356 . THE GARDENER. [Aug. 



dull crimson flowers are thus secured to cut from. It is also capable 

 of being cultivated out of doors, and will bloom in borders, or planted 

 in some soil made up of sandy peat. It is a bulbous-rooted plant, with 

 an Ixia-like appearance of growth, and it can be increased by off-sets 

 as well as by seed. R. D. 



METROSIDEROS FLORIBUNDA. 



This plant is a native of New South Wales, and is consequently well 

 suited to the temperature and treatment required for most plants that 

 thrive in and beautify our modern British conservatories. It attains 

 to large dimensions, throwing out regular and well-formed shoots and 

 branches, which give it an elegant and graceful appearance. It also 

 flowers freely. Before me is a specimen trained as a standard, about 

 7 feet high, and 6 feet across, bearing forty spikes of its pretty tassel- 

 like red flowers, and about as many more formed, but not yet devel- 

 oped. Each spike measures about 3 \ inches in length, and 3 in 

 diameter ; and the individual flowers, which are numerous, impart a 

 brilliancy of colour that quickly attracts the eye, and commands the 

 admiration of the beholder. Besides those I have mentioned, the plant 

 has other qualities, which, for the sake of brevity, I shall reduce to 

 three principal features. First, then, it is easily cultivated, requiring 

 no more than ordinary care ; 2d, It remains almost free from the 

 attacks of those enemies of vegetable life — insects \ 3d, In proportion 

 to its size, it requires a comparatively limited area of matter from 

 which to derive its sustenance ; that means, in plain words, that the 

 pot room need not be extensive. 



I have known the Metrosideros grow luxuriantly in a compost 

 formed of peat and turfy loam of equal parts, with some white sand 

 added, the usual precautions as to drainage being, of course, attended 

 to. The specimen I have referred to was always — after being placed 

 out of doors for a few weeks in summer — kept in the conservatory, 

 where it now remains in all its summer grandeur the admired of all 

 observers. I shall only add that the subject of these lines merits the 

 attention of all cultivators of this interesting and showy order of 

 plants. R. M. 



