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6 to 8 feet in the season, bearing many white 

 flowers, which open in the evening, filling the 

 air with fragrance, though for the greater part 

 of each day they remain closed, limp, and 

 scentless. This is against their wide use in 

 gardens, save as groups in quiet spots near 

 woodland walks, where the starry flowers are 

 seen in the gloaming, and, sheltered from the 

 early sun, remain open till late next morning, 

 while their fragrance may be enjoyed on warm 

 evenings, though by daylight they are again 

 scentless. They should be planted in bold 

 masses towards the end of May, old plants 

 coming earlier into beauty but not lasting 

 quite so long in flower as seedlings. Given 

 shelter, rich soil, and moisture, their culture 

 is of the simplest, but if too exposed their 

 appearance is soon spoiled by bad weather. 

 From the dwarfer plants raised from cuttings 

 the flowers may be cut and will remain open 

 in water for several days, but when from more 

 vigorous plants they fade too soon to be of 

 much use. The plant is easily raised from 

 seeds, which often spring up in the border 

 around the parent ; root-cuttings, or the off- 

 sets which are often thrown up by them, are 

 also easy ways of increase. But if strong clumps 

 are planted in a sheltered spot they will often 

 last for years, dying away completely in winter, 

 but growing again from the old roots, and 

 covered with bloom during summer. As a 

 pot-plant it is useful for its winter flowers, 

 which remain open at that season, though 

 coming without scent ; by cutting back old 

 plants and raising seedlings in succession, it 

 is possible to have plants in beauty the year 

 through. In certain cases of delicate skin the 

 rough leaves of this plant cause a stinging 

 irritation, lasting sometimes for days ; when 

 used cut, also, the stems give off a sticky juice, 

 which is unpleasant and with difficulty re- 

 moved from clothing. Though prolific in 

 seedlings they differ little in character, the 

 only varieties being decurrens, a dwarf free- 

 flowered form branched almost from the base ; 

 a second kind with flowers faintly flushed ; and 

 a worthless variegated form. Crossed with N. 

 Forgetiana — a rare Brazilian species — this kind 

 has given us the beautiful hybrid N. Sandera, 

 already described. Syn. N. affinis. 



Californian Tobacco (N. Bigelovit). — A 

 handsome night-flowering kind from the Pa- 



cific coast, with white flowers, shorter in the 

 tube than most kinds and little more than an 

 inch across ; an annual of dwarf, erect growth. 



Fragrant Tobacco (N. fragrans). — An 

 old garden plant discovered some fifty years 

 ago growing upon the shores of the Isle of 

 Pines in the New Caledonian group. Its 

 flowers of greenish-white hang in large droop- 

 ing heads upon stems of 3 or 4 feet, and are 

 very long in the tube, with broad-spreading 

 lobes of almost fleshy texture, and strongly 

 fragrant. Its stemless leaves are thick and fleshy, 

 and the entire plant clothed with soft hairs ; in 

 rich soil its growth is ungainly, but its many 

 flowers are effective in the border and useful 

 under glass during autumn and winter. 



Yellow Tree Tobacco (N.g/auca) . — A vi- 

 gorousshrub in America and southern Europe, 

 growing many feet in one summer, with 

 rounded fleshy leaves of a bluish-grey colour 

 and pendant clusters of tubular yellow flowers, 

 small at the mouth and covered with soft down. 

 In young plants the foliage is of fine effect, 

 but the branches being very brittle, old plants 

 are often spoiled by wind. In sheltered places 

 it sometimes becomes a tree of 25 feet, flower- 

 ing and seeding so freely that the young plants 

 take root everywhere, in walls, pavements, or 

 even roofs, showing great vitality. In northern 

 countries it is not much seen in the greenhouse, 

 though seedlings soon reach flowering size. 

 One of its commonest uses under glass is as a 

 stock for young shoots of Petunias, which may 

 be inserted with quaint effect upon the stout, 

 woody stem ; but, save as a curiosity, such 

 specimens are of no value. Argentine. 



Langsdorff's Tobacco (N. Langs dor jfi). — 

 A Brazilian herb of 4 or 5 feet, with wide- 

 mouthed trumpet-shaped flowers of yellowish- 

 green, very slightly divided into lobes, and ap- 

 pearing as nodding clusters upon long branch- 

 ing stems ; leaves stemless and covered with 

 clammy hairs. August. 



Chilian Tobacco {NJongijiora). — A little- 

 I known plant, bearing upon long slender stems 

 of 2 to 3 feet, salver-shaped flowers, white in- 

 side, with a long green or purple tube. Some- 

 times grown in place of N. alata, but less good 

 in colour. 



Night-flowering Tobacco (N. nocttjiord) . 

 I — Akin to the last, and perhaps only a form 

 of it, with hairy, sticky stems and long spikes 



