LANDSCAPE GARDENING. 
419 
having a scanty system of roots, are better placed in small than in large 
pots; and such as are in an unthrifty condition, are often recovered by 
a removal from a large to a smaller pot. 
The usual time for shifting is either just before or at the time of 
taking the plants out of the house in the month of May ; or the general 
shifting may be done a week or two before they are brought into the 
house in September. Either season will do; but it a good plan to 
keep an eye upon the choicest sorts, and shift them whenever they 
appear to need more room. This renders the business of either taking 
out or putting in the plants a much more expeditious affair than when 
the whole collection is to be shifted at once. 
The proper compost for the generality of greenhouse plants is a mix¬ 
ture of moor-earth and light loam. The former is that where heath 
naturally grows, and should be collected surface turf and all; and it 
only requires to be chopped in pieces by the spade before it is mixed 
with the loam. On no account should it be sifted, as the looser it is, 
and the fuller of roots and nodules of turf, the better the plants thrive. 
Sifted compost is liable to become too compact, and, if once it gets dry, 
absorbs water too slowly to be beneficial. Heaths require entire moor- 
earth, as well as all the tribe called American plants; indeed it is very 
much used as well for stove as greenhouse plants, its natural poverty 
inducing that moderate habit of growth which is so suitable for the 
confined spaces allowed to such collections. Some plants, as camellia, 
require equal parts of sandy loam and moor-earth; others loam, with 
a small portion of decomposed dung, when the purpose is to make them 
grow strongly. Geraniums are sometimes, and orange-trees are always 
treated with manured compost; but for plants in general, moor-earth 
and loam mixed in various proportions; and if the loam be heavy, some 
pure white sand is added, to make the whole more friable, will be the 
most eligible mixture. 
Pruning or cutting, in the over-large or irregular growths of the 
plants, is sometimes necessary; but this should always be done in the 
spring, in order to allow them to become bushy before the following 
winter. 
Greenhouse plants are propagated by seed, cuttings, layers, or by 
grafting. Seeds should be sowed early in spring, in wide pots or pans, 
and kept near the glass in the greenhouse, or in a frame. In rising, 
the seedlings require to be kept in a very uniform temperature, and 
neither too wet, which would rot them, nor too dry, lest they be 
withered; and as soon as they are of sufficient size, they must be put 
singly into the smallest pots, and forwarded under glass, till they are 
fit to take their place in the collection. 
