308 THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION, March 10, 1857. 
centre of the pot, and as low as they were in the cutting pan; 
till in the compost equally round the plant, and strike the 
pot gently on the potting bench; then water with water that 
has had the chill removed from it, and thus proceed until the 
whole are potted off; then take and replunge them into the 
hotbed, admitting air when necessary, and shading from 
ten o’clock in the morning to three in the afternoon on 
bright days until they are established. Pinch off the end of 
the main stem, which will cause the branches to break from 
the eyes which are seated round the joints below. These 
must be stopped, and trained at a regular distance from 
each other as they advance in growth. Do not repot them 
until the roots have wrapped round the ball so as to preserve 
it from breaking when turned out of the pot. This will be 
found to facilitate the present, and, consequently, the future 
growth of the plants; but by no means allow the roots to 
become matted before potting them, and for the successive 
shifts be particular to remove them immediately after the 
roots have reached the sides of the pot. Take care that the 
pots in -which the plants are to be placed are clean, and 
well drained with pieces of charcoal and imperfectly-burnt 
lime, and two or three sizes larger than those out of which 
they are turned. 
The compost in which I have found the Torenia to luxuriate 
the most consists of the following ingredients, in the pro¬ 
portion of two parts fibry loam, two parts sandy peat, one 
part two-year-old cowdung, half part pounded charcoal, 
and half part rough sand thoroughly incorporated with each 
other, but left as rough as possible, and heated from 75° 
to 80°. 
The second shift being completed, water them with aired 
water, and again plunge them into the hotbed, or, what 
would be more advisable at this stage of their growth if at 
command, into the tan bed of the stove; give by degrees 
more air and light until they can, without injury, endure the 
full force of the sun, in whose rays the Torenia delights 
while growing previous to flowering ; syringe frequently with 
water of the same temperature as the bed in which they are 
growing, and do not neglect to stop and train the branches, 
and to take off the flower-buds as they appear, which will 
cause the branches to become more vigorously developed 
than they would if the buds were to remain on the plant. 
Before the third potting gradually raise the pots out of 
the bed, so that the roots of the plants may not be checked 
by the changes to which the atmosphere that of necessity 
surrounds the pots is subject. When the plants have been 
repotted the third time, those not wanted for specimens may 
be profitably placed in ornamental wire baskets, and sus¬ 
pended from the roof of the stove, conservatory, and green¬ 
house, where they will, in a few weeks, have thrown their 
branches gracefully over the sides of the baskets, which will 
be covered through the summer and autumn with beautiful 
labiate, richly purple-blotched flowers, that will not fail to 
attract the admiration of the visitor; and all the attention 
they will require after they have been thus suspended will 
be to supply them with tepid water when necessary, and to 
use liquid manure freely, in order to keep them growing 
and in health, and to shorten any of the branches that may 
ramble too far from the plants, so as to keep them uniform 
in appearance. 
Those plants intended for specimens, in order that they 
may produce that magnificent appearance which they are 
qualified to do, must receive two more shifts larger than 
those they have already had. Let, therefore, the last shift 
take place about the 8th of July into a small No. 3 pot. 
The final potting being completed, commence training them 
on those principles that will best show their native habits 
and beauty; and this, I imagine, cannot be done by tying 
the branches to perpendicular rods, or circular, oblong 
trellises that rise above the pot. That, therefore, which I 
would recommend is a circular wire trellis that hangs over 
the sides of the pot to within two inches of the bottom, and 
eight inches from the sides. Its appearance when fixed is 
that of an inverted wire basket with the bottom cut out, 
and looped to the rim of the pot. Over this trellis the 
branches ramble as though they were in their native wilds 
in the East Indies, and with a little tying and regulation of 
the branches will present one uniform mass of floral grandeur 
which will be commended by every lover of flowers. 
The Torenia during the growing season delights in a 
humid atmosphere, and a temperature ranging from 75° to 
90°; but these, I would remark, must be gradually decreased 
as the rest period approaches until the air in the house 
becomes dry, and the temperature ranges from 45° to 55°. 
Under these circumstances it will ripen its wood, and if the 
atmosphere be kept so dry as not to induce mould or mil¬ 
dew it will live and be healthy through the whole of the 
winter, and will make a nobler object the summer following 
than those raised from cuttings the same year.—B. B., near 
Halifax. 
DIMENSIONS OF THE NEW CONSERVATORY OR WINTER GARDEN 
At Messrs. John Weeks & Co.'s, King’s Road, Chelsea. 
It contains 100,100 cubical feet of air, or, in other 
words, equal to seven common-sized hothouses of say 17 
feet wide, and 560 feet long. This will appear by dividing 
it as represented by the dotted lines, and calculating the 
contents of each of A, B, C, D, E, F, G, and H. 
We give this diagram, not merely for showing the form 
and extent of Messrs. Weeks and Co.’s Conservatory, but to 
show young gardeners how easily they may calculate the 
contents of such houses. Multiply the length by the breadth, 
and multiply the product of that multiplication by the 
greatest perpendicular height. This gives you the contents 
of a cube; but divide this by two, and you have the contents 
of a triangular lean-to house. For example, to find the con¬ 
tents of E :— 
560 length. 
17 breadth. 
3920 
560 
9520 
IS height. . 
76160 
9520 
2 ) 171360 
85680 contents of E in cubic feet. 
