504 THE GARDENER. [Nov. 



jtcople come here, see some arrangements tlicy like, or some particular 

 class of ilowcrs, and forthwith go and cultivate them for themselves. 

 In writing, you want entirely these living illustrations to enforce what 

 you know your readers would otherwise be glad to follow ; and one 

 cannot help feeling that, in consequence, their labour may be in a 

 great measure in vain. 



Allow me to point out, in closing, that the article which Mr Hinds 

 furnished in last month's issue on " SubtropiCals " is very local in its 

 range. We are warmer here than a great portion of Yorkshire and 

 the most northern English counties are, and only one year oat of seven 

 have we found Ricinus make a satisfactory growth. Cannas and Bal- 

 sams are of no use whatever ; Variegated Maize does in good seasons. 

 I imagine the extreme south of England has been kept exclusively in 

 view when he writes of these covering 6 feet of ground in as many 

 weeks. And so with hardy plants, the picture is most certainly over- 

 coloured. In local instances Mr Hinds's experience may be, doubtless, 

 all against these, but we do not find a good selection of these at all a 

 bad thing to have ; and I rather imagine most of the '' too, too " writ- 

 ing about these has been dropped for the past twelve or eighteen 

 months. Hardy plants have a place to fill in gardens, and they are 

 unquestionably filling it, quietly, and without the extinction of other 

 forms of vegetation being ostracised, as one might have expected from 

 the " flare up " there was about them for a few years. 



R. R Brotiierston. 



NOTES ON DECORATIVE GREENHOUSE PLANTS. 



THE ERIOSTEMON. 



The Eriostemons are all natives of New Holland, and are among the 

 finest and best of our hard-wooded greenhouse plants. They are mostly 

 compact-growing evergreen shrubs, and are very free-flowering. The 

 flower-sprays are admirably adapted for arranging in vases. When 

 of the proper size, they make capital dinner -table plants, and a 

 good well-grown specimen is a very telling object on the exhibition- 

 table. They are purely greenhouse plants, and if a proper selec- 

 tion of varieties be made, may be had in flower from February till 

 October : such kinds as E. neriifolius and densifolius, coming into 

 bloom in February ; E. buxifolius and E. linia^rifolius bloom from 

 March till June ; E. myoporoides from May till September, and E. 

 cuspidatus from May till October. These are among the best of the 

 genus. They should be grown in good fibry peat, with a little 

 turfy loam and a good proportion of sharp sand incorporated with it. 

 They will not stand much artificial heat, and they should be kept 

 moderately dry during winter, as a damp atmospl ere or over-watering 

 is very injurious to them. 



