258 



GREEN-HOUSE — REPOTTING. \_March. 



very beneath. W. longifblia is similar; both have small sil- 

 very white flowers, and are easily cultivated. (Soil No. 2.) 



WitseniaSj four species, W. corymhosa is a plant that has 

 stood in high estimation ever since it was known, but, unfor- 

 tunately, there is a very inferior plant. Aristea cyanea got 

 into our collections under that name. The panicles of W. 

 corymhosa are quite smooth ] those of Aristea are hairy, 

 which is itself sufficient to detect them ; but otherwise the 

 appearance of W. corymhosa is much stronger and more erect 

 growing, not inclining to push at the roots so much as Aris- 

 tba. The foliage is lanceolate and amplexicaule, the leaves 

 having much the nature and appearance of Iris. The plant 

 is of easy culture, and blooms from July to November ; color 

 fine blue. W. ramosa is a very fine species, similar to the above ; 

 flowers yellow and blue; plant branching. (Soil No. 8.) 



Yucca aloefolia, and its beautiful variety variegata, are de- 

 sirable plants. They do not bloom till they have grown to 

 considerable size; but still they make a decided contrast 

 among other plants ; the flowers are white and produced on 

 terminal spikes. (Soil No. 11.) 



Zdmias, about twenty species, eight of which belong to 

 this compartment. The foliage is greatly admired, and is in 

 large fronds, with oblique, lanceolate leaflets. Several of 

 them glaucous. They bear heads of flowers of a brown co- 

 lor in the centre of the plants, very like large pine cones. 

 Z. librrida, the finest; Z. pungens^ Z. spiralis^ and Z. 

 latlfbliay are the most conspicuous. They must be kept in 

 the warmest part of the green-house ; and give them large 

 well-drained pots, watering sparingly during winter. They 

 are imported from the Cape of Good Hope. (Soil No. 11.) 

 All the plants herein named requiring to be drained, in pre- 

 paring the pots, place first a piece of broken pot, oyster- 

 shell, or any similar substitute, with the convex side on the 

 hole of the pot, and then put in a few, or a handful (accord- 

 ing to the size of the pot) of shivers of broken pots, or 

 round gravel about the size of garden beans. Those that 

 we have mentioned in this Repotting^ as to be done in this 

 or beginning of next month, is not intended to apply to 

 plants in general, large and small, but to those that are 

 young, and require encouragement, or to those that were not 

 shifted last autumn. The roots must not be disturbed, but 

 the ball turned out entire ; and put as much earth as will 



