FLORICULTURE OF THE MONTH. 
71 
top ; if, on the other Land, the lower or second 
spit be poor, or gravelly, or otherwise hungry, 
merely loosen it a spade deeper, but leave it 
in the bottom. Once watered in, or planted 
in tolerably moist weather with the ground 
nicely damp, it will need no otlier trouble. It 
will soon grow too close to encourage weeds, 
and completely overwhelm any that make 
their appearance. Treated as an ornamental 
shrub, you must place it near the front rank, 
as it will spread and not grow up much ; three 
feet is the extreme height for a good while, 
though we have no doubt that many would 
go higher. They will, however, generally be 
twice as wide as they are high, when they 
have plenty of room. There are many sup- 
posed varieties, but they are mere seedling 
varieties, though they are called species, and 
one bed of seedlings will give you all the 
leading sorts, if you choose to divide them 
according to their difference of foliage. They 
make a noble mixture with Laurustinus and 
other dwarf shrubby plants for the front of 
plantations, for the branches and their rich 
foliage reach the ground, whatever size they 
attain. In forming a clump by themselves 
they make a very pretty feature, and if planted 
with the tallest in the middle and the smallest 
on the sides, ends, and front, they are a green 
mound in spring, and turn gradually to yellow, 
brown, scarlet, crimson, and purple, as the 
winter advances. There is scarcely anything 
that affords so great a diversity of colour, for 
as the spring comes the leaves resume their 
green, and soon after their bright golden 
bloom appears, and lastly their purple berries. 
In fine, they are a valuable shrub, thoroughly 
ornamental, the best of all underwoods, the 
prettiest specimens to stand alone, and perhaps 
the most hardy. When the fruit is thoroughly 
ripe, they may be gathered, bruised and 
washed to get out the seeds, or they may be 
dried and rubbed out, but we prefer laying 
the berries together till they are a little dried, 
and then bruising them, and washing the 
seeds clean and thoroughly drying before 
putting away, but there is no better time to 
sow it than when they are ripe. They are 
now named Mahonia in the nurseries, but the 
public get familiar with the name by which 
plants are introduced, and do not so readily 
forget it. The Mahonia is now raised by 
hundreds of thousands, and the price of a 
thousand seedlings is very little more than used 
to l*e charged for a single plant. The Messrs. 
Waterers raise an immense quantity, and as 
the planters become acquainted with its value 
as underwood, the demand will be for some 
time quite equal to the supply. Nearly all 
the nurseries have them from seeds of their 
own saving, for it seeds abundantly ; but if a 
plant be taken up that has been planted three 
or four years, many suckers will be found 
strongly rooted and fit to plant out. When 
they are raised from these, they are planted 
out the same distance as two-year-old plants, 
and soon become strong plants, growing far 
more rapidly than seedlings ; but since the 
seed has become so plentiful, few take the 
trouble of growing from suckers, unless to 
propagate a particularly rich-leaved one, or 
a variety possessing some peculiarity. There 
is no plant so w r ell adapted to enrich the 
heavy borders on the sides of carriage roads, 
or in front of a planted belt of trees. In fact, 
it may be used wherever shrubs are required. 
FLORICULTURE OF THE MONTH. 
BY GEORGE GLENN Y. 
January is by no means prolific, but 
although we cannot boast of its productions, 
it gives rise to many social meetings, where 
floricultural gossip is the leading topic, and 
much is communicated that interests the floral 
world, and changes take place which are not 
always expected. Mr. Turner, one of our 
best florists, has taken the nursery at Slough, 
the very head quarters of floriculture in the 
late Mr. Charles Brown's time, than whom a 
greater enthusiast never lived, and the place 
where Mr. Turner perhaps spent some of his 
most successful days. Mr. Cutter retires. 
Mr. Barnes, another of our best florists, is 
likely to be installed in the late Mr, Girling's 
nursery, which has been conducted by Mr. 
Barnes as foreman and manager for many 
years. These events are gratifying in some 
degree, as they are instances of rising fortune?, 
and we hope they will respectively improve 
their establishments. Both these gentlemen 
are conspicuous among the dahlia growers, 
and have several of the novelties of the season 
coming out. We have already seen three or 
four promising seedlings of Camellia japonica, 
but as they were early blooms, and others will 
be forthcoming, we reserve our decision. If 
the later flowers come well, Ave shall pronounce 
two of them acquisitions. 
We notice in the Mid/and Florist that 
a sort of credit is claimed for the last show 
of dahlias, and we can hardly let it pass 
without repeating our conviction that it proved 
" a heavy blow and great discouragement." 
Nobody can contemplate without regret the 
fact, that perhaps so many as a hundred 
