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PAXTON'S FLOWER GARDEN. 



propagated from root cuttings, the young shoots, when treated in the usual way, not striking 

 well, in a great measure owing to their being almost always in the condition known to 

 cultivators as flowering wood. The cuttings are best struck in January or February, and to 

 prepare the plants for the production of these, in October they should be gradually dried off 

 by withholding water until all growth is stopped, and much of the wood hardened off, after 

 which the soft points and leaves should be cut away, and the plants at once put in heat and 

 well watered. So treated they break into growth from almost every joint, and when the 

 young shoots have attained a length of about two inches they should be taken off and 

 inserted in pots or pans of prepared soil, kept close and moist in a temperature of 70°, where 

 they will root in a few weeks j after which pot off singly, pinching the points of the shoots 

 out two or three times during the spring, so as to make them bushy. Six or seven inch pots 

 are large enough to bloom them in the first year, and they should be moved into these about 

 May or J une ; after this they may occupy cold frames, or be stood out of doors in a warm 

 sheltered position, until the middle of September, when they will be well set with flower buds, 

 and must be taken in-doors. The time of their flowering will require to be regulated by 

 keeping them in a greenhouse temperature, or by putting them in heat if wanted to come in 

 bloom early. We have so far gone into the details of their treatment with a view to bring 

 them under the notice of all who love beautiful flowers, and who have the means of ffivino 1 

 them warmth in winter ; for though they will bloom, to some extent, in a greenhouse tem- 

 perature in autumn and winter, yet to flower them well they require to be treated as stove 

 plants during the latter season. Our illustration was taken from a plant in Mr. Bull's 

 Nursery, Chelsea. 



