71-4 GARDEN MANAGEMENT. 



2237. The same principles will apply to giving air, &c., as in November ; 

 only, as we have generally more sun this month, more may be admitted. Care 

 must, however, be taken to prevent a cold draught cutting off the beauty of 

 any plant that may have recently come from a warmer house or forcing-pit. 

 Frequently re-an-ange the plants, and let the charm of change and freshness 

 add grace to the glow of beauty, which should distinguish this house in 

 ■winter. 



223S. Where a temperature of 45° is maintained, the various sorts of 

 Epiphyllum truncatum, so often met with in stoves in winter, will bloom well in 

 this house. There are now several varieties of this charming winter-flower' 

 ing plant, grown as dwarfs in suspended baskets, or as tall plants, umbrelkt 

 fashion, or as pyramids ; worked on the Pereskia, it is exquisitely beautiful. 

 Perhaps it flowers best in a cool stove, but it will flower for sis weeks or two 

 months in a warm conservatory. 



2239. Potted in a rough mixture of peat, leaf-mould, loam, brickbats, old 

 plaster, and charcoal, and kept in a temperature of 60°, its progress is rapid. 

 During the summer and autumn months, the plants should be fully exposed 

 to the sun in an airy house. Place them in a temperature of 55° towards the 

 middle of October, and now every leaf will terminate in one, two, or three 

 beautiful flowers. 



•2240. Stove, where the Poinsettia pulcheria is holding her levee, and 

 all other plants are falling down to worship this superbly-arrayed Queen of 



eauty. No description can convey an exaggerated or sufficiently strong idea 

 of the regal beauty of this plant. Half a dozen of them, from four to five feet 

 high, and eight shoots each, terminated by bunches of enormous' scarlet 

 bracts, set off by the peculiar shape and colour of the true leaves, is a sight 

 worth going twenty miles on any December moraing to see. Any one with a 

 plant-stove may have this treat at home, as few plants are easier propagated 

 or gi-own. They can be had in flower from October to March. Suppose they 

 flower in December, cut them down to within three eyes of the old wood in 

 the end of January. Put in as many cuttings as you requfre, in lengths of 

 from four to six inches long. They will strike in any vinery or house at work 

 ■without shading or any attention whatever, except watering. When rooted, 

 pot singly in 48-sized pots, and return to the same house, or a pit with bottom- 

 heat. If large plants are wanted, they grow best with the latter treatment. 

 When the cutting has made six inches of wood, stop it, and sometimes it 

 will break into three shoots ; and this is quite enough for one-year-old 

 plants. Flower these plants in 2i-sized pots, and if they have three good 

 branches, terminating in a whorl of scarlet nearly a foot across, you ■will, 

 or ought to be, more than satisfied. To attain plants of almost any magnitude, 

 allow the old plants to continue rather dry for six weeks after having cut them 

 do'svn ; then water and plunge in bottom-heat to break freely. Leave a dozen 

 shoots, and thin ofi" all beyond that, and insert them as cuttings if wanted, 

 to be treated as above. When these shoots are two inches long, shake 

 out the plants, and repot in pots that will junt hold the roots in a compost 



