336 
Greenhouse and Stove Plants. 
TOXICOPHLMA. 
flowerers, and are easily grown and propa- 
gated. The species mentioned below are 
especially adapted for baskets suspended 
from the rafters of the house in which 
they are grown. In this way not only are 
they seen to the best advantage, but they 
also contribute materially to the general 
effect of the assemblage of plants with 
which they are associated. One gain at- 
tached to the cultivation of these and 
other plants of a similar nature is that 
they occupy so little time in arriving at a 
blooming state after being started. Most 
of the Torenias are annuals, and can be 
raised from seeds sown in the spring and 
treated to a moderate stove heat, but the 
most convenient method of propagation, 
when once in possession of the plants, will 
usually be from cuttings. They may be 
struck at any season of the year when young 
soft shoots can be had that havenot a disposi- 
tion to bloom, such as are generally to be 
found springing from the base of the 
plants. If these are taken off in August 
or September and put in small pots half 
filled with a mixture of loam, leaf-mould, 
and sand (the upper part all sand), kept 
moist, shaded, and covered with a propa- 
gating glass in a temperature of 68° or 70°, 
they will soon strike ; when well rooted 
they should be moved into pots a size 
larger, in soil composed of loam with a 
little leaf-mould and sand added, and the 
points of the shoots should be pinched. 
They should be kept on a shelf near the 
roof so as to be under the full influence of 
the light. As winter advances keep them 
in a reduced temperature of 60° by night, 
and a little more in the day, proportionate 
to the state of the weather. Towards the 
end of February give some more heat, and 
as soon as they begin to grow freely move 
them into 6-inch pots, using similar soil to 
that advised for the autumn shift ; pinch 
out the points of the shoots again, still 
keeping them close to the glass. They 
will need a small stick or two for support. 
Give more warmth as the days get longer, 
and by the end of April they will require 
moving into the pots they are to bloom in; 
9 or 10 inch ones will be quite large 
enough. When in these the plants will 
be better hung up in a position similar to 
that which they are to occupy when in 
bloom. Should they not seem likely to 
form shoots enough to make them fully 
furnished, stop the points once more; 
put two or three small sticks so as to hold 
a few of the growths in an erect position, 
and let the others hang down. An ordi- 
nary stove temperature will suffice, giving 
a little shade in the middle of the day, 
with air according to the weather, and 
syringing overhead in the afternoons; they 
will soon come into flower, and will want 
nothing more to keep them in condition for 
many weeks than a supply of weak manure- 
water. Before the plants get too much 
enfeebled with flowering, towards the close 
of the summer again strike cuttings, treat 
them as just recommended, and discard the 
old stock. 
The stove species that are best worthy 
of cultivation are :— 
T. asiatia. Flowers purple; 
China. 
T. Baillonvi. A distinct-looking plant 
with yellow flowers, having a purple 
throat ; China. 
T. Fournierti. A compact-habited species 
with porcelain blue flowers and yellow 
eye. 
Insects.—Greenfly is their worst enemy, 
and, should it appear, fumigation with 
tobacco is the best remedy. The daily 
use of the syringe, necessary during sprin: 
and summer, will generally be foun 
sufficient to keep down red spider, which 
also sometimes attacks them. 
from 
TOXICOPHLZA THUNBERGII. 
In this we have a very distinct and 
desirable stove plant. Its habit is bushy, 
the branches partially erect, but not very 
stout, leaves pale green, tough and leathery. 
It is a remarkably free bloomer ; the 
flowers are tube-shaped, five-lobed, and in 
general aspect individually not unlike 
those of a medium-sized Bouvardia. They 
are white, deliciously fragrant, and pro- 
duced in corymbs at the extremities of the 
shoots and also at the axils of the leaves so 
freely as to form sprays of inflorescence. 
It comes from South Africa, and thrives 
freely under ordinary stove treatment. It 
is propagated from cuttings of the young 
shoots taken off in spring, when these can 
be had in a sufficiently firm condition ; in- 
serted singly in small pots in sand, kept 
warm, shaded, moist, and confined under 
a propagating glass, they will form roots in 
the course of a few weeks, after which dis- 
pense with the glass, and when growth has 
fairly begun move them singly into 3-inch 
pots, using good peat and a little sand ; 
pinch out the points of the shoots to induce 
the formation of additional branches. It 
is necessary with this Toxicophlea to be 
more attentive in this matter of stopping 
than with some other things, as it has a 
disposition to grow up somewhat spare and 
thin, to correct which timely stopping is 
needful. If the plants do not get suffi- 
ciently clothed in their early stages the 
defect cannot afterwards be corrected ex- 
