The Gardener's New Director. 3T5 



fhould find ti ey want water, let it be given in fraall 

 quantities, and that from a fmall can, with a fpout 

 like a tea-kfttle, drawing the earth quite up to the neck 

 of the plants, in a gentle ilope, that the water may run 

 off, as not any muil touch the heart, for at this feafon it 

 would rot them, and you are more particularly to ob- 

 ferve this direSion in times of frofl, or when it is ex- 

 pected, and not upon any account to water them, until a 

 thaw lets in. Tu mild weather, they murt have air given 

 them, of which no opportunity fliould be ncgle£ied, for 

 upon this depends the health of your plants. It v/i!l alfo 

 be neccflary to examine the roots of your plants by 

 gently uncovering them. If they appear wfiiie and large, 

 they are in health ; but if brown and foft, they have cer- 

 tainly got too much water, which at this feafon is very 

 hurtful to them, and with which they flioulJ be indulged 

 only in miki weather, or after great winds; and from the 

 time vou let your plants in the fhade,negle£l no opportu- 

 nity to give them the influence of the fun's rays until the 

 beginninij: of March, as they will refrefn them exceed- 

 ingly. By the end of January, if the weather is mild, 

 you mud give new earth to )'oux Auriculas, or as foon af- 

 ter as the weafhcr will give you an opportunity, by remo- 

 ving the old fo low as their fibres, which, by no means 

 injure; then water them, to fettle the earth, and fi-sade 

 them for a fortnight, when you may indulge them 

 with foft ihowers and fun-lhine, prote^ing them from 

 harfh winds and froft. By the firfl: of April, you mull 

 remove the plants to the ftage for blowing, which is to 

 he conllrucled with rows of flielves, one above another, 

 and coveted at the top to keep the plants from wet ; the 

 ilage muft be open to the morning fun, and protected 

 from that of the mid-day ; the better to effect this, it 

 is recomm.-nded to have a curtain of thong fheeting, to 

 let down according to the fun's height, and as a deience 

 againft high winds, and to keep off fliowers; and in or- 

 der to give the curtain a ileadinefs, let it he leaded at the 

 bottom ; but more effectually to prevent it trom injuring 

 the pots by any motion, let an upiight or two be placed 

 before it ; and as but one fide of the flage is open to the 

 air, and that too oppofite the north, turn the pots about 

 ajofi en as you perceive their fiowcr-ftcms inclining to it ; 

 Y 4 and 



