THE PETUNIA. 
483 
take hold of, it may be pricked out into pans 
or wide-moutlied pots, an inch apart every way, 
beginning all round the edge of the pot and 
working inwards. In these pots or pans, as 
the case may be, they may remain until they 
have grown large enough to be in each other's 
way. Now please yourself about whether you 
will plant them out or pot them, but if there 
be any considerable number plant them out, 
for it will save immense labour, not only in 
potting, but also in watering, for in the 
ground they will not require nearly so much 
moisture as they do in a pot. Here, as they 
come into bloom, you ought to root up the 
faulty ones, for it is no use keeping any that 
have not some decided advance upon present 
sorts, and by the banishment of the bad ones 
as fast as they open, the seed maj be saved 
very good. The only advantage of potting 
them is, that as fast as they turn out good for 
nothing as new varieties, they may be given 
away or sold, whereas if planted out they are 
destroyed, because they would not move when 
in bloom. Florists by profession ought there- 
fore to pot all, and keep them in a cold frame, 
and as fast as any show an inferior flower take 
them out and send them to market, or place 
them for sale away from those you pre- 
fer to keep and seed from : you must not 
expect one in a hundred that will be worth 
keeping, but a florist can always sell common 
ones at something, although not quite so much 
as good ones. 
The proper time for autumnal sowing is 
September, in a greenhouse, and when they 
are large enough to prick out, put them as 
directed for spring sowing, — an inch apart, in 
wide-mouthed pots. They continue growing 
all the winter slowly, and are about ready to 
plant out by the time the weather will allow 
of it. Upon the whole, however, we prefer 
the spring sowing, when the proper attention 
can be given ; but if the groAver be not al- 
ways on the premises, and ready to give pro- 
per air and moisture, twenty-four hours might 
burn up the whole lot, or they might be 
damped off, or a dozen evils might befal them, 
because in a hotbed vegetation is rapid, and 
they would draw up in twenty-four hours, 
therefore they must be watched constantly, 
and when they begin to vegetate they must 
have air to prevent their drawing up weakly. 
After they are pricked out, they want quite 
as much care as before, and four- and- twenty 
hours' neglect would spoil them, although it is 
to be understood that the hotbed must be no 
warmer than is usual for annuals. It is not 
safe to plant out in beds till the end of May, 
though they may be potted singly into forty-eight 
sized-pots as soon as you please when they are 
large enough, because the pots should be shut 
down in a cold frame by day, and be carefully 
covered at night against frost. In very mild 
days, the frame may be opened, or even alto- 
gether uncovered, but such young plants will 
be naturally tender, and must be regularly 
protected against high winds, frost, and heavy 
falls of rain. 
PROPAGATING BY CUTTINGS. 
Having selected such varieties as may be 
considered worthy of propagation, they should 
be cut down, and all the ends should be 
struck. The way to prepare the ends that are 
cut off is to take off two joints, cut the stem 
up close to the bottom joint, and take off" the 
under leaves. Let these cuttings, after being 
thus prepared, be placed in a pot of the kind 
of earth we have described, and half an inch 
thickness of silver sand on the top; thoroughlj'- 
wet the sand, and stick the cuttings in to 
touch the common earth at the bottom of the 
sand, but not to go into it ; place a bell-glass 
over them so as to go a trifling way into the 
sand, and keep all the draught out. Let the 
pot be placed in a slightly heated bed, or pit, or 
propagating house. The glass must be taken 
off and wiped inside every morning. You 
will soon observe when they have struck, by 
their setting off to grow. As soon as they have 
fairly struck, pot them singly in large sixty sized 
pots, shut them down in the frame a day or 
two, and then give them air on mild days, 
and close them against frost and cold all the 
winter. In the spring, plant out some and 
bed out others, for they are as pretty bloomed 
in pots, as they are planted out in beds and 
clumps. 
LARGE PLANTS. 
When the Petunia is wanted to grow large, 
to cover a trellis or form a large bush, the 
ends of the shoots ought to be pinched out, 
and the lateral shoots induced to grow ; these 
in their turns should be stopped when they 
have grown long enough, and all the bloom 
that shows itself should be pinched off. In 
this manner the plant may be kept growing, 
and when it has acquired branches enough it 
may be allowed to grow without any more 
stopping, and either train it or let it make a 
bush, it matters not which, except that the 
bush is the most natural and most elegant. 
It may be, however, that these, like the gera- 
niums, may not be good without a forest of 
sticks to hold them. If so, we destroy the 
character of the plant, and it can be compared 
to nothing in its tribe, no more than gera- 
niums can with three hundred wooden props. 
The petunia never blooms better than at one 
year old from a cutting, though some are so 
bent on training them that they force them 
over two seasons and keep them growing 
hard all the time. This can only be done, 
however, by picking off all the bloom buds as 
they come, and continuing their growth. 
ii2 
