528 



OLEANDER CULTURE. 



it to be done without danger. Planted with all the pains 

 necessary for the preservation of the young shoots^ Potatoes 

 treated in this way come to perfection much sooner than 

 those which are planted without any previous preparation ; 

 indeed all the gardeners who supply the Paris markets with 

 early Potatoes prepare their seed in the way we have de- 

 scribed above. 



Oleander Culture. — Visitors to the Continent in the 

 summer months can hardly fail to be struck with the em- 

 ployment of certain plants for decorative purposes^ of which 

 we in this country make comparatively little use. Here, if 

 a few Orange trees or Portugal Laurels, perchance a 

 Pomegranate, are grown in tubs and put on the terrace in 

 summer time, it seems to be considered that enough has 

 been done in that way. There is no reason, however, why 

 many other plants should not be used in the same manner. 

 Some may remember the beautiful eflPect produced on a quay 

 fronting the lake of Lucerne by a number of standards of 

 this kind, including not only the plants mentioned, but 

 Pittosporums, Yellow Jasmines, Evergreen Oaks, Euonymus, 

 Aucubas, and Figs. At Vienna a similar assortment may 

 be seen in front of some of the principal cafes, where one 

 may sit in the open street under the shadow of the Pome- 

 granate and the Oleander. 



This latter plant, too, is an immense favourite with the 

 Parisians. In fact, the Oleander forms, with the Myrtle and 

 the Pomegranate, one of the most important articles of 

 Parisian commercial horticulture. The reasons for this are 

 obvious — the elegant habit, glossy foliage, profusion of 

 bright rosy or white flowers, endowed, moreover, with an 

 agreeable almond-like perfume, offer recommendations 

 hardly to be exceeded by those of other plants. The 

 culture, moreover, is easy. Indifferent as to the treatment 

 it receives in winter, it may be kept in cellars or garrets — 

 almost anywhere, in fact ; hence its frequency abroad in the 

 windows of the artisan and at the doors of the merchant's 

 office. The shrub may be propagated either by layers or by 

 cuttings ; but of late years, in Prance, the former method 

 has been abandoned, as it is found that cuttings produce 



