THE COCKSCOMB, ITS PROPERTIES AND CULTIVATION. 
538 
a recommendation to be followed, but we have 
followed it. 
He says, " After the crest is well formed, 
the flowering part" (that is, the upper part of 
the plant) "is severed at any desired length 
fi-om the stem, and as no new leaves will be 
afterwards formed, it is desirable to remove 
only so many as will admit of the stem being 
inserted one inch deep in number sixty pots. 
Each cutting should have a little water and 
be plunged in the bark, covered with a cutting- 
glass, and shaded from the sun ; when the 
pot is filled with roots, each plant should be 
shifted into larger pots in the soil mentioned 
for old plants. Of course, it is not expected 
they will make large plants, yet to the curious 
they will be interesting." 
Taking the idea from this lesson by Mr. 
M c Evoy, we, at the general selection of plants 
for shifting out of forty-eights to thirty-twos, 
kept the rejected ones in their forty-eight 
pots, growing with plenty of moisture, but 
no shift, until the crests were more fully de- 
veloped : we then cut off the heads half an 
inch below the upper four leaves, and placed 
them in a large seed-pan, covered with a bell- 
glass, and plunged into the soil of a common 
hot-bed, in good heat. Some struck, some 
did not, but there were plenty for our use 
and experiment. We potted them off in forty- 
eight sized pots, and all the growth they had 
was in that sized pots only ; many of the 
flowers came very beautiful in form, and, for 
the size of the pot and the dwarfness of the 
plant, we may say of large dimensions. They 
are curiosities and no more, but it is a very 
good way of disposing of the best of the re- 
jected flowers ; and they may even be stuck 
in the borders, after they are fairly flowered, 
and last as long as some annuals, even if fully 
bloomed before they are put there. 
RAISING THE SEED. 
If, when the flowers are advancing in size, 
and before they can possibly impregnate one 
another, you can make a selection of one 
handsomer than all the rest in form, and an- 
other brighter than all the rest in colour, let 
these two be placed in a hot-bed by them- 
selves, away from the others, and there sub- 
ject them to the same treatment as the others ; 
but let them remain there until their seed 
actually ripens, without being removed for 
ornament or exhibition, or any other pur- 
pose but shifting them from time to time, 
and even this carefully. Save the seed of 
the one best formed, unless the form of the 
brightest coloured one is unexceptionable. 
On this seed you may depend for your own 
use, but, as all your plants will yield abun- 
dance, dispose of that some other way. That 
saved from the general collection cannot be 
bad, but you will have a greater chance of 
advancing, in point of form, than you will 
out of the general collection. 
GENERAL REMARKS. 
There are many who have formed an idea 
of an elongated flower being perfect, and 
boast of the length as a very desirable point : 
it is in point of principle wrong altogether ; 
an elongated flower must have two sides to 
it, and these sides are the greatest possible 
eyesore. If the flower is very broad, the 
natural bend-over of the face of a surface of 
the bloom to form a round, hides this most 
objectionable feature. A handsome cauli- 
flower does not more completely hide its 
stem, than a handsome comb should ; and if a 
rich-looking high-crowned cauliflower could 
be imagined to curl its leaves outwards from 
the edge of the white bloom, so as to form a 
handsome back ground of green, we have 
only to change the colour to give an idea of 
the perfection of a handsome comb. The 
leaves should be close up to the combs, and 
form a close bush, so as to cover the pot ; and 
the nearer the scarlet head forms a high- 
crowned circle, the better. 
CALENDAR. 
January. — In this month you can do no- 
thing but prepare your soil, unless you keep 
it by you. Rub out your seed, if it be not 
already done, and get your seed- pans, pots, or 
boxes cleaned in order to sow ; and have your 
hot-beds in progress. 
February. — Sow the seed the first week, as 
directed, for the earliest of your combs ; keep 
the soil moist, and the hot-bed up to 80° at the 
least. Let the pans, &c. be close, or nearly 
close to the glass, and when the plants come 
up, cover with a transparent cloth, or light 
calico, to break off the burning rays of the 
sun, when there are any, without taking away 
much of the light. \ Give gentle refreshings of 
water, to prevent the soil from being dry, and 
when the plants are up this must be done 
regularly, before shutting up the frames for 
the night. Give air, to prevent too great a 
heat, and always open a little at the back, to 
let oft* the steam. Heat not greater than 
ninety degrees. 
March. — Continue refreshing^with water, 
and keeping off the more burning heat ; and 
as soon as the plants are large enough, pot 
them singly in sixty-sized pots, replacing 
them in the same heat. At the end of the 
month, sow the succession-crop of seed; the 
first will begin to look well in July and 
August ; the second,^in ^September and 
October. 
April. — The first plants will fill their pots 
with roots, perhaps, by the end of the montK 
