312 



Gre&iihouse and Stove Plants. 



SELAGINELLA. 



Insects. — If not attended to well in the 

 matter of syringing daily during the grow- 

 ing season, they are liable to get infested 

 with red spider and thrips, otherwise these 

 insects do not usually trouble Schubertias. 

 If mealy bug affect them, the plants should 

 be laid on their sides and syringed freely 

 with insecticide ; repeat the application 

 until they are quite clean. 



SCUTELLARIA MOCCINIANA. 



This evergreen stove shrub grows to a 

 height of about 2 feet ; it has handsome 

 foliage and bears from the points of the 

 shoots close, compact bunches of tube- 

 shaped, bright red and yellow flowers. It 

 is a remarkably free bloomer, keeping on 

 flowering almost the whole year round 

 when any growth is being made, and on 

 that account one of the best plants that 

 has been introduced for years, as the 

 flowers are equally effective on the plant 

 or in a cut state, in which they last a 

 considerable time. It succeeds in ordinary 

 loam made moderately rich with rotten 

 manure and mixed with sand. It may be 

 propagated at any time of the year when 

 bits of half-ripened wood can be had, such 

 as the young growths which spring from 

 the joint below where a stout shoot has 

 been cut back ; if these are taken off early 

 in sjjring and put five or six together in 

 pots just large enough to hold them, filled in 

 the ordinaiy way, kept moist and covered 

 with a propagating glass, they will root in 

 a few weeks ; after that shift them singly 

 into 3-inch pots, using fresh loam fairly 

 enriched, to which is added a full comple- 

 ment of sand. The latter is needed for all 

 free-growing subjects of the nature of this 

 plant, as they require a plentiful supply of 

 water, and it is necessary that it should 

 pass freely away, or the roots, though not 

 delicate, are sure to get out of order. 



As soon as the cuttings are fairly rooted 

 pinch out the tops, and repeat this when 

 the plants have made a couple more joints. 

 An ordinary moderate hothouse tempera- 

 ture will answer through the year. With 

 all plants of a continuous blooming habit 

 it is advisable never to over-excite them by 

 too much heat, or, on the opposite, to keep 

 them so cool as to wholly stop growth. 

 Directly the pots are faiily full of roots 

 shift into others proportionate to the size 

 to which the plants are expected to grow ; 

 they will flower at almost any size from 

 that obtainable in 6-inch pots upwards. 

 Water liberally as the roots get plentiful, 

 give air freely in the daytime during 

 >^ummer, shade when the weather requires 



it, and syringe in the evenings during the 

 season of active growth. 



When the flowers are wanted in a cut 

 state, it is well to use those produced by 

 the strongest shoots, at the same time cut- 

 ting these shoots moderately well back, so 

 as to encourage the weaker branches and 

 keep the plants in a symmetrical form. 

 In spring, about the time the usual rise in 

 temperature takes place, it is well to cut 

 the plants freely back, so as to keep them 

 from getting too tall, after which they may 

 be turned out of the pots, a portion of the 

 soil removed, and larger pots given, using 

 loam of a moderately free character. If 

 they are thus treated annually, with the 

 additional help of manure-water through 

 the summer, they may be kept in a thriv- 

 ing state for several years ; but it is advis- 

 able always to have some young stock on 

 hand, as moderate-sized examples for ordi- 

 nary purposes will usually be found the 

 best. 



Insects. — The frequent use of the 

 syringe during the most active period of 

 growth generally keeps the plants free 

 from insects, but if aphides or thrips affect 

 them fumigate or dip in tobacco-water. 



SELAGINELLA (LYCOPODIUM). 



Although not so much varied in their 

 appearance as their near allies, the Ferns, 

 these beautiful plants are general favour- 

 ites : their singular forms, with the difte- 

 rent shades of colour they possess, from the 

 deep green of S. plumosa to the metallic 

 hue of S. csesia, are very attractive. The 

 sorts that find favour with cultivators are 

 indigenous to widely different parts of the 

 world — China, Europe, India, the Cape of 

 Good Hope, and South America, all con- 

 tribute to the assemblage of fine species 

 now in cultivation. Some of the kinds 

 will thrive in a greenhouse, others require 

 a moderate stove heat, and all like a fairly 

 moist atmosphere, with shade from the 

 sun, and to be kept out of the reach of 

 draughts, and in the case of nearly all 

 never to be allowed to get dry at the roots. 



They will grow in almost any kind of 

 soil provided it is porous ; in peat they 

 usually don a deeper shade of green. 

 They are easily propagated by division of 

 the creeping stems, which most of the 

 species possess, and produce roots from 

 freely ; the best time to pro^aagate them is 

 about the end of February, before the sea- 

 son's growth commences. The pieces sepa- 

 rated from the old plants should always 

 have a good portion of roots attached, in 

 which case all that is necessary is to put 

 them in weU-drained pots or pans large 



