158 
Greenhouse and Stove Plants. 
EPACRIS., 
there is a disposition to grow. In March 
move singly into small pots, and encourage 
them by a genial temperature and a mode- 
rately close atmosphere until they have 
begun to grow. Then give more air and 
dispense with shading except when the 
house or pit they are in is so light as to 
dry up too quickly the little pots that these 
and similar young stock at this stage occupy. 
Syringe through the spring and summer 
each afternoon when the house is closed, 
stop the shoots again about the end of 
June. By the middle of August give more 
air, and cease syringing ; keep through the 
winter at a temperature of 40° in the night. 
Towards April move into pots 2 or 3 
inches larger, and treat as before, stopping 
the shoots in May and tying then well out 
at the same time. During the remainder 
of the season and also the ensuing winter 
they will require managing as previously ; 
move again in spring to pots-2 or 3 inches 
larger, according to the strength of the 
plants and the condition of their roots. 
Good fibrous peat, without anything 
added except clean sand, in sufficient 
quantity to ensure porosity, is all that is 
required—this will grow them better, and 
the plants will last longer in it than in a 
mixture of loam and peat, or all loam, 
such as they are sometimes grown in. 
Make the new soil quite as solid in the 
pots as the ball of the plant is, and at once 
remove them to a house or pit, where they 
can be kept a little close, and slightly 
shaded from the sun for a fortnight ; then 
gradually dispense with shading, as plants 
from such sunny climes require all the 
solar light we can give them after they 
have attained this size. Train the shoots 
right out horizontally, drawing them down 
to the rim of the pot: if the future 
groundwork of the plants is not laid in 
this way they soon get naked and legge 
at the bottom ; close early in the after- 
noons, drawing the syringe over them at 
the same time. The strongest growers 
should have their shoots stopped once 
during the summer ; gradually inure them 
to more air, so as to ripen the wood before 
the autumn is far advanced. It will not 
be necessary to expose them to the open 
air this year, as the object is not so much 
to prepare the plants for flowering as to 
get a maximum of growth. 
Through the autumn and winter they 
must be watered with care ; it is necessary 
at all seasons, even when the plants are 
growing freely, to see that they are never 
overwatered, that is, watered before the 
soil is sufficiently dry to require it ; there 
are few plants that are so easily killed by 
any mistake in this matter, and we have 
no doubt this is the reason they are not 
grown in anything like the quantities they 
deserve to be, especially for conservatory 
decoration, and for producing cut flowers 
in the winter. In the summer, while the 
young growth is soft and tender, if - 
water is withheld until the points of the 
shoots flag slightly, no injury will follow. 
We simply instance this to show that, with 
Epacrises, it is much safer to withhold 
water a little too long than to give it too 
soon. The winter-flowering varieties have 
mostly an upright habit of growth, and 
about Christmas should have their shoots 
shortened to within 6 inches of the point 
to which they were cut back the previous 
year, unless it is deemed advisable to 
flower them this season. This will cause 
a considerable sacrifice in the coming 
summer’s growth, nevertheless it will not 
injure the plants in any other respect ; and 
if their flowers are wanted, the plants 
should in January be placed in a little 
warmth—45° to 50° in the night, with 5° 
additional by day, which will bring them 
on nicely. After flowering, cut the shoots 
back as far as already directed, and if the 
plants are kept in a similar temperature to 
that in which they were brought into 
flower they will break quickly, after which 
they must be potted, and allowed about 3 
inches more room. 
Those plants that were cut back without 
allowing them to flower, must also when 
they have made a couple of inches of 
erowth (which will be towards the end of 
April) be potted, after which they should 
be treated as in the preceding year. The 
spring-flowering varieties, of which we 
may take E. miniata as the type, should 
be shortened back at the same time as the 
winter-flowering section ; they do not need 
cutting in so close as the upright growers, 
but, in other respects, they require to be 
treated in the same way Through the 
spring and summer manage as before ; en- 
courage them to make strong and free 
growth by giving them a good light house 
or pit, using, as in the preceding summer, 
the syringe every afternoon, at the same 
time closing the lights. Towards the be- 
ginning of July gradually inure them to 
more air, and by the end of the month 
they will be in a condition for turning 
out-of-doors, on a good bed of ashes to 
exclude worms. At first place them on 
the north side of a wall, fence, or tree, 
where they will receive a little shade from 
the midday sun ; afterwards they may be 
gradually inured to bear it fully. They 
may remain here until the middle of Sep- 
tember, later than which it is not advisable 
to risk them out for fear of frost. 
