216 VILLA GARDENING pap.t ii 



are grand things in winter. After the growth is completed 

 and the foliage begins to change colour, water should be gradually 

 withheld till the leaves f\ill away, then they may remain compara- 

 tively dry till the new growth breaks up again. During the rest- 

 ing period the bulbs may all be grouped together in a dark corner, 

 but not out of sight, nor forgotten or neglected. As soon as a 

 movement is observed they must be repotted, if needful, and 

 placed in a light position near the glass. Turfy loam, enriched 

 with old manure and made fairly porous with sand, will suit 

 them. Another bulbous plant that is now much cultivated is 

 the Eucharis amazonica ; but this being an evergreen, the drying 

 process shoidd not be carried too far, as the foliage must not be 

 allowed to suffer. Of course any one can flower this plant now by 

 a system of judicious checks, such as partial dryness, or by moving 

 to a lower temperature for a few weeks. When it was first intro- 

 duced, however, there was some difficulty in getting it to flower, 

 and I remember I induced the first lot of full-grown bidbs to 

 flower by shaking them out and repotting ; but the resting plan is 

 the better one. Two or three crops of flowers may be had in a 

 season by this means from the same bulbs, when they are full 

 grown in size. They also succeed well planted out in a narrow 

 shallow border anyAvhere in the stove or a warm house. I have 

 seen them succeed well on a narrow bed made up with boards near 

 the hot-water pipes. In fact they will do very well wherever the 

 warmth and moistiu-e are well under control. The Imantophylhuns 

 are showy and valuable plants that will succeed well under a system 

 of forcing and resting, but, being evergreen, the rest will include 

 only partial dryness, accompanied by cool treatment. Begonias are 

 useful winter bloomers for a cool stove, and when in flower may be 

 moved to the conservatory. Plumbago rosea, a dwarf species easily 

 propagated from cuttings in spring, is valuable from its distinct 

 shade of colour. Thyrsacanthus rutilans, Centropogon Lucyanum, 

 Conoclinium ianthimum, Pentas carnea, Eranthemum pulchellum, 

 Franciscea calycina major, and others, are very shoAvy, and when 

 the wood of the latter is well ripened they flower freely. They 

 should be moved into a greenhouse near the glass to ripen the 

 wood in summer, and in warm seasons I have turned them out with 

 the greenhouse plants in the open air. Plants so treated never 

 fail to be covered with blossoms within a short time after being 

 placed in heat again. 



Epiphyllums in various colours grafted on the Pereskia stock, 

 standard high, are very eS"ective in Avinter. After the growth is 

 completed in spring, let them pass the summer in the greenhouse, 

 then a short time before flowers are wanted move a few at a time 



