20^ 



THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



corolla intensely dark. The sepals are 

 very broad and well retlexed j it is fine out 

 of doors. 



Big Ben.— Tins is a very striking 

 faclisia, and grows well in the open ground, 

 better, indeed, than in pots, sd far as a free 

 and showy bloom is concerned. It is well 

 named, for the corolla is long and regularly 

 bell shaped, and is a beautiful object when 

 lifted on the finger to display the inarkino;s 

 of dark purple on the bluish-purple ground 

 of the interior of the bell. The sepals re- 

 flex at right angles, and the corolla is too 

 long to satisfy a fastidious taste, but it is a 

 bold and characteristic flower. 



Chinohne. — My out-door plants of this 

 are true pyramids, three feet high and two 

 feet six through at the base, and are really 

 magnificent in their profuse display of fine 

 flowers. It is a dashing fuchsia to turn 

 out, and will never disappoint. 



Double Dark. 



Wonderful. — -This is supposed to be 

 beaten by some of the later kinds, but for 

 bedding purposes it is the liveliest of all 

 the double fuchsias. It looks best as a 

 diffuse pyramid, and if twice stopped in 

 spring, it will throw out flowering shoots 

 horizontally, about a foot long, with great 

 regularity, and will be a mass of bloom for 

 three months together, if not allowed to 

 ripen any berries. 



SiE CoLiM Caupbell. — Maequis of 

 Bristol. — Sir Colin is the best of the two, 

 but it is he ivy-looking when bedded. 

 Nevertheless, there is a bold grandeur 

 about it in harmony with its name, and it 

 is every way worthy of promotion to the 

 upper chamber as Lord Clyde. Marquis of 

 Bristol is inferior in foliage and in sub- 

 stance of corolla, and it dues not hold so 

 well unler a fierce sun. 



Le Pkophete. — Similar in habit to Sir 

 Colin, corolla deeper and richer purple, and 

 a shade longer. Otherwise the difference 

 is not great. 



Adonis. — Crimson tube, whitish blue 

 corolla, does not prosper out of doors. 



Impekialis. — Deep red sepals, corolla 

 violet. If grown strong before being 

 turned out, blooms profusely, and is very 

 efiectiv-c, but needs a rich soil and plenty 

 of wfitt^r ; will stand sun well. 



VioL^ FLORA PLENA. — Crimson tube, 

 violet corolln, capable of great endurance, 

 and very effective. 



The light and ftincy kinds must be de- 

 ferred enumeration till next month, or the 

 list will monopolize au undue proportion of 

 space in this number. I see plainly, that 

 f)r bedding purposes, three-fourths of my 

 light and fancy varieties are only fit for 

 the rubbish-heap, and as soon as my notes 

 are completed, very many of them will end 

 their days there. 



Shiblev Hibberd. 



THE CULTIVATION OF GLOBULAR CACTEiE. 



Ix was very general some years since (and 

 13 still too frequent) to pot these plants in a 

 mixture, the chief part of which was brick 

 rubbish, and to keep tiiem continually in a 

 dry arid atmosphere. This, it was argued, 

 was the most natural position for plants 

 which are natives of the warmest .and driest 

 parts of the tropics ; but it was forgotten 

 that these localities receive deluges of rain 

 at certain intervals ; and it was then not 

 80 certain as now, that we may sometimes, 

 by the judicious application of art, arrive 

 at results unknown orunfrequent in nature. 

 It is undoubtedly of the first consequence, 

 that the circumstances by which plants are 

 found affected in a state of nature should 

 be well considered by the cultivator before 

 he commences operating on newly-im- 

 ported subjects, and the predominant ones 

 adopted as the basis for the artificial treat- 

 ment ; yet it does not follow that every 

 wild plant is found in the host possible 

 situation for the fullest development of its 



parts. Taking this into account, it be- 

 comes apparent that art may sometimes 

 .assist or even improve on nature : so with 

 cacti, they are found where the smaller 

 deposits are formed, in places seemingly 

 sterile, and where they receive but little 

 nourishment from rain, or other natural 

 causes ; still they exist : but it seems pro- 

 bable enough in theory, that if they in the 

 same situation received a more abundant 

 supply of aliment, that a corresponding in- 

 crease in the vigour and size of the plant 

 would result ; and this, which appears 

 probable, the practice of cultivators proves 

 correct. In the cultivation of these plants 

 we would retain a portion of the old sys- 

 tem, so far as keeping them in a dry at- 

 mosphere for about eight months of the 

 twelve can be called retaining it ; but the 

 brick rubbish we explode altogether. The 

 soil we use for the whole of them is a mix- 

 ture of peat and loam, in equal quantities, 

 with about a third of the whole well-rotted 



