October 10, 1872. ] 



JOUENAL OF HOETICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GABDENEB. 



291 



in the kingdom, and prizes to the value of £80 are offered for 

 the best specimens of agricultural roots and Potatoes. Messrs. 

 Sutton & Sons, Seedsmen, Beading, offer sixty-seven prizes, 



the highest being for their Champion Swede and improved 

 varieties of Mangold. They will send a list of the prizes to 

 any who apply for them. 



MARANTA 



To all lovers of ornamental leafage this plant will be 

 specially welcome, and it is undoubtedly one of the best in- 

 troductions of my late friend, Dr. Berthold Seemann. It has 

 been sent home as a Maranta, but it certainly has much the 

 appearance of a dwarf-growing Heliconia, and if this surmise 

 is correct, it may produce conspicuous and ornamental flower- 



SEEMANNI. 



bracts in addition to the fine foliage. Be it, however, Maranta 

 or Heliconia, the fact remains that it is very beautiful and 

 thoroughly distinct ; I certainly look upon it as amongst the 

 best new plants of the present season. Mr. W. Ball, of Chelsea, 

 to whose courtesy your readers are indebted for the accom- 

 panying illustration, is the fortunate holder of the stock of this 



Maranta Seemanni. 



plant, for which the demand will undoubtedly be .great when 

 once it becomes known. 



The leaves are ovate-acuminate, some 12 inches long by 

 about 6 inches in breadth ; on the upper side they are of an 

 intense deep satiny green having a light midrib, whilst the 

 under side is of a deep vinous red, affording a pleasing 

 contrast. 



Maranta Seemanni is not, strictly speaking, a variegated 

 plant, yet it possesses so much beauty that even amongst 



Marantas, which are so numerous and so beautifully marked, 

 it cannot but occupy a leading position. This plant thrives 

 admirably under the same treatment as the other Marantas ; 

 it delights in strong heat and moisture, and should be potted 

 in a compost consisting of good peat, a little loam, and sand. 

 The drainage of the pots must be kept in good order, for al- 

 though it likes an abundant supply of moisture, water must not 

 be allowed to become sour around its roots. It is a native of 

 Central America, about Nicaragua. — Expeeto Ckedb. 



NOTES AND GLEANINGS. 



Theee is now in bloom at Dangstein, in the collection of 

 B. H. Nevill, Esq., a magnificent plant of Peeisteeia elata, 

 or Holy Ghost Plant, upwards of 6 feet high. 



We have seen the Oeiental Plane growing by the 



margin of a lake where its roots must reach the water, and it 



is in a state of the greatest luxuriance, and with an t 'expan- 

 sion of foliage rarely to be seen. 



How little attention is paid even in the present en- 

 lightened age to ventilation ! how often do we find bedrooms 

 without chimneys ! In such I would never advise anyone 



