188 Management of tender Plants. 



placed, let the space between each be filled up with sand, when 

 they will require little attention, save an occasional watering, 

 until they are removed to their final destination. Under such 

 a shelter, the hardier sorts, or such as have been propagated in 

 autumn, may be placed as early as the 1st of March; the pots, 

 and the room in the house that they occupied, to be employed in 

 forwarding others to be treated in the same manner. High or 

 cutting winds, heavy rains, and cold are to be guarded against, 

 during which the canvass must remain down. 



The mere saving of room is not the only recommendation 

 such a practice possesses. When the plants are taken up with 

 the small piece of turf attached, it will be found that they have 

 formed numerous strong and fleshy spongioles, ready to seize 

 upon the soil with the greatest avidity. They likewise suffer 

 much when taken from under glass, and exposed to the direct 

 influence of light: placed out so early, the cause is less powerful; 

 the effect, consequently, less felt ; and what they do suffer in 

 appearance is entirely recovered while they remain where their 

 appearance is not of the smallest consequence. Those who 

 possess propagating-houses, and every convenience to supply 

 the plants required of them, may deem it unnecessary to employ 

 such an auxiliary ; but the number of such is limited indeed, 

 when compared with those who happily take an interest in a 

 garden, and strive to make the most of the means placed at 

 their disposal : to those who have only a green-house it is in- 

 valuable. Persons so situated would do well to propagate as 

 many as possible in autumn ; retain them in the cutting-pots 

 during the winter, allowing them plenty of air, as the best safe- 

 guard against damp, the greatest enemy to plants at such a 

 season ; pot them ofi^, and place them under the shelter already 

 recommended in spring. When judiciously managed, it is sur- 

 prising how many plants may be thus produced, even by a single 

 frame. Annuals intended for planting out in beds, for which 

 purpose there are many sorts well adapted, ought to be sown in 

 autumn, and treated in every respect like cuttings, when they 

 will produce a far finer display than those raised in spring. 



Specimen green-house plants, in pots, placed singly or in 

 groups upon the lawn, when properly introduced, produce a 

 fine effect. To prevent plants so placed having their roots 

 injured by the action of the sun upon the pots, they ought to 

 be plunged, or otherwise covered, and proper drainage secured. 

 This is generally effected by a stratum of coal-ashes ; but I have 

 often had occasion to plunge plants where the remains of the 

 ashes, turned up in digging, appear unsightly in the extreme : 

 in these cases I drained the pots containing the plants by placing 

 a small empty pot beneath each, and found the result so satis- 

 factory, that I have adopted this plan wherever plants are 



