TROr^OLITM SPECIOSTJM. 25 



to a few square yards of 'mother earth,' or, it may be, to a few pots upon a 

 window-sill. 



The Tropmolum speciosum is a perennial plant and well adapted for cultivation in 

 the open border during the summer months ; we wish we could add, that it was 

 quite hardy, but although, unfortunately, this is not the case, there is but little 

 doubt that it will bear mild winters, such as that of 1850-51. 



The roots are not tuberous, as in the case of T. tricolor and some others, but long 

 and fleshy, like those of the bell-bine ; when planted in the open ground a border 

 by a south wall will be found the most suitable situation for it ; it flourishes most 

 in a compost of turfy loam, peat, and sand roughly mixed, but will do very well in 

 any good garden soil, where these ingredients are not easily attainable. It is not 

 advisable to plant it in a rich, manured border, as this would result in the 

 production of foliage, at the expense of the flowers. 



When the plant is grown in a pot, or preserved in one through the cold season, 

 the stems usually make their appearance about February or March, according to the 

 temperature at which it has been kept, but if allowed to remain in the borders 

 during winter, and covered with a handlight (over which a thick matting should be 

 thrown in severe weather), they will begin to grow in April, and, as long as there is 

 any danger of frost, the hand-light must be allowed to remain. In May, however, all 

 covering may be removed, and with the genial temperature common to this month, 

 the plant will make rapid progress, and speedily reach the height of five or six feet. 



As it is a climber, some provision must, of course, be made for supporting its 

 feeble stems ; and for this purpose, we know of nothing more suitable than a flat 

 trellis composed of narrow splines placed diagonally across each other, the side 

 pieces being of something rather more substantial. The lower ends of the two 

 upright pieces should be well charred, which will retard their decay when thrust 

 into the ground, and, if to this precaution, we add that of well painting the whole 

 of the trellis, it will then last for years. Instead of placing the frame in immediate 

 contact with the wall, we would advise that it be maintained at a distance of an 

 inch or so, which may be easily accomplished by interposing a spline, or portions of 

 one between the wall and the two side pieces of the trellis. The plant forms an 

 elegant object trained against a verandah, and a striking effect may be produced by 

 associating with it young plants of the annual T. aduncum (also called canariense or 

 peregrinum). The small wire globes and trellises may be employed for specimens 

 grown in pots, but they are quite unsuited to the plant when cultivated in the open 

 borders, where it attains a much larger size. 



The bright carmine-tinted flowers appear in June, and are produced in succession 

 for at least two months. The plant ripens its fruit very freely, and from the seeds 

 thus produced, it may be readily increased, as well as by dividing the roots in spring. 



From the case with which this species may be cultivated and increased, we 



