312 
Greenhouse and Stove Plants. 
SELAGINELLA. 
Insects.—If not attended to well in the 
matter of syringing daily during the grow- 
ing season, they are liable to get infested 
with red spider and thrips, otherwise these 
insects do not usually trouble Schubertias. 
If mealy bug affect them, the plants should 
be laid on their sides and syringed freely 
with insecticide ; repeat the application 
until they are quite clean. 
SCUTELLARIA MOCCINIANA. 
This evergreen stove shrub grows to a 
height of about 2 feet; it has handsome 
foliage and bears from the points of the 
shoots close, compact bunches of tube- 
shaped, bright red and yellow flowers. It 
is a remarkably free bloomer, keeping on 
flowering almost the whole year round 
when any growth is being made, and on 
that account one of the best plants that 
has been introduced for years, as the 
flowers are equally effective on the plant 
or in a cut state, in which they last a 
considerable time. It succeeds in ordinary 
loam made moderately rich with rotten 
manure and mixed with sand. It may be 
propagated at any time of the year when 
bits of half-ripened wood can be had, such 
as the young growths which spring from 
the joint below where a stout shoot has 
been cut back ; if these are taken off early 
in spring and put five or six together in 
pots just large enough to hold them, filled in 
the ordinary way, kept moist and covered 
with a propagating glass, they will root in 
a few weeks; after that shift them singly 
into 3-inch pots, using fresh loam fairly 
enriched, to which is added a full comple- 
ment ofsand. The latter is needed for all 
free-growing subjects of the nature of this 
plant, as they require a plentiful supply of 
water, and it is necessary that it should 
pass freely away, or the roots, though not 
delicate, are sure to get out of order. 
As soon as the cuttings are fairly rooted 
pinch out the tops, and repeat this when 
the plants have made a couple more joints. 
An ordinary moderate hothouse tempera- 
ture will answer through the year. With 
all plants of a continuous blooming habit 
it is advisable never to over-excite them by 
too much heat, or, on the opposite, to keep 
them so cool as to wholly stop growth. 
Directly the pots are fairly full of roots 
shift into others proportionate to the size 
to which the plants are expected to grow ; 
they will flower at almost any size from 
that obtainable in 6-inch pots upwards. 
Water liberally as the roots get plentiful, 
give air freely in the daytime during 
summer, shade when the weather requires 
it, and syringe in the evenings during the 
season of active growth. 
When the flowers are wanted in a cut 
state, it is well to use those produced by 
the strongest shoots, at the same time cut- 
ting these shoots moderately well back, so 
as to encourage the weaker branches and 
keep the plants in a symmetrical form. 
In spring, about the time the usual rise in 
temperature takes place, it is well to cut 
the plants freely back, so as to keep them 
from getting too tall, after which they may 
be turned out of the pots, a portion of the 
soil removed, and larger pots given, using 
loam of a moderately free character. If 
they are thus treated annually, with the 
additional help of manure-water through 
the summer, they may be kept in a thriv- 
ing state for several years ; but it is advis- 
able always to have some young stock on 
hand, as moderate-sized examples for ordi- 
nary purposes will usually be found the 
best. 
Insects. — The frequent use of the 
syringe during the most active period of 
growth generally keeps the plants free 
from insects, but if aphides or thrips affect 
them fumigate or dip in tobacco-water. 
SELAGINELLA (LYCOPODIUM). 
Although not so much varied in their 
appearance as their near allies, the Ferns, 
these beautiful plants are general favour- 
ites: their singular forms, with the diffe- 
rent shades of colour they possess, from the 
deep green of S. plumosa to the metallic 
hue of S. ceesia, are very attractive. The 
sorts that find favour with cultivators are 
indigenous to widely different parts of the 
world—China, Europe, India, the Cape of 
Good Hope, and South America, all con- 
tribute te the assemblage of fine species 
now in cultivation. Some of the kinds 
will thrive in a greenhouse, others require 
a moderate stove heat, and all like a fairly 
moist atmosphere, with shade from the 
sun, and to be kept out of the reach of 
draughts, and in the case of nearly all 
never to be allowed to get dry at the roots. 
They will grow in almost any kind of 
soil provided it is porous; in peat they 
usually don a deeper shade of green. 
They are easily propagated by division of 
the creeping stems, which most of the 
species possess, and produce roots from 
freely ; the best time to propagate them is 
about the end of February, before the sea- 
son’s growth commences. The pieces sepa- 
rated from the old plants should always 
have a good portion of roots attached, in 
which case all that is necessary is to put 
them in well-drained pots or pans large 
