452 
TI1E POLYANTHUS. 
ground. This frame or pit should be covered with wooden shutters 
instead of glass, to keep out the frost and bad weather. Let the plants 
have the benefit of the gentle rains, which fall in January and Febru¬ 
ary, whilst forming their flower buds. As soon as these are ready to 
expand, water them with a little liquid manure, drainings from the 
dunghill, three times a week, and 
shade the buds with small boards 
placed on sticks, (fig. 56) to keep off 
the dews or rains while they are expo¬ 
sed in the day-time. And to render 
the colours brilliant and clear, give 
them one hour’s sunshine in a morn¬ 
ing. 
When the blooming is over, place them under a south wall to ripen 
their seed. In general the roots may be divided by the latter end of 
May. A single heart being planted in each pot, cut off all the large 
leaves, leaving only the small leaves of the heart entire; plant them 
in a light sandy soil, mixed with one third of new horse-dung. Water 
them gently with soft water every evening, and never suffer the soil 
to become too dry and parched. By these means they will become 
fine plants by the winter, when they must be placed in the pit or frames 
and kept warm, as recommended for the others. Prop up the shutters, 
as seen in the engraving, when air is wanted, or slide them quite off 
when you wish to give them the benefit of a gentle shower. After 
the buds are swollen, and are ready to expand, wheneevr the shutters 
are propped up and the sun shines, or when they are quite uncovered 
to receive the benefit of rains, be careful to shade them with the board 
(Fig. 56), for if the sun be allowed to shine upon them, the dark velvet 
of the flower becomes red, and the fine orange of the eye and edge 
becomes buff coloured. 
To make the pips or flowers completely flat and even, the instrument 
made of ivory (fig. 57) must be used. 57 
If the flower be cupped or hardly 
expanded, press the fiattener on 
the pip, and it will become quite 
even; and if the bloom turn back, as is the case with the Defiance, 
and many others, take the fiattener and place it under the pip, betwixt 
the calyx and the corolla, drawing it in through the part taken out of the 
eye of the fiattener. Then taking a camel hair pencil, brush over the 
top of the pip, which will greatl y improve the appearance of the flower. 
Be very careful, during the month of April particularly, that the buds 
are not injured by slugs, for they will not feed on the other parts of 
the plant, if they can reach the buds ; see Vol 1, page 448. 
56 
