GEEEX - HOUSE PLAXTS. 



159 



of tlie roots into lengths of about three inches, and 

 planting them in boxes of light soil, and starting 

 them into growth by gi%"ing them frame protection 

 for a month or so afterwards. Perennial Lobelias, 

 being all but hardy, can also be wintered without 

 much trouble. We place them thickly together on 

 the orchard-house borders, and split up the roots in 

 spring to any size or number needed, planting them 

 in boxes in the same way as named above. Seeds 

 sown early in spring, in gentle heat, make moderate- 

 sized plants by the end of summer, but produce little 

 flower that season, therefore preference should be 

 given to propagation by di^-ision. 



Coloured Foliage Bedders from Seeds. — 



^maranthus melanchoVicas ruber, once so popular, has 

 of late been somewhat neglected in favour of Alter- 

 nantheras, many of which are of the same bright 

 colour, ^-iz., a purplish crimson. The plant, however, 

 does not merit such treatment, for its uses and effec- 

 tiveness are, to say the least, equal to Altemantheras, 

 and stock of it is just as quickly increased, and 

 withal there is no wintering or house-room required 

 at that season. To get good plants by the end of 

 May, the seeds should be sown in March in pans of 

 light soil, the seeds to be covered very Hghtly indeed, 

 and be kept shaded till germination takes place, with 

 a \-iew of preventing watering, which, if not done 

 very carefully, washes the seeds to the sides of the 

 pans. Prick out the seedlings as soon as they are 

 large enough to handle into other pans of light rich 

 soil, and keep in heat tiU the roots have got a good 

 hold of the new soil : and from this stage they will 

 grow weU in a cooler temperature. They ought not 

 to be planted out till the first week in June, and like 

 a rich soil and a sunny aspect. 



Amarardiius caudatus Xove Lies Bleeding). — This is 

 as different to the first-named as it is possible for two 

 plants to be that belong to the same genus : the first 

 rarely exceeds a foot in height, but this we have seen 

 five feet high, with long tail-like racemes of flower — 

 some four feet long. It is the perfection of a plant 

 for a back line to a ribbon border, or as a marginal 

 line round a bed of Eicinus (Castor Oil Plants^. la 

 good soils the plants should not be nearer together 

 than two feet, or eighteen inches apart in ordinary 

 garden soil, and staking is required as soon as the 

 plants attain a foot or so in height ; the weight 

 of the racemes renders such supports imperative. 

 If sown in pans about the middle of April and 

 placed in a temperature of 4:b°, the plants will be 

 ready for planting out at the end of May. It ought 

 not to be sown earher than April, otherwise, being a 

 rapid grower, the plants are apt to get stunted before 

 it. is safe to plant them out. 



Ferilla Xankinensis and F. lacin ictus are two 



XDuiplibh-bronze-leaved plants of very easy culture, 

 as the seedlings may be raised under hand-lights 

 in the open air, and in the north of the kingdom. 

 AYhere Coleus and Iresine do not flourish they are 

 excellent substitutes for them. Sow in March, prick 

 out the plants when a coupk of inches high, and 

 cover with hand-glasses till estabhshed, then gra- 

 dually inure them to full exposure, and plant out 

 at the middle of May. 



Cineraria /naritima, C. ac an tin folia, Centaurea ra- 

 giisina, C. Cleiueiitli, C. g>j„'.,'/jcarpa, are all of them 

 silvery-grey foliage plants, and are most valuable for 

 association with pink Pelargoniums, purple Yerbenas. 

 or blue Lobelias. Sow in pans in February, and 

 place in heat till the seeds are well through the soil, 

 then on shelves in any house or pit having a tem- 

 perature of oo*^ or 60^. The seedlings to be trans- 

 planted into other pans when an inch high; keep 

 close till new growth is perceptible, then give them 

 a more airy position. Before the roots get matted 

 together, they should be either potted off separately, 

 or else be planted in frames, or boxes, and in soil 

 containing a large percentage of leaf-mould, else it 

 will be difficult to move them to their final quarters 

 with balls of earth adhering, and this is essential to 

 the plants starting into kindly growth. 



geee:n'-hoi:se plaxts. 



Bx WiLLiAii Hugh Gowze. 



Aloe. — This is a genus of old-fashioned succulent 

 plants. Some of them are very curious, and many 

 are extremely handsome and highly ornamental, 

 either in or out of flower. They are mostly natives of 

 South Africa, although some species are to be found 

 in all warm countiies. The drug called bitter 

 aloes," used as a purgative and tonic, is familiar to 

 the school-boy's ears as "household words," and is 

 the produce of some few species of this genus, which 

 are largely grown in the West Indies, the Cape of 

 Good Hope, and also in Zocotria, a little island 

 situated near the mouth of the Eed Sea. Their 

 medicinal -virtues, however, will not interest our 

 reader so much as their ornamental qualifications. 

 Aloes are plants of the easiest cultivation : indeed, 

 they may frequently be seen growing and flowering 

 with more "vigour in a cottager's window than in 

 the best green-house and under the care of skilled 

 gardeners. They should be potted in sandy loam, 

 with a little old mortar rubbish added. The pots used 

 should be small ones, drained well ; and dming the 

 summer months they enjoy an abundant supply of 

 water: during winter little or none should be given, 

 and the temperature should not fall lower than 45" 

 or 50°. 



