274 TREATMENT OF PLANTS INTENDED FOR WINTER AND SPRING 
Pelargoniums, Verbenas, and Heliotropiums, are bad plants (from the stringy nature 
of their roots when grown vigorously) to "lift" with good "balls" when planted out; 
they must therefore be cultivated in good roomy pots throughout the season, precisely 
under the same conditions and treatment as above recommended for other half-hardy 
plants ; bearing in mind, however, that Pelargoniums intended for forcing cannot be 
propagated too early, too rigorously be subjected to the " stopping " process, nor lie 
exposed to too much sun and air in the maturation of their wood when plunged in the 
beds of the reserve-garden ; and the compost they are grown in should be exclusively 
loam and a good deal of sandy peat, with plenty of charcoal lumps and potsherds, about 
the size of marbles, extensively commingled. Such a treatment we have known 
render Pelargoniums what they ought to be for forcing ; namely, as dwarf, hardy, and 
stocky as a worn-out besom, with the foliage free from the " spot " disease, and 
correspondingly rigid. 
In addition to the foregoing general directions for the preparation of plants for forcing, 
a few special ones are necessary, as being applicable in particular cases. Hyacinths, and 
most Dutch bulbs, for instance, if required, as they sometimes are, for exciting very 
early, must be planted in their blooming pots directly they are imported — in August, if 
they can be got — and plunged in sawdust or coal-ashes, beyond the influence of light, and 
well-protected both from excess of cold and moisture, until required for use ; but by no 
means should bulbous-rooted plants be introduced into the forcing-house until such time 
as the pots are full of roots, and the bulb found " starting " into growth. 
Half the failure which occurs in the forcing of Dutch bulbs, arises from the circum- 
stance of their not being planted long enough to establish themselves sufficiently by filling 
the pots full of roots, before being placed in heat. Notwithstanding, this circumstance 
cannot at all times be controlled, in consequence of the annual importations from the 
Continent not regularly taking place so early in the season as desirable. 
Many annuals and biennials too, although they will scarcely bear " forcing," are well 
adapted for assisting in the winter gaiety of the greenhouse and conservatory, and affording 
cut-flowers for the drawing-room ; the suitableness and attractive fragrance, for example, of 
Mignonette, Ten-week Stocks, and Double Wall-flowers, when made to flower in winter, 
are too well known and appreciated to require eulogising. 
For this purpose, they must be sown thinly, the last week in July or beginning of 
August, in pots or pans kept closely in a frame until germinated, when they must be 
thinned out to four or five plants in a pot, receive little water but plenty of air, and 
be occasionally topped or pinched back (not too much so) to render them dwarf, per- 
mitting no flowers until placed in their winter quarters, the greenhouse or warm 
conservatory. There is nothing more attractive than nice Double Stocks and Wall-flowers, 
when they flower well in winter and early spring ; the former should be sown with other 
annuals in July or August, the latter in April, and both should be sown on a slight or 
exhausted hotbed, and will make nicer plants if potted singly in a rich compost of mellow 
loam and rotten manure when about three inches high. 
Another plan for raising annuals for winter flowering is, to sow in an open sunny border 
in the middle of July, and then transplant into pots ; but although this may suit some 
kinds very well, it will be found that the generality of hardy and half-hardy annuals 
and biennials will succeed better by sowing in the pots or pans where they are to remain, 
and more especially if the semination be made rather deep in them, so as ultimately to 
admit, when about half-grown, of adding some fresh compost, which will additionally support 
and stimulate them. 
Pinks and Carnations for forcing must be propagated on a hotbed, as early as pipings 
are procurable, and planted out when rooted in a rich border, where they must not 
experience any drought, but be encouraged with weak liquid manure until September, 
when they must be taken up with good balls carefully preserved entire, potted, in a compost 
the principal ingredients of which must be stiffish loam and very rotten cowdung, and 
plunged with other plants intended to be forced. The previous season's pipings and 
layers, however, will be stronger and better for this purpose, if planted on a north aspect, 
