442 



THE GARDENER'S ASSISTANT. 



E. Spenceriana. A dense bush, with tubular, lilac-pink 

 flowers. S. 



E. tricolor. Numerous forms, free in growth, and 

 abundant flowerers, the flowers inflated, flesh-coloured. H. 



E. ventricosa. All the many varieties are good, forming 

 compact, healthy, green bushes with usually stout shoots 

 which flower profusely, the colour of the flowers varying 

 from white to red. 



E. verticillata. Loose habit ; flowers in whorls, red, S. 

 Var. major, has larger flowers. 



E. vestita. Strong upright habit, flowers in whorls, 

 reddish -scarlet. There are several varieties. July and 

 August. H. 



E. Victoria. Robust; flowers deep-red and white. H. 



E. Willmorei. Like E. hyemalis, but flowering later. S. 



[J. H.] 



Eucharis (fig. 547). — A genus of beautiful 

 white-flowered Amaryllids, natives of South 

 America. There are six species, all of them in 



Fig. 547.— Eucharis amazouica. 



cultivation, and we have also now a consider- 

 able number of hybrids of garden origin. It 

 is remarkable that the best species, A. grandi- 

 flora (amazouica), has not been found wild since 

 its first introduction from Colombia in 1854. 

 Twenty years later E. Candida was introduced 

 from the same country, followed by E. Sanderi 

 (1882), E. Mastersii (1885), and E. Bakeriana 

 (1890). The hybrids raised from these are not 

 improvements on their parents. A hybrid be- 

 tween E. grandiflora and Urceolina pendula is an 

 interesting plant, named Urcocharis Clibrani. 



E. grandiflora is one of the most beautiful of 

 all white-flowered plants. It can be made to 

 flower at any time after it has made good 



growth and been rested. It is propagated by 

 division of the bulbs, which increase rapidly 

 under generous treatment. It delights in good 

 loamy soil with as much sand added as will 

 keep the whole in a sweet healthy state; drain 

 the pots sufficiently and pot firmly, just cover- 

 ing the bulbs; place them in a temperature of 

 65° during the night, with a rise of 5° or 10° in 

 the day, giving a little shade in bright weather, 

 always affording enough light and air to pre- 

 vent the leaves from becoming drawn. By 

 midsummer they will be well rooted and will 

 begin to throw up side-shoots, when a larger 

 pot may be given. Encourage growth through 

 the autumn up to the middle of November, and 

 then rest them in a lower temperature, say 55° 

 at night, withholding water until the leaves 

 flag slightly, when a little water may be given, 

 but not enough to saturate the soil ; withholding 

 it again until the leaves flag, when the watering 

 may be repeated. Two months of this treat- 

 ment will be sufficient, after which the soil 

 can be well soaked and the plants placed in a 

 temperature 8° higher. Here they should 

 push up a flower-stem from each bulb. After 

 flowering remove into pots 2 or 3 inches larger, 

 and return them to a house or pit kept at a 

 temperature of 70° by night, and proportion- 

 ately higher by day, treating them every way as 

 in the summer previous. When the object is to 

 get large sj^ecimens, it will be advisable to keep 

 them growing during the summer and autumn, 

 when rest can be induced as in the previous 

 year. When the pots are filled with bulbs they 

 can be made to flower twice a year. 



Insects. — The Eucharis is easily kept free from 

 insects, for though brown scale, mealy bug, and 

 black thrips affect it more or less, they can be 

 destroyed by sponging and the use of the 

 syringe, the nature of the leaves being such 

 that the pests are easily removed. The most 

 injurious pest is the Eucharis mite, which see 

 in chapter on Insect Pests. 



Fuchsia (fig. 548). — This genus comprises 

 about fifty species, mostly natives of Central 

 and South America. They vary considerably 

 in habit and in flower- characters, but the 

 majority are sufficiently attractive to deserve a 

 place among garden plants. Those commonly 

 grown are either seedling-sports or hybrids of 

 garden origin, F. macrostemma being the species 

 principally used in their production. This was 

 introduced in 1790 and distributed as F. coccinea. 

 The first recorded hybrid was raised in 1830, 

 since when a great number of hybrids ?,nd 



