JUNE. 



107 



&c, and when rooted is potted in small 60 pots, 

 and as it advances in growth, is repeatedly shifted 

 into larger sized pots. The lechenaultia delights in 

 an airy situation fully exposed to light : the place, 

 therefore, in which it should be kept from the latter 

 end of September to the middle of March, is on a 

 shelf along the back wall of the greenhouse, so high 

 that the top of the plant may be within fifteen inches 

 of the glass, and in mild weather the lights of the 

 house should be let down and the plant freely ex- 

 posed. When kept on the stage at a distance from 

 the glass among other plants during winter, it in- 

 variably assumes a sickly appearance, and the points 

 of the young shoots become mouldy and damp off. 

 It may be brought to flower from March to August, 

 but its season of greatest beauty is from March to 

 the latter end of June. As soon as the blossom 

 buds appear in the autumn, they are carefully 

 picked off and so continued as they put out during 

 the winter months until the middle of February, 

 after which time they are left to bloom. As the 

 flowers are produced at the points of the shoots, by 

 depriving them of the flower buds, it induces a 

 more abundant supply of blossom-bearing branches, 

 and as the season advances will give a rich and 

 beautiful display of bloom. Great attention should 

 be paid, when a fine specimen is desired, that its 

 small and delicate branches should be supported^ 

 that a free current of air should pass through them, 



