Page:The Amateur's Greenhouse and Conservatory.djvu/117

Rh pompons. These latter will thrive in a mixture of equal parts of good turfy loam and well-rotted hotbed manure, and about a sixth part of the whole bulk of sharp sand and pounded oyster- shells. Keep them in a cold frame with plenty of air and light, and stop and tie out loosely as the growth progresses, endeavouring to obtain an abundance of side-shoots to form the foundation of a large plant. Shift into the blooming pots about the middle or end of June. The proper size of pot for an exhibition pompon is eight-inch, for the large varieties eleven-inch. About the lOth of July stop them all over for the last time, and prepare for training. The basis of the training should be a ring of No. 3 iron wire level with the rim of the pot, with four cross pieces to preserve its shape, and stout pegs to keep it firmly in its place. An immense amount of training may be done with a very small proportion of sticks or wires, and the cultivator will find that by patiently tying down the shoots with loops of good bast, so as to lay out the branches in the fashion of a spider's web, he will in the end obtain a very compact and handsome head of leaf and bloom. The proper time to begin the final training is about the 10th of September, when the growth will be completed and the points will be knotting for bloom. The plants should never suffer a check, and should be liberally supplied with water at the roots in the growing season, and frequently refreshed by means of the syringe overhead. The pots should be plunged in an open sunny border from the middle of May until the first or second week in October, when they must be transferred to the pit or cool house to flower. From the time the final training begins until the flowers are opening freely they should have the aid of weak liquid manure. If the weather is mild and sunny, they will not need the help of fire heat when housed, but if cold rains or frost should occur, keep the fire going to assist the bloom. The temperature of the house must be kept as nearly as possible at fifty to sixty degrees during the day, and forty by night.

From the time the flower buds are visible the process of thinning them must commence. In disbudding the large varieties remove from every cluster of buds all except the top bud. In disbudding pompons, leave the top bud on every shoot, and two or three buds of the same cluster. If you allow all the buds to remain, the appearance of the plant will