THE LATHES 1 MAGAZINE OF GARDENING. 
175 
above-mentioned mixture, to which should be added a proportion of char¬ 
coal ashes, having previously put in a layer of potsherds about an inch 
deep. The pots should be about three inches high, and the same in width. 
One plant should be placed in each pot, and the greatest care should be 
taken not to injure the roots. They should then he well watered, and set 
in a moderately warm hotbed to strike root more freely. They re¬ 
quire no air at first, only the necessary shade, and not too much water. 
They will have taken root so well in six or eight days, that air may be 
admitted, and increased by degrees according to their strength; and which 
must also be regulated according to the external temperature, particularly 
as it regards those of the first sowing. A shade must be kept over them 
when the weather is fine and clear, so that they may not be burnt up by 
the sun ; and they should have but a small admission of the open air, to 
prevent the earth in the pots from being too much dried up. 
The plants when treated in this manner will soon become strong and 
show flower-buds, when a freer admission of air and increased watering 
should be given. The latter need not be spared, as when the plants are 
strong they can bear a considerable degree of moisture. Shade should be 
given in fine weather during the hottest hours of the day; that is, from 
ten to three. It is frequently warm during the nights in May, in which the 
thermometer never sinks lower than fifty or fifty-five degrees; and in such 
cases air should he admitted, which is also a powerful agent in giving 
strength and vigour to the plants. 
In June, when no night frosts are apprehended, the pots should be 
taken out of the hotbeds, and set in a situation sheltered from the wind, 
and protected by a covering from continued or heavy rains, or from the 
burning sun. The latter, indeed, is particularly necessary, because the plants 
cannot stand the sun; if indeed the pots are exposed to it, so as to become 
heated from its warmth, the tender roots are burnt, and this, especially if 
followed by a copious watering, is attended by the most injurious conse¬ 
quences. 
The plants of the first sowing begin to flower in the month of June, and 
continue flowering till autumn. Those of the second or third sowing are 
in flower in winter, and greatly contribute to ornament the greenhouse at 
that season; they even continue flowering almost the whole winter through 
when in a temperature of fifty or fifty-five degrees, and sufficient fresh air is 
admitted from the glass above. Even the latest buds unfold themselves 
tolerably well. 
The plants of the two first sowings produce the best ripe seed, because 
that of the last sowing is ripe too late in the autumn to be fit for growing 
on account of the coldness of the external temperature in the day, and par- 
