168 



Greenhouse and Stove Plants. 



EUIOSTEMON. 



be the production of ilowers. Winter them 

 in a temperature similar to that advised 

 for the preceding season — this will keep 

 their roots from getting quite dormant, 

 and will enable the plants to move into 

 growth freely in the spiing ; pot them at 

 the end of March, giving a 3-inch shift, 

 and encourage free growth by giving little 

 side air and shutting the house completely 

 early enough to enclose a good amount of 

 sun-heat. As the season advances again 

 conmience to use the syringe every after- 

 noon. Attend well to their training, so as 

 to keep them dense and well furnished at 

 the base ; upon attention to this in the 

 early stages of their growth depends their 

 after condition, as, if they are once allowed 

 to get bare of foliage at the bottom, it is 

 not easy to get their strong upright-grow- 

 ing branches down so as to furnish them 

 as "they ought to be, and bare naked bottoms 

 are at all times intolerable. They will, if 

 all has gone well, be large enough to make 

 nice decorative plants the following spring. 

 Such as are required for flowering should 

 be fully exposed to the open air from the 

 middle of July until the end of September. 

 This open-air ripening cannot be dispensed 

 with, if a dense sheet of flower is expected, 

 and these plants, unless profusely bloomed 

 in this way, are not, on account of the 

 small size of the individual flowers, suffi- 

 ciently attractive. By the end of Septem- 

 ber they must be brought indoors ; they 

 do not require to be placed in the best 

 position in the house as to light by reason 

 of their making no growth during the 

 winter, but they must on no account be 

 stood too close together, or the bottom 

 leaves will suffer and fall off prematurely. 

 A temperature of 40° at night will be suffi- 

 cient to winter them in ; they will come 

 into flower during March or April, when 

 they can be removed to the conservatory, 

 where they will be attractive for several 

 weeks. After they have flowered the seed- 

 pods must be at once picked off, or they 

 will seriously retard the growth of the 

 plants. 



If the object is to grow them on quickly 

 to a large size, they should not be turned 

 out in the autumn, but be kept under glass, 

 as advised the first season, and wintered a 

 little warmer, given a 3-inch shift again in 

 March, and grown freely all through this 

 their third summer until the middle of 

 July, when they must be turned out, as 

 before recommended for such as were re- 

 quired to flower. Remove them under 

 glass before there is any danger of i'rost, 

 and keep them cool during the winter if 

 the object is to induce them to bloom late. 

 If they are required for exhibition ih^y 



should, when removed under cover in the 

 autumn, be at once placed in the north 

 house, where they will do well through 

 the winter ; here they will come on much 

 more slowly than in the ordinary hard- 

 wooded house. It is necessary to treat 

 them so when wanted for showing, as un- 

 less retarded all the winter they come into 

 flower too soon, and their blooming will 

 be half over before they are required. The 

 plants will need little difference in their 

 treatment to keep them in good condition 

 for two or three years, when they may be 

 potted again, giving them 4 or 6 inches more 

 room, after which, when the soil becomes 

 at all exhausted, they must be assisted with 

 manure-water during the growing season. 



The following species are deserving of 

 cultivation, and all require similar treat- 

 ment : — 



E. buxifolius. This is one of the best 

 known and commonly grown species ; it 

 is a free grower and profuse flowerer. 



E. cnspidatus. Is an erect grower, has 

 moderate-sized leaves, and is a free-flower- 

 ing and desirable plant, when strong, pro- 

 ducing its flowers in bunches of five oi' six 

 at every leaf. 



E. intermedins. This has larger flowers 

 than the other kinds, but is not so good a 

 grower, never pushing such a number of 

 branches, and having a much thinner ap- 

 pearance ; nevertheless, it makes a nice, 

 moderate-sized plant. 



E. linearifolius. Forms a nice companion 

 plant to tiie others. It is a very free 

 grower, its flowers are smaller, and more 

 hidden by the leaves than those of the 

 more robust-growing sorts. 



E. neriifolius. The best of the family ; 

 good in constitution and habit, a very free 

 flowerer, the individual blooms large, and 

 produced in great quantities. A profusely- 

 flowered plant of this sort is very effective 

 on the exhibition stage. 



E. pulchellus. Is a weaker-wooded plant, 

 yet grows very close and compact ; it does 

 not form so large a specimen as some of 

 the others, nor are its flowers so con- 

 spicuous. 



Insects. — Eriostemons are not very 

 liable to the attacks of insects, although 

 they are sometimes affected with red spider, 

 which the use of the syringe, as before re- 

 commended, will keep down. White and 

 brown scale will also live upon them ; it 

 is a difficult matter to destroy the white 

 insect, as the leaves are unable to withstand 

 any application sufficiently strong to kill 

 it. Insecticide strong enough to destroy 

 brown scale, without injuring the leaves 

 in the least, may be used. They should be 

 thoroughly washed with the mixture twice 



