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HINTS ON THE COMMON GARDEN BALSAM. 
BALSAMINA HORTENSIS. 
There are few who have any taste or convenience for the cultivation of 
ornamental flowering- plants, that do not bestow some pains, and in many instances 
much labour on the growth of the balsam; and it cannot be said but in every 
instance, where any thing worthy of the name of treatment is resorted to in its 
g-rowth, that the produce of bloom is an ample compensation for the time wasted 
therein ; although with one grower the show of bloom doubly surpasses that of 
another, yet it is well known that this degree of superiority can only be in exact 
proportion to the application of the improved modes discovered in cultivation. The 
balsam when brought to bloom under ordinary treatment is a beautiful object, but 
when grown in that superior manner as exhibited at some of our leading- Horti- 
cultural shows, with the leading- stem wreathed in blossoms of various beautiful 
hues, often to the height of four or five feet, with proportionate branches thickly 
set from one end to the other, with large full-blown flowers, so as to form a conical 
figure of considerable circumference, and which on the stage amongst the exhibited 
treasures, for a grand display of bloom is not outvied by any of its neighbours, 
although by many of them in real value. From the many modes of cultivating 
it we select one, which we have proved to be successful. The balsam is a native 
of the East Indies, consequently must have a degree of heat above the out-door 
temperature; when the plants are young this is particularly necessary, for they 
seldom or never attain any size, if they are not brought while young into a tolerably 
brisk heat. Sow the seed some time in the early part of March, in a wide-mouthed 
pot, observing to divide it thinly over the surface of the soil, after which cover it 
lightly with mould, to the depth of an inch, then plunge it about half way in a 
free-heating hotbed, and in a short time the young plants will have made their 
appearance ; and when they have fully developed their seed leaves, by which time 
they will have made young roots, they should be transplanted singly into large 
sixties, and the pot replunged into the dung ; in the course of a week the roots 
will have reached the sides of the pot, when they should be immediately repotted 
into forty-eight sized pots, and again replunged. In a week's time again examine 
the roots, and if they have penetrated the new soil, repeat the operation of shifting, 
and so continue until they finally reach a size measuring no less than ten inches 
across. During their whole progress they require a liberal supply of water, and to 
be kept constantly in the hotbed, or a warm damp stove. The soil for them should 
be equal parts jf loam and leaf mould, with a trifling addition of dung; these 
portions well incorporated, but not sifted. Plants thus treated attain the height of 
three and a half or four feet, measuring twelve or fourteen feet in circumference, 
with branches from top to bottom, and these covered with fine well-blown double 
flowers. One thing tending to weaken the plants and render them unsightly is 
their liability to be overdrawn in so humid an atmosphere, which can only be 
obviated by placing them at all stages of their growth as near as possible to the 
glass ; if this is attended to the plants will not only be fine, but the flowers much 
