34 n/.XIWn- GARDtCiXI^O. 
to every gallon of water used for watering; six or eight drops of this liquid cah 
be poured into the water of a hyacinth glass, and the flowers will be much finer 
All these special stimulants must be used with caution, be well diluted, applied 
not oftener than once a week and once in three weeks will be sufficient for the 
hyacinth. 
rinching 
Plants should be kept in good shape by pinching off their shoots from time to 
time, so as to avoid an outward spindling appearance, straggling branches can 
never be handsome; but if their shoots are nipped or pmched in every month 
or so, they will grow bushy and have many more blossoms and leaves. Fig 16 
Fig. 16. 
shows a good pruning scissors Fuchsias and Pelargoniums are generally 
stopped once or twice before they flower. When the shoots have grown about 
three leaves their ends are pinched out; this gives tliree or four shoots instead of 
one, and increases the proportion of blossoms, but keeps the plant dwarf The 
training of piants is aiso a matter of taste, usually the form of a half circle is 
most preferred. Fuchsias trained to single stakes and allowed to droop down 
are natural objects of beauty Every gardener has his fancy. Nothing is so pleas- 
ing as to see a rose trained to stakes in pots bent completely back to the pot, in the 
shape of a semi-circle — every branch covered with buds just ready to bloom. 
General Suggestion/t. 
1. AH plants have a season of rest ; therefore discover what season is peculiar 
to each, and transplant at that time. 2. The best time for taking cuttings is 
when the plants are in their most active state of growth, and this is be- 
fore flowering. 3. Profuse bloomings exhaust the strength of plants, there- 
fore cut off all flower buds as soon as their petals fall, and do not let the 
.seed pods mature unless you desire to raise seeds. 4. All bulbs and tubers 
should be planted before they begin to shoot; if suffered to form leaves and roots 
in the air, they waste their strength. 5. Never remove the leaves from bulbs 
after flowering until they are quite dead. As long as the leaves retain life they are 
emplo)'ed in preparing nourishment and transmitting it to the roots. 6. Window 
