16 
Greenhouse and Stove Plants. 
ACACIA, 
the pillar or rafter without being too much 
crowded. Where overcrowding occurs, the 
light elegant arrangement that should 
always exist in the training of plants in 
such positions is wanting, and the health 
and flowering capabilities of the subjects 
employed interfered with. Do not give too 
much water until the roots have got well 
hold of the soil; but when the pots are 
filled they will in the summer, when in 
full growth, need a copious supply, gradu- 
ally reduced as winter approaches, when 
no more must be given than will just 
suffice to keep the soil a little moist. 
Before they begin growing in the spring, 
the strongest shoots should be cut back at 
different points, so as to induce the plants 
to break afresh regularly from bottom to 
top. When they have made some progress 
they ought to be liberally supplied with 
manure water: by this in a great measure 
they will require to be sustained, as the 
limited quantity of soil they occupy will 
become exhausted. Previous to growth 
commencing the third season they may 
be cut back freely and turned out of 
the pots, a portion of the old soil shaken 
away, the roots shortened, and replaced in 
the same pots with new material ; further 
on in the season, if they show any signs of 
weakness, give manure water freely. 
Abutilons are gross feeders, and will bear 
it moderately strong. By the use of this 
and by periodically replacing the exhausted 
soil with new, the plants can be kept going 
for years in a healthy flowering condition, 
or they may be at any time replaced by 
young ones. 
Abutilons can be raised from seed sown 
and subsequently treated as other warm 
greenhouse plants, but cutting propaga- 
tion will usually be found best for the 
generality of growers. 
Of late years immense numbers of new 
varieties have been raised ; the following 
are a good selection of both old and newer 
kinds :— 
A. Agatha. Orange yellow, striped with 
erimson. 
A. Aurelia. Deep yellow. 
A. Blandi. Dark yellow, veined and 
netted with crimson. 
A. Boule de Neige. This is a beau- 
tiful plant, extremely free in flowering, 
producing its snow-white bells when in 
asmall or large state ; it is also very free 
in growth and adapted for a pot specimen, 
or for a rafter or pillar. 
A. Cleopatra. Rosy pink, veined with 
crimson. 
A. Duc de Malakoff. A free-growing kind 
with very large highly-coloured flowers, 
handsomely marked. Suitable for a 
climber. 
A. Eclipse. Bright orange, shaded with 
crimson, purple veins. A good compact 
habited sort. 
A. lilacewm album. White, shaded with 
mauve ; a dwarf habited sort, suitable for 
a pot specimen. 
A. megapotamicum. A very free, hand- 
some-flowered variety ; will answer either 
as a pot specimen or as a roof climber ; 
also known as A veaillariwm. 
A. Mons. Ed. Pynaert van Geert. Ama- 
ranth purple, veined with carmine, white 
throat. 
A. Mons. Perpignan. Bright reddish 
orange, veined with crimson, dark yellow 
throat. 
A. roseum album. Rose, veined with 
white, white throat. 
A. Royal Scarlet. Brilliant scarlet. A 
dwarf habited variety. 
A. Sellowianum variegatum. A very 
handsome kind, the leaves beautifully 
suffused with yellow and green. 
A. striatum. A strong-growing bright- 
coloured kind, suitable for a wall, pillar, 
or rafter. 
A. violaceum purpureum  variegatum. 
Flowers purplish violet, the leaves hand- 
somely variegated ; yery effective, es- 
pecially when covering the back wall of a 
conservatory. 
Insects.—Abutilons are plants not very 
much subject to Insects, although aphides 
and scale will live upon them. The former 
can be destroyed by fumigation or wash- 
ing with tobacco or quassia water ; scale, 
if it exist, must be removed with sponge 
and brush ; red spider, to which they are 
liable, is best kept under by continuous 
use of the syringe during the growing 
season. 
ACACIA. 
The genus Acacia is represented by 
a very great number of species, from 
both Eastern and Western hemispheres. 
Some attain the proportions of moderate- 
sized trees, but most of them are 
evergreen greenhouse shrubs, indigenous 
to New Holland. Many possess great 
beauty, and hold a very conspicuous place 
amongst decorative flowering plants in our 
conservatories, where their elegant habit 
makes them very suitable for draping the 
walls and pillars, where, in the early 
spring, their profuse wreaths of yellow 
flowers are very effective. There are a few 
that are, more than others, especially 
adapted for use as pot plants, and can be 
so managed as to come into bloom at any 
time during the winter, through being 
