238 THE FLOEAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



must be rendered by giving as much air as possible, keeping the roots 

 nearly dry, keeping the house cool, and protecting by means of fire only 

 sufiicient to keep out frost, and occasionally dispel damp. If the soil in 

 the pot has got at all pasty, remove the top surface to the depth of an 

 inch or more, and replace it with clean silver sand. This will prevent 

 any fogging at the collar. 



Management for Blooming. — The cultivator will have to be very 

 cautious that the plant is not induced to commence growth too early in. 

 the spring. It must have very little water till it has made a fair start, 

 but after that it may have plenty ; and as it advances into bloom the 

 growth must be carefully trained, the leaves must be frequently syringed, 

 and it must have further aid from weak manure water. When in bloom 

 it will repay all the care that has been bestowed upon it ; a fine specimen is 

 one of the grandest sights possible among flowering plants, and Clianthus 

 Dampieri may fairly rank next to the most lovely exotic orchids in 

 point of beauty and interest. The flowers come in large drooping 

 clusters, they are truly papilionaceous but extravagant in outline. The 

 standard or vexillum, in common with the other parts of the flower, is an 

 intensely vivid crimson colour, but has a deep black blotch on its lower 

 part, the wings are narrow and in shape like elephant's tusks, and the 

 keel is prolonged and crescent- shaped, and about the same length below 

 as the standard is above. On a well-grown plant the flowers will 

 measure four and a half inches in length from the summit of the standard to 

 the termination of the keel. Clianthus Dampieri, like its predecessor 

 puniceus, is regarded as a perennial, and that no doubt correctly. But 

 the finest specimen ever exhibited, and Avhich was grown by Messrs. E, 

 G. Henderson, of St. John's "Wood, perished after its first season of bloom, 

 after having created a sensation among the admirers of fine plants as an 

 extraordinarily splendid object for several months in succession. 



Enemies. — All the species of Clianthus are subject to attacks of thrips 

 and red spider. It is for this reason chiefly we recommend the free use 

 of the syringe as the plant is advancing into bloom, and after the bloom is 

 over. The only way to prevent attacks of these vermin is to grow the 

 plants quickly, they are then not likely to be troubled. But if the cul- 

 tivator finds it impossible to prevent red spider, our advice is, burn the old 

 plants as soon as they have flowered, and keep up an annual succession of 

 plants from seed. 



EOSE GOSSIP.— No. Y. 



SHOWS FEOM AK AMATETJK POINT OP VIEW. 



Theee are two methods of writing 

 upon any subject. The one is to state 

 opinions and information in practical 

 and appropriate language, and to 

 throw out suggestions for the consi- 

 deration of others in a frank and 

 kindly spirit. The other is to put 

 forth ideas as original in long-winded 

 phraseology, ideas that have appeared 



before, and in grandiloquent terms 

 to announce as discoveries principles 

 which the veriest tyro would be 

 ashamed not to know. It is easy to 

 decide to which of these two systems 

 a communication upon Eoses, signed 

 " G. S.," may be properly referred. 

 The substance of that paper has not 

 only appeared many times in the 



