HOW TO GROW SPECIMEN PLANTS. 299 



double varieties are, many of them, of good habit, but are no 

 favorites of ours ; the best of all is Sir Colin Campbell. 



To grow plants for home gratification alone we need 

 not be at half the trouble, and certainly produce twice 

 the effect. We may allow them to grow without ex- 

 traordinary support. They have at most to be removed 

 Dn a hand-barrow from the stove or green-house to the 

 conservatory, and the natural play of the branches for 

 that short distance damages nothing. The shortening of 

 branches, the training and general management, have 

 reference only to their intended situations, and the prin- 

 cipal thing to guard against is, not to excite any thing 

 too much. 



Very few things bear growing fast; it always makes 

 a greater distance between the leaves, and consequently 

 the plant looks poorly. But this is of the greatest 

 consequence, because more conspicuous when the plant 

 comes into flower, for bloom depends upon the num- 

 ber of branches in a given space,, and if the branches 

 and leaves are more distant, the bloom must be so 

 likewise. This is shown very conspicuously in plants 

 which bloom from the axils of the leaves, as fuchsias, 

 epacris, and others of the same habit. Besides, com- 



