28 



THE FLORAL WOELD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



and it will require repotting once in 

 wo or three years ; but at each pot- 

 ing as much as possible of the old 

 soil should be shaken a,way, and fresh 

 used, pressing it tightly into the pot. 

 They enjoy a sprinkling from the 

 syringe when groicing, but to be kept 

 dry at other times ; and water at the 



root at all times in sufficient quantity 

 to keep the soil moderately moist, but 

 most so in the growing season ; yet 

 they will not bear stagnant water 

 about their roots, so the drainage 

 must always have particular attention 

 to see that water when given passes 

 freely away. H. Howlett. 



ABUTILON STRIATUM. 



Cuttings of young wood, taken off 

 when about three inches in length, 

 will strike readily in a mixture of 

 sand and peat, or leaf-mould, covered 

 with a small glass, and plunged in a 

 gentle bottom-heat. When the cut- 

 tings are struck, which may be known 

 by their beginning to grow, pot them 

 off into small pots (60's), using a mix- 

 ture of peat and leaf-mould, in about 

 equal parts, with a little sand; let 

 them remain in a gentle hot-bed, or 

 some warm place, for a week or ten 

 days, watering them gently as they 

 may require it ; then remove them to 

 the greenhouse, and as soon as the 

 roots have filled the pots, shift th?rn 

 into a size larger, with the same com- 

 post, adding a little loam, which 

 should be increased at each shifting, 

 until they are placed in large pots, by 

 which time they will be at least four 

 or five feet high, if attended to, and 

 bearing a profusion of bloom, which, 

 from its pendulous habit amid the 

 ample foliage, is extremely beautiful. 

 As the season advances, they may be 

 removed out of doors with other 

 greenhouse plants, where they will 

 continue in flower the whole of the 

 summer. 



In the autumn they should be re- 

 potted with the other plants, cutting 

 off the matted roots, and filling up 



with good fresh earth, in the same 

 proportions as before, and placed in 

 the stove, if there is one on the estab- 

 lishment, where they will still con- 

 tinue to bloom : thus amply repaying 

 the trouble and attention bestowed 

 on them, by a continual succession of 

 curious and very handsome flowers. 



The genus Sida, from which 

 Abutilon has been separated, com- 

 prises, if we include Bastardia, G-aya, 

 and Abutilon (as is still done by De 

 Candolle and others), about two hun- 

 dred species, many of which are ac- 

 customed to unfold their flowers at 

 such stated hours, that Bory de St. 

 Vincent asserts, that from the single 

 genus Sida, a dial of flowers {horolo~ 

 glum flora) might be constructed, so 

 accurate that, between the tropics, 

 the hour of the day might be ascer- 

 tained by it. 



The leaves of some of the species 

 exhibit perceptible changes of posi- 

 tion ; those, for example, of the Sida 

 Abutilon (Linnams) fall close to the 

 stem, and seem to protect it from the 

 night air. A similar action may be 

 observed even during the day in the 

 large leaves of the Sedysarum (Des- 

 modhim) gyrans ; for, should dark 

 clouds Fuddenly overspread the 6ky, 

 they will immediately fall down, and 

 cover the stem as with a mantle. 



PLANTING FOR EFFECT. 



Veky much of the work now going 

 on under the general designation of 

 " Planting " is conducted on hap- 

 hazard principles, or on no principles 



at all. In one place evergreens and 

 deciduous trees are mixed together 

 like plums and suet in a Christmas 

 pudding ; in another there is such a 



