THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



281 



is a native of the West Coast of Africa. It 

 is a pretty subject to train to some kind of 

 low trellis for flowering in the conserva- 

 tory, and makes a pretty ornament to a 

 mixed border during the summer. 



Nerine samiensis. — The Guernsey lily 

 conies to market with the flower just ready 

 to push out of the bulb, and should be 

 potted as soon as obtained, as the bulbs are 

 much injured by exposure to the air for 

 any length of time. By keeping them cool 

 after potting, and bringing a few forward 

 at a time, a succession may ba had from 

 the middle of September to the end of 

 November. All the Norines delight in a 

 strong loam ; .in light or peaty mixtures 

 they do no good at all. After flowering, 

 promote a vigorous leaf-growth in a moist 

 heat till about April, when the leaves 

 begin to die down ; then lay the pots on 

 their sides on a top shelf in a greenhouse, 

 and leave them without water till Sep- 

 tember, when shake them out, and pot 

 again in fresh soil. Managed in this way, 

 they will bloom again and again ; by any 

 other method of management there must 

 be a fresh purchase of bulbs every year. 



Othonna virginea. — An evergreen 

 greenhouse asteraceous plant, with yellow 

 aster-like flowers and woolly leaves. Best 

 propagated from cuttings. Soil, two parts 

 sandy loam, one part peat. Keep warm all 

 winter. 



Passijlora ColoU'd and racemosa, — 

 These are stove species which do very well 

 in the greenhouse under some circum- 

 stances, but must not be classed as green- 

 house plants. The second we once grew in 

 a lean-to which occupied the place where 

 a ditch had formerly existed, and was a 

 remarkably hot and damp house, having a 

 back wall of double boards, with three 

 inches of sawdust between, and facing full 

 south. It ran twenty-five feet, and bloomed 

 from the end of June to Christmas, with 

 the help of fire after the middle of October. 

 A broad, deep, dry border of turfy loam, 

 made light with plenty of gritty leaf- 

 mould. 



Pleromi elegans. — This fiue evergreen 

 greenhouse shrub is now in full beauty, and 

 most acceptable at a season when there 



are so few stove plants in flower. To grow 

 this plant, strike cuttings of half-ripe side- 

 shoots in July, with a gentle bottom-heat; 

 pot off in fibry peat broken up in lumps, 

 with nodules of charcoal and small crocks, 

 putting some fine sandy peat next the roots 

 of the young plant. Always give extra 

 drainage and small shifts. It is usually 

 grown in the stove, which is unkind treat- 

 ment; it is at home in the greenhouse. 



Silvia splendens may be kept in bloom 

 till the end of the year or later, in a good 

 greenhouse temperature. It must have all 

 the light possible, and plants of any size 

 in smallish pots may be helped with liquid 

 manure. It is one of the best for autumn 

 and winter flowering, and should now, or 

 very soon, be one blaze of scarlet. 



Sotanum Tweedianum. — A fine green- 

 house species, with white and purple blos- 

 soms, easily grown, and propagated by 

 either seeds or cuttings. 



Station Holfordii. — This is one of the 

 grandest of the race for specimen culture, 

 and is a fine subject for exhibition. It is 

 very nearly hardy, and needs the same 

 treatment as the rest of the greenhouse 

 species. 



Slenochilus viseosus. — A pretty ever- 

 green shrub from New Holland, requiring 

 warm greenhouse temperature all winter, 

 and the usual treatment of plants from the 

 same country. The yellow flowers are 

 not showy, but worth having, and the 

 plant has a character of its own. 



Tacsonia mollisima. — To keep this in 

 bloom, use a little fire-heat now, and keep 

 the house dry. 



Thea Bohea. — A nearly hardy species 

 oftea-plaut, more interesting than beau- 

 tiful, hut worth a place in a large con- 

 servatory, where it can be planted out in 

 a] deep border of turfy peat and loam. 

 Treat the same as camellia, and the 

 camellia house is the best place for it. It 

 does not flower freely till it attains some 

 age. 



Vinca pusilla. — A small species with 

 blue flowers. It begins to bloom in Au- 

 gust, and lasts some weeks. It is a stove 

 annual, easily grown, and njver disap- 

 points. 



TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



Male Aucuba, etc. — A. B.— The reason 

 we have never seen berries on the 

 aucubas in our gardens is, that they 

 are all females, and that until lately the 

 male plant was not known here. Since 



the introduction of the male plant by 

 Mr. Fortune, female plants have been 

 fertilized by its pollen, and the rafo 

 tight has been produced of variegated 

 aucubas covere 1 with scarlet berries. 



