168 
Greenhouse and Stove Plants. 
ERIOSTEMON, 
be the production of flowers. Winter them 
in a temperature similar to that advised 
for the preceding season—this will keep 
their roots from getting quite dormant, 
and will enable the plants to move into 
growth freely in the spring; pot them at 
the end of March, giving a 3-inch shift, 
and encourage free growth by giving little 
side air and shutting the house completely 
early enough to enclose a good amount of 
sun-heat. As the season advances again 
commence to use the syringe every after- 
noon. Attend well to their training, so as 
to keep them dense and well furnished at 
the base; upon attention to this in the 
early stages of their growth depends their 
after condition, as, if they are once allowed 
to get bare of foliage at the bottom, it is 
not easy to get their strong upright-grow- 
ing branches down so as to furnish them 
as they ought to be, and bare naked bottoms 
are at all times intolerable. They will, if 
all has gone well, be large enough to make 
nice decorative plants the following spring. 
Such as are required for flowering should 
be fully exposed to the open air from the 
middle of July until the end of September. 
This open-air ripening cannot be dispensed 
with, if a dense sheet of flower is expected, 
and these plants, unless profusely bloomed 
in this way, are not, on account of the 
small size of the individual flowers, suffi- 
ciently attractive. By the end of Septem- 
ber they must be brought indoors ; they 
do not require to be placed in the best 
position in the house as to light by reason 
of their making no growth during the 
winter, but they must on no account be 
stood too close together, or the bottom 
leaves will suffer and fall off prematurely. 
A temperature of 40° at night will be suffi- 
cient to winter them in; they will come 
into flower during March or April, when 
they can be removed to the conservatory, 
where they will be attractive for several 
weeks. After they have flowered the seed- 
pods must be at once-picked off, or they 
will seriously retard the growth of the 
plants. 
If the object is to grow them on quickly 
to a large size, they should not be turned 
out in the autumn, but be kept under glass, 
as advised the first season, and wintered a 
little warmer, given a 3-inch shift again in 
March, and grown freely all through this 
their third summer until the middle of 
July, when they must be turned out, as 
before recommended for such as were re- 
quired to flower. Remove them under 
glass before there is any danger of frost, 
and keep them cool during the winter if 
the object is to induce them to bloom late. 
If they are required for exhibition they 
should, when removed under cover in the 
autumn, be at once placed in the north 
house, where they will do well through 
the winter ; here they will come on much 
more slowly than in the ordinary hard- 
wooded house. It is necessary to treat 
them so when wanted for showing, as un- 
less retarded all the winter they come into 
flower too soon, and their blooming will 
be half over before they are required. The 
plants will need little difference in their 
treatment to keep them in good condition 
for two or three years, when they may be 
potted again, giving them 4 or 6 inches more 
room, after which, when the soil becomes 
at all exhausted, they must be assisted with 
manure-water during the growing season. 
The following species are deserving of 
cultivation, and all require similar treat- 
mente —— 
E. buxifolius. This is one of the best 
known and commonly grown species; it 
is a free grower and profuse flowerer. 
E. cuspidatus. Is an erect grower, has 
moderate-sized leaves, and is a free-flower- 
ing and desirable plant, when strong, pro- 
ducing its flowers in bunches of five or six 
at every leaf. 
E. intermedius. This has larger flowers 
than the other kinds, but is not so good a 
grower, never pushing such a number of 
branches, and having a much thinner ap- 
pearance ; nevertheless, it makes a nice, 
moderate-sized plant. 
E. linearifolius. Forms a nice companion 
plant to the others. It is a very free 
grower, its flowers are smaller, and more 
hidden by the leaves than those of the 
more robust-growing sorts. 
E. neriifolius. The best of the family ; 
good in constitution and habit, a very free 
flowerer, the individual blooms large, and 
produced in great quantities. A profusely- 
flowered plant of this sort is very effective 
on the exhibition stage. 
E. pulchellus. Isa weaker-wooded plant, 
yet grows very close and compact ; it does 
not form so large a specimen as some of 
the others, nor are its flowers so con- 
spicuous. 
Insects. — Eriostemons are not very 
liable to the attacks of insects, although 
they are sometimes affected with red spider, 
which the use of the syringe, as before re- 
commended, will keep down. White and 
brown scale will also live upon them ; it 
is a difficult matter to destroy the white 
insect, as the leaves are unable to withstand 
any application sufficiently strong to kill 
it. Insecticide strong enough to destroy 
brown scale, without injuring the leaves 
in the least, may be used. They should be 
thoroughly washed with the mixture twice 
