168 



THE GARDENER'S MONTHLY 



[June, 



out in the garden in the Spring and do not allow 

 them to bloom during the Summer. About the 

 last week of August or the first of September 

 I take them up with all the soil that will hang 

 to them, pot them and place them in a very 

 shady place for about two weeks, out of doors, 

 watering and sprinkling all the time, I now ex- 

 pose them to the sun, until the foliage falls off. 

 All of this time they will be making new roots 

 and the tops be at rest. When the leaves have 

 fallen, prune them. Cut back the young growth 

 a little and then cut out the center. Place them 

 in the greenhouse about the 1st of October. 

 If you use a flue in your house I would place 

 the plants in the middle of the house, but if 

 they are on benches over the pipes, put two 

 inches or more of sand or tan under the pots. 

 Do not attempt to force them too much, but 

 give a\l the air possible in the day time. Great 

 care should be taken not to sour the soil ; syr- 

 inge often. Soil is very important. If it be 

 possible get a lot of sods from an old cow pas- 

 ture, three or four inches thick, put them in a 

 heap and add to them as one to four of cow 

 and horse manure, turn this compost over three 

 or four times during the Summer, breaking up 

 the sod each time. I never screen my soil for 

 roses, nor do I use drainage in the bottom of 

 my pots, but simply the old fibrous roots that I 

 find in the soil at the time of potting. Turn out 

 all of your roses early in the Spring as possible, 

 prune off the long roots and follow directions 

 as above given, and I will insure you abundance 

 of flowers from November until March. I pre- 

 fer to have my roses too dry rather than too wet. 



VELTHEIMIA VIRiDIFLORA. 



BY AV. C. L. DREW, EL DOnADO, CAL. 



This is one of the rare flowers, seldom .suc- 

 cessfully treated by amateurs ; with me it blos- 

 somed finely this Spring. As it may be of interest 

 I will give my method of treatment. 



It will hardly be necessary to state that the 

 Veltheimia is a bulbous plant ; I procured my 

 bulbs in the Fall of 1876, planted them in 

 October, in pots of good, rich, moderately light 

 loam, without drainage, planting them so the 

 neck of the bulb extended one half inch above 

 the surface of the soil. The pots were then placed 

 in a cool, shady situation, where they remained 

 until the first of December, when they were 

 placed so as to receive all the sunlight and heat 

 possible ; by this time the foliage had commen- 



ced to grow, and made a most luxuriant growth 

 by May, but no sign of flowering. In June the 

 foliage commencing to ripen, I dried it off. After 

 the middle of June it received no water, the 

 bulb remaining undisturbed in the pot. In Oc- 

 tober, noticing signs of life, I shook out most 

 of the soil, replacing it with fresh soil of like 

 nature ; water was given moderately and by the 

 first of January 1878, it had made a fine start. 

 From this time on it was given all the sunlight 

 and heat possible, but no artificial heat. About 

 the first of February buds appeared, they made 

 a slow growth, coming into bloom in Ma}'. The 

 flowers lasted three weeks, and then being half 

 withered were removed so as not to exhaust the 

 bulb. 



The foliage is magnificent, broadly lanceolate 

 in shape, about nine inches long by two and a 

 half inches wide, in color a rich emerald green, 

 shining as though freshly varnished ; the mar- 

 gins are undulated, radical leaves without 

 petioles. The flower stem grows from ten to 

 eighteen inches high, about two-thirds of an inch 

 in diameter, color light green, heavily marked 

 dark purj^le. The blossoms are borne in an 

 umbel at the extremity of the stem ; they are 

 drooping, tubular in shape, about two inches 

 long. The umbel is composed of from twelve 

 to fifty florets; there were forty-three in the 

 specimen I flowered. In color they are a pecu- 

 liar salmon pink, hard to describe, the tips of 

 the florets being a light green. 



At a light glance they are frequently taken 

 for a new variety of the Tritoma. There are 

 no bulbs of the Veltheimia for sale in the 

 United States that I am aware of, and only twf) 

 or three firms offer them for sale in Europe. I 

 noticed a new variety known as Y. glauca, 

 offered by one firm in Prussia last Fall. The 

 bulbs are worth from SI .50 to S3. 00 each, accord- 

 ing to size. Bulbs of Y. viridiflora are worth 

 SI. 50 to S2..50 each accordinij to size. 



THE PHILODENDRON. 



BY E. P. r. 



One of the most easily grown climbers is the 

 Philodendron. It is adapted to a cool conserva- 

 tory or a bay window, as well as to a warm 

 greenhouse. Its large split leaves are a novelty 

 in vegetation sure to draw attention. It is most 

 easily led about the top of the room and its 

 heavy coils sustained from hooks in the ceiling. 

 I have seen it but once in fruit, and that at 



