88 



Greenhouse and Stove Plants 



7 or 8 inch pots, now gi\4ng plenty of air. 

 They will flower nicely tluough the latter 

 part of summer, and to help them give 

 manure-water once or twice a week. 

 After blooming the shoots should be well 

 shortened back, and the plants given 

 ordinary greenhouse treatment through 

 the autumn and winter. Early in spring 

 give pots 2 or 3 inches larger ; remove a 

 portion of the old soil and replace it 

 with new of a good rich description such 

 as hitherto advised. Tie the shoots well 

 out as they advance, and treat in other 

 respects as in the pre%4ous spring. This 

 season they will make good blooming 

 specimens, and vnll be very useful for 

 conservatory decoration. To assist the 

 natiu-al disposition to keep on flowering 

 give manure-water regularly. When the 

 autumn comes round they may either be 

 discarded to make way for younger stock, 

 or again cut back and managed through 

 the winter and following spring as before ; 

 if required they will last by this kind of 

 treatment for several years. 



Insects.- — Calceolarias are not mi:ch 

 aftected with any insects except aphides, 

 which are very partial to them. The 

 shoots should be looked over every ten 

 days or fortnight, and immediately any of 

 the insects are discovered fumigate slightly, 

 repeating the application until the aphides 

 are killed. These plants do not like severe 

 smoking. 



CALLICARPA PURPUREA. 



The different species of the genus 

 Callicarpa are most remarkable for the 

 pretty appearance of their fruit. C. 

 purpurea, an evergreen stove shrub, is the 

 most desirable kind ; it is easily managed 

 and is very effective when its numerous 

 berries have attained their bright colour. 

 It strikes readily from shoot cuttings put 

 in in spring in sand, kept moist, close, and 

 shaded in a temperature of 70°. When 

 well rooted they should be moved singly 

 into 3-inch pots and kept in the same 

 temperature until the young plants get 

 established ; afterwards 5° less will be 

 enough in the night, and it should be 

 allowed to rise by day in proportion to the 

 state of the weather. Pinch out the points 

 of the shoots, and keep the plants near the 

 glass ; give air in the day, with a little 

 shaile when necessary. As soon as the soil 

 is full of roots give 8 or 9 inch pots, and 

 again stop the points, putting a stick to sup- 

 port the leader. Through the summer treat 

 as required by the ordinary winter de- 

 corative plants that want to be kept closer, 

 and in an atmosphere somewhat more 



moist than that of a greenhouse, with a 

 little shade in bright weather. ^Mien the 

 pots have got well tilled mth roots, manure- 

 water will be beneficial. In the winter 

 place the plants where they can be kept in 

 the night at a heat of about 5.5°. When 

 the berries get fully colomed the plants 

 are very effective, and remain so for a 

 lengthened period. It is a native of 

 India. 



Insects. — Aphides sometimes attack this 

 Callicarpa ; the remedy is fumigation with 

 tobacco. 



CAMELLIA. 



Among the immense number of green- 

 house flowering plants that have been 

 introduced into this country, it would be 

 diflicult to point to any that surj^ass the 

 Camellia either in the general estimation 

 in which it is held, or in its adaptation to 

 the various puiposes for which flowers are 

 required. True, neither the plant, taken 

 as a whole, nor its individual flowers, can 

 lay claim to the graceful elegance possessed 

 by many things in cultivation ; yet, in a 

 well-grown example of Camellia, especially 

 of a white variety, clothed with its chaste 

 flowers, backed by ample, glossy, deep- 

 green foliage, there is a massive grandeur 

 equalled by few plants. Nor do the 

 flowers individually, when fully blown, 

 and grouped with the choicest productions 

 of the stove or Orchid-house in a vase or 

 epergne, or the half-opened buds that grace 

 a biidal bouquet, lose by conqjarison with 

 the fairest of floAvers grown. Wlien we 

 add that, if desirable, the flowers may be 

 had neaily the year round, that the plant 

 is easily grown, and that with fair treatment 

 it will'last indi^-iduaUy half a century, we 

 have an assemblage of properties that place 

 it in the front rank of flowering subjects. 



The first of the species that found its 

 way to this country came before the 

 middle of the last century ; but it was 

 about 1824, when the double white (all)a 

 plena) and the red semi-double leticulata 

 made their appearance, that their value 

 was fairly understood. These were followed 

 by munerous others, of more or less merit, 

 and from these have sprung the numbers 

 of grand varieties that we now possess, and 

 which have so Avell rewarded the care and 

 patience of the seedling-raiser. Some of 

 the semi-double varieties seed tolerably 

 freely, and the seeds can be induced to 

 vegetate without difiiculty ; but the raising 

 of new varieties may be safely left in the 

 hands of those who interest themselves in 

 this kind of work, and it will be l)etter to 

 confine these remarks to the general details 

 of cultivation. 



