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LXXVII. On the Cultivation of the Impatiens Balsamina, 

 or Balsam. By Mr. John Fairweather, Gardener to 

 the Earl of Orford, at Woolterton, in Norfolk, Corres- 

 ponding Member of the Horticultural Society. 



Read September 21, 1819. 



The seed of the Balsam should not be less than three or 

 four years old, when sown ; the best double flowers which I 

 procured this season, were raised from seed nine years old : 

 and. my experience has convinced me that new seed seldom 

 produces double flowers. It may be sown any time from 

 the 1st of March to the 1st of May ; two or three sowings 

 during that period will be most advantageous; but that 

 which is intended to produce plants for seed, should not 

 be later than the 1st of April. The sowing should be thin, 

 in shallow pans, or wide mouthed pots, which must be placed 

 in the hot-house, or on a hot-bed, under a frame. 



When the plants are about an inch high, they are to be 

 planted in pots, two inches asunder, and again placed in 

 the hot-house, or hot- bed, as near the glass as possible. 

 Tf placed in a frame, they must not be too much covered, 

 nor kept very hot, for in either case they will be drawn up 

 with weak, naked stems, and no future treatment will re- 

 medy the defect. When about five inches high, the plants 

 must be again moved into forty-eight sized pots, one into 

 each pot, and shaded until they have struck root, always 

 keeping them close to the glass, to prevent their being 



