47 
OPERATIONS FOR MARCH. 
On the provision made during the present month for ensuring a good display of 
flowers in almost every department for the ensuing season, more depends than 
might at a mere glance be generally obvious. We shall trace rapidly and com- 
prehensively the w^orlc to be done in the different divisions of floriculture. 
Stove and orchidaceous plants will now, if they have been properly tended, be 
just commencing their yearly growth. They must, therefore, be immediately 
potted. Two very opposite principles should be observed in effecting this. Orchi- 
dacese, which have tender brittle roots, usually adhering to the receptacle in which 
they are placed, ought never to be shifted more than once a year, as their most 
valuable portions may be easily injured while growing. Ordinary stove plants, 
on the other hand, producing numberless fibrous roots, which are rather benefited 
by nearness to the outside of the pot, should be often and very gradually 
shifted. 
For orchidacese, a pot or basket must at once be furnished which will admit of 
their completing the annual development ; and to prevent any injury accruing 
from stagnant water, it is advisable to use wooden baskets, made of small billets, 
and open at the sides and bottom in every case where soil is not indispensable to 
the plant ; and to employ turfy heath-mould or sphagnum moss instead of the 
close earthy peat frequently used. One point, however, must not be neglected. 
There is a considerable portion of the tribe which does not begin to grow at the 
present time ; and the only circumstance wdiich can justify repotting, is a decided 
indication of growth. 
Stove woody and herbaceous species, must, like the Orchidacese, never be 
potted till they show signs of advancement. A few exceptions may be made in 
the case of tuberous-rooted or bulbous perennials, which may be potted imme- 
diately before the period at which they usually form shoots ; as it is necessary to 
take away the dry soil in which they have been preserved all the winter, and 
supply them w^ith fresh, ere they can be watered freely. Towards the end of the 
month, all hothouses should have their temperature gradually heightened, and the 
heat increased weekly as the season opens. Hot summers and cold winters are 
what Nature herself enjoins, and they should be realized as far as practicable in 
every plant-house. 
The grand point to be aimed at in the greenhouse, is to keep all the plants 
sufficiently backward, by free ventilation, and the sparing administration of water, 
till the sun gets powerful enough to render their developments robust and healthy. 
The same principles which govern the operation of potting in the stove, must be 
equally regarded here. No specimen should be transferred to a larger pot unless 
it actually needs it, and it is better to shift the most vigorous sorts into one merely 
