'70 WIIYTOCK—-THE CULTIVATION OF 
till the middle of February be kept at rest, and the best tem- 
perature for that is 55° atmospheric, 75° bottom-heat ; keep the 
plants dry at root, almost no watering at the roots will be required, 
and no moisture in the air. 
From the middle to the end of February the suckers should 
show white healthy roots all round the sides of the pots, and be 
ready for a shift. I practise putting them in their fruiting-pots 
at once. Ten-inch is large enough for Queens. Let the full 
number required be thoroughly cleaned and well crocked, get all 
the soil prepared, and have everything in readiness before begin- 
ning to pot. The plants should be well watered before repotting.- 
Fresh tan should be at hand too, for the best way to treat the 
plunging material is to throw the new tan on top of the old and 
then to turn them over together and thoroughly mix them with 
forks ; this mixing of old and new tan prevents the bottom-heat 
rising too high, Everything being now ready, the transference 
into fruiting-pots and the plunging of the plants in the bed where 
they are to grow may proceed together. The soil for potting 
should not be of a wet but rather of.a dry fibrous nature, and 
should be well rammed with a blunt stick round the ball. The 
plants should be plunged two feet apart every way. The bottom- 
heat should not be allowed to exceed go° ; if it does, move the 
plants from side to side, and thus make an opening all round the 
pot. For the first fortnight after potting, the plants will not 
require much water, if any, and the weather still being cold a 
mean temperature of 60° will do. These plants will now be 
grown on all summer. When the weather gets warmer a mean 
temperature of 70° should be maintained, shutting up in the 
afternoon at 90°, and giving them a syringe. By the end of 
August the plants should have well filled the pots with roots, and 
the object now is to preserve the roots and plants in a healthy 
state all winter. The plants must be sparingly watered in 
September and liberally given air in good weather ; at the end of 
the month they should be at rest in a dry atmosphere with a 
temperature of 55° to 60° and a bottom-heat of 75° to 80°. 
They will need almost no water from October until January. 
The pine-plants being rested safely until January are called 
fruiting plants, and now, say middle of January, shoyld be 
removed to their fruiting quarters. Fresh tan must be added 
