Notes and Gleanings. 305 



ground in May, or plants may.be grown in pots in the greenhouse : for a single 

 plant, a nine-inch pot answers well. The height is dependent on the treatment. 

 — English Joicrnal of Horticulture. 



Gloxinia, Gesnera, and Achimenes Culture. — All thrive well in a 

 compost of turfy loam, peat, and leaf-mould, in equal parts ; adding sand if the 

 soil require it. It should be sandy. The size of pot for the gloxinias will de- 

 pend upon the size of the tubers. Those two, three, or more years old, should, 

 in the first instance, have pots twice their diameter ; and when they have grown 

 a few inches high, and filled the pot with roots, shift into pots three inches more 

 in diameter. The gesneras, if of the tuberous-rooted kinds, as G. pu7'purea 

 viacrant/ia, require the same sized pots as gloxinias ; but if of the scaly-rooted 

 kinds, as G. zebritia spleiidcns, they should have pots in proportion to the num- 

 ber of roots put into each. A seven-inch pot may have five tubers, and a twelve- 

 inch pot twelve roots. For achimenes, pots are not so good as pans eight inches 

 deep, and one foot to one foot six inches wide. The tubers may be placed in 

 these at an inch apart. All require the temperature of a stove, — from 60° to 65° 

 by night, and from -joP to 85^ by day ; or they may be started in a hotbed, and, 

 when a few inches high, removed to a vinery at work. 



Propagating Cupressus Lawsoniana from Cuttings. — The best time 

 to put in cuttings is towards the end of summer, or when the growths are com- 

 plete. The young shoots of the current year should be selected, taking them 

 off quite close to the old wood. They should be inserted in pots or pans in 

 silver sand ; the base of the cutting resting about half an inch above a layer of 

 loam at the bottom, over the drainage. The pots should be placed in a warm 

 greenhouse or propagating-house, or set in a frame with a mild bottom-heat ; 

 and should be covered with a bell or hand glass. The sand must be kept moist. 

 Though plants will grow from cuttings, they are not equal to those raised from 

 seed. 



This method may also be successfully employed for propagating Sequoia gi- 

 gantea and many other evergreens. 



Pleroma sarmentosa. — This very beautiful species was discovered by 

 Humboldt and Bonpland in the cool valleys of Peru. It appears to be not un- 

 common, having since been repeatedly found ; and is known to the natives as 

 Flore de Gallinaso. The plant is well adapted to greenhouse culture, and is 

 one of our most valuable recent introductions. The flowers are very large, freely 

 produced, of a royal-purple color ; leaves ovate-oblong, dark green. 



Figured in Curtis's " Botanical Magazine," tab. 5,629. 



Sarcanthus erinaceus. — A lovely but very rare orchid, native of Moul- 

 meyne. The leaves are a dark glaucous-green ; the flowers delicate rosy-white, 

 with pink lip, in long, pendant spikes, from rough, shaggy stems. It is of very 

 slow growth, but flowers freely during the summer, requiring the usual treatment 

 of Indian orchids. 



Figured in Curtis's " Botanical Magazine," tab. 5,630. 



VOL. I. 3, 



