298 THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 
soil in which they are put now should be rather light and sandy, but 
at the spring shift something substantial must be employed, such, 
for example, as a mixture of loamy soil and manure. At the time 
suggested for potting those separately which are wintered in boxes, 
the plants potted singly now should be shifted into pots one size 
larger. When they are potted off as here advised, they will of 
course take up much more space than a similar number of plants in 
small sixties, but that is a matter of no consequence, for a much 
smaller number will suffice for planting a given space, hence it is not 
necessary to have so many. When the potting is completed, they 
should have a moderate watering overhead to settle the soil, but 
from that time until the following February very little, if any, water 
must be applied. They will not die if the soil is allowed to remain 
dust-dry for two months or so, but if kept too moist they will perish 
at a very rapid rate. 
SPECIMEN VALLOTAS. 
BY WILLIAM GARDINER. 
femmes HE beautiful Vallota purpurea, frequently designated the 
Afi ©=Scarborough Lily, has been alluded to in the pages of 
the FLoraL WorLD upon more than one occasion, and 
there can be no doubt that its cultivation is extending. 
But this extension is not sufficiently rapid, for it should 
have a place, and a prominent one too, in every greenhouse, for in 
attractiveness and beauty it is, in its season, without anequal. The 
leaves are bold and massive, and of the richest green; and the 
flowers, which are produced several together on scapes ranging from 
fifteen to thirty inches in height, average three inches in diameter, 
are waxy in texture, and of the richest vermilion scarlet. Even if 
the Vallota flowered in May or June, when there are plenty of flowers 
in the conservatory and greenhouse, it would be well deserving of 
the most widely-extended culture, but flowering as it does in Sep- 
tember, when there is certainly no superabundance of flowers under 
glass, it appears difficult to recommend it in terms sufficiently 
strong to convey an adequate idea of its immense value. It is fre- 
quently seen in gardens and nurseries in the form of small plants, 
consisting of a single bulb furnished with a scape about twelve 
inches high, and bearing two or three flowers. Plants of this cha- 
racter, although not wanting in attractiveness, afford a very inade- 
quate idea of the magnificent effect produced by large specimens. At 
the great International Horticultural Exhibition recently held at Dun- 
dee, several specimens were shown by northern cultivators ; and it is 
not too much to say that they were not surpassed, and only equalled, 
by a very fine specimen of Anthurium Scherzerianwm, which is rather 
expensive, and requires the temperature of a stove for its successful 
cultivation. Some of these had as many as twelve scapes, each 
scape thirty inches in height, an inch in diameter, and bearing four 
to five grandly-developed flowers; and they presented such a bril- 
liant appearance, that they stood out boldly from amongst the large 
