3o6 Notes and Gleanings. 



Tacsonia Van-Volxemi Treatment. — This plant should be put to rest 

 in autumn, and kept dry at the root during the winter. About the middle of 

 February, it should be pruned, and may be repotted, removing most of the old 

 soil, and have a less-sized pot. A compost of two-thirds light turfy loam, and 

 one-third leaf-mould, with a free admixture of silver sand, will grow it well, free 

 drainage being provided. The pot should be placed in a gentle hotbed, the soil 

 being kept only just moist until growth fairly commences, when the watering 

 should be more plentiful. When the pot becomes filled with roots, the plants 

 should have a shift into the pot in which it is to bloom, and be again plunged in 

 the hotbed until it recovers from the potting, when it may be gradually with- 

 drawn from the bed. The atmosphere should be moist, and the roots must not 

 suffer from want of water ; but a saturated soil is bad. The shoots should be 

 regulated upon the wire frequently, and must not be too much crowded. It can- 

 not have too much light, and free ventilation is essential. It does admirably in 

 a warm greenhouse. 



Wintering Scarlet Pelargoniums. — Any time in autumn, before the 

 plants are injured by frost, take up the old plants, shake away all the soil, and 

 place them in an open shed for a few days ; then pick off all the foliage, and, 

 after allowing them to lie a few days thinly spread on a dry floor, tie them two 

 or three together according to their size, and hang them up in any dry place 

 where fire is not employed, but from which frost is excluded. A cellar is a very 

 good place. Another very good plan is to take up the plants as described, and 

 when the stems are dried a little, and all the leaves removed, to pack the plants 

 closely together in shallow boxes no deeper than to hold sufficient dry sand to 

 cover the roots. They may be kept over the winter in any cool, dry place from 

 which frost is excluded ; but the cooler the better : or pack them close in boxes, 

 using sand or any description of poor light soil for covering the roots, and keep 

 the plants in any part of the greenhouse ; all they require being the removal of 

 the old leaves and stems as they decay. 



Orchids for Greenhouse. — Three good orchids for a greenhouse are 

 Lycaste Skinneri, Lcelia pztrpicrata, and Detidrobium speciosum. Three cheaper 

 are Cypripediuj/t vctiustum, Bletia verecunda, and Oncidhim fiexiiostim. Half 

 fill all the pots with broken pots or crocks, and upon that place a mixture of 

 chopped sphagnum or moss, fibrous peat, and pieces of charcoal, in equal parts, 

 adding a little silver sand. Press the compost firmly, and raise it in the form 

 of a cone above the rim of the pot. Place the plant on the top, and cover the 

 roots, but no part of the stems or pseudo-bulbs, with the compost. A suitable 

 temperature for the greenhouse, from November to April, is forty degrees at 

 night from fire-heat, and from forty-five to fifty degrees by day ; air being given 

 freely on all favorable occasions. The temperatures will, of course, vary much, 

 and considerably exceed those named during mild weather, and especially on 

 sunny days. The temperatures named are for dull days, and during frosty pe- 

 riods ; being the maximum and minimum from fire-heat. 



