May 24, 1877. J 



JOURNAL OF HORTIODLTDBE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



387 



that they never fail to command the olose attention of every 

 obeerver. Amongst the moat rare and cutioua members of 

 this tribe is the Bnbjeot of onr illustration, Nepenthes san- 

 gninea, sketched from the nnrivallsd collection of Pitcher- 

 plants in the Nepenthes house of Messrs. Veitoh A Sons of 

 Chelsea. Nepenthes sanguinea was introduced to this country 

 by the firm just mentioned about twenty-two years ago 

 through the instrumentality of Mr. Thomas Lobb, who dis- 



covered it on Mount Ophir in the Malay Peninsula. It has 

 always been a very rare plant, not so much from any real 

 difticnlty in its cultivation as from the length of time required 

 for its propagation, owing to its slow growth and the hardness 

 of its woody stems. Messrs. Veitch grow their plants belong- 

 ing to this species in a damp house as near the glass as possible, 

 and in a somewhat lower temperature than that in which 

 N. Rafllesiaua and other species are grown. The pitchers of 



Fig. 62.— Nepenthes aiNGciNEi. 



N. eangninea are, as their name imports, blood red in colour, 

 and they measure (exclusive of the lid) 9 inches or more in 

 length. The lid itself and the interior of the pitcher are 

 beantifuUy mottled and variegated, whilst the exterior is of a 

 uniform and deep crimson colour. In a state of nature the 

 seeds of Nepenthes at first float on the surface of the hot 

 swamps of the Malay islands, Australia, the Seyohelle islands, 

 Madagascar, &a. When the seeds have imbibed a quantity of 

 moisture they sink to the bottom of the swamps and there 

 germinate. 



A hot humid atmosphere and heat at the roots are necessary 

 for the BuccesBfal coltivation o{ these plants, which should be 



grown in a compost of coarse fibrona peat mixed with a greater 

 portion of hypnum moss. 



EARLY PEACHES. 

 I AM now gathering some brilliant specimens of the Early 

 Beatrice Peach of fab size oud excellent flavour. Closely 

 following are Early Louise, Early Eiver.s, and Hales' Early. 

 The house in which these fruits are ripening was heated in the 

 last week of December. I forget the day when the fire was 

 first lighted, but it was after Christmas. For a few weeks the 

 temperature of the house was kept from 45° to 50° Fahr., and 



