THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[April 17. 
3G 
appearance of great lumbering pots, with but lilliputian 
plants in them; hence, when it is attempted, present 
appearance must he sacrificed to ultimate results. Hence, 
too, when a fine display is wanted at a particular time, 
selection, rather than collection, must be aimed at. It is 
a great error into which many good people fall, when 
, they imagine that they ought to rival this neighbour in 
heaths, the other in geraniums, a third in azaleas, a 
j fourth in calceolarias, and another in cinerarias and 
New Holland plants, when they actually have less ac- 
j commodation for all these things than their neighbours j 
I have for any one of them separately; and yet, very 
likely, they will insist upon having their little house 
crammed with flowering plants in winter, while their 
neighbours are content, then, chiefly to look at their 
plants, and feast beforehand upon their coming beauties. 
Whether for exhibition or otherwise, the obtaining of 
masses of flower at particular periods, in limited space, 
must often be obtained at the sacrifice of present gratifi¬ 
cation. On the other hand, the pleasure of always 
having plenty of bloom in a small space must be secured 
chiefly by small specimens, and the satisfaction will be 
more of a general continuous character, in opposition to 
that which is temporarily dazzling and striking. The 
one-shift system requires room for its adoption. Striking 
individual, rather than mere general results, are its 
characteristics; and, therefore, where a constant show of 
bloom, and considerable variety iu a small space are 
chiefly desired, it should only be sparingly adopted. 
2nd. The chief object aimed at is rapidity of growth, 
and thus obtaining a beautiful specimen in a much 
shorter period than could easily be realized by the 
succession shift system. There are few of our readers 
but will have noticed the difference in the growth of a 
geranium, or a calceolaria, turned out in the flower-border ; 
in June, and similar plants coddled up in pots during 
the summer. The chief difficulty, in such circumstances, 
is to prevent over luxuriance; in dripping seasons, es¬ 
pecially, to see that growth does not get the better of 
flowering. By the one-shift system we obtain a vigorous 
growth, but yet, from being in a pot, luxuriance may be 
so controlled as not to interfere with the fructifying, or 
flowering principle. In fact, with the extra care and 
trouble involved, we obtain the advantage without the 
disadvantages of the planting out system. That system 
is so superior over potting where quick growth is con¬ 
cerned, that I have no doubt that the potting oft'delicate 
seedlings and cuttings, such as Heaths, Epacrises, &c., 
will be exchanged ere long for pricking them out in 
prepared beds, and giving them room as they need it, 
potting only when it is necessary to establish them for 
sale, or to be looked upon as specimens. I have had i 
little of such experience with such tender things, but j 
the great bulk of my bedding out plants never see a pot. 
They are struck in March and April, either in beds or : 
in drain-tiles, and from these they are either at once 1 
removed to the flower-beds, or more generally are pricked 
out previously into preparatory beds, where they can be 
sheltered by glass, mats, hurdles, &c. A quicker growth 
is thus secured, and the trouble of potting, and watering, 
too, almost dispensed with. Unless, in the most favour¬ 
able circumstances, a check to growth is given every 
time that a plant is shifted from one pot to another. 
If the shifting is delayed until the roots cluster around 
the sides of the pot, there will be a constant warfare 
between the extending and the flowering principle, that 
will prevent any striking development either way. For 
the one-shift system, as well as in every other case, 
where a fine specimen is desired, a young plant must be 
commenced with that has never bad its roots matted 
round the pot. Such a plant will soon overtake one 
four times its size, but which has several times densely 
filled its pot with roots. 
3rd. The freely growing plants, and whose existence 
is short, are the best to commence with. Many of them 
are best managed upon this system. Wherever rapidity 
and strength of growth is an object, annuals intended to 
flower in pots, after being once pricked oft' into small 
pots or preparatory beds, and thus established, can 1 
scarcely be too soon afterwards transferred to their 
blooming pots. Where double flowers, as in the balsam, 
or swelling of part of the flower, as the receptacle in the 
case of the cockscomb, are wished for, then, as we have 
previously seen, different methods may be adopted to \ 
secure a desired end, Annuals kept over the winter, ; 
intended to bloom early in spring and summer, in the 
majority of cases, should be kept in small pots over 
the winter, as thus with touchy things, damping off is 
avoided; and when shifted early in spring, the roots 
should be gently disentangled. Such plants as Petunia 
and Verbena, which many like to train and grow in pots, 
should be transferred to twelve or eight-inch pots, when¬ 
ever, by any means, a nice bushy little plant can be 
obtained after the first of March. Soft-wooded plants 
that bloom upon the current year’s wood do admirably 
upon the one-shift system. Gloxinias, though they will 
stand the succession mode, seldom bloom so fine as 
when they are transferred at once to their blooming 
pots, when vegetation has fairly commenced; so also 
with the much-loved Achimenes, they will stand suc- 
cessional shifting, but we have always had the finest 
flowers the less they were disturbed. It is seldom that 
a pot consists merely of a single scaly tuber; several, 
from four to a dozen, are generally put into each pot, 
and as they do not come up with equal strength, it is 
advisable to start them first in shallow pans, until the 
shoots are one or even two inches in length, when those 
uniform in strength may be selected, and transferred at 
once to their blooming pots; the size of the pot being 
according to the grower’s fancy, from eight to twelve 
inches being a medium size, which will grow the most 
of them to great perfection. As we said the other week, 
the smaller the pot, other circumstances being equal, 
the sooner will bloom be obtained; but the character of 
the bloom is something, and the beauty of luxuriant 
glossy foliage never constitutes a drawback. With such 
hard-wooded plants as Heaths and Epacrises, the most 
striking results are obtained by the one-shift system ; 
but as greater care is necessary to success with such 
plants, we would advise young beginners to try some of 
the above soft-wooded plants in the first place, and to 
keep in view for all the cases they may try, whether 
the plants be soft-wooded or hard. R. Fish. 
(To be continued.) 
HOTHOUSE DEPARTMENT. 
EXOTIC orchidacea:. 
okchids that thrive well in pots —(Continued from 
page 10). 
Govenia fasciata (Bundled G.) ; Mexico.—Sepals 
and petals bright yellow, marked with bands of crimson: 
lip lemon-coloured. A fine species, but we are afraid it 
is lost, at present, to this country. 
G. liliacea (Lily-flowered G.); Mexico.—The whole 
flower is of a yellowish-white ground, striped with pur¬ 
plish red. A fine species ; the flower-stems grow two 
feet high, and the flowers are very handsome 42s. 
G. supeiiba (Superb G.); Mexico.—This species pro¬ 
duces flowers on a strong upright stem of a rich orange 
colour. In addition to their great beauty they have the 
advantage of a delicious perfume. 42s. 
Culture .—This is a genus of terrestrial orchids very 
desirable, and not difficult to grow. They are found on | 
the plains of Mexico, where the heat is excessive, and, 
during the season of growth, the rains most abundant 
