74 WINTER GREENERIES AT HOME. 



7. The Daphne-odora, a sweet-scented winter-flowering 

 shrub, continues serviceable for years, and is said to be 

 one of the best for your purpose. Take a small plant and 

 keep it in good shape by thorough pruning. Eepot it in 

 May and leave it out doors during the summer. In Sep- 

 tember let it have more sunshine, and before the first 

 frost appears take it directly to your room. It thrives 

 best at a very moderate temperature, and blooms more or 

 less from December to March. 



8. The Fuchsia speciosa may be cultivated in pots 

 during the summer, or lifted from the ground and potted 

 with very rich soil in September, brought under cover 

 early in October, and afterward treated like the Rose, 

 except that it requires less sunshine. A room without 

 gas and with an eastern exposure is doubtless the most 

 favorable. 



9. Abutilon, " Boule de Niege" This, as its name, 

 " Snowball Abutilon," indicates, is a white-flowered varie- 

 ty of Abutilon, one species of which, from the form of its 

 leaves, is well known as the " Flowering Maple." There 

 can hardly be a more accommodating plant than this 

 Boule de Niege, as little plants only six inches high will 

 give some flowers, and when as many feet tall, it will 

 yield a profusion. A friend writes, "It comes as near 

 being a perpetual flower, as any plant I know of ; after 

 flowering in the house all winter, it may be turned into 

 the open ground, where it will produce its white, bell- 

 shaped flowers until it is time to bring it in again. It 

 may be pruned into any desirable shape ; I grow it with 

 a head upon a naked stem, three feet high, so that it may 

 stand well above other plants." 



10. Chinese Primroses. Of these, there are single and 

 double, and in colors from pure white to dark purple or 

 magenta ; in some, the flowers are handsomely fringed, 

 and the leaves also present much variety. They may be 

 propagated by cuttings made from the short side-shoots 



