106 SOILS FOR FLOWER BEDS. RHODANTHE MANGLESII. 



increased by taking off young plants, and checking them by growing 

 them in small pots with little soil ; they then do not get large ; the dwarf 

 sorts are best ; the rare and beautiful kinds should have the most con- 

 spicuous places. Lygodium scandens does well, and should be allowed 

 to ramble amongst the orchids. Orchids should consist of the small 

 growers ; they must be attached to very small blocks, by small whe, 

 with a little moss about their roots. The sensitive plant which does 

 well, and has much interest, should ^now be sown in a hot-bed, prepa- 

 ratory to being placed in the case. 



SOILS FOR FLOWER BEDS. 



BY FLORISTA. 



An addition of fresh loam to flowers in beds should be made every 

 spring. This is much more Jiecessary than manure. If the loam is 

 not a rich one, in that case a portion of well rotted manure should be 

 added thereto. I have found that fresh loam induces much greater 

 profusion of flowers, of richer colours, and a Jess proportion of foliage. 

 The reverse of these is, in nine out of every ten cases, the result, where 

 much manure is added to the existing soil, if old. I usually add about 

 four inches of fresh loam every year, adding it in March, and if it be 

 necessary in order to prevent the bed being too high, I remove a due 

 proportion to admit the requisite quantity of new. 



RHODANTHE MANGLESH. 



Having grown this lovely flowering, everlasting like, annual to a 

 perfection beyond what I have seen elsewhere, I venture to send par- 

 ticulars of my mode of treatment for insertion in the Cabinet. 



The compost I use is, equal portions of peat which is full of fibre 

 from decayed vegetable matter, as moss, &c., and good rich loam, with 

 as much silver sand as will keep the others tolerably open. I do not 

 like the miserable peat from a barren common, the sort I procure is a 

 rich one. I sow in pots, in September, raising the plants in a hot-bed 

 frame, so as to have moist peat, a bell-glass is placed over the pot, and 

 the pot placed in a saucer in which half an inch of water is constantly 

 kept, this keeps the soil moist ; these are transplanted singly into small 

 pots, being careful to keep all the roots and soil adliering in potting. 

 I keep the plants in the hot-bed frame, shading for a iew days, and 

 when vigorous enough I place them in a cool plant stove, on a shelf, 

 near the glass. Early in February I repot into 24-sized po(s, and they 

 bloom beautifully by the first week in April. I sow for a succession 

 to these about the end of February, and these plants bloom from the 

 end of May to August or September. I raise, and afterwards treat the 

 plants in all respects as before mentioned. I always have a liberal 

 drainage, and my compost is only chopped, not sifted. I prefer to re- 

 tain the plants in the greenhouse, where they do well at all times, not 

 liable to the casualities of the open air. Pots of plants turned out 

 entire at the end of May will succeed well, and are peculiarly interest- 

 ing, but in doors is beautifully ornamental. 



