BIGNONIA. 
Greenhouse and Stove Plants. 
69 
are used, pieces about the thickness of a 
quill should be taken off existing plants 
early in the spring, before’ growth has 
commenced, and cut into bits about an 
inch in length; insert them singly in 
thumb pots in a mixture of two-thirds peat 
to one of sand, with half-an-inch of sand on 
the surface, leaving the thickest end of the 
cuttings just a little above the sand ; place 
them in a temperature of 65° or 70° in the 
night, and a few degrees higher in the day. 
In a few weeks shoots will be formed from 
near the top of the cuttings, which will 
also soon begin to make fibrous roots. 
Treat them afterwards as with plants 
grown from cuttings made from the shoots, 
giving them larger pots as required. When 
these plants are increased by cuttings made 
from the young wood in the spring, shoots 
should be chosen that are not too hard, or, 
in the opposite extreme, too soft and 
watery. The former will be slow in root- 
ing, and cannot easily be induced to grow 
freely ; the latter will most likely damp 
off. Select such as are moderate in strength, 
and if these can be taken off with a heel, at 
their junction with the old wood, they will 
be much more likely to succeed. Put 
them singly in small pots in sand, confine 
under a propagating glass in a brisk heat, 
give moisture and shade ; and when rooted 
gradually inure them to the full air of the 
house. After they have fairly commenced 
to grow, give them pots 3 inches larger. 
They will grow in either loam or peat, but 
in the first stages peat has some advantages. 
Use it now broken moderately fine, with 
one-sixth sand added, Place them in a light 
situation in a house where the night tem- 
perature is kept about 70°, and 10° higher 
in the day with sun-heat. Shade slightly 
in very bright weather, giving sufficient 
air to keep the growth from being drawn up 
weakly. By the end of July the plants 
will most likely have filled their pots with 
roots, and should be at once shifted into 
others 3 inches larger ; at this time half loam 
should be mixed with the peat. Pot them 
moderately firm, and place two or three 
sticks in the pots to train the shoots to ; 
it is better not to stop them, as in most 
cases a single shoot for a considerable 
height will be the most suitable form for 
the plants to assume. Keep them regularly 
trained round the sticks, not letting the 
shoots twine round these, or they will 
most likely suffer when they have to be 
removed. As the autumn advances give 
more air, discontinue shading, and reduce 
the temperature ; but do not allow them 
to get too dry at the roots, as, in common 
with other evergreen subjects, their leaves 
will be injured if this occurs. 
Winter them in a temperature of 55° or 
60°. About the beginning of March they 
should be planted out where they are in- 
tended to remain, as they are naturally too 
large for pot culture (unless the pots are 
much larger than either sightly or con- 
venient), and their nature is not such as 
willadmit of partial shaking out and re- 
moval of the soil annually. 
The border in which they are to be 
grown should be well drained, as the plants 
when they get large will require copious 
waterings. Six inches of broken bricks 
ought to be placed in the bottom, with 
a sufficient egress from this for the 
water. Over the drainage put some fibrous 
material to prevent it getting clogged up 
with the soil, which should consist of good 
loam, with a little rotten manure added, 
and enough sand to keep it open. The 
soil should be a foot or 15 inches in depth. 
When the plants are turned out the roots 
ought to be carefully loosened from the 
ball and spread out, covered about 3 or 4 
inches, and the soil pressed moderately 
firm. The shoots should then be trained 
in the places they are to occupy. As the 
roots get to growing freely, give water 
when required, and as soon as the shoots 
have attained the height where they are 
desired to branch out, soas to furnish the 
space they have to fill, the points should be 
pinched off to cause them to break. Re- 
peat the operation at intervals as_they 
srow, until sufficient exist; these should 
be regularly trained to wires fixed for the 
purpose, as, if neglected (especially in their 
younger stages), they will twine round 
each other, and become an entangled 
mass that will require cutting back. 
During the growing season they will be 
much benefited by a free use of the syringe 
every afternoon. When the allotted space 
is covered the plants should be cut in each 
season when the flowering is over, after 
which they will commence to make growth 
for the ensuing season’s blooming. As the 
soil becomes exhausted each spring, before 
the roots begin to move, an inch or two 
should be removed from the border, and 
replaced with new material ; and through 
the growing season manure-water will be a 
great assistance. 
The following species are deserving of 
cultivation :— 
B. argyrea 
species. 
B. aurantiaca. 
growth ; flowers yellow. 
South America. 
B. Chamberlaynit.. A strong-growing, 
yellow-flowered kind from Brazil. _ 
B. littoralis. A free-growing, handsome 
violescens. A handsome 
A species of medium 
A native of 
