THE FLORIST. 
107 
plants pricked out in March, and ought now to be under the pro¬ 
cess of potting off into small sixties. Encourage growth as much 
as possible, but do not shift beyond a 48 or (4-in. pot), if you 
wish to see them bloom this year. W. H. Story. 
Hybrid Fuchsias, required to bloom in June or July, should have 
been potted, cut back (if that was not done in the autumn), and 
started in stove-heat a month ago. Those so treated have made 
considerable advance by this time, and require stopping now 
and then, to induce laterals. Growth should he encouraged by 
every available means — syringing, shading, &c.; and shifting as 
soon as the roots touch the sides of the pot. Machraphylla 
ought to be trained as a creeper, not allowing the knife to 
come within a yard of it. This species is very tractable in a 
young state, and will bear any contortion you may think 
proper to inflict. This mode of training is necessary, as it puts 
forth its cluster of flower-buds during the early spring (and 
whilst leafless) from the previous year's' growflh, at the points as 
w r ell as at various joints. An ordinary greenhouse is all the 
nursing it requires. Pot now.— Mr. James Veitch pronounced 
a plant I have of this species as the finest specimen he had 
seen; it had been treated as above directed.— I have been 
more than surprised to hear it said that Serratifolia is a shy 
bloomer; with me it has grown and flowered like a weed; and 
so tractable is it, that it may be bloomed in June or Septem¬ 
ber, by leaving, or pinching out the flower-buds. Last year I 
had a noble plant in a No. 1 (12-in.) pot, a mass of bloom from 
June to January. This plant w 7 as treated precisely the same as 
the hybrid varieties. 
Pansies. —Sow seed without delay in gentle heat, without steam— 
dung beds are generally too moist. C. Turner. 
Pelargoniums. —The plants that were stopped back last month for 
flowering in July ought now to be w ? ell broken, and will require 
plenty of air. Those to flow r er early in May should by this time 
have their trusses well up above the foliage. Give air early in the 
morning, and shut the house up in the afternoon about three or 
four o’clock ; the more sunshine the better. Some of the flowers 
wrill appear before this month is out, so fumigate tw r o nights suc¬ 
cessively before that is the case, to ensure the destruction of the 
green-fly, and the following morning w 7 ash the plants with rain¬ 
water, and that thoroughly. Water once a w r eek with liquid 
manure. Our tank holds about 100 gallons : a division full of 
small holes separates about one-third of the space, and into this 
are put three pecks of sheep-dung, one of cow T -dung, one of 
horse-droppings, and about lib. of unslacked lime; it is then 
filled with rain-water, and used about a fortnight after. I do not 
say that these quantities are absolutely necessary. I have used 
them for some time to advantage ; but no doubt they may be 
varied, and with equal benefit to the plants. It will be under- 
