CASSIA COKYMBOSA. Gvechhouse and Stove Plants. 



95 



wliere a night temperature of 40° or lower 

 is kept up during the winter season. It 

 has long been known in this country, hav- 

 ing been introduced towards the close of 

 the last century ; and it is one among 

 many of fine things that some years back 

 were allowed to fall into comparative 

 neglect. More recently the way in which 

 it has been produced by some growers has 

 shown what it is capable of when fairly 

 treated, and it is now receiving the atten- 

 tion that its merits deserve. AVhen 

 thoroughly well managed it is effective as 

 an exhibition specimen for late summer 

 use, but from its continuous flowering dis- 

 position, rather than from an ability to 

 produce an extraordinary quantity of bloom 

 at one time, it is better adapted for green- 

 house or conservatory decoration than for 

 the exhibition stage. It is a free, compara- 

 tively strong-rooted plant, not particular 

 as to soil, thriving in either peat or loam ; 

 but as most things of a similar character 

 that will succeed in loam are more disjjosed 

 to flower freely in it than in peat, it is 

 better to grow it in loam, which should be 

 of a good fibrous nature, containing natu- 

 rally or mixed with it a sufficient quantity of 

 sand to keep it in an open porous condition. 

 This is more essential as the plant will, 

 with ordinary care, last for a number of 

 years, and moreover, it does not like that 

 mutilation of its roots which is inseparable 

 from shaking out. 



Cuttings taken off -with a heel about the 

 beginning of March, will strike under the 

 ordinary conditions of moderate heat and 

 moisture, if kept close, with a little shade 

 when the sun is bright. In six or eight 

 weeks they should be well-rooted so as to 

 bear mo\dng into 3-inch pots. Keep them 

 warm and a little close until the I'oots have 

 begun to move freely, then stop the jjoints 

 and give more air, but still encourage 

 growth by a genial temperature, and 

 moisten them overhead at closing time in 

 the afternoons. About the beginning of 

 July move them into pots 2 inches larger, 

 and continue to encourage growth until 

 the end of August, when admit more air, 

 and give greenhouse treatment through the 

 winter. In March move into pots a couple 

 of inches larger. Use a fair amount of 

 drainage, break the soil up by hand into 

 pieces about the size of walnuts, and be 

 careful that it contains no worms. It is 

 necessary to be more mindful in this 

 matter with loam than it is with peat, as 

 the latter is not so subject to worms. A 

 little well-decomposed manure may be 

 used, but not more than one-sixth, or the 

 soil will be made too light, in which case 

 it shrinks into little room as the manure 



becomes further decomposed ; pot firmly, 

 pinch out the points of the shoots, and at 

 once train them out in a horizontal posi- 

 tion, bringing them down as nearly as 

 possible on a level with the lims of the 

 pots. 



If the plants can be placed in a light 

 house, where a night temperature of 45^, 

 or a little higher, is kept up, they will 

 progress all the quicker. If there happens 

 to be at hand a pit where the above con- 

 ditions as to tempeiature exist, with plenty 

 of light, it will answer for them in every 

 way ; but although this Cassia will make 

 much greater progress with a little extra 

 warmth, it is by no means advisable to 

 subject it to hot treatment, which has the 

 effect of producing weak, elongated growth. 

 After a few weeks the plants will get esta- 

 blished, and should have plenty of air, but 

 do not place them in the way of a direct 

 draught. As the days get longer, with 

 more solar heat, syringe them overhead in 

 the afternoons, and close the house while 

 the sun is upon the glass ; by midsummer, 

 if all has gone well, they will have made 

 6 inches of growth, and should again have 

 their points pinched out. It is necessary 

 to persevere with stopping while the plant 

 is young so as to cori'ect its natural ten- 

 dency to straggling growth, otherwise the 

 base will not be sufficiently furnished. 

 Directly they have again broken into 

 growth give them another shift ; 2 inches 

 additional will be enough, as, although a 

 strong-rooting subject, it does not make a 

 profusion of roots. Use similar soil to that 

 recommended for the first potting, and con- 

 tinue to treat as hitherto ; give more air in 

 August and September, and leave it on at 

 night as well as day to lipen the growth. 

 In September cease syringing overhead to 

 stop growth. 



As autumn ad^'ances, go over the plants 

 and put them into shape : they do not 

 require many sticks, but use sufficient 

 to keep them in proper form. Through 

 the winter let them be in a light situation, 

 and in a temperature of about 40° during 

 the night, with consideiably less water at 

 the roots. Again in March give them 

 another 2-inch shift, and once more pinch 

 out the points of the shoots as heretofore, 

 keeping them a little close after potting. 

 As growth increases train the branches out, 

 and keep them well down ; this will cause 

 the plants as they get strong to break back 

 in the old wood' near the centre. Treat 

 through the spring as in the preceding 

 season. By the end of June the young 

 shoots will have made considerable j>ro- 

 gress, but must not be stopped this summer, 

 otherwise the flowers, which are i^roduced in 



