THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



175 



centre. With a little care, and the pre- . little* cost the most beautiful designs 

 cautions already given, the vase may be | may, with a little care and trouble, be 

 placed in the garden, and exposed 

 to any weather with safely during 

 the summer months, and will also 

 form a beautiful object in the 

 drawing-room or conservatory, 

 the latter place suiting it ad- 

 mirably, as many of the more 

 choice kinds of ferns and lycopods 

 which will not bear the dry at- 

 mosphere of a room on the full 

 exposure of a burning sun will 

 flourish amazingly beneath the 

 shade of greenhouse ". climbers. 

 A very pretty effect is formed by 

 placing separate blooms of ver- 

 benas in the little tin tubes used 

 for exhibiting cut flowers, and 

 pressing them into the moss at 

 equal distances round the edge of 

 the vase. When arranged in this 

 way, and a nicely shaped plant of 

 " maiden-hair " fern in the centre, 

 it has a delightfully cool and re- 

 freshing appearance in a room, 

 and will continue to look well for 

 a length of time, if frequently wa- 

 tered with a fine syringe, and the 

 verbenas replaced with fresh ones, 

 as they become faded. 



There are, of course, many 

 things to be procured of more 

 durable material, and of the most 

 elegant designs, such as Ransome's 

 siliceous cement, a composition 

 said to be harder and more lasting 

 than stone itself, as it resists the 

 action of frost ; but the present 



remarks are intended for those who do made to answer every 

 not choose to indulge in expensive articles amateur. 

 for such purposes, and to show at what Ufftngton, July, 1860 



purpose of the 

 R, T. E. 



BOUGA.IXYILL.EA. SPECTABILIS. 



This truly magnificent plant was dis- 

 covered in South Mexico, about the year 

 1767 or 176S, by Commerson, the botanist 

 attached to a French voyage of discovery 

 round the world, and was by him named 

 in honour of the commander of the expe- 

 dition, M. de Bougainville. It was intro- 

 duced to our gardens in 1829. It was 

 always what is called a "shy flowerer," 

 but now and then it bursts forth in a per- 

 fect blaze of beauty, and whenever this is 

 the case, the horticultural world is elec- 

 trified by the result. Since its introduc- 

 tion, it has been disseminated through 

 almost every country in the world, and 



wherever it finds a congenial climate, it 

 soon becomes a great favourite, as the 

 extract from a letter I shall presently give 

 will prove. Rut let me first speak of the 

 plant and its management. 



Bougainvillaea is a woody shrub, with 

 long, pendant or half-climbing branches ; 

 sometimes these bear a few curved spines. 

 The leaves are more or less stalked, ovate, 



* It is scarcely necessary to state the probable 

 cost of articles in plaster, the price of such things 

 being so well known. It will be sufficient to add 

 that "the one alreadv figured in the present num- 

 ber, which is about two feet high, was not mora 

 than Is. 6<f., and the additional expense of pre- 

 paring it 8<7., the whole not exceeding 2s. 



