THE ELOEAL WOELD AND GAEDEN GUIDE. 361 



HEXACENTRIS MTSOEEN"SIS. 



fHIS is certainly a very beautiful plant, and its value for 

 decorative purposes is very much enhanced by its lone 

 drooping racemes of singularly formed bright yellow 

 and crimson blossoms, being freely produced in the dead 

 of winter, when the best furnished collections possess 

 few if any twining plant, which for general effect can be compared 

 with this. It is, moreover, a plant of extremely easy culture, form- 

 ing a large specimen or covering a large space in a very short time, 

 and is well worth a place wherever there is a warm house for it. 

 Those who do not possess it should obtain it soon, in order that it 

 may be got into growth early in spring, so as to secure large plnnts 

 for blooming next winter. The young plants should be placed in a 

 warm part of the stove by the beginning of February, and as soon 

 as they show any indications of growth examine the roots, and if 

 these appear to want more space shift into a pot a good size larger. 

 If a mild bottom-heat can be commanded, this will assist in encou- 

 raging the production of roots. Before starting the plant into 

 growth any weakly shoot should be cut out, and the stronger ones 

 may also be shortened back to prominent eyes. Keep the plant as 

 near the glass as convenient, and the atmosphere moist, syringing 

 overhead every fine afternoon, but do not give too much water at the 

 root until it starts into free growth. If it is intended to train the 

 plant to a trellis it should be shifted into the pot in which it is 

 intended to bloom it as soon as possible, in order to be able to train 

 the shoots as they grow ; and a plant that is well rooted in a seven- 

 inch pot may be safely transferred to a fifteen-inch pot, which will 

 be large enough for any reasonable sized specimen. But as the 

 beautiful blossoms are borne on drooping racemes, these are apt to 

 find their way inside the trellis, and get partly hid by the foliage 

 if an ordinary shaped trellis is used, and except in the case of 

 those who have some particular object for growing it on a trellis, it 

 would be better to allow it to run along wires under the roof of a 

 stove, or intermediate house. Treated in this way it will be de- 

 cidedly more showy than when confined to the limits of even a large 

 trellis, and will bloom longer and more profusely. I would not, 

 however, advise that it should be planted out in a border, for it is of 

 a very free habit of growth, and probably would flower but sparingly 

 if its roots were allowed to have too much space. If a trellis is used, it 

 should be spread out at the top, somewhat in the form of an umbrella, 

 so that the flowers may hang clear of the foliage and shoots, of which 

 there will be a large mass before it will bloom freely ; and for a plant 

 in a fifteen-inch pot the trellis should not be less than four feet across ; 

 for just in proportion as the shoots can be exposed to light in autumn 

 will be the number and size of the racemes which they will produce. 

 The plant need not be kept too warm after the trellis is well 

 covered with wood, as a slight check will assist in inducing it to 

 bloom freely ; and in the case of plants traiued under the rafters in 

 the stove, they should be kept rather dry at the root, and as freely 



December. 



