48 THE FLOEIST AND 
SARRACENIAS. 
The culture of the Sarracenia, or American Pitcher-plant, is by some 
considered difficult, but the principal if not the only reason why these plants 
are not more frequently to be met with, is more to be attributed to the 
small share of pra<;tical attention they have hitherto received than to the 
uncultivable nature of the plants themselves. It is a mistake to imagine 
that any temperature, however genial, will induce the roots of Sarracenias 
to penetrate, like those of Heaths, such a solid compost as peat and sand, 
or that the plants will grow or even live treated like aquatics, and sub- 
merged in a hothouse tank. Early in March they should be potted into 
6-inch pots, using for composts turfy lumps of peat, sphagnum, and pots- 
herds in equal parts. Care must be taken to keep the crowns well up from 
the soil. The pots should be placed on the platform in a shady part of the 
stove. As soon as the plants begin to start each pot should be surmounted 
with a bell-glass ; glasses with an aperture in the top would free the plants 
from the presence of too much moisture, otherwise the plants will suffer 
from damp ; and as in nine cases out of ten Sarracenias are destroyed 
through damp, it will be above all things necessary that especial attention 
be paid to this direction. Do not place the pots in those minature cess- 
pools called saucers, but water the plants while growing, daily, on the sur- 
face. The object in using bell-glasses is to induce the plants to break 
freely, and when they are all fairly started the glasses may be gradually 
dispensed with. Both the foliage and the pitchers will be produced in much 
better color, and grow considerably stronger without the glasses than with 
them. Do not darken the glass immediately over the plants ; for although 
Sarracenias while growing delight in a humid atmosphere, they do not like 
it darkened. The plants should therefore have all the light possible, but 
no sun. Sarracenias may also be grown in the most shady part of the 
greenhouse or conservatory ; but, in this case, the bell-glasses should not 
be removed until after the plants have done growing — in other respects the 
treatment will be the same. The situation best suited for preserving 
Sarracenias during winter is on a shelf, well up in the light, in the least 
airy part of the greenhouse ; while there the plants should be sparingly 
watered. E. Miles. 
In Gard. Chron. 
