66 
THE GENUS KALOSANTHES. 
This soil must not he much broken, but must be used in a rough state ; indeed, it is 
not a bad plan to remo\e some of the finest portions of the loam and leaf-mould by 
passing it through a fine sieve, before adding the sand and potsherds to the compost. 
Plants sufficiently strong for stock or flower-garden purposes may be grown in 4 or 
6-inch pots, into which, if they are strong and well-rooted, they may be potted at 
once, but if they are w^eak, they will be better in smaller pots. 
Now supposing that the young plants when first potted have only a single shoot, 
preparation must be made to induce them to become bushy. This will be effected 
by decapitating the young plant at the height of three inches, removing at the same 
time three or four tier of the uppermost leaves, to facilitate the breaking of the 
branches. Each plant will now produce from four to eight branches, which may 
either be left to bloom, or, if specimen plants be wanted, be again shortened in when 
six inches long to about four inches, removing the leaves as before, and regulating 
the branches so as to have the young shoots regularly distributed over the surface of 
the plant. If the plants break very freely, it may be necessary to remove or thin 
out some of the weaker shoots to prevent crowding, as, if it is intended to grow the 
plants to a large size, something like the annexed vignette, it is not advisable to have 
the shoots too much crowded at the commencement. A plant in an 8-inch pot, with 
ten or twelve good strong shoots, may be considered a good start ; supposing you 
have such a one at the present time, the following will be the method to pursue in 
the first season : — Towards the end of February, stop the shoots and remove the 
leaves as before directed, and keep the plant in a warm part of the greenhouse until 
it has made shoots an inch long ; then repot it into a 12-inch pot, using the same 
compost as before, and return it to the greenhouse, placing it in a warm airy place 
close to the glass. Here it will remain until the greenhouse plants are placed in 
the open air, when it may be placed in a sheltered situation, but fully exposed to the 
sun. When the pot is full of roots, the plant may be watered occasionally with very 
weak liquid manure, but care must be taken not to give it too much or too frequently. 
If it is intended to bloom the plant next year, it must not be stopped after the spring 
stopping, and it will then produce from twenty to thirty-five fine heads of bloom ; 
but if it is wished to make a fine specimen, and not to bloom it until the third year, 
it must be stopped again the end of July, and also in the February of the third year. 
Supposing, however, that it blooms in the second year, it must towards the end of 
August, after the flowers have faded, be cut in rather severely, and be again started 
to make wood, to bloom in the fourth year. Plants of Kalosanthes rarely bloom w^ell 
two years consecutively ; but if half the bloom buds are taken off in the second year, 
then a succession of wood will be produced which will bloom every year. 
In potting the Kalosanthes, it is advisable to use the “West Kent Pot” made 
by Pascall of Chislehurst, as the plants being very heavy, it is dangerous as well as 
inconvenient to reverse them so as to turn them out of the ordinary pots. The 
West Kent Pot, though not quite new in form, is an exceedingly useful invention 
for removing large specimens, as by merely placing the pot on a block, the ball is 
