272 THE FLORIST. 



A. pictais pretty; when well-grown, the foliage is handsome as well 

 as the flower. This species is useful in winter as well as in summer, 

 which greatly increases its value ; for these are the sort of plants we 

 want to decorate our stoves during the dull months. It requires treat- 

 ment somewhat different from the other kinds. It is best grown in 

 small pots. The plants should be kept growing in the autumn in 

 a nice moist heat, which will bring them into bloom about Decem- 

 ber, and they will keep on till the spring. A succession of plants 

 may be had in flower all the year by starting them at different times. 

 A. 'multiflora is a pretty and distinct species ; it is an old plant, but 

 it is seldom seen in collections, because it is more difficult to manage 

 than some of the others. It is a free bloomer when well grown. It 

 does not require so much moisture as the other kinds. A. Mount- 

 fordii is a distinct and free-flowering sort, whose colour is bright 

 scarlet. It is in the way of the old A. coccinea ; but it is a much 

 better flower, and comes into bloom earlier. 



The most suitable place for growing Achimenes is a stove or 

 an Orchid-house, where there is plenty of heat and moisture ; they 

 will also do well in an early vinery, or a pit where there is a nice 

 moist warnith. The best soil that I can find for growing them in is 

 leaf-mould and peat in equal parts, with a good quantity of silver- 

 sand. I generally part the bulbs, and pot them about February for 

 the first lot of plants, and a fresh supply in March, so as to keep a 

 succession of bloom all the summer. The way to manage them be- 

 fore potting is to turn them out of the pots, and shake off the old 

 soil from the bulbs. Afterwards get the pots ready ; let them be 

 perfectly clean, then put good drainage at the bottom, then some 

 moss or rough peat, and then fill up with the mould, placing about 

 six bulbs on the top and covering with mould. Set them in a warm 

 house, without giving too much water at first ; but after the shoots 

 get tw^o or three inches high, water may be given freely. Keep 

 them on growing ; and if the pots get full of roots, give them a large 

 shift ; but keep them close to the glass, so that they can receive all 

 the light possible, in order that they may not grow weak. They 

 require training to sticks ; and during the summer, when in bloom, 

 thev may be moved to the conservatory, but placed on the warmest 

 and shadiest part. After they have done blooming, they should be 

 put by for the winter on some dry shelf in the store, and kept dry 

 till the time for potting. 



They are propagated by cutting the bulbs into pieces just as 

 they are starting to grow. They may also be raised from seed ; and 

 cuttings of the shoots will strike freely enough if they are taken off 

 when young, and placed on bottom-heat in some light soil with 

 silver-sand. 



These plants would look well in baskets suspended from the roof 

 of the house, so that the shoots might hang over the sides of the 

 baskets. Their rich colours would have a striking effect displayed 

 in different parts of the house ; but to grow them in this way, they 

 require more moisture at their roots : the baskets should be the same 

 as for Orchids. In filling them, place some moss at the bottom and 



