108 



THE FLORIST 



profusion. Pot firmly in fibrous peat and a small admixture of sand, 

 and place the plants in a temperature of 55° in the spring ; keep a 

 moist temperature and rather shady till June, after which inure them 

 to light and air ; and as soon as the flower buds are set remove them 

 to the open air for a short time. In the early part of September they 

 will again require greenhouse protection. From this time a few plants 

 should in succession be introduced to a cool part of the stove, where they 

 will furnish a supply of the most beautiful flowers during winter. 



Siphocampi/lus microstoma is a soft-wooded stove plant that deserves 

 more general cultivation, as a succession of its bright scarlet blooms 

 renders it very attractive during the winter months, and flowering as it 

 does at the end of the young wood makes it very desirable for cutting. 

 It strikes freely from the cuttings of the young wood in a slight bottom 

 heat, and if this is done early in the spring they will make nice 

 flowering plants by the following winter. This, like most of the soft- 

 wooded plants, requires plenty of pot room and a liberal supply of liquid 

 manure when growing ; in fact the treatment recommended for the 

 Eranthemum pulchellum in a former number will apply in every 

 respect to this Siphocampylus. 



Justicia speciosa. — This is another winter flowering plant too seldom 

 met with, for although the flowers are of short duration they are 

 produced in .great abundance, and being of a bright rose colour, are 

 very attractive. Little need be said respecting its culture, as the 

 treatment recommended for Justicia carnea will equally suit this. The 

 great point to attend to with most of this tribe of plants is, in the first 

 place to insure a vigorous growth, which must be regulated by frequently 

 stopping in the early part of the season. After this a more free exposure 

 to light and air is wanted, to obtain weli-matured wood, to insure tlieir 

 blooming abundantly, and a liberal supply of water to prevent flagging, 

 which, if allowed, will disfigure the plants, by causing the foliage to 

 turn yellow and fall off; and lastly, to prolong their beauty, a liberal 

 supply of manure water must be given when the pots become filled 

 with roots, and continued throughout the blooming season. 



THE PEACH. 



[Continued from page 73.) 



As the season advances, the young wood must be kept closely tied or 

 nailed to the wall, and after midsummer, should the trees be crowded 

 with more young wood than can be fully exposed to the light, it should 

 be removed. In fact, now is the proper time for performing what 

 pruning or cutting-out the Peach requires ; and therefore the trees 

 should be gone carefully over, and what wood is not required for bearing 

 the following season, or filling up vacant spaces, should be cut away. 

 The wood retained for bearing will thus be more fully exposed to the 

 influence of light, and will become better ripened in consequence, with 

 the fruit-producing buds bolder and more numerous than when the 



