DIFFERENT METHODS OF TREATING PASSION-FLOWERS. 
41 
li communicated by flues, slioiild never be employed ; and if tbe suggestion here 
! tlirown out be acted upon, the heating apparatus must be so contrived that the 
' water may be turned off, to flow through other channels, when bottom-heat is not 
■ needed. If this precaution be not complied with, a difficulty will be experienced 
' in winter that will “ render the cure w’orse than the disease ; " for at the very time 
! when the plants require to be at rest, and, therefore, ought to be exempted from the 
stimulating influence of bottom-heat, it will be indispensable to maintain constant 
heat to warm the atmosphere. The apparatus, then, for supplying warmth to the 
■ air, must not be the same as that for conveying bottom-heat, though they may 
nevertheless be in connection, and worked by the same boiler. Considerable 
judgment and care will of course be necessary in the management ; and when to 
apply it, and when to leave it off, can only be decided by the state of the plant— 
the most active bottom-heat being required in spring. 
On the two principles involved in the preceding remarks — limited extension 
and bottom-heat to the roots — the copiousness of flow^ers in Passifloras is greatly 
dependent, and it is principally to these that we must look to bring about a dwarf 
habit in conjunction with a showy appearance, without impairing the healthy aspect 
of the plant. And, although we have spoken more especially of Passion-flowers, 
the practice inculcated is applicable to a large number of other climbers, the 
ordinary luxuriance of which has precluded from a more extensive cultivation, and 
is analogous to that mooted with a similar view in a recent article. 
Having thus shown the most obvious means by which the necessity of much prun- 
ing may be avoided, the next point which obtrudes on our notice is training. As we 
shall have again to advert to this before we conclude, and as so much has already been 
given on the subject in former pages, we may here dismiss it with mentioning one 
or two of the most palpable absurdities. We cannot fix on a greater to find, at 
the same time, exemplifications so prevalent, as that of spreading out the shoots, 
and training them regularly under the glass. The gracility of the plant is entirely 
destroyed, and the blossoms are placed in the most unfavourable view imaginable. 
Another common practice is to tie the shoots all together, to their extremities, 
under the rafter, a method scarcely preferable to the other, except that it is sooner 
remedied by merely loosing the ends, and allowing them to hang down negligently. 
Little more would then be necessary than to keep them from becoming too 
crowded, and either to cut them away as they get too long, or tie up the 
portion that has done flowering. By this mode the flowers will alwaysffie in the 
most conspicuous position. 
Hitherto our observations have been limited to plants grown in confined 
borders; we now turn to their cultivation in pots. It may be said that the treat- 
ment enjoined in the preceding paragraphs is equivalent to pot culture : and in 
some respects it certainly is a close approximation, but, of necessity, only applies 
to those specimens intended to be permanent features ; and it may still be desirable 
to have a few plants capable of being shifted from place to place as convenience or 
VOL. XTI. NO. CXXXIV. G 
