CULTURE OF STANDARD PLANTS. 



novelty, and cure themselves of their ill-founded dislike to subjects that are plentiful 

 But plants are first doomed to neglect for their abundance, and many have been actually 

 thrown aside. It is with a view to bring some of these subjects from their lowly station 

 or their oblivion, that we have commenced this article, and we hope we shall be able to 

 impress upon the reader the necessity of looking well to the properties of a plant before he 

 adopts a novelty or rejects an old favorite. Some of the subjects we have mentioned in 

 the following remarks, will bear comparison with the most valuable of modern introduc- 

 tions; and it behooves the lovers of the garden, the owners of an establishment, to insist 

 on their being brought forward conspicuously, for they deserve it more than a vast ma- 

 jority of costly and novel plants that bear a heavy price. 



The Agapanthus. — We class this splendid subject among neglected plants, because in 

 the few places where it is seen, it is hardly worthy of the name, from the imperfect manner in 

 which its growth and flowers, in nearly all cases appear. It may be familiar with some of our 

 readers when described as aleeky-looking plant, with an upright stem, and a small mop-like 

 head of blue or whitish flowers. Being unable to sustain itself through our sharn frosts, 

 it is usually grown in pots, but as it is very nearly hardy, it is too often kept among the 

 plants of secondary importance, in the cold frames or pits. Like all other subjects of 

 which the head of flowers is the leading object, there should never be a second head al- 

 lowed on the plant, and the offsets should be removed as soon as they are large enough to 

 take off". The usual culture is marked by that kind of inattention that is seen to result in the 

 starvation of the plant, and the consequent smallness of its bloom. They are potted and put 

 among the ordinary miscellaneous contents of a cold frame; they have to endure all sorts 

 of privations and visitations calculated to hurt plants: the want of water and room to 

 grow in, and the hot beams of the sun to bake up the root, are their lot at one season; 

 and at another, they are deprived of air and suffer damp. In short, they are fairly classed 

 among neglected plants, and it matters not how soon they are rescued from the degraded 

 rank they at present hold. We have seen, by the occasional introduction of the plant in 

 flower among the collections at the shows, the state in which modern gardeners think it 

 e.xhibitable. To us, who have seen the head of flowers twice as large, and the growth of 

 the plant handsome, the best we have ever seen at exhibitions was a comparative weed. 

 The only way to grow it is as a single plant; no offsets should be allowed on any condi- 

 tion to grow large enough to rob the parent of any nutrition, for although offsets may have 

 their own roots, and may not receive much nourishment direct from the principal plant, 

 the roots themselves take from the soil that which the main plant requires. The rules 

 may be laid down something after this fashion for the production of the Agapanthus 

 in its best possible state. We might observe, perhaps, that although the several 

 kinds will supply bloom collectively from April till October, Agapanthus umbellatus is our 

 favorite. This and A. variegatus bloom in April and May, pra^cox in June and July, 

 minor in August and September, and albidus in September and October. All are pretty. 



These plants should be separated every year, and the separate plants potted in the size 

 best adapted for the roots, in most cases size 32; in some cases, if smaller plants, the size 

 48 will do to commence. The soil should be the richest loam obtained from rotted turf, 

 three-fourths, one-fourth cow dung and sand, with the impurities of every kind washed 

 out. Choose a plant with a good solid heart and plenty of leaves, place potsherds or crocks 

 about two inches thick in the bottom, and plant the subject so that the collar shall be close 

 up to the surface, that is to say, the root only shall be underneath, for if the heart of the 

 is sunk at all, it retards the healthy growth, and blanches the leaves. Let 

 in autumn, and place them in a green-house, but where no fire is kept, or in a 



