General Notices. 555 



which may easily be ascertained by the roots having filled their first pot, 

 they must be shifted into twenty-four-sized pots, using for compost as fol- 

 lows: — One part leaf-mould, one part hazel-loam, one part peat, and one 

 part rotten-dung from an old melon bed. Let the above be mixed well to- 

 gether, and used in as rough a state as possible, along with a sprinkling of 

 sand to keep it open. After the roots have filled the pot, they may still 

 have another shift ; and when large plants are required for exhibiting, or 

 for show in greenhouse, the pots used for this potting must be sixteen-sized. 

 The compost too for them must consist of one-third hazel-loam, broken in 

 lumps, and one-third rotten dung from an old melon bed, to be well mixed, 

 and used as rough as possible. In potting for the first shift, let the soil be 

 pressed but little ; in fact, in all the various pottings the soil should be but 

 just pressed moderately tight, as the frequent watering will enable it to 

 sink sufficiently close together. After the plants are potted they should be 

 kept in the warmest part of the stove, and kept very close for a few days to 

 start them in fresh growth, which may be discontinued and the plants put 

 in a place where they will receive a little air by day. When rooted suffi- 

 ciently strong in the fresh mould, and as they advance in growth, especially 

 before they bloom, and while in bloom, they must be occasionally watered 

 "with weak liquid manure, which will greatly strengthen the color of the 

 flowers. As the shoots get long, which in some varieties they are apt to 

 do, they must be pegged down with care on the soil on the pot, and they will 

 form fine dwarf heads, and bloom profusely. No other remark on them is 

 necessary while in bloom, as they merely require to be watched to see they 

 do not suffer from want of water. When the plants have done blooming, 

 watering should be entirely dispensed with, and the pots be placed in some 

 dry situation on a shelf, in a shed or greenhouse, where they should remain 

 for about two or three months, quite dry. When the season for potting ar- 

 rives, they may be turned out of the pots they have been resting in, and 

 repotted in twenty-four-sized pots, in the compost recommended, shifting 

 them as they advance in growth, as before stated. When varieties are 

 purchased first from the nursery they are generally received in sixty-sized 

 pots ; they should be shifted into forty-eight-sized. 



The time of Potting. That depends on the time they are required to 

 bloom ; viz., if required for exhibition purposes, they must be started to meet 

 the time as near as possible. Now "for a guideJ" Supposing plants were 

 required in bloom in June, the old bulbs should be turned out of the pots 

 they have been resting in about January ; potted, and be kept warm ; and 

 being kept growing, in June they will be in fine bloom, and they will con- 

 tinue in beauty the whole of the summer, and form one of the principal 

 attractions in the greenhouse or conservatory. 



The following are a few good varieties: — 



Marie Van Houtte, white and carmine, blotch a fine large flower. 



JVupoleon, carmine-red and white. 



Petoniana, white, with crimson-throat, fine flower. 



Alba Grandifiora, pure white, very fine. 



