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THE FLOEIST AND POMOLOGIST. 
[ SEPTEMBETI, 
THE CAENATION AND PICOTEE. 
Chapter IX.— Work for September. 
HE whole stock being layered and thoroughly clean, the early part of this 
month will be one of comparative leisure, during which the enthusiastic 
florist will And a grateful and profitable employment in conning over his 
notes of the past and former seasons, and drawing out a list of those 
varieties which will form the most complete selection^ marking against each 
variety the number of plants to be grown. These being checked off as “ potting 
up ” for winter proceeds, the cultivator has a prompt idea of his stock before 
him. The latter operation should not be commenced before the end of the 
third week—say, not earlier than from the 20th to the 30th—of the month, as 
necessary as it is to have the plants established for the winter, in my experience, 
grievous evil has always followed premature potting for winter. All 
that is required is that the plants shall freely feel the sides of the pots 
with their roots, so as to ensure perfect drainage and sweetened soil 
before going off for their winter’s sleep, but on no account should they 
become pot-bound, or the very worst evils may be expected to result. The soil 
required is a good sweet sandy loam, with the addition of a fifth or sixth part 
of sweet leaf-mould, and such well-washed sand or pounded crocks as may be 
needed to insure a free percolation of air and water. This may be prepared at 
once, and should be kept dry. Various-sized pots should be used, according to 
the strength of the plants. Over-potting is a great evil. When potted, place in 
a cold frame and keep close for some days, shading from bright sun. Water 
sparingly. Badly-rooting varieties will be greatly aided with a gentle bottom- 
heat, where this can be given and properly watched. Pot every rare variety 
singly in 3-in. pots ; all will be the better for such a practice. 
The season having been favourable, we hope to hear that our friends in 
different directions have harvested much seed.—E. S. Dodwell. 
CROTON IMPERIALIS. 
'HIS strikingly handsome form of the Croton (or Codiaeum) variegatus was 
imported by Mr. W. Bull, of Chelsea, from the New Hebrides. It is a 
very dense-habited form, with thickly-set loaves; these latter are very 
stout in texture, unequal in length, bluntly rounded at the apex, and with 
the mid-rib or costa excurrent, in the form of an awl-shaped horn, a short dis¬ 
tance below the apex. Most of the leaves are twisted, the twisting occurring in 
various degrees, but it usually appears as if the upper half of the leaf had been 
turned half round, while the lower half had remained fixed in the normal posi¬ 
tion. The course of the mid-rib, which takes on a crimson hue when fully 
matured, is marked by a broadish golden band, while the margin is coloured 
crimson at the extreme edge, and within that by a broken line of yellow. The 
surface is also here and there mottled with yellow and red. The colouring of 
