Commercial Gardening 



become popular as a winter -berried plant. It makes a compact bushy 

 plant in 5-in. and 6-in. pots, and grows freely in sandy loam and leaf 

 mould in a stove or warm greenhouse. The most attractive feature 

 consists in the bright scarlet berries, which are about the size of Haw- 

 thorn fruits and remind one very much of them. The plants are 

 readily increased either from seeds sown when ripe in rich gritty soil, and 

 in a temperature of about 70 F., or from cuttings of the half -ripened 

 shoots. There is a white-berried variety called alba. 



Aristolochia elegans. A handsome climber with creamy-white flowers 

 heavily blotched with purple. It grows freely in a warm -greenhouse and 

 is almost hardy in the mildest parts. Raised from seeds or cuttings. 

 There are many other kinds, the best known being Goldieana, with very 

 large flowers yellow inside blotched with chocolate brown; Sturtevanti 

 has large creamy -white and brown flowers; ornithocephala has yellow 

 and brown flowers, and ridicula is a curious plant with purple- brown 

 ear-like lobes veined with white. The "Dutchman's Pipe" is a hardy 

 species with large soft green leaves and small greenish flowers. It grows 

 to a great length, and flourishes in ordinary good soil. 



Arum Lilies OP Callas. Under these names Richardia cetJiiopica or 

 R. africana is best known to the trade. It is a tuberous-rooted plant, 

 2-3 ft. high, with large green broadly arrow-shaped leaves, and is highly 

 esteemed as a market plant on account of its large pure-white bell-shaped 

 spathes, popularly known as "flowers". Arum Lilies are chiefly remunera- 

 tive at Christmas and Easter time when they are in much request. To 

 have the plants in flower for Christmas, the rootstocks should be potted 

 up afresh in July or August. They may be left in the open air till 

 September, when it becomes advisable to place them under glass. A tem- 

 perature of 55 F. by night and 60 F. by day will suit the plants until 

 about the middle of November. The temperature should be regular and 

 not fluctuating too much by day and night, as nothing interferes with 

 the development of the spathes so much as an irregular temperature at 

 this period. From the middle of November onwards the temperature 

 may be raised to about 70 F. by night and 75 F. by day, and the plants 

 may be kept clean by occasional syringings with tepid water. In the 

 event of aphides appearing a quassia and nicotine solution may be used 

 for syringing, or the houses may be fumigated or vaporized. 



A rich gritty loam with a little leaf mould or well-rotted manure suits 

 Arum Lilies well. The pots should not be too large 5 in. or 6 in. being 

 the sizes most favoured. Stock is readily increased when repotting by 

 detaching all offsets and potting up separately into pots according to size. 

 When flowering is over, the plants may be moved to cooler quarters, and 

 when all danger from frost is over in spring they may be placed out-of- 

 doors in warm sunny spots to rest. Many growers plant them out of the 

 pots in the open ground during the summer; others leave them in the pots, 

 and excellent results are produced by both methods. In the mildest parts 

 of the kingdom, such as Cornwall, the Scilly Islands, and the south and 



