1882.1 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



9 



You would prefer the driver who kept further 

 away. These " one-shift" fellows had to use 

 unusual care. One-third of the pot would be 

 filled with broken pots or broken bricks, and the 

 soil would be turfy, cut up into squares, or used 

 in very coarse pieces. All these precautions 

 enabled the water to pass rapidly away. It ih 

 safest especially for those with no pretension to 

 skill not to re-pot unless the plant has a number 

 of active roots, and to put it in a new pot not 

 more than a half inch or an inch larger than 

 before. The hole at the bottom of the pot 

 should be carefully guarded so as to be sure it 

 will not get choked. It is this which allows of 

 the rapid escape of water, which is the great 

 essential of successful plant culture. The soil 

 for potting is usually one-third of sand, and this 

 is to enable the water to pass rapidly away. For 

 nourishment nothing is better, if it can be had, 

 than thoroughly decayed cow manure. Any 

 kind of manure, if thoroughly decayed, is good 

 fur pot plants. It is not easy to give special 

 rules for different plants, though in some re- 

 spects there are variations on which one might 

 fill the whole magazine with rules. For instance 

 we might say : 



Tree Carnations. These now indispensable 

 winter flowering plants, want a very light 

 place to do well. They do not generally care 

 about very large pots — about five or six inches 

 — but they are very much benefited by rich ma- 

 nure water. 



The Calla Lily is now extremely popular. This 

 also loves light. It must have a good supply of 

 water, and good soil to flower well. 



Towards spring the Cineraria comes in re- 

 markably well for cutting. This is a "queer" 

 plant. It is one of the easiest to suffer from 

 frost, and yet will not do well in a high tem- 

 perature. It also requires much light, and to 

 be very near the glass. So also of the Pansy 

 and Violet, although some frost will not hurt 

 these. 



If Pelargoniums are wanted to flower well next 

 May and June, they should be attended to, and 

 grow well through the winter. They want a 

 rather warm house to keep them growing, and 

 should be pinched back as they grow, to keep 

 them bushy. 



A good supply of young Fuchsias should be 

 coming on now— re-pot as their roots fill each 

 pot, let them not want for moisture or light; do 

 not pinch off their tops, but let them grow rap- 

 idly. The temperature in which thej' are grown 



should not exceed 55°. A turfy loam, moder- 

 ately enriched with well decayed manure, and 

 well drained with charcoal, suits them ad- 

 mirably. 



This is only an illustration of what all plants 

 require, and any one who gets the exact idea as 

 to how to pot and care for plants, could adapt 

 the rules given to these few items, to almost any 

 other plant. 



COMMUNICA TIONS. 



THE CINCINNATI FLORAL COMPANY'S 

 ESTABLISHMENT. 



BY WALTER GRAY, COLLEGE HILL. CINCINXATI, O. 



Those who are conversant with horticulture 

 will do well to pay a visit to this extensive plant 

 establishment. In addition to the many thou- 

 sands of new plants this enterprising com- 

 pany is forming a large collection of orchids 

 and nepenthes, all of which are in remarkably 

 fine health. There are to be seen some fine ex- 

 amples of Dendrobium nobile, which, with 

 judicious treatment, can be flowered at almost 

 any season of the year. D. formosum, D. Jame- 

 sianum, D. "Wardianum, D. thyrsiflorum, D. 

 suavissimum, D. Findlayanum^ etc., all making 

 splendid growths, and many completed and put 

 into their winter quarters to resft The Cattleyas 

 are also remarkably well grown, showing their 

 many flower spathes for a good display of flow- 

 ers next season. AU the best varieties are grown, 

 including the beautiful C. Warnerii, C. gijas, C. 

 intermedia, C. Mossise grandiflora, C. Skinnerii, 

 C. citrina, C. marginata, etc., a long season of 

 rest is very advantageous to these plants, causing 

 them to flower freely and grow more vigorously 

 afterwards. Cypripediums are also well repre- 

 sented. There are fine examples of C. Sedenii, a 

 plant which, when established, is nearly always in 

 flower. A most beautiful hybrid raised between 

 C. Schlimii and C. longifolium ; good grown 

 plants of C. Stonei 0. niveum ; C. Harrisianum, 

 another hybrid rai=ted between C. barbatum and 

 C. villosum, exactly intermediate ; C. candatum, 

 C. Lawrenceanum, C. venustum, C. insigne, C. 

 barhatum, all these varieties are well adapted 

 for a warm greenhouse, as they are of easy cul- 

 tivation, requiring a liberal supply of water at 

 all seasons. The remarkably handsome Cymbi- 

 dium eburneum is just showing its flower spikes. 

 The pretty small-growing Pleione lagenaria is in 

 bloom. This is frequently called the Indian 

 Crocus. Odontoglossum citrosmum, O. Rossii 



