clia'nthus. 



56 



CLIMATE. 



did stove shrubs, annuals, and bien- 

 nials, with one or two half-hardy 

 annuals, with white, rose, and purple 

 flowers, of easy culture in any light 

 rich soil. 



Clerode'ndrum — Verbenacece. — 

 Very ornamental stove shrubs, chiefly 

 natives of the Tropics. They all 

 grow freely in a light rich soil, com- 

 posed of two parts of loam, one of 

 rotten dung, and one of peat. They 

 require frequent shifting from small 

 pots to larger ones, to make them 

 flower freely. They strike readily 

 from cuttings of the young wood 

 planted under a hand-glass ; or cut- 

 tings of the roots planted in a pot, 

 with their tops just above the surface 

 of the mould, and plunged in a hot- 

 bed, will root readily. The most de- 

 sirable species are C. fragrans, with 

 pink flowers ; C. paniculatum and 

 C. squamatum, with scarlet flowers, 

 and C. macrophyllum, with white 

 flowers. Several of the species were 

 formerly called Volkameria. 



Cle v thra. — Ericece. — Hardy and 

 half-hardy shrubs, with white flowers ; 

 of which C. arborea forms a very 

 handsome small tree, when planted 

 out in the free soil in a conservatory, 

 or in a sheltered situation in the open 

 air, producing a great profusion of 

 spikes of white flowers from August 

 to October. All the species thrive 

 well in a mixture of loam and peat, 

 and they are all readily increased by 

 layers, cuttings, or seeds. 



Clia'nthus. — LegumxnosecB. — C. 

 puniceus, the crimson Glory Pea, is a 

 magnificent half-hardy shrub, with 

 brightcrimson flowers ; anative of New 

 Zealand. It grows very freely in rich 

 loam, if its roots are allowed sufficient 

 room ; and it generally thrives most 

 when planted against the back wall of 

 a conservatory, or against a south 

 wall in the open air, requiring only 

 the protection of a mat in winter. 

 Cuttings planted in pots in the au- 



tumn, and kept in a shady part of the 

 greenhouse, will be rooted by the 

 spring, when they may be planted in 

 the open border. It is a plant that 

 rarely flowers well in a pot ; as it re- 

 quires abundance of room for its roots, 

 and grows rapidly, with rather succu- 

 lent shoots, requiring abundance of 

 water during the growing season, and 

 very little at any other time. When 

 grown in the open ground, the juicy 

 nature of its shoots renders it a fa- 

 vourite food for snails ; and when 

 kept in the conservatory, or green- 

 house, it is very apt to be attacked by 

 the red spider. If these enemies be 

 kept away, and the plant be grown in 

 rich soil, composed of equal parts of 

 loam and thoroughly rotten manure, 

 and well supplied with air, light, and 

 water, with abundance of room for its 

 roots, the rapidity of its growth, and 

 the splendour of its flowers, will al- 

 most surpass belief ; but unless these 

 points are attended to, the plant is 

 scarcely worth growing. 



Climate is the grand regulator of 

 vegetable culture ; and the garden 

 and landscape scenery of every coun- 

 try depends far more on the climate 

 of that country than on its soil. In 

 modern times the climates of all other 

 countries are imitated by hothouses ; 

 a practice scarcely, if at all, known to 

 the ancients. In imitating a climate, 

 it is not only necessary to attend to 

 temperature, but equally so to light, 

 and, to a certain extent, to the mois- 

 ture of the atmosphere, and to the 

 motion of the air and its change. 

 Heat is communicated to plant-struc- 

 tures by the decomposition of ferment- 

 ing substances, and by the combus- 

 tion of fuel, operating by means of 

 smoke or heated air in flues, or by 

 water circulated in pipes, either in a 

 fluid state, or in an aeriform state, a3 

 steam ; or by the heat of the sun 

 passing through glass, and heating air 

 which is not allowed to escape. The 



