46 
THE FLORIST’S JOURNAL. 
The mode of treatment I have pursued with the greatest degree 
of success is the following: — About the first week in March I 
sow the seeds in mould from well decomposed tree leaves, to 
which I add about one third of silver sand ; and having the pots 
well drained with a good handful of potsherds, I fill them with 
the soil, and sow the seeds thinly over the surface, cover them 
slightly, and then give them a gentle sprinkling with water from 
a fine-rose watering-pot, and place them in a hotbed frame, 
where the heat ranges from 65° to 70°. 
I have always found it to be of great advantage to place a 
piece of glass over the seed pot, as I think it assists the ger¬ 
mination of the seeds, and obviates the necessity of watering 
again before the plants are above ground. I believe there are 
more seeds lost in consequence of giving too much water at this 
stage than through any other cause. When the young plants 
have developed about two pair of leaves, I pot them singly, into 
60-sized pots, in the same sort of soil as the seeds were sown 
in, and I then return them again to the frame, until they are 
well established in the small pots ; when this is the case, I 
shift them finally into 32, and some into 24-sized pots, using a 
compost of one part turfy loam, one part rotten dung from an 
old hotbed, and two parts of mould from decomposed tree-leaves, 
to which I add a little sand. In this final shifting, after the pots 
are thoroughly drained with potsherds, I fill them up nearly 
one third with partly decayed tree leaves: this is of great ad¬ 
vantage in the circulation of moisture, and the decaying matter 
affords nourishment to the absorbing fibres. When the plants 
are shifted, I put them again into the frame, and place them as 
near to the glass as circumstances will admit, giving them air 
freely during the day, on all favourable opportunities. I ge¬ 
nerally sprinkle the plants over head with water, of the same 
temperature as the atmosphere in the frame, and shut up early 
in the afternoon : as the plants advance in growth, I pinch off 
all their tops, in order to cause them to grow compact and 
bushy. 
If seeds are not a principal object in view, it will be of the 
utmost importance, and administer largely to the ultimate vigour 
of the plants, to remove all the decaying flowers and seed 
vessels; for, although the fruit or seed vessel is able to assist in 
the production of organic matter, yet it returns no part of the 
substances thus formed to the plant on which it grows, but 
