of Rural Art and Taste. 



359 



purchasing small, imported plants, with, per- 

 haps, a small, abortive flower stem, which is, 

 perhaps, the only attempt atf flowering ever seen 

 during a lifetime. In fact, this may be said as 

 to many other Orchids. Good flowering plants 

 will always command a comparative high price. 

 Mdrantas, Alocasias, and stove plants 

 generally, will require keeping rather dry at 

 this season ; but not dry enough to let the 

 roots perish, which would soon be the case 

 with our dry atmospliere, bright sun, and 

 strong night fires, if the plants are neglected 

 for a few days. 



Salvia Splendens 



rilHIS is one of the oldest of winter-flowering 

 -L plants, and is the most suitable for con- 

 servatory decoration, at that season. It is 

 highly ornamental when the plants do not ex- 

 ceed twelve or fifteen inches in height, and as 

 much in diameter ; but specimens from six to 

 seven feet in height, and from three to four 

 fe(?t in diameter, and covered all over with 

 spikes of brilliant scarlet flowers, produce a 

 very fine eft'ect. The manner in which these 

 growing specimens are grown is exceedingly 

 simple, and can be briefly, described. The 

 cuttings are struck in the autumn, wintered in 

 a greenhouse, and potted ofl" singly into thumb 

 pots in February, using a compost consisting 

 of three parts loam and one part leaf-mould 

 which suits them admirably. When they are 

 well established in the small pots, they are 

 gradually hardened ofl", to admit of their being 

 planted out in an open border by the end of 

 May. A rather shady situation is selected 

 and they are allowed to grow naturally, and 

 by the autumn, they are usually three or four 

 feet in height, and well furnished with side- 

 branches to the ground. 



Early in September they are taken up Avith 

 a good ball of soil, and transferred as quickly 

 as possible into ten or twelve-inch pots, large 

 enough to take the ball of soil, without injur- 

 ing the roots. As a rule, pots of the smallest 

 size possible are used, as the plants bloom 

 profusely when they are confined at the roots. 

 Managed as above directed, and placed in a 

 greenhouse when potted, they begin to flower 



in December, and they are then removed to 

 an intermediate conservatory, where they con- 

 tinue to produce their showy flower until far 

 into the spring. One of the most important 

 matters to observe is to carefully guard against 

 their suff'ering from dryness at the root, be- 

 cause, if they do, the result will be the loss 

 of the foliage towards the lower part of the 

 plant. — Gardener^s Record. 



Bif/nouUfs for the Conservator}/, — 



The Gardeiier^s Record says : There are very 

 few of the Bignonias that will not succeed in 

 a warm conservatory, — by this I mean one in 

 which the temperature never falls below forty- 

 five degrees in winter. Even old B. venusta, 

 which has always been looked upon as a stove 

 plant, and as requiring a strong bottom heat 

 to flower it, succeeds admirably under con- 

 servatory treatment. The Tecomas, the near 

 allies of the o-enus Bignonia, are all suitable 

 for conservatory decoration. Indeed T. radi- 

 cans and T. grandiflora are quite hardy, as 

 are also Bignonia capreolata and B. crucigera. 

 The following six will be found a good selec- 

 tion, viz. : — Bignonia jasminoides, B. venusta, 

 B. Chirere, B. speciosa, B. spectablis, and B. 

 purpurea. To these might be added Tecoma 

 meonantha and T. splendida. 



Tacsoiiia exoniensis is a cross between 

 T. Va?i Volxemi and T. viollissima, and, 

 with the strong-growing habit of the latter, it 

 combines the free, flowery character of the 

 former. The flowers, when looked at against 

 the light, are of a clear rosy magenta hue, 

 and, as in the case of T. Van Volxemi, they 

 hang suspended from the vigorous shoots or 

 slender footstalks, but not so long as those of 

 its vermilion-colored congener. It would 

 appear to be an almost perpetual flowerer ; 

 and it might be eflbctively associated with 

 the brilliant-colored parent, which has been 

 well described as " almost unequalled as a 

 greenhouse climber," 



A Splendid JPaitipas Grass. — A con- 

 tributor to Gardener^s Chronicle this year 

 says he had a very fine tuft, measuring 35 

 feet round and 10 feet 6 inches high, with 102 

 fine spikes upon it. 



