JO THE CULTURE OF POT-PLANTS 



the latter being more generally grown. They are evergreen 

 shrubs which are sometimes classed as stove plants, but they 

 can be grown in a warm greenhouse and, while in flower, can 

 be kept in a room. The flowers — white, pink, scarlet, 

 crimson, yellow or orange, single or double — are abundantly 

 produced in winter, and are very fragrant. After flowering, 

 the plants should be dried slightly, and then cut back and 

 syringed frequently to soften the bark and hasten the starting 

 of the young shoots. These shoots can then be used as 

 cuttings. Propagation can also be effected by root-cuttings 

 — short lengths (about i in.) of the thicker roots laid on 

 moist, sandy soil and only just covered with similar soil, and 

 placed in the warmest part of the greenhouse, preferably over 

 the hot-water pipes. When the little plants have made a 

 few leaves they should be lifted and transferred to small pots. 

 During the summer bouvardias can be planted outside, but 

 should be repotted before frost. They should be pinched 

 back at intervals up to about the middle of August to make 

 them bushy and produce more shoots, on the tips of which the 

 flowers are formed. Mealy bug (a species of scale), aphide?, 

 and red spider are often troublesome, the last especially if the 

 plants are kept too dry. Soapy water or any of the ordinary 

 insecticides should be used for getting rid of the pests. 



Carnation (Perpetual, or Tree). — These winter-flowering 

 carnations are of more vigorous growth than the ordinary 

 border kinds, and from their upright habit cannot easily be 

 layered like the latter, though this is sometimes managed by 

 laying the pots on their sides. It is more usual to propagate 

 them by cuttings of the young shoots taken ofl" with a heel of 

 old wood in autumn or early spring. They should be inserted, 

 after the removal of the lower leaves, in sandy soil, and kept 

 warm, moist, and shaded until they are rooted, when they 

 should be potted very firmly and exposed gradually to light 

 and air. In summer they require plenty of both. If any 

 flower-buds appear at that time they should be cut off. The 

 shoots should also be " stopped/' once or twice to make them 

 branch. In winter a temperature of 50° F., rising a little 

 during the day, is quite high enough. The pests of carnations 



