The Canadian Horticulturist. 23 



THE OLEANDER. 



HE Oleander in its native habitat, and in some of the Southern States 

 where it has become acclimated, attains a height of from twenty to 

 thirty feet, but in the North it may be kept within any desired limit 

 by judiciously pruning. It is said to have been introduced in 1599 

 from Palestine where it grows along the banks of the Jordan and 

 other watercourses. It is easily propagated from cuttings, which root 

 readily in wet sand or in bottles of water set in a sunny window. When the 

 new roots are about an inch in length the cutting should be potted in rich, mel- 

 low soil, and as soon as established it should be given plenty of sunlight and 

 moisture. 



The oleander delights in a rich, mellow soil ; black dirt from the shore of 

 pond or the edge of a swamp, made mellow by the addition of sand and well 

 rotted stable manure, seems to meet its requirements. It is a moisture-loving 

 plant and should have an abundance of water, especially during the blooming 

 season, but the drainage must be good so that there may be no stagnant water 

 about the roots. It is a rank feeder, and when growing well should be supplied 

 with some liquid fertilizer as often as once each week. Diluted leachings from 

 barnyard manure make a desirable fertilizer for it ; so, also, does soot tea, pre- 

 pared by putting wood soot into a thin bag and pouring scalding water upon it. 

 Use when cold and about the color of tea. As a special fertilizer small bits of 

 fresh fish buried in the soil about the roots will be found satisfactory. Repot 

 the plant or change the soil at least each year. Treated in this way and given 

 plenty of sunlight a plant should be in bloom in about nine months from the cut- 

 ting and may, perhaps, show mnch finer bloom than the plant from which it was 

 taken, not only at the first blooming season but subsequently. It may be finer, 

 not only in size, but in form and color as well. One cutting taken from a plant 

 that bore small pale semi-double flowers, bloomed at nine months' old, 

 producing large clusters of very double flowers, each four and one-half inches in 

 diameter, and of a deep rich pink in color. 



The oleander is almost a perpetual bloomer if well treated, but nearly all 

 prefer to give it a season of rest during the winter, which produces a greater pro- 

 fusion of bloom in the spring. It will bloom again in the autumn. It is rarely 

 troubled by the insect pests that prey upon other house plants. The leaves 

 should be washed or sprayed occasionally to keep them free from dust. It 

 grows rapidly and is usually of a symmetrical form. 



When too large for further use as a house plant turn it out of the tub or pot 

 in the spring and set in rich, mellow soil in the open ground, as soon as all danger 

 of frost is over. Give a daily and abundant supply of water and it will give a 

 magnificent display of bloom all the season. In autumn, before frost, lift it 



