Greenhouse and Stove Plants 



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light, a little shade when very hot, Avitli 

 air in the middle of the day, and syring- 

 ing when the air is taken off. They are 

 quick growers and mostly gross feeders. 

 By the beginning of Jidy they will require 

 another shift into pots proportionate to 

 the strength and size the different kinds 

 natui'ally acquire. Strong growers, like 

 E. pulchellum and E. cinnabarinum, ^^•ill 

 bear a second shift into 8 or 10 inch pots ; 

 weaker-growing sorts, such as E. aspersum 

 and E. Andersonii, -will do with 7 or 8 

 inch pots. Attend to stopping, or most of 

 the kinds, being erect-habited plants, will 

 run up thin and insufficiently furnished. 

 Encourage growth, and when the roots 

 have got fairly hold of the soil after the 

 last shift use manure-water. An ordinary 

 pit where the plants can stand close to the 

 glass will answer best for them during the 

 summer months. The different species 

 bloom at different periods through the 

 late summer, autumn, and winter, but by 

 stopping the shoots of the earliest liowerers 

 later in the season they may be made 

 to bloom later, when their flowers ^^•ill 

 generally be of most use. In September 

 keep the atmosphere drier, cease shading, 

 and give more air so as to harden up the 

 gnjwth. As the weather gets colder see 

 that enough heat is given to prevent their 

 getting chilled, which would seriously 

 affect their flowering. A temperature of 

 60^ in the night, with an increase by day, 

 will answer in the later months of the 

 year, and so on for a time afterwards. 

 When coming into bloom stand them close 

 to the glass, which will give much more 

 substance to the flowers, and cause them 

 to last longer. When the blooming is 

 over the plants may be headed liack and 

 kept slightly moving until March, when 

 those that are to be retained for another 

 season's flowering should be turned out of 

 their pots, have their balls leduced, and 

 be re-potted in fresh soil, and at the same 

 time cuttings of such as it is deemed ad- 

 visable to increase should be struck. 

 Small or medium-sized examples will in 

 most cases be the most desirable. 



All the following are well worth 

 growing :— 



E. Andersonii. A lovely kind, ground 

 colour of flowers white, spotted with 

 crimson ; gives a good succession of bloom. 

 India. 



E. aspersum. A very fine groA\'ing beau- 

 tiful species, with white flowers spotted 

 with purple, and a conspicuous purple spot 

 on the lower lobe. Solomon Islands. 



E. cinnabarinum. A tall-growing sort, 

 that bears beautiful red flowei-s with a crim- 

 son blotch on the bottom lobe. Martaban. 



E. laxiflornm. A dwarf-habited sort, 

 •with compact foliage, and one which pro- 

 duces a profusion of purple flowers. Fiji. 



E. pulchellum. A well-known, most 

 useful -winter-blooming kind, with lovely 

 blue flowers produced from every bit of 

 growth. A native of India. 



E. sanguinolentum. A handsome varie- 

 gated-leaved species from Madagascar. 



E. strictum. A large blue-flowered kind 

 from Xepaul. 



Insects. — Eranthemums are not so much 

 subject to insects as many plants that re- 

 quire stove heat. Eed spitler and aphides 

 sometimes make their appearance ; syringe 

 freely mth clean water for the former, 

 and fumigate with some one of the tobacco 

 preparations for the aphides. 



ERICA. 



Ericas belong to a very numerous family 

 of evergreen greenhouse hard wooded plants, 

 indigenous to the Cape of Good Hope, many 

 of those that have been introduced no 

 doubt being natural hybrids, from the 

 seeds of which have been raised in this 

 country nimibers of the finest varieties in 

 cultivation. In fact no plants have re- 

 warded the patient manipulation of the 

 hybridist better than these — patient, we 

 repeat, for those who essay the raising of 

 new varieties of Heaths need to exercise the 

 virtue of patience to an extent not required 

 by those who confine their operations to 

 plants of a more precocious nature. The 

 most successful raisers of Heaths assert, 

 and no doubt correctly, that it takes ten 

 years to raise a variety from seed and pro- 

 pagate enough stock of it for letting out, 

 as the greater portion, especially the hardest- 

 wooded kinds, are slow growers, alike from 

 the seed-pan or the cutting-pot. 



As decorative plants Heaths stand 

 second to none in cultivation, although 

 in their individual blossoms they camiot 

 lay claim to the gorgeous character 

 possessed by many plants ; but the simple 

 Ijeauty of their flowers and the profusion 

 in which they are produced, added to 

 their wax-like substance and charming 

 tints — ranging from pearly white all 

 through the shades of blush and pale 

 pink to red and the deepest crimson — 

 render them unsurpassed. Their time of 

 blooming varies in the different kinds so 

 much that if even a limited selection is 

 grown they can be had in flower almost 

 the whole year round. Like many other 

 fine families of plants they have at some 

 times been more fashionable than at others, 

 now and again giving place to things that 

 need less attention and are of quicker 



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