66 
ANDROMEDA FLORIBUNDA. 
and remain in perfection for a considerable length of time. The 
purity of their snow-white blossoms, relieved by the dark green 
foliage, forms an admirable contrast amongst other plants which 
are submitted to this mode of treatment; and thereby the plant 
is rendered an acquisition to those who delight in a supply of 
winter flowers. To effect this purpose, the plants should be taken 
up carefully in the early part of the month of October, and be 
placed in pots of suitable size, and in proper soil; they may then 
be placed in any situation where they will be protected not only 
from wet, but also from extreme cold. It is not by reason of any 
tenderness or delicacy of constitution that protection is necessary, 
but it must be recollected that protection thus afforded to plants 
intended for forcing is the first advance in the necessarily pro¬ 
gressive increase of temperature, and by this mode of applying 
heat alone, the end in view may be hoped for with any certainty 
of success. When submitted to this moderately increased tem¬ 
perature, they will be in flower in about a month, or six weeks, 
varying according to the particular period; that is, whether in 
the early or in the latter part of the winter season. After flower¬ 
ing, the plants should be removed to a cold frame, which should 
for a time be kept comparatively close, and a full exposure gra¬ 
dually effected. About April they should be again planted out, 
and the points of the fibrous roots should be slightly and care¬ 
fully disengaged from the ball of earth; they will then recom¬ 
mence their growth. The principal requisites are coolness and 
moisture in the soil during the summer, or, at least, until theii 
annual growth is completed. 
The plant is most readily propagated by layers, which, if put 
down in April, will be well rooted, and in a fit state to lemove in 
two years, and the earlier they are taken off when sufficiently 
rooted the better ; for if allowed to remain they grow rapidly, and 
if they are in a crowded state, as, from the nature and habit of 
the plant, is generally the case, they become drawn up and less 
branchy on the lower part of the stem; on the othei hand, if 
taken off early, they assume a dwarf bushy habit, and are fea¬ 
thered quite down to the ground. 
It may be interesting to mention that of some large plants now 
growing in the garden of the Royal Botanic Society, and which 
were taken off as rooted layers in the spring of 1837, one has 
attained 3 feet in height and 13 feet in circumference. 
