64 
HINTS ON THE CULTURE OF THE IXIA TRIBE. 
In the early part of September, the bulbs which have been preserved since 
flowering in the early part of the summer, should be examined, and the largest and 
best looking ones selected for fresh potting. 
The best soil for them should consist of a mixture of sand and peat, with a 
very trifling addition of rich open loam well incorporated. 
A few of the bulbs (say four or five) should be planted in thirty-two sized pots 
filled with the above compost, observing to put the bulbs about half an inch deep 
in the soil ; when this is completed, they may be placed in the open air, until the 
winter frosts render it advisable to remove them to the green-house, where they 
may remain until the early part of February, when they should be introduced to 
about sixty degrees of heat, giving them from the commencement of their growth 
a regular supply of water. 
In the month of May, if the season is fine, they may be expected to flower, 
during the time they continue in this state, a copious supply of water is requisite 
for them, in fact all bulbous plants, when in bloom, hold their true character better 
if a liberal supply of water is given at the time of flowering. 
After flowering, place them in the open air, where they should be attended to 
with water so long as there exists in any part of them a disposition to generate sap. 
When the roots appear perfectly matured, they should be taken out of the pots, 
cleaned, and carefully put in paper bags, or kept in a drawer where they will be 
secure from moisture, until the return of the planting season in September. 
Few plants repay us with a profusion of more brilliant flowers than the above 
tribe of bulbous plants. The chief object in the successful culture of bulbs seems 
to be, that of keeping them in a perfectly torpid state, until the time it is wished to 
excite them, at which time, and during the whole period of their growth, they 
should be kept in as free a growing state as possible. There is little doubt but the 
generality of the Cape bulbs will produce good flowers under this treatment. 
HINTS ON THE TREATMENT OF THE RHODODENDRON 
ARBOREUM. 
BY A. Z., HORT. REG., VOL. I., 687. 
This very magnificent species, according to Sir J. E. Smith, in Exotic Botany, 
Chap. VI., was first noticed by Captain Hardwicke, on a tour to Sirinagur, in 
1796, growing in the mountainous tract called the Sewalic Chain, which separates 
the plains of Hindostan, between 75 and 85 degrees east longitude, from the 
Himalaya mountains. It is generally found in elevated situations, in forests of oak ; 
the soil a rich black vegetable earth, on stony beds. The natives use the wood 
for making the stock of matchlocks, or common muskets of Hindostan ; the stem is 
columnar, twenty feet or more in height, sixteen to twenty-four inches in diameter. 
From its natural situation, it is irrigated by the melting of the snow above, which 
