TREATMENT OF HYDRANGEA HORTENSIS. 
41 
three gardens in wliicli we have ever met with it entirely unsheltered. The extreme 
beauty, however, of the specimens in these cases, and the inference so naturally 
arising from them that the species would thrive almost anywhere under the same 
treatment, induce in us a desire to have its cultivation as a hardy plant generally 
extended ; and with this view we insert the present paper. 
When the Hydrangea is to be transplanted into the open border, young specimens 
should be selected for the purpose, care being taken not to force them prior to their 
removal from the house. Perhaps the fittest time for planting them out is in spring, 
just as they are beginning to grow, or towards autumn, when they shed their leaves. 
At the former period, the shoots which they make during summer are more likely 
to be thoroughly hardened, while at the latter there will be no danger of the young 
branches being destroyed by frost. The balance of these circumstances, and the 
decision founded on it, must be taken by the cultivator. 
Before transplanting them, it is indispensable that a proper situation be prepared 
for them ; and when we allege that it should be duly sheltered, w^e do not mean 
that this shelter should include shade. The first will be of the greatest service ; 
the last absolutely prejudicial. A warm and not too moist spot, at the bottom of 
a hill- facing any point near the south, or a position enclosed on the bleakest sides 
by eminences or trees, but not so environed as to shut out the sun's rays, will be in 
all respects suitable. A very cold locality, or one exposed to severe and cutting 
winds, will certainly conduce to failure. 
But besides the utility of choosing a fit situation, the compost to be employed 
is of some moment. In pot cultivation, it will be conceded that very much depends 
on the quality of the soil, and that tliose splendid clusters of flowers which strike 
the ordinary beholder with amazement, are not to be obtained without using a 
greatly enriched earth. To attempt to emulate in size the bunches of bloom pro- 
duced by plants in pots would be folly, when the specimens are open to all the 
harmful conditions of our changing climate. Yet, some approximation thereto may 
really be gained ; and to ensure this, attention must be paid to the soil. We have 
observed plants in shrubberies whose flowers were no larger than those of the most 
common Viburnums, and of a dull greenish- white hue, which were evidently thus 
stunted on account of the poverty or inappropriateness of the earth in which they 
were placed. 
The compost we would suggest for out-of-door Hydrangeas is about one-half of 
fresh and open loam, taken about a year previously from good pasture-land, one- 
fourth of fibrous heath-soil, and the other fourtli w^ell-decayed leaf-mould, or manure. 
The last-mentioned would serve to enrich the soil, and the heath-mould would assist 
in checking too great a luxuriance, as well as, most probably, contribute towards 
giving some of the flowers that bluish tint which is generally sought after and 
admired. 
All we have advanced will, however, be of comparatively little value, unless the 
culturist attend to pruning and disbudding in the spring, as in the case of potted 
VOL. VIII. NO. XCVIII. G 
