IMPORTANCE OF EARLY PLANTING THIS SPRING. 
9 
yielded plants of the first character, which soon came into bloom : the soil for 
potting-, in their future culture, may be, decayed turfy loam rubbed up fine, one half ; 
black heath mould and silver sand, each one quarter. Pure black peat also will suit 
them, and induce great richness of verdure. 
One circumstance in the culture ought to be noticed, as adding much to the 
value of this charming plant. If young seedling plants be carefully stopped while 
in sixty or forty-eight size pots, so as to prevent their twining, and be thus made 
to form a branchy or stocky growth, they may be bedded out in 'parterre^ not 
earlier than the first week in June ; and will with care form one of the most beau- 
tiful objects that any mass of flowers is capable of presenting. The rich verdure 
of the leaves, which in favourable soil assumes somewhat of the figure of a broad 
arrow-head, contrasts with the innumerable pure buff-coloured blooms that peep from 
among them ; to which the open intensely purple-tinted eye of the flower aff'ords 
the finest relief imaginable. There is nothing gorgeous in this display, the whole 
is softly delicate and chaste : we know of nothing that can compare with it. 
Seed forms well on these external plants if the autumn be warm and sunny ; 
and every capsule, as it acquires the pale brown tint of maturity, either on the 
exposed plants or those under glass, ought to be carefully preserved, either to be 
sown or distributed among friends, as we know that many persons lose all their stock 
in the winter, and are thankful to be re-supplied. 
Nothing adds more to the charms of horticulture than that amenity or kindly 
fellow-feeling, which inculcates the importance of a liberal participation of one 
another's superfluities. 
We may add, in conclusion, that cuttings of one or two upper joints of young 
shoots taken off under the leaves, produce roots freely throughout the summer, in 
water ; and the plants thus produced, placed in small pots of vegetable soil with 
sand, strike off freely, if retained close under glass for a few days. 
IMPORTANCE OF EARLY PLANTING THIS SPRING. 
We earnestly recommend all those who may have planting to do this spring 
to proceed with it immediately, if not in a forward state now : we should advise 
that no undertaking be commenced that cannot be completed by the first week in 
March at farthest. In consequence of the heat and continued dryness of last 
summer, vegetation ceased to perform its annual functions much earlier than the 
usual season. In some parts of the country deciduous trees shed their leaves as 
much as two months before the proper time, it follows as a necessary result that 
vegetation will be stimulated into action easier and much earlier after so irregular 
a season as last. On the continent, where the winters are dry in comparison to 
VOL. III. — NO. XXV. c 
