258 
of aspan-roofed house, standing ends north 
and south, with their shoots within 1 foot 
or so of the glass, lowering the pots as the 
tops advance, and giving a thin shade when 
the sun comes on them, but none at other 
times. If suspended alike up to the roof 
in a hip-roofed or lean-to structure facing 
south they will require a thicker shade in 
bright weather, but this will be easily seen, 
as if they get too much sun the leaves will 
assume a deep crimson colour instead of 
being green tinged or mottled with red, 
which latter is an evidence of the robust 
health essential to the full development of 
the pitchers that should be produced at 
the extremity of every leaf. When all the 
cultural conditions requisite for their well- 
being are present, even the leaves of N. 
Raftlesiana, and others of like habit, that 
are made slowly through the autumn and 
winter, will, in the spring, when more heat 
is present, open the small pitchers formed 
during the dull season. We have been 
particular in describing somewhat in detail 
the appearance and necessary condition of 
the roots of the plants, as also the position 
in the house they require to be grown in 
and their disposition to pitcher freely, for 
the presence of these in a large and highly 
coloured state is the certain test of the 
plants having all they want; in this con- 
dition, thus suspended where an oppor- 
tunity exists of exhibiting to the full their 
most singular beauty and graceful habit, it 
will we think be admitted that there are 
none in the whole range of cultivated 
plants more generally interesting or more 
deserving of a place. The conditions 
necessary to grow Cucumbers well in the 
winter, viz., heat, humidity in the atmo- 
sphere, and very little direct admission of 
air, will be found such as to well suit 
Nepenthes ; a night temperature at this 
season of 65° will answer, with a few 
degrees higher in the day, more or less 
proportionate with the state of the weather ; 
at the same time most of them will bear as 
much heat as any plants in existence. The 
air of the house must never be allowed to 
get dry,.and for some twelve weeks in 
winter they will need no shade or any air 
mo.e than reaches them through the laps 
of the glass and other similar places of 
ingress. They should at this season be 
watered at the root every other day, and 
syringed overhead; through the spring 
and summer water at the root and syringe 
every day, keeping them as warm day and 
night as the means at command will per- 
mit. Through May, June, July, and 
August the night temperature should be 
70°, with 10° or 15° higher by day, and 
never admit so much air, especially 
Greenhouse and Stove Plants. 
NEPENTHES, 
directly on the plants, as most things will 
bear ; give shade as already spoken of. A 
warm moisture-laden atmosphere must 
always be present, and plenty of tepid 
water to the roots is indispensable to their 
healthy existence. This obviously renders 
an abundance of drainage in the pots 
necessary. 
It is a healthy sign of improved taste in 
horticulture to see beauty and singularity 
of form being appreciated as much as colour 
alone. That this is so, is evident from the 
increased sale for such plants as Nepenthes, 
the cultivators of which through the king- 
dom at one time might be counted on the 
fingers, but which, to supply the demand, 
those who grow them for sale have now to 
propagate by thousands. 
Nepenthes can be raised from cuttings 
made of pieces of the stems, such as available 
when the plants are headed back; these 
should consist of a couple of joints each of 
mature growth, with all, or a portion of 
the leaf retained to the upper jot. They 
root best when inserted in some open 
material such as a mixture of small crocks 
and sand ; covered with a-bell-glass in a 
bottom heat of 70° or 75°, kept close and 
moist, they will root in the course of two | 
or three months. They will strike at any 
time of the year under the above conditions. 
When struck they must be placed in 3 or 
4 inch pots, in a mixture of the best fibrous 
peat, potsherds, sand, and chopped 
sphagnum, and great care should be taken 
not to break the fragile young roots ; keep 
them moderately close until they begin to 
grow. These pots will be large enough for 
the first year, and the spring following give 
them others 1 or 2 inches larger. All 
necessary in the subsequent stages of their 
growth is to give more root-room each 
spring as the plants get larger, cutting them 
back, when a height of 23 feet or so has been 
reached, to 6 or 8 inches above the collar ; 
this will generally cause them to break two 
or three shoots from near the base. Treat 
afterwards as already advised, giving a 
little more root-room when this seems 
requisite, and repeating the cutting back 
when the shoots have again attained a 
height of 24 to 3 feet. It is from the 
growth made after this second heading in 
that the finest examples may be looked for, 
as now they will push enough shoots to 
produce quantities of pitchers. The plants 
will last many years, and can be kept in a 
healthy state by removing the old exhausted 
soil in the way already shown, as often as 
it appears to be approaching a soft pasty 
state. This operation is best carried out 
at the time the plants are headed down. 
Nepenthes are oftener grown in baskets 
