i 
CULTIVATION AND ANALYSIS OF PLANTS. 
manure, and one of sand. Cold moisture is pernicious to its roots, as is lime-water also; 
pure rainwater, “little and often,” is the best prescription, as the leaves of the plant will 
curl up and become sickly if overdosed. It strikes root easily through small cuttings, say 
an inch long, from young shoots, bedded in clean sand about half their length, the leaves 
being carefully removed from the embedded part. After they have ceased flowering in 
the house they should be removed in the spring, for their season of rest, to the north of a 
fence or some low evergreen, as in that condition they delight in a partial shade. The 
species generally recommended to amateur culturists is the M. odorata, which is the most 
sweetly scented, as its name implies; but there are several other varieties also well worthy 
of attention. The Hector has orange, and the Diana pink, flowers; and both are pretty, 
highly ornamental and easily manageable shrubs, which will give good satisfaction, though 
not so fragrant as the M. odorata. 
OLEANDER. 
tifically termed Nerium, from the Greek zeros, humid, because of 
its love of moisture. The familiar name Oleander is a corruption, 
=» aS is generally supposed, of the word Rhododendron, or Rose-tree, 
¥ from the similarity between its flowers and the smaller Roses. It 
enjoys a very peculiar protection apparently against the sun’s rays, 
w in a triple coat of mail or three-fold epidermis, which is common to but very 
Se" few other plants. A native of the Levant, it is found on the banks of the sacred 
4 Jordan, as well as along other water-courses and muddy bottom-lands, where 
there is a considerable accumulation of decayed vegetable matter. This, by the 
usual rule of making artificial conditions approach as nearly as may be to natural 
surroundings, suggests the value of peat-earth, leaf-mold, turfy loam or similar 
soils tor their successful cultivation. Water in abundance, and unstinted supplies of liquid 
manure, as a substitute for the wet and decaying vegetable wreck to which they are natu- 
rally accustomed, are also implied, and experimentally ascertained, to be necessary to their 
fullest development. In early summer they should be moved outdoors in northern latitudes, 
and placed in some bed or border made up of the compost indicated, and freely manured, when 
they will bloom abundantly, and better reward the cultivator than if kept after the usual 
old-fashioned method in tubs or boxes. Toward the close of summer, in order to ripen 
the wood of the Oleanders, the supply of water should be considerably curtailed, but not 
so as to allow the soil to go entirely dust-dry. Great care should be taken in this respect, 
as these plants are slow to show injury, on account of the extra epidermis, and therefore 
nothing should be left to chance. Oleanders are propagated freely from slips or cuttings 
in the usual way, or by cuttings thrust into bottles or other convenient vessels containing 
weak soapsuds or even common rainwater. In making these cuttings, which ought to 
be from two to four inches long, the adhering leaves should be shortened or cut back one- 
half. Layering can also be used, though it is not found so convenient; and they can of 
course be raised from the seed, flowering the second season, : 
