l88s. 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



233 



covered by Mr. Tweedie, who sent seed of it to a 

 friend in Scotland, and where it first flowered in 

 1832. 



It is a twining or climbing plant growing from 

 ten to fifteen feet in height and having opposite 

 shining green leaves about two inches in length, 

 and the flowers are produced in the greatest pro- 

 fusion during the late summer and early autumn 

 months. The flowers, which are of a bright 

 scarlet color and about two inches in length, are 

 produced from the axils of the leaves in such pro- 

 fusion as to almost cover the entire plant. And 

 when we consider the ease with which the plant 

 can be grown, we cannot but regret that it is so 

 rarely seen in cultivation at the present time. 



This Manettia is a plant easily cultivated, doing 

 best when grown in a deep, well enriched soil, 

 and it should be well mulched and copiously 

 watered during our hot, dry, summer weather. 

 It can be planted outside about the* loth of May, 

 and should be taken up and potted as soon as its 

 foliage is destroyed by frost and wintered in any 

 dry, frost-proof cellar, or under the greenhouse 

 stage, if care be taken to prevent it from becoming 

 too wet. 



About the ist of April the plant should be re- 

 moved to a light, sunny situation and started into 

 growth, when it can be planted out and treated as 

 above advised. 



The most essential point in the cultivation of this 

 beautiful summer climber is, the proper training 

 of the young shoots, and for this purpose the 

 plants must be well looked after, and the shoots 

 so trained as to occupy the desired space while 

 they are yet young. 



This Manettia is usually described as being a 

 greenhouse climber, but 1 have found that when 

 so grown it is so subject to the mealy bug and other 

 insect pests that the patience of the cultivator be- 

 comes so e,Khausted by repeated and vain efforts 

 to exterminate them that he finally abandons all 

 attempts to cultivate the plant. When grown in 

 the open air it proves to be perfectly free from all 

 insect pests, and well rewards its cultivator with a 

 profusion of bloom. 



Propagation is effected by cuttings of the half- 

 ripened wood, and after the plant has attained 

 age by a careful division of the plant, or if cuttings 

 of the roots four or five inches in length are 

 placed in sand in gentle bottom heat they will 

 soon produce nice plants, and if the young plants 

 are well cared for nice flowering specimens will 

 soon be obtained. The generic name was given 

 in honor of Xavier Manetti, prefect of the Botanic 



Gardens at Florence, about the year 1756. The 

 specific name alludes to the shape of the leaves. 



This is a plant that can be grown in any 

 situation where a herbaceous or summer climber 

 is required, for during the dark days of winter 

 there is no obstruction to the light, while for 

 verandahs or trellisses no plant is equally as 

 valuable. When well grown it will cover a 

 space of from ten to fifteen feet in height by as 

 much in breadth. Oueens, N. Y., July 3d, iSSs- 



[We are glad that Mr. Parnell has called atten- 

 tion to this very beautiful plant, which in the 

 anxiety to get novelties has been suffered to drop 

 out of notice. When grown as Mr. Parnell 

 suggests, it is one of the handsomest of summer 

 open-air plants. Philadelphia gardeners in the 

 olden times, used to grow it as a tub plant for lawn 

 decoration, and often had specimens five feet high 

 and six feet in circumference, a mass of scarlet 

 from bottom to top in September. It is sometimes 

 called Manettia glabra. — Ed. G. M.] 



NEW OR RARE PLANTS. 



Davallia tenuifolia Veitchiana (see illus- 

 tration on following page). — Ferns adapted to 

 pot culture are now rather numerous, and one 

 may readily make a good selection and get 

 great variety among a comparatively small list; 

 but kinds adapted to hanging vases or baskets 

 are not by any means abundant, and new ad- 

 ditions to the list are very welcome. The one 

 we now illustrate is a particularly pretty kind for 

 this purpose, and was introduced by Messrs. 

 Veitch, of Chelsea, near London, who furnish us 

 with the annexed description: 



"Probably the most graceful and finely cut Fern 

 yet known ; it was sent to us from the Straits Set- 

 tlements by the late Dr. J. T. Veitch, whose name 

 it bears. The fronds are 21^ to ^'A f^^' long, 

 elegantly arching on all sides, the leafy portion 

 broadly lanceolate in outline, and very finely cut. 

 As distinguished from Davallia tenuifolia, the 

 fronds are arching, almost drooping, the foliage is 

 much more lace-like, the stipes have a warmer 

 reddish tinge ; the pinnae are longer, more slender, 

 and have their ultimate segments more minute. 

 The light and elegant drooping habit of the plant 

 renders it one of the best basket Ferns for the 

 stove ever introduced. 



" It has received the award of a First Class Cer- 

 tificate from the Royal Horticultural Society, and 



