20 
ON THE CULTIVATION OF ANNUALS. 
be shook on the stigmas when in bloom. Ten- week stocks may be sown at the 
same time, and treated after the same manner. It is not advisable to transplant 
any of them at this season of the year : sow but a small quantity in each pot, and 
when about half an inch high, thin out all the weakest, for it often happens, when 
transplanted at this time they are never able to make good roots again ; and, during 
the dark months of November and December, are almost sure to perish. When they 
are grown about two inches high remove a little of the soil from the top, and give 
them a shallow top-dressing ; this will be sufficient until the following March, when 
they should be shifted into thirty-two sized pots, without disturbing the roots. In 
May time thin out into the borders, with the balls entire; part, however, may be 
kept to succeed them in the general sowing in March. The spring sown ten-week 
stocks are also much forwarded if transplanted in pots, and afterwards turned into 
the borders. Calceolarias do best when transplanted singly into sixty-sized pots, 
and turned out at the same time as the stocks. 
Treatment of tender annuals. — These are sown in pots in February or 
March, and plunged in a hot-bed. When they are up and have attained one or two 
proper leaves, they should be pricked out into thimble pots, filled with the compost 
mentioned in the beginning of this paper; as they advance in growth remove them 
into larger sized pots until they begin to show blossom, when they may be removed to 
the houses appointed to receive them. They are divided into two sections, 1st, those 
which require a powerful heat to make them flower to high perfection, called stove 
annuals ; and, 2nd, such as will flower to perfection with a much less heat, called 
green-house annuals, 
I. Those requiring strong heat. — The Globe Amaranthus ( Gomphrena 
glohosa,') Cockscomb ( Celosia cristata ), Centrodinium refiexum , Indigofera ende- 
caphylla , Marlinia lutea, Cleome rosea, &c., &c. The Globe Amaranthus should 
be transplanted first into thimble pots, and shifted regularly, until finally they are 
placed in forty-eights, and in these they will flower : the soil most suitable is a mixture 
of peat, loam, and leaf-mould or rotten dung ; they should be allowed to stand near 
the glass, and be subjected to a moist heat of not less than seventy-five degrees. 
Cockscombs may be grown with strong short stems, and very large heads, if they 
are allowed to remain in small pots until the flowers are formed, then potted in 
larger pots, and supplied with as much liquid manure, and moist heat, as possible. 
Sow the seeds in pots, filled with a compost of three quarters leaf-mould, and one 
quarter sand, and place them in a frame in a good hot-bed. When they are up, and 
have become large enough to transplant, pot them singly into sixty-sized pots, 
adding to the above compost a good portion of rich loam ; subject them to a very 
close humid heat, and by no means allow them to stand more than a foot and a half 
from the glass roof, and occasionally syringe them over head with clear water. When 
the roots begin to show themselves through the bottoms of the pots, shift the plants 
into forty-eights, and let them stand in these until they show flowers ; then select 
some of the best shaped, and pot them in thirty-twos, in a compost of one half rich 
loam, one fourth leaf-mould, and one fourth sand, well mixed and broken together, 
