May 11. 1871. ] 



JOURNAL OP HOETICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GABDENER. 



331 







WEEKLY 



CALENDAR, 















Day 

 of 



Month 



Day 



of 

 Week. 





Average Tempera- | Rain in 



Sun 



Sun 









Cloot 

 after 

 Sun. 



Day 



MAY 11—17, 1871. 



ture near London. 43 years. 



Rises. 



Sets. 



Rises. 



Sets. 



Age. 



Year. 









Day. 



NiRht. 



Mean. 



Days. 



m. h. m. h. 



m. h. 



m. h. 



Days. 



m. 8. 1 



11 



Th 



Meeting of Eoyal Society, 8 30 p.m. 



63.4 



40.9 



51.6 



19 



17af4 



36 af7 



47 afl 



27 a 10 



c 



3 50 , la 



12 



P 





62 9 



40.5 



61.7 



20 



15 4 



38 7 



16 2 



43 11 



22 



3 62 



182 



13 



S 





63.5 



SS.8 



51.1 



20 



14 4 



SO 7 



40 2 



after. 



23 



3 53 



188 



14 



Sdn 



5 Sunday after Easter. 



63.2 



40.3 



61.7 



16 



12 4 



41 7 



67 2 



8 2 



24 



8 64 



134 



15 



M 





64.8 



40.7 



52.7 



15 



11 4 



42 7 



15 8 



18 S 



25 



3 64 



13 > 



16 



Tu 



Meeting of Zoological Society, p.m. 



66.0 



43.3 



54.1 



15 



10 4 



44 7 



30 3 



27 4 



26 



3 53 



136 



17 



W 



Eoyal Horticultural Society, Fruit, Floral, 

 [ and General Meeting. 



65.7 



41.0 



63.4 



16 



8 4 



45 7 



48 S 



35 5 



27 



3 52 



187 



From observations taken near London during forty-three years, the average day temperature of the week is 63.2 



^, and its night tem- 



perature 40.8°. The greatest heat was 86», on the 15th, 1833 ; and the lowest cold 25°, on the 15th, 18S0. The greatest fal 



of rain was 



1.14 inch. 







CULTURE OF PLEROMA, HOVEA, &o. 



' EW species and varieties of stove and green- 

 house plants have been introduced to our 

 notice in abundance of late years, plants cul- 

 tivated for their foliage rather predominating 

 over those admired more especially for the 

 beauty of their flowers. Among so many 

 new and beautiful productions it is very 

 evident that numbers of equally desirable 

 subjects do not receive that amount of atten- 

 tion which their merits deserve. Deep blue 

 and purple flowers are not enough grown in our green- 

 houses and hothouses. Azaleas are much and deservedly 

 admked. Heaths equally so, and the different classes of 

 Pelargoniums are in all gardens ; but, unfortunately, none 

 of the above have flowers approaching to blue. It is, 

 therefore, very desirable that flowers possessing the above 

 distinctive mark should not be lost sight of. Besides 

 Pleroma elegans, there is Hovea Celsii and Lesohenaultia 

 biloba major ; and the difl'erent species and varieties of 

 Statice are not so much looked after as they deserve to be. 

 Pleroma elegans when well grown is a greenhouse plant 

 of noble appearance ; its glossy leaves and large deep 

 purple flowers render it one of the most effective plants 

 in a collection. It is not difScult to cultivate if properly 

 managed. It is uudoubtedly a greenhouse plant, but the 

 best flowers are obtained, and the plant is kept in better 

 health, if it has the advantage of an intermediate house 

 early in the year and until the first flowers show signs of 

 opening, when it should be removed to the greenhouse. 



