THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 
171 
by keeping them in a cool, airy position, and the soil rather dry. 
In February or March, according to the time they are required in 
bloom, turn them out of the pots, carefully loosen the roots round 
the outside of the ball of soil, and shift them into pots two sizes 
larger — that is to say, pots six inches in diameter. Use a compost 
consisting of turfy loam three parts, and decayed manure or leaf- 
mould one part. Or the fourth part may consist of equal parts of 
leaf-mould and manure. They can then be placed in the greenhouse 
or frame, but, if required in bloom early, they must have the assist- 
ance of a little artificial heat. But, as a rule, the amateur will not 
require to use artificial heat, for Hydrangeas are needed in private 
gardens after the pelargoniums are past their best, and to have them 
in bloom at that period, the protection of a greeniiouse or cold pit will 
alone be needed. If the plants do not attain a height of more than a 
few inches during the season in which they are propagated, it will not 
be necessary to prune them at all. But if, on the other hand, they 
attain a considerable height, prune them, at the time of potting, to 
the first or second joint. If the plants are liberally sujjplied with 
water and kept near the glass, the majority will produce magn ficent 
heads of bloom, such as are to be seen on the plants with which we 
decorate the marble basins at the Crystal Palace, 
Let us take another view of the case, and suppose the amateur to 
be desirous of producing a few large specimens after he has thoroughly 
mastered the cultivation of specimens of the size alluded to in the 
foregoing remarks. But before passing on to the consideration of 
this part of the subject, I would say that by pruning the plants back 
rather severely, and allowing only one or two shoots, they may be 
kept to a small size, and be made to produce gigantic flower-heads for 
several years. In doing this the main point will be to reduce the 
ball of soil at the spring shift sufficiently to admit of their being 
put in the same sized pots again, with at least an inch of rich fresh 
compost all round. The first step in the production of large 
specimens is to secure a number of branches, and it will be found 
that if at the first pruning the plants are pruned back to the second 
joint three or four strong side-shoots will be the result. The second 
year these can be pruned back to about the same distance from the 
secondary shoots. To state the whole case in the fewest words, the 
shoots produced the previous season should at each winter pruning 
be cut back to the distance from the old w'ood mentioned above. 
By this means the specimens, although they will attain large 
dimensions, can be kept neat and compact. To maintain them in a 
healthy and vigorous condition without the use of gigantic pots 
reduce the ball of soil from one to two inches all round, according 
to the size of the plant. This will admit of the use of a much larger 
proportion of fresh compost at each annual shift than would other- 
wise be possible without the use of pots of an extravagant size. 
There is really no limit to the size to which the plants may be 
grown under the system here described. It is simply a work of 
time, and each cultivator will be the best judge as to what sized 
specimen are best adapted to his requirements. Specimens five or 
six feet in diameter, with fifty or sixty well developed flower-heads, 
Jane. 
