EPIPHYLLUM. 
During the time they are in the open 
air they must not be suffered to get too 
wet at the roots; to prevent this the 
plants should be laid on their sides when 
heavy rain seems likely to occur. Keep 
them regularly trained out during all stages 
of their growth: they are peculiarly easy 
to keep in order in this respect, from the 
flexible nature of their shoots, which will 
bend readily in any direction. Winter 
and treat generally as before such as are 
required for early flowering, as to bringing 
them into bloom and also when done 
flowering. These early-flowering plants 
should be potted as before directed, when 
they have commenced growth ; even at 
this size they will not require more than a 
3-inch shift. The later varieties that 
bloom in May or June had better not be 
potted until they have flowered and com- 
menced to grow; treat them as before, 
with additional shade and moisture in the 
atmosphere, consequent upon the greater 
amount of sun-heat at this advanced season. 
The plants will not require potting after 
this oftener than once in two or three 
years, or they may remain even longer if 
assisted with weak transparent manure- 
water during the time they make their 
growth ; plants so treated may be kept by 
this means in a good healthy condition 
without additional pot-room for six or 
seven years. 
For winter and early spring flowering 
the following varieties will be found good 
in colour and constitution, and generally 
useful either for cutting or conservatory 
decoration :— 
E. hyacinthina candidissima. White. 
E. hyacinthina carminata. Carmine. 
E. hyacinthina fulgens. Bright pink. 
E. Kinghornit. 
Lady Panmure. White, tinged with 
. Mont Blanc. White. 
Mrs. Pym. 
Salmonea. Reddish salmon. 
Sunset. Bright red. 
The Bride. Pearly white. 
EH. Vesuvius. Crimson, 
For late blooming, especially when 
required for exhibition, the undermentioned 
more bushy-habited varieties will be found 
the best :— 
E. Eclipse. Bright red, mouth of the 
tube heavily tipped with pure white; an 
excellent strong-growing variety. 
E. grandiflora rubra. Fine and strong, 
rather deeper in colour than the preceding. 
E. mimata. Red, tipped with white. 
E. miniate splendens. Red tipped with 
white. 
Insects.—Epacrises are rarely affected 
Greenhouse and Stove Plants. 
159 
with mildew, and are seldom attacked by 
insects, except scale. The brown species 
can easily be destroyed by a dressing of 
insecticide used strong enough to kill them 
and applied when there is no growth going 
on and the flowers are not far enough ad- 
vanced to be injured thereby. White scale 
on these, as on other plants, is difficult to 
kill, and sometimes a stronger application 
is necessary to destroy the insects than the 
plants will well bear. The tender young 
growing points of the shoots are sometimes 
affected with aphides, but these are easily 
destroyed by fumigation. 
EPIPHYLLUM. 
As decorative plants during winter and 
spring the different varieties of E. trun- 
catum have few equals. They bloom well 
even in asmall state, and can consequently 
be used either in 5 or 6 inch pots for the 
decoration of the side stages in a stove or 
intermediate house, or they can be grown 
to a size sufficiently large to fit them for a 
central position in large plant structures. 
In no way, however, are they seen to better 
advantage than when grown on their own 
roots in the form of low spreading bushes 
12 or 15 inches in diameter, plunged in 
neat wire baskets of suitable size, fringed 
with Lycopodium cesium or other Club 
Mosses, suspended from the roof of the 
house in which they are placed. In this 
way their drooping flowers are shown off 
in the best manner. Showy flowering 
plants with a drooping habit are not over 
plentiful, and it is well to use these 
Epiphyllums in that way. If hanging 
baskets were employed to a greater extent 
than they usually are, the appearance of 
plant houses, both warm and cool, would 
be enhanced. Epiphyllums of this class 
are easily propagated either by grafting 
on the Pereskia stock, or by striking 
cuttings for growing on their own roots. 
Cuttings made from pieces of the shoots, 
consisting of three, four, or half-a-dozen 
joints, taken off before growth has com- 
menced, and inserted singly in small pots, 
drained and filled with a mixture of equal 
parts of sand and peat or sand and loam, 
will strike root freely if placed in a brisk 
heat and slightly but not over-moistened. 
They should be kept moderately near the 
light, but not under a propagating glass or 
similar contrivance, as if confined they are 
liable to rot. When the pots are filled 
with roots, shift into others a size or two 
larger, but they must never be over-potted. 
A mixture of five parts turfy loam to one of 
sand, with a sprinkling of potsherds, will 
be found to suit them perfectly. Soil of 
