320 THE GARDENER. [July 



good substitute. After this shift, any of the shoots that are likely to 

 tike the lead should have their points pinched out, to encourage 

 lateral growths. This may be done up to the end of September or 

 beginning of October, when it must be discontinued till the following 

 spring. The greenhouse or Melon-house will be a suitable place to 

 winter them in ; and great care must be taken in watering them dur- 

 ing the dull dark months of winter, giving just enough to keep them 

 in a sweet healthy condition, and by no means practise the drying-off 

 process, or they will shrivel and lose a lot of their bottom leaves, which 

 spoils the look of the plants, besides injuring their constitution. 



By February they will begin to grow, and if desirable can be encour- 

 aged with a little heat, and by the middle or end of March they will 

 require another good shift, when the shoots should be nicely regulated 

 and tied out to neat stakes. They will now need plenty of water, with a 

 little liquid manure occasionally in a very weak state ; and if desirable 

 they can be gradually hardened off and stood out of doors in the open 

 air during the summer months. The next shift will be into their 

 flowering pots, which must not be deferred till too late in the season ; 

 and the plants must also be housed in good time, although we have 

 invariably noticed the colour come much finer and brighter when 

 allowed to partially open their flowers in the full sun out of doors. At 

 the same time they must not be allowed to get wet, or the quality of 

 the flowers will be injured ; and when under cover, the flowering period 

 can be greatly prolonged by a slight shade. There are a great many 

 varieties of this elegant genus, but for general decorative purposes 

 the old coccinea stands unrivalled. A. few cuttings struck and growm 

 on annually will keep up a better succession of bloom than troubling 

 with the old plants after they have flowered ; and we would strongly 

 •recommend them to all lovers of greenhouse flowering-plants. 



DUNDONIAN. 



PYEUS MAULEII. 

 Apart from the great beauty of its flowers and fruit when cultivated 

 in ordinary circumstances, our experience of this splendid novelty 

 during the past sjDring warrants us in believing that it will soon 

 become one of the most popular of forcing shrubs. We saw plants 

 of about a foot high, potted in G-inch pots, and introduced in the 

 beginning of the year into gentle heat, with from eighteen to twenty- 

 five of their brilliant yellowish - crimson flowers, fully expanded in 

 the beginning of March. These, as may be imagined, were very much 

 admired, and formed quite a feature among the other flowering-plants 

 with which they were associated in the greenhouse. Have any of the 

 other readers of ' The Gardener ' tried it for this purpose 1 



Omega. 



