256 
CULTURAL HINTS ON SOME OF THE PLANTS 
we will begin with S. arborea, the tree Statice, and then notice some of the other 
kinds. 
8. arborea is a native of Teneriffe, and was introduced to our gardens in 1830 
through Mr. Webb, but was not brought generally into cultivation for several years 
afterwards, when the splendid plant alluded to above fixed public attention upon it. 
It is a greenhouse plant ; but, to grow it really well, requires a temperature con- 
siderably higher than that of the greenhouse, though a stove heat is somewhat too 
warm for it. Supposing you have nice dwarf bushy plants in small pots, take them 
about the end of December, and pot them into a mixture consisting of good turfy 
loam, cut thin from an old pasture, and in a half-decomposed state, turfy peat, leaf- 
mould, pieces of charcoal of various sizes, and sand in about equal quantities. Mix 
these intimately together, taking care not to break the lumps too much, but make 
the compost firm about the roots of the plants. It is not advisable to shift the plants 
too largely the first time, and therefore from a five-inch to an eight or nine-inch pot 
will be quite sufficient. Place the plants in a house or pit at a temperature of from 
50° to 60°. Keep the atmosphere moist, fresh, and growing, and sprinkle the 
plants twice or thrice a day in clear growing weather. If the pots can be set on a 
gentle bottom-heat, the plants will be benefited by it ; but it is not necessary to 
plunge the pots, or to expose the roots to a very exciting bottom-heat. 
With a mild bottom-heat and a moist growing atmospheric temperature, this 
Statice will grow with great vigour, and produce foliage of considerable size ; but if 
the leaves are not well hardened by a free exposure to air, they do not stand long, 
but die off rather prematurely, and without any apparent cause. This is the case 
more especially when grown in a strong stove heat ; for though, under such circum- 
stances, you may get foliage of a remarkably vigorous description, it never remains 
healthy when subjected to a greenhouse temperature. 
Upon the foliage of the large-leaved Statices, both upon the upper and lower 
surfaces, and more especially around the axiles of the leaves and the base of the 
flower-stems, will be seen a sort of gummy exudation, which, if allowed to accumulate, 
peels off in flakes, like a thin coating of dry glue. This, if left on the leaves, stops 
the pores and prevents their performing their proper functions, and hence the neces- 
sity of syringing copiously daily, and also of washing the plants carefully with a 
sponge at least once a fortnight. This washing requires to be more attended to in 
the growing than at any other season ; but it is not advisable to neglect it at any 
time. 
As the plants progress in growth they will, if properly managed, be in a fit state 
to shift into larger pots about the end of February, using the same compost with a 
handful of charred bones or cowdung added to it. These are found to be very 
stimulating manures, and have the advantage of being beneficial to plants without 
encouraging worms or insects, as is too frequently the case with them when used in 
a raw state. The bones may be prepared by simply throwing them on a slow fire ; 
but the cowdung requires a more particular preparation. For this purpose a fire of 
