THE LVCHNIS PULGESS. 173 



feature I have remedied by growing the plant as a standard, the foliage 

 is not near so large, and the fine pendant racemes of flowers are much 

 more numerous. In order to grow it thus, in the spring of 1845, 1 had 

 a number of tubers, whicli had been raised the previous year, and in 

 February I commenced forcing them to growth, as they required. I 

 re-potted during the entire following season, and when side shoots 

 pushed, I immediately rubbed them off, and encouraged the main stem, 

 till it had arrived at the desired lieight, in sundry instances from three 

 to near five feet high. I used rougii turfy loam and well-rotten dung, 

 two parts of loam to one of dung. When tlie stem is liigh enougii, I 

 allowed the side shoots to push, they soon showed for bloom, and duly 

 encouraged, bloomed amazinglj' beautiful. 



The heads of the plants somewhat varied, of course, as to size, but in 

 several instances, they extended near three feet across. They com- 

 menced blooming early in May, and continued so, in the greenhouse, till 

 the middle of October, and afterwards they were loaded with their 

 delicious fruit. At the prime period of blooming, during June and 

 July, each plant had from ten to fifteen heads of bloom, and each 

 raceme had from twenty-five to forty flowers. From my practice with 

 this plant, as well as with tiie magnificent F. corymbiflora. I am con- 

 fident that the standard mode of growing them is the best, not only to 

 make them look iiandsome-formed plants, but to bloom them in due per- 

 fection. With the above attention, I am assured these noble species, 

 Avith their varieties, will stand pre-eminent objects, both in the green- 

 house and conservatory, but also during the summer in the open border 

 of the flower garden, and as a central object in a bed nothing looks 

 handsomer. The plants I first bloomed in this way I retain, keeping 

 them dry in winter, and cutting in the shoots at spring, rubbing off all 

 shoots not required to form a future head for blooming. Those turned 

 out of doors in summer, are taken up at autumn, preserved in doors 

 till Februarj-^, and grown as others till May, when they are re-planted 



out again. 



THE LYCHNIS FULGENS. 



BV MARY. 



This very showy and lovely plant does not appear to be so well 

 known, or so generally cultivated, as its beauty deserves; and finding 

 no other notice of it in the Flokicui.tural Cabinet, I forward the 

 following observations on its culture, which has admirably succeeded 

 with me. 



In tiie beginning of March the seeds were sown in a light rich soil, 

 about six in each half-pint pot, and then placed in a gentle hot-betl ; 

 the seeds did not germinate quickly, and not moi'e than half came up. 

 (I think it does not seed freely, as 1 see none advertised in your various 

 lists for this year.) When the young plants were about tiiree inches 

 liigh, tiie pnts were removed into the greenhouse, and the seedlings 

 were never disturbed, as 1 have found by the experience of thepreviuos 

 year, that they were very impatient of removal. Wlien they seemed 

 to refjuire it, the soil was carefully taken out from the top of the pot, 

 and lepleni'^lied with a mixture of one-third loam, one-third peat, and 



