By Mr. John Mearns. 



503 



I continue the treatment of them as before stated, and it 

 may be continued for many years, for the application of fresh 

 soil, the trimming the old roots, the great luxuriance gained 

 by growing without confinement of their roots in congenial 

 soil in summer, renovate the plants, which could not be done 

 by any other means of culture. 



I propagate the Bouvardia by cuttings of the roots, which 

 I manage as follows : — I fill some large fruiting Pine pots 

 with good fresh mellow loam, well blended with either tho- 

 roughly rotten dung, or vegetable mould ; I plant my roots 

 all over the pot, beginning in a circle round the outside, open- 

 ing the soil, and planting them with my middle finger, and 

 continue filling up one circle within another till I finish in 

 the centre of the pot or pots, leaving no more of the roots 

 visible above the surface than just the top. I then water and 

 place them in a Hot-house, where the night temperature is 

 between 60° and 70°. As soon as the shoots get to between 

 four and five inches high, I transfer the plants singly into 

 pots of a small size, and by degrees harden them, after they 

 have been established ; when they have made some progress, 

 after this transplanting, T plant them out into a bed four feet 

 wide, eight inches between the rows, and four inches in the 

 row ; where, if the soil is good, many will soon be in flower. 

 I pot them again before frost, and treat them as I described 

 for my older plants. 



I ought to remark, that the first shoots of the Bouvardia 

 do not grow very luxuriant, but when the first blossoms are 

 going off, and the plants begin to feel the fresh soil with 

 freedom to their roots, in a congenial climate, they throw up 



