66 BRIEF REMARKS. 



watered often in previous treatment by some one ignorant of the proper 

 cultivation, they may have been soddened by watering: this will cause 

 the buds to drop ; and if there be a vast quantity of flower-buds they 

 will, if in clusters, push off a surplus. Camellias, so set with buds, 

 should have a thinning at an early stage ; and water, just to keep the 

 whole of the ball moist, must be given at each watering.) 



Cinerarias for "Winter Bloom. — Early last June I sowed some 

 seed, potted off the plants as soon as strong enough, and re-potted them 

 as they required it during the subsequent period. I placed them in a 

 shallow pit-frame, and early in October a number of them were in 

 bloom, I removed them into the greenhouse, and others into a breakfast- 

 room, and since that time I have had a constant succession in profuse 

 bloom, and apparently shall have till next May. — Juvenis. 



Epiphyllum truncatum and its varieties. — "I consider that 

 these ought to be brought more into notice than they are at present. 

 If we take into consideration their time of flowering, along with the 

 beauty of the blossoms and the graceful appearance of the plants, we 

 must come to the conclusion that, as a whole, we have little to equal 

 them during the dark clays of winter. "What have we better for deco- 

 rating our conservatories and drawing-rooms throughout November, 

 December, and January ? By exciting some, and retarding others, I can 

 have a prolongation of bloom during these comparatively flowerless 

 months." 



" The method I adopt to insure success, as regards their treatment, 

 is as follows : I grow none on their own bottoms ; they are all grafted 

 on Cereus speciosissimus, which I consider a better stock than Pereskia 

 aculeata, as the grafts are not so liable to be outgrown by the stock on 

 the former as on the latter. It is said that Cereus triangularis is best 

 of all stocks. Select some clean healthy plants that have been struck 

 from cuttings the previous year for stocks. In March introduce them 

 into a stove or pit where there is a heat of from 50 ' to 70 '. "When 

 they show signs of growing, with a sharp knife make incisions in the 

 angles alternately all round from four to six inches apart, and place 

 one graft on the top, fastening it with a spine of the stock, and proceed 

 in the same manner with the sides. Some bore a hole with a gimlet 

 and insert the scion into it. I prefer the grafts from one-year-old 

 shoots, they require nothing farther than shading, and keeping rather 

 close for a month or six weeks. In the course of two months they 

 will begin to show signs of growing, then give them more air and 

 light, and keep the stocks divested of all suckers as they appear. As 

 regards height, they may be from one foot to six, that all depends 

 upon taste and convenience. A plant grafted one foot high will form 

 a handsome bush, two or three feet across, hanging over the sides of 

 the pot, and supported with a wire trellis underneath ; cylindrical 

 trellises are the best for showing tall plants to advantage. As regards 

 culture, presuming the plants have done flowering, and are stored away 

 on a shelf in the greenhouse, or any other convenient place, free from 

 damp, and kept rather dry at the roots, they will require nothing more 

 till about the middle of March. Then they must be brought to the 

 potting-shed and re-potted; this operation requires to be performed 



