138 THE FLOltAL WOELD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



When done flowering, if very early, they must be put somewhere 

 that will afford them full sun and protection from frost ; but any that 

 bloom in April will do very well plunged in a sunny sheltered place 

 out of doors, and removed to the same quarters for summer and 

 winter as before recommended. If grown by the cottager, or where 

 there is no convenience for forcing them, they may be taken at once 

 out of the plunging material and placed in the warmest corner of a 

 south window, where the sun can play full on the outside of the pot, 

 and when they have shot up about an inch or two, a pan may be 

 placed under them with a little water in it, which should be quite 

 used up before any more is added. "When in bloom they require 

 plenty of water. 



Now all this is very simple, and some may say scarcely worth a 

 place in your columns ; and indeed, 1 believe that the only secret in 

 their management is to keep the same plants in the same pots and 

 never shake them out, never cut them down (that is, never make a 

 clean " shave " of all the top, as I have sometimes seen done to the 

 destruction of strawberries, asparagus, lilies, etc.), and always take 

 care to well mould them before winter, covering up dead tops and 

 all. If any strings remain of the last year's foliage, they can easily 

 be pulled off in spring. The specimen you lately received from me 

 had been potted at least ten years, and although there had been 

 perhaps a dozen flowers with two leaves attached cut from it every 

 year for the last seven or eight years, it has never been cut over for 

 the sake of tidiness, and never been shaken out or repotted. I 

 generally find that they bloom strongest when they have been 

 potted three or four years ; and so far from being injured by forcing 

 they absolutely grow. I should say, at least twice as large as any I 

 ever saw in the open air ; the two spikes of cut bloom that accom- 

 panied the plant I sent for your inspection were grown on the top 

 of a flue in an intermediate house, and cut from a plant in a six-iricb 

 pot, containing twenty-nine spikes of bloom. Some plants I shifted 

 into larger pots last year have bloomed very finely, but they are not 

 so ornamental as when they perfectly fill the pot to the rim. Their 

 value as a shrubbery plant need not be dilated on here, as everybody 

 bas seen them growing perfectly wild ; but some are of opinion that 

 a portion of manure strewed over them every autumn would much 

 enhance their beauty at the proper season. 



FRA.NCISCEA CONFEBTIFLORA. 



[HIS fine stove plant is not so generally cultivated as it de- 

 serves to be. Its great beads of pale blue or lilac flowers, 

 each measuring an inch and a half across, when pro- 

 duced in profusion, have a really striking effect, and 

 they last a long time in perfection. Its cultivation does 

 not differ mucb from that of other varieties ; a temperature of from 

 60° to 70° during active growth, suitable soil, water, and general 

 cleanliness, are all that is required to ensure success. 



