JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ January 7, 1875. 



tioDS a disposition is being shown to take up Chocolate culti- 

 vation. All the seeds produced this last season from the 

 chocolate trees growing in the PtradeBiya garden have either 

 been disposed of to purchasers, or plants have been raised 

 from them for increasing our own plantations. There is so 

 little difficulty attending the cultivation after the young plants 

 are once established, and the fruit would soon be found to 

 furnish so agreeable a beverage to the native cultivator himself, 

 that it may be fully expected that in a few years this plant 

 will in very many of the Cingalese village gardens take the 

 place of Coffee — that is, in situations too low for the healthy 

 growth of the latter. 



Fodder Grass. — Dr. Thwaites mentions that he is distribut- 

 ing the seeds of the Paspalum conjogatnm, which is likely to 

 prove valuable feeding for horses and cattle. 



I think I have now touched upon all the principal vegetable 

 productions of Ceylon. The colony has been singularly fortu- 

 nate in having had a succession of able governors, an energetic 

 body of planters, ever prepared with their brains and money to 

 develope its productions, and last, but by no means least, has 

 had the inestimable advantage of a free press, without which 

 the prosperity of a colony cannot, in my humble judgment, be 

 legitimately insured. — E. Bawdon Powek, F.B.G.S., Ceylon 

 'Civil Service (Retired), Tenby, South Wales. 



POINSETTIA PULCHEERIMA FOR TABLE 

 DECORATION. 



Plants for the purpose of table decoration, like many other 

 things, must not be presented too often, or they lose their 

 power of pleasing, and, of course, of giving satisfaction. Now, 

 where two or three plants are required each evening, it becomes 

 a matter of much importance to the gardener to have always 

 on hand a good variety in a presentable condition for this 

 purpose. With this object in mind it has occurred to me 

 that a few remarks on this subject would not be unacceptable 

 to many of those gardeners who have to keep up a constant 

 sapply of such plants. 



I would put in a special plea for a plant which is seldom 

 seen on the table, I mean the Poinsettia pulcherrima, which, 

 when carefully and judiciously trained, is one of our finest 

 and most attractive plants for table decoration. The following 

 method has been practised here for some time, and the result 

 has always given entire satisfaction to all concerned ; — When 

 the wood is sufficiently ripe select the required quantity of the 

 best pieces, cut them into lengths of about 2 inches, stick 

 them into thumb pots filled with loam, leaf mould, and silver 

 sand, one part of each ; water well through a fine rose. Plunge 

 the pots into a gentle bottom heat, where they soon strike 

 root and burst into leaf : not more than two shoots are allowed 

 to grow on one plant ; if more be allowed they cannot, of 

 course, be expected to mature such fine heads. When well 

 rooted turn them out of the cutting pots, shaking off a little 

 of the soil : select three of equal growth, and place them in a 

 triangular form in a pot sufficiently large to contain the three 

 halls comfortably. The compost used is made up of fibry 

 turf, leaf mould, sand, and sheep manure. The pots are then 

 returned to their old quarters and shaded for a few days, 

 where they remain until another shift is necessary, when they 

 are finally moved into 8-inch pots — this being a convenient 

 size for the vases generally used. Towards the latter end of 

 May is a good time to give the last shift. They are then 

 placed in a cool frame, and a little balloon-shaped trellis about 

 14 inches high and the same in diameter is placed on each pot; 

 the shoots are then carefully trained on the trellis. The shoots 

 should not be allowed to grow more than 3 inches without 

 being tied, otherwise they are apt to crack and bleed, to the 

 great injury of the plant. The only further care required is a 

 liberal supply of liquid manure. 



About the latter end of September they are taken into the 

 stove, where they develope their great scarlet heads, each 

 measuring from 10 to 14 inches across. Six of these flowers, 

 along with the rich green foliage of the plant — none of the 

 treUis being discernible without close scrutiny — make a 

 magnificent show on a table, with one of those noble-looking 

 Ferns, Adiantum farleyense, placed at a distance on each side. 

 — R. C. (from The Gardener). 



Larks Garden-marauding. — During the late sharp weather 

 tihe larks have attacked the Broccolis and spring Cabbages 

 with a severity I have never before witnessed. Sprouting 



Broccoli have been literally stripped, and a bed of some seven 

 thousand promising spring Cabbages have been nearly or quite 

 spoiled. I hope other parts of the country have not suffered 

 in like manner from the ravages of these birds. — J. A., 

 Netley, Hants. 



FLOWERS FOR OUR BORDERS.-No. 46. 



FtlNKIA ALBO-MAROINATA.— White-edged-leaved Fonkia. 

 The genus Funkia, separated from Hemerocallis by Sprengel, 

 comprises four species and several varieties, all of which are 

 well deserving of cultivation, especially those forms possessing 

 variegated foliage, of which .Japan, the country par excellence 

 of variegated plants, has furnished us with a notable con- 

 tingent. 



Fig. \. — Funkia lancifoUa a!bo-maiginata. 



Of these the variety here illustrated maybe taken as a type, 

 though not perhaps the most striking one. We preserve the 

 name under which it was originally published, but it has 

 been reduced by Mr. J. G. Baker, a very competent authority, 

 to the rank of a variety of F. lancifoUa ; and the various hand- 

 some forms of the so-called F. nndulata, so valuable for de- 

 corative purposes, are also regarded as mere varieties of the 

 lancifolia. 



The Funkia albo-marginata is a hardy herbaceous perennial, 

 producing numerous radical lance-shaped leaves in a tuft ; 

 each leaf is from '2| to4 inches long, with a channelled petiole 

 of about the same length ; while young, the margin is slightly 

 tinged with yellow, but it ultimately becomes pure white, in- 

 creasing considerably the attractions of the plant. The scape, 

 or flower stem, is about 18 inches high, and bears from ten to 

 fifteen blossoms of a pale violet blue, and about 2 inches in 

 length, including the short peduncle. Each blossom arises 

 from a pointed bract one-third longer than the peduncle. 

 Although the bracts are arranged spirally round the stem, the 

 flowers face only in one direction ; whilst in bud the flower is 

 inflated in its upper half, and when expanded displays six 

 spreading lobes. Both stamens and style are what is termed 

 declinate — that is, instead of occupying the centre of the 

 flower as in most plants, they all incline to one side, which in 

 this case is the lower one ; whilst in bud they are quite straight, 

 but after expansion the extremities both of stamens and style 

 curve inwards, as in the Alstriimerias. It blooms in August, 

 continuing in flower three or four weeks, several spikes being 

 produced in succession. It grows freely in ordinary garden soil, 

 and is quite hardy. In most seasons it ripens plenty of seed. 



