272 THE GARDENER. [June 



B. speciosa flowers from the wood made the preceding year. Mr Dauiels culti- 

 vates several other species, but with the exception of these two, and B. splendens, 

 having larger bracts than either of the preceding kinds, which are of a very bright 

 pink colour, shaded with crimson, the others are scarcely worthy cultivation. 

 Many gardeners about the country have B. spectabilis, but fail to bloom it. Try 

 what they will, their best effort* are abortive. Mr Daniels states it is a winter- 

 blooming species ; the bracts show in November somewhat freely, but drop oft' 

 for want of sun heat aud solar light. All attempts to change its season of 

 blooming have failed. In his own words, recently contributed to the 'Gardeners' 

 Chronicle,' Mr Daniels shall describe his mode of treating the Bougainvilleas : — 



" I will now proceed to give a few plain directions for their treatment, which, 

 if followed out, will not fail to produce blooms. If they are to be seen in their full 

 beauty, they must be planted out, and allowed to fully develop themselves. Then 

 we can get beautiful brauches of bloom from 3 to 6 feet long. I would recom- 

 mend any one receiving a young plant to proceed as follows : — If small, give it a 

 shift, and plunge it in a Cucumber or Melon house, or a Pine-pit, with plenty 

 of bottom-heat. Shift on as often as the pot becomes filled with roots. It will 

 fill a 13 -inch pot with roots in the course of one summer. Train out the 

 branches to their full length, and withhold water about August for the purpose 

 of thoroughly ripening the wood. Stand the plant away in a warm corner of the 

 stove for the winter, only giving sufficient water to prevent its leaves from drop- 

 ping off. Early in the spring prepare a pit for it, 3 feet wide and 6 feet long, 

 and larger in proportion if more than one are to be planted in it. This may be pre- 

 pared just in the same way as a pit for Cucumbers or Melons, with a hollow 

 chamber under it, and two or more pipes running underneath for bottom-heat. 

 Plant out in this bed in good friable soil, consisting of leaf-mould, rotten dung, and 

 sandy loam, with a little sand and peat, and charcoal if obtainable. Water suffi- 

 cient to settle the soil, which keep a little moist through the growing season. Be 

 careful to dry off and ripen the wood thoroughly before autumn, then keep the 

 plants dry till January, when they will begin to show bloom, and when they may 

 be gradually moistened by giving water in a sufficient quantity to wet all the 

 soil. I have never seen them bloom better than in several cases where they 

 have been planted out at one end of a Cucumber or Melon house, and where they 

 have been subjected to about the same treatment as these plants, with their roots 

 growing in the same bed with them." 



In a nice span-roofed house, filled with flowering and foliaged plants, were some 

 capital pots of Lachenalias done much better than is usually seen. As soon as 

 the plants have done blooming, Mr Daniels lays them to rest under the green- 

 house stage till the end of the summer, when they commence to grow. They are 

 then shaken from the pots, and eight or nine of the largest bulbs are placed in a 

 6-inch pot, just covering the surface of the bulbs. The soil used is one com- 

 pounded of fibry loam, leaf-soil, and silver sand. The plants are then placed in 

 a cold pit till Christmas, and then taken to the house to bloom in February. 

 A generous treatment brings not only an abundant bloom but fine spikes of 

 flower. 



A rapid look through the Vineries and Peach-house showed everything in prime 

 condition. The Peaches were the forwardest we have yet seen ; Keen's Seedling 

 Strawberries were being largely forced. Mr Daniels sticks by this old kind as 

 the best for his purpose. 



The kitchen-garden, though small, had much interest about it. Mr Daniels 

 has a chalk subsoil, and during dry seasons he suffers much from the drought. 

 Apples and Pears are generally grown as bushes — the shoots brought down from 



