no GLENNY's HANDBOOK 



sown in the spring, will bloom in June and July. It will 

 bloom much earlier if sown in pots like half-hardv annuals, 

 and turned out in May, for it will then have begun flowering 

 in the pots. The plant is too small for planting out, 

 but should be sown where it is to flower. If it comes up too 

 thick let it be properly thinned ; but unless it is tolerably 

 close it makes no show, and would fail as a bed plant. It 

 looks well in patches round a border, and in pots among 

 other dwarf blooming plants, because its colour is uncommon ; 

 indeed, but for its colour it would not be cultivated, for its 

 habit is weed-like. 



ERYTHRINA. Coeal Tree. [Leguminos*, § Papilio- 

 naceae.] A showy genus, for the most part consisting of stove 

 shrubs. The most popular sorts, E. cristagalli and E. lauri- 

 folia, are, however, both very nearly hardy ; that is to say, 

 they will live out of doors with about the same pains taken 

 with the Fuchsia, namely, to cut them down when they have 

 done flowering, and put some tan or litter ovei* them for the 

 winter. These very popular species grow up from six to ten 

 feet high, and along the upper half there are large pea-like, 

 but veiy noble blood-coloured flowers, forming a spike of 

 bloom several feet long. They are grown, as just mentioned, 

 in the open garden under a south or west wall, or in front of 

 a greenhouse ; but they are also beautiful objects in pots. 

 Pot plants are kept dryish and in the greenhouse dm'ing the 

 winter. In spring they are started in a hotbed frame or a 

 stove, and as soon as growth commences require fresh potting. 

 Shake the old soil all away, and pot them in fresh compost, in 

 pots large enough to allow of their flowering without shifting : 

 a pot eighteen inches in diameter will suffice to bloom a strong 

 plant satisfactorily. Keep the plants in the stove near the 

 light, and let them grow on till they are nearly in flower, 

 when they may be removed to a conservatory or greenhouse. 

 The plants seem so thoroughly indifl'erent to seasons, that 

 by starting some into growth at one time, and some at another, 

 they may be had in bloom nearly all the year. When they 

 have done flowering let them rest in the greenhouse, being 

 kept dry, with the pots on their side. It is a good plan to 

 mark the dates on the pots, or take some other means of 

 knowing how long they have been at rest, because, in selecting 



