'.J-4 JIISCELLANEOUS EXHIBITION PLANTS. 



SECTION IX. 



MISCELLANEOUS EXHIBITION PLANTS. 



Among the leading features in this highly important section 

 of exhibition plants are : (1.) The autumn and winter flower- 

 ing Chrysanthemum ; (2.) bulbous plants in flower, the best of 

 which are the Amaryllis, Hyacinth, Lily of the Valley, Nar- 

 cissus, and Tulip ; (3. ) soft-wooded plants, which flower 

 naturally in winter and spring, or are amenable to mild 

 forcing, such as the Auricula, Balsam, Begonia, Calceolaria, 

 Cineraria, Coxcomb, Cyclamen, Geranium, Gloxinia, Hydran- 

 gea, Mignonette, Pelargonium, Petunia, and Primula ; and 

 (4.) hardy plants, which force easily, and produce a rich display 

 of the most beautiful colours when so treated, including 

 Azalea, Deutzia, Dielytra, Lilac, Rhododendron, Rose, Spirsea, 

 and many others. In the prize schedules of the leading 

 Horticultural Societies most of the kinds enumerated are 

 favoured with one or more classes to themselves, and they also 

 form an important feature in all collections and groups of 

 plants when they are not specially excluded. The principal 

 genera and the best kinds are described in the following pages. 



ALOYSIA. 

 The Sweet Verbena, Aloysia citriodora, is a plant with 

 little show or decorative value ; but its sweet citron-scented 

 leaves have given it a wide reputation, and its easy culture 

 has established it as a favourite exhibition plant with the 

 cottager and the amateur. It is a free grower, which, with 

 good management, will produce a fair specimen in two years 

 from the cutting. Pot in rich sandy loam and leaf-mould, 

 set the plants in a frame near the glass, stake the leading 

 shoot, and pinch the side shoots during summer to form a 

 pyramid. After the growth is made the water should be 

 reduced, and the plants set in the open air to ripen the wood. 

 Being deciduous, it should be kept almost dry to rest it in 

 winter, and the shoots should be well pruned in previous to 

 starting in a mild heat, earlier or later, according to the time 



