334 
Greenhouse and Stove Plants. 
or 70°. When well rooted remove the 
glasses, and let them have a fortnight to 
get hardened a little before moving into 
4 or 5 inch pots; pinch off the points at 
the same time, keep them in a temperature 
similar to that in which they have been 
struck, and allow the heat to rise in the 
daytime correspondingly with the weather. 
They need to be well supplied with 
moisture at the roots as well as in the 
atmosphere; syringe them overhead in 
the afternoon ; a little shade may be re- 
quired when the weather is sunny. 
We have already intimated that the 
plant has a persistent erect habit of 
growth, and it is not well to attempt to 
alter this by training further than stopping 
the young shoots to cause them to break 
out several branches; to effect this a second 
stopping will be required in June, after 
which it may be necessary to put a single 
stick to each for support ; this will gene- 
rally be found sufficient, as their erect 
cylindrical form, when preserved, fits 
them for associating with other subjects 
of a more bushy shape. By the end of 
June they will need moving into the pots 
in which from this time they are to be 
grown and flowered ; these may be from 8 
to 12 inches in diameter, according to the 
strength of the plants and the size they 
are required to attain. After they have 
had a week or two to get established they 
will do better in a low, light pit where 
they can be stood with their heads close to 
the glass, admitting a moderate amount 
of air in the daytime, and encouraging 
growth by closing early; give as much 
shade as will keep the leaves from being 
injured when the sun is powerful, but not 
more, otherwise the plants will become 
drawn and be deficient in the solidity of 
erowth which is so necessary to ensure the 
full complement of bloom. 
Towards the end of August give more 
air and less shade, and do not syringe over- 
head so often. From the time the pots are 
fairly filled with roots manure-water, not 
too strong, will be an assistance. The 
temperature through the summer may be 
such as ordinary soft quick-growing sub- 
jects of a like character require, and should 
be regulated according to the weather, from 
60° to 65° in the night, and proportionately 
more in the day; reduce the warmth given 
as the autumn comes on, but they must 
not even then be kept too cool, or their 
roots, as well as the heads of the plants, 
will get checked in a way that will inter- 
fere with their blooming; 60° by night 
with 6° or 8° higher in the day will suit 
them through the later months of the year 
when they will be in flower. After the 
TILLANDSIA. 
blooming is over as many of the plants 
may be saved as are required to produce 
enough cuttings for another year, and the 
remainder may be thrown away, as young 
examples will usually be more useful. 
The old plants for stock should be kept 
during the winter at about 60° in the 
night, and the soil should be slightly 
moist, but not so as to encourage much 
growth until towards spring. 
Insects.—Aphides and red spider some- 
times attack this Thyrsacanthus ; to keep 
them down syringe and fumigate. If any 
of the worse description of insects make 
their appearance they must be removed 
by sponging, as soft-leaved plants of this 
description have not enough substance in 
their foliage generally to bear dressing 
with insecticide strong enough to kill the 
insects. 
TILLANDSIA. 
These Bromeliaceous stove plants are 
mostly epiphytal in habit. Some of them 
have exceedingly handsome flowers, as in 
the case of the charming T. Lindenii the 
exquisite blue colour of which is equalled 
by very few tender subjects, while others 
possess little beauty in their flowers, but 
have handsomely marked leaves, like T. 
zebrina. They are all of dwarf habit, 
having more or less of the peculiar vase- 
like arrangement of the leaves present in 
the Bromeliaceous plants generally. They 
are handsome subjects for the decoration 
of warm plant structures, such as Orchid 
houses, where their form of growth and 
their appearance contrast with the uni- 
formity of the principal occupants. But 
coming, as most of them do, from parts of 
the world where there is always, or nearly 
always, present a considerable amount of 
atmospheric moisture, with a good deal of 
warmth, they will not bear being kept in 
a cool, dry place; nor should they be 
allowed to get dry at the roots. They are 
increased by seeds and suckers, the latter 
is the method that will most commend 
itself to the generality of growers. 
Plants of these Tillandsias that have 
flowered usually afterwards throw up from 
the base suckers more or less in number. 
These should be allowed to acquire strength 
before they are taken off. If severed from 
the parent plant while very small much 
time will be lost, as they will thrive a deal 
faster attached to the plant on which they 
have been formed than when separated, if 
the separation is affected before they have 
gained enough strength. It is necessary 
that the material in which they are to be 
grown should be of a loose, open deserip- 
