i88i.] DECORATIVE GREENHOUSE PLANTS. 121 



though hardly adapted for the table, but it makes a grand exhibition 

 plant when well grown. 



There are several varieties of Erythrina, mostly from the East 

 and West Indies, Brazil, and South America — the gum-lac of com- 

 merce being obtained from one of the species. The E. Crista-galli, 

 however, is the best known, and, in fact, except in botanical collec- 

 tions, almost the only variety one meets with in general cultivation. 



The Erythrina is propagated by cuttings, either of the ripened 

 stems in autumn, cut into lengths, as is sometimes done in the case of 

 Poinsettia pulcherrima, or of the young shoots in spring, after they 

 have made about 2 inches of growth, taken off with a heel. In either 

 case the cutting should be put into a properly drained pan, half filled 

 with soil, and then filled up with sand. The cuttings, at any rate the 

 young growths, should be covered with a bell-glass, and the pots 

 plunged in a mild hotbed, or other place where a moderate bottom-heat 

 can be obtained. As soon as they have made roots they should be 

 potted off at once, and not delayed until the roots have got too long, 

 else they may get broken off in the handling. The pots used may be 

 about 3-inch ones, and the soil may consist of equal parts of loam and 

 peat, with some old dried cow-dung added, and sufiicient sand to keep 

 it open. Until the young plants get established they should be kept 

 in a temperature of about 60°, and syringed daily on fine days. As 

 the season advances they may be removed to somewhat cooler quarters, 

 and shifted into larger pots as they require it. They come into flower 

 about June and continue flowering a considerable time. After they 

 are done flowering, and in order to get the wood properly ripened, they 

 may be set in a sheltered position out of doors, and exposed to the 

 sun, until the autumn, when they can be cut over and stored away for 

 winter, where they will be safe from frost. They must be kept rather 

 dry during this time, and started again in spring, according to the 

 time they are wanted to flower. They are somewhat subject to the 

 attacks of red-spider, which can be kept under by the use of the 

 syringe. Thus treated, they will be found a welcome addition to our 

 list of flowering greenhouse plants, and will well repay any care 

 bestowed upon them. 



EUPHORBIA JACQUINI^FLORA. 



The above stove-plant is well-known and highly appreciated on 

 account of it flowering from November on throughout the winter 

 months, when its bright flower-wreaths are especially welcome. I 

 desire just now to draw attention to it as a most suitable plant for 

 covering the back wall of stoves, planted out, instead of being grown 

 in pots. Of course it is best to grow in both ways ; but though it is 

 very fine in pots, it cannot for a moment be compared to those planted 

 out and trained to wires on the wall. I have here a fine plant of 

 Bougainvillea glabra, which covers most of the gable of the stove — said 



