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closely round the balls. They may thus be immediately trans- 
ferred to the opaque protectors, for they will require no more 
light than the protectors afford, until the beginning of the suc- 
ceeding February, when they will require to be put under a 
course of high culture. If the winter prove very severe, some 
dry and clean litter or dry sawdust, may be placed over them 
inside the protector; these materials, however, must be removed 
the moment the severe weather has passed away. 
We now feel tempted to offer a few brief remarks on their 
early spring culture ; and, indeed, we feel it a duty, not only 
that our directions should conduct them into the opaque pro- 
tectors, but also out again, for they will probably demand a 
refuge in the glazed protectors. 
In the beginning of February our practice is to remove 
these store pots of Lobelias to a warmer atmosphere, to cause 
them to awake from their torpidity. Thus they remain in 
their store pots or boxes until suspended animation is restored, 
when they are broken to pieces, and each young plant sep- 
arated, and planted three in a three-inch pot, for we consider 
that these threes, well-cultivated, form a fine group; one single 
stem alone not being calculated to produce the desired effect, 
in modern gardening. 
A warm and moist atmosphere now becomes necessary, and 
nothing can be more suitable than a bed of fermenting materials 
if at hand. The shady part of a cucumber or melon frame is 
particularly suitable ; effectual shading will be indispensable for 
a week after their removal, if the weather prove very bright. 
As to compost, equal parts of sound loam, decayed manure or 
vegetable matter, and sand, will be excellent : or half ordinary 
garden soil, and half manure will suffice, or such a material as 
an old mushroom bed. In about three weeks the pots will be 
filled with roots, and it will then be necessary to commence the 
process, termed by gardeners, ‘hardening off.’ We need scarcely 
say, that the glazed protectors, or any ordinary frame, will assist 
in accomplishing this : no plan is better, however, thau the 
ordinary greenhouse, or a vinery, or peach house ; as they must 
be placed where there is no artificial heat whatever. 
By the end of April they will be fit to plant out in the 
flower garden, and a rich soil is most desirable; as the more 
luxuriant they become the more blossoms they produce. Above 
