THE CULTURE OF THE POLYANTHUS. 
113 
look always wet as compared with the rest, 
you may conclude the soil is bad, or the 
drainage not free ; and you must examine, by 
turning the ball out of the pot, what state the 
crocks or other drainage is in. If, as is very 
likely, you find them all stopped up with soil, 
break them all away from the ball without 
damaging the fibres, and put new dry ones in 
the pot about the same height, put a little 
dry soil on the top, but not too much, and re- 
turn the ball to the pot as nearly in the same 
place as possible, that is, no deeper nor shal- 
lower, but of the two it had better be raised a 
little than lowered. Sometimes the stoppage 
of the water may be found to be caused by the 
hole at the bottom of the pot alone being 
clogged up, and the drainage inside open 
enough ; in this case the hole must be cleared, 
and the crocks, or whatever open stuff may be 
used for the purpose, should be replaced. 
The earth of the pot need not be disturbed if 
you examine the hole first, as the clearing of 
that may be all that is wanted ; and a day or 
two will show whether the soil dries any 
better than it did. As the trusses of bloom 
rise you will have to remove all but the 
strongest ; but if you have been careful to 
remove any side growth when it first appeared 
this cannot often happen ; it is very rare to 
have two trusses come up in the centre or 
heart of the plant. As the buds swell, you 
have only to consider the purpose for which 
you want the bloom ; if for seed, the buds 
may be reduced to two or three as soon as 
you see which is likely to be the strongest ; 
and eventually you may do as recommended 
for out-of-doors plants — leave only one, but 
that must be perfect. If, on the contrary, you j 
want the flower for show, there ought to be as I 
many buds left on the truss as the plant, from j 
its strength, will carry well. If the stem be ! 
strong, ten or a dozen flowers could bloom 
well. In the country they reduce them gene- 
rally to five of the best they can select ; how- 
ever, less than seven will not make a handsome 
truss of any thing ; and if there be strength 
to carry seven we should reduce them to that 
number as scon as they were forward enough 
to enable us to select the best. There is 
nothing now to do but to shade them from 
the heat of the mid-day sun, and give them all 
the air we can in mild weather. When the 
flowers have nearly opened, they must have no 
sun at ali, nor must cold winds be allowed to 
blow on them. Having now brought all our 
supposed new collection to flower, and seeded, 
or shown them, we may turn those in pots, 
into the open border ; those in pots may he 
allowed to give a pod of seed each, and have 
all the other pips cut off. They will require 
well watering while they perfect the seed; 
and when this is gathered let them grow freely 
until the middle of July, when they must be 
taken up, and each separate variety be care- 
fully parted into as many pieces as there are 
hearts, and be planted out in such a border as 
! we have described, nine inches apart every 
way ; or, if it be more convenient, in rows a 
foot apart, the plants being only six inches 
apart in the rows ; these have to be kept clear 
from weeds, have plenty of water, and be exa- 
mined frequently to ascertain that there are 
no side-shoots coming, or to remove them 
if any appear. There may be very few 
come so strong as we like, but a very mode- 
rate plant of one heart will give a better 
bloom than a large one formed of more than 
one heart, as all Polyanthuses must be shown 
with a single truss on a single stem, and there- 
fore, for the purpose of exhibition, all side- 
growths are useless, and even mischievous ; 
but if you want to propagate them, of course 
the more there are the better they will answer 
the end in view. In the autumn, we have a 
choice of the two modes of getting them 
through the winter : in one, by continuing 
them in the open border ; the other, by potting 
them. "We prefer the border until they are 
actually in flower. The only protection we 
should give them would be, as we have directed 
with the first plants, peas haulm, or broken 
loose straw, laid on at night, and taken off in 
the morning, unless it be frosty, in which case 
it should remain on. As the blooms rise, let 
those which are strong enough for exhibiting 
be covered with blooming glasses, propped up 
with bricks three or four inches from the 
ground, and let there be straw all round to 
protect them, three or four inches. It is this 
which makes us prefer the nine-inch distance 
to the six ; it gives room for litter all round 
the vacancy, and all round the glass also, the 
full height; indeed, at night, glass and all 
should be covered, to protect the flowers from 
frost ; but, as every plant will not be fit for 
showing, six inches may in general be found 
sufficient. Presuming the flower to be all we 
want for showing, the only difficulty remaining 
is that of potting it. To do this well, the 
ground must be literally soaked ; a large ball 
of earth must be released by cutting round it 
at sufficient distance to avoid all the fibres, 
and then the ball may be raised with the spade. 
You will be able to reduce this ball to the size 
of a thirty-two pot without hurting the roots 
if you are careful; when you have done this, 
put some broken potsherds or crocks at the 
bottom of the pot, and enough compost on 
them to bring the plant to a proper level, and 
before yen attempt to put in the ball of earth, 
convince yourself it is small enough to go in 
the pot freely, and let some new compost y," 
in all round it; once assured of ibis, and that 
it will rest at a proper height, take it up with 
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