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THE FLORIST AND P0M0L0G1ST. 



would grow large plants equally well if there was a demand for them, the 

 same cannot be said for private growers generally. Of course there are excep- 

 tions ; but the good grower will not be displeased at a few hints for the mass, 

 as we generally see them grown with from one to six stems, with perhaps a 

 dozen leaves on the top of each, and from 5 to 8 feet high, with the bracts 

 about 6 inches across. Such plants may be of service to stand among large 

 conservatory plants, for the colour, as the stems are not then seen, but what use 

 are they for specimen decoration ? 



There are few gardens of any pretensions that there are not some old plants 

 of the above, and it makes little difference to the well-doing of these next year, 

 however bad they may have been grown this, which cannot be said of many 

 pot-plants, or, in fact, of vegetation generally; and for myself, I would rather 

 commence with some old neglected plants than have to buy young ones. But 

 supposing we commence with a few bought plants. Get them in February, 

 they will be then just out of bloom, and may be placed in a dry stove, with 

 little water given to them for a fortnight, then cut down to about three eyes 

 above the soil, and continue the dry treatment until they have made shoots 

 half an inch long ; then have some nice warm soil ready, and shake the old soil 

 entirely away from the roots ; and as almost all the old roots at the sides of the 

 pots will be dead, clear these all away, but do not injure the living roots, as they 

 are liable to bleed profusely; pot them in the smallest-sized pots the roots will go 

 into, in a mixture of one part peat, one loam, and one thoroughly dried hotbed 

 manure, with sufficient sand to keep it open. I keep all my potting soil in a 

 dry shed, and have the turf cut when dry in summer, so that it requires water 

 as soon as plants are potted ; but if the soil was moist when used, they would 

 not want watering for several clays ; and after, until growing freely, little water 

 is required. As soon as potted, I place the plants in a moist growing heat of 

 from 65° to 70°, in a vinery or a pit where they can be close to the glass. I 

 never use bottom heat, and never shade the plants in any stage of growth. As 

 soon as the shoots are about 2 inches long, I pinch out the points, when they 

 generally make two shoots from each ; and as soon as they have rooted well to 

 the sides of the pot, give a shift into a size or two larger, keeping the plant as 

 deep as possible in the pot. I generally give another shift about the end of 

 July, stopping the plants as they make shoots until that time ; but not after, as 

 I find, even if stopped until the middle of September, they flower about the 

 same time as those not pinched after July, and the foliage and bracts are much 

 smaller. I use the same mixture of soil as at first potting, except adding more 

 loam, and using less peat. They have the final shift about the third week of 

 September, and require large quantities of water : during the summer I use 

 strong manure water every alternate watering. To keep them dwarf, as soon 

 as the shoots are about 18 inches high I commence tying down gradually, as it 

 will not do to attempt bringing them to the horizontal at once, being very 

 liable to split and break. I continue tying until the plants are in flower, by 

 doing which I get plants about 4 feet through, and seldom more than 2 feet 

 above the pot, with ten to twelve heads of bloom, each from 12 to 17 inches 

 across the bracts, and the plants a mass of foliage ; and the pots are about 

 12-inch, as large pots will not answer for drawing-room decoration. 



When the flowers are past, T place them on the hot flue of a Pine-pit, and 

 only give enough water to keep them from shrivelling ; but allow the leaves 

 to drop, and then cut down as mentioned before. The shoots may be cut into 

 lengths of two or three eyes, or into single eyes as Vines ; but either leave 

 them for a day to dry the sap before putting in soil, or dip them in slacklime, 

 which dries it at once. Put the cuttings in well-drained pots of sandy soil, 

 water well, and plunge under a hand-glass in a strong bottom heat. They 



