204 THE COTTAGE GARDENER. December 15. 
GENERAL CULTURE. 
1. Selection of Sorts. —If you must keep your house 
cool iu wiuter and in spring, and yet wish some of this 
genus, choose from the first half of those mentioned. If 
you can, give the mentioned temperature, &c., begin 
with the last and go backwards, for as many as you can 
manage. “Are these the best?” I know the last- 
named ones are very good ; and I know, also, that any 
very fine oues I have omitted will be noticed by either 
coadjutors or readers. 
2. P ropagation, —I have already referred to the time 
and manner for herbaceous kinds ; I now confine myself 
to raising plants from cuttings. Choose stubby shoots 
getting firmish at their base, while their upper part is 
green and a little soft. Cut them off close to the old 
stem, if possible, and expose the cut ends to dry for 
24 hours, while the foliage is kept moist and shaded. 
Then insert them in silver sand, over sandy loam, iu 
well-drained pots; water, to settle the soil, and when 
the foliage is dry place a bell-glass over them, and put 
them iu rather a shady place for two or three weeks, in 
an average temperature of from 55° to 00°; then plunge 
the pots in a mild hotbed 10° higher, and pot off, and 
keep close as soon as struck. 
3. Soil. —Equal parts of fibry loam and peat, half-a- 
part of very old cow-dung, dry, and in small pieces, or 
the same amount of dried old leaf-mould; half-a-part of 
broken charcoal, the same amount of broken sandstone 
and broken pots, and nearly half-a-part of silver sand, 
increasing the loam towards the last shifts. Before 
adding the sand, the very fine dusty matter should be 
removed from the other constituents by means of a fine 
sieve. 
4. Potting. —This is best done when fresh growth is 
commencing. Young plants may have several shifts 
in the season, so that the pot be filled before winter. 
Flowering plants should only be shifted in spring. The 
ball should be well moistened before fresh potting, the 
roots be gently disentangled, so as to enter at once 
among the fresh soil, and that being rougbish should 
be packed as firmly as will prevent injuring the roots. 
Before commencing, have pots well cleaned, aired, and 
drained ; and at early spring let the compost be aired 
and warmed, that the roots be not chilled. 
5. Watering. —It has been shown that unless in the 
case of flowering plants little would be wanted in winter. 
It will be required liberally in summer. If you give 
large shifts do not puddle the soil before the roots get 
into it. They relish manure-waterings amazingly. Oue 
reason may be, that thus they obtain more saline matter 
than in clear water; another is, that, though often 
naturally perched among barren spots and debris, the 
roots have large fields of action, and decomposing vege¬ 
table and animal matter is washed to them. In our 
gardens, at any rate, when given weak they evidently 
enjoy it. At all times, summer and winter, the foliage 
should be sponged or syringed. 
G. Temperature and Position. —These have already 
been indicated. A warm greenhouse in wiuter; an extra 
rise of temperature in spring for flowering plants; the 
usual greenhouse temperature when in bloom. For giving 
plants the same treatment in winter and spring, and a 
continuance of a close and moister and warmer atmos¬ 
phere in summer, such as a cold pit, kept closish after 
Midsummer, would supply ; hardening the plant for its 
winter tenancy of the greenhouse. 
7. Duration of Plant and Blooming. —No one likes to 
part with an old friend, but after the plant is three or 
four years old younger plants will give more satisfaction. 
It will have been seen, that some kinds are nearly con¬ 
tinuous bloomers ; but when allowed to do so the plant 
is sooner worn out, and is seldom so attractive at any 
one time as when it is grown to be bloomed, and then 
rested and grown. It will, therefore, be evident, that 
especially with early-blooming kinds it would be advis¬ 
able to prune out the flower-stalks when most of them 
are past their best; allow the plants to rest a little; and 
then set them growing again, such as in a closish cold 
pit in summer. R- Fish. 
THE NARCISSUS. 
(Continued from page 181.) 
Forcing .—Many species of this genus force admirably, 
and grow in pots, for one season, quite as well as the 
Hyacinth. Though not so varied in colours as that 
genus, yet, on account of their fragrance and bright 
colours, as far as that property goes, they serve well to 
ornament the greenhouse and the conservatory at a 
season when flowers are most welcome. The golden- 
yellow that predominates in the Narcissus gives a variety 
of colour, that without them would be wanting in early 
spring-forced flowers. The species generally used for 
forcing are the varieties of Narcissus Tazetta, the Poly¬ 
anthus Narcissus (so named because the flowers are pro¬ 
duced in heads like a Polyanthus), and the N. jonquilla, 
the single of which produces heads of flowers in the 
same manner. The soil to be used in potting these 
bulbs should be stronger than that proper for Hyacinths. 
I generally use it iu the following proportionsGood 
strong yellow loam, three-fourths; leaf-mould and cow- 
dung, both well decomposed, one-fourth; and about 
one-eighth of river or sea-sand; the whole well mixed 
together, but not sifted. This I use in a moderately dry 
state; that is, neither positively dry nor positively wet. 
The large bulbs of the Polyanthus Narcissus require 
larger pots than Hyacinths. The finest flowers I ever had 
were forced in 7-inch pots, two bulbs in each. I prefer 
putting in two bulbs in each pot, because then a stick 
can be thrust in between the bulbs and each flower-stem 
tied to it, and thus I had a greater number of blossoms 
in each pot. Large pots, and more bulbs in each, might 
be used; but they are not so convenient to place in 
baskets in the windows, or on a stage in the ball, if 
wanted (which they often are) for such a purpose. Jon¬ 
quils have much smaller bulbs, and may, therefore, have 
three or five bulbs in 5-inch pots. 
The time for potting may be extended from the begin¬ 
ning of October to the middle of December. The first 
batch potted to be brought into a gentle heat; the first 
to bloom as early as Christmas, and the others in suc¬ 
cession. The last need not be forced at all, but have only 
just the heat the greenhouse affords them. To keep these 
last back, I have them placed behind a wall or low hedge, 
protecting them from late frost by an awning of mats, 
till the early and middle bloom is nearly over. By a 
little contrivance of this kind there will be a succession 
of flowers to the end of April 
The pots for the Polyanthus Narcissus would be better 
suited for the purpose if they were deeper than ordinary, 
because the bulbs are longer than the Hyacinths or 
Jonquils either, and their roots are stronger and more 
numerous. In potting, the bulbs should only be par¬ 
tially covered with soil, in order to give greater depth of 
soil for the roots. Press the earth previously to placing in 
the bulbs very firmly down. This prevents the roots 
descending too rapidly to the bottom of tbe pots, and 
whilst descending so slowly they are receiving more 
benefit from the soil, taking up their food, as it were, as 
they go down. When the pot is full enough of soil to 
allow the top of each bulb to be a little above the rim, 
then place the bulbs in the pots, pressing them gently 
down, and then fill in the soil round and between the 
bulbs, press it very firm to them, to keep them from 
rising up when the roots begin to protrude out at the base 
of the bulbs. I have seen them rise quite up and out 
of the soil when not properly secured by hard pressure. 
When they are potted, place them on a bed of coal- 
