C A 



bed ; let this be well mixed toge- 

 ther ; and if you can get it time 

 enough before-hand, let them lie 

 mixed fix or eight Months before 

 it is ufed, turning it feveral times, 

 the better to incorporate their Parts. 



Obferve, That altho' I have men- 

 tioned this Mixture as the beft for 

 thefe Flowers, yet you mult not 

 expecl to blow your Flowers every 

 Year equally large, in tbe fame 

 Compofition : therefore fome People,- 

 who are extremely fond of having 

 their Flowers fucceed well, alter their 

 Compofitions every Year, in this 

 manner ; <viz. one Year they mix 

 the frefh Earth with Neats-dung, 

 which is cold; the next Year with 

 rotten Horfe-dung, which is of a 

 warmer Nature, adding thereto fome 

 white Sea-fand, to make the Earth 

 lighter. 



But, for my part, I mould rather 

 advife the planting two or three 

 Layers of each of your belt Kinds 

 in a Bed of frefh Earth not over- 

 dunged; which Plants mould only 

 be fuffered to Ihew their Flowers, to 

 prove them right in their Kind ; 

 and when you are fatisfied in that 

 Particular, cut off the Flower-Items, 

 i and don't fuifer them to fpend the 

 I Roots in blowing ; by which means 

 you will greatly ttrengthen your 

 i Layers. And it is from thefe Beds 

 I I would make choice of fome of 

 ; . the belt Plants for the next Year's 

 * blowing, always obferving to have 

 5 a SuccefTion of them yearly ; by 

 I which means you may blow every 

 t Year fine, fuppoling the Seafon fa- 

 ' vourable : for it is not reafonable 

 I to fuppofe, that the Layers taken 

 I from fuch Roots as have been ex- 

 h?ufted in producing large Flowers, 

 'and have been fore'd by Art beyond 

 l} their natural Strength, mould be 

 I able to produce Flowers equally as 

 , large as their Mother- root did the 

 I .You I. 



Year before, or as fuch Layers at 

 are frefh from a poorer Soil, and 

 in greater Health, can do. But this 

 being premifed, let us proceed to 

 the Potting of thefe Layers, which, 

 as I faid before, fhould be done in 

 Augnft, or the Beginning of Sep- 

 tember. 



The common Method ufed by 

 moft Florifts is, to plant their Layers, 

 at this Seafon, two in each Pot, the 

 Size of which Pots are about nine 

 Inches over in the Clear at the Top ; 

 in thefe Pots they are to remain for ' 

 Bloom ; and therefore, in the Spring 

 of the Year, they take off as much 

 of the Earth from the Surface of the 

 Pots as they can, without difturbing 

 their Roots, filling the Pots up again 

 with the fame good frefh Earth as 

 the Pots were before filled with. 

 Eut there is fome Difficulty in fhei- 

 tering a great Quantity of thefe 

 Flowers in Winter, when they are 

 planted in fuch large Pots, which 

 in moft Winters they will require, 

 more or lef> : my Method therefore 

 is, to put them fingly into Halfpeny 

 Pots in Autumn, and in the Middle 

 of October to fet thefe Pots into a 

 Bed of old Tanners Bark, which has 

 loft its Heat, and cover them with a 

 common Frame, fuch as is ufed for 

 raifing Cucumbers and Melons ; and 

 in one of thefe Frames, which con^ 

 tains fix Lights, may be fet an hun- 

 dred and fifty of thefe Pots : in thefe 

 Frames you may give them as much 

 free Air as you pleafe, by taking ofF 

 the Lights every Day when the Wea- 

 ther is mild, and putting them on 

 only inr bad Weather, and great 

 Rains : and if the Winter mould 

 prove fevere, it is only the covering 

 the GiafTes with Mats, Straw, or 

 Peas-haulm, fo as to keep out the 

 Fioft, which will effectually pre- 

 ferve your Plants in the utmoft W 

 gour. 



S In 



