PRINCIPLES OF VEGETATION, ETC. 135 



■with care, even in varieties most difficult to strike. Tiie young plants are now 

 gradually exposed more and more to air and sun, till the hand-glass is wholly 

 removed. The points of the young shoots should be removed and all flower- 

 buds pinched oflf, that the plant may gain strength and throw out branches. In 

 June, all those which have been struck in the same pan should be separated 

 into single pots, and plunged again. They may require shading for a short 

 time, till they begin to grow, but they will soon be well established and fit 

 for planting out. 



305. To Preserve Cuttings from Frost where there is no Greenhouse. — Dig 

 a pit about four feet deep, strew the bottom well with ashes, and sink tho 

 pots in the same. Over it place a common garden-frame, bank up the out- 

 sides with sti-aw and a coating of earth. In such a pit, verbenas, calceolarias, 

 ageratums, fuchsias, &c. <kc., may be preserved during the severest winters, 

 provided the pots be kept in the dark by being well covered with matting- 

 during frost. 



306. To Select StocJcs {fen weelcs, Gerraan, tt-c), so as to secure douhlefloxcers. — 

 Reject from the seed-bed all those jplants which have a long tap-root (these 

 •will almost invariably prove single), and reserve for bedding only those which 

 have the largest quantity of delicate fibres at the roots : experience shows 

 that these, in general, prove double. 



307. Hardy Fuchsias. — These make the best show when planted together in 

 beds upon a lawn, the coloursbeing judiciously blended. Those fuchsias which 

 trail upon the ground should be grown with a wire hoop supported by three 

 legs underneath them, so that their branches may be made to bend over the 

 hoop. Several of the more hardy sorts may be trained on one stem, so as to 

 appear us standards in the bed. A very large and beautiful variety of fuchsias 

 is hardy, and will stand our winters in the open ground, especially in a well- 

 drained light soil having a large portion of peat in it ; and a great many that 

 are looked upon as tender varieties will be preserved if covered three or four 

 inches with dry cinder ashes at the first approach of frost. The best plan is 

 to cover the whole fuchsia-bed at that time with a good coating. The dead 

 branches should not be cut oflf, nor should the ashes be removed until the 

 fuchsias begin to shoot in the spring. 



308. The ^mm.— This splendid plant, with its snow-white flower, its yellow- 

 tongue and arrow-shaped leaves, is not hardy with us ; but it admits of an 

 easy cultivation even where there is no greenhouse, and it is so ornamental in 

 a room or hall, that it is well worth the little trouble which it requires. The 

 arum grows freely from offsets, which are very freely produced. The plants 

 should be repotted every October, in rich light mould, with a few drainers, the 

 ofifsets having been carefully removed, and all the old soil well shaken from 

 their roots. From this time till June, or earlier, if the plants have flowered and 

 are over blooming, they should have abundance of water ; but after this they 

 must be kept quite dry, and may be put away in an outhouse till the following 

 October, when the same treatment should be renewed. The arum, in a grow- 

 ing state, requires so much moisture that it is best to keep the pot always 



