534 
THE MANAGEMENT OF GREENHOUSES. 
wants water too long together, some of the 
lower leaves turn yellow and fall. This 
makes so many naked stems to heaths of any 
size, but a worse elFect is caused by giving 
too much, or by the stoppage of the proper 
drainage of the pots. The more full a pot 
is of roots, the more constant must be the 
w'atching and necessary watering, because 
the water cannot be held so long by the small 
quantity of matted soil as if there were but 
few roots. In some cases a heath may be 
wanting water twice a-day. The cuttings of 
heaths should be taken from the last produced 
shoots, two inches, or one inch, in some cases, 
long ; the lower half should be stripped of the 
leaves, and the upper half have all left on. G-et 
a pot of heath soil filled, all but half" an inch or 
aninchof sand, according to the cutting; water 
the sand so that it may be saturated with wet, 
and stick in these cuttings so that they just 
touch the soil, but not go into it ; cover with 
a bell-glass, water with a very fine rosed water- 
pot, so that the sand shall never be thoroughly 
dry; wipe the glass dry inside every morn- 
ing; let them be in a cool part of the green- 
house, and be shaded from the sun ; when 
they set off growing well, you may conclude 
they have struck root, and pot them in sixty- 
sized pots. T!iey may be kept in a common 
garden frame all the summer, if you please, 
or in the most airy part of the greenhouse. 
Here they may be shifted as tliey fill the 
pots with roots, and require but the ordinary 
attention. 
GERANIUMS. 
The soil, f>)r the healthy growth of this 
family, may be of loam (No. 2) three parts, 
dung (No. 7), or for want of it droppings 
(No. 10), or if neither can be had, dung 
(No. 5) one part ; peat one part, well incor- 
porated. Cuttings may be struck whenever 
they can be got, but the usual time for any 
quantity is July, when everybody cuts down 
the old plants. These require no care what- 
ever. If they are put in the open border, 
they will strike ; but those who have choice 
kinds will cover with a hand-glass, and place 
them all in the shade ; when struck, pot them 
in sixty-sized pots, pinch out the top to 
induce side shoots, and leave them out of 
doors until September, simply changing their 
pots if they get too full of roots ; when re- 
moved to the greenhouse, examine the roots, 
and, if necessary, remove them into larger 
pots, and place them among the other plants to 
lake their chance. The large plants, when they 
have done flowering, may be cut down to^ 
such skeleton shape as shall give a chance of 
growing handsome ; and let them remain out 
of doors, shifted into a size larger pot, or 
trimmed up about the roots to go into the 
same with fresh loam. In September remove 
them also to the house. If any of the shoots 
come so as to cross others, rub off those 
which are least wanted, to give strength to 
the others and keep the plant in form. If 
any shoots grow too vigorously for the rest 
of the plant, pinch off the end, and so regu- 
late the growth in this particular, that it may 
be handsome. As the blooms come out 
they will require shading, or they will not 
remain long in bloom. When in flower, you 
do as you please with them until the flower 
declines, and then turn them out of doors, 
cutting them down again in July, putting 
them back into the house in September. 
CEREUS, EPIPHTLLUM, CRASSULA. 
These subjects take any soil better than 
that which has been popularly recommended. 
They do not require to be starved. A com- 
post made of loam (No. 2) one half, peat 
(No. 1) one quarter, and dung (No. 7 or 10) 
one quarter, will groAV them well. They want 
but little water all the winter, and as their 
buds begin to swell they may have a supply. 
After they have done flowering, turn them 
out of doors, place the pots under a south 
wall, or in the hottest part of the garden. 
In September, remove them to the house 
again. The Crassula may be struck from 
cuttings as easily as the others, and if left on 
the ground without inserting at all will throw 
down its roots sideways into the earth of 
itself. Small pieces, however, are generally 
selected, and after drying the juice, inserted 
in small pots, where they are treated from the 
first like plants, and shifted from time to 
time as they fill their pots. The Crassula 
carries its blooms on branches at the ends of 
tlie shoots ; consequently, as soon as it begins 
to grow from a cutting, the ends are taken off 
to induce side shoots, and thus form a hand- 
some bushy plant with many heads of flowers, 
in the one case (coccinea) scarlet, in the 
other (falcata) orange. The shifting is 
always best after the flowering is done. T!ie 
Cereus and Epiphyllum require much such 
treatment at first. E. truncatum should be 
stopped until there are branches enough to 
hang down all round the put, for the habit is 
weeping, and the flowers come on the ends 
of all the branches. 
GENERAL RULES FOR THE MANAGEMENT OF 
GREENHOUSE PLANTS. 
In mild weather, and during winter in par- 
ticular, if there is a v.^arm gentle rain, a 
greenhouse plant of any kind is greatly bene- 
fited by exposure to the air ; not that it is 
possible to remove all the plants in a green- 
house out of doors whenever the sun shines 
in winter, or a warm shower comes, but it is 
