52 



THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE, 



is a propagating case, and nothing more, [ dred plants for summer decoration, and to 

 and in that sense the best contrivance ever whom the chief delight is to raise stock for 

 devised for those who manage their own themselves. S. H. 



gardens, and who want only a few hun- \ 



PEKPETUITY OF TEEES. 



De Candolle and others at least main- 

 tain that trees are not individual plant?, 

 but bodies corporate, and as such may live 

 for ever ; that each bud on a tree repre- 

 sents, and in its season produces, an indi- 

 vidual tree-plant, which, fully equipped 

 ■with all the appurtenances of a perfect 

 plant, with stem, root, leaves, and flowers, 

 and bearing fruit or forming buds, or 

 both, lives but a single season — shooting 

 up in spring and dying in autumn ; that 

 thus dying, root and branch, its consti- 

 tuent parts wither and are cast off, save 

 only the roots and the buds, which remain 

 attached to the parent stock — the roots — 

 permanently, to add to the store of timber 

 already amassed, and which is nothing 

 else than a mass of roots ; the buds tem- 

 porarily, for the evolution of the plants, 



on the same stock, the following season ; 

 and, further, that this formation of buds 

 and evolution of plants going on succes- 

 sively, year by year, in endless perpetuity, 

 there is no natural limit either to the size 

 which any tree may attain, or to the num- 

 ber of years it may live. What was said 

 or sung long ago by Homer of the race of 

 man, while it expresses the very same 

 idea, exhibits in the comparison used a 

 parallel the exactness of which must have 

 commended itself to the mind of De Can» 

 dolle :- 



" Like leaves on trees the race of man is found, 

 Now green in youth, now withering on the 



ground ; 

 Another race the following spring supplies ; 

 They fall successive, and successive rise ", 

 So generations in their course decay, 

 Bo flourish these, when those are passed away. ' 



THE CULTUEE OE CHOEOZEMA, 



This is one of the most beautiful and in- 

 teresting of the New Holland genera, 

 beautiful as many of them are, and being 

 all of them worth the cultivator's atten- 

 tion. The soil which I should recommend 

 for this tribe of plants to be grown in 

 should be two parts turfy peat, one part 

 light loam, and one part sand, with a 

 little well rotted manure. The whole 

 should be well mixed together, and cut 

 with the spade, but should not, by any 

 means, be sifted, as sifting, in my opinion, 

 destroys the most valuable portion of the 

 soil, and instead of the soil being porous, 

 as it ought, to be, it is rendered small and 

 close. The more open the soil, the firmer 

 will the plants grow, and the longer they 

 will continue to grow with vigour; so 

 that the stronger the fibre, and the more 

 that is in the soil, the better for the health 

 of the plants. In nature there is no such 

 thing as sifted soils ; for whenever we 

 find the soil close and unporous, we never 

 find the plants in a healthy condition; 

 but when the soil is light and porous, we 

 find the plants always strong and healthy. 

 To those who wish to grow fine plants, I 

 should recommend wide and shallow pots, 



as plants of this sort never go deep into 

 the soil, especially if they can have plenty 

 of surface room to run in. Many plants 

 of this tribe are often lost by having too 

 great a depth of soil ; they extend their 

 roots as well as they do their branches. 

 The plants, when they have plenty of sur- 

 face room for their roots, are generally 

 low and bushy ; but when they are short 

 of surface room for their roots, they are 

 weak and spindling, and almost destitute 

 of leaves or branches. When potting, a 

 few large potsherds should be laid at the 

 bottom, and over them should be laid 

 some turfy peat or the roots of the com- 

 mon fern, as that will form excellent 

 drainage, and also prevent the soil from 

 getting among the potsherds ; and the 

 roots, at the same time, would have to 

 run amongst the loose pots or drainage. 

 Great care should be taken in watering, 

 especially in the autumn and winter, as the 

 plants are then doue growing, and the 

 roots are in a state of repose. If much 

 water is given at that time, the roots will 

 rot, and the plants will become sickly, 

 and very often go off; and if they live 

 after the points of the roots are rotted off, 



