MUSSANDA., 
to the roots, a liberal admission of air 
in the daytime, and a free syringing 
overhead in the afternoon ; no more shade 
is required than is found necessary to pre- 
vent the leaves scorching. By the be- 
ginning of July they will most likely want 
another shift, which should be into pots or 
tubs from 18 to 24 inches diameter, accord- 
ing to the progress that has been made or 
the size they are wanted to be grown to, 
using soil of a turfy nature in good-sized 
pieces. They will now grow fast and 
require nothing more than ordinary atten- 
tion, as already detailed. During the 
winter they should be kept in a tempera- 
ture of not less than 60° in the night. 
With care to prevent their large massive 
leaves from getting disfigured they will 
keep in good condition for another summer, 
during which time they not only are com- 
manding objects in the house in which 
they are grown, but are very effective when 
stood in large halls, vestibules, or similar 
places where they can be allowed to remain 
for a short time in summer. They are 
quickly grown up to an effective size, for 
which reason it is well to keep up a stock 
of young plants raised from suckers, as 
advised. By the use of manure-water they 
will do with less root-room. 
The undermentioned are the best for 
general cultivation :— 
M. Cavendish. This is much the best 
where fruit-bearing is the object, as it does 
not grow to an unmanageable height—5 
feet or 6 feet—and produces massive 
bunches of singular-looking fruit. When 
planted out it can be had in bearing from 
suckers in the course of twelve or fifteen 
months. A native of China. 
M. coccinea. This also is a Chinese 
species, and is an ornamental plant of 
moderate growth and handsome appear- 
ance. 
M. Ensete attains a considerable size, 
with a tall Palm-like stem and very large 
leaves. Introduced from Abyssinia. 
M. sapientum vittata. A handsome 
species from St. Thomas, that attains a 
medium height. 
Insects.—Musas are liable to the attacks 
of most of the insects that affect stove 
plants, yet their comparatively few, but 
very large and smooth, leaves afford little 
shelter for them. All except scale can 
easily be got rid of by syringing with tepid 
water. Ifscale appears it can be removed 
by sponging. 
MUSSANDA FRONDOSA. 
This singular, yet beautiful, plant be- 
longs to a somewhat restricted family of 
Greenhouse and Stove Plants. 
253 
evergreen stove shrubs mostly from hot 
countries, in both the Old and New 
Worlds. This species is much the hand- 
somest of the genus, and is unlike any other 
plant in cultivation. It produces bright 
yellow flowers, borne in bunches, in form 
not unlike the well-known Pentas carnea, 
but individually smaller ; yet it is not in 
the flowers alone that its beauty consists, 
but also in the large floral bracts or pair of 
floral leaves, pure white, that are produced 
immediately at the base of each bunch of 
bloom. In size and shape they are similar 
to the ordinary leaves borne by the plant, 
but do not much outlast the flowers, which 
will remain three weeks in perfection. 
The plant is easily managed, and does not 
require a great deal of room, a large speci- 
men rarely attaining more than from two ' 
feet to two and a half feet in diameter. Its 
disposition to bloom is remarkably free, 
as even small examples consisting of a shoot 
or two will flower. The singular combina- 
tion in colour produced by the pale green 
of the leaves and the white bracts, which, 
on a well-grown example, cover half the 
surface, and the bright yellow flowers 
rising immediately above them, is at once 
beautiful and wholly distinct from every- 
thing else—so much so as to create surprise 
that the plant is not more generally culti- 
vated, either by those whose heated glass 
accommodation is limited, for which the 
little room it occupies adapts it, or by those 
who have large stoves or warm conserva- 
tories, where a few moderate-sized examples 
dotted about would offer a complete con- 
trast to the other occupants. 
It is as readily struck as a Pelargonium ; 
cuttings made of the green, half-ripened 
shoots taken off with about three joints, 
removing the bottom pair of leaves, will 
root in a few weeks, inserted singly in 
small pots, drained and filled with a mix- 
ture of half-sifted loam, to which an equal 
quantity of sand has been added, and a 
thin layer of sand spread on the surface. 
They should be covered with a bell-glass, 
kept moist and slightly shaded with or 
without bottom heat, in a night tempera- 
ture of 65° or 70° and proportionately 
higher in the day. This heat there will be 
no difficulty in maintaining about the time 
(April) when cuttings in the condition 
above described will be obtainable. As 
soon as they are found to have formed 
roots give air, gradually dispensing with 
the glasses, so as to inure the plants to the 
air of the house. When they have made 
two pairs more leaves pinch out the points 
of the shoots to induce the lower eyes to 
break, for although the plant is naturally 
inclined to assume a bushy form, yet to 
zy as 
