534 GAKDEN PLANTS. PART II. 



tubers begin to start, about March, put them in the soil an 

 inch deep, not more than three at the most in each pan. After 

 they have appeared above ground, water them constantly, or 

 they will be liable to die down again. They remain in blossom 

 more or less from June to October. In November cease to 

 water them, and allow them to die down. They may then be 

 left in their pots just as they are, and put away in some dry 

 place till the time comes round again in March to repot them. 

 Or the tubers may be taken up ; but when this is done great 

 caution must be used, and the soil be watered some hours 

 beforehand to render it as loose as possible, as the tubers, from 

 their scaly nature, are very brittle, and easily damaged. The 

 several kinds may then be put away separately in jars or pots 

 of sand till the season to repot them. 



An interesting method of growing Achimenes is to put a 

 tuber in a handful of leaf-mould, and bind moss round it with 

 string, so as to form a ball of the size of a Pumelo. Lay it 

 upon a flat earthen pan, with holes for drainage. Suspend the 

 pan in the verandah, and keep the moss constantly damp. The 

 Achimenes will thrust itself through the moss, and thrive and 

 blossom, and form a very pretty ornament. I have grown 

 A. longiflora and A. alba in this way. 



Mr. Grote had in his garden at Alipore a small circular bed, 

 under the shade of a tree, in the open ground, planted with 

 Achimenes, which, he told me, throve and flowered well there. 

 The bed had a good foundation of kunkur for drainage. And Mr. 

 S. Jennings at Allahabad says : " I know of nothing that equals 

 Achimenes for the open border during the Bains." 



None of the varieties appear to bear having their shoots 

 shortened ; and if much damaged in this way by the wind or 

 any other cause, they do not recover themselves so as to thrive 

 so well afterwards. The tops of the shoots, planted in sand, and 

 well-watered, soon form vigorous young plants. I have tried to 

 strike other portions of the shoots ; but not found any success- 

 ful, except cuttings with a single joint. This kind of cutting, 

 with about an inch of stem left below the joint, so as to serve as 

 a peg to secure it in its place, is let into the soil, so that the 

 joint with its contiguous pair of eyes and leaves is half buried. 

 This will soon form a rooted plant. A sprig also put into a 

 phial of water soon forms roots. Except, however, in case of 



