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plant, when high cultivation is aimed at, care must be taken to keep the plants healthy at all times. 
If intended for exhibition, you should, about this time, choose strong plants from those previously 
potted, closely observing that they are in a perfectly healthy state; for without they are so, no skill of 
the cultivator can make them grow into good specimens. Supposing them now to be in three inch 
pots and well rooted, a liberal shift may be given, say to five-inch pots, in a good rich compost, pre¬ 
pared of good turfy loam, well decomposed cow-dung, adding a little leaf mould and silver sand to keep 
the soil open, bearing in mind that proper drainage is the most conducive of all to healthy growth. 
When well rooted, after this first shifting, stop them, that is, pinch out their leading shoots, and when 
they have made fresh growth, look carefully over them, and take out the small and weakly shoots and 
part of the old leaves, so as to admit the air freely. Place them thinly close to the glass in the front of a 
greenhouse; or, I have seen them grown equally well in cold pits, or frames raised on pots to insure 
a free circulation of air among them. This will, in a great measure, prevent the mildew, to which they 
are very liable through the winter months ; but should it appear, take black sulphur and put it in a 
piece of muslin, or a pepper-box, and dust the infected leaves. If strong enough, and well rooted when 
housed, you may then give them a second shift, deferring the final shift until February, when a stronger 
compost must be used, adding, if possible, a little well decomposed night soil, or, if this is not attain¬ 
able, a portion more cow-dung. Do not be too free with leaf mould this time, as they require the soil 
more binding, to retain the water, as the warm weather advances. Continue to thin out the small 
shoots and superfluous leaves, to throw the whole of the sap to the leading shoots. Stake them as soon as 
long enough, and tie them out as wide as possible, as the side branches will fill up the intermediate 
spaces. Fumigate them occasionally to prevent the green fly, which is a great pest, bearing in mind, 
that prevention is better than cure ; for if insects are allowed to gain ground, it detracts much from 
the beauty of the plants. When the plants have filled the pots with roots, liquid manure may be 
given with great advantage, as it will make the leaves have a deep green and healthy appearance, 
and add to the brilliancy of the flowers. Seeds sown in the middle of July, or beginning of August, and 
the plants, when large enough, pricked off into store pots, to give them strength previous to potting 
into separate pots, make strong plants for spring purposes, and may be treated in all respects the same 
as the show plants, with the exception of stopping, which causes them to flower later; but this may 
be necessary when late flowers are required. When the plants go out of bloom in the spring, 
if seed is not wanted, remove the flowers at once, but take care to retain the leaves to draw the sap, 
and so soon as the weather is suitable, place the pots in a shaded situation, watering them slightly, 
and taking great care to keep them clear of insects. Here they may remain until August, at which 
time a quantity of young plants will have started from the old root. Then take and part the old plant, 
carefully shaking it clean out, pot the young plants separately, retaining the smallest portions, as every 
branch with an atom of root, will, under proper management, make a specimen before the end of 
the season, the large plants flowering first, and the small ones hi succession. Old plants of the 
common kinds may be planted out in the spring, and these may be taken up again in August, 
parted, and the plants planted out again, shading them of course for a short time until they are estab¬ 
lished, and these, if potted in October, before the frosts destroy them, will make splendid plants. 
ittMing /Inrists’ Zinnias. 
The flowers of the month have been numerous—too numerous to be good—and consequently a great number of 
really contemptible productions have been produced, and, we are ashamed to add, have been rewarded. At 
Chiswick, on July 13, was a collection of Petunias, remarkable for nothing but want of form, substance, and colour, 
in fact worthless weeds, which no one of any pretensions to judgment would think of harbouring for a day, yet 
these very plants received a silver Banksian medal , and doubtless next season will be sent out as having been so 
rewarded. Again a collection of seedling Anthrhinums received a similar reward, and though several of them were 
very pretty, the majority were unworthy of such distinction. Nothing can be more injurious to gardening than 
these injudicious rewards—they are the means of foisting worthless things upon the public, to the disgust of the 
amateur and the injury of the fair trader. Messrs. Mayle and Co.’s Model Fuchsias, as far as we have seen of 
them, are worthless, and must be grown very differently to be worth cultivating. Peport says that Foster’s 
“Gipsy Eival” Pelargonium, which took an equal second prize at the Pelargonium Show last month, having 
proved inconstant, has been broken up, and consequently will not come out; but this report, we have reason to 
believe, is erroneous. The only two Fuchsias we have seen worth notice are Mr. Turner’s Banks’s Expansion, a 
light flower of great purity and good habit, and Smith’s Sedonia, a reflexing flower with dark corolla, which might 
be grown into tolerable condition. Seedling Carnations and Picotees have been shown by Mr. Turner. May’s 
VOL. II. 
H 
