252 ON PLANTS ADAPTED FOR PLANTING IN MASSES. 



and iii each season increase in size and beauty. The plan I 

 adopt in the culture of this plant is the following :— ^The soil of the 

 bed is composed of good rich loam, well manured with rotten leaves, 

 a portion of old hot-bed dung, and charcoal dust, with an addition 

 of river sand. Previous to laying in the compost, I had the bottom 

 of the bed covered to the depth of three inches with some small 

 gravel stones, upon which I had the compost about eight inches 

 deep, the surface being raised above the walk and grass verge, four 

 inches. On or about the twentieth of May each year, I turned out 

 the plants with balls entire, except a careful loosening of the outer 

 fibres. I placed them in the bed, a round one, the tallest in the 

 centre, and lowest at the outer row, and so close that the plants 

 furnish a covering to the bed, and when in bloom appear a mass 

 of flowers. I place the plan* so low in the soil that the top of the 

 ball is about an inch below the surface of the bed. After planting 

 and before watering, I placed from four to six sticks round each, 

 and to them secured the branches — then water them freely. The 

 watering was repeated frequently during the summer season, more 

 particularly the present one, and the plants have most amply 

 rej>aid for the attention, nothing exceeding the delicate splendid 

 appearance of the flowers, and which continue from June to 

 October. The plant in the greenhouse attains the height of two 

 feet or upwards, but in the open bed it does not exceed more than 

 eighteen inches (generally about twelve) ; the plant being allowed 

 to root or spread without obstruction, becomes bushy instead of 

 being drawn up weakly. About the middle of October, I usually 

 take up the plants from the bed, and repot them into the same 

 kind of soil, well draining the pots, and being careful to have fine 

 soil to shake in among the fibrous roots. I have also kept the 

 plants through winter by having them planted in a Mignonette box, 

 closely together. In both instances, I kept them in winter in a 

 cool frame, sunk below the surface of the surrounding ground, in 

 which for the last two winters they have kept well. Cuttings strike 

 freely in loam and sand, placed in a hotbed frame. Suckers are 

 readily obtained, many of them rooted, which grow readily. 



Senecio elegans, Ragwort, or Double Groundsel. Syngenesia, 

 Superflua. Jacobean. There are four kinds of this plant, viz' 

 double red, double crimson, double white, and double flesh-coloured : 

 Each of these kinds will make a most handsome bed. The plant 



