52 Greenhouse and Stove Plants. 
need to pass freely through it, but good 
loam is preferable to peat, as in it they do 
not run so much to leaf, and form flowers 
more freely. For this first potting, sift the 
loam and add one-sixth of leaf-mould and 
a moderate quantity of sand. Keep them 
in a temperature of 70° during the night, 
with 10° higher in the day, and give a 
little air when the weather is sunny; a 
slight shade will be required when it is 
bright, and use the syringe freely in the 
afternoons. By midsummer the roots will 
have filled the pots, and they should then 
be moved into others 3in. larger; use 
the soil in similar proportions of loam, 
leaf-mould and sand, but do not now sift 
the loam—break it by hand, press the 
material firm in the pots, and pinch out 
the points of the shoots so as to induce 
them to throw out several breaks. 
Treat them through the summer as 
already advised as to shade, giving more 
heat and air as the season advances, and, 
when the growth requires it, place in the 
pots several moderately tall sticks, round 
which wind the shoots of the climbing 
species ; but do not allow them to twine to 
the sticks or each other, or they will cling 
so fast as to run the risk of injury when 
they are removed. At the end of August 
cease shading, and also the use of the 
syringe, giving more air to discourage 
further growth and ripen up the wood. 
Keep the plants through the winter in a 
moderately light position in a temperature 
of 60°, or a little over, in the night, with a 
few degrees more in the daytime, but never 
allow the soil to become so dry as advisable 
with things that produce smaller leaves of 
a harder texture. By the beginning of 
March raise the night temperature 5°, and 
10° with sun-heat in the day, and at the 
same time move the plants into their 
blooming-pots ; these should be 15 inches 
in diameter, with a couple of inches of 
crocks in the bottom, covered with fibrous 
material to prevent the soil being washed 
down by the large quantities of water they 
will want almost daily through the grow- 
ing season. At this potting use the soil in 
a more lumpy state ; add one-fifth of rotten 
manure and leaf-mould in equal propor- 
tions, and a fair amount of sand. Use the 
potting-lath freely, so as to make the whole 
moderately solid. The plants should now 
be placed where they are intended to 
bloom ; if to cover a pillar or rafter, they 
should at once be trained to such. There 
is no place that they can occupy with more 
advantage than run lengthways over a path 
in the stove ; so placed they utilise space 
that is seldom filled, and are in a good 
position for their flowers being seen to 
ARISTOLOCHIA, 
advantage. Such a situation gives an ex- 
cellent opportunity for a free use of the 
syringe, so as to get the water to the leaves 
on all sides. This is necessary, otherwise 
red spider is sure to become troublesome. 
There is nothing better to train the shoots 
to than thin strings placed 6 inches apart, 
on each of which allow a single shoot to 
twine. As the days lengthen, raise the 
night temperature to 70°, or a few degrees 
over, according to the state of the weather, 
with 10° more in the day. As the pots 
get filled with roots, an abundant supply 
of water will be required. They will now 
grow apace, and by the middle of June will 
most likely show their flowers, which are 
produced from the axils of the leaves over 
a considerable extent of the growing shoots. 
The plants may be allowed to go on flower- 
ing through the summer where they are 
growing, or, if desired, the strings may be 
cut, and the shoots wound round several 
sticks, inserted inside the rims of the pots, 
or a trellis may be used on wilde to 
train them. In this way, if wanted, they 
can be placed for several weeks whilst the 
weather is hot in a warm conservatory— 
first preparing them for the change by 
putting them at the coolest end of the 
stove, where they will receive more air. 
While in a cooler house stand them at a 
distance frorh where air is admitted, other- 
wise such a check may be given to the 
advancing flowers as will cause their fall- 
ing off before opening. When the bloom- 
ing is over remove them back to the stove, 
placing them at the coolest end and ad- 
mitting sufficient air to ripen up the wood, 
and discourage further growth by giving 
no more water than needed to prevent the 
leaves flagging. Winter in a similar 
temperature to that before advised, and 
by the end of February cut the shoots back 
to within about a yard or 4 feet of the base 
of the plants. Give_a little more heat, 
and, when the young growths are a few 
inches in length, turn the plants out of the 
pots and remove as much of the old soil 
as can be got away without injuring the 
roots ; place them in pots 3 in. larger, and — 
treat in every way through the spring and 
autumn as recommended for the season ~ 
previous. Cut back freely each spring to 
within a few joints of where they were 
shortened the preceding year, and partially 
remove the soil at potting time; they will 
not need larger pots, but should, through 
the early part of summer, be freely sup- 
plied with manure-water, and in this way 
the plants will last for years. Where re- 
quired to cover a considerable space they 
may be planted out, but even in this case 
they should not have too much root-room, 
EEE 
