REMARKS ON ALSTROMERIAS. 273 
turfy sandy peat, one-sixth silver sand, and the rest of rich yellow turfy 
loam, and a scattering of bits of charcoal. The soils had been obtained 
a year before in a turfy state, and been chopped up and turned two or 
three times. I had a drainage of broken pots, one inch and a-half 
deep, and over them some bits of chopped sod, to prevent the compost 
becoming mixed with the drainage, so as to prevent a free passage for 
the water to filter away, I removed a portion of the old ball, and 
then potted the plants carefully in the compost, keeping the crown of 
the roots as high as the rim of the pot, so that the water drains slightly 
away from the stem of the plant. When this precaution is not observed 
the plant is somewhat liable to perish. After potting I placed the 
plants in a light and airy part of the greenhouse, giving a judicious 
attention to watering. In the last week in July I found the pots so 
filled with roots, that I re-potied the plants into sixteen-sized pots, 
keeping the balls entire. I retained them in the greenhouse till the 
end of August, when I placed them in a sheltered situation for about 
a month, to harden the shoots, and prepare them for the winter’s cool 
temperature. During winter I had them in the coolest, but lightest, 
situation ; as I have observed where the plants are treated with more 
than just kept from frost, they draw up weakly, become unsightly, and 
are soon damaged by wet, or other casualty. In March following I 
again re-potted them, as done previously, into the next larger sized 
pots, in which I kept them till August last, then put them into eights, 
in which they now are, perfect specimens of successful growth. The 
plants when young had nice leading shoots, I had them secured to a 
central stick, and thus continued the training, so that each plant forms 
a handsome and regular cone of branches, from the broadest at the 
base to the summit. Each plant is now three feet high, or a little 
more, above the rim of the pot. When in bloom they were one blaze 
of rich crimson, and most beauteous specimens, amply repaying for the 
attention I had given. 
Thinking it advisable to have an annual stock of two new plants, in 
case of the decease of the old plants, I had some other young ones 
potted in March last, and in all other respects subsequently properly 
treated during the past season. I purpose continuing to pursue this 
course of provision, and so dispense with the old ones when they 
become unsightly from any casualty, or die away. 
I have two plants of the delightful blue L. biloba, in course of 
similar treatment, and in order to render them bushy, I have stopped 
the leads of the shoots, excepting the central one, and they now are 
fine vigorous specimens. One of them was shown the past season at 
Chiswick and the Regent’s Park Gardens, and its equal I have not seen 
for a dense mass of rich blue flowers. 
REMARKS ON ALSTROMERIAS. 
Tuts is one of the most showy stove, greenhouse, and frame plants, 
and some are nearly hardy. At one time it was brought into repute, 
by the offer of prizes for them at floral exhibitions, but from some 
