Page:The Amateur's Greenhouse and Conservatory.djvu/126

118, but they also make showy pot plants. Those of them that are of a slightly herbaceous character are to be preferred, and the best mode of procedure is to select in early spring some of the most thrifty from a batch of plants raised from autumn cuttings, and pot them on and keep them in a damp pit very close to the glass. They may be flowered well in 48 size, or they may be grown on, and the flowers suppressed the first season to make great plants of them to flower the second year. .&mdash;There are several of this genus in cultivation, but the favorite D. gracilis is the only one worth growing in the greenhouse. As it is quite hardy in the south of England, it needs no heat to keep it in winter. The most ordinary care suffices to ensure an annual display of its elegant white flowers, but if they are wanted early the plant must have a little extra attention. We will suppose you want to secure a good display of deutzias early in the spring. You must begin in the first week of May by planting out a lot of one-year old plants in poor soil, in an open sunny situation, and keep them well watered until the end of June, after which time do not give them a drop. In September take them up and put them in as small pots as their roots can be crammed into without any serious injury, and prune them into shape. It is a very easy matter to prune all the flowers out of them: therefore, by the term “pruning” is to be understood the shortening of any extra long shoots that spoil the contour of the plants. Put them in a cold pit and give them a good watering. In November take them to the greenhouse and keep them cool. In the course of a fortnight put them into the warmest part of the house, and in a week afterwards provide for them, if possible, a snug quarter where the temperature averages 60° to 70°. If this cannot be done, be content with the bloom a little later than a forcing heat would give, and as they are sure to flower without any forcing at all, the most humble appliances are sufficient for rendering perfect justice to the plant.

To raise stock, make cuttings of the young shoots when they are three inches long and growing nicely. Take them off in two-inch lengths and insert in sand, and give them the aid of a steady bottom-heat. A light loamy compost is to be preferred, but the plant will grow in any soil that is neither sour nor pasty. When they acquire some size they may be kept