PLANTS WITH ORNAMENTAL FRUITS 93 



and their varieties. They are the most popular plants of 

 their class, and are raised in enormous quantities for market 

 every year. The easiest method is to strike cuttings in 

 spring or to sow seed in March in a warm greenhouse. The 

 young plants should be potted as soon as they are large 

 enough, and grown in a warm atmosphere and a light 

 position. To make them bushy, the tops of the shoots should 

 be pinched off two or three times. They will then flower 

 in summer, when weak liquid manure every few days will 

 be beneficial, and in winter they will be covered with their 

 scarlet berries. They are liable to be infested with aphides, 

 and if they are then neglected the sticky fluid secreted by 

 the insects becomes covered with a black fungus, giving 

 the foliage a very objectionable appearance. Spraying at 

 intervals w^ith soapy water or any other insecticide will 

 prevent the trouble or put an end to it. Young plants are 

 the most satisfactory, but, of course, old ones can be grown 

 into larger specimens. If they are brought into a room 

 for decorative purposes, they should be returned to the 

 greenhouse when they begin to get shabby ; and in spring, 

 as soon as the growth commences, they should be cut back 

 rather hard in order to induce young shoots to start near 

 the main stem. To assist this process by softening the bark, 

 they should frequently be sprayed with warm water. After 

 the buds break the plants may be repotted, some of the 

 old soil being worked away with a pointed stick and fresh 

 being substituted for it. The subsequent treatment should 

 be the same as for young plants from seed. 



Symphoricarpus racemosus (Snowberry). — This 

 plant is usually allowed to grow in such a straggling manner 

 outside that it may not seem to be very suitable for pots, 

 yet there is one way in which it can be made very effective. 

 If it is potted with as many of the underground stems as 

 possible at any time during the winter in good loamy soil 

 and cut down to the surface in early spring, it throws up a 

 number of dwarf stems, which in summer are covered with 

 charming little pink flowers, and in autumn with glistening 

 white berries which remain all the winter. 



