i88i.] DECORATIVE GREENHOUSE PLANTS. 453 



and robust top-growth the result is very different. It is not easy to 

 say how often liquid manure should be given, so much depends on the 

 state of the roots, the kind of plants, and the weather. In warm, dry 

 weather, when watering must be done often, liquid may sometimes be 

 given every other day; but when growth is going on slowly, once 

 a-week or so is often enough to use manure ; and it will generally be 

 found safest to be very careful with it until the plants have passed 

 their soft growth, and are on the way of gaining maturity. 



J. MuiR. 



Marqam. 



NOTES ON DECORATIVE GREENHOUSE PLANTS. 



THE BORONIA. 



The Boronias are a genus of plants some of which should be in every 

 collection. They are very free - flowering and sweet-scented, and 

 besides being useful for cutting and general house and conser- 

 vatory decoration, are among the best of exhibition plants. They 

 are not now nearly so much grown as they formerly used to be, and 

 as their merits deserve. B. serrulata especially, makes a splendid 

 specimen when well grown, but it takes a deal of care and attention 

 to maintain it in good health, as it has a habit of going off in the most 

 unaccountable manner, and therefore requires constant watchfulness in 

 .the way of watering, &c. 



The Boronia is a native of the Australian continent. The soil best 

 adapted to its wants should consist of fine fibry peat and a good 

 portion of sharp sand, with some small pieces of charcoal incorporated 

 therewith. Though the Boronias are greenhouse plants, they are very 

 much benefited by getting a little extra heat in spring, just when 

 growth commences, and until they have fairly started into growth, 

 when they may be gradually introduced to the cooler temperature of 

 the greenhouse. They are propagated by cuttings of the half-ripened 

 wood, which should be inserted in pure silver sand in a properly 

 prepared pot, and covered with a bell-glass. They are somewhat liable 

 to damp off, and therefore, to reduce the chance of this to a minimum, 

 the bell-glass should be taken off and wiped dry inside every day. 

 As soon as the cuttings have made roots, they must be potted up 

 singly into thumb-pots, and kept growing on in a mild heat. They 

 will require to be kept close and shaded for a time, until they start 

 into fresh growth, when the shading may be discontinued, and a 

 little air given on favourable opportunities. The aim at first should 

 be to get nice stocky plants, and therefore pinching the points of the 

 shoots must be resorted to, whenever they have made sufficient growth 

 to admit of it. When the small pots have got filled with roots, they 

 must be shifted into larger pots. The shifts, however, should never 

 be large, as it is a very fine-rooted plant, because if large shifts 



