CULTURE OF IPOMCEA LEARII. 
207 
partially shaded by their position. The atmosphere, likewise, has ever been more 
or less moist ; and the soil is loam, enriched with decayed manure, or leaf-soil, or 
some similarly nutritive material. Now, it may be presumed, that in its native 
districts the plant grows at the foot of, or among, trees and shrubs, which deprive 
it of much nourishment ; that it is alternately exposed to the glare of the sun and 
a dry atmosphere, or too much shaded and confined by the larger plants which 
grow above it ; and that the variations of temperature from extreme heat to at least 
some degree of cold to which it is liable, however well they may harmonize with 
the economy of its existence, are not likely to promote the full, constant, and rich 
development it here attains. To maintain this last standard, therefore, it is evident to 
us that the conditions which combined to cause it must be preserved in full operation; 
and, in addition, that the roots should be allowed to range through a tolerably spacious 
bed of soil, which is not too deep, and has an air-chamber, or a perfect system of 
drainage beneath it. With those specimens that are grown in pots, the same 
principle may be kept in view, though it cannot be carried out to a like extent ; 
for, by often shifting, the plant can finally be transferred to a very large pot, 
and afterwards the roots may be pruned, and new soil added whenever it seems 
inclined to degenerate. 
Perhaps, when we mention the pleasing fact that I. Learii has proved capable 
of succeeding in a greenhouse, it may be thought that what we have said concern- 
ing the utility of heat and a moist atmosphere is wholly controverted. But, 
while we recommend strongly (particularly to those who have no stove, or only a 
small one, or cannot spare enough room therein) the employment of this species as a 
greenhouse climber, we must declare that its habit is not so vigorous nor its leaves 
and flowers sq fine as when grown in a stove. The degeneration is certainly very 
trifling, and unquestionably will not support a shadow of an objection to the plan 
itself. At Messrs. Hendersons, of Pine-apple Place, there is, in fact, a specimen 
in the greenhouse, which, for the size and beauty of its flowers, could scarcely be 
excelled ; still it must be remembered that this has been raised from a plant kept 
in the stove, and has not yet been wintered in a greenhouse. 
At other places, we have noted plants of this species blooming in the greenhouse, 
and actually in the open air during summer ; but we are constrained to remark, 
that the greater the vicissitudes of temperature, and the greater the degree of 
atmospheric change to which it has been exposed, our observation warrants the 
assertion that it invariably loses its splendour to a proportionate extent. 
The mode we would suggest for ornamenting the greenhouse with two or three 
specimens of this superb Ipomoea , would be the following : — Let cuttings be taken 
from the points of some of the principal shoots of plants that are maintained in a 
stove, a few weeks before those shoots arrive at a flowering age, and let these be 
struck in a slight hotbed. After they are potted, they can be retained in a 
moderate temperature till they have grow T n a little, when the top of the plant 
should be cut off, to induce it to branch. They can be repotted, if requisite, at 
