222 



Greenhouse and Stove Plants 



will free them from this pest, and also 

 destroy scale. If the latter reappears, 

 washing and sponging at intervals through 

 the season will keep it down. The humid 

 atmosphere and continiious syringing 

 through the season of growth will be suf- 

 licient to keep down red spider, and will 

 also check greenfly and thiijis, but should 

 these make their appearance, fumigation 

 must be resorted to. 



JASMINUM. 



(Stove.) 

 Amons stove Jasmines may be found 



of the most highly fragrant plants in 



cultivation, the perfume known as oil of 

 Jasmine being procured from two or three 

 of the species, such as J. grandiflorum, J. 

 Sambac, and J. oflicinale. Among stove 

 species all are favourites, but some are 

 much superior to otheis, and to these it 

 will be better to confine the following 

 cultural details, which will answer foi' 

 the shrubby and also the climbing kinds, 

 with this difference, that the largest 

 growers obviously want more root-room 

 than the less vigorous sorts. Some of 

 them furnish suitable shoots to make cut- 

 tings of more freely than others, and the 

 propagator should select such as are in 

 projier condition for the puijiose, neither 

 too soft nor too hard. 



The best season to propagate is spring, 

 when shoots a few inches long can be had, 

 as then there is plenty of time to get the 

 young plants established before winter. 

 Take them off with a heel, and insert them 

 thickly in small pots in sand, covered with 

 a bell-glass : kept moist and shaded in a 

 temperature of 70°, they will root in the 

 course of a month ; then, when a little 

 hardened by exposure to the full air of the 

 house or pit in which they have been 

 struck, they should be moved into 3-inch 

 pots in good fibrous loam, to which add a 

 little finely-sifted rotten manuie and some 

 sand, giving as much water to the roots as 

 is requisite to keep the soil moderately 

 moist, but not over wet, as most of the 

 species to which these remarks refer are 



g Plf 

 fairlv 



them warm and in a fairly moist atmo- 

 sphere, with a full complement of light, 

 some air, and a little shade when the sun is 

 bright. Syringe each afternoon to keej? 

 down red spider, by which they are liable 

 to be attacked. During the middle of sum- 

 mer a night temperature of 65° or 66° will 

 answer, and one 10° higher by day. Dis- 

 tinction will now have to be made between 

 the climbing and the shrubby kinds. The 

 latter will need to have the points of their 



shoots pinched out to lay the foundation 

 for bushy specimens ; the former should be 

 encouraged to keep to their erect habit, 

 and simply be stopped when some growth 

 has been made, so as to encourage as many 

 shoots as required to furnish the pillar or 

 rafter to which they are ultinxately to be 

 trained, in which way the climbing kinds 

 can be grown with the best results. When 

 the pots are moderately filled Avith roots, 

 move the plants into others 3 inches larger, 

 using the soil a little more lumpy, and con- 

 tinue the treatment advised as to air, water, 

 and heat until the autumn approaches ; then 

 give more air, keep drier at the roots, and 

 lower the temperature, which, during the 

 last months of the year and up to the latter 

 part of February, may be about 60° in the 

 night. After this gradually give more 

 warmth, and as soon as the roots are in 

 motion move the plants into pots 3 inches 

 or 4 inches larger, continuing the treat- 

 ment advised for last year in every way. 

 By midsummer it should be determined 

 how the climbing sorts are to be grown ; 

 the weaker growers, such as J. Sambac, are 

 as well with their roots kept in pots, in- 

 creasing the size as more loom is required ; 

 the bushy kinds need to be similarly 

 treated in this matter, and care should be 

 taken not to over-pot them, as they will 

 succeed better with less root-space than 

 many plants. If this treatment is continued 

 they will last for years ; each spring as 

 much of the surface soil as can be got away 

 without materially interfering with the 

 roots should be removed and replaced with 

 new. Clear manure-water, given at short 

 intervals through the growing season, will 

 help the growth, which it is necessary tu 

 encourage, as the flower forthcoming with 

 these plants is generally proportionate to 

 the wood they make. We have found the 

 time of blooming with the stove species of 

 Jasmine very much consequent on the 

 amount of heat they are subjected to. 



The undermentioned we consider the 

 best, taking all properties into considera- 

 tion : — 



J. Duchesse d' Orleans. A climbing or 

 tall-growing kind that has originated on 

 the Continent, with very handsome white 

 flowers, which keep on opening in succes- 

 sion, so long as any growth is being made. 

 It likes a brisk heat. 



/. gracile. A plant of slender habit, 

 from is^orfolk Island ; it has white flowers, 

 and will grow in a lower temperature than 

 the others named. 



/. gracile variegatwm. A form of J. gracile, 

 from which it differs in being variegated. 



/. gracillimum. A new and beautiful 

 species with white, sweet-scented flowers, 



