320 General Notices. 



den, for about 6<f. ; and if you make it Is. he will probably add a quantity 

 of nice white peeled sticks for tying up plants to. — [lb. 1849, p. 342.) 



Oxalis fioribunda a bedding plant. — Those who have only seen this oxalis 

 treated strictly as a greenhouse plant can form little conception of what a 

 showy thing it is when planted out of doors in masses. In planting it out, 

 however, a little discretion is necessary. Avoid any situation where, from 

 the position of high trees or buildings, the rays of the sun would be ex- 

 cluded from it during the greater part of the day ; for its flowers will not 

 expand fully in the shade, or in very dull weather. From its dwarf neat 

 habit, no difficulty will be experienced in finding a situation for it ; but the 

 most appropriate one is, on raised beds among stones, on rockwork, or 

 round the margin of beds containing taller plants, where it forms an excel- 

 lent edging during summer. It must be admitted, however, that this pretty 

 little plant is not propagated with that facility with which verbenas, petu- 

 nias, salvias, and many other bedding plants are ; but when a stock of it is 

 once obtained there is no further trouble, for the same plants can be made 

 available many years in succession. 



When the season is too far advanced for the flower garden to be any 

 longer an object of great interest, oxalis floribunda ought to be taken up 

 and potted, in any light sandy soil, and placed on a shelf in the greenhouse, 

 where it will be safe from severe frost or damp in the winter. In taking up 

 the old plants, a quantity of short shoots will sometimes be found growing 

 round their necks, close to the ground; these ought to be cut off" close to 

 the stem, and planted in sandy soil, in store pots half filled with crocks, 

 after the manner of cuttings. As these shoots seldom exceed one and a 

 half inches in length, (not including the leaves,) let them be inserted into 

 the soil their whole length, and watered, in order to settle the soil about 

 them ; and if placed in any close pit until they emit roots, they will form 

 an excellent stock for planting out the following summer. 



Though the oxalis floribunda cannot be depended upon as being suffi- 

 ciently hardy to stand our winters out of doors without protection, never- 

 theless, it is by no means so impatient of a low temperature as some might 

 imagine. I have known it, when planted on a pile of stones laid against 

 the south side of a building, with a little light soil thrown over them, but 

 allowing some portion of the larger stones to stand up above the soil, to re- 

 sist all the vicissitudes of three winters in succession without any protection 

 whatever, unless the projecting stones can be considered as such. And in 

 this case its condition was not such as we frequently witness in half hardy 

 plants under such circumstances, — a mere existence throughout the winter, 

 and in spring so much injured as only to be fit to be thrown away ; for 

 these, in the intervening summers, flowered in the greatest profusion. — {lb. 

 1849, p. 324.) 



Dahlias. — As the plants advance in growth, they must be tied carefully 

 to stakes arranged so as to preserve a natural appearance ; avoiding, on the 

 one hand, a tight broom-like fashion, and, on the other, an awkward sever- 

 ance and, as it were, dislocation of the branches. Unless regular tying is 

 attended to, some unlucky wind will tear away a large portion of the plant. 



