FIRST WEEK IN NOVEMBER 



points of their shoots several times as they grow, in order 

 to prevent premature blossoms from appearing, and to make 

 them bushy. But plants which are more than a year old are 

 apt to become untidy, and cuttings or slips of both plants 

 should be taken yearly in March from the young growths, 

 which will make excellent specimens if turned into the 

 border with the rest in June, flowering strongly the follow- 

 ing autumn. The usual plan of throwing away all the old 

 plants, however, is a mistake where plenty of cut flowers are 

 desired in winter, as a larger specimen than those which can 

 grow in a few months from cuttings will provide a quantity 

 of flowers, besides being very useful in the grouping of 

 conservatory plants of fine growth. 



A very brilliant flower is Epiphyllum truncatum, one of 

 the cactus family, which blooms in mid- winter, its singular 

 hose-in-hose blossoms being produced at the points of its 

 flat truncated leaves in great abundance. The colour of this 

 variety is a metallic-pink inclining to magenta, but, as it 

 flowers at a time when red is not too abundant in the con- 

 servatory, it is a most desirable plant. Other less common 

 varieties are in salmon-pink (E. truncatum salmoneum), 

 white, violet, &c., but they are not all so free flowering 

 as the type. E, Russellianum Gcertneri, however (a new 

 introduction of Mr. James Veitch's), is very floriferous, 

 producing larger red blossoms than those of the type at 

 every point of its broader leaves, a most desirable variety. 

 These cacti should never become quite dry, even in winter. 



Cyclamen persicum, which flowers from November till 

 April, should be grown in abundance from seed, as it is a 

 valuable addition to our winter blossoms, and can scarcely 

 be overdone in our greenhouses, besides being a charming 

 window plant and useful for cutting. Seed should be sown 

 in the spring, and again in October, to ensure a succession 

 of flowers throughout many months, placing each seed 

 (which should be of a first-rate strain) 2 inches from the 

 next in a shallow, well-drained box of light soil, leaf-mould, 

 sand, and charcoal dust. The seeds, which are rather large, 

 should be only just covered, and the soil must be kept 



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