232 GREEN-IIOUSE REPOTTING. \_Marcll. 



foliage ; very rugty underneath ; they grow ahnost too freely. 

 (Soil No. 11.) 



Filchsia, or Ladies' Ear-drop. There is an endless va- 

 riety of this lovely genus of deciduous small shrubs now 

 cultivated, but there are only a few to surpass the common 

 and celebrated Cdccinea: true, many have been, and are, 

 represented as far surpassing it, but when brought to the 

 test, they are, in some particular, found wanting. How- 

 ever, among the many, F. Caroline, F. Exomensis, F. Gigan- 

 iea, F. Robustay and F. Coccinea rosea. These are very 

 superb varieties; some of the flowers are two and a half 

 inches long and two inches in diameter. The following are 

 light-colored varieties, indeed nearly white, with a purple 

 or pink centre, forming a beautiful contrast with the deep 

 crimson and purple sorts; F. Napoleon, F. One in the Ring, 

 F. Magnificent, F. Acantha, F. delicata, F. Snoio-droj), and 

 F. flavescens. To grow these in perfection, they require to be 

 very frequently shifted, as they advance in growth till you 

 have them in pots ten inches wide. Just now, I have plants 

 only six months from the cutting that are four feet high 

 and sixteen feet in circumference, loaded with thousands 

 of flowers, and are the admiration of every beholder. They 

 require liberal supplies of water. F. fiUgens is a distinct 

 species; the foliage is very different from any other sort; 

 leaves of a well-grown plant are four inches wide and five 

 inches and a half long : the flowers are from two inches and 

 a half to three inches long, of a pink and scarlet color, and 

 the plant is nearly tuberous. We would recommend our 

 readers to grow them from seeds when obtained : it is well 

 known they will produce variety, and it is even supposed by 

 some that the seeds of F coccinea have produced by hy- 

 bridizing nearly all the varieties of the present day, which 

 exceed one hundred : most of the flowers are a bright scarlet, 

 the stamens arc encircled with a petal of bright purple, and 

 are of very curious construction ; they bear a dark purple 

 berry, and are of the easiest cultivation ; but during summer 

 the pots must be carefully kept from the sun, although the 

 plants will not be aff"ected by it. If the plants are young 

 and growing freely, we find that a deluge of rain, and after- 

 wards a hot day, is their instant death. Some of them do 

 tolerably well when planted in the flower garden early in 

 May. (Soil No. 10.) 



