114 THE FLORIST. 



given four or five times a week in the afternoon ; this will add vigour 

 to the leaves, and keep down red spider. If the wood on the 

 lower half at least of the Vine has not assumed a brown tinge by the 

 middle of August, slight fires should be put on in the afternoon of dull 

 days, and in the morning too, if the days are likely to be wet, or sun- 

 less ; allowing air to remain on at the same time (for never when you 

 want to ripen wood shut your house up after applying fire heat). With 

 the exception of the use of syringes, which now can be dispensed with, 

 no watering should be permitted in the house, or as little as can be 

 helped ; plenty of light and air, moderate heat by day, accompanied by 

 dryness and a cool night temperature, are all that is requisite for the 

 present. Some time in October the leaves will turn to a brown yellow, or 

 red colour (according to the kind of Vine) ; this will take place gradually, 

 and it should now be noticed whether the wood has become brown (or 

 ripe) to the topmost leaf, if not, continue fire heat by day till such is 

 the case ; the leaves should be allowed to drop of themselves, at any 

 rate do not remove them unless they fall easily on being touched. 

 Winter will now be approaching, and as the Vine's duties are over 

 for the season, no further care will be required ; the house may have 

 full air on night and day, except in very severe frost, and unless it is 

 made use of for other purposes, such as keeping half hardy plants or 

 vegetables. The mode of protecting the roots will be noticed in our 

 next. 



NOTES FROM KEW. 



Dendrobium speciosum. a variety of his showy flowering Deiiclrobe is at 

 present flowering here, in the cool Orchid house ; the stems are narrower and 

 more slender tlian the usual form of the plant : they are fifteen inches long, 

 and nearly the same thickness throughout ; from the apices of each are one 

 or two pendulous racemes of flowers, some of them measuring twenty inches 

 in length. It is but a small specimen, yet has twelve ]arge racemes of flowers 

 on, all well expanded. It was introduced to Kew some three or four years ago, 

 from New Holland. 



Gloxinia argyroneura splendens. This is a truly beautiful variety, and 

 Avill be found a valuable addition to this succulent tribe of plants, more especially 

 as variegated-leaved plants are at the present crisis very much sought after. 

 It is an exceedingly attractive variety, the leaves are of a good moderate size, 

 reddish beneath, dark green above, with the midrib and all the primary 

 nerves having a bar of white on them ; the flowers are blue, with white inside 

 the throat. As regards its cultivation, pot it in a light compost of sand, leaf- 

 mould, and peat, keep it in a humid atmosphere while growing, water very 

 sparingly at the root, or else it will soon damp off; it is a safe rule always, 

 more especially with succulent plants, to under-pot rather than over-pot 

 them ; in the latter case, if they become once saturated with moisture, they 

 will never thrive well, and unless they can be quickly dried, they will not 

 endure it long. 



DiPORiDiUM ARBOREUM. This is a very handsome flowering, hard-wooded 

 evergreen shrub from South Africa, not common in collections, though it 

 has been in cultivation at Kew for a number of years past. It is one of the 

 showiest things for winter and early spring, flowering, as it does, as copiously 

 as the Cherry or common Thorn ; the flowers are produced in clusters on 



