40 THE GARDENER. [Jan. 



STATICE PROFUSA. 



The Statice family is well worthy of more attention than is generally 

 bestowed on it. Many of the varieties are extremely useful for green- 

 house and conservatory decoration during the autumn months, when 

 blooming plants are rather scarce. They are also very useful for sitting- 

 room stands and vases, more especially the one which my present ob- 

 ject is to bring under the notice of your readers. 



We have no fear of being called in question by any one who is 

 acquainted with the extreme usefulness of Statice profusa when we 

 say it is one of the most useful pot-plants in cultivation, fully justify- 

 ing the name it bears by yielding an enormous profusion of flowers. 

 An individual plant will continue in bloom from July to November in 

 a cool greenhouse, and by having plants in different stages of growth 

 there is no difficulty in having it in bloom throughout the year. It 

 can be grown in greenhouse temperature, but to grow it quickly into 

 large plants, an intermediate temperature suits it better during the 

 spring months. It also strikes freely from cuttings placed in a gentle 

 bottom-heat in July or August ; they will root in four or five weeks. 

 When well rooted, pot them, if strong cuttings, into 4 -inch pots. 

 The compost which suits them best is two parts loam, one part leaf- 

 mould, one part peat, and one part silver sand. If large plants 

 are wanted quickly, they should be grown in the coolest part 

 of the stove all winter, where they will have a temperature of 

 55° or 60°, keeping them near the glass. They will require a shift 

 early in February into 8-inch pots, using the same soil, only some- 

 what rougher, with the addition of a little charcoal and half- 

 inch bones. In these pots they will make fine flowering -plants, 

 and yield dense heads of bloom from 18 inches to 2 feet across. If 

 wanted for late autumn blooming, the first flower-spikes must be 

 pinched off as they appear ; these, however, generally yield the finest 

 heads of bloom. After they have been potted, grow them in a tem- 

 perature of 60° during the spring months, bedewing them overhead 

 morning and evening. A slight bottom-heat will materially assist them 

 in making a rapid and vigorous growth, but the latter is by no means 

 indispensable. As they throw up their flower-spikes they should be 

 hardened off, and ultimately placed in a light airy house, when they 

 form beautiful objects amongst autumn flowering-plants. When inter- 

 mixed with a collection of Zonal Geraniums the combination is very 

 pleasing and effective. When the flowering season is past, remove the 

 flower-spikes and winter them in the greenhouse, keeping them rather 

 dry at the root. In spring they will want repotting. Reduce the balls, 

 and pot them in the same sized pots, or in a size larger; but the size of 



