CASSIA CORYMBOSA. 
Greenhouse and Stove Plants. 
95 
where a night temperature of 40° or lower 
is kept up during the winter season. It 
has long been known in this country, hav- 
ing been introduced towards the close of 
the last century ; and it is one among 
many of fine things that some years back 
were allowed to fall into comparative 
neglect. More recently the way in which 
it has been produced by some growers has 
shown what it is capable of when fairly 
treated, and it is now receiving the atten- 
tion that its merits deserve. When 
thoroughly well managed it is effective as 
an exhibition specimen for late summer 
use, but from its continuous flowering dis- 
position, rather than from an ability to 
produce an extraordinary quantity of bloom 
at one time, it is better adapted for green- 
house or conservatory decoration than for 
the exhibition stage. It is a free, compara- 
tively strong-rooted plant, not particular 
as to soil, thriving in either peat or loam ; 
but as most things of a similar character 
that will succeed in loam are more disposed 
to flower freely in it than in peat, it is 
better to grow it in loam, which should be 
of a good fibrous nature, containing natu- 
rally or mixed with it a sufficient quantity of 
sand to keep it in an open porous condition. 
This is more essential as the plant will, 
with ordinary care, last for a number of 
years, and moreover, it does not like that 
mutilation of its roots which is inseparable 
from shaking out. 
Cuttings taken off with a heel about the 
beginning of March, will strike under the 
ordinary conditions of moderate heat and 
moisture, if kept close, with a little shade 
when the sun is bright. In six or eight 
weeks they should be well-rooted so as to 
bear moving into 38-inch pots. Keep them 
warm and a little close until the roots have 
begun to move freely, then stop the points 
and give more air, but still encourage 
growth by a genial temperature, and 
moisten them overhead at closing time in 
the afternoons. About the beginning of 
July move them into pots 2 inches larger, 
and continue to encourage growth until 
the end of August, when admit more air, 
and give greenhouse treatment through the 
winter. In March move into pots a couple 
of inches largér. Use a fair amount of 
drainage, break the soil up by hand into 
pieces about the size of walnuts, and be 
careful that it contains no worms. It is 
necessary to be more mindful in this 
matter with loam than it is with peat, as 
the latter is not so subject to worms. A 
little well-decomposed manure may be 
used, but not more than one-sixth, or the 
soil will be made too light, in which case 
it shrinks into little room as the manure 
becomes further decomposed ; pot firmly, 
pinch out the points of the shoots, and at 
once train them out in a horizontal posi- 
tion, bringing them down as nearly as 
possible on a level with the rims of the 
ots. 
If the plants can be placed in a light 
house, where a night temperature of 45°, 
or a little higher, is kept up, they will 
progress all the quicker. If there happens 
to be at hand a pit where the above con- 
ditions as to temperature exist, with plenty 
of light, it will answer for them in every 
way ; but although this Cassia will make 
much greater progress with a little extra 
warmth, it is by no means advisable to 
subject it to hot treatment, which has the 
effect of producing weak, elongated growth. 
After a few weeks the plants will get esta- 
blished, and should have plenty of air, but 
do not place them in the way of a direct 
draught. As the days get longer, with 
more solar heat, syringe them overhead in 
the afternoons, and close the house while 
the sun is upon the glass ; by midsummer, 
if all has gone well, they will have made 
6 inches of growth, and should again have 
their points pinched out. It is necessary 
to persevere with stopping while the plant 
is young so as to correct its natural ten- 
dency to straggling growth, otherwise the 
base will not be sufliciently furnished. 
Directly they have again broken into 
growth give them another shift ; 2 inches 
additional will be enough, as, although a 
strong-rooting subject, it does not make a 
profusion of roots. Use similar soil to that 
recommended for the first potting, and con- 
tinue to treat as hitherto ; give more air in 
August and September, and leave it on at 
night as well as day to ripen the growth. 
In September cease syringing overhead to 
stop growth. 
As autumn advances, go over the plants 
and put them into shape: they do not 
require many sticks, but use sufficient 
to keep them in proper form. Through 
the winter let them be in a light situation, 
and in a temperature of about 40° during 
the night, with considerably less water at 
the roots. Again in March give them 
another 2-inch shift, and once more pinch 
out the points of the shoots as heretofore, 
keeping them a little close after potting. 
As growth increases train the branches out, 
and keep them well down ; this will cause 
the plants as they get strong to break back 
in the old wood near the centre. Treat 
through the spring as in the preceding 
season. By the end of June the young 
shoots will have made considerable pro- 
gress, but must not be stopped this summer, 
otherwise the flowers, which are produced in 
