2 9 o MORE POT-POURRI 



sufficiently when given at all. Great dryness will be 

 endured without damage, but there is a point which must 

 not be overpassed. Towards the end of January life revives, 

 and water is more needful. Prior to this, if it be possible, 

 the pots should be so placed as to receive what light 

 there is, which accelerates the resumption of growth. 

 About the middle of February, if the growth is evidently 

 progressing, the plant should be top-dressed with compost, 

 rather stronger than that used in planting so fully that 

 side-shoots may be able to root into the top-dressing. On 

 these offsets depend the reproduction of named kinds. 

 From seed new varieties may be raised, but the offspring 

 are often very unlike the parents. In March the flower- 

 stems begin to rise, and during April the plants flower. 

 In this month the annual exhibition at the Kensington 

 Horticultural takes place. It is important to protect the 

 plants in severe weather by means of matting, also against 

 cutting winds ; but they are hardy, and their great risk is 

 not cold, but rotting through excessive moisture, which, 

 affecting the foliage, attacks the neck of the plant if 

 decaying leaves be not picked off.' 



Alpine Auriculas are easily grown from seed, and 

 require much less care (see 'English Flower Garden '). 



I am often asked what niy vegetable-seed bill amounts 

 to. The fact is, I never know. Seeds are so cheap that I 

 get what I want. Where the waste comes in is in sowing 

 them in too large quantities at one time, instead of in 

 succession, not thinning out, etc. It is always worth 

 while to sow all useful vegetables several times over, 

 whether in spring or summer. 



The ordinary amateur feels the extreme difficulty of 

 growing flower-seeds either in boxes or even out of doors, 

 and says that in the end it is decidedly cheaper to buy 

 plants. This is, of course, true of all the strong-growing 

 herbaceous things. But every gardener soon finds that if 



