THE PETUNIA. 
485 
there will be, as there always is, a great 
many more about the same stamp, or worse, 
than there are better ; but, having done all 
you can to produce varieties calculated to be 
an advance upon what we have, you can do 
no more. When you have gathered the seed, 
prepare pans or boxes, or large-mouthed pots, 
to sow it in ; let these be filled with half loam 
and half peat well mixed together ; sow thinly, 
because your seeds, being good, will all come 
up, and if too thick, will injure each other 
before they are large enough to prick out. 
Place the pots, pans, or boxes in the green- 
house, or, for want of that convenience, in 
a frame of which the heat has declined, such 
as an old cucumber or melon bed, and cover 
up of nights, but a greenhouse is the best. 
"When these seedlings are large enough to 
handle well, let them be pricked out round 
the edges of pots an inch apart — a three-inch 
pot will hold eight or nine round the edge, 
and the proximity of the root to the pot is of 
the most essential service ; they must be care- 
fully watered, and placed close to the light ; 
they must not be watered too frequently 
through the winter, as they are not wanted to 
grow fast. Short stocky little plants are far 
more desirable than tall ones, and when they 
once get drawn up they cannot recover their 
proper habit completely. The seedling plants 
ought, in fact, when once well established, to 
be what gardeners call starved, that is, have 
no more water than will just keep them from 
flagging, not that they are to have less when 
watered, but that they are not to be watered 
again till they are almost suffering, when 
they are to have as much as before. All the 
soil must be wetted whenever a plant is 
watered; less than this is mischief. 
At the end of May all these may be planted 
out in a bed of ordinary mould or soil, and 
not made rich for the occasion ; let them be 
planted about nine inches or a foot apart, and 
then await with proper watchfulness their 
blooming. The instant they commence they 
should be examined frequently. If any come 
like the parents, or any one of them, see if 
there be any improvement in the habit, for 
that is a point — if not, pull it up instantly, and 
so with every thing worse ; do not let a single 
plant stand an hour after it has flowered, 
unless it gives you some point better than 
those you seeded from, because it is the worst 
possible taste to distribute any thing that is 
like a variety already out, unless there is such 
a manifest improvement in some point as will 
be at once seen by others. If there be any 
that exhibit a positive improvement, or any 
such distinct point as will warrant its being 
added to the general collections, take off slips 
at once and begin propagating it directly ; a 
little bottom heat, and a hand-glass over the 
cuttings, will greatly hasten the striking, but 
they would in July, August, and September 
root in the common borders under a hand- 
glass. Look daily, if not almost hourly, to 
see what comes, and pull up, without remorse, 
all that are inferior, (or equal, unless of a dif- 
ferent colour,) and discard them at once. 
Strike as many cuttings as you can of those 
that are worth keeping and adding to the pre- 
sent stock, but unless it is worth keeping, for 
the chance of raising others with its good 
points, send every other to the dunghill. 
MONTHLY OPERATIONS. 
January. — The plants are now in the seed- 
pot, the store-pots, .or in small pots a single 
plant in a pot. The cuttings struck and potted 
off in the autumn, as well as old plants cut 
down — one and all, require but little water, as 
wet does not agree with them ; they must 
have air in mild weather, the glasses must be 
down close of a night, and if there be any 
symptoms of frost they should be covered 
with straw-litter, or cloths, or mats ; those in 
the greenhouse will do with the treatment 
other greenhouse plants require, not much 
moisture, plenty of air, and but little if any 
fire. Autumn" sown plants now growing must 
be kept clear of weeds, and if not yet pricked 
out, they ought to be. 
February. — The treatment of last month, 
subject to the control of the weather, may be 
repeated, that is, good covering against cold, 
plenty of air if mild, and very little moisture ; 
prepare pots of the soil recommended, and 
fill up level with the edge of the pot, give it 
a blow or two on the potting-table, to settle it 
a little down ; sow the seed very evenly and 
thinly, and sift a little earth through a fine 
sieve to cover the seed, and no more ; place it 
in a hotbed which has declined, or which ha& 
been made up slight for the purpose. 
March. — Let the plants in small pots in- 
tended to bloom in pots, be now shifted into 
those of size forty-eight ; take out the balls 
whole, put draining at the bottom of the pots, 
and enough mould to bring up the plant to 
the surface of the deeper one ; put the earth 
in solid all round, and water them to settle 
the earth about the ball, round which the 
roots will have matted. Keep those which are 
for planting out, in the small sized pots they 
are wintered in, as they are better checked 
than allowed to grow, on account of the great 
additional room required by the change of pot, 
the additional labour of carrying them about 
the ground, the additional carriage if they are 
to be sent out. Let the fresh potted ones be 
shut up a day or so, after which they may 
have air, and in the event of very mild 
showers, they may have all the benefit of 
them. The seedlings will be advanced enough 
