io6 Notes and Gleanings. 



To make them flower at Christmas, which is very early, they should be plunged 

 in a hot-bed of 60° or 65° in October, and be gradually withdrawn from it by the 

 end of the month. This will make the roots active. The plants should then be 

 placed in a house having a temperature of 50° from fire-heat ; and in a fortnight 

 increase the heat to 55° at night, allowing a rise of 5° on dull days, 10° on those 

 which are cloudy with clear intervals, and from 15° to 20° on clear days. In 

 these temperatures, with a moist atmosphere, gentle bedewing overhead, suffi- 

 cient but not excessive waterings at the root, plenty of light, and abundance of 

 air on favorable opportunities, your plants will flower by or soon after Christmas ; 

 but the bloom will not be nearly so good as on plants started at a later period. 

 If the plants are in small pots, and require potting, do it immediately after flow- 

 ering, using a compost of turfy loam two-thirds, leaf-mould one-third, and a free 

 admixture of sand. Provide good drainage. 



.^SCHYNANTHUS SPLENDENS CULTURE. — It requires a compost of very 

 fibrous brown peat two-thirds, and one-third very turfy loam broken with the 

 hand ; to this add one-sixth each of charcoal, broken from the size of a pea up 

 to that of a hazel-nut, and silver sand, and thoroughly incorporate. Good drain- 

 age is essential, not less than one-fourth the depth of the pot. The plant should 

 be trained as a bush, putting in stakes two or three feet in height; and, after the 

 shoots reach that height, allow them to hang loose. Shoots will be produced 

 plentifully from the bottom, and these must be staked ; for the plant, so far from 

 being a climber, is of pendent habit, looking extremely well as a basket-plant. 

 Do not stop the shoots, nor cut away any of the old wood, except where dead ; 

 but, when the shoots reach the tops of the stakes, allow them to hang loosely as 

 already stated. In spring, encourage growth by an increase of temperature, and 

 a constantly moist atmosphere, being careful not to over-water, and yet afford a 

 plentiful supply whilst the plants are making new growths : but, after the growths 

 are made, keep rather dry at the root, and expose to light and air ; for on the 

 well ripening of the wood depends the flowering. In winter, the plant should be 

 kept dry at the root, and have a dry atmosphere. A temperature of 50° in 

 winter is ample, the soil and atmosphere being dry ; and, when growing, a tem- 

 perature of from 65° to 70° by night, and 85° to 90° by day with sun, is desira- 

 ble. It blooms from the points of the shoots and the axils of the leaves at the 

 upper part of the shoots. 



Cutting in Orange-Trees. — Orange-trees may safely be cut in to the old 

 wood ; but it is by far the safer plan to thin out the old wood, leaving the best 

 situated of the young fresh growths of preceding years. From the thinning out 

 of the old wood, more light and air will be admitted, and those left will grow the 

 more vigorously for it. By placing them in a vinery at work after cutting in, or 

 in a house having a temperature of 55° at night, and which is kept moist, they 

 would push more surely and freely. Keep them in the same house until the 

 growths have been made, when a lighter and more airy structure will be prefer- 

 able. If you cut them in to the old wood, plunging the pots in a hot-bed of 70° 

 would help the trees to break : withdraw them from the bed by degrees after 



