THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 3 



along the rafters, or on chains or wires, in which position they make a 

 magnificent screen to shade caladiums and begonias, and show their 

 flowers to great advantage. In adopting any other method of training, 

 it must be remembered that the blossoms come below the leaves, and 

 hence may really be hidden by the means taken to display them. We 

 have seen beautiful specimens of H. bella so trained that the plant had 

 to be lifted up above the eye, or absolutely inverted, in order to render 

 its blossoms visible, which is to some extent a waste of labour. 



During summer the Hoyas require an average temperature of 65° 

 to 70 . This may be allowed to rise to SO, or even 90 3 , in bright 

 weather, but an extreme temperature is to be avoided. As a rule 

 shading should not be employed; the Hoya delights in sunshine, but if 

 it is needful for the sake of other subjects to shade during mid-day 

 hours in hot weather, it may be done without injury, but constant 

 shading is decidedly objectionable. During winter Hoyas require great 

 care ; damp is very injurious, and they cannot bear any great degree of 

 cold. We know of many fine plants of H. carnosa, bella, and crassi- 

 folia, that are successfully managed in greenhouses, where the tempera- 

 ture never falls below 40' in winter, and that must be consi iered the 

 minimum to keep the plant alive. A safer minimum is 50', and at 

 that temperature they may be wintered with safety, if kept tolerably 

 dry. The roots perish if kept for any length of time in a wet condition, 

 as is generally the case with thick-leaved plants. Hoyas require very 

 little water except when growirrg, and then they may have plenty. 



Propagation. — This is so easy a matter that it may be disposed of in 

 a few words. Take off a few perfect leaves, and cut away the leaf 

 stalks close to the base of the leaves. Lay these to dry two or three 

 days, then fix them like cuttings round the sides of five-inch pots, in 

 half sand and half peat dust, and place the pots on bottom-heat, with 

 very little water. They will soon root, and when the roots have grown 

 sufficiently, pot them singly, and keep them in heat till they form 

 plants, which they will do the first season. A quicker way is to take 

 short cuttings of growing wood, and treat in the same manner. The 

 cuttings need not be covered with bell glasses. 



Species and varieties. — Those already named are the most desirable 

 for ordinary purposes. II. bplla, introduced in 1847, is the most deli- 

 cate and beautiful of all. 3. carnosa, with pinkish-white flowers, in- 

 troduced in 1802, is a great favourite, and deservedly so. Of this 

 species there is an exquisitely beautiful variety, with variegated leaves, 

 called Hoija carnosa foliis variegata, introduced from Ghent in 1S50, 

 and admirably figured in Lowe's " Beantiful-leaved Plants." H. 

 imperialis, scarlet flowers, introduced in 1847, has a fine character, 

 and is truly magnificent, being of vigorous habit, and for covering a 

 wall or roof, a rival of the lovely Lapageria rosea. The other species 

 are atropitrpurea, introduced in 1848, flowers brownish purple; aus- 

 tralis, 18-0, white; cinnamonifolia, 1S47, straw; coriacea, 1838, of 

 diminutive growth, white flowers ; crassifolia, 1817, white ; fusca, 1837, 

 brown ; lacunosa, 1854, of diminutive growth, yellow flowers; ovalijblia, 

 1840, pale pink ; pallida, 1815, white. 



