CULTIVATION AND ANALYSIS OF PLANTS. 
absorbed from the brine. A few holes bored in the bottom would let out all the surplus 
water, and a coat of stone color, drab or white paint would make its exterior presentable. 
No one growing the Heliotrope only in small pots can know the pleasure of growing it 
as a large bush, and pruning it when too rampant. In summer a plant so grown could be 
placed out of doors to adorn the yard or lawn. The soil recommended is three parts loam, 
and one part each of leaf-mold, sand and manure. If kept constantly growing it blooms 
the whole year, its wood becoming quite hard and shrubby. Arrived at this condition, it 
can be kept formany years in a productive state, by an annual top-dressing, and liberal 
weekly supplies of liquid manure. It has been known to live for twenty years undisturbed 
in a sunny ‘corner of a conservatory; it requires warmth in winter, as it cannot stand any 
frost. The pale varieties develop a larger growth of flowers and are more fragrant than 
the dark ones. A good way to propagate Heliotropes is to take two-inch cuttings of new 
shoots, pinching off the bottom leaf, when the slips are inserted in pans of sand and water, 
and kept abundantly moistened until they show new rootlets or begin to grow. This 
process is most successfully carried out in summer, or in a temperature of at least seventy 
degrees; if the heat rise above eighty or tall below fifty the slips will usually fail to strike 
root. 
AITBISCOS, 
family, and all of them are general favorites with both amateur 
and professional culturists, for house or garden purposes. Their pop- 
ularity is not of yesterday, but dates far back into the olden times, 
being known to Pliny (who recommended the Hibiscus for certain medi- 
cinal properties in healing ulcers), and bids fair to survive throughout all 
time. Apart from all useful qualities, medicinal or other, it commends 
itself for the large, rose-like and very showy flowers, sometimes four or five 
inches in diameter, which it produces in rather compact clusters on slender and 
graceful stems. The beautiful, brilliant red of the flowers make the plant con- 
spicuous at a considerable distance, and cannot fail to attract the attention of 
the most casual beholder. The leaves, which are large, long and somewhat 
egg-shaped, but sharp-pointed, are always pretty, more especially the variegated kinds, as 
they hang gracefully drooping around the upright stems. It is familiarly called the Rose 
of China, but is really indigenous in several other countries, including the United States. 
Easy of cultivation, it can be kept in good shape by pinching, and its more compact 
growth will remunerate the cultivator. A soil composed of equal parts of leaf-mold, 
loam and manure is the best adapted for it; and, like the Abutilon, being a gross feeder, 
it should receive during the growing season an abundant supply of water and liquid 
manure. It is mainly propagated from cuttings of the young shoots, and but rarely from 
seeds. In the summer months it should be plunged, with or without its pot, in some spare 
bed or border, to take the necessary rest; though it can be made to grow and bloom all 
the year round by an extra allowance of stimulating liquid manure and free watering. 
368 
re 
5 
| 
