348 THE GARDENER. [Aug. 



stronger the top is when it is cut over, the finer will be the floral bract 

 — that is, assuming that the cuttings are judiciously managed during 

 the rooting period. The only difficulty in this system of raising dwarf 

 plants is in retaining the foliage during the rooting process. If the 

 tops are strong and vigorous, the leaves are naturally so too, and are 

 liable to fall off immediately if they are exposed to the sun only for a 

 moment, or if they are kept in a low, dry temperature. The practice 

 we adopt is to have a warm bed prepared beforehand, and to insert the 

 cuttings either in small 60-sized pots or into 4-inch pots at once. If 

 the former course is adopted, the cuttings are inserted at the sides of 

 the pots, in an open mixture of leaf-mould and sand, and plunged at 

 once into bottom-heat, and kept well shaded and syringed until they 

 are nicely rooted, when they are shifted into 4 or 5 inch pots, giving 

 them a strong compost, and shading them for a few days longer to 

 make certain against checks. 



If the cuttings are put into 4-inch pots and intended to remain, the 

 pots are filled with a rich, generous soil ; and in putting in the cuttings 

 a layer of sand is put at the base of each, to encourage and expedite 

 the emission of roots, which soon takes place at this season. 



After the plants are fairly rooted, they still require careful attention 

 in the way of shading, syringing, and watering, should the weather 

 continue as fickle as it is at present. 



They should afterwards be kept on a shelf near the glass, in a tem- 

 perature not lower than from 55° to 60°, until they begin to show their 

 floral bracts, when they will be considerably improved by plunging 

 them in a bottom-heat of from 75° to 80°, and watered with liquid- 

 manure occasionally. Two years ago we were very successful in raising 

 a large batch of these plants, with bracts varying from 12 to 16 inches 

 in diameter, which rendered us good service in a variety of ways dur- 

 ing the winter. Cultivator. 



STOVE-CLIMBERS. 



Stephanotis floribunda. 



Amongst sweet-scented flowering-plants the Stephanotis still holds a 

 prominent position, whether for the embellishment of ladies' hair or for 

 bouquet-making ; and as a plant for the exhibition-stage it has no equal. 

 Its pure waxy-white flowers, and the fragrant perfume they possess, 

 render it an attractive object in whatever way its ever-welcome flowers 

 are used. 



The Stephanotis is very free-flowering when under good cultivation, 

 and deserves to be grown in every garden of any pretension. An 

 erroneous idea is, however, entertained by some growers that this 

 plant requires a strong moist heat to grow well and to produce flowers 

 of first-rate quality. Under such cultivation the plant will grow with 



