110 



THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



the blooms, we must conform o custom, 

 and remind the gardener to perform the 

 operation about midday in bright weather; 

 but we begin to believe it a most unneces- 

 sary trouble. We have had fine crops of 

 melons on a border of a lean-to, and did 

 not set artificially a single blossom. We 

 left it to the bees, and they worked with 

 vigour amongst them. 



Pansies. — This is a good time to strike 

 cuttings for a good autumn bloom, and to 

 secure pot plants of choice kinds to keep 

 over winter for spring cuttings. The side- 

 shoots and very young tops of the leaders 

 root quickest, and make the best plants. 

 Old stems that are hollow should never be 

 used, unless the case is one of desperate 

 necessity. Florists' pansies are generally 

 grown in too light a compost, and hence 

 there is often a lack of substance in va- 

 rieties which in a firm soil are as stout as 

 cardboard. Seed sown now will bloom in 

 ten weeks, and afford plenty of time to 

 prove them, and secure a few cuttings of 

 the best. 



Pines to be shaded as little as possible, 

 except those lately potted. Give plenty of 

 air and plenty of water. Keep a brisk 

 heat to succession plants. 



Pines for fruiting in autumn to have a 

 bottom-heat of 90° by day, and 75' by 

 night, with abundant moisture. Plants 

 throwing up suckers to have liquid m inure 

 and evrry necessary attention. In too 

 many instances they are neglected at this 

 stage of their growth, and the consequence 

 is, that stock has been raised from poor 

 weak suckers, instead of the strongest that 

 the plants can make. 



Greenhouse Plants in Flower. — 

 Andromeda floiiburida, and puloeru- 

 lenta.— The first of these is well known as 

 a charming white-flowering shrub for the 

 conservatory, requiring the treatment of a 

 heath, but ten time^ r.s much water. The 

 other is of diffuse habit, bold shining 

 foliage, and the flowers in large bunches 

 of snow white, also fond of moisture, and 

 the soil turfy peat or silky yellow loam. 



Aotus incema. — The pretty little shrubs 

 of this genus require the usual treatment 

 of New Holland plants, and do not pro- 

 duce their leguminous blossoms freely, 

 unless generously dealt with as to tempe- 

 rature all winter. A. gracilis, lanigera, 

 incana, and villosa are the best of them. 



Cytisus nubigenus, and laniger, are 

 two useful yellow-flowered shrubs, for cool 

 stove or greenhouse. The first forms a fine 

 bush, six feet high, and is a fine object 

 when in bloom; it requires warmth as it 

 is a native of Teneriffe. The other is 

 ne arly hardy, and there is a strong grow- 



ing 'variety of it called rigidus, which is 

 useful for specimen culture. 



Chorozema Hugelii, Uenchmanni, and 

 macrophylla, are first-rate for spring 

 bloom. For culture see former notices. 



Cterodendron tomentosum. — One of the 

 best greenhouse kinds, requiring warmth 

 to bring it into bloom, and to be kept 

 rather dry all winter. Soil, peat, loam, 

 dry cow-dung, and a little charcoal. 



IScJtium giganteum is a greenhouse 

 shrub of the class of Borageworts, from 

 the Canary Islands. It requires ordinary 

 greenhouse treatment. Soil, peat and 

 loam ; plenty of air when growing. It 

 may be got up to ten feet high if needful ; 

 but moderate sized plants bloom freely, if 

 the wood was well ripened the previous 

 year. The blossoms are white. 



Echium petrcenm. — This beautiful blue- 

 flowering bugloss is worthy of a place in 

 every greenhouse for the vivid hue of its 

 early flowers. It is quite hardy, but if 

 grown in pots takes heat kindly, and likes 

 a little peat and old mortar. 



Hindsia alba and violacen. — These 

 pretty cinchonads from Brazil require only 

 good greenhouse treatment in heath soil, 

 and to be managed the same as Epacris. 

 They will be found useful to give variety 

 and interest among more showy occupants 

 of the front stage. 



Datura Waymannii. — The best of the 

 small greenhouse evergreen Daturas ; it 

 grows to a height of two and a half feet, 

 and forms a nice specimen if kept clean 

 and in free growth early in the year. The 

 flowers are white and purple, and abun- 

 dantly produced. 



Nerium oleander is often seen in a bad 

 state, many cultivators forgetting that it 

 is an aquatic. Mr. Layard describes it as 

 fringing some of the mountain streams of 

 Armenia and Kurdistan, as os ; ers do in 

 this country. Moist bottom-heat and 

 plenty of water are the chief requisites to 

 the production of fine blooms, and without 

 warmth and moisture it never can come to 

 any good. 



PteJea pinnata. — A handsome green^ 

 house shrubby trefoil, belonging to the 

 natural order Xanthoxyls. It is nearly 

 hardy, and requires same treatment as 

 heaths, plenty of air, and merely to be pro- 

 tected from frost. Sandy loam and peat 

 is the right mixture for it, and cuttings 

 may be rooted at almost any time in sand, 

 with moderate bottom-heat. 



Sempervivum cmeutum, now in bloom, 

 is a pretty succulent, flowers yellow and 

 blood-red, requiring the ordinary treat- 

 ment of its class. 



Struthiola ovata, — A pretty shrub of 



