General Notices. 463 



ence to Chinese taste,) f think much prettier than animals and " seven 

 storied pagodas," their system is as follows : — The plants are trained each 

 wiih a single stem ; this is forced to send out numerous laterals near its 

 base, and these are tied down in a neat and regular manner with strings of 

 silk thread. By having the plants clothed with branches in this way, and 

 by keeping the leaves in a green and healthy state, the specimens never 

 have that bare and broom-headed appearance which they often present in 

 England when they are taken into the greenhouse in winter. 



About Shanghae and Ningpo the Chrysanthemum is still better managed 

 than it is near Canton ; but the success which attends it may also be attrib- 

 uted, partly at least, to the more favorable nature of the climate, the 

 plant being indigenous to the central or more northern parts of the empire. 

 The system of cultivation is nearly the same ; the main points attended to 

 being those which have been noticed, namely, choosing a rich soil, planting 

 at once into large pots, training to a single stem, and inducing it to send 

 out numerous laterals, and giving liberal supplies of manure water during 

 the growing season. The Chinese are fond of having very large blooms, 

 and, in order to obtain these, they generally pick ofi all the small flower- 

 buds. 



In China, as in England, the Chrysanthemum flowers during the winter 

 months. When in bloom it is in great request among the people, and is 

 used in the decoration of court-yards, halls, and temples. It is everybody's 

 plant, and blooms alike in the garden of the lowly Chinese cottager as in 

 that of the blue-buttoned mandarin. 



Although we are indebted to China for the parents of those varieties of 

 Chrysanthemums which now enliven our gardens during the dull months of 

 winter, yet, strange to say, the progeny is more numerous in Europe than 

 in China itself. Some of those beautiful kinds raised by Mr. Salter in 

 France would be much admired even by the Chinese florist. It is a curi- 

 ous fact, however, that many of those kinds, such as formosum and luci- 

 dum, which were originally raised from seed in Europe, are also met with 

 in the north of China.— ( Gar^. Chron., 1849, p. 484.) 



Plcroma elegans. — A plant of this beautiful species being now in bloom 

 in my conservatory, I cannot refrain from recommending it to my fellow 

 horticulturists who may not possess it. It is well figured in " Paxton's 

 Magazine of Botany," for March, 1848, but it is there stated to be a stove 

 plant. This is a mistake, as it will thrive in a greenhouse, where frost is 

 excluded, being a native of an elevated part of the Organ Mountains, Bra- 

 zil. That it is capable of being cultivated as a specimen plant of extraor- 

 dinary beauty, a visit to the gardens of Messrs. Veitch, the fortunate im- 

 porters of it, will testify, for there may be seen a huge bush, which is lit- 

 erally a mass of flowers. — {Gard. Jour., 1849, p. 502.) 



Use of Charcoal in the Cultivation of Plants, and us a Drainage for Pots. 

 — I'nder the head of " On the Conditions Essential to the most perfect Cul- 

 tivation," which appeared in a late number, I fully accord with " G," that 

 " nothing will compensate for good drainage in pot cultivation ;" but it ap- 

 pears to me, from the various practical results that I have been enabled to 



