368 THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 
but young plants full of vigour are preferable, and, as a rule, they 
should be destroyed after flowering the second time. 
Epipoyttum.—The varieties of ZZ. truncatum are very effective 
when grown in the form of standards with a stem of twelve or 
eighteen inches ‘above the pot, or as neat bushes. Standards are 
for general decorations the most preferable, for the growth is some- 
what pendant, and as the flowers are produced at the terminal 
point they appear to better advantage when from eighteen to twenty- 
four inches above the pot than when hanging over its sides. After 
the plauts go out of bloom they should be repotted if more root 
space is considered desirable, and be encouraged to grow vigor- 
ously by being placed in a warm corner of the stove and receiving 
liberal supplies of water. By the end of June the new growth will 
be completed and the stock should then be removed to a sunny position 
in the greenhouse, where they can remain until the end of October. 
During their stay in this structure they must be kept rather dry at 
the roots, in fact from the end of August until their removal back 
to the stove they must be kept perfectly dry. The most effective 
varieties of HZ. truncatum are known respectively as awrantiacwm, 
coccineum, purpureum, and roseum. 
ERaNTHEMUMS.—Several of these are most effective during the 
winter. The best are H. asperum, white and purple, and #. pul- 
chellum, bright blue. They require precisely the same culture as 
the Aphelandras. 
Eucnaris.—The snow-white H. amazonica is of great beauty, 
and its value for winter flowering cannot well be over-estimated. 
To have examples in bloom at mid-winter, start them into a 
vigorous growth towards the end of June or the beginning of 
July, previously repotting them if required, by placing them in the 
warmest position in the stove and supplying them liberally with 
water, and shade them in precisely the same manner as the other 
soft-wooded plants, Early in September remove to a cooler posi- 
tion and keep rather dry until the second week in November; and 
then start them into growth again, and in a short time flower-scapes 
will make their appearance. A compost consisting of equal parts 
turfy loam, peat, and well-decayed manure is the most suitable. 
EveHorsias.—The best of these for winter flowering is the 
elegant-growing and brilliantly-coloured E. jacquinijlora. To produce 
a stock of neat examples with as little trouble as possible, strike 
cuttings as soon as they can be obtained in the spring. Young shoots 
about threeinches in length, and taken off with a slice of the old 
wood, make the best cuttings; and if these are inserted in small pots, 
four or five in each, and shifted on without being separated, they 
will make most excellent examples by the winter. Peat, loam, and 
leaf-mould in equal proportions, with a liberal addition of sand, forms 
a most excellent compost. The pruning of old specimens should be 
deferred until they have commenced to grow freely, and each branch 
should be cut back to within half an inch or so of a young shoot. 
PornserTias are perhaps the most showy of all the high- 
coloured flowers for mid-winter. Cuttings of young shoots about four 
inches in length, taken off with a small portion of young wood, 
