128 THE FLOEAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE 



Eucharis amazonica, not flowering. — X. Y. Z. — The Eucharis requires a 

 stove temperature to grow and flower it properly. The portion of plant inclosed is 

 from Epiphyllum truncatum, which also reqnires a stove. You will do no good 

 with either in a greenhouse. One of Miss Maling's " Indoor Plant Cases" would 

 answer admirably for striking a few cuttings. 



Pruning " own root" Roses. — A. M., Brampton Brian. — Cut the strong 

 shoots back to three or four buds. Never mind their having pushed the top buds. 

 There will be less likelihood of the bottom buds not yet started being injured by 

 spring frost. The pressure on our time will not permit us to answer any inquiries 

 through the post. 



Propagating Aucubas. — A Subscriber. — The male aucuba can be propagated 

 by grafting on the common one. It should be done at once. Tongue grafting is 

 the best. "We prefer cuttings. Take them off with a small heel if practicable, and 

 insert firmly in a rather shady border some time through July or August. The 

 holly can also be grafted. It is Ilex aquifolium fructo-luteo. 



Ornamental Foliage Plants for Greenhouse. — C. G. M., Rochdale. — The 

 great bulk of fine foliage plants either require a stove or are at rest during the 

 winter, more particularly those with variegated leaves. The following twelve are 

 amongst the best : — Aralia Sieboldi variegata, Arundo donax variegata, Aspi- 

 distra lurida variegata, Chamcerops Fortunei, Cordyline indivisa, Draccena aus- 

 tralis, Echeveria metallica, Lomatia ferruginea, Phormium tenax variegatum, 

 Seaforthia elegans, Veronica Andersoni variegata, Yucca aloifolia variegata. 

 Procure the lilies at once. You will find all the information needed in last month's 

 number. 



Hyacinths. — A Subscriber, — As you have treated your bulbs in exactly the 

 same way as last year, we fancy they must have been defective in quality. Soft, 

 badly-ripened bulbs seldom throw good spikes. Forcing too fast, or before the 

 bulbs are nicely rooted, will account for the flower-spikes not rising above the 

 foliage. Weak manure water occasionally will be of great assistance to the bulbs 

 after they have filled the pots with roots. There can be little doubt that your bulbs 

 are not quite so good as formerly. 



White Lilies. — A Little One. — You will not be able to have a succession of 

 the above from April to September out of doors, but by planting the white sorts 

 recommended by us in the last number, you can have them in June and two following 

 months. You can purchase L. candidum and L. longijlorum for three or four shillings 

 per dozen, L. eximeum for about nine shillings. We do not undertake to speak 

 positively about the prices of anything in the plant way. Prices vary at different 

 houses, and according to quality. " Paxton's Botanical Dictionary," 25s., and 

 " Grindon's Manual of Plants," published by Pitman at 4s., would be the best books 

 for you, though the descriptions are not quite so full as you appear to require. To 

 speak the plain truth, there is not in existence a garden plant book thoroughly 

 well adapted to the wants of amateurs. 



Spir.'EA palmata. — Colonel Harcourt and others. — We were not aware when 

 penning our notes on Spirreas, that this glorious plant had as yet found a place in any 

 trade collection ; but we now learn that Mr. Noble, nurseryman, Sunningdale, near 

 Bagshot, Surrey, has it. We have seen the plant once only, and that was at one of 

 the Eoyal Horticultural Society's exhibitions last summer. We know not if Mr. 

 Noble has any stock, or is as yet prepared to sell. The shortest way for any of our 

 friends who hunger for the plant, will be to write to Mr. Noble on the subject. It is 

 unquestionably one of the grandest hardy herbaceous plants at present known. 



Stony Ground and Shady Border. — R. G. — The mad freak of sifting all the 

 soil of a garden was first recommended in " Chambers's Information for the People," 

 a work which is lamentably deficient in its treatment of subjects requiring practical 

 knowledge, though admirable in many respects as a mere compilation. Have the 

 soil of the garden well dug and manured, and as to the stones, be content to rake off 

 large ones, and leave little ones alone. To remove all the stones from a piece of 

 ground (happily a thing next to impossible) would do no good, but positive harm, 

 for the soil would become a paste, and nothing would grow in it. You might grow 

 under the shade of the lime trees a collection of varieties of Primroses, Polyanthuses, 

 Veronica spicata, Lysimachia thyrsiflora, (Enothera Fraseri, Solomon's Seal (this 

 attains marvellous perfection in the deepest shade of trees), most of the Aconites and 

 Delphiniums, common Christmas Rose, and all the large-growing species of British 

 Ferns. 



