PITS AND FRAMES. 
CI 
fore the supply should be constantly attended 
to. They must not be forced on too rapidly, 
or the buds are very likely to come blind, as 
it is termed ; that is, they die off in a small 
state. 
After-treatment of forced plants. — As 
soon as forced plants are out of flower, a 
proper situation should be selected in which 
to place them. At this time of the year, a 
house, or pit, kept at a temperature near that 
in which they have been forced, should be set 
apart for them ; in which they should be at- 
tended to regularly with water, and carefully 
looked over, to see that they are not damaged 
by insects or otherwise. If this course be" 
pursued, some hope may be entertained of 
their being fit to force again the following 
season ; but if they be turned out into back 
sheds, or under north walls, as is too often the 
case, death or decrepitude are the certain 
results. In attending to the plants here, it is 
advisable to keep each sort separate ; as, 
for instance, the roses, where forced in large 
quantities, should have pits exclusively de- 
voted to them, where they may ripen their , 
wood, and, in many instances, they will flower [ 
again during the summer. Again, the bulbs 
should have a shallow pit appropriated to 
themselves, where, by means of a good heat 
and a copious supply of water, they may be 
enabled to perfect their foliage, and strengthen 
their bulbs for the next season. This treat- 
ment is peculiarly adapted to Amaryllis, 
Nerine, and all the beautiful tribes of bulbs j 
from the Cape of Good Hope, and a pit de- 
voted to their growth would amply compensate I 
the amateur for his trouble. 
PITS AND FRAMES. 
Annuals. — A few seeds of each of the 
principal sorts of tender annuals, for blooming 
in pots in the green-house, should be sown 
during this month. These are such as Bal- 
sams, Browallias, Thunbergias, Cockscombs, 
Globe-amaranths, Tricolors, &c; a few seeds of 
Schizanthus and Mignonette, to succeed that 
sown in autumn; or, in fact, any thing of this 
class, which may be particularly admired, may 
be added. Unless there is ample accommoda- 
tion in the stove or forcing-house, a hot-bed 
frame is the best place to sow them in, and 
also to keep the plants afterwards for a time. 
The half-hardy kinds must not be kept too 
long in a hot, confined atmosphere ; they must 
be planted in rich, light soil. 
Dahlias. — Some of the most valuable kinds 
may be'put into a mild hot-bed, for the purpose 
of exciting the buds; and as soon as the sin mis 
are grown two it three inches long, they 
should be taken oil", and planted singly in two- 
inch [lots, and again placed in the hot-bed. 
After they are rooted, they must be put into 
larger pots, and gradually hardened. It is 
too early to start the general collection. The 
beautiful blue Salvia patens may be propagated 
in a similar way. 
Lobelias. — These fine plants are much neg- 
lected. The old plants, which should be pre- 
served in winter in a cool, dryish place, should, 
towards the end of the month, be parted, 
each little heart, or crown of leaves, being de- 
tached, with a portion of the fibrous roots, 
and potted singly into three-inch pots ; these 
are to be plunged in a mild hot-bed frame till 
they begin to grow pretty freely, and must 
then be taken out and re-potted, and hardened 
off. If bloomed in pots, they may be ulti- 
mately placed in pots a foot or more in di- 
ameter, using very rich loam, and giving them 
plenty of moisture. For planting out into the 
borders, they may be shifted once, and kept 
in the cold frames till May. 
Half-hardy plants. — The different kinds of 
summer flowering plants intended for the 
decoration of the flower-garden, or parterre, 
must now meet with attention. The strongest 
of those which have been kept through the 
winter in small pots, and which are required 
to be early in flower, should be re-potted into 
three-inch or five-inch pots, and after they 
begin to grow a little, they would be benefited 
by being placed where the roots will get a 
very slight degree of heat, while the tops re- 
ceive all the air which the state of the weather 
will permit. Those which have been kept in 
store pots, just as they were planted as cuttings, 
or potted a few together in a moderate-sized 
pot, should be potted singly into small pots, 
and if they can be accommodated with a little 
warmth, it will be an advantage. If the stock 
of any of the kinds is not sufiicient for the 
purposes required, one or two old plants of the 
particular kind should be set in a cool part of 
the forcing-house; and they will produce 
young shoots, which are to be taken off as 
cuttings, and struck in a hot- bed, potted off 
as soon as rooted, and gradually brought to 
bear the temperature of a cold frame. Cal- 
ceolarias, Salvias, Verbenas, Petunias, Fuch- 
sias, &c, may be so treated. 
Ti n-tveek Stocks. — A few of these, to flower 
early in the flower-garden — and early flowers 
are doubly valuable — should be sown on a hot- 
bed, and treated as half-hardy annuals. A few 
of other favourite kinds of annuals for the 
borders may also be sown, especially plants of 
decided colours for geometrical garden-. 
A l/iincs. — Towards the latter end of the 
month, the pots of alpine plants in the cold 
frames may be taken out of the material in 
which they had been plunged. If they are 
allowed to remain plunged after the roots 
commence growing, many of the kinds are apt 
to spread among the plunging material, and 
