P01N8BTTIA. 



Greenhouse and Stove Plants. 



28S 



should be in a position where its head will 

 be able to reach close up to the glass, so as 

 to give strength to the flowers in the way 

 indicated. 



Insects. — This plant is not much sub- 

 ject to insects, except where the atmo- 

 sphere is allowed to become over dry ; then 

 red spider will sometimes make its appear- 

 ance. Thrips and aphides will also live 

 upon it, but the whole of these pests are 

 usually kept away by the daily use of the 

 syringe through the growing season. 



PODOLOBIUM. 



Evergreen greenhouse shrubs with pea- 

 shaped flowers, produced freely, but the 

 plants are inferior to many of the New 

 Holland genera. 



They succeed under similar treatment to 

 Chorozemas, which see. 



The undermentioned are the best kinds : 



P. herherifolium. Flowers yellow, pro- 

 duced early in spring. A native of 

 Australia. 



P. hetcrophyllum. Flowers yellow, a 

 summer bloomer. From New Holland. 



P. trilohatum. Yellow, l^looms in spring. 

 A native of New South Wales. 



POINSETTIA PULCHERRIMA. 



This fine stove species is one of the com- 

 paratively few members of the numerous 

 family of Euphorbiaceous plants that are 

 adapted for cultivation under glass. The 

 flowers, strictly speaking, are insigni- 

 ficant, but the crimson-scarlet bracts upon 

 which they immediately rest possess such 

 an intensity of colour, and when the plant 

 is well grown, are so large as to produce 

 an eff'ect scarcely eqiialled by anything 

 else that we cultivate. Not the least point 

 in its favour is the fact that, in addition 

 to being easily managed, it blooms freely 

 through the autumn and winter months. 

 The flowers, moreover, last very long in 

 perfection, and by treating the plants so as 

 to admit of their blooming in succession, 

 this Poinsettia may be had in flower from 

 November to the end of March. It was 

 introduced from Mexico about the year 

 1834, and has ever since been a great 

 favourite. Yet though generally culti- 

 vated, it is anything but universally well 

 grown, or even grown so well as it was 

 when first introduced. This Poinsettia is 

 naturally erect in habit, yet admits of 

 being treated so as to make a branching 

 specimen, or it may be confined to a single 

 stem, — the form in which it is most 

 useful. It is not necessary to strike 

 cuttings of it so early in spring as required 



in the case of most other winter-flowering 

 stove subjects, because if they have too 

 long a season of growth they are apt to 

 get taller than many people like them, 

 although this can be in some measure 

 corrected. On the other hand, it does not 

 answer to delay the propagation of it so 

 late as is frequently done, or the plants 

 have not time to attain the strength and 

 solidity requisite to enable them to bear 

 full-sized flowers. If old plants that have 

 bloomed are placed about the beginning of 

 April in a temperature of 65° at night, and 

 proportionately increased by day, they 

 will soon produce cuttings. Like some 

 others of the Euphorbiaceous family, the 

 shoots contain a great quantity of milky 

 sap that renders them unsuited for pro- 

 pagation in the usual manner, that is, from 

 the points of the young shoots severed 

 where the wood has got a little firm. If 

 treated in the way that cuttings ordinarily 

 succeed, very few will root ; consequently 

 it is necessary to have them with a heel of 

 the old wood at its juncture with the new 

 growth. Such shoots should be taken oft" 

 when about 6 or 7 inches in length, and 

 placed singly in small pots part filled with 

 sandy soil, the remainder clean sand. 

 Water slightly, and keep them close and 

 shaded in a striking frame or under pro- 

 pagating glasses in a temperature of 65° or 

 70^. They ydW strike in two or three 

 weeks ; when well I'ooted, and they have 

 been inured to the full air of the 

 house, move them into pots two sizes 

 larger, using good loam, to which add one- 

 seventh rotten manure and some sand. 

 Pot firm, shade from the su)i so far as 

 necessary to prevent flagging, and do not 

 give more water than is requisite to keep 

 the soil moist. From the time the roots 

 begin to lay hold of the soil let the plants 

 be as much elevated up to the glass as cir- 

 cumstances will permit. It is necessary to 

 be particular about this with a view to 

 correct the natural disposition to grow 

 long-jointed and tall, as nothing in the 

 way of stopping the shoots is of any use 

 with this Poinsettia the first year on ac- 

 count of its inclination to throw all the 

 strength into a single stem. Ordinary 

 stove warmth through the summer, such 

 as given to the majority of heat-requiring 

 plants, will suit it, admitting a fair amount 

 of air in the daytime, and using no more 

 shade than is found necessary to prevent 

 the leaves scorching ; damp overhead with 

 the syringe at the time of closing the house. 

 By the middle of July they should be 

 ready for moving into their blooming pots, 

 which may be from 7 to 8 inches in diameter, 

 according to the strength of the plants, use 



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