246 
Greenhouse and Stove Plants. 
MARANTA, 
a most profuse bloomer; comes from Rio 
de Janeiro. 
M. micans. Red and orange coloured 
flowers, very pretty, and, like M. bicolor, 
very easily grown ; it comes from Peru. 
InsEects.—Manettias are subject to red 
spider and aphides ; the former are easily 
kept under by syringing daily during the 
growing season. Dip in tobacco-water or 
fumigate to kill aphides. If attacked 
with mealy bug, syringe with insecticide. 
MARANTA. 
Marantas, which are very handsome 
stove fine-leaved plants, differ considerably 
as regards the size to which they grow. 
Among the numbers that have been in- 
troduced of late years, there is to be found 
great variety with respect to the marking 
of the leaves, some having the surface 
beautifully variegated with broad well- 
defined blotches, others with delicate hues 
of distinct colour running through a con- 
siderable part of their leaf-blades. They 
mostly belong to hot regions, and, therefore, 
require a good deal of warmth. They are 
not so quickly propagated as plants that 
can be struck from cuttings; they are 
increased by division of the crowns early 
in spring just before growth commences ; 
the most suitable plants for the purpose are 
such as have grown to a considerable size 
and consist of numerous crowns. About 
the beginning of March turn them out of 
their pots, shake most of the soil away 
from the roots, and disentangle them as far 
as can be done ; after that, with the help 
of a knife, the whole may be reduced to 
single crowns if desired, or they can be 
simply divided into two or more pieces as 
occasion may require; in the latter case 
each portion should be placed in a pot 
that will allow space enough for the roots 
and a fair quantity of new soil. Ifa total 
separation of the crowns has been effected, 
each piece should be put ina 5 or 6 inch 
pot, or whatever size is found sufficient to 
hold them, with as much soil as seems 
requisite for the roots to ramble in. 
Marantas like a moderately moist atmo- 
sphere with shade when the sun gets power- 
ful, otherwise their rich glossy appearance 
will be lost. Sufficient water should be 
given to slightly moisten the new soil, and 
where they have been much divided they 
should have a confined atmosphere, such as 
that afforded by a propagating frame until 
they root, and the young buds, which will 
break from the crowns of the old growth, 
begin to move; after that inure them to 
the full air of the house. 
After division in this way they should 
be kept in a temperature of 60° or 65° at 
night, with a rise by day proportionate to 
the state of the weather. As the summer 
advances they will bear more warmth, but 
it is not well to keep them too hot, and 
although, as already stated, they will not 
do with exposure to full sunshine, they 
must not be over-much darkened and kept 
too far from the glass, or the growth made 
will be so soft and tender as not to stand 
even for a short time later on in the 
summer removal to a cooler atmosphere,. 
which such plants are often required to 
bear. To still further induce a robust 
condition they should have a moderate 
quantity of air admitted for a time each 
day during the growing season, with the 
atmosphere fairly moist ; they should also 
at that period be syringed daily. By the 
beginning of July those that seem to 
require more room ought to have pots a 
little larger. They will succeed in either 
peat or loam ; in the latter their leaves are 
often higher coloured than in peat, in 
which they grow fastest. In autumn dis- 
continue shading and the use of the syringe, 
and give a little more air. A temperature 
of 60° in the night during winter will 
suffice. All afterwards required is_pot- 
room proportionate to the size to which the 
plants are wanted to grow. 
The following are distinct and beautiful 
kinds :— 
M. albo-lineata. A fine kind from 
Colombia of stout habit; ground colour 
pale green, withnarrow, distinct white lines 
running partly through the outer portion 
of the leaf-blade. 
M. bella. Handsomely variegated with 
pale greyish green and dark green in the 
way of M. Makoyana ; Brazil. 
M. concinna. Leaves light  green,. 
blotched with blackish green; South 
America. 
M. inscripta. A medium-growing species.. 
The undersides of the leaves are red: upper 
surface clouded green, distinctly barred 
with white ; Brazil. 
M. leopardina. An erect-habited kind 
that has medium-sized leaves, pale green, 
regularly barred with dark green ; Brazil. 
M. leuconeura Massangeana. A small- 
growing kind of distinct appearance ;. 
midrib banded on each side with grey, 
lined and blotched with greyish white and 
reddish brown ; Brazil. 
M. Makoyana. A dwarf-growing species, 
the leaves of which are of a greyish white 
eround colour, and furnished with broad 
oblong blotches of bottle-green with paler 
lines running through them. 
M. nitens. A handsome small-growing 
species, with bright green leaves, regularly 
