278 General Notices. 



two. The most striking object at the present time is the Cineraria, — not 

 grown, as often times they are, in puny plants. I have several plants from 

 five to six feet in circumference, a complete mass of flower. I have a plant 

 of Newington beauty with upwards of a thousand flowers expanded. Great 

 credit is due to Messrs. Kendall, Ivery, Henderson, and others, for the great 

 improvement that has been made in this interesting plant. Next comes the 

 Petunia. To see ten or a dozen good bushy plants well up in flower is no 

 mean object. I think they never look so well at home as they do in the 

 greenhouse at this season of the year. Then there is the delightful tribe of 

 plants, the Verbena, to be found in most gardens ; not, however, where they 

 might be seen in all their splendid shades of color, Avith the Cineraria, Pe- 

 tunia, &c., but in some corner of the house or frame, or in the cutting pots 

 in a state of nudity, not intended to make their appearance until tliey can be 

 shown off" in the open ground, where they lose a part of tlieir gay and at- 

 tractive beauties by being surrounded with many of nature's lovely trea- 

 sures which open at tliat season. I have now upwards of a dozen of the 

 best varieties in flower, which have been kept in a cold frame witli the 

 Petunias all the winter ; the only difficulty in keeping them is to exclude 

 the frost and damp, and give them plenty of room, so that the air may circu- 

 late amongst them. To have fine plants now in flower, they should be 

 struck from cuttings in June or July, and get them well-formed by stopping, 

 &c., before the cold weather sets in ; through the winter let them be 

 sparingly supplied with water ; in Februaiy, give them a shifl; into the pots 

 in which they are to flower, and keep them a little closer in the frame. I 

 would also recommend to have a few fine plants of Scarlet geraniums, Rowl- 

 ing's Unique geranium, (a plant three feet in circumference looks well, 

 covered with flowers,) a good, early variety, a plant or two of Heliotropium 

 Voltairianum, a few calceolarias, with a few of the early flowering fuchsias, 

 (hybrida still remains in flower,) Tropaeolum tricolor and Lobbiania look well 

 as trailing plants, Amaryllis, such as vittata major, lineata, Forbesii, &lc., 

 with a plant or two of Oxalis repens and perennis, Anagallis Moneli, Alonsia 

 incisifolia, Cuphea platycentra, with a pot or two of mignonette, and a few 

 ericas and lachenalias. All these fill up the house for the present time. — 

 [Gard. Journal, 1850, p. 259.) 



Guano beneficial to American Plants. — I have been in the habit 

 of using guano and other strong manures in a liquid state for some years 

 past to tlie Rhododendron, Ghent, and Indian Azaleas ; and with great ad- 

 vantage. My practice is to use the guano in the proportion of one pound to 

 thirty gallons of manure-water, that runs from the stable and farm-yard. I 

 water the Rhododendrons and Ghent Azaleas as soon in the spring as I per- 

 ceive tlie blossom-buds beginning to swell, and continue it at the rate of 

 eight or ten gallons to eath plant until the flowers are expanded, varying 

 tlie watering according to the weather ; if the weather continues dry, water 

 is given once a week, but if damp, only once a fortnight. I also vary the 

 quantity given each time, according to the size of the plant, taking care that 

 each plant gets enough. As soon as the blossoms begin to drop I again 

 have the plants well drenched with guano-water, so as to encourage the 



