M Y R 



M Y R 



tlie stems will afterwards continue straight 

 without support. 



Thcv are also capable of being increased by 

 la^'ers. All such plants as are furnished with young 

 bottom shoots low enough for laying may have 

 theni laved in spring, in the usual way, when 

 they readily emit roots, and become fit to 

 transplant into separate pots in the autumnal 

 season. 



And where seed is inade use of it should be 

 sown in spring, in pots of light mould, and 

 plunged in a moderate hot-bed : the plants soon 

 come up, which, when two or three inches high, 

 should be potted oft' separately into small pots, 

 and be managed afterwards as the others. 



As the plants advance in growth, some new 

 varieties may perhaps be produced. 



Those who raise large quantities of these plants 

 annually, should always keep some strong 

 bushy plants, in order to furnish slips or cut- 

 tings for the purpose. 



The Double-flowering and Orange leaved 

 Myrtles are the mostdifficult to raise by cuttings ; 

 and the last sort, and those with variegated leaves, 

 are more tender than the others. 



The common Broad-leaved, and Broad-leaved 

 Dutch, as well as the Portugal sorts, succeed 

 in the open ground in warm situations and dry 

 soils. 



Where they are intended to have bushy heads, 

 the lower shoots should be trimmed off, and the 

 plants only suffered to branch out at the top in 

 different directions, so as to form handsome 

 heads. Those which are designed to be shrubby, 

 should have their lateral branches encouraged so 

 that they may be well feathered from the top to 

 the bottom. They should afterwards in general 

 be left to take their own natural growth, except 

 iust taking off the rambling shoots. When 

 their heads become thin and straggling, those 

 shoots which are proper for sendmg out new 

 shoots to fill up the vacancies and produce re- 

 gularly should be shortened by the knife. 



The practice of clipping the shrubs with gar- 

 den-shears into globes, pyramids, &c., as is some- 

 times done, is very injurious ; the necessary 

 trimming should always be performed with the 

 knife, and that only as above, as the plants ap- 

 pear to the most advantage when they grow 

 naturally. 



When the heads of the plants become very 

 irregular, or thin and stubby, they may be re- 

 newed by heading down all the branches pretty 

 short in sprino-, and shifting them into larger 

 pots of fresh mould, with the balls of earth about 

 their roots, giving plenty of water daring sum- 

 mer, when they will branch out again finely, 

 and form handsome full heads. 



In respect to the general culture, as the plants 

 advance in stature they should annually be re- 

 moved into larger pots, according to the size of 

 their roots ; but care should be taken not to put 

 them into pots too large, which causes them to 

 shoot weak, and sometimes proves the destruc- 

 tion of them. When they are taken out of the 

 former pots, the eartli about their roots should 

 be pared off, and that withinside the ball gen- 

 tly loosened, that the roots may not be too closely 

 confined ; and then often replace them in the 

 same pots, when not too small, filling up the 

 sides and bottom with fresh rich earth, and giv- 

 ing them plenty of water to settle the earth to 

 their roots; which should be frequently repeated, 

 as they require to be often watered both in win- 

 ter and summer, and in hot weather they should 

 have it in large quantities. 



The proper season for shifting these plants is 

 in April and August; for, if it be done much 

 sooner in the spring, the plants are in a slow 

 growing state, and not capable to strike out fresh 

 roots again quickly ; and when done later in au- 

 tunm, the cold weather coming on prevents their 

 taking root. 



In the autumn, when the nights begin to be 

 frosty, the plants should be removed into the 

 green-house ; but w hen the weather proves fa- 

 vourable they may remain abroad until the be- 

 ginning of November ; for, if they are carried 

 into the green-house too soon, and the autunni 

 should prove warm, they make fresh shoots at 

 that season, which are weak, and often grow 

 mouldy in winter. When the weather is so se- 

 vere as to require the windows to be kept closely 

 shut, they are often also greatly defaced ; on 

 which account they should always be kept as 

 long abroad as the weather will permit, and be 

 removed out again in the spring before they 

 shoot out; and vihile they are in the green-house 

 should have as much free air as possible when 

 the weather is mild and proper for the purpose. 



The tender kinds are mostly increased by seeds ; 

 but when any of them are pretty branchy, they 

 may also be tried by layers and cuttings. And 

 the eighth sort succeeds best in this way. 



The seed should be procured from abroad, 

 preserved in sand, &c., and be sown in spring 

 in pots of fresh mould, plunging them in the 

 bark-bed : the plants come up the same sea- 

 son ; which, w hen two or three inches in height, 

 should be planted out in separate small pots, and 

 plunged in the bark -bed, supplying them with 

 water, and managing them as other woody plants 

 of the same kind. 



As the second sort often branches out low, 

 some of the young shoots may be layed in spring, 

 by slit-laviiig or wiring, plunging the pots in 

 T i 



