208 



Greenhouse and Stove Plants. 



insecticide, which the plants should be 

 either dipped in or syringed with, so that 

 every portion is reached by the mixture. 

 Greenfly sometimes makes its appearance 

 on the young shoots, for which either dip 

 in tobacco water or fumigate. Should they 

 become aff"ected with scale or mealy bug, 

 sponging must be resorted to, as, except 

 when the plants have been cut back and 

 are denuded of their tender foliage, the 

 leaves will scarcely bear any dressing strong 

 enough to kill the insects. " 



HIPPOMANE SPINOSA 



An erect-growing evergreen stove plant 

 that in its native country attains the 

 dimensions of a moderate-sized tree. It 

 has handsome green foliage, with promi- 

 nent spines on the leaves. 



It requires the same treatment as recom- 

 mended for Theophrasta, which see. A 

 native of the West Indies 



HOVEA. 



These beautiful pea-flowered evergreen 

 greenhouse plants, natives of New Holland, 

 are not difficult to grow, possessing a much 

 stronger constitution than the generality of 

 subjects from the same re.gion that are 

 usually cultivated as pot plant?. Hovea 

 Celsii, which is the plant more particularly 

 treated of here, is one of the most beautiful 

 coloured flowering plants we possess ; its 

 blossoms are bright bluish purple, pro- 

 duced freely from the axils of the leaves of 

 the preceding season's wood. Its foliage 

 and general habit are also quite distinct, 

 rendering it a most desirable subject for 

 growing in any collection of hardwooded 

 plants having pretensions to being com- 

 plete. That it is now so seldom seen can 

 only be attributed to the great number 

 of novelties that within the last quarter of 

 a century have been introduced to the 

 country, for the time putting many deserv- 

 ing plants in the background. These, 

 however, must ultimately regain their 

 former favour through sheer merit, especi- 

 ally this plant, from the fact of its adapta- 

 bility to pot specimen culture, and its being 

 one of the best plants for growing at the 

 end or on the roof of a cool conservatory. 

 It is proverbially a slow grower, and with 

 fair treatment it will last a long time, not 

 being subject to go off' quickly from causes 

 difficult of explanation. 



In growing the plant up for a specimen 

 of the ordinary bush-like shape, two dis- 

 tinct methods may be followed. We -Hall 

 allude first to the more general way of 

 treating it. 



In selecting plants for this method more 

 care is necessary than with most things to 

 secure such as have been stopped not more 

 than 3 or 4 inches above the collar, for it 

 is a most determined upright grower, and 

 if it has been allowed in its first stages to 

 run up too high before stopping, the habit 

 is hard to correct. 



Hoveas can be increased either by cut- 

 tings of the half-ripened shoots or from 

 seeds ; the latter method is preferable. 

 Sow in February, in shallow pans, drained 

 and filled with fine peat and sand, covering 

 the seeds about a quarter of an inch, press- 

 ing the material firmly down. Keep 

 slightly moist in an intermediate heat, 

 put a sheet of glass over the pans to 

 keep the surface moist, and shade with 

 tissue paper. As soon as the young plants 

 are up remove the glass, but continue the 

 shading when the sun is powerful ; keep 

 near the light, give some air, and syringe 

 overhead, but not so much as to make the 

 soil too wet. By the end of July the plants 

 should be big enough to put singly into 

 small pots, using soil similar to that in 

 which the seed was sown ; continue the 

 treatment to encourage growth until the 

 middle of September, when reduce the 

 night temperature to 45°, at which keep 

 through the winter. About the beginning 

 of March pinch out the points to cause the 

 plants to break side shoots, and in a few 

 weeks afterwards move into 3 or 4 inch 

 pots ; treat them subsequently during the 

 spring and summer somewhat warmer by 

 the admission of less air than requisite for 

 larger stock, with a moist condition of the 

 atmosphere and a little shade in bright 

 weather. When the young shoots formed 

 after stopping have made three leaves, 

 again pinch ont the points, and treat 

 through the autumn and winter as before. 

 Early in spring give 6-inch pots, and stop 

 the strongest shoots at the time of potting. 

 The management during the spring should 

 be the same as last year, stopping those 

 shoots that seem to require it about the 

 end of June, and treating onwards through 

 the summer as hitherto. The young 

 plants should now have eight or ten nice 

 shoots. Keep them thi'ough the winter 

 near the glass in a night temperature of 

 40° or 45°. Pick off' any flowers they may 

 be inclined to produce as early as they are 

 large enough to get hold of. As soon as 

 they show signs of growth give them a 

 shift of an inch and a half or 2 inches : 

 the slow growth of the plant will not admit 

 of a large pot. It will grow in either good 

 turfy yellow loam or peat — we prefer the 

 latter, where it can be had good, possessing 

 a fair share of fibre : to this add one sixth 



