120 
THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 
The choice of a situation is the first and great consideration, and 
that the neridian sun should be prevented from exercising a direct 
influence, is indispensable. The plants should enjoy the full sun 
from rising till 10 a.m., and from 3 p.m. till setting. If no natural 
screen from trees can be made available to intercept the solar rays 
during the hottest part of the day, artificial appliances must be resorted 
to ; but the former is preferable both as to economy in time and the 
natural intervention being more congenial than an artificial one. 
The season for removing the plants from the house must be entirely 
regulated by existing circumstances. Seasonal influences, and a 
thousand local considerations, must determine the minutiae of the 
matter. But it will be borne in mind that the whole of the stock 
will not require removing en masse. A plant in full bloom, or one 
barely established after repotting, will of course form exceptions. 
Progressive operation is the gardener’s watchword, and in the 
subject under consideration superlatively so. Tou cannot take 
Nature by storm. 
Gardening in all its branches is an attempt to imitate natural 
phenomena by artificial means. Losing sight of this fundamental 
principle often leads to disastrous consequences. 
It has ever been a favourite operation with gardeners, where it 
is practicable, to plunge in some porous material all plants removed 
to the open air in the summer months ; or perhaps I ought to write 
all delicate hair-rooted and hard-wooded plants similar to the genus 
under discussion. The practice undoubtedly in many cases is the 
best that could be adopted. 
A plant with a pot well filled with roots, which from its size or 
other circumstances it is not deemed advisable to repot, will of 
course be much less liable to suffer from drought, or from the in- 
fluence of the heated pot on the delicate hair-like fibres plunged, 
than one wholly exposed. In this case, and similar ones, plunging 
is advisable, but in others plunging is not only not beneficial, but 
absolutely injurious, at least in my opinion. 
Scantily rooting plants, or specimens in delicate health, should 
not be plunged at all. It impedes the free passage of moisture 
from the roots, and induces saturation — two important subjects to 
be considered. If it is thought advisable to protect such roots in 
any way, the best mode is to place the pot inside another pot, with 
a stratum of moss between, taking care that the drainage is not 
impeded. In placing the stock of plants in their summer quarters, 
the quick growing and robust specimens should be separated from 
those of weaker growth or delicate health ; and some provision 
should be made for protecting the latter from heavy rains. Violent 
thunder-storms arise very often during the night, when no one is 
at hand to protect; and as much damage may ensue to the weak 
and delicate specimens from the violent rain generally accom- 
panying such storms, it is far the better and safer plan to secure an 
awning of sufficient strength to break the violence of the rain. 
This can be placed the last thing at night over the weak or 
invalid portion, which, as it is hoped, will form but a small portion 
