HINTS FOR THE CULTURE OF POPULAR FLOWERS. 
id 
seed is up, it should be shaded from the sun 
for a few days, but it must be by a very light 
shading material, such as thin calico or white 
paper. As they advance in size, they should be 
pricked out, a few in a pot round the edges, 
there to grow until August or September, 
when they should be potted singly, and 
wintered in a dry frame or pit. In potting 
them off, there should be a good drainage, and 
perhaps there is no better than filling one- 
third of the pot with crocks and pieces of 
charcoal. In the early spring they will begin 
to flower, and, for the sake of their bloom, may 
be placed anywhere that flowers may be 
wanted. Among these seedlings, select such 
as approach nearest to the standard laid down, 
and give them a pit to themselves. The seed 
from these will produce others yet nearer, and 
a very few seasons will produce much better 
than we yet boast. These plants almost pro- 
pagate themselves : if earthed up well, the 
side shoots are certain to root, and only re- 
quire separation. If, however, you require to 
increase by cuttings, take them off small, and, 
striking them in sand under a bell-glass, as 
soon as they are rooted, bring them on like 
seedlings, first, three or four in a pot, and 
afterwards, in single pots. If specimen plants 
are wanted, which, by the bye, never look so 
well as the plant with a single truss, they must 
be shifted from small pots to larger as often 
as the roots reach the side, and the blooms be 
picked off as they rise, to throw strength 
into the plant, until it is as large as you wish 
it ; but a Cineraria should never have heat 
unless actually required to be forced. It 
weakens the shoots, and takes away much of 
the brilliance of the colour. It even does 
worse than this, for a tolerably well-formed 
variety may, by drawing and forcing, be 
totally spoiled as to form. They require a 
good deal of air at all times, and should never 
be kept close in mild weather. 
Crocus. — There is no culture that will 
spoil a Crocus : it is as hardy as a stone, and 
will grow in any thing and anywhere. There is 
hardly a flower subjected to so much and such 
varied hardships. It is a common plan to 
assign to a Crocus a place as near the bos- 
edging as possible, where the ground is com- 
pletely drawn of everything worth a plant's 
having, yet we see them performing their 
humble task of enlivening the otherwise dreary 
border before aught else condescends to aid 
us, if we except the Snowdrop, and one or two 
other less brilliant things. The Crocus will 
thrive in light rich earth, and propagate 
rapidly ; it should be set three inches below 
the surface, and be taken up every third year, 
as being then as thick as ever they ought to 
be. There are thirty or forty sorts in some 
of the catalogues, but none, except the broad 
petalled ones, ought to be bought now, and the 
properties will soon be nearly realized. 
Dahlia. — Although volumes have been 
written on the culture of this flower, there is 
scarcely anything more easily done with 
common attention to a few leading rules. The 
plants are purchased in pots which have be- 
come full of roots. Dig a hole in the ordinary 
garden, turn out the plant, drive in a stake, 
and put the pot on the top of it, as a trap for 
earwigs. Here the plant needs only to be well' 
watered occasionally, and the ground well 
soaked. As the plant grows, drive down 
additional stakes, to which the strong side 
shoots should be fastened as they grow. The 
flowers require protection from the wind and 
sun. This is accomplished many ways. If you 
desire to grow for exhibition, there must be 
some preparation of the ground, unless it be 
rich in itself ; but there is a greater evil in 
having the ground too rich than too poor. 
The pruning of the Dahlia has been carried 
to excess ; all that should be done is the re- 
moval of branches that are in each other's 
way, or in the way of flowers, and the re- 
moval of the remainder of the buds on a shoot 
on which you are growing a bloom for exhi- 
bition. It is the fashion also to cover up 
choice blooms. They never can travel so well, 
nor be so bright in colour, when kept close 
shaded or dark, as when they grow in the 
light and air. The propagation of the Dahlia 
for our own purposes of growing is very 
different from propagation for sale. We 
always let the shoots develop themselves 
on the dry root, and break them off to strike in 
bottom heat, one in a pot ; but, if we did not 
want more than two or three strong plants, 
we should be inclined to let the shoots come 
out to show themselves, and part the tuber 
into as many as there were eyes, or as many 
as we wanted of the best ; these might be 
potted in large pots, that is to say, pots 
large enough to take in the piece of tuber when 
cut away a little, and in those pots remain till 
planting time. Of the many ways of prevent- 
ing devastation by tbrip, earwigs, slugs, cater- 
pillars, &c, we practise syringing all over, con- 
tinually examining the pots placed to entrap 
them, laying bean-stalks, which are placed at 
the -foot of and among the branches of the 
plant, and persevere in closely watching, and 
destroying the vermin in the early, as well as 
the late part of the season. Dahlias to be 
flowered in their pots, should be first struck 
in sixty sized pots, from these removed to 
forty-eights, sinking them as much as they 
will sink by the change, and as soon as they 
can bear all the air, let them be placed in the 
sun, but they must be watered well ; at the 
next change to size thirty-two pots ; still put 
the plant as low down as you can, so that it 
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