TRADESCANTIA. 



503 TRAINERS AND TRELLISES. 



tomato plants is against a south wall 

 fully exposed to the sun. The plants 

 should be well watered with liquid 

 manure to keep up a rapid growth. As 

 soon as the blossom-buds appear, watering 



TOMATO, SHOWING HABIT OF PLANT. 



should cease. Stop the shoots by nipping 

 off the tops, and throw out all those 

 sprays that show little signs of fruit, 

 exposing the young fruit as much as 

 possible to the sun and air, only watering 

 to prevent a check in case of very severe 

 drought, of which the state of the plant 

 will be the best index. 



Ripening Fruit. In a very dull, wet, 

 cold autumn, even with the greatest care, 

 the fruit will sometimes not ripen as it 

 ought ; but in this case it may frequently 

 be made fit for use by cutting off the 

 branches on which full-grown fruit is 

 found, and hanging them in a warm dry 

 greenhouse or elsewhere to soften and 

 ripen : a cool oven may be used advan- 

 tageously to affect this. For varieties, of 

 which there are a great number, the reack r 

 is referred to the catalogues of the seedsmen. 



Tradescantia (not. ord. Commeli- 



na'cese). 



A genus of pretty perennial plants, some 

 of which are hardy and suitable for planting 

 out of doors, while others require the 

 shelter and warmth of a greenhouse. 

 They are mostly trailing plants suitable 

 for hanging baskets and pots, and are 

 easily propagated by cuttings or division 



of the root, the greenhouse species 

 requiring to be placed in light soil in 

 gentle heat, and the hardy species in any 

 good garden ground. The leaves are 

 sometimes striped. Tradescantia Virgi- 

 nica, otherwise known as Common Spider 

 Wort, and its varieties, may be named as 

 fitting representatives of the hardy species, 

 and T. zebrina, otherwise known as Zebrina 

 pendula, of a species with striped leaves. 



Trainers and Trellises for 

 Plants. 



These are to be purchased for a few 

 pence, when in wood and of a small size 

 for pot plants ; but when they assume the 

 form of balloon trainers, made of wire, and 

 consisting of this material disposed round 

 four hooped standards, or rather a pair of 

 standards bent in a hoop-like shape, whose 

 ends afford the means of fixing the appli- 

 ance in the earth, they are more costly. 

 Trainers of this form range from 15 inches 

 to 36 inches in height, and from 2s. 6d. to' 



TRADESCANTIA VIKGINICA. 



7s. each, according to size. Being globular 

 in form, they present a surface on and over 

 which a climbing plant, such as l^ropceolum 

 Canariense or Maurandya Banlayana, 

 may be trained so as to exhibit its leaves 

 and flowers to the best advantage. The 



