THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 329 



a place in this selection. It has one drawback, it requires a stove 

 temperature ; so that it can only be cultivated where the conve- 

 niences of a stove exist. It however is sufficiently hardy in con- 

 stitution to admit of its being employed in indoor decoration without 

 injury. The readiest way of increasing the stock is by seed. The 

 berries should be gathered when full ripe, and laid in silver sand for 

 some time previous to sowing. A brisk temperature and a mild bottom- 

 heat will be of material service in assisting the seed to vegetate quickly; 

 but bottom-heat is not essential to the germination of the seed. 

 The plants should be grown in rather small and thoroughly-drained 

 pots, and at all times be kept in a light position near the »lass. 

 A compost prepared by well incorporating together two parts fibry 

 peat and one part turfy loam, and sufficient sand to make the soil 

 feel gritty, will suit them admirably. 



Rivina. — The graceful and easily-grown R. humilis is probably 

 one of the most useful of its class for the decoration of the dinner- 

 table ; its bright green leafage and pendant racemes of deep red coral- 

 like berries combine to render it unusually attractive. Standard 

 plants are very interesting, and are readily produced by training up 

 a single stem, and pinching out the terminal point to cause the pro- 

 duction of side-shoots, which soon make their appearance afterwards. 

 Bushy specimens are also effective, and very readily produced. The 

 system adopted here — which is certainly very simple — is to put 

 seven or eight seedling plants, when about one inch in height, in a 

 three-inch pot. When well-established, the points of the shoots are 

 nipped out, and as soon as the laterals which push from the main 

 stem have from four to six joints each, the points of these also must 

 be nipped out, and the plants, without being divided, transferred to 

 five-inch pots. They should then be placed in a light position in 

 the stove or intermediate house. Equal parts loam, leaf-mould, 

 peat, and well-decomposed cow manure form a compost most 

 conducive to a healthy development of foliage and a plentiful crop 

 of berries. This useful subject can be most readily raised from 

 seed, which should be sown early in the spring, when fully matured. 



Seimmia. — The pretty 8. Jajjonica can be heartily recommended 

 for table-decoration, as much for its great beauty as for its perfect 

 hardiness. It is neat and compact in growth and effective in appear- 

 ance. When covered — as the plants usually are in the early part of 

 the summer — with their white flowers, they are very pretty, but 

 when loaded with large clusters of brilliant vermilion berries during 

 the winter, the effect produced by a well-developed specimen can 

 be better imagined than described. 8. oblata is readily distin- 

 guished from 8. Japomca by the depression at the end of the berries, 

 and it is far less desirable. They are propagated by seed, which 

 should be sown in the early part of the summer, in pans, which can 

 be placed either in a cold frame or in heat until the young plants 

 appear, when they must be removed to a lower temperature, such as 

 that of a cold frame. A moderately rich and open compost is neces- 

 sary to the production of healthy plants, and the pots should be 

 plunged during the summer months in the open border, and the 

 plants not allowed to suffer for the want of moisture at the roots. 



