26 



PANTON'S FLOWER GARDEN. 



black in colour, such as is frequently used for the hardest-wooded section of Ericas, but full of 

 fibre; they are free-rooting subjects, requiring- the soil to be kept — especially during the grow- 

 ing season — a little moister than some things indigenous to the same country. They will 

 also bear more pot-room whilst young than some other greenhouse shrubs. This collectively 

 points to the necessity, not only for thorough drainage of the pots, but also to a liberal 

 admixture of sand amongst the soil, to admit of the water percolating freely through it. 

 These plants are somewhat subject to the attacks of mildew through the winter and spring, 

 and unless this is sought after, and destroyed by the application of flowers of sulphur or 

 some of the remedies used for the destruction of this parasite, it will quickly reduce the 

 leaves to a condition that will cause their falling off: in a green state — an occurrence that 

 seriously injures the plants. To render them less liable to the presence of the parasite, 

 they should each summer, about the beginning of August, be stood out of doors in the 

 open air for a month or so, which will not only cause the leaves to get better matured, but 

 will also tend to promote a greater disposition to flower. 



It is one of the importations of Messrs. Veitch, of Chelsea, in whose collection the 

 subject of our illustration flowered. 



