A SIMPLE FLOWER GARDEN. 



61 



The intelligent cultivator, knowing this, and desiring to 

 have a plant bear flowers at any time, allows it to become 

 pot-bound. The blooms appear, supply the grower's wants, 

 and then the plant is suffered to perish, or is re-potted, 

 planted out, or otherwise treated so that life is preserved 

 for another season. 



The curious part of this is that the size of the pot makes 

 no difference. A young plant that becomes pot-bound in 

 a three-inch pot will certainly flower in that pot. If, on 

 the other hand, it is not allowed to become pot-bound, but 

 is supplied with fresh soil as fast as needed, it will not 

 flower until it becomes mature through the lapse of time, 

 and blooms naturally. 



From this we may make these rules : To cause a plant 

 to bloom in advance of maturity, let it become pot-bound. 

 To cause a plant to bloom in any particular pot, let it 

 become pot-bound in it. When a plant approaches maturity 

 through natural causes, by reaching its full growth, let it 

 become pot-bound, as nothing will be gained by re-potting. 



The practical application of this to the plants now in 

 hand is, that those young seedlings raised in the fall must 

 be re-potted as soon as they begin to become pot-bound. 

 Unless a partial crop, or a crop produced at any particular 

 time is desired, keep re-potting, from one size to the 

 next, until a seven-inch pot is reached ; then stop. In this 

 size let them bloom, as it is a convenient and profitable one 

 for them to occupy. 



