BELONGING TO THE GENUS IXORA. 
179 
ti ately the Ixoras, like many other good plants, have many enemies, and are so 
n di infested with insects of all kinds as literally to be worried to death by them, 
jj i spider, thrips, aphides, mealy bug, brown scale, white scale — in fact, every 
kd of insect which infests the hot-house — are at home on the Ixora ; and to eradi 
c. 5 these the plants are so scraped, scrubbed, sponged, and doctored, as to be almost 
c stantly under treatment for that purpose, by which they are so much injured as 
r ely to produce a healthy branch or entire leaf ; and consequently, as the produc- 
1 1 of roots is governed by the production of branches, the plants are generally short 
othe former, and are very susceptible of injury from that great bane of good 
g dening, injudicious watering. 
In the spring of the present year, the writer visited the collection of a gentleman 
^ o had some very beautiful plants of Ixora grandiflora, several of which, though by 
i means large plants, would have produced from twenty to thirty fine heads of 
1 om, had it not so happened, that a careless man was set with a short stubby 
1 ish to wash the mealy bug from the points of the shoots around the bloom buds, 
I which they generally congregate, and so effectually did he execute his duty, as 
i, her to totally destroy, or so much injure them as to render the plants of no use 
iatever for the season. Thus, it will be seen that, apart from the plants being 
; ;ated unnaturally, that is, too much nursed, the great enemies of progress are 
j sects ; which either must be thoroughly eradicated when the plants are young, or 
I a constant source of trouble and vexation ever afterwards. Now, we do not say 
is impossible to eradicate the mealy bug and scale on large plants ; as hot water 
a temperature of from 100 to 150 degrees, thrown on the plant in the open air, 
rough a fine syringe, when the plants are in a comparatively dormant state, will do 
uch to destroy them, as will also “ Hereman’s Dilutium ; ” but w 7 hen the young 
ood gets into the interstices of the bark, and among the young shoots and flowers, 
is next to impossible to get rid of them. 
From the preceding remarks it will be seen how necessary it is to guard against 
sects ; and those who are about commencing the cultivation of these, or any other 
ove plants, had better give gold for young clean plants, than even accept larger 
ants at a gift, however valuable they may be, unless they are perfectly clean, 
"hen a collection is once clean, there is some pleasure in its management, but to 
p constantly bug-hunting is a most irksome task. Plants purchased from the 
arseries should also be treated with suspicion ; indeed, it is a good plan to make 
1 plants perform quarantine until you are convinced they are quite clean ; and for 
lis purpose they should be placed in a pit or corner of the stove, and closely 
atched, until you are quite sure they are free from insects. 
The Ixoras are all natives of tropical climates, most of them coming from the 
last Indies and China, and some of the more recent acquisitions from Borneo, 
ava, &c. We have no positive information as to the altitudinal position which 
ley occupy in their native forests ; but judging from the treatment which best suits 
aem in this country, we suspect they abound more as undergrowths in comparatively 
