Jw/y.] THE FLOWER GARDEN. 917 



ratum, and the London nurserymen have tried various plans 

 to procure it during that season. It is an article of consider- 

 able importance to them in a commercial point of view; some 

 of them, such as Colvil, having not less than from one to five 

 thousand pots annually fit for sale from November till April. 



Those who cultivate this plant for the London market, sow 

 the seed at different times, from the result of a long expe- 

 rience, and they fix the times of sowing to correspond with 

 the time they expect a demand for it. To obtain plants in 

 bloom during the months of January and February, they sow 

 in the open ground about the end of July, sowing the seeds 

 thin, that the plants may be stocky. By the middle of Sep- 

 tember these plants will be fit for potting. They choose pots 

 of various sizes, those of the sizes called thirty-two's are the 

 most convenient; into these pots they plant from eight to 

 twelve plants, thinning them out afterwards, should they be too 

 thick. The mould of which they make use is rather light and 

 porous, admitting the water to pass freely through it. After 

 potting the plants, they are placed into a cold pit or frame, 

 and shaded for a few days until they have fully established 

 themselves ; after which, they are exposed to the weather, 

 without any protection, except from dashing rains, till Novem- 

 ber. By the first of that month they are showing flowers, and 

 should then be removed into the gi-een-house, conservatory, or 

 drawing-room, where they will continue to flower during the 

 whole of the winter. A second crop is sown not later than 

 the 25th of August, which comes into perfection in March, 

 April, and May. 



This crop is sown in the pots where it is to remain, and 

 plunged in any dry border, or placed upon a bed of coal- 

 ashes, as they cannot be injured by the weather while young. 

 In November this crop is thinned, leaving eight or ten plants 

 in each pot, and at that time are covered with a frame, and 

 the glasses put on during night and in cold or snowy days, 

 taking care that they sustain no injury either by frost or 

 rain. To prevent the pots from being broken by the expansion 

 of frost, as well as to protect the roots, they are plunged in 

 rotten tan, if not already plunged ; but when the weather is 

 so severe as to freeze the mould in the pots, even slightly, the 



