176 



THE SUCCULENT HOUSE. 



number 'of corymbs of bloom ; as soon as these appear, the plants are 

 re-potted into thhty-two sized pots, with their bulbs as entire as possible ; 

 I give little water, and re-plunge them into the bed ; when the blossoms 

 are beginning to expand, the plants are removed into the greenhouse, and 

 by being kept from the hot scorching sun, they keep in bloom for several 

 weeks. By removing a quantity of plants, every three or four weeks, from 

 the cool frame into the hot-bed or pine pit, I have been enabled to have 

 fine blooming plants from May to October following. Those plants which 

 have flowered in March following may be turned out of their pots, and 

 the balls partly reduced, when they may be repotted and managed in 

 every respect as before stated for blooming plants. Plants raised from 

 cuttings when from one to three years old, are by far the best for bloom- 

 ing, and are far preferable to old plants being cut down.'" 



In a very similar manner, we have succeeded in flowering that splendid 

 plant Rochea falcata, and some others of similar habits. 



The genera Portulacaria, Rochea^ Kalosanthes, Crassulay TurgosiUy 

 Globulea, Curtogyne, are also readily increased by cuttings, and rarely by 

 seeds. We ought, however, to remark, that several very fine hybrids of 

 the genus Crassula have been originated in the Bristol nursery by Mr. 

 Maes, and we would beg to dkect the attention of cultivators to try similar 

 experiments. 



The genus Hoy a is readily multiphed by the leaves, each of which will, 

 if planted in light soil and kept moderately dry, produce perfect plants. 

 The original genus Stapelia (now sub-divided) seeds so freely in a culti- 

 vated state, that it is probable that more varieties exist in our gardens than 

 are to be found in an indigenous state, and hence the great confusion which 

 at present exists in regard to their nomenclature. The late Mr. Masson, 

 author of a descriptive work on this genus, and who travelled for several 

 years at the Cape of Good Hope, mentioned to us, many years ago, the 

 great difficulty he had in recognizing the plants of this family which he 

 had sent to the Kew gardens, so much had they become altered by culti- 

 vation, for in their native localities they were the smallest of all phoeno- 

 gamous plants, and existed in the desert sands of Cafiraria, far beyond 

 that of any other vegetable, constituting the principal food of a small 

 species of rat, which was, to all appearance, the only animal that could 

 exist upon these limits of perpetual sterility. This genus has also 

 another pecuharity, namely, that of having a very ofi'ensive smell while 

 in flower, resembling carrion, and consequently attracting the large flesh- 

 fly, which deposits its eggs in the flower, which in a few days is often filled 

 with maggots. 



