TRACHELOSPERMUM. 
Greenhouse and Stove Plants. 
337 
cept by heading down. Let the young 
plants have plenty of light, but a thin 
shade will benefit them when the sun is 
powerful. During summer they will bear 
as much heat as is required for the 
generality of stove plants, and as the pots 
get filled with roots move into others 3 
inches or 4 inches larger, after which 
nothing further is required but to pinch 
out the points of any shoots that are taking 
an undue lead. Cease shading in Sep- 
tember, and as the autumn draws on reduce 
the temperature ; through the shortest 
days a heat of 60° in the night will suffice. 
This Toxicophlsea will flower when very 
small, but with plants of this description 
it is for a time best to look more to getting 
them larger than to blooming. With this 
view cut out the points of all the strongest 
shoots about the end of February, and in 
the ensuing month move them into pots 3 
inches or 4 inches larger, increasing the 
temperature gradually, and treating in 
other respects as through the summer 
previous, using the syringe daily. If the 
plants have made good progress by July, 
they will require a little more root-room, 
but as they never attain the size that some 
of the stove occupants do, it is well not to 
give more root-space than is necessary. 
Twelve-inch or 13-inch pots should be 
large enough to suffice, and the peat must 
now be a little more lumpy than in the 
first stages of growth. At all times mix 
enough sand with the peat to keep it open; 
this is the more necessary with plants of 
this character that do not require or bear 
to be shaken out and have the soil renewed 
in the way usual with coarser-growing 
subjects. Treat as before through the 
autumn and winter, and in the spring 
increase the heat with the advent of more 
sun. [fall has gone well they will bloom 
profusely, during which time, if they can 
be kept in a little drier atmosphere than 
heretofore, their flowers will last longer. 
They are useful for cutting. After the 
blooming is over, cut the shoots back a 
little, and when they have started into 
growth they may be shifted into pots an 
inch or two larger. The subsequent 
management required will be of a routine 
character similar to that advised hitherto. 
If in the growing season a liberal applica- 
tion of weak manure-water is given once 
or twice a week, healthy growth will be 
secured without having recourse to large 
pots. The plants will last for several 
years, and if the soil gets exhausted, the 
balls can be partially reduced and new 
material given in place of the old; this 
should be done when they have just broken 
into growth after being cut in when the 
ad 
flowering is over, keeping them close and 
warm for a few weeks until they again get 
established. 
Iysects.—The worst species of insects 
will live on this plant, but the stout nature 
of the leaves makes their destruction by 
the aid of insecticide comparatively easy ; 
dipping or syringing is the best remedy as 
often as they are found to be affected. 
TRACHELOSPERMUM JASMIN- 
OIDES. 
(Syn: Rhynchospermum. ) 
In this we have an evergreen green- 
house climbing plant of moderate growth, 
alike suitable for a trained pot specimen or 
for growing on a pillar or rafter, where the 
space to be covered is not too large: for 
although, in common with almost all other 
plants indigenous to China, it is a free 
grower, it does not attain the size of many 
climbers. From the locality in which it is 
found, Shanghai, it is very nearly hardy in 
this country, succeeding on a sheltered 
wall, with a little protection, in the south 
of the kingdom ; yet it is a plant that will 
thrive under a very considerable range of 
temperature, and will do equally as well in 
a cool stove, or intermediate heat, as it will 
in a greenhouse ; but of course the progress 
made, especially during the early stages, is 
much quicker when it is subject to heat. 
It will bear forcing ; its white, fragrant 
Jasmine-like flowers are produced freely. 
The shoots are of a semi-twining habit, and 
when the plant is in vigorous health will 
extend to considerable length in a single 
season, particularly if submitted to a warm, 
humid atmosphere. The perfume is very 
agreeable and powerful ; a small plant in 
flower will load the atmosphere of a large 
house. The ease with which it may be 
grown, even by those who have not had 
much practice in plant-growing, commends 
it to the inexperienced. When ina strong 
vigorous state each bunch contains a 
number of flowers, which open in succes- 
sion, keeping the plant gay for several 
weeks consecutively. 
It is well adapted for conservatory deco- 
ration, as the hard texture of the leaves 
renders it little subject to injury by being 
kept, while in flower, somewhat crowded 
among other things in a way that is often 
unavoidable in such structures. The 
somewhat short foot-stalk renders the 
flowers less serviceable for using in a cut 
state than they would be if it were longer ; 
nevertheless, if not subjected to too much 
heat in opening, they are useful for 
bouquets. The plant strikes. readily from 
cuttings made of the young shoots taken 
off when in a half-ripened condition, such 
2 
