550 THE GARDENER. [Dec. 



lack of it, else they will soon be visited by their two great enemies — 

 spider and thrips. On the other hand, care must be taken that they 

 are not over-watered, so as to render the soil sour or sodden, else they 

 will soon get into bad health ; and, like many other plants, it is easier 

 to put them into this state than to resuscitate them when once they 

 have fallen into ill health. An ordinary greenhouse is the best place 

 in which to winter them. They must be kept gently on the move, not 

 allowed to rest by allowing them to become dry; but water may be more 

 sparingly applied during the dull winter months, and fresh air admitted 

 on every favourable opportunity. During the second and succeeding 

 years, if large plants are wanted, they must be encouraged as much as 

 possible. They will be ready for a shift into 8- or 9-inch pots early 

 in February. A liberal allowance of old cow-dung may be mixed 

 with the soil, and a layer of it put over the crocks. Continue to shift 

 them as they require it, and in potting press the soil pretty firmly 

 about the ball. 



Unless for very large specimens, 11- or 12-inch pots are large 

 enough for handling, and a good large plant can be grown in this size 

 of pot. The stamina of the plants must be kept up by surface-dress- 

 ings of old cow manure and waterings of liquid manure. Of course 

 these need not be applied until the pots are well filled with roots ; and 

 with care and proper attention, plants may be kept in good health in 

 these same pots for many years. It is not absolutely essential that 

 peat should form the chief part of the compost, as they will thrive 

 equally well in loam, provided it be good and have plenty of fibre in 

 it. A few pieces of charcoal will be an advantage in helping to keep 

 the soil open and sweet. Always make sure that the drainage is in 

 good working order and the plants kept clean. These remarks have 

 been confined to the Statice profusa, but they apply equally to the 

 other varieties. It is seldom, however, that we see more than it and 

 Holfordii grown. J. G. 



NOTES FROM THE PAPERS. 



Your highly respectable contemporary, the Irish 'Gardeners' Record,' we 

 would recommend to the attentive perusal of the horticultural press generally 

 — it is worth watching. It is difficult to feel anything but commiseration and 

 sympathy for a journal that has to pack its pages promiscuously with para- 

 graphs about such subjects as "Holloway's Pills," which, the 'Record ' states, 

 in a chatty way, " are as mild as they are efficacious." This statement is not 

 given as an advertisement, and so we expect its editor has tried them. There 

 is no harm, of course, in a grateful acknowledgment of this kind; but it is different 

 when the ' Record ' appropriates whole chapters from its contemporaries without 

 acknowledgment, simply because it appreciates them as it does the pills. We 

 observe that it has transferred that chapter of the " Squire's Gardener's " on 

 " Mixed Flower-Gardening," from ' The Gardener' to its own pages without so 

 much as " By 'r leave, sir." Robbing the ample stores of 'The Gardener' is 



