31i 



Greenhouse and Stove Plants. 



them well. They are easily increased and 

 are free growers, thri\dng in either loam 

 or peat, the latter to be preferred where it 

 can be had of good quality. They can be 

 propagated at any time of the year when 

 cuttings in a half-ripened condition are 

 obtainable; these may consist of the top 

 leading shoot taken off -svith about three 

 joints, or of side shoots such as are pro- 

 duced by a plant that has had its head 

 removed, say in April. By the beginning 

 of June it will have pushed out side shoots ; 

 if these, when big enough, are taken off at 

 a joint and put singly into 3-inch or 4-inch 

 pots filled with sandy peat, the surface all 

 sand, kept moist, shaded, and close under a 

 propagating glass in a temperature of 70° 

 or 75°, they ■will root sufficiently in three 

 weeks or a month to l^ear the glass being 

 dispensed with. After this keep them 

 where they will get a fair quantity of light 

 iu a house or pit where the atmosphere is 

 moderately humid, giving some air in the 

 daytime, and shading always when the 

 sun's rays come on them. They should 

 now have heat in the night time, like 

 ordinary hot stove plants, with 80° or 85° 

 in the day. They are free rooters, and by 

 the middle of August will require moving 

 into pots 6 inches or 7 inches in diameter ; 

 use soil mth plenty of vegetable fibre in it, 

 and a moderate quantity of sand and some 

 rotten manure. They should be syringed 

 once daily all through the growing season, 

 getting the water well to the undersides 

 of the leaves, so as to prevent the lodgment 

 of thrips or red spider. Reduce the tem- 

 perature in the autumn, leave off shading, 

 and regulate the admission of air in accord- 

 ance with the state of the weather. The 

 night temperature during the winter should 

 not be under 60° or 65°, and it ought to 

 be gradually increa.?ed from the end of 

 February through the spring until it 

 reaches the point advised for last summer. 

 In March move the plants into 12-inch or 

 13-inch pots, in soil similar to that used 

 for the last potting. Treat as to shading, 

 air, and atmospheric moisture as in the last 

 season, and give plenty of water to the roots 

 as these fill the soil. If large specimens 

 are not required, liquid manure will sustain 

 them through the season in the pots they 

 now occupy, but if the intention is to grow 

 the plants as large as possible, they will by 

 midsummer require 15-inch or IG-in^h 

 pots. After this they will reach a hand- 

 some size, and only want a continuance of 

 the treatment so far advised. The only 

 form of growth which shows these Sphse- 

 rogynes to advantage is keeping to a single 

 stem, and they are only attractive so long 

 as they retain their lower leaves in good 



condition ; consequently when these are 

 getting shabby, the plants should be headed 

 down, and afterwards kept warm. The 

 stools will soon break, when most of the 

 soil can be shaken away, and they should 

 be put into pots that will admit the roots 

 with some new material ; treat afterwards 

 as recommended in their younger state. 

 It is well to keep a succession of young 

 plants to take the place of the old ones, 

 which can then be dispensed with as their 

 foliage gets into bad condition, but where 

 large examples are required the headed- 

 down specimens will make the finest, form- 

 ing larger leaves near the bottom than 

 cuttings will. 



Insects. — All the insect pests that affect 

 stove plants will live on Sphaerogynes, 

 especially scale and mealy bug, from which 

 they should always be kept quite clear, 

 as the formation of their leaves gives har- 

 bour to the insects, and makes it difficult 

 to remove them without injuring the 

 foliage, which is impatient of sponging 

 unless great care is exercised. 



SPIGELIA SPLENDENS 



An herbaceous perennial that will live 

 in a greenhouse, but is better accommo- 

 dated with intermediate heat. Its red, 

 tube-shaped flowers, produced in summer 

 on a considerable length of the shoots, have 

 a pretty effect. 



It can be struck from shoot cuttings put 

 in during spring, and treated in the usual 

 way, and afterwards grown on under the 

 conditions already mentioned of moderate 

 heat, with plenty of air and less moisture 

 in the atmosphere than most of the stove 

 occupants require, otherwise the growth is 

 liable to get drawn and weak. It comes 

 from Costa Rica. 



Insects. — Aphides are often trouble- 

 some in the summer on this plant ; for 

 these fumigate. 



STATICE. 



Among the whole family of greenhouse 

 plants there are probably none more useful, 

 or worthy of cultivation, than these, 

 whether for general decorative purposes or 

 for exhibition. There are several points 

 required to make up the properties essen- 

 tial to a really useful flowering plant. It 

 should be moderately easy to grow, and of 

 free-blooming habit, if the flowers last long 

 all the better ; it should be neither very 

 slow in growth, nor so free as to outstrip 

 reasonable bounds in a comparatively short 

 time. Greenhouse Statices possess these 

 qualities to an extent that few other plants 



