OPERATIONS FOR MARCH. 
47 
? Rondele'tia specio'sa ma'jor. Messrs. Henderson of Pine-apple Place have bloomed 
•several plants of this superior variety. Its peculiarities are, larger flowers, with the segments 
broader and flatter, and produced in finer clusters. It possesses the same colour and freedom of 
Ibloomiug for which the primitive kind is so much admired. As an autumn and winter-flowering 
plant, it will be valuable. 
OPERATIONS FOR MARCH. 
Last month the efforts of the culturist were directed principally towards repressing the 
returning tendency manifested amongst house plants to resume an active state : in the present 
1 the f^eneral tenor of necessary operations denotes an essentially different aim. March is a 
■ month of pi^eparation for growth, of gradually returning activity and vigour, and demands all the 
energies of the cultivator : consideration, promptitude, and perseverance, are alike indispensable, 
for without the full exercise of each and all, the whole after labours of the year may be nullified, 
and will certainly be deprived of a portion of their effect. 
In illustration of these remarks, we need only adduce the fact that many plants require a full 
season to form and mature their growth, before any flowers are developed ; and, if growth is 
delayed or checked after the proper pei'iod for excitation, or contracted through negligence in 
affording a sufficient proportion of nutriment, the inflorescence must be abridged in amount, or 
entirely prevented by the conclusion of the season, before the plants arrive at a condition capable 
of producing flowers ; and plants that bloom in a much shorter period will rarely pi'oduce an 
equal quantity without a decrease in individual excellence, at any other than their legiti- 
mate time. 
These preliminary observations bear directly on two of the great operations of March, potting 
and propagating. Before a plant receives any artificial stimulus, it is an axiom in culture that it 
be placed in a condition to support it vigorously. During the period of growth, moreover, a plant 
should ever be in a gradually progressive state ; but when it has commenced to grow, and after- 
wards receives a check, in order to supply it with the means of continuing, a retrogression is 
made, and it is placed in a similar condition, if not worse, than at first. Now most deciduous pot 
plants are benefited by an extensive renovation of earth in spring, and the same proceeding, but 
in a much more limited sense, is profitable to pot-evergreens. It must hence be obvious that a 
serious repression will be imposed on the development of shoots, if this work be postponed till 
long after the arousal of the plant from a state of quiescence. Potting, then, must be one of the 
first considerations ; but as all the plants will not be in an equally forward state, it is neither 
advantageous nor economical to go through this work promiscuously. Some plants will require it 
immediately, others may be safely deferred till near the end of the month ; consequently, a con- 
siderate cultivator will look over his collection from time to time, and select those which appear 
in the most immediate want. 
The perusal of the pages of a former Volume, which contain a detailed account of the theory 
and practice of potting, and embrace all the modern improvements, may be beneficial at this time. 
We may here, also, repeat an oft-reiterated advice in the preparation of soil. That which includes 
a large proportion of stringy vegetable matter is invariably the most appropriate ; and to make it 
fit for the purpose, it should be cut with the spade into pieces of a few inches square, and after- 
wards reduced to the desired state by tearing it with the hand. This last is less material in the 
case of lai’ge plants than with small ones ; but it should always be adopted for heaths, the finer 
New Holland Leguminosse, and other things with very tenuous, delicate roots. 
As a general rule, young healthy plants are by far the most suitable to choose for making 
handsome specimens. Special circumspection should be bestowed on securing efficient drainage, 
and a regular circulation of fluid through the soil. This state can only be effectually attained by 
a particular attention to the texture of the soil used, which must, in all cases, be such as is free 
from the liability to run into a solid mass. Weakly or unhealthy plants will generally be benefited 
