THE FLORIST AND POMOLOQTST. 
[ MAIU'II, 
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for ventilation, and also to keep away disease— 
for I have proved to m}' satisfaction that glass 
will do this. The}'- were soon uji and doing, 
and when nine inches high, I earthed them 
lip, giving them a thorough watering first. I 
always use, for earthing-up my frame Potatos, 
old mushroom-dung and sand, well incorporated 
together. Here, with an occasional watering, 
they stop until Christmas, and the tops keep 
quite fresh ; but this season, in consequence of 
the severe weather, I took off the lights, and filled 
the frames inside with bracken, to ward off the 
frost. I lifted the first dish of Potatos, 6 lb., on 
December 16th, and our pronounced them 
the only genuine new Potatos he had ever 
cooked at that season. They peel c|uite easily, 
and are perfectly white—in fact, they are new 
Potatos, pure and simple. My employer thought 
so much of them, that after the first night’s 
supply, when they were served during the 
first course, he requested the chef to send them 
up thereafter as second-course vegetables.— 
Eichaed Gilbert, Burghley House Gardens. 
PEIMULA CULTURE. 
GJV) HAVE about 100 plants, in G, 7, and 8-in. 
& K pots, which promise to be very good. 
GUO [They were a very fine sample of good 
culture.] I measured some flowers both of 
alba and rubra, and found them to be 
exactly 2 inches in diameter, finely fringed 
and beautiful in colour. These are from 
Mr. B. S. Williams’ strain ; but there are 
many other strains supplied by our best 
seedsmen which will produce such flowers 
as these, if properly treated. The method I 
adopt is very simple, and as follows;—I well 
drain G-in. pots, and fill them to within 1 inch 
of their tops with soil, consisting of one part 
loam, one part leaf-mould and silver-sand; 
the pots are well watered with a fine rose, the 
seed thinly sown, and just covered with silver- 
sand. A piece of glass is placed on the 
top of each pot, and they are then placed 
in the plant-stove on a shelf near the 
glass, and kept constantly moist, and shaded 
from the sun in the middle of the day. As 
soon as the seedlings are ready, they are pricked 
into pans an inch or so apart, and from these 
are transferred into 4-in. pots. As soon as the 
roots reach the sides of the pots, they are 
shifted to the flowering-pots, which are 6, 7, 
and 8-in. The soil used is one part loam, one 
part leaf-mould, well rotted manure, silver- 
sand, wood-charcoal, and a little bone-dust. 
The plants are then placed in a warm pit near 
the glass, and watered carefully, as ivell as 
sprinkled once a day with a fine rose in bright 
iveather. The plants are at all times allowed 
plenty of room, to prevent a spindling growdh, 
and b}' this treatment we have nice plants, well 
furnished, and from 1 ft. to 2 ft. across. The 
time I like for sowing is March, April, and 
May, as this gives a long succession of bloom. 
—G. Ellts, Denzell Bowden (in Gardeners’ 
Chronicle). 
VILLA GARDENING. 
« HE change in the weather, from the 
wildness and fierceness of winter to 
something so pleasant and genial, is such 
as to have led Villa Gardeners to exclaim, “ Lo ! 
spring is here,” and to anticipate much enjoy¬ 
ment in their gardens as a result of the change. 
Probably the wintry forces have well-nigh ex¬ 
hausted themselves, after the prolonged effort 
they have put forth of late; and though frosts 
and rude winds may be looked for, probably 
nothing more in the way of frost of any par¬ 
ticular severity of character will happen. 
Greenhouse. —By this time, villa gardeners 
who w’ere deficient in heating-power have been 
able to calculate something of their losses. 
Many plants have died, more from drought 
than from frost. It was unsafe to water them 
while the frost lasted, and as anything like a 
thaiv was of but very short duration, the roots 
became almost dried up for want of moisture. 
The best thing to be done is to thoroughly 
overhaul the plants, putting aside for throwing 
away those that are dead or nearly so, and 
cutting out of plants that have the tips of the 
shoots killed back all the decayed portions, in 
the hope that the living parts will break into a 
healthy growth. As a rule, villa gardeners 
who have a greenhouse are fond of growing a 
lot of things, and especially of bedding plants. 
Those who are in the habit of propagating these 
in some part for themselves,having the conveni¬ 
ence of a little heat, should proceed to work at 
once, that what they require for bedding-out 
may be well established by the time they are 
wanted. It is usual with these to keep many 
things, such as Pelargoniums., Verbenas., Ilelio- 
fropes, Koniga., Ccdceolarius., &c., over the 
winter in boxes; and also stock plants of 
Fuchsias, Petunias, &c., in pots. The great 
difficult)' generally is to find room for many 
of the former, such a quantity is wanted in 
spring. If the former can be potted off singly 
into small pots, so much the better; if they 
cannot, they should be replanted in other boxes, 
so as to have sufficient room to grow and get 
newly established by May. If the stock plants 
be put into a gentle heat, they will begin to 
grow at all the points ; and these young growths 
