FLOWER GARDEN. 
147 
the plants. If you have a proper stage, of 
course there need be nothing used but the 
stage. The temporary place proposed is only 
in case you have no regular stage. It has 
been said that pitch is a good thing to mix a 
little of with the soil. The inference is drawn 
from a fact which has been related, that when 
the sticks which are placed in- the pots to 
train them up, are dipped in pitch, the roots 
mat round them so much, as to prevent their 
being withdrawn without dragging the plant or 
plants up with it ; from this fact it is argued, 
that they have a great affinity or partiality for 
it, and that it would be worth trying a little 
in the soil, more especially as when the sticks 
are not pitched the roots do not go near them. 
We think it is as well to confine the soil to 
that which is well known to be good, at all 
events for the general collection, and limit 
experiments to a very few, and those of small 
value. Charcoal has also been recommended, 
and a few lumps of it can do no harm; but for 
the supposed operation of charcoal on vege- 
tation, it is much more likely to be efficacious 
as a top-dressing. It matters but little what 
period of the month you choose for doing this 
work of potting, but as it is sometimes not 
done all off hand, the best way is to begin 
early, and in that case let them all be put into 
some shed the first few days, or under frames 
or other covering from the sharp frosts which 
frequently come during the month of April. 
Roses. — If you wish to retard the bloom- 
ing of these beautiful flowers, or part of them, 
you should cut them back to two eyes, after 
they have begun fairly to grow at the ends ; 
many persons let half of their stock grow and 
bloom early, while others, by cutting back 
towards the end of the month, may be vari- 
ously retarded so as to keep up a succession. 
They should be minutely examined for the 
grubs, which are too often at this season to be 
found among the opening buds, and if not 
detected early are sure to destroy the flower 
in embryo. If they are infected too much to 
keep under by any means, wash the whole 
with soft soap and water, and cut back where- 
ever you can to cherish fresh buds. It is 
later than we should choose to plant roses; 
but when we have missed the autumn plant- 
ing, which we hold to be far the best, we 
must do as well as we can. If there be any 
of the choice kinds mentioned in the prelimi- 
nary number of this work not yet in your col- 
lection, make the best haste you can to procure 
them ; and if they can be had in pots, they 
will have lost no time : if taken from the open 
ground, have the roots matted, and plant them 
with as little loss of root as possible. 
Polyanthuses. — Treat these much the 
same as auriculas if they are in pots ; but if 
in the open border, which is by far the best 
way of growing them, stir the mould up be- 
tween them, and give a good dressing of leaf 
mould and cow-dung mould ; take otf dead 
leaves, guard all round the bed from slugs 
with some fresh lime, which will keep them 
away altogether; but the lime must reach all 
round, or they will be able to get to the plants, 
and they soon destroy them when there is a 
beginning made. The polyanthuses which 
a beginner might select are very i'aw, but they 
are cheap. They have been mentioned before, 
but that is no matter. 
Maud's Beauty of England. 
Nicholson's Bang Europe. 
Pearson's Emperor Alex- 
ander. 
Buck's George the Fourth. 
Cravvshaw's Invincible. 
Coxe's Prince Regent. 
Bernard's Formosa. 
Gibson's Royal Sovereign. 
Collier's Princess Royal. 
Clegg's Lord Crewe. 
Cheshire Favourite. 
Clegg's Lord John Russell. 
Fletcher's Defiance. 
And one or two newer ones than any of those, 
were shown at the Surrey Gardens. 
Tender Annuals in Pots. — Balsams, 
Cockscombs, Egg Plants, Ice Plants, Tri- 
colors, Amaranthus, and other plants, usually 
grown into specimens, must be shifted from 
the pots they were first pricked into to those 
of a size larger, as soon as the roots reach the 
edges, and must be continued in heat. If the 
first sowing has not yet been potted into 
single pots, let it be done at once, or as soon 
as they are large enough. 
Pink Beds may, although it is highly im- 
proper to delay the operation so long, be yet 
made; but the greatest caution will be required 
to remove the roots whole, to avoid their 
losing the moisture by exposure, and to keep 
them out of ground as short a time as pos- 
sible. The bed should be formed of rich 
compost; that is to say, rich in vegetable 
mould, or leaf mould as it is called, and 
thoroughly decomposed cow-dung, which is 
formed into mould also by decay. . The pink 
always requires plenty of vegetable matter in 
the compost, and the more necessary does it 
become if removed so late. Pinks to get for- 
the bed, if you have them not already : — 
Garratt's Queen of Roses. 
Keyne's Col. Baker. 
Hodge's Melona. 
Brown's Model. 
Dry's Earl of Uxbridge. 
Norman's Defiance. 
Aker's Lord Brougham. 
Collins's Majestic. 
Unsworth's Omega. 
Norman's Henry Creed. 
Creed's President. 
Garratt's Alpha. . 
Cousen's Little Wonder. 
Wilmer's Duchess of Kent. 
Leg's Prince Albert. 
Weedon's Queen Victoria. 
Wilmer's Prince of Wales. 
White's Warden. 
Smith's Dr. Coke. 
Bunkhill's Queen Victoria. 
Church's Romana, alias 
Rosiana. 
Wilmer's Queen Victoria. 
Hodge's Gem. 
Holmes' Coronation. 
Fairburn's Bob Laurence. 
Neville's John Dickson. 
One other of Neville's. 
Pansy Beds may be formed by planting 
out the struck cuttings every fortnight, if the 
cultivator means to exhibit, for they go off 
sometimes awhile, and it is better to depend 
o 2 
