214 



JOURNAL OF HOBTICTJLTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ September 13, :SC3. 



gay and planted according to the fashion must take in the 

 system of bedcUng-out pursued at the Crystal Palace and 

 other places which professedly set the fashion. A single 

 mistake made in taking down the name of a plant may spoil 

 a whole garden next yeai-. — W. H. B. 



.U^OCASIA METALLICA. 



This ranks among the most distinct and peculiar, as wcU 

 as the most beautiful of the fine-foHaged plants which have 

 been introduced from Borneo of late years. It sti-ikes the 

 eye at first sight as one of the most curious-looking objects 

 of the vegetable kingdom, and those who have not seen it 

 can scarcely form a con-ect impression of its polished bronzy 

 appearance. Its leaves have all the solid and lustrous look 

 which belongs to a shield of polished bronze ; and then- 

 ovate-oblong, peltate shape presents an outline somewhat 

 Hke a tortoise's back. Their stalks being short and stifi', 

 the outline of the plant is compact and massive. Few sub- 

 jects are more conspicuous in a collection of omamental- 

 foliaged plants, and where only a dozen kinds are grown 

 it ought to be one of the number, more particularly as it is 

 evergreen, retaining its leaves in beairty all winter, .and is, 

 moreover-, a plant very easy of cultivation. Any person who 

 ca.n command a high moist stove temperatui-e can have few 

 difficulties to overcome in the culture of A. metaUica. These 

 remai-ks are intended for any readers who have not yet seen 

 this plant, whUe the follomng brief directions as to its 

 culture are at the request of a con'espondent. 



Very turfy peat and loam, broken up with the hand and 

 mixed in equal proportions, with the addition of about a 

 sixth paa-t of the vi-hole of weU-rotted leaf moidd, and a 

 sprinkling of silver sand and charcoal broken up fine, is a 

 compost that suits this Alocasia weU. Supposing that you 

 have a healthy young plant well established in a six-inch 

 pot and in need of a shift, it may safely be transfen-ed into 

 a nine-inch pot. The drainage should be carefully secured, 

 and the crocks thinly covered with a layer of the most fibi-y 

 part of the soil. The operation of shifting need not have 

 anything peculiai- about it difi"erent from any other free- 

 growing plant. In placing the fresh soil round the ball be 

 careful to preserve the strong fleshy roots, and keep the 

 bulbous-looking base of the plant rather high than other- 

 wise. As already mentioned, it requires a high stove tem- 

 perature to grow it freely, and a moist atmosphere is indis- 

 pensable to a healthy development of the foliage. It should 

 be placed near the glass, and carefidly shaded fi-om the 

 direct rays of the sun for the greater part of the day fi-om the 

 1st of Api-il till the middle of October. To gi-ow it with ail the 

 compactness and strength which it is capable of acquii-ing it 

 should have plenty of room, and be kept quite close to the 

 glass. When crowded among other plants, and far from the 

 glass, it becomes drawn, and loses that massive and imposing 

 appearance peculiar to it when well grown. With a high 

 temperature — say 75° at night — and potted in open well- 

 drained soil, it delights in a good supply of water, and under 

 these conditions will in one season form a large handsome 

 plant — an object weU worthy of any extra cai-e and trouble 

 which may be bestowed upon it. 



I recently had the pleasm-e of visiting the garden of an 

 amateur who does all his own gai'dening so far as the care 

 of his plants is concerned ; and among the many operations 

 which he performs with more than usual success I was par- 

 ticularly well pleased with the appearance of his Orchids 

 and fine-foliaged plants, and struck the moment I entered the 

 stove with the peculiar sweet and balmy atmosphere of the 

 house. There was a high temperature, and a more than 

 usually pleasant feeling on entering from a vinery in which 

 Grapes were ripening. It was not difficult to discover the 

 means from which so desirable an atmosphere and so healthy 

 a growth arose. The amount of hot-water pipes fi-om which 

 the heat was imparted was qiiite double that usually met 

 with, and they just felt a little more than miLkwarm. Over 

 the pipes there was a strong spaiTcd trellis, and on the 

 trellis were placed sheets of lead tiu-ned up at the edge, 

 so as to form shallow trays, which were filled with water. 

 Common garden saucers were turned upside down in the 

 ■water, and on the saucers were the fine-fohaged plants ; while 

 most of the Orchids were suspended overhead. The atmo- 



sphere thus produced was cei-tainly the most pleasant for a. 

 stove that could possibly be conceived, and the plants gave 

 ample testimony as to its healthful influence on vegetation. 

 The water used in the trays was rain water, and could 

 be drawn off at any time when it became necessary or de- 

 su'able by means of a few taps in the bottom of the shallow 

 trays. 



The heat derived from so large a surface of pipes in pro- 

 portion to the amount of atmosphere to be heated can never 

 have that scorching effect that exists when it is derived from 

 a smaller amount of heating surface violently heated ; and 

 the water in the leaden trays over the pipes gave that sup- 

 ply of moisture necessai-y to the development of healthy 

 growth in such plants in a much more natural way and to 

 a better-proportioned extent than is attainable either by 

 syringings over the foliage or by evaporation from a strongly- 

 heated surface. Besides this it is a well- known fact that 

 with such a supply of piping as was used in this case the 

 consumption of ftiel is less. In any case it is a great 

 mistake to so limit the heating surface as to render r- 

 violent heat necessary to keep up a given temperature. — 

 D. Thomson. 



BORONIA HUTOSMA (Eue-sceuted Boeoxia). 



Nat. ord., Rutace«. Linn., Octandria Monogynia. — Glau- 

 cous, much-branched ; leaves oblong-ovate or obovate, ses- 

 sile, fleshy, apiculate, one-nerved; flowers in trichotomous, 

 corymbose, many-flowered cymes, pedicels thickened beneath 

 the flowers ; calyx -lobes ovate acute ; filaments ciliate in 

 the lower half. 



This very pretty Boronia is known in ciJtivation as 

 B. spathulata, but does not appear to be the species so 

 named by Dr. Lindley, differing ob-siously in its much- 

 branched habit and its mauy-fiowered corymbose inflores- 

 cence. The wliole plant has a tendency to trichotomous 

 branching, and thus forms a dense bush, with terete branches 

 scattered with glandular- dots, and be.ai-iug opposite, fleshy, 

 glaucous, oblong-ovate, or obovate apiculate leaves, furnished 

 with numerous transpai-ent dots, and one-nerved. The 

 flowers terminate the branches, forming a kind of corymbose 

 cyme trichotomously divided ; the pedicels are about an inch 

 long, thickened at top; the calyx-lobes are ovate acute, 

 brownish-gi-een, dotted, and traversed by forked nerves. 

 The petals are ovate, apiculate, patent, twice as long as the 

 calyx, pink, becoming deep rose when dry. The eight sta- 

 mens are as long as the calyx, ciliate in the lower half, 

 covered externally above with round glands, the anthers 



