262 MISCELLANY OF NOTES AND CORRESPONDENCE. 



read at the West Kent Gardeners' Society, and which we extract from the Gar- 

 deners' Journal. The same kind of treatment is alike suitable to the other species 

 named above, and we doubt not, but if adopted, will prove successful) : — 



"Mr. Cooper, of Bromley, read a paper on the cultivation of Ixora ccccinea. 

 He procured cuttings of the ripened wood about July, and planted them in five- 

 inch or six-inch pots, which are found to be the most convenient size ; these are 

 nearly half filled with broken potsherds as drainage ; a little rough peat is added, 

 and the remainder is filled up with silver-sand, into which the cuttings are in- 

 serted. The pots are plunged in a tan or other bed, where they will have bottom 

 heat, and can be kept close. If the cuttings get too damp, the glasses are to 

 be removed for an hour or two, and then replaced. With a brisk moist heat 

 they will root in about five ar six weeks (sometimes sooner), and may then get a 

 little air for two or three days, after which the glasses are to be removed alto- 

 gether. If they are found to flag after removing the glasses, they must be re- 

 placed for a short period. As soon as they will stand without the glasses, they 

 are to be potted singly into thr^einch pots, and placed in a frame, hotbed, or 

 stove. If in the latter, they must have a hand-glass put over them until they 

 make fresh roots. The points of the shoots must be nipped off to make them 

 bushy. In selecting cuttings, make choice of those with short joints, as they 

 make the best specimens. If they are rooted in a brisk heat previously to July 

 they may have a shift, but that entirely depends upon circumstances; generally 

 it is best to let them remain in the small pots till the following February, when 

 they may be shifted into six-inch pots, and placed in a light, airy situation, and 

 where they will experience a gentle bottom heat. During the time they are 

 growing they require plenty of heat, air, light, and water. If air is not freely 

 admitted in the growing season they are apt to become weak and spindly; in 

 consequence of which they will either produce weakly blooms or none at all; but 

 with a temperature of from 75 to 80 degrees, with plenty of air, and shifted in 

 February, they will produce short-jointed and well-ripened wood by September; 

 after which they will stand in a temperature of 50 degrees until they are wanted 

 to flower. By attending to this course of treatment, an early and good bloom 

 will be secured. The soil he used was composed of two-thirds turfy peat, one- 

 third turfy loam and Reigate sand, using it as rough as possible; the larger the 

 plants, the rougher the compost is required. Water should be used sparingly 

 in winter, and more freely as the season advances ; and a higher temperature is 

 required, which will be about the middle of January. Increase the heat as the 

 season advances. If the plants are wanted for exhibition, and they are advancing 

 too fast, remove them to a cooler place, but this must be done before a single 

 bloom has expanded, the flowers being liable to drop then, on a sudden transition. 

 After the blooming is over they will make their growth, set their blooms, and be 

 prepared for a lower temperature during the winter. With proper attention they 

 may be had in flower at almost any time in the year. He remarked that the 

 one-shift system had proved a failure. His practice was to shift progressively, 

 removing the plants from a three-inch to a six-inch pot, and from that to a nine- 

 inch one, and then to a twelve-inch one, and so on. Ixoras are liable to be in- 

 fested with all kinds of insects, such as the thrip, white and brown scale, mealy 

 bug, green fly, and red spider. If the plants are well syringed at all favourable 

 opportunities, both under the leaves as well as over the top of the plant, and not 

 half done, the insects will be kept travelling, and will never do any mischief. It 

 is when they lie up unmolested that they injure the plants.'' 



On the Lily of the Valley. — What is the best way of managing the Lily 

 of tire Valley at the end of the year, to induce a fine bloom in the spring ? 

 Mine were covered down with leaf mould last autumn, the soil being light and 

 rich; they produced abundance of leaves, but the flowers were poor and scanty. 

 The situation is not very exposed, but not under shade. — C. M. 



[It blooms very freely when grown in a good loamy soil, having a dry substratum 

 We had a bed of it that was cultivated in such a soil, and the situation had the 

 morning sun till about eleven o'clock, and they had the shade of some large trees 

 growing at about a dozen yards distance, the remainder of the day. The cover- 



