158 breck's new book of flowers. 



posure, in good rich loam. As they are coming into bud, 

 give them occasional waterings with liquid manure. 



To produce handsome, dwarf, bushy plants, the follow- 

 ing course may be adopted, as practised by Youell & Co., 

 England, whicli plan, they say, " if carried out, will ensure 

 dwarf plants from one and one-half to two feet high, cov- 

 ered with rich dark-green foliage, and carrying blooms 

 from five to seven inches in diameter. In the last week in 

 May we select the tops of the strongest shoots for cut- 

 tings, putting four or five round the edge of a three-inch 

 pot, and placing them in a gentle warmth. When rooted, 

 they are potted singly in the same-sized pot, and kept in 

 a close frame for a few days, until they have become es- 

 tablished. The tops may then be pinched out, leaving 

 five or six joints to remain for lateral shoots. After a few 

 days' hardening oflf, they are then removed to an open sit- 

 uation, allowing the plants a suflicient distance from 

 each other to prevent their drawing, care being observed 

 that they do not suflTer from want of water. About the 

 third week in July, we shift, for blooming, into seven-inch 

 pots, using a small handful of coarely-broken bones at the 

 bottom. The soil we use consists of equal parts of well 

 decayed (one year old) pig manure, turfy loam, and leaf- 

 mould, adding half a barrowful of peat, and half ditto of~ 

 road-drift to every four barrows of the above. When 

 potted, they are placed in rows two feet apart, and they 

 require but little attention, except watering, for two 

 months. At the expiration of this period, we commence 

 watering tAvice a week with liquid manure made with 

 one bushel of fresh pig manure (free from straw) 

 to about eighty gallons of water. This will be ready 

 for use in two or three days. As soon as the plants 

 show flower-buds, we tie ea<;h shoot to a stick, and train 

 them fan-shaped. Disbudding ought now to be attended 

 to, reserving only one, or, at most, two, at the top of 



