466 General Notices. 



their metallic carmine scales ; of those dwarf Wallflowers, with their 

 remarkably strange colors given them by consnnmiate skill ; but the small 

 space that is left us must be left to other horticulturists. — [Gard. Chron. 

 ]850, p. 551.) 



Ci'PHEA Platycentra. — As a bedding plant this is tlie best of all the 

 Cupheas. I may say it is second to none of any kind whatever, although 

 there may be many flowers more showy at a distance ; but upon closer 

 inspection there is none to be found more interesting, as its white-tipped 

 bright crimson tubular blossoms are very handsome. It also stands rough and 

 stormy weather much better than any of our more cherished flower garden 

 favoi-ites, and blooms well towards the latter end of the year. Its propaga- 

 tion and cultivation are very easy. Cuttings put in the first week in March, 

 in a little bottom heat, will strike freely. When struck tliey should be potted 

 off singly, and kept in a frame until April, when they should be hardened 

 off", and bedded out the latter end of May, where it will flower beautifully 

 until it is destroyed by frosts. — ( Gard. Jour., 1850, p. 664.) 



Cultivation of Specoien Plants in 8 inch Pots. — Some men think 

 that to grow a flowering plant well, it must be planted in a tub, large enough 

 to support a moderate sized tree. Others, tliat the larger the plant is, the 

 more ramified the branches, and the more numerous tire leaves, tlie nearer 

 it approaches to perfection. Than such notions notliing can be more absurd. 



Were our only object, in the cultivation of exotic flowering plants, to be 

 entirely confined to tlie magnitude of tlie plant, without regard to the pro- 

 duction of bloom, then no other plan could be adopted so likely to secure 

 this end. But as flowering exotics are only valued on account of the splen- 

 dor and abundance of their flowers, with a proper, not an overwhelming 

 amount of foliage, a very opposite course must be followed to bring about 

 this desired end. 



Our mind has been directed for some time to this matter ; and, more es- 

 pecially, in reference to specimen plants brought forward for competition. 

 For as we not unfrequently see such plants on our exhibition tables, it looks 

 as if bulk of plant, witliout reference to quantity or quality of bloom, were 

 tlie perfection of principle aimed at by their owners, while, we thinly, that a 

 diametrically opposite standard of perfection ought to be borne in mind — 

 viz., the greatest possible amount of perfect blooms upon the smallest 

 amount of branches, and a well balanced proportion of foliage. 



Take, for example, a geranium or pelargonium, (call it which you may,) 

 grow it in a large pot, in rich soil, stimulate it to tlie fullest extent, and pro- 

 duce a plant half as large as a hay-cock, what is the consequence — an abun- 

 dance of foliage, and a sad deficiency of bloom, and the majority even of tliat 

 (anytliing but perfect,) in proportion to the size of the plant and its means of 

 support. But who highly esteems this bundle of stalks and superfluity of 

 foliage ? Not we ; and we are not aloniJ in this opinion ; an opinion held by 

 all tiie best judges of what such a plant should be. We are glad to ob- 

 serve that the Horticultural Society of London follows tlie rule laid down 

 last year by the Caledonian Horticultural Society, namely, of having a class 

 for pelargoniums in 8-inch pots, a size sufficiently large for every useful 



