290 



JOUBKAL OP HOBTICUIiTUBE AND COTTAGE GABDENEB. 



( April 17, leae. 



TLEROMA ELEGANS CULTURE. 



TnE 6ne, purple-tinged, yet intensely blue flowers of this 

 plant render it iuttrcsting and valuable, as it furnishes flowers 

 of a colour much wanted in greenhouse plants. It is not exactly 

 a greenhouse plant, nor will it thrive in a stove, but requires a 

 ■warm greenhouse. In a cool greenhouse it acquires a starved, 

 brown, sickly aspect, and in the stove it grows too straggling, 

 and being kept continually in a state of growth the wood docs 

 not ripen sufliciently for blooming well. The flowers are pro- 

 duced on the wood of the previous year, and to have that well 

 ripened is the greatest point of all; for unless the previous 

 year's growths are well ripened the flowers at their points will 

 he few. 



It is propagated by cuttings, and early in April is a good time 

 loputthemiu. Side shoots are the best; they should be 3 inches 

 in length, brown and iirm at the base, and the points green, or 

 in the condition of the wood when about three-parts ripe. 

 They are to bo cut transversely below the lowest pair of leaves, 

 which, as well as the next pair, should be removed. The cut- 

 ting pot having been half tilled with crocks, and a little moss 

 placed over these, the remaining space should be filled up 

 with sandy peat, with a layer of silver s.nnd at the top. In- 

 sert the cuttings round the sides of the cuttmg pot, and place 

 it inside one of larger size, keeping the rims of both level, 

 and filling up the interval between the t%vo with crocks to 

 within an inch of the top, and then to the level of the rims 

 ■with silver sand. Give a gentle watering, and place the cut- 

 tings in a bottom heat of 7';', covering with a bell-glass when 

 the leaves become dry. Shade from bright sun and that only ; 

 tilt the hell-glass a little on one side, or, better still, take it off 

 at night, replacing it in the morning. Avoid the necessity of 

 watering the cuttings by keeping the atmosphere moist, but 

 the sand must be kept just moist. Continue this treatment 

 until the cuttings are struck, then gi-adually expose them to 

 light and air. 



The cuttings having been struck pot them off singly in small 

 pots, draining well, and using a compost of turfy sandy peat three 

 parts, turfy light loam one part, and one part of silver sand. 

 After potting they should be kept close, and shaded for a few 

 days until established, giving a gentle bedewing of water morn- 

 ing and evening, but avoiding watering as much as possible. 

 ■When established remove them to a cold pit, giving the plants 

 a position near the glass, and where they can have abundance 

 of air. They should be housed in good time, and have a hght 

 and airy situation in a house having a temperature of 4iy^ and 

 not exceeding SO" from fire heat. In April they should have a 

 shift into pots 4.) inches in diameter, and now, unless very 

 carefully watered, they wiU not take to the new soil kindly ; a 

 gentle syringing will be better on sunny afternoons than too 

 much water at the root. Unless the plant grow up without 

 showing side shoots it should not be stopped ; but if it grow 

 lip with a single stem take out the point of the shoots a fort- 

 night after potting. This will induce side shoots, and unless 

 feathered at the bottom it is best to throw the plant away. The 

 side shoots, if inclined to grow erect, should be tied down, and 

 when the leader has broken choose the most likely shoot for a 

 new leader, and let it make six joints, then take out its point. 

 The strong side shoots are to be stopped at the third joint, and 

 so on repeatedly until August, when stopping is to be discon- 

 tinued, the plant exposed to more air, and less water given at 

 the root. This treatment will assist the ripening of the wood ; 

 for, though the plant is not expected to bloom the following year, 

 it will winter better, be more healthy, and shoot more strongly 

 and regularly, than one kept too warm and moist, and allowed 

 to become large nud straggling before being stopped. 



The plants will by the following April be stiff and bushy, 

 such as can be had from a nurseryman in 4} or 6-inch pots, at 

 a much less cost than any gardener can propagate them. The 

 plant should be potted early in April from a 4}-inch pot into 

 one 8 inches in diameter. This is certainly a large shift, but 

 ■we must bear in mind that our plants are young and strong, 

 and that they are impatient of either small or large shifts. It 

 is well to give a good shift and nurse the plant afterwards, for 

 if small shifts are given it follows that the plant must be 

 nursed for a time after every shift, no matter how small. Drain 

 the pot to one-fourth its depth, and on the crocks place from 

 one-half to tbrcc-quartersof an inch of pieces of charcoal about 

 the size of a pea. and on this again a very thin layer of moss. 

