134 
A STROLL THROUGH THE GARDEN DECEMBER. 
When they have done so, and begin to pro- 
trude, place tiles or slates, or some other hard 
dry substance, under, to keep them from 
rooting in the soil. Give no water beyond 
enough to keep them from absolutely flagging. 
If you like to adopt JVPEvoy's plan, shake 
half of them out well, and repot them in the 
same pots they came out of. Water the second 
seedlings, and treat as the- others. 
May. — In this month they will be tolerably 
well starved, both those shaken out and re- 
potted, and those continued in their pots. 
Repot the whole in forty-eight sized pots, in 
poorer soil, as directed, and return them to 
their frames. See that the heat is kept up by 
linings, or new beds made. The second seed- 
lings will, perhaps, be large enough to pot off 
in their first pots. Make cuttings of the re- 
jected ones, if you intend striking any for 
dwarf plants. 
June. — Those in forty-eight-sized pots will 
begin to show their crests, or flower-heads : 
you can see while they are small which are 
the most promising ; select as many of these 
as you want to grow up, and shift them into 
thirty-two-sized pots, with the rich soil ; place 
them in the hot-bed, keep them within three 
inches of the glass, and as soon as the pots 
fill with roots, shift again from one size 
to another. Heat, 85° to 95°. The younger 
seedlings are all this time to undergo the 
same treatment. Water the compost of the 
frame, and all over the plants. 
July. — As the plants get towards their full 
size, and the flowers develop their beauty, if 
they are in the largest sized pots, and the 
roots have got to the side, apply liquid ma- 
nure about every fifth watering. Look well 
to the advancing stages of the younger plants ; 
select' any extraordinary flower for seeding. 
August. — The earliest are, perhaps, now as 
handsome as they will be, but they will con- 
tinue so a long time. Those intended for 
seed, and placed by themselves, must not be 
neglected; they want watering just as much 
as those retained for their flowers, and are 
more apt to be neglected. The younger plants 
are now rapidly advancing through their late 
shifts ; a twelve-inch pot is as large as any 
ought to have, and if the roots fill these, they 
must be nourished with liquid manure. 
September. — Watering constantly required 
if the weather be warm ; but the state of the 
soil in the pots must determine this. Those 
in the dwelling-house, or removed to the con- 
servatory, will require less than those in heat. 
Apply liquid manure to those in the largest 
sized pots, if they have filled their pots with 
roots. All the flowers in perfection may be 
removed to the conservatory, or a cooler berth 
of some kind, to prolong their beauty. 
October'. — The early ones past bloom may 
be put aside, the combs cut off, and dried 
gradually, because they will all have seed ; 
and the plants being selected from a greater 
number, and always the best, must yield good 
seed for sale or exchange ; though for your 
own use you will do best to depend on the 
two or three finest specimens. Lay them in 
pans, and spread them out a little, as they 
retain a good deal of moisture, and would 
turn mouldy if not dried well before laying by. 
November and December. — There is no- 
thing to attend to now but seeing that the 
seed does not take harm from damp. Some 
rub out the seed as soon as it is dry ; others 
preserve the comb as long as they can, but 
they form no object worth notice, unless cut 
off in their prime, and carefully dried in a 
position to prevent their change of form. 
They keep a month or so pretty well, but 
they begin to lose colour and size directly 
they are off the plant. It is better, we think, 
to keep the combs in a pan or box, in a warm 
place, free from damp, a good month after 
they are cut off, and then rub out all the seed 
that has not fallen out of itself. 
General Remarks. — The sooner some of 
the leading Societies give respectable prizes 
for these subjects, and appoint honest judges 
to award them, the sooner will the real skill 
of the gardener be turned to account in a sub- 
ject only abandoned because it requires more 
skill than common prize-hunters possess, and 
prizes are much easier obtained for subjects 
cultivated with less difficulty. 
A STROLL THROUGH THE GARDEN, 
BY A TUTOR AND HIS PUPIL, IN THE MONTH OF DECEMBER. 
This is a morning for a ramble ; but every 
thing is frozen up. Savoys, cabbages, Brussels 
sprouts, are covered with the frost, which 
shines like so much silver. There is no chance 
of seeing anything going on but in the shrub- 
bery and dressed grounds, where I know there 
are some alterations that were begun last 
month. The plants and trees that are sloping 
on the ground, and the roots covered with 
earth, are not planted ; they are what gar- 
deners call " laid in by the heels," to keep 
their roots from drying up, until they are 
planted. Had they been exposed, the frost 
would have injured their fine roots; but they 
