IGi} 



Greeidunise and Stove Fiants. 



ERANTHEMUJI. 



an adhesive character, that will hold too 

 much moisture, they cannot bear. Grow 

 them on in an ordinary stove temperature 

 without shade during summer, and pincli 

 the points out of any shoots that too much 

 oi\tgrow the others. A temperature of 50° 

 in winter will be sufficient for them, 

 and they should be kejjt drier at the loot 

 than when in active growth. In spring 

 increase the pot-room according to the 

 progress which the roots have made, and 

 grow them on until the end of July, as in 

 the preceding season ; then turn them out 

 for a month under a south wall, where 

 they will be exposed to the full influence 

 of the sun. In cold parts of the country, 

 where this cannot be done, instead of 

 turning them out-of-doors let them occupy 

 a dry shelf in a greenhouse, or an equally 

 airy light position in a pit or fiame, and 

 they should have less water given to the 

 roots than while in active growth. Epi- 

 phyllums of the truncatum class, being 

 orginally from Bi'azil, will bear a higti 

 temperature, and their progress, other 

 cultural details being equal, will usually 

 be more or less in keeping with the 

 amount of heat to which they are sub- 

 jected. They are generally grown as 

 standards, so as to form either a drooping 

 pyramidal head, or as spreading umbrella- 

 shaped plants. Their cultural requirements 

 when grafted on the Pereskia stock are 

 similar to those under Avhich they succeed 

 on their own roots ; but on this stock they 

 will frequently bear a little rougher 

 treatment. The Pereskia stocks on which 

 to grow them are easily struck from 

 cuttings put in in spring, and subsequently 

 treated in a similar way to the generality 

 of the Cactus family, with the exception 

 that they do not like such a continuous 

 dry condition of the roots as some succi;- 

 lents will bear. The grafting may be 

 effected any time either in the spring or 

 early in summer. All tliat is required is 

 to remove the top of the Pereskia, shorten- 

 ing its stem according to the length of leg 

 wanted, then cleave it at the tojj in a way 

 similar to that practised in ordinary cleft 

 grafting; pare down the Epiphyllum scion 

 at the bottom into the fcjrm of a wedge, 

 slip it into the cleft in the stock, and bind 

 it moderately firm, so as to hold it in its 

 place, and nothing else is needed. Plants 

 thus treated and placed in the temperature 

 of an ordinary stove, will unite in a short 

 time, after whicli the management ought 

 to be the same as that for plants propagated 

 fiom cuttings. 



Tlie following are good varieties : — 

 E. truncatum aUio-riohweum, 

 E. truncatum bicolor. 



E. truncatum Bruhjesii. 

 E. truncatum liucherii. 

 E. truncatum, salmonenm. 

 E. truncatum salmoneum marginatum. 

 E. truncatum splendens. 

 E. truncaMm violaceum grandiflorum. 

 E. truncatum violaceum Snoivii. 

 E. truncatum violaceum sxqoerhum. 

 Tlie stronger and more erect-growing 

 Epiphyllums now generally known under 

 the name of Phyllocactus, are easily pro- 

 pagated by means of cuttings treated in 

 accordance with the directions given for 

 striking the truncatum section ; their after 

 management, both as to growth and pre- 

 paration for flowering, is also similar. 



The undermentioned are handsome and 

 desirable kinds : — 



E. Achermannii. A medium-growing 

 Mexican sort, with scarlet flowers. 



E. alatum. A flne North Ameiican 

 wliite-flowered species, distinct and hand- 

 some. 



E. crenatnm. A distinct-habited sort, 

 with conspicuous white flowers, from 

 Honduras. 



E. latifrons. A South American kind, 

 that difters in appearance from most of the 

 others ; its flowers are creamy yellow. 



E. sioeciomm. A strong-growing Brazilian 

 kind, beai'ing large highly-coloured red 

 flowers. 



E. speciosum Jenhinsonii. A very free- 

 flowering handsome hybrid, with crimson 

 flowers. 



Insects. — Epiphyllums are little trou- 

 bled mth insects except greenfly, which 

 often establishes itself on the flower-buds, 

 and is best destroyed by means of 

 fumigation. 



ERANTHEMUM. 



Amongst the freest growing and most 

 easily managed occupants of the stove are 

 certainly the Erantheniums. They are 

 alike s\iitable for large or small houses, as 

 they bloom in a very small state, oi' they 

 may be grown to a considerable size. They 

 propagate easily from cuttings jjut in at any 

 time of the year wh en half-ripened shoots can 

 be had, but spring, aboi;t the end of March, 

 is the best time to strike them ; they will 

 root in two or three weeks in sand, kept 

 ckise, warm, and moist. After they are 

 well rooted move them singly into 6-inch 

 pots in ordinary loam with a little rotten 

 manure, leaf-mould, and sand, ]nnching 

 out the points. They will thrive under 

 such conditions of heat, atmospheric mois- 

 ture, and air as the generality of stove 

 plants that are grown annually for winter 

 flowering succeed with — that is, plenty of 



