EXTEAORDINAET SPECIMEN OE DIELYTBA SPECTABILTS. 187 



high. During that, and the following season, it nourished wonderfully, but this 

 year it reached a size and form surpassing anything of the kind yet seen. In the 

 middle of August it became necessary to cut it down on account of its enormous 

 size, to prevent it from destroying some neighbouring roses ; and it then measured 

 upwards of thirty feet in circumference, and five feet in height ! Between April 

 and August, it frequently bore upwards of two hundred perfect spikes of flowers at 

 once ; and it had not a single stem or branch broken by the wind, although in a 

 very bleak and exposed situation. This luxuriance is attributed to its being 

 planted in soil of the richest kind. In the same garden, there are also extraordinary 

 specimens of the Myoporum tenuifolium, the two sorts of Vinca, and of the new 

 Cantua dependent, said to be of a size far beyond anything yet attained in our best 

 managed greenhouses. 



It would be difficult to exaggerate the value of the Dielytra, which is assuredly 

 one of the most valuable hardy plants ever introduced ; but we think there must be 

 some error in the size attributed to the above mentioned specimen — a diameter of 

 ten feet for a single plant seems hardly credible, even in these days of progress. 

 We can but wish it may be true ; for what has been once done may be repeated, 

 and, at all events, this much is certain, that a group of four or five specimens would 

 make a highly attractive object. 



"We find the Dielytra to be of very easy increase by cuttings ; not only may the 

 terminal and side shoots be taken off and struck, but every joint of the stem will 

 make a plant, provided it be furnished with a leaf and axillary bud. They root 

 readily without bottom heat, under a tumbler or bell-glass, at almost any season of 

 the year. It is necessary, however, to plant them in very sandy soil, well drained, 

 and also to wipe the interior of the glass each morning, or they are liable to 

 damp off. 



"We observe that a suggestion has been made in the pages of a contemporary 

 with regard to the cross-impregnation of the plant with the D. eximia. We would, 

 however, hint that far more striking results would be obtained by hybridizing it 

 with the pollen of some of the yellow species of Corydalis, to which genus it is 

 nearly related. All the Dielytras have pink flowers, and spectabilis being by far the 

 finest species, we do not think any great improvement would be obtained by 

 intermingling the inferior one with it. The flowers of most of the Corydalis are 

 small ; but their yellow tint offers a chance of some great variation in colour, 

 supposing that the two genera will hybridize. When the flowering season for 

 these plants arrives, we will make a suggestion as to the mode in which the 

 operation should be performed. 



i:\ii of vol, i. 



