216 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
January 1. 
should be such as produce good trusses of well-shaped 
bright-coloured dowers. (Information as to the kinds 
we will endeavour to furnish in the course of this 
essay on their culture.) These important points having 
been all properly attended to, proceed to pot the plants. 
The best season for this operation is when the light of 
the days begins to be well increased. The month of 
March is the time when the sun begins to have con¬ 
siderable power; and the severe frosts then have in a 
great measure ceased. Place some of the compost 
where it may become moderately dry; have ready a 
sufficient number of either new or well-washed old pots. 
We are no advocates for large shifts at this time of the 
year, even for such free-growing plants as the Verbena. 
If the plants, as is generally the case, have been kept 
through the winter in what are called 60-pots, that is, 
pots about three inches diameter, a shift into five-and- 
a-lialf or six-inch pots will be amply sufficient at this 
early season. Provide also a good quantity of materials 
for drainage; the best being that made of broken garden 
pots, technically called potsherds. This material should 
be clean, that is, clear of earthy matter and the small 
dust made with breaking them into the proper sizes. 
Also provide a few hooked pegs to pin the plants down 
with as soon as they are potted. When all the materials 
are in a fit state for use, then commence potting. Any 
time from the first of March to the middle of the month 
will be suitable. Do not forget in time to prepare the 
pit or frame to receive them in the manner mentioned 
above. Drain them well; and in potting loosen the 
roots a little, and spread them out amongst the fresh 
soil. Fill the pots nearly, but be careful not to bury 
the neck of the plant deep in the soil, because in early 
spring there is danger arising from the damp atmosphere 
of the pit. As soon as the potting is finished give a 
gentle watering, and place them in the frame. As the 
potting is being done, advantage may be taken of the 
time to peg down such shoots as are long enough for 
the purpose, spread them out equally over the surface 
of the pot, and nip off the ends of every long shoot, 
which will cause them to break out more shoots, and 
the pinning down will also induce shoots to spring from 
the centre of the plant, thus furnishing it with plenty of 
wood. 
At this time it will be necessary to determine the 
mode of training. There are three modes by which 
this operation may be carried out, and by any of which 
the plants may be made sufficiently ornamental, and 
fit for exhibition. The most artificial mode is that 
of training them to a round flat trellis. This, however, 
cannot be applied at a very early stage of growth, 
because the plants are not then in their blooming pots. 
The next mode of training is the simple one of merely 
placing sticks to as many as will, when in bloom, form 
a bush of flowers, the trusses nearly, if not quite, touch¬ 
ing each other. The last mode is one which we strongly 
recommend as being the most graceful and effective. It 
is to train them in the form of a pyramid, the centre to 
be, of course, the highest, and the trusses of flowers to 
be so arranged that every side shall be furnished with 
bloom. We believe this has never yet been attempted, 
or seen, at any exhibition; but hi a few instances in 
private establishments, merely to ornament the green¬ 
house, this mode lias been acted upon with the most 
happy effect. And such is the skill, patience, and in¬ 
dustry of amateur florists, that they need only have 
the hint given to cause them to try this comparatively 
novel mode; and we can assure them such is the pliancy 
of the Verbena, that it may be trained in this way very 
easily. All that is wanted are a few very small sticks, 
so arranged, pointing upwards and outwards, as to bring 
the branches into the desired form when they grow long 
| enough to tie to the sticks. To bring the plants into 
this form, the training must be commenced at an early 
stage of growth, even at the time of the first potting, j 
Choose the plants that are well furnished with shoots ; 
pin down with hooks as many as possible, leaving one | 
or two upright iu the centre. Nip off the top ot these 
to furnish a second tier of branches, and when these 
break and have grown a little, place the sticks to tie 
them to, keeping two or three upright to furnish a third 
tier of shoots, Proceed in this manner till the plants i 
have attained about eighteen inches in height and fif¬ 
teen inches diameter; the trusses ot flowers may then 
be allowed to grow and bloom. T- Appleby. 
(To be Continued.) 
T .. 1 
POTATO FORCING. 
There is always something cheering in the increase 
of the days, even if it should take place at a time of 
severe frost, or of dull and gloomy damp weather, film 
knowledge that “ a better time is coming, carries with 
it something inspiriting to the gardener, so that, it he 
has been “resting on his oars” for some time previously, 
he is almost sure then to bestir himself, and throwing 
all carelessness aside, he feels the time has come ioi 
action. Now, though this change does not take place 
with all at the same time, yet we never knew any one 
deserving the appellation of “ a cultivator of the soil, 
(to say nothing more), who did not arouse himself in 
earnest at some period of the season or other, while all 
those who aim at keeping pace (or taking the lead in) 
the various horticultural matters, which are now-a-days 
regarded as the test of gardening skill, will at once 
bestir themselves with all the energy befiting so laudable 
an undertaking; and to our amateur friends, who have 
the means of forcing useful vegetables, &c., to furnish 
their tables at an early period, we this week devote an 
article to that most useful of all vegetables “the 
potato.” 
Potato Forcing. —Our readers will remember, we 
some weeks back recommended them to place a few of 
the best early variety of potato in some warm place, 
as the top of a tan-bed, the floor of a vinery, it kept 
warm, or it might be in a mushroom-house, or hot-bed, 
any place moderately warm, but not too dry. The 
cover of a flue, or on wooden boards in a diy atmos¬ 
phere, will not do ; there the potato is robbed of one of 
the most important attendants necessary to success- nay, 
to its very existence. If left long in such a position, its 
vital powers are so much called into action, without any 
chance of its having any compensation for such exei- 1 
tion, that ere long, the vital principle becoming less and 
less able to supply the demand, the root either perishes, 
or, if removed to a more suitable medium, the change 
takes place at a time when it no longer contains those 
substantial components calculated to ensure a healthy, 
vigorous crop. So much do we insist on this point, 
that we are almost inclined to believe that a stiudy, 
vigorous tuber, used as seed, is the best antidote to that 
fatal disease of which we have heard so much, and 
really know so little. But to our text; and supposing 
the evils above to have been obviated, and the requned 
quantity of sound potatoes sprouted a little while lying 
singly on some suitable medium, our next business is 
to remove them to somewhere that they may obtain the 
beneficial effects of daylight, provided they have been 
in the dark before. In this intermediate stage, we are 
guided solely by the means that we have at command. 
Sometimes we place them in a frame, or hot-bed, which 
is kept at forcing heat, or we have laid them on a bed 
of fermenting materials inside a vinery, but wherever 
they are placed, let about two inches of leafy matter, 
not too much decayed, be laid under them, and a little, 
say an inch, over them; the latter prevents an undue 
evaporation should the atmosphere of the house become 
