December 9, 1896.] 



Garden and Forest. 



497 



make the best heads. Old plants become branched, and, though 

 they make a brilliant show when massed, are less striking sin- 

 gly. The cultivation, beginning with the end of the blooming 

 season, consists in following the conditions imposed by nature. 

 The plants are given a rest during winter-time by withholding 

 water to less than half the usual amount until spring. When 

 warm weather sets in they are pruned back and planted out- 

 of-doors. Fresh growth commences, and as soon as the shoots 

 are a few inches in length they are taken off with a heel. As 

 long as cuttings are made the propagating-bed is kept 

 in use, so that we get a collection of different sizes, the 

 smaller plants being as serviceable as the larger ones. Better 

 success is obtained when cuttings are taken with a heel, as the 

 stems are hollow above and bleed profusely when cut. In a 

 moderate hotbed, cuttings root in two or three weeks. Very 

 careful handling is necessary, as the tender roots are easily 

 injured, and therefore in many places the cuttings are put sepa- 

 rately in small pots. For the best results it is advisable to con- 



Fig. 71. — The Western Larch (Larix occidentalis). — See page 



tinuethe young plants in a slight bottom-heat, as they start into 

 fresh growth more quickly, and in this way gain more substance 

 and strength for abundant flowering in their season. Still, 

 without artificial heat of this character.they grow into good plants 

 during the warmer months of late summer. A little fire-heat 

 when the nights begin to get cool will tend to a healthy con- 

 dition of the roots. Lack of vitality in this direction will 

 quickly show in the loss of foliage and the comparatively less- 

 ened size and brilliancy of the bracts. A light, rich soil, with 

 charcoal as an ingredient, is a suitable compost, and six-inch 

 pots are the largest that should be used. It is better to finish the 

 plants with liquid-manure than to shift them into larger sizes. 



Euphorbia fulgens is another showy member of the same 

 family, but considerably more flexuous in habit. Its bracteate 

 appendage resembles more an involucre, and, instead of being 

 disposed in leafy heads, occurs in little tufts of two or three all 

 along one side of the leafy branches. We have a number in 



five-inch pots fully five feet tall, just coming into bloom, and 

 as handsome as a picture, standing on the park and overhang- 

 ingabankof Ferns. Ourplantsof last vearwerestrungon wires, 

 and bloomed profusely all winter long. They were left there, 

 rooting through the pots into the gravel-bed, and the whole now 

 forms a perfect hedge. We take cuttings during early spring. 

 The after-culture does not differ from what we give other 

 plants, although the experience of other growers would show 

 that a little artificial heat, such as we have during the autumn, 

 is essential. 

 Wellesley, Mass. T. D. Hatfield. 



Greenhouse Plants in Flower. 



A RISTOLOCHIA ELEGANS has been in flower in the 

 £*■ Palm-house for the past two months, and from present 

 indications seems likely to flower two months longer. It is 

 one of the handsomest, though not the largest, of the genus. 

 The flowers are produced singly in the axils 

 of the leaves on peduncles about six inches 

 in length. The tube of the inflated perianth 

 is shorter than in most of the species and of 

 a yellowish green color. The limb is oval, 

 about five inches long by three wide, ami 

 beautifully marked with rich brownish pur- 

 ple veins on a white ground color. The 

 leaves are heart-shaped, on slender petioles 

 and of a light green color. Though this spe- 

 cies is usually considered a spindling or 

 weak-growing climber, suitable for pillars, 

 etc., if given liberal treatment in the mat- 

 ter of soil and temperature it will grow 

 almost, as rapidly as an Allamanda. Our 

 plant has covered more than a hundred 

 square feet of glass since last August. It is 

 planted in a compost of good turfy loam, 

 with some well-decayed stable-manure in- 

 corporated, and a liberal allowance of room 

 for its rambling roots. As the flowers are 

 all borne on the new growth, it is necessary 

 to prune back rather severely, or say within 

 two buds of the old wood, after the present 

 season's growth has thoroughly ripened, so 

 as to insure plenty of fresh wood the follow- 

 ing season. This species is a native of Brazil 

 and may be propagated either by seeds (sev- 

 eral pods of which have ripened with us) or 

 by cuttings of the half-ripened wood in- 

 serted in the propagating bed. 



Wissadula rostrata, a tropical Malvaceous 

 plant, is now in flower in the Palm-house. 

 It is a rather tall plant, with alternate cor- 

 date leaves six inches long by five wide, on 

 rather long petioles. The flowers are small, 

 white, with yellow stamens, and are borne 

 on axillary racemes which become crowded 

 toward the summit of the plant. The seeds 

 from which this plant was raised came to 

 us under the name of Abutilon Leschinaulti- 

 anum, though the resemblance of the flow- 

 ers to those of an Abutilon seems rather 

 obscure. 



Pentas carnea, a tropical African plant, is 

 also in flower in the same house. The flow- 

 ers resemble those of the Bouvardia, and to 

 which it is closely related. They are of a 

 n. delicate pink color and are borne in erect 



terminal clusters. The opposite leaves are 

 downy, lanceolate in outline, five inches long by two wide. 

 The plants have a dwarf bushy habit and may be propagated 

 either by seeds or cuttings. This plant is not as useful as 

 the Bouvardia, because the flowers are not as freelv pro- 

 duced, and since they are borne at the summit of the main 

 stems they cannot be cut without injury to the plant. 



In the intermediate house Salvia involucrata has been pro- 

 ducing freely its handsome racemes of soft rosy-pink flowers. 

 They are borne on stems a yard long, well clothed with leaves 

 of the brightest green, so that it is a most desirable plant for 

 decorative purposes. S. rutilans is equally handsome, with 

 flowers of a deep Cardinal red, and has often been mistaken 

 by visitors here for the Cardinal flower, Lobelia cardinalis. 

 S. leucantha is another very desirable species producing ter- 

 minal racemes of soft lilac colored flowers. These Salvias 

 are of the easiest culture. We propagate fresh plants each 

 year from sucker cuttings about the end at February. As soon 



