i88i.] DECORATIVE GREENHOUSE PLANTS. 119 



is over, the surface of the border should be broken up an inch or two 

 with a fork, and if the soil has subsided below what is the intended 

 floor-level, more soil should be added. This soil should contain an 

 extra allowance of manure and bones, for the roots of Vines travel to- 

 wards where their food is, and it is highly desirable to attract them 

 to, and to keep them at, the surface. Over all, a few inches of 

 decayed manure should be placed, and this should be kept always 

 moist, so that, when waterings are given, its manurial matter may be 

 washed into the border. Its continual moisture will be an attraction 

 to the roots besides. When this is done you will be ready for another 

 year's start. J. H. 



{To he continued.) 



NOTES ON DECORATIVE GREENHOUSE PLANTS. 



LUCCTLIA GRATISSIMA AND L. PINCEANA. 



Why is it that one so seldom sees these fine plants in cultivation 1 Even 

 in many large places where ample accommodation and suitable posi- 

 tions could easily be found for them, they are rarely met with. A 

 well-grown and well-fiowered plant of either variety, but especially of 

 gratissima, is a sight not easily forgotten, and only requires to be seen 

 to be appreciated : the deliciously sweet perfume, and delicate shades 

 of the flowers, are all that one could desire in a flower. The plant 

 is of rather a straggling habit to be effective as a pot-plant for house 

 or table work, but is very effective thus grown for conservatory 

 decoration. The position most suited to it is against the back wall 

 of the conservatory ; and planted out in a suitably prepared border, it 

 is here quite at home, and will be a most welcome addition to flower- 

 ing-plants used for this purpose. The flowers are of a reddish-pink 

 colour, and are borne in clusters on the points of the young shoots, so 

 that in adapting it as a wall -plant, it should be trained up in the 

 usual way to cover the space allotted to it, and the young lateral 

 shoots encouraged to make growth, which, after flowering, should be 

 spurred back. It is not at all a difiicult plant to cultivate — rather the 

 reverse, in fact — so that it cannot be on that account it is so seldom 

 met with. It is a native of Nepaul. 



The Luculia is propagated by cuttings of the half-ripened wood, which 

 should be put in during the month of June. The pan for the cuttings 

 should be well drained, and filled three parts full of peat and sharp 

 sand, and the remaining part with pure silver sand, in which the cut- 

 tings should be inserted so that the base may just rest on the peat and 

 sand without entering it. Cover with a bell-glass and set the pan in a 

 close pit, where a gentle bottom-heat can be maintained. When they 

 have made roots, shake them out carefully and pot them up singly in 

 3-inch pots, using a mixture of equal parts of good turfy loam and peat, 



