THE BALSAM. 56 



deep soil. We have put them at two feet apart, and they 

 have met long- before the season was over ; but, for a 

 general rule, perhaps one foot distance may suffice. Give 

 them plenty of water in dry weather, and that is all you 

 need do to them. 



In the event of requiring nice specimens in pots, it 

 will be advisable to sow in March, and start the seeds on a 

 hot-bed; then proceed as advised in raising plants for a 

 bed, but instead of planting them out, keep shifting into 

 larger and larger pots, until it is time to stop, and allow 

 the plants to flower. As a rule, an eight-inch pot is large 

 enough for a very fine plant, and a dozen or two in pots of 

 six- to eight-inch size may be turned to good account in 

 the conservatory. When grown in this way, they must have 

 good living and plenty of water, be protected from cold and 

 drying winds, and excessive heat, but always have the fullest 

 daylight and plenty of air. If they appear rather too long in 

 the stem, put them down a little in potting, and the buried 

 portion of the stem will soon throw out roots to the ad- 

 vantage of the flowers that are coming. They require no' 

 stakes and no shading, and if the foregoing brief directions 

 are fairly well carried out, that is all you need do to them. 



The reader may be ready to exclaim, " I see nothing 

 peculiar in this/' and the reader who so exclaims is quite 

 in the right. But turn to the books, and you will find a 

 complicated process prescribed, and so in balsam growing 

 the lover of complications may be gratified. Here is an 

 extract from a respectable book of reference, and there is 

 really something in it : " When you cannot accommodate 

 any but the best flowers in* the greenhouse, adopt the 

 following method. After pricking out into three- or four- 

 inch pots, and plunging them in the bed, allow the pots to 



