April 23, 1890.] 



Garden and Forest. 



203 



fibrous and lumpy, will form the most satisfactory soil. They 

 should be placed in a moist atmosphere after potting, and 

 where a minimum temperature of sixty degrees is maintained. 

 Syringe regularly, shade from prolonged bright sunshine, 

 and water carefully until new growth appears freely. Water 

 in abundance will be required during the period of growth, 

 and the plants should then be placed as close to the glass as 

 may be convenient. When the young shoots attain a length 

 of about three inches pinch out the extreme tips, but do not 

 continue this process beyond the latter part of September ; 

 and a month later remove the plants to quarters that are drier 

 and from ten to fifteen degrees cooler. Full exposure to sun- 

 shine will now be beneficial ; less water will suffice, though 

 the roots should never be subjected to extreme dryness, and, 

 as the flowers appear, syringing may be discontinued. Firm 

 cuttings of the young wood, taken with a heel of an older 

 branch, root freely in sandy soil, with strong bottom heat, moist 

 atmosphere and shade. In general outline and in the char- 

 acter of its cultural requirements F. latifolia closely resembles 

 F. eximia. The leaves, however, are obovate, while the 

 smaller flowers are deliciously fragrant, and of a distinct blue 



position), and the others diminish in size as they approach its 

 extremity. The plant is tolerably tenacious of life, but special 

 attention to its cultural requirements will be amply repaid. 

 Repotting as soon after the flowering season as possible and 

 abundance of heat and moisture, with shade from bright sun- 

 shine during the growing season, are the principal matters to 

 receive attention. It thrives admirably in a mixture composed 

 of two parts each of turfy loam and fibrous peat to one each 

 of sand, leaf-mould and manure, the two latter being thor- 

 oughly decomposed. In the case of extra large specimens 

 some rough charcoal may be added. A minimum tempera- 

 ture of sixty-five degrees should be maintained during the 

 season of growth, and afterward gradually lowered about ten 

 degrees. Plants that are continually kept in a high tempera- 

 ture flower about three months in advance of those that have 

 been subjected to less heat after the growth has been com- 

 pleted ; but their inflorescence is usually inferior, and event- 

 ually the plants become exhausted. It is due to the pressing 

 demands on space in a botanic garden that the only specimen 

 here is kept in a growing temperature throughout the year, 

 and generally blooms early in March ; under more rational 



A Road in Sherwood Forest. — See page 197. 



shade, with a prominent white eye, when they open, but in 

 process of time the entire flower becomes pure white. It is a 

 common thing to see at the same time blue, lilac and white 

 flowers on one branch of the same plant. 



Medinilla magnifica.— It would be difficult to find a more 

 truly magnificent object than a well grown specimen of this 

 plant in full bloom, and, being an evergreen, the massive 

 foliage renders it strikingly ornamental at all seasons. It is a 

 branching shrub of somewhat scandent habit, and attains a 

 height of five or six feet. The stems, when young, are flat- 

 tened, green and smooth, but become gradually cylindrical, 

 rough and brown ; and they are well furnished with leath- 

 ery, obovate, glossy green leaves from twelve to fourteen 

 inches long and about six inches broad. The whorled termi- 

 nal panicles of bright pink flowers average about twelve inches 

 in length, and they assume a drooping position which adds 

 materially to their pleasing effect. Showy bracts of a delicate 

 pink color, disposed in opposite pairs or whorls of four, also 

 contribute largely to their beauty. The largest of these bracts 

 — they often exceed five inches in length by four inches across 

 — are at the top of the inflorescence (when it is in a drooping 



treatment the flowering season would extend from the begin- 

 ning of April till the latter end of May. It is, however, very 

 accommodating in this matter, for by the steady maintenance 

 of a maximum temperature of sixty degrees, after the grow- 

 ing period, the bloom may be retarded to almost any season 

 of the year. It -will thus be seen that a growing temperature 

 is, in this instance, as requisite to the development of flowers 

 as it is to the production of new branches ; and, seeing that 

 new growth makes its appearance soon after the flowers are 

 shed, this is just what might be expected. It can be propa- 

 gated by cuttings prepared from the growing points of young 

 shoots. 



Sparmannia Africana. — This handsome evergreen shrub 

 is a native of the Cape of Good Hope, and attains a height of 

 ten or twelve feet under cultivation. It is of branching habit, 

 and the branches are furnished with cordate-acuminate, den- 

 tate, light green leaves, which measure from four to 

 five inches in length, and from three to four inches 

 in width. Sometimes the leaves are lobed toward the apex. 

 The pretty white tlowers are freely borne in umbels, on the 

 young branches, during spring - . The numerous stamens, 



