80 ON THE TARTS OF A FLOWER NECESSARY 



plants are encouraged by applying liquid manure water occasionally, 

 repotting, &c. It is not advisable to stop the plant later than the 

 middle of July, or the lateral shoots will scarcely be firm enough to 

 endure the effect of winter. Plants to bloom are placed out of doors 

 in August, and kept there till October, giving them shelter only when 

 nights were cold or the day stormy. From the middle of October to 

 the close of November they were kept in the greenhouse, then 

 removed to a house kept at from 45 to 60 degrees, and early in 

 December they show for bloom, and by Christmas be in splendour, 

 and so continue for a long period. 



In order to have dwarf plants, the same mode of treatment as the 

 Hydrangea often receives may be successfully pursued ; viz., after the 

 flower-buds are formed they may be cut off and be potted singly, 

 plunging them into a good bottom heat ; they soon strike root, and 

 bloom when the plants are not more than six inches high. The 

 plant ought never to be checked when in a growing state. It is so 

 beautiful, noble flowering, and deliciously fragrant, that it is worth 

 growing in every warm greenhouse or conservatory. 



ARTICLE VII. 



ON THE PARTS OF A FLOWER NECESSARY FOR THE 

 PRODUCTION OF PERFECT SEEDS. 



Having lately noticed with pleasure the encouragement you give to 

 promote the production of hybrid plants, and that, in consequence of 

 your remarks, correspondents who are desirous of pursuing it, but 

 are ignorant of the process requisite to success, have sent queries on 

 the subject, I am therefore induced to forward the following descrip- 

 tive particulars of the various parts of the flower for early insertion 

 in the Cabinet. 



A flower is divisible into seven parts; viz., the calyx, or flower- 

 cup; the corolla, or blossom ; the stamina, or male organs; the 

 pistillum, or pointal; the pericarpium, or seed-vessel; the semen, or 

 seed ; and the receptaculum, or receptacle. These parts admit of 

 several divisions, which will now be concisely described. 



Calyx (from KaXvi;, kalux, the case of a flower). — The flower-cup 

 is that external covering, usually of a greenish colour, which invests 

 and protects the coloured floral leaves, or corolla, where that is 



