128 
Greenhouse and Stove Plants. 
CROTON. 
pots than necessary to grow and sustain 
them up to full size; they want a good 
holding soil. 
There are a large number of kinds 
known to cultivators, but the following 
will usually be found sufficient for ordi- 
nary use. Most of them bear umbels of 
from a dozen to thirty highly fragrant 
flowers. 
Crinum amabile. Thisis areddish purple 
species from the East Indies. 
C. americanum. A well-known kind, 
with pure white flowers, very fragrant ; 
from South America. 
C. asiaticum. This is also a white- 
flowered species; it comes from China, 
and is a‘very desirable plant. 
C. erubescens. A  white-flowered sort 
from the West Indies. 
C. giganteum. <A large strong-growing 
kind that has very large umbels of white 
flowers ; a native of Guinea. 
C. Lindleyanum. Bears white and purple 
flowers ; a handsome kind introduced from 
Maranham. 
C. ornatum Herbertianum. A garden 
hybrid, ground colour blush, striped with 
bright red. 
C. scabrum. White, striped with red ; a 
native of California. 
Hymenocallis caribbea. A handsome 
white - flowered species that requires a 
strong heat to grow it well; a native of 
the West Indies. 
H. macrostephana. A most beautiful 
dwarf-growing sort with white flowers, 
one of the finest of all the species. 
H. speciosa. Also a white-flowered kind 
from the West Indies. 
InsEcts.—These plants are not much 
subject to insects, although red spider will 
live on the foliage. But this can easily be 
kept down by syringing. If scale, mealy 
bug, or thrips attack them, sponging will 
be the most effectual. 
CROSSANDRA INFUNDIBULI- 
FORMIS. 
A new evergreen stove Acanthad, from 
India, with orange flowers, tinged with 
red, produced in terminable spikes. 
The mode of propagation and after 
management is similar to that recom- 
mended for Aplelandras, which see. 
CROTON. 
(Syn. : Codiwum.) 
Few amongst the different kinds of fine- 
leaved stove subjects have been so exten- 
sively cultivated as Crotons, and there is 
(no family of plants known to cultivators 
which gives so much variety in the way of 
form and colour in the foliage. All the 
variegated kinds (and these only are 
favourites with plant growers) come from 
hot countries, and require a high stove 
temperature to grow them to anything like 
the condition of which they admit. 
' These plants are very easily propagated, 
and quite as easily grown, provided suffi- 
cient care is bestowed upon them. Cut- 
tings will root quickly at any time of the 
year, but spring is the best season for 
putting them in. Small pieces of the 
shoots should be selected, always choosing 
those that have their leaves well variegated. 
This is necessary, as if shoots that are too 
green are struck they almost invariably are 
afterwards deficient in variegation. They 
should be put singly in pots just large 
enough to hold them, half filled with sand 
and loam, the upper portion all sand. 
Kept warm, moist, with the air confined, 
and shaded, they will root in a few weeks ; 
then gradually dispense with the propaga- 
ting glasses ; they form roots quickly, and 
will soon require larger pots ; these should 
be drained and filled with good loam, 
liberally mixed with sand. If intended 
for large specimens, as soon as growth has 
commenced the points of the shoots should 
be pinched out to lay the foundation for a 
dense, busliy habit; to further encourage 
this they ought to be kept close to the roof 
glass, and receive air every day through 
the growing season when the weather is fit 
to admit it. They do not require any shade 
from the sun; unless the glass actually 
burns the leaves the more sun they. get 
the finer coloured they usually are. They 
should be freely syringed daily, except in 
the dead of winter, as they are liable 
to red spider and a minute yellow thrip 
that often attacks them, and which can 
only be kept down by a constant applica- 
tion of water to the leaves. As the 
branches are produced they should be tied 
out, otherwise, if this is not attended to 
they get into too stiff an erect position to 
admit of their afterwards bending. The 
result of this is that they in course of time 
become denuded of leaves about the bottom, 
which makes them unsightly. These 
plants should always present a close mass 
of healthy leaves fully clothing the wood, 
without which they, and similar things 
grown for the beauty of their foliage, are 
deficient in the first essential to make them 
attractive. 
Crotons will grow in almost any descrip- 
tion of soil, and, like most other plants, 
make the most progress in peat, but they 
rarely have their leaves so finely coloured 
