41 i 



JOURNAL OF HOETIGULTUKE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ May 22, 1873. 



heat, this will be of gi-eat serrice in promoting vigorons rapid 

 p-owth. A slight shade ■n-ill be necessary on the forenoons of 

 bright hot days, and the plants shonld be sprinkled overhead 

 morning and evening in fine ■weather, affording them a liberal 

 bnt careful supply of water at the root, and giving weak manure 

 water occasionally to those that have well filled their pots with 

 roots. Beyond keeping the centre shoot secured to a stake, very 

 little good can be done in the way cf training or stopping, for 

 the plant never seems to grow freely or with any vigour, except 

 when one shoot is allowed to take a decided lead of the others. 



Side shoots, however, are produced very freely when the plants 

 are gi-own rapidly in a brisk moist temperature and kept near 

 the glass, and these should be slightly tied out without bending 

 them down, so as to afford the fohage sufficient space. The- 

 habit of the plant, however, although it is what is deemed bad 

 by plant-growers, is exactly suited to the inflorescence, for the 

 long drooping spikes of bright-coloured flowers would not be 

 half so effective if produced on dwarf bushy plants. But if,, 

 from any cause, side shoots are not produced freely, the plant 

 should be bent down, leaving the eyes which are wished to start- 



/^^&^ 



Thyrsacanthus rutilans. 



into growth the highest, which wOl check the growth of the 

 leading shoot, and more effectually promote the growth of others 

 than stopping would do. 



" Discontinne shading, and expose the plants freely to sun- 

 shine after August, admitting air more freely to induce short- 

 jointed wood. Attend, however, carefully to watering, and do 

 not let them sustain any check, as with "proper attention they 

 will grow very freely tiU late in autumn. If the plants are 

 wanted to flower early, they should be sparingly supplied with 

 water, and kept rather cool for a few weeks ; but they must not 

 be allowed to get too dry, as this would injure the foliage ; and, 

 except for plants that are wanted to flower early in winter, there 

 ■will be no artificial treatment necessary to induce them to flower 



profusely, which they wiU do from January till May. The time- 

 at which they will blossom ■will, however, depend upon the- 

 temperature, for unless this is rather warm they will not flower 

 so early. "When in bloom they must be kept in a temperature 

 of not less than 55° or 60', for the flowers do not open in the 

 temperature of an ordinary conservatory, nor do the spikes 

 attain any length in a cool place. 



" In order to preserve the plants in beauty as long as possible, 

 avoid wetting the flowers in syringing, and keep the plants in 

 good health by attention to watering, etc. After their beauty is 

 over, remove them to where the temperature may be kept at 

 about 50', and allow them a month or six weeks to recrnit their 

 energies after blooming, cutting back the shoots as may be 



