460 THE GARDENER. [Oct. 



PLANTS SUITABLE TOR TABLE DECORATION. 



CROTONS, COLEUS, AND CALADIUM ARGYRITES. 



Those who have never seen a dinner-table adorned with the foregoing 

 plants can scarcely form a right idea of their exceeding loveliness, 

 while those who have seen them will look upon them as old friends not 

 to be discarded. Whether all seen on the table at one time or in 

 company with other plants, or each variety separate with Epergnes and 

 suchlike things, they cannot but give satisfaction to the beholder. 

 Moreover, they have this to recommend them — they are easy to grow, 

 and their colour is never better than when they are fairly established 

 in small pots, and they will remain in good condition a long time with- 

 out shifting into larger pots. 



All the Crotons may be made useful for the dinner-table, but those 

 best adapted for that purpose are C. variegatum, C. variegatum longi- 

 folium, and C. angustifolium, especially the two last. I always make 

 it a rule to strike a few of each kind every year ; November is the 

 month I choose. Having prepared a few pots of peat, loam, and silver- 

 sand in equal parts, with bell-glasses to cover with, I take off the cut- 

 tings with a stem 4 inches long, and insert them about 2 inches 

 deep. Here they may remain three or four weeks, after which time the 

 glasses may be taken off and the pots allowed to remain as they are 

 until about the middle of February, when they will be in good condi- 

 tion for potting off singly in clean dry 3-inch pots, using a mixture of 

 two parts loam, one part peat, and one part rotted dung, with a good 

 sprinkling of silver- sand. In about six weeks or two months they 

 will require shifting into pots a size larger, using the same soil as 

 before. 



I have generally found Crotons to make nice-shaped plants with- 

 out any pinching whatever. C. variegatum forms a pyramid, but if 

 they should not break and grow into the desired shape, the top must 

 be pinched off when about 9 inches high; they will then send out 

 branches near the bottom. Much better plants, and a much brighter 

 colour, are got by striking in the autumn instead of in spring. When 

 the plants have grown too large for the table, or require larger pots, 

 their beauty in the stove or conservatory will repay for all the care that 

 has been taken of them. It will be found that the Croton delights 

 in a good turfy loam. 



COLEUS VERSCHAFFELTII. 



This is a most useful plant for the dinner-table, and has much to 

 recommend it : first, it is very easy to cultivate where a stove or warm 



