recommended by Mr. MacnaB with regard to Cape Heaths, &c., had its 
prejudice on his mind for years, for no other reason, as he himself tells us, 
“than that I fancied the plant looked as if it were ill potted, and, to my 
view, unsightly.” ‘‘ But we now see, how much other and more judicious 
management, founded on physiological principles, has overcome the preju- 
dices of former days, and the difficulties attendant on the culture of not 
‘simply these, but the plants of other tribes :—witness our orchideous Epi- 
Ss. 
y The soil,” continues this intelligent cultivator, ‘“‘ which I use in the cul- 
ture of most of the PRoTEACE#, is a good fresh loam, with which, if stiff, 
I mix a portion of sand, so as not to admit of its being retentive of water. 
In time, after being potted as already directed, the main roots next the stem 
of the plant will become uncovered: this circumstance I regard as favour- 
able to the health of the plant: there will be no danger of its dying suddenly, 
as I have known many to do, that have been buried alive,—in other words, 
been deeply potted !” 
‘In the winter months, care should be taken not to saturate the earth with 
water, nor wet the leaves or stem more, than can be avoided. In dry weather 
however, during the summer season, water may be freely given to the plants 
about sunset, and a very essential point to be observed is, that, when they 
are placed out in the open air in groups, the sun’s rays should not be 
allowed to fall directly on the sides of the pots, for if they are, all the feeding 
les of the tender roots round the inner side of the pot, will assuredly 
destroyed, and the life of the plant greatly endangered. Repeatedly have 
I known a Banxsia to have been killed by the solar ray having been thus 
allowed to act on the side of the pot, which six months’ afterwards retained 
so much of a life-like look—being kept yet in its pot—as to appear to the 
eye of a superficial observer, to te still alive, and in perfect vigour. The 
lowest greenhouse-temperature that can judiciously be allowed, to prevent 
the effects of frost, is sufficient for the generality of the family now in culti- 
vation in Britain, and no artificial heat is required for their preservation, 
excepting in severe frosty weather.” He adds, with reference to pruning, 
that “as the rapid upright-growing species are, if left to themselves, shorter- 
lived, than others naturally more robust, the free use of the knife is recom- 
mended, and the growth of the plants checked, by keeping the luxuriant 
shoots cut back. is remark is especially applicable to those beautiful 
plants of the Order, with simple, straight, wand-like stems, such for example 
as Banksia Brown and DryanpRa Serra, Br., the former of which 
has been lost to several collections that could once have boasted of it, by its 
having been suffered to shoot up into exuberant growth, far beyond what 
the slender, tapering, thinly-fibred root could at all furnish sustenance. 
By heading these down somewhat, and thus reducing the ascending axis, 
or column of circulation, a more robust habit is induced, a growth of roots 
in their pots takes place, lateral branches are thrown out, and the plants thus 
treated at Kew, are now in the best possible health, with every indicative of 
being fully established in that garden”, 
To the above observations ofan intelligent and practical man, may be added 
a few very brief remarks on the habits, economy, and indispensable treat- 
‘ment, in cultivation, of a division of Australian PRoTEACE#, growing natu- 
rally on the sea coasts, or upon barren tracts within the influence of the sea 
air, in the tropical regions of that continent. The Genera hitherto observed 
on the equinoctial shores of New Holland are GREVILLEA, HAKEA, PER- 
SOONIA, STENocARPUS, and Banxsta, and these comprise a group collec- 
tively of thirty-three species, of peculiar constitution entirely governed in 
their growth, and general development, by the circumstances and modifica- 
tions of the climate in which they exist. ; 
_It is a well-known fact, that what constitutes the change of season 
: intertropical 
