THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 235 



is also requisite, and in practice nothing will be found to suit them 

 better than mellow turfy loam three parts, leaf-mould one part, and 

 silver sand half a part. Peat is occasionally recommended, but if 

 loam obtained from the surface of a pasture, and full of fibrous 

 matter, is employed, it is not required. During the winter a light 

 airy greenhouse will be the most preferable ; but at the same time 

 they must not be exposed to very cold draughts, as they are rather 

 .tender, and to subject them to unfavourable influences is by no 

 means desirable, A grand point is to keep them near the glass. 

 Maintain a sweet and dry atmosphere, and supply moderately with 

 •water. They must be kept quite safe from frost, and although it is 

 not desirable to employ more fire-heat than is requisite to keep the 

 frost out and the atmosphere sweet and dry, it may be well to say 

 that a temperature of 45*^ throughout the winter is most conducive 

 to a healthy growth. To state the case briefly, the plants will do 

 exceedingly well if wintered in a light position in the greenhouse, 

 and not exposed to very cold draughts. 



The spring management of the plants consists in stopping and 

 training as may appear requisite, and supplying them with water. 

 Severe stopping is not necessary, for in the ordinary way it will 

 suffice to pinch out the points of the shoots just as the plants begin 

 to move early in the spring ; and even this will not be required if 

 the plants are moderately bushy. Plants in a healthy condition 

 branch freely just as they are coming into bloom, without any stop- 

 ping whatever. The only training required will be to put neat stakes 

 to the principal shoot, to insure a certain degree of uniformity in 

 the specimens. Grreen-fly is the only pest that is likely to attack 

 the plants, but they need occasion no trouble, for fumigating with 

 tobacco will soon make short work of them. 



NEW OENAMENTAL-LEAVED PLANTS. 



BT WILLIAM KEMP. 



IITHIN the last three or four years, so many ornamental- 

 leaved plants have been introduced into cultivation, 

 that an indication of the most beautiful and distinct 

 will perhaps be useful to many readers of the Eloeal 

 WoELD. The majority of the recent introductions 

 possess merit of a high order, but the additions to some of the 

 genera have been so numerous, that for small collections it is 

 needful to make a selection from them. This is especially the case 

 with the Crotons and Dracaenas, for during a very brief period 

 nearly twenty new forms of each have been introduced. Unfortu- 

 nately, by far tlie largest number of recent introductions require a 

 stove temperature for their successful cultivation. 



Two or three new Alocasias have been introduced, but the best 

 of these are : Alocasia illustris, a handsome species in the way of 

 A. Jenningsi, but larger and better coloured ; and A. Sedeni, a fine 



August. 



