POPULAR GARDEN PLANTS. 



439 



the winter and early spring their beautiful 

 purple, scarlet, and crimson shaded flowers are 

 most effective either on the plants or in floral 

 decorations. They are usually grown grafted 

 on PeresMa aculeata in the form of a small 

 standard. The stocks are raised from cuttings 



Fig. 543.— Epiphyllum truncatum. 



in winter or spring, and are grown on in sandy 

 loam. They should be kept to a single stem, 

 and, when about 1 foot or 18 inches high, 

 grafted with small pieces of the Epiphyllum, 

 and kept in a close, warm frame until they are 

 united. They should then be grown on in a 

 warm house until autumn, when they ought to 

 have less warmth and moisture for a time, so as 

 to get a rest, starting them again in February. 

 By the end of July in the second season they 

 should be nice plants, and if they are then 

 exposed to direct sunshine in an airy house, so 

 as to ripen the growth, they will flower freely. 

 In winter they require no more water than is 

 necessary to keep them from shrivelling, and a 

 minimum temperature of 45°. The first batch 

 of plants should be started in February in a 

 temperature of 60°, giving enough moisture to 

 keep the roots in a growing state; they will 

 soon flower, when they can be moved into a 

 cooler situation and another batch started. 

 Thus treated they will last for many years, 

 increasing in size and producing annually a 

 great quantity of their very attractive blossoms. 

 Plants grown from cuttings put in during 

 the early winter, and struck in heat, should, 

 when rooted, be placed in 3-inch pots, and 

 grown on as directed for the grafted ones. The 

 principal objection to these struck plants is 



that from their drooping habit they soon grow 

 too much over the pot to be seen to advantage. 

 They may, however, be grown in baskets sus- 

 pended in a warm house. Very handsome 

 examples of basket-grown Epiphyllums are a 

 feature in the large conservatory at Chatsworth. 



Epiphyllums are subject to the attacks of 

 scale and bug, which must be removed by 

 sponging. Green-fly sometimes attacks the 

 young flower-buds; it can be destroyed with 

 tobacco smoke. 



E. Bussellianum has small thin joints, a winged 

 ovary, regular petals, few stamens, and a short 

 stigma. It has had less influence in the pro- 

 duction of the garden race of Epiphyllums than 

 the sturdier E. truncatum, which has a smooth 

 ovary, irregular petals, and a long, slender 

 stigma. The new addition is E. Gaertneri, which 

 has joints 3 inches long, gray-green, with tufts 

 of blackish hairs in the ends, and clusters of 

 large regular orange-red flowers 3 inches wide, 

 composed of about twenty spreading petals. It 

 was introduced from Brazil in 1884. A variety 

 of it called Makoyanum has less hairy joints, and 

 flowers of a different shade from the type. 



Erica. — Although there is a general family 

 resemblance to each other in the large number 

 of species which constitute this genus, there is, 

 at the same time, considerable diversity in the 

 size and form of the blossoms. This is espe^ 

 cially true of the South African species, and the 

 many garden hybrids raised from them. Most 

 of the kinds flower from March to the end of 

 August, a few being earlier or later, whilst 

 several, such as E. cerinthoides, are in flower 

 almost all the year round. Such early sorts as 

 caffra, gracilis, hyemalis, melanthera, persohda, Will- 

 morei, and Sindryana, bloom in the first months 

 of the year. Some, such as E. depressa, last in 

 bloom for about two months. 



Most of those grown in greenhouses are of a 

 more or less compact bushy habit; some, like 

 E. vestita, with stout erect branches covered with 

 comparatively long leaves, have the appearance 

 of a miniature erect-growing Pine; others, like 

 E. cerinthoides, are almost procumbent, the long 

 loose straggling shoots requiring some support. 

 Ericas are essentially light-loving plants, and 

 cannot bear a close atmosphere, or to stand 

 too crowded together. For flowering in winter 

 and spring E. hyemalis (fig. 544) and its allies 

 play a very important part, the demand for 

 them being so great that immense quantities 

 are grown yearly in nurseries near London. 



Propagation. — Heaths cross freely, and numer- 



