ACHIMENES. 
Greenhouse and Stove Plants. 
19 
peated washings of the wood and leaves 
with insecticide during the season of rest. 
ACALYPHA. 
These are stove plants with distinct 
looking foliage, and are suitable for using 
in the ways that fine-leaved subjects are 
now so much in demand for. 
They can be struck from cuttings of the 
young shoots or from eyes, which, if put 
in during spring in sand and stood in 
a temperature of 70°, kept close, moist and 
shaded, will soon root; then move them 
singly into 3-inch pots. They will grow 
in either peat or loam with a little sand ; 
keep them in a temperature similar to that 
in which they were struck until established, 
after which 65° by night will be enough. 
Let the heat rise in the day according to 
the state of the weather, giving air and 
shade when sunny, and keep them near 
the glass. Nip the points off the leading 
shoots, and give pots two or three sizes 
larger about the end of June, continuing 
to treat as before. They will make useful 
decorative stock by autumn, and are most 
serviceable when of moderate size struck 
annually. 
A. marginata. <A free-growing hand- 
some kind ; centre of leaf reddish brown, 
edged with carmine. South Sea Islands. 
A. obovata. A distinct and handsome 
kind ; inthe early stages the leaves are green, 
edged with creamy white, and as they get 
older the marginal colouring assumes a 
crimson hue. South Sea Islands. 
A, Wilkesiana (syn.; A. tricolor). A 
handsome species; leaves metallic green 
ground colour, deeply marked with red- 
dish crimson. New Caledonia. 
Insrcrs.— Red spider and mealy bug 
sometimes affect them, and are best 
kept under by a free use of the syringe and 
sponging. 
ACANTHOPHANIX. 
The few species of this genus of Palms 
known in cultivation are pretty habited 
plants that attain a medium size. They 
require stove heat to keep them in good 
condition. Propagation and cultivation 
given under Palms, general details of 
culture. 
A. crimta (syns.; Areca crinita and 
Calamus dealbatus). A species with 
elegantly curved, plumose pinnate leaves, 
pale green above, white on the under 
side; the stalks are armed with strong 
spines. This Palm often has a yellow, 
sickly appearance, and on that account is 
not equal to many in cultivation. It is 
indigenous to Madagascar and the Isle of 
Bourbon. 
ACHIMENES. 
Many of the present race of these beauti- 
ful free-flowering plants are garden hy- 
brids, produced by crossing the different 
species introduced from Jamaica and South 
America, the progeny of which are very 
handsome. They have many properties 
that commend them to the general culti- 
vator, amongst which are the ease with 
which they can be grown, their long-con- 
tinued blooming, and also their ability to 
bear when in flower a considerably lower 
temperature than the stove ; their suita- 
bility for conservatory decoration during 
the summer season, when the greater num- 
ber of plants have done flowering, makes 
them valuable for using in this way. They 
are deciduous herbaceous plants, forming 
scaly roots that rest through the winter, 
during which they should be kept in dry 
material. This should be either sand or 
soil, and they may be put away anywhere 
in a dry place where the temperature does 
not fall below 50° ; much lower than this 
they are not safe for any length of time, as, 
if kept too cold, they decay. Although 
the flowering lasts for a considerable 
period, still it is well to start them into 
growth at different times, so as to have a 
succession. If some are required early, 
say in June, a portion should be started 
about the end of February, with a second 
lot at an interval of a month or five weeks. 
When commencing prepare some ordinary 
seed pans, proportionate in size with the 
quantity of each variety to be grown, and 
put in the bottom of ‘these a few bits of 
crocks, on which place the soil. They will 
thrive in either peat or loam, mixed with 
leaf mould and rotten dung, to which add 
sand in proportion to the more or less 
heavy description of the soil used. As 
these pans are merely to start them into 
growth, after which they are to be trans- 
planted, the soil should be of a very light 
character, so'that they may be moved from it 
without injuring the young roots, a cir- 
cumstance that will occur if material of 
an adhesive nature is used. If peat ofa 
fibrous description is employed, add one- 
fifth of leaf mould ; if loam, put an equal 
quantity of leaf mould along with it ; fill 
the pans two-thirds their depth with the 
soil, and then place the roots an inch 
asunder evenly upon it, and over them put 
an inch of soil, which should be in a 
medium condition between wet and dry. 
Place the pans in the stove at the coolest 
