SERICOGRAPHIS. 



Greenhouse and Stove Plants. 



313 



enough to allow of the extension they will 

 make during the season, as it is not neces- 

 sary to move them again before the spring 

 comes round, when larger pots may be 

 given proportionate in size to that which 

 the plants are required to grow to. Give 

 plenty of water through the growing sea- 

 son, and shade carefully from the sun ; 

 keep the atmosphere moist, admit a mode- 

 rate amount of air daily, and moisten them 

 overhead with the syringe in the evenings 

 through the growing season. The soil in 

 which they are grown is all the better for 

 having a good sprinkling of potsherds, 

 charcoal, or coal cinders mixed with it ; 

 any of these will answer in keeping the 

 soil from getting sour, with the large 

 amount of water required when the plants 

 are in active growth. All the difference 

 needed in the treatment of the warm and 

 the cooler section is that the former should 

 have a night temperature in the winter of 

 from 54° to 58°, whereas the cooler species 

 will not want more than 45°, with in the 

 case of both a proportionate rise in the day; 

 in summer a night temperature of 60° to 

 65°, with more by day according to the 

 state of the weather, will answer for the 

 warm division, and that of a waim green- 

 house for the cool sorts, but even these 

 usually look fresher for a little extra 

 warmth. 



The undermentioned are all distinct and 

 handsome species, that require the most 

 warmth : — 



S. africana. 



S. argentea. 



S. concinna. 



S. cuspidata. 



S. Galeotii. 



S. Icevigata. 



S. Lobbii. 



S. Lyallii. 



S. rubricaulis. 



S. umbrosa. 



S. uncinata. 



S. Vidorice. 



S. Wallichii. 



The following are greenhouse species : — 



S. apus. 



S. californica. 



S. denticulata. 



S. helvetica. 



S. involvens. 



S. Kraussiana. 



S. Martensii variegata. 



S. Foulterii. 



S. serpens. 



S. stolonifera. 



S. variabilis. 



S. Wildenovii. 



SERICOGRAPHIS GHIES- 

 BREGHTIANA. 



This handsome stove Acanthad is another 

 of the select number of plants whose time 

 of Howering occurs during the autumn or 

 winter months, and on this account it is 

 especially valuable. Its bright red tube- 

 shaped Howers are produced freely from the 

 points of the shoots of the current season's 

 growth. It has a somewhat erect habit, 

 but by attention to stopping in the younger 

 stages of growth it assumes a bushy form. 

 It is one of those quick-growing plants 

 that are usually propagated annually in 

 the spring for flowering in the ensuing 

 winter, a mode of treatment by many con- 

 sidered preferable to that of growing the 

 old plants on a second season, although by 

 the latter course they can be had in a 

 larger state. It forms a handsome object 

 in the stove during the dull season, and 

 tlie flowers when cut will stand fairly well 

 if the previous treatment of the plants has 

 been such as to enable them to attain all 

 the strength of which they are capable. 



Cuttings made from the young shoots 

 which the i)lants, after blooming, will pro- 

 duce in ordinary stove heat, takc-n ofl' in 

 March and treated in the usual way in a 

 moderately moist, conflned atmosphere, 

 will soon strike root ; then put them singly 

 into 4-inch pots, pinch out the jjoints as 

 soon as they begin to grow, and repeat this 

 when a second growth has been made. As 

 in the case of other quick-growing plants 

 it is necessary to give it plenty of light, 

 otherwise a weak condition is sure to 

 follow. A single shift from the pots they 

 are now in to those in which the plants 

 are to bloom will be enough ; this should 

 be given them about the end of May ; 8 or 

 9 inch pots will suffice, as when the soil 

 gets full of roots they can be kept going 

 by the use of manui'e-water. A low pit 

 where they can be near the glass will be 

 the best place onwards after the second 

 potting, giving air freely in the middle of 

 the day, during which time the plants will 

 bear a day temperature of from 70" to 80°, 

 with from 60° to t;5° at night. Syringe 

 daily to promote growth and keep down 

 insects, using a thin shade when the sun is 

 very bright ; the shoots should be again 

 stopped as soon as the roots have got esta- 

 blished in the soil. The treatment re- 

 quired through the summer will be of a 

 routine character until September ; then 

 give more air and expose the plants to all 

 the light possible with a view to solidify- 

 ing the growth and checking a disposition 

 to over-lengthening of the shoots. As the 

 days get shorter reduce the temperature in 



