BRIEF REMARKS. 133 



with a liberal drainage of pieces of turf and bones, and a free supply 

 of water, majestic robust specimens will be produced. — A Nobleman's 

 Flower Gardener. 



Thunbergia alata, and its Varieties. — We now have a most 

 beautiful race of these very charming flowering plants, the buff, 

 yellow, orange, white, &c, with their very distinct dark eye ; they merit 

 a place, where practicable, for summer ornament, in-doors or out. A 

 more charming tribe of climbing plants does not exist. A friend of 

 mine has sent me the following particulars of growing the plants to an 

 extraordinary size, and, of course, to obtaia an equal improvement in 

 the quantity and the size of the flowers : — 



" Culture — Soil. — The finest specimens we ever observed were 

 grown (after they had attained the height of six inches) in a mixture 

 of loam and night-soil, which had been well incorporated for twelve 

 months, and frequently turned over to mellow and sweeten. In this 

 exceedingly rich strong compost the plants grew with a vigour and 

 luxuriance that was perfectly astonishing. The leaves were nearly 

 double the usual size, and the flowers were much larger and more 

 highly coloured. It may, however, be not always convenient to obtain 

 this rich stimulant." — (Such a compost may not be provided; but they 

 flourish most admirably in a compost of equal parts of good turfy loam, 

 sandy peat, leaf-mould, and well-rotted manure, and supplied with a 

 liberal drainage. — Editor.) 



Double Rockets. — I suppose the reader now (April 2) to have 

 nice healthy plants; then the first tiling to do is to get some strong 

 loam, one barrow-load to half a barrow-load of decayed cow's or sheep's 

 dung, and two shovelsful of river sand ; mix the whole together well, 

 and then you are ready to begin to plant. If you plant them in the 

 border amongst the other hardy herbaceous plants they will thrive 

 well ; and if in a rather shady damp place all the better. Turn out. 

 for every plant say one foot square of the old soil, and fill up the hole 

 with the prepared compost, and place your plant in the middle, ratiier 

 deep ; give a little water, and a little liquid manure water when they 

 begin to grow vigorously. Thus generously treated, they will bea;- 

 flower spikes of eight or nine inches in length. The way we grow 

 them is in a round figure, or clump, prepared with the same compost. 

 We plant the German, which is sometimes called the French White, 

 which is shaded with a purplish tinge in the centre. This is a strong 

 vigorous plant, indeed the strongest of all the kinds I have; and twelve 

 inches from them another row of the same, which grows about two feet 

 bigh ; then twelve inches from that I plant round the Blue, of late 

 introduction, which grows eighteen inches high ; and twelve inches 

 from that again we put the Old Queen, which grows from twelve to 

 eighteen inches high. I should have said there must be twelve inches 

 between plant and plant. They all come into flower within a few days 

 of one another, and when in flower they are truly beautiful. When- 

 ever the flowers begin to fade, I cut them down to within two inches 

 of the ground, and make Cuttings of the flower-stems so far as they are 

 leaved j generally each stem makes two cuttings. After the old stools 

 have remained a fortnight they begin to start fresh growth ; and I then 



