162 THE FLORIST. 
and rich enough to furnish them with food sufficient to keep the top 
growing freely ; the great demand made on the roots during the period 
of active growth informs us that liquid manure is a useful auxiliary to 
keep up the vigour of the plant, and may be applied freely when the 
pots become fuil of roots. Srdly, bottom heat, to give every encourage- 
ment to a free growth—the application of a mild bottom heat from the 
first stage of the plant’s growth till the bloom buds are formed should 
be maintained; when the buds are all duly formed, and any: further 
extension of growth unnecessary, the bottom heat should be allowed to 
die gradually away, so as to harden the plants, to bear the comparatively 
cool temperature of the conservatory for blooming. 4thly, air during 
every stage of growth ; the Balsam requires a large supply of air, that 
the plants may not become drawn and slender, but keep. a short 
jointed, stocky habit, which will enable the lateral branches to support 
themselves without stakes until the blooms expand, when they will be 
required. + 
The soil I prefer is half-decayed turf, calcined clayey loam, horse 
droppings, half rotten, and rubbed through a half-inch sieve, and bone~ 
dust. The clayey loam I calcine sufficiently, and it acts as a drainage 
to the soil; in the absence of this ingredient, soft bricks broken 
to the size of Filberts may be used. The turfy loam may comprise 
rather over one half the mixture, the dung and drainage material the 
other. A handful or two of bone-dust may be used or not, as it may 
be at hand ; for sowing and potting into 60-sized pots, well decomposed 
leaf-soil answers as well as the compost. 3 
_ From a 60-sized pot the plants are transferred to 6-inch pots. » The 
compost is used rough, merely spreading a little of the fine soil over the 
surface, to prevent its drying too rapidly. I grow my plants, for the 
present, in a three-light frame; there is now a slight bottom heat, and I 
lower the inside of the frame, so that there shall be six inches clear 
between the top of the plant when plunged and the glass, and also room for 
half a brick to be placed under each pot. As the plants are placed on 
their bricks, the space between the pots is filled up with tan, or the 
plunging material taken out. The temperature is not allowed to exceed 
75° or 80° by day, and 60° by night—giving air early in the morning, 
and increasing it as the days get warmer, but never closing the frame 
entirely. Water when the soil in the pots gets dry, and gently sprinkle 
the foliage overhead in the afternoon. When the plants begin to touch 
the glass, remove the brick from beneath the pot; and by the time they 
again reach it, they will be ready for another shift into 9-inch pots;— 
compost, as before, and we bury the ball in the pot a little deeper 
each shifting. The plants will now require a great deal more room 
each way, as the growth of the lateral branches will be consider- 
able. And whether still grown in the same frame, or removed to a 
deeper one, or a pit, the bottom heat must be kept up, say about 809, 
with the brick or bricks underneath, to allow for lowering the plants as 
they grow up to the glass, that they may be always near. it. The 
time when I get them put into 9-inch pots is generally the middle or 
end of July, at which time buds will have commenced to form freely; 
and therefore, at this stage, the plants will require individual inspection, 

