THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 203 



size it may be desirable to have them by the flowering season. 

 They should be returned to their former situations, kept close and 

 moist, and encouraged to make active growth, merely giving suffi- 

 cient air to keep the young wood strong. "When the pots get well 

 filled with roots, and the plants become good-sized specimens, which 

 will be the case by August, they should be gradually prepared for 

 removal to a sheltered situation out of doors, where they will be 

 shaded from the forenoon sun. Here they will make short stocky 

 growth, and will flower more profusely than if kept under glass all 

 the autumn ; but they must not be rashly exposed to the sun, to dry 

 and discolour the foliage. As to stopping, this should not be 

 practised on plants intended to flower in November later than about 

 the middle of August, and all the strong shoots should be stopped, 

 otherwise the specimens will flower irregularly. If it should be 

 desired, however, to retard the blooming of a portion of the plants, 

 they may be stopped as late as October ; but in this case it will be 

 necessary to afford them a close place under glass until they make 

 flowering wood. As soon as the weather becomes unsettled in 

 autumn, the plants must be placed under glass, for they are very 

 easily injured by frost, and should be afforded a light airy situation. 

 But if it should be desirable to have them in flower at once, they 

 may be kept close and moist, and in this case they will soon be 

 covered with their spikes of brilliant scarlet. If afforded a situation 

 free from damp, and near the glass, with a temperature of about 

 45°, they will remain long in full beauty ; but large potbound 

 specimens should be liberally supplied with manure water. 



After flowering, the specimens may be thrown to the rubbish 

 heap, reserving one or two to supply cuttings. These should be 

 kept dry at the roots for a fortnight ; then cut back rather closely, 

 and placed in any spare corner of the greenhouse until towards the 

 end of February, when they should be placed in a warm house, 

 and thoroughly watered, when they will soon furnish a supply of 

 cuttings. 



AOTUS GEACILLIMA. 



jHIS slender-growing, graceful-looking plant is well 

 worthy of more attention than it generally receives, for 

 when well grown it is very ornamental. It is readily 

 propagated by means of cuttings of strong, short-jointed, 

 young shoots, which root very freely, if selected when 

 about half ripe. But the propagation of such plants as this had 

 better be left to those who have proper convenience for doing it well, 

 for amateurs generally fail in producing good young plants ; and 

 leggy, ill-propagated examples of any of the species of this genus 

 are not worth house-room. Beginners procuring young plants from 

 the nursery should bo very careful to select healthy, strong, bushy 

 ones. If obtained at once, place them in a cold frame, where they 

 can be kept cool and moist, and shaded from the mid-day sun. If 

 they appear to require more pot room, examine the state of the 



JuJy. 



