THE LADIES’ MAGAZINE OF GARDENING. 
137 
It may be as well to add, that the press in question may be made of 
greater or less size, according to circumstances, and is so very portable that 
it would be very desirable as part of a travellers equipage. 
30, Upper York Street, Seymour Place, 
March 14 th, 1841. 
[The account of this press was procured for me from the maker of it, 
by my kind friend Capt. Mangles, who has had one made to send to 
Australia.] 
ON THE CULTIVATION OF THE BALSAM. 
BY MR. LAWRENCE, GARDENER TO THE REV. THEODORE WILLIAMS, HENDON. 
The seed may be sown from the first of March to the end of April, or 
first week in May, in shallow pots or pans, in loamy compost. Three- 
fourths yellow maiden loam and one-fourth rotten dung, is excellent for 
them throughout the whole routine of shifting. The seed pots or pans 
may be placed in any hotbed till the plants attain the height of about 
three inches. Then shift them into 60-sized pots, and place them in a 
frame by themselves, on a gentle bottom heat. I have always found beds 
made of tan, having dung walls built between stakes driven into the 
ground, much better than those made of dung alone, because the heat is 
more regular, and infinitely more lasting. I consider the great beauty of 
a plant of this kind is to make it branch from as near the ground as 
possible; two inches distance from the roots to the lower leaves is quite 
length enough of stem. Shade the young plants a few hours in the 
middle of the day for two or three days, if they flag at all after the first 
shifting ; after which, take off the lights at eight o’clock in the morning, 
keeping them off till four in the afternoon, which will be the time for 
watering them ; this may be fearlessly performed by pouring it through 
a rose over their heads. Shut them up close till eight the next morning, 
at which hour at latest they ought to be fully exposed to the sun till four 
in the afternoon. Shift them every ten days or fortnight into pots a 
size larger than before, till they arrive at those pots known as Nos. 
24, 16, or 12, the last being the largest. The pots must then be re¬ 
plunged in the bed, which must be forked up, to increase the heat, 
every time the plants are shifted. They may be either set on the tan or 
plunged in it, according to the heat; if it is great, do the first; if the 
heat is gentle, do the latter. As the plants increase in height raise the 
frame with bricks, and do not fill up the opening around, but allow a 
free ingress of air all around the bottom of the frame. 
VOL. i.— no. v. 
T 
