HOT-HOUSE OF REPOTTING, ETC. 16# 



Perhaps if it were kept dry during its dormant season, which 

 is from November to January, and when growing greatly 

 encouraged, it might produce flowers. E. specidsa is a splen- 

 did flower, leaves large, ternated, and prickly beneath ; stem 

 prickly. E. pnbescens is valued for its large, peculiar brown 

 pubescent leaves. E. princ.eps is quite a new species, and is 

 represented as being the finest of all the Erythrinas, and 

 exhibits its rioh crimson flowers in great profusion; to make 

 t'lern grow well and bloom freely, they require plenty of pot- 

 room ; indeed, while in a growing state, they should be re- 

 potted every month. In regard to E. herbdcea, which is a 

 native of the Carolinas, and frequently trea'ed as a hot-house 

 plant, it is our opinion that it would be moi*; perfectly grown 

 if planted about the first of the month in the garden ; and, 

 when growing, if well supplied with water, it would flower 

 from July to September. About the first of November lift 

 the roots and preserve them in half dry earth. E. lanrifblta 

 and E cristagdlli are likewise often treated as hot-house 

 plants, and in such situations they cast prematurely their first 

 flowers by the confined state of the air. They will keep in 

 perfect preservation during winter in a dry cellar, half covered 

 with earth, or entirely covered with half dry earth ; conse- 

 quently, the best and easiest method of treatment is to plant 

 them in the garden about the first of May, and, when grow- 

 ing, if the ground becomes dry, give them frequent waterings. 

 They will flower profusely three or four times in the course of 

 the summer. 



We freely recommend the last species to all our patrons, 

 confident that it will give ample satisfaction, both in profusion 

 of flower and beauty of colour. The soil they are to be 

 planted into should be rich and well pulverized ; or, if they 

 are kept'in pots, they must be enlarged three or four times, 

 when they are in a growing state, to make them flower per- 

 fectly; otherwise they will be diminutive. (Soil No 13.) 



Ficus, Fig-tree, a genus containing about fifty hot-house 

 species, besides several that belong to the green-house : greatly 

 admired for the beauty of their foliage. A few of them are 

 deciduous, and all of the easiest culture. We have seen plants 

 of F. eldstica hung in the back of the hot-house, without the 

 smallest particle of earth, their only support being sprinklings 

 of water every day. F. brdssi and F. macrophylla are the 

 finest-lcokiug species that have come under our observation ; 



