24 



FAMILIAR OAEBEN FLOIVERS. 



Another reason is that offsets make better plants than 

 seedlings. They are more compact in growth, and produce 

 more even heads of bloom. And there is yet a third reason 

 for preferring offsets for siieeimen culture : it is that three 

 of them may be placed in one pot to present the appearance 

 of one plant, a thing impossible^or at all events ludicrous 

 — in the ease of seedlings, because when the head of bloom 

 is produced, it should be of one kind in every separate 

 specimen. The usual isractiee is to pot the offsets singly 

 into small pots, and when they have become well rooted, 

 they are transferred in threes to five-inch pots, and in due 

 time shifted from these to the larger pots in which they 

 are to flower. Great care must be taken to keep all the 

 sorts correctly labelled, when this system of potting them 

 in threes is practised ; for if more than one sort is used to 

 make up a group of three, the specimen will be useless for 

 exhibition. It must be repeated, however, that for all 

 ordinary purposes it is best to grow cinerarias from seed, 

 and care must be talcen to secure seed of the best quality. 



