222 
THUNBERGIA GRANDIFLORA. 
the constitution of the plant, being the cause of the defect. Thus, it is always found, 
when the specimens decried are placed in those conditions which are evidently 
essential to their proliferousness, they commence flowering most profusely, and 
continue to do the same while a similar system of management lasts. 
Having examined, with some care, plants of T. grandiflora which bloom 
abundantly, and others on which a single blossom is rarely to be witnessed, it is 
obvious to us that the two states are brought about solely by attention or inattention 
to some very trifling particulars. First, it should be potted in a compost with 
some pretensions^ to be called rich, but not of an extremely nutritive description. 
Two parts of maiden loam, and the remainder of heath-soil, leaf-mould, and sand, 
will, if mixed, constitute an excellent material. Next, the pot to which it is 
transferred must be exactly of the size suited to its wants, and neither so large as 
to leave more than three quarters of an inch between the roots and its edge, nor so 
small as to check the extension of the rootlets, unless the specimen be too exuberant. 
Lastly, each plant ought to have an open space of at least half a foot on all sides of 
it, that the influence of the external aerial agents may be duly received, and that 
it may not relapse into a weakly state, with long, sickly branches, bare towards 
the bottom. 
The best mode of training for the attainment of these ends is to a small round 
trellis of either wood or wire, around which the shoots can be fastened in such a 
manner as not to grow higher than four or five feet from the stage. In the summer 
months this species needs watering with great liberality, and syringing rather 
forcibly three or four times in a week. Throughout the winter, however, it is to 
be kept much drier, and suffered to stand on a wooden or stone surface. 
Our drawing of this splendid plant was made in the nursery of Messrs. 
Henderson, Pine-Apple Place, whose recent culture of stove plants, and the 
spirited manner in which they have constructed houses for their reception^ are much 
to be commended. It is an East Indian species, described by Dr. Roxburgh as 
growing " among bushes in wild uncultivated spots near Calcutta, where it flowers 
in the rainy season." With us it blooms freely through several of the autumnal 
months. 
Cuttings of the young wood, taken off in spring, and placed in sandy loam, 
plunging the pots in heating bark or manure, and protecting the whole by a hand- 
glass, will strike root with tolerable freedom. 
