ER Y 



213 



ERY 



hardy evergreen creepers. Division. 

 Sandy peat. 



ERYNGIUM. Thirty-four species. 

 Chiefly hardy herbaceous. Division or 

 seed. Common soil. 



ERYTHRyEA. Eleven species. 

 Chiefly hardy annuals. Seed or divi- 



brick rubbish at least six inches thick ; 

 over that lay some small sticks, leaves, 

 or moss, to prevent the soil from get- 

 ting into the drainage, and in filling up, 

 raise the bed six inches above the level 

 of the surrounding soil — with a compost 

 consisting of rich turfy loam, leaf- 



sion accordingly, as they are annuals or mould, and turfy peat, in the proportion 



perennials. Loam 



of two parts of the former to one of 



ERYTHRINA. Thirty-five species, each of thclatter ; to which sandstone 

 Chiefly stove evergreen shrubs and or porous bricks, broken to the size of 

 trees. Cuttings. Loam, peat, and large eggs, may be added to the extent 



leaf-mould, in equal proportions 



of one-eighth of the whole mass. This 



E. crista- gain. Coral Tree. Is one ' mixture will never become solid, on 

 of the most beautiful of this genus, and j the contrary, it will always be perme- 

 ils cultivation in the open air is thus ' able to both air and moisture, without 

 detailed by that excellent gardener, | any risk of becoming saturated with the 



Mr. W. P. Ayres :— 



I latter. The plants in the first season 



"Cuttings of the young wood, taken may be planted eighteen inches apart; 

 off with a heel when about three inches but in the third year half of them may 

 long, and planted round the edge of a be taken out to form a new plantation, 

 large pot, or singly in small ones, in j and in the fifth or sixth year each plant 

 sandy peat, and plunged in a brisk [ when in flower will acquire an area of 

 bottom heat, will root in the course of sixteen or twenty square feet. When 

 a few weeks. This is suitable for those large specimens for immediate effect 

 puttings which are taken from plants in are desired, four or five may be placed 

 neat, but cuttings from the open air in juxtaposition. 



will not bear such treatment. The j " The best time to plant them out 

 transition to a close warm frame ap- | will be from the last week in May to 

 pears too much for them, and they the middle of June, as the ground will 

 become paralyzed ; but if after being then be a little warm, and the plants 

 planted they are placed in a moderately j will sustain no check. 

 warm frame until the cuttings are cica- " Towards the end of October the 

 trized, and then removed to a brisk j plants should be cut down, and the 



bottom heat, they will root with great 

 freedom. 



crown of each covered with a box, or 

 flower-pot, filled with dry leaves, the 



"After the cuttings are rooted, they whole being spread over with dry peat, 

 must be repotted into rich light com- leaf-mould, or saw-dust, to the depth of 

 post, and encouraged to make robust , a foot, and then turfed over neatly, 

 growth. As it is indispensable that the The latter will be found advantageous, 

 plants should become strong before { especially if the sides of the bed have a 

 they are planted out, they must have at ; sharpish inclination, as it will throw off 

 least one season's cultivation in pots; j much of the rain that would otherwise 

 the flower-buds must also be removed soak into the mould, and impair its 

 as soon as they are perceptible, so that | protecting properties 



the whole organizable matter may be 

 concentrated in the young plant 



' In spring, when the covering is 

 removed, the surface of the bed should 



' In the spring of the second season, be renewed to the depth of the roots 



the ground may be prepared for the 

 reception of the plants, and as the i)re- 

 servation in winter of the roots of all 

 tender plants depends as much upon 

 the dryness as upon the warmth of the 

 soil, it will be advisable to give them 

 an elevated but not an exposed situa- 

 tion ; and where the subsoil is not 

 porous, make it so artificially. There- 

 fore, where it is necessary, excavate 

 the natural soil to the depth of two 

 feet, and in the bottom place a layer of 



with the above compost, the whole 

 being afterwards covered two inches 

 thick with sandy peat or leaf mould. 

 This covering should be continued until 

 the middle of June, or later if the 

 weather requires it. Water during the 

 growing season may be freely adminis- 

 tered in dry weather, and if liquic^ 

 manure is occasionally given it will add' 

 to the strength of the plants; hut after 

 they are in bloom the less water that 

 falls on the bed the better it will be for 



