m 



CULTIVATIOX AND AXALYSIS OF PLANTS. 



absorbed from the brine. A few holes bored in the bottom would let out all the surplus 

 water, and a coat of stone color, drab or white paint would make its exterior presentable. 

 No one growing the Heliotrope only in small pots can know the pleasure of growing it 

 as a large bush, and pruning it when too rampant. In summer a plant so grown could be 

 placed out of doors to adorn the yard or lawn. The soil recommended is three parts loam, 

 and one part each of leaf-mold, sand and inaiunc. If kept constantly growing it blooms 

 the whole \ear, its wood becoming quite hard and shrubby. Arrived at this condition, it 

 can be kept for many years in a productive state, by an annual top-dressing, and liberal 

 weekly supplies of liquid manure. It has been known to live for twenty }-ears undisturbed 

 in a sunny corner of a conservatory; it requires warmth in winter, as it cannot stand any 

 frost. The pale varieties develop a larger growth of flowers and are more fragrant than 

 the dark ones. A good way to propagate Heliotropes is to take two-inch cuttings of new 

 shoots, pinching off the bottom leaf, when the slips are inserted in pans of sand and water, 

 and kept abundantly moistened until they show new rootlets or begin to grow. This 

 process is most successfully carried out in summer, or in a temperature of at least seventy 

 degrees; if the heat rise above eighty or fall below fifty the slips will usually fail to strike 

 root. 



^l 



Hin rscus. 



'' _^r^ \DER this name are included many lovely species of the Mallow 

 •t tamih , and all of them are general favorites with both amateur 

 N -*, uid piotessional culturists, for house or garden purposes. Their pop- 

 ; ulaiit\ is not of yesterday, but dates far back into the olden times, 

 1 lint; know 11 to Pliny (who recommended the Hibiscus for certain medi- 

 cmil piopcitics in healing ulcers), and bids fair to survive throughout all 

 tiniL \piit tiom all useful qualities, medicinal or other, it commends 

 itstlt toi the laige, lose-like and very showy flowers, sometimes four or five 

 inches in diametei, Avhich it produces in rather compact clusters on slender and 

 graceful stems. The beautiful, brilliant red of the flowers make the plant con- 

 spicuous at a considerable distance, and cannot fail to attract the attention of 

 the most casual beholder. The leaves, which are large, long and somewhat 

 egg-shaped, but sharp-pointed, are always pretty, more especially the variegated kinds, as 

 they hang gracefully drooping around the upright stems. It is familiarly called the Rose 

 of China, but is reall\- indigenous in several other countries, including the United States. 

 Easy of cultivation, it can be kept in good shape by pinching, and its more compact 

 growth will remunerate the cultivator. A soil composed of equal parts of leaf-mold, 

 loam and manure is the best adapted for it; and, like the Abutilon, being a gross feeder, 

 it should receive during the growing season an abundant supply of water and liquid 

 manure. It is mainly propagated from cuttings of the young shoots, and but rarely from 

 seeds. In the summer months it should be plunged, with or without its pot, in some spare 

 bed or border, to take the necessary rest; though it can be made to grow and bloom all 

 the year round by an extra allowance of stimulating liquid manure and free watering. 



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