General Notices. 279 



The Chinese Primula, as a small winter flowering plant, has no equal. 

 On account of its compactness and beauty, as well as the length of time it 

 lasts in bloom, it is well worth attention and space ; it flowers best when 

 most wanted, i. e., between the months of November and May ; it is, how- 

 ever, seldom grown well ; the seed, generally speaking, is not sown early 

 enough. To have it very fine, sending up dense bunches of flowers, larger 

 collectively than a man's hat, the seed should be sown some time between 

 August and February. When very large bunches are wanted, three 

 plants should be grown together in a pot ; they thrive well in leaf and peat, 

 mixed with sand. The old plants are eligible for autumn flowering or the 

 borders. 



The Ageratum, as an autumn and winter flowering plant, is grown here 

 in great abundance. We take fifty plants of Ageratum from the " bedding 

 stuflf," and plant them three feet apart in a convenient place in the kitchen- 

 garden. The shoots are topped and thinned all the summer, the last top- 

 ping being about the end of August. They are lifted as late as possible to 

 escape frost, with large balls, and potted. When a plant thus treated is in 

 full flower, it presents to the eye a sheet of blue or lavender blossom, two 

 feet across. It is pretty in nosegays. 



The Cineraria is beautiful at all seasons, but it is most needed in autumn 

 and winter. It is propagated by seed, and dividing the roots. For spring 

 flowering, dividing the roots in autumn answers very well ; but for autumn and 

 winter decoration, seed is necessary. We have to sow it in the month of 

 February at Manchester, about London the month of April is soon enough. 

 The Cineraria does not thrive when exposed to the direct rays of the sun ; 

 it is therefore necessary to grow it in summer on the north side of a wall or 

 hedge." — ( Gardener^s Chronicle.) 



Cuphea Platycentra is another charming bloomer. Sow seed in June, pot 

 off singly as soon as fit, place them in an open frame, stop the buds when 

 six to nine inches high ; they will push numerous side shoots, and form 

 bushy plants, which will bloom from October throughout winter, and then 

 be fine for planting in the open beds in May. Their pretty tube-shaped 

 flowers of scarlet, black, and white top, borne in profusion, have a very 

 cheerful appearance. — [Flor. Cah.) 



Culture of Heaths. — What was said a short time since, in introduc- 

 ing the subject of Heath culture, may be appropriately followed up by some 

 observations on soil, and other matters relating thereto, as drainage, pot- 

 ting, &-C. In selecting heath soil, amateurs, and even young professionals, 

 are apt to make mistakes, which in many cases act as great impediments to 

 success. If the soil selected for heath culture is found to contain any trace 

 of oxide of iron, it must be rejected in toto. When in contact with that sub- 

 stance, the roots of heaths invariably perish. If, for the sake of experiment, 

 you place, at the time of potting, an iron nail in the soil used, and suppos- 

 ing it to contain naturally no trace of oxide, you .nay, on examining the 

 soil after a few months, see ample evidence of the truth of what we have 

 asserted. A portion of the oxygen of the water conveyed to the plant, will 

 have formed with the iron an oxide, and this will have been absorbed by the 



