down the next sized petals as they bloom, laying one 

 over each pair of the guard petals, and so on with a third row, if there 

 be one, and thus cover the pair of the second ; the remaining should 

 form a crown or centre, but should a ragged, deformed, or self-coloured 

 petal appear, apply the dressers and quickly withdraw it. 



Begonias. — In 1847 you gave a very useful descriptive list of this 

 fine tribe of winter flowering plants, that induced me to purchase a 

 dozen of the best (to my judgment) kinds. Last winter they were in 

 constant bloom, highly interesting and beautiful. They may be pro- 

 cured cheap, easy of culture, and deserving of a place in every stove 

 or warm greenhouse. — Alice. 



Fuchsia serratifolia. — In 1848 you recommended this very 

 handsome Fuchsia to be grown in the open border ; the last spring I 

 obtained two dozen bushy plants, and the first week in May I turned 

 them out of pots into a raised bed in my flower garden, the soil being 

 a light loam mixed with vegetable mould ; and their beautiful colours 

 of waxy appearance when in profuse bloom, was quite enrapturing. It 

 ought to be grown extensively in every flower garden. It is, too, one 

 of the most valuable ornaments for the greenhouse or sitting room 

 during autumn and winter. — TTie Priory. 



Brunsvigia JosEPHiNiE. — In March, 1844, I received three fine 

 bulbs, among various others, of Brunsvigia Josephinae from the Cape. 

 They were at once potted in good fresh turfy loam, and in a month the 

 leaves appeared. They did not however, grow finely ; and in November, 

 beginning to turn yellow, water was withheld, but resumed in December, 

 new leaves again showing themselves. The pots were also plunged in 

 water for a few hours, to ensure the ball of earth being fully saturated ; 

 the top mould was also taken off, and replaced with leaf-mould. 

 During the winter they were kept in a warm greenhouse, in a tem- 

 perature often down as low as 35°, and making leaf well. In May 

 they were placed in a pit, kept dry, and exposed to the sun, the liglits 

 being kept closed. In the September ensuing one of the bulbs flowered, 

 and the treatment being precisely similar, another flowered in 1846. 