The plant is propagated by cuttings, which strike freely 

 in a greenhouse temperature, if they are placed on a shelf 

 in the greenhouse under a bell-glass. The way to manage 

 them is this— take in July or August cuttings of the same 

 season's wood before it is quite ripe, and insert a number 

 in a 5-inch pot in a compost of two parts turfy peat, one of 

 loam, and one of silver sand. The cutting pot should be 

 carefully drained, and three-fourths filled with the compost, 

 filling up with pure sand. As soon as the cuttings are 

 well rooted, pot them off singly in 3-inch pots, place them 

 in a growing temperature of from 50° to 55°, and pinch 

 them frequently, training the shoots so as to make com- 

 pact specimens, while using no more sticks than will be 

 necessary to preserve the shoots in a proper position. The 

 best form for the plant, a^d that which shows the flowers 

 t ) the best advantage, is the bush, keeping the plant ^\ idest 

 a': the top. This Pleroma is of free growth, and comes 

 into flower in a young state. 



After plants of this class are well established, they re- 

 quire repotting about once a-year, and the directions 

 here given will be applicable to all similar subjects. No 

 one will ever grow healthy, handsome specimen plants 

 who does not repot them with great care and in a proper 

 manner. The same remark will apply to the training and 

 management of the plants in a young state. A good com- 

 post for the Pleroma is two parts turfy peat and one part 

 turfy loam, about .3 inches of the top spit, where it can be 

 obtained, tearing the turf in pieces with the hand. Enough 



No. 528.— Vol. XX., New Series. 



silver sand should be mixed to keep it open. It is not 

 advisable to give hardwooded plants a large shift ; the pot 

 should not be more than 11 or 2 inches wider than that in 

 which the plant was growing, and the ball of earth should 

 be quite moist before turning the plant out of the pot. 

 After repotting, a close rather moist atmosphere is most 

 suitable, but the plants should not be watered at the roots 

 for a few days. There is nothing more injurious to plants 

 of this class than watering them immediately after repot- 

 ting ; the new material is saturated with moisture before 

 the young spongioles are formed to take it up, and before 

 they are in an active state the soil becomes sodden ; as the 

 roots penetrate into it they are killed, and if watering be 

 still persisted in most likely the plant will be entirely 

 destroyed. Instead of watering at the roots let the plants 

 be dewed overhead with a fine syringe. The roots will 

 soon take hold of the fresh soil, afterwards the plants may 

 be watered. 



The best position for the plants is close to the glass in 

 a low span-roofed structure, and to grow hardwooded plants 

 well they should not be crowded with Geraniums and fast- 

 growing plants of a similar character, especially when in a 

 young state. When the plants attain a large size they are 

 apt to lose their leaves near the bcse, hut this can be 

 remedied by training the shoots downwards. The most 

 suitable time to do so is in the autumn, as the plants make 

 the best flowering shoots if they are allowed to ramble 

 and grow out during the summer. 



A somewhat similar Melastomad to the preceding, of 

 recent introduction, named Lasiandra macrantha, has 

 larger flowers, and is of a more robust growth. It requires 

 rather more heat. The flowers are of the same colour, and 

 if they were produced in the same profusion it would be a 

 very valuable plant, but I have seen it both growing in a 

 stove and greenhouse temperature until the plants were 

 3 feet high, and then they only produced one or two flowers 

 at the ends of the principal shoots. Very different is the 

 variety Lasiandra macrantha floribunda. This has been 

 produced in small pots at some of the floral meetings at 

 South Kensington, and proved itself to be a great acquisi- 

 tion, plants not more than a foot high flowering profusely. 



Hovea Celsii is another plant which is seen even more 

 rarely than the preceding, but when it is well managed, 

 which, however, it seldom is, its pretty little deep blue flowers 

 never fail to please. It is best propagated from seed, and 

 should be grown in the same compost as that recommended 

 for Pleroma. Small plants of it flower freely, but if it is 

 intended to make fine specimen plants the flowers should 

 be picked ofl'. The shoots must also be bent down, in 

 order that they may break freely. It will not make a 

 specimen by pinching the points out of the shoots without 

 proper training ; at the same time this is a plant that 

 should not be lost sight of, though I fear it is getting very 

 uncommon. It requires much skill and patience to grow 

 a specimen of it, but it is one of the plants which will 

 repay the cultivator for all his care and attention. 



Lesohenaultia biloba major, like the Hovea, is a native 

 of New Holland, and requu-es greenhouse treatment all 

 the year round. It is propagated by cuttings which strike 

 No. 1180.— Vol. XLV., Old Series, 



