POINSETTIA. 
Greenhouse and Stove Plants. 289 
should be in a position where its head will 
be able to reach close up to the glass, so as 
to give strength to the flowers in the way 
indicated. 
Insects.—This plant is not much sub- 
ject to insects, except where the atmo- 
sphere is allowed to become over dry ; then 
red spider will sometimes make its appear- 
ance. Thrips and aphides will also live 
upon it, but the whole of these pests are 
usually kept away by the daily use of the 
syringe through the growing season. 
PODOLOBIUM. 
Evergreen greenhouse shrubs with pea- 
shaped flowers, produced freely, but the 
plants are inferior to many of the New 
Holland genera. 
They succeed under similar treatment to 
Chorozemas, which see. 
The undermentioned are the best kinds: 
P. berberifolium. Flowers yellow, pro- 
duced early in spring. A native of 
Australia. 
P. heterophyllum. Flowers yellow, a 
summer bloomer. From New Holland. 
P. trilobatum. Yellow, blooms in spring. 
A native of New South Wales. 
POINSETTIA PULCHERRIMA. 
This fine stove species is one of the com- 
aratively few members of the numerous 
amily of Euphorbiaceous plants that are 
adapted for cultivation under glass. The 
flowers, strictly speaking, are insigni- 
ficant, but the crimson-scarlet bracts upon 
which they immediately rest possess such 
an intensity of colour, and when the plant 
is well grown, are so large as to produce 
an effect scarcely equalled by anything 
else that we cultivate. Not the least point 
in its favour is the fact that, in addition 
to being easily managed, it blooms freely 
through the autumn and winter months. 
The flowers, moreover, last very long in 
perfection, and by treating the plants so as 
to admit of their blooming in succession, 
this Poinsettia may be had in flower from 
November to the end of March. It was 
introduced from Mexico about the year 
1834, and has ever since been a great 
favourite. Yet though generally culti- 
vated, it is anything but universally well 
grown, or even grown so well as it was 
. when first introduced. This Poinsettia is 
naturally erect in habit, yet admits of 
being treated so as to make a branching 
specimen, or it may be confined to a single 
stem,—the form in which it is most 
useful. It is not necessary to strike 
cuttings of it so early in spring as required 
in the case of most other winter-flowering 
stove subjects, because if they have too 
long a season of growth they are apt to 
get taller than many people like them, 
although this can be in some measure 
corrected. On the other hand, it does not 
answer to delay the propagation of it so 
late as is frequently done, or the plants 
have not time to attain the strength and 
solidity requisite to enable them to bear 
full-sized flowers. If old plants that have 
bloomed are placed about the beginning of 
April in a temperature of 65° at night, and 
proportionately increased by day, they 
will soon produce cuttings. Like some 
others of the Euphorbiaceous family, the 
shoots contain a great quantity of milky 
sap that renders them unsuited for pro- 
pagation in the usual manner, that is, from 
the points of the young shoots severed 
where the wood has got a little firm. If 
treated in the way that cuttings ordinarily 
succeed, very few will root ; consequently 
it is necessary to have them with a heel of 
the old wood at. its juncture with the new 
growth. Such shoots should be taken off 
when about 6 or 7 inches in length, and 
placed singly in small pots part filled with 
sandy soil, the remainder clean sand. 
Water slightly, and keep them close and 
shaded in a striking frame or under pro- 
pagating glasses in a temperature of 65° or 
70°. They will strike in two or three 
weeks ; when well rooted, and they have 
been inured to the full air of the 
house, move them into pots two sizes 
larger, using good loam, to which add one- 
seventh rotten manure and some sand. 
Pot firm, shade from the sun so far as 
necessary to prevent flagging, and do not 
give more water than is requisite to keep 
the soil moist. From the time the roots 
begin to lay hold of the soil let the plants 
be as much elevated up to the glass as cir- 
cumstances will permit. It is necessary to 
be particular about this with a view to 
correct the natural disposition to grow 
long-jointed and tall, as nothing in the 
way of stopping the shoots is of any use 
with this Poinsettia the first year on ac- 
count of its inclination to throw all the 
strength into a single stem. Ordinary 
stove warmth through the summer, such 
as given to the majority of heat-requiring 
plants, will suit it, admitting a fair amount 
of air in the daytime, and using no more 
shade than is found necessary to prevent 
the leaves scorching ; damp overhead with 
the syringe at the time of closing the house. 
By the middle of July they should be 
ready for moving into their blooming pots, 
which may be from 7 to 8 inches in diameter, 
according to the strength of the plants, use 
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