ANNUALS AND BIENNIALS 113 



4 ft. in circumference, and had a thousand expanded flowers 

 upon it, besides innumerable buds, which have continued 

 expanding ever since, and it is still (November i) a blaze of 

 beauty. It is watered every morning with a little warm 

 water, and the dead flowers are cut off as they fade. The 

 great art,' says Mr. Goode, in the manuscript directions sent 

 us by Captain Mangles, ' is to prevent the plant from growing 

 upwards, and to cause it to increase and expand in breadth 

 instead of length.' To do this, all that is required is to watch 

 it well, and the moment the roots have nearly filled the pot, 

 to transplant it into a larger one. By constantly attending to 

 this, the plants will grow thick and shrubby in their character, 

 and while the shoots will grow strong and capable of bearing 

 a most profuse floration, the beauty of the plants in shape will 

 be greatly improved." This may be old-fashioned practice, 

 but nevertheless the above passage is highly suggestive, and 

 it proves that an annual plant may be grown into a fine 

 specimen, even though it may live out its life in a succession 

 of pots. The same routine of treatment will answer equally 

 well for biennials. 



One or two dwarf annuals of a succulent character are well 

 adapted for summer flowering under glass Portulacas, which 

 enjoy the extra heat and are delightfully gay in their vivid 

 colouring of crimson, yellow, and purple, and the free-flower- 

 ing Mesembryanthemum tricolor, pink and white, with a dark 

 eye. These should all be sown very sparingly, as they are 

 apt to resent transplanting, and do better if they are thinned 

 rather than pricked out, looking best when grown in shallow 

 troughs or pans. 



The different varieties orange, yellow, and white of 

 Iceland Poppy (P. nudicaule) do well treated as biennials, 

 and, sown in autumn, make charming pot plants for early 

 spring, 



For those who like to travel out of the common track, two 



H 



