44 THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



garden soil will do for them. The extreme beauty of this plant 

 entitles it to the most favourable consideration for the decoration 

 of the garden in summer time. 



DAUBENTOXIA. 



This is a fine leguminous shrub, growing six feet high, with 

 pinnated leaves and pea-shaped flowers of a scarlet, vermilion, or 

 orange colour. All the species may be raised from seed without 

 difficulty, but the plants do not flower freely till they acquire some 

 age ; therefore much must not be expected from the first season 

 when raised from seeds. They are usually classed in catalogues as 

 stove shrubs, but it is one more proof of the small j-eliance we cau 

 place upon those would-be authoritative documents, that all the 

 species grow freely in the open ground if planted out at the end of 

 May, and all may be wintered in ordinary greenhouse temperature 

 with perfect safety ; then, of course, they must be kept rather dry. 

 -D. iripetiana, D. puniced, I), magnifica. aud D. versicolor are the best 

 for the purpose of planting out ; and if only one is wanted, the last- 

 named is the handsomest and hardiest. 



« 



CTPEEUS. 



The paper plant of the Egyptians is one of the most distinct and 

 beautiful plants that can be introduced to the English garden. I 

 find that at page 8 of the sixth volume of the Eloeal Woeld 

 there is a capital paper on its cultivation. I have to do with it as 

 suitable for the amateur to raise from seed for the decoration of the 

 garden. Eirst, then, I would say, sow the seeds quickly in a mixture of 

 two parts peat torn, or chopped up to the size of hazel nuts, and mixed 

 with one part of silver sand. Place the pans or pots containing the 

 seeds in larger pans filled with water, and cover the seeds with bell- 

 glasses. Then place on a heat of 70' or 80^', and as soon as the 

 seedling plants spear through, take the bell-glasses off". When the 

 plants are large enough to handle, lift them out with a pointed stick, 

 and pot separately in the same sort of mixture as used for the seed 

 pans, and put them in a heat of 70^ to grow, but gradually cool 

 them as they advance to 60', but not lower. The best way to use 

 any of the species of Cyperus in a private garden is to plunge the 

 plants in pots about one inch deep in the basin of a fountain, or any 

 ornamental water. They must not be put out till the middle oi 

 June, and must be housed again by the middle of JSeptember. Eor 

 so choice, so rare, so lovely a plant, this is surely not too much 

 trouble, except it be for those who can see no beauty in any garden 

 plant except it be a geranium or verbena. 



• C. papyrus grows to nine or ten feet high, but is handsome and 

 effective in a small state. Its exquisite tint of emerald green, and 

 its light form, resembling a head of human hair, are distinguishing 

 points in its character. 



G. alternifoliiis. — The variegated form of this plant is accounted 

 one of the grandest of all the stove plants in cultivation. I shall 

 never forget Mr. Tanton's specimen at the last Guildhall show ; it 

 was worth a crown to see that alone. But the variegated form is too 



