224 THE AMATEUE's GEEEIfHOUSE 



its bulk of small crocks and a few nodules of charcoal. In 

 potting the plant, first loosen the roots carefully, and spread 

 them out, and finish the potting in such a manner that the 

 base of the plant will be elevated two or three inches above 

 the rim of the pot. To do this it may be necessary to remove 

 some of the soil from the pot first, but it is impossible to give 

 directions for every particular. In any case the soil should be 

 pressed about the roots moderately firm, and a coat of the finer 

 part of the soil should be spead over the top for a finish. 



If a very nice mellow loam is not obtainable, peat and 

 sphagnum may be used instead, but a bit of first-rate turfy 

 loam, of a hazel colour and " silky" to the touch, will grow a 

 finer specimen than peat. "While the plants are growing they 

 must have regular supplies of water, but in winter they must 

 be kept rather dry. 



The pitcher plants, adapted to associate with the cool 

 orchids, are those of America and Australia — Sarracenias, Dar- 

 lingtonias, and Cephalotus. We must not think of Nepen- 

 thes, which requires the heat and moisture of the stove, or it 

 becomes a plague to its sad possessor. But we have enough to 

 aftord a delightful change from the ordinary run of greenhouse 

 subjects, and these plants are as curious as they are pretty. 

 The coloured plate of Sarracenia Drummondi, published in the 

 ' Floral World' for April, 1870, will convince any one who 

 may be in doubt as to the ornamental uses of the family. As 

 regards the production of pitchers, the plants now before us 

 difier from the Indian pitcher plants in many particulars, and 

 a short account of them will, we feel assured, be considered 

 appropriate to the purpose of this work. 



It will be observed, then, that the leaves of the Sarracenias 

 are hollow cylinders, which terminate on one side in a trumpet 

 kind of lip, Uke a vessel out of which fluid is to be poured, and 

 on the other in a leafy appendage or lid. In the fully 

 developed leaf we may notice that the principal beauty of the 

 colouring is in this lid, which is sometimes of a dull purplish- 

 red, sometimes snow-white, pencilled with carmine lines, and 

 sometimes a delicate greenish-yellow. The leaf in its whole 

 length is strengthened by an angular stem, which is very 

 curiously produced ; and when this is cut through it is seen to 

 be exogenous, or an outside grower, a most surprising circum- 

 stance, botanically speaking, because, from what we are accus- 

 tomed to in the forms of the vegetable kingdom, we should, 



