18 
CULTURAL HINTS ON SOME OF THE PLANTS 
which are very beautiful, but generally it does not bloom quite so profusely as could be 
wished. It is readily propagated by cuttings, which root very freely in heat, and 
the plant during the growing season delights in a brisk moist stove temperature, 
and considerable bottom-heat, though the milder heat of the intermediate house is 
preferable for the preservation of the foliage. To get a really good specimen of this 
plant, it is necessary to stop the young shoots regularly until the pot is quite covered 
with branches, as, if left to itself, it grows very loosely, and soon becomes unsightly. 
After a proper foundation has been laid, the branches may be allowed to extend 
to the lengtli of two feet, and if the wood is properly matured, and the plants are 
kept in a dormant state through the winter, they will generally, when introduced 
into heat in the following spring, produce a good head of bloom. Occasionally a 
strong plant with four or five branches, may be met with in the Nurseries, and such 
a plant, if w^ell-rooted, may be cut down to within four or six inches of the pot, and 
if placed on a gentle bottom-heat, will produce abundance of shoots. When the 
young shoots are an inch or two long, the plant, if in a large pot, must be shaken 
out, or have the ball so much reduced, as to admit of its being placed in a small pot. 
Use the compost before recommended, adding a little additional peat and silver sand 
the first time of potting ; place the plant in a gentle moist heat until thoroughly 
established, and then treat it the same, as to temperature, as S. arhorea. This 
species requires much washing over the foliage with a sponge, and when growing 
freely delights in abundance of clear weak manure-water. 
Statice j^uijmrata . — The Purple Statice requires the same treatment as the 
preceding, and though dull-coloured, is distinct and interesting. It does not 
require so much heat, as it is from the Cape of Good Hope ; but it delights in a 
moist growing atmosphere with abundance of air. Use the same compost with a 
little additional peat, and give plenty of manure-wnter. 
Statice mucronata , — The pointed and curled Statice is a well-known species, and 
was introduced from Barbary in 1784. It produces pale red flowers in great 
abundance, which continue a long time in perfection, and the plant is one of very 
easy management. Some good plants of this kind may be seen in the garden of the 
Horticultural Society, but by proper attention this plant might be grown to a very 
considerable size, indeed almost to any size ; and yet, in ordinary collections, we 
rarely see it more than a foot or eighteen inches high, and then by no means so 
bushy as it ought to be. The best way to proceed with this species, is to procure a 
nice bushy plant, say in a 6-inch pot. After Christmas introduce it into the heat of 
an intermediate house, and as soon as it begins to grow and root freely, remove it 
into a 9-inch pot, using the same compost as for the other species, and syringing 
copiously. Treat the plant the same as S. arhorea, and shift it as frequently as 
appears necessary, until September, when it must be ripened off. If a fine specimen 
is a desideratum, it is not advisable to allow the plant to bloom the first season ; but 
if, on introducing the plant into heat in the spring of the second year, each of the 
principal leading shoots is stopped by pinching out the terminal bud, they will form 
