336 General Notices. 



the clay moist. In about two months, if the plants have been in good 

 growing state, they may be separated, observing the same caution in sep- 

 arating the stock from the scion as in budding, to hinder an overflow of 

 sap. Afterwards they ought to be rebound again with some fresh mat- 

 ting, to hinder the part from swelling cut ; the whole may, from time to 

 time, be removed. I have also layered the old single variety for stocks, 

 but as this is only done in nurseries, the method may be useless tamany ; 

 the same also with seeds, — but as some few may study, to have new sorts, 

 they ought to be sown as soon as ripe in pots, placing them in a cold 

 frame, where they may remain two years before they come up, when they 

 may be treated as cuttings, when, if they turn out, good flowers may be 

 grown on ; if not, will serve for in-arching over. The general manage- 

 ment of large plants, or those that have been worked on, is, just before 

 they begin to start into growth I re-pot them, the large ones in fibrous 

 loam and sand, and the small ones in peat and sand, as I thnik the plant 

 runs into more shoots and roots in peat than they do in loam, where I 

 think they grow stouter and form flower buds better; for those I wish to 

 form showy plants I seldom re-pot oftener than once in two years. I have 

 potted them in the autumn and found it answer very well ; but care must 

 be taken they are not kept too warm and moist, or else they will form a 

 second growth, which hinders them from blooming, and risks the shoots 

 getting damp. During the period of their flowering, I keep them cool to 

 preserve the bloom longer ; but as soon as that is over, T start them into 

 as rapid growth as possible, raising the lieat of the house gradually until 

 it is 75 or 80 degrees during the day, and rather lower by night, keeping 

 the air in the house as humid as possible by syringing the leaves, and 

 keeping the floor of the house well saturated with water. This answers 

 a two-fold purpose, causes evaporation and lays the dust, so that the leaves 

 may not get covered with it, as the camellia likes to be kept clean ; and, 

 even thus, handsome in the dullest months of winter, whetlier in flower 

 or not, with their dark green leaves. Keeping them at regular distances 

 that they may receive all the benefit of the air and light, and frequently 

 turning them so that they may have all the shoots regular, without being 

 drawn all one way, I keep up this heat until tlie floAver buds are formed 

 and well set, when I gradually lower it, and diminish the supply of water, 

 neither of them too fast, as this often causes the buds to fall off. ( Gar- 

 deners' Gazette, 1843, p. 426.) 



Soot. — The most stimulating manure that ever came under my own 

 observation for parsley is soot. It should be sown thinly all over it in 

 showery or rainy weather, in order that it may be washed in. If sown on 

 a dry day, I find the principal stimulating properties pass off at night by 

 the dampness of dew and mist, and are thus lost in the atmosphere. I 

 prefer sowing tlie soot very thin, twice or three times, to sowing it thick 

 at once. By the above treatment I have parsley of the most luxuriant 

 healthy growth ; the leaves or branches very large, of tlie most beautiful 

 dark green and curliness ; handsome for garnishing and good for all pur- 

 poses. Soot is not only a wonderful stimulating manure, applied to plants 

 with caution and judgment when they are sufficiently strong, but it has 

 also another good quality, that of killing and expelling any kind of ver- 

 min with which the plant should happen to be infested. Likewise, if the 

 canker make its appearance, nothing that I could ever find will so com- 

 pletely eradicate it as soot and slacked lime, mixed together in equal 