 The pot, bear in mind, must be clean inside as well as outside, 

 and not hardbumt. The soil to be used may consist of three 

 parts sandy heath mould, one part yellow loam from rotted 



Curves a year old, and one part of pounded charcoal not larger 

 than a pea, with the dust sifted out, and silver sand in equal 

 quantities. The peat and loam should be broken tolerably fine, 

 but not sifted, and the whole should be well mixc-d. Before 

 turning the plant out see that the soil is thoroughly moist, but 

 not newly watered or very wet; turn out the plant, pick away 

 the crocks, and loosen the sides of the ball a little in order that 

 the fibres may the more readily lay hold of the fresh soil. Pot 

 with the compost neither wet nor dry, keep the neck of the 

 plant slightly elevated in the centre of the pot, and press the 

 boil pretty firmly around the ball. After potting give a gentle 

 watering, and until the roots are working freely in the new soQ 

 afford slight shade from bright sun, and sprinkle the plants 

 overhead two or three times a-day in plac. of frequent water- 

 ings at the root. Just keep the toil moist and no more nntil 

 the roots are working freely in the fresh soil. The temperature 

 now should range from oU° to 55 at night, and if there is a 

 late I'each-house no better place could be found, for, from the 

 air circulating corstantly and the moisture kept up by syringing 

 or otherwise, it will cause tlie plants to grow freely and strongly. 

 When the plants begin to grow freely stop the strong shoots 

 to three joints, but let those which are weak remain untouched. 

 Commence training the plant at once by tying or pegging-down 

 the shoots, so as to have it well furnished quite down to the 

 rim of the pot. The stopping is to be continued up to August, 

 for the plant is not intended to bloom in the following yeai. 

 ■\Ve will, therefore, if the roots have reached the outside of the 

 pot, shift the plant into a 12-inch pot by the middle of June, 

 proceeding as before, with this difference, that it is to be placed 

 in a cold pit and kept rather close, shaded, and frequently 

 syringed overhead until the roots are working in the new soil, 

 ■when more air should be admitted, continuing syringing over- 

 head on the evenings of hot days up to the end of August. By 

 this time the plant will have made short little shoots from the 

 last stopping ; to harden them more air should be given, and 

 the supply of water diminished, but never so much as to affect 

 the foliage. Water, whilst the gi-owth is forming, will require 

 to be plentifully given. The plant should be housed by the 

 middle of September. 



If two plants or sets of plants can be grown, they may be 

 treated differently. Due plant or set of plants should not be 

 potted in June nor stopped after that time, and should receive 

 i a syringing on bright afternoons up to the end of July, when a 

 cold pit will be a more suitable place. Tilt the lights back and 

 front, and by the end of August lessen the supply of water, 

 and this, with air and light, will ripen the small shoots, and 

 by the middle or end of September the plant will need to be 

 placed iu its winter quarters. If the wood be well ripened 

 this plant or set of plants will bloom in the following year, and 

 the other, potted in June and stopped up to August, may do 

 so also ; but this will depend on the wood being ripened and 

 the shoots not being stopped iu spring. If the plant is not 

 wanted as a specimen for summer shows, or is not required to 

 bloom until the following or fourth year as a plant i^the fifth 

 from the cutting), we have to pot it in a 15-inch pot. At this 

 potting use peat and loam in equal portions as the staple of the 

 compost, with one-fourth of charcoal and silver sand in equal 

 parts. With the same treatment as given the year before, the 

 plant will grow freely ; stopping must then be commenced, and 

 it should be continued uji to the end of June, syringing over- 

 head daily to keep down thrips, to which tlie plant is Uable. 

 In June, if the soil quickly becomes dry, which shows the pot 

 to be full of roots, clear, weak liquid manure may be given 

 once or twice a-week from that time up to the end of July. 

 The plant should then be set in a cold pit, the syringing dis- 

 continued, and air given back and front, and by the end of Augiist 

 the supply of water should bo gradually diminished, so as to 

 reduce it to a minimum by the third week in September. Re- 

 move the plant then to a light and airy part of some house 

 where there are no creepers overhead, and no plant so near aa 

 to crowd it and prevent its receiving light sideways. Give air 

 plentifully, but avoid giving it iu front when the external at- 

 mosphere" is frosty, affording at such times a change of air by 

 opening the back "lights instead. The temperature should be 

 15', aud not exceeding 50', from tire heat, and as to the water- 

 ing, confine that to giving enough to wet the soil when it ex- 

 hibits signs of dryness. 



As to training the plants, I have an inclination for cones or 

 pyramids, and to secure these it is necessary that the plant 

 iiave a leader, which will involve a change in the .system ol 

 stopping. The shoots at the upper part of a plant are invari- 

 ably the strongest, and if these be stopped as closely as those 



