OCTOBER. 223 



and colour of flowers that it is difficult to make a selection ; they 

 are useful plants for the shrubbery. A. dracunculoides and A. grandi- 

 florus have large flowers of a bright blue. Tritoma Uvaria is one of 

 the finest ornaments in the herbaceous grounds ; many large speci- 

 mens (mostly on an east border) are now in the height of their 

 beauty, some of them have thirty flower-stems on them. Buddlea 

 Lindle3'ana and Hernia salicifolia, a showy hard-wooded Mexican 

 shrub, are flowering profusely against a west wall ; Poinciana 

 Gilliesii, against an east wall, is growing luxuriantly, but it has not 

 flowered well this season. 



In the great Palm-house, the growth of the Palms, Musas, &c., 

 has been so rapid, that it begins to assume the aspect of a tropical 

 forest ; Plectocomia elongata, a splendid oriental Palm, has already 

 reached the top of the house, which is sixty-five feet high. Several 

 species of Musa are laden with fruit ; M. Cavendishii is one of the 

 best, as it may be cultivated in a small stove, which is an advantage 

 it enjoys over the other kinds ; it is laden with fruit, and has a stem 

 only about four feet high. The Mango-tree (Mangifera indica) has 

 ripened about a dozen fruit, and many more are in a forward state. 

 Strelitzia angusta is one of the most conspicuous objects in this 

 house, and is about thirty-five feet high. Dor^^anthes excelsa may 

 be expected to blossom in a short time, its flower-stem is already 

 about fourteen feet high ; this plant is also kept in the large Palm- 

 house. 



Among bedding-out plants, Alysum variegatum, intermixed with 

 Enfield's scarlet Verbena, forms a beautiful bed for the early part of 

 summer ; but the Alysum must be kept thinned out, or towards 

 autumn it becomes too strong for the Verbena, and destroys the 

 beautiful effect which would otherwise be produced. It also forms a 

 good contrast, intermixed with Lobelia erinus maxima ; but it is not 

 so showy as when it is mixed with scarlet flowers. 



J. HOULSTON. 



LISIANTHUS RUSSELLIANUS. 



The following is Mr. Cuthill's mode of managing this Lisianthus : 

 I cannot say that I have succeeded with this plant through any 

 extraordinary care ; on the contrary, I think by giving it too much 

 attention, and changing it about from shelf to shelf during winter, 

 you kill it. The last two winters, I have placed the pots in pans 

 and put them on a shelf, within one foot of the glass, in a house 

 where Camellias are ; they are not moved nor touched, not even to 

 displace a dead leaf, during the whole of the winter, from the 1st of 

 September till the present month, just keeping them moist enough to 

 keep them from flagging; never watering on the surface, always in the 

 pans. In February, they are shifted into 8-inch pots ; the mixture 

 of mould, composed of half rich yellow loam, the other half peat or 

 bog-mould, with a little sand ; they are then treated as above. They 

 are exceedingly fond of liquid manure, moderately rich, with a heat 



