138 
THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 
When done flowering, if very early, they must be put somewhere 
that will afford them full sun and protection from frost ; but any that 
bloom in April will do very well plunged in a sunny sheltered place 
out of doors, and removed to the same quarters for summer and 
winter as before recommended. If grown by the cottager, or where 
there is no convenience for forcing them, they may he taken at once 
out of the plunging material and placed in the wannest corner of a 
south window, where the sun can play full on the outside of the pot, 
and when they have shot up about an inch or two, a pan may he 
placed under them with a little water in it, which should be quite 
used up before any more is added. When in bloom they require 
plenty of water. 
Now all this is very simple, and some may say scarcely worth a 
place in your columns ; and indeed, I believe that the only secret in 
their management is to keep the same plants in the same pots and 
never shake them out, never cut them down (that is, never make a 
clean “ shave ” of all the top, as I have sometimes seen done to the 
destruction of strawberries, asparagus, lilies, etc.), and always take 
care to well mould them before winter, covering up dead tops and 
all. If any strings remain of the last year’s foliage, they can easily 
be pulled off in spring. The specimen you lately received from me 
had been potted at least ten years, and although there had been 
perhaps a dozen flowers with two leaves attached cut from it every 
year for the last seven or eight years, it has never been cut over for 
the sake of tidiness, and never been shaken out or repotted. I 
generally find .that they bloom strongest when they have been 
potted three or four years ; and so far from being injured by forcing 
they absolutely grow, I should say, at least twice as large as any I 
ever saw in the open air ; the two spikes of cut bloom that accom- 
panied the plant I sent for your inspection were grown on the top 
of a flue in an intermediate house, and cut from a plant in a six -inch 
pot, containing twenty-nine spikes of bloom. Some plants I shifted 
into larger pots last year have bloomed very finely, but they are not 
so ornamental as when they perfectly fill the pot to the rim. Their 
value as a shrubbery plant need not be dilated on here, as everybody 
has seen them growing perfectly wild ; but some are of opinion that 
a portion of manure strewed over them every autumn would much 
enhance their beauty at the proper season. 
FRANCISCEA CONFERTIFLORA. 
HIS fine stove plant is not so generally cultivated as it de- 
serves to be. Its great heads of pale blue or lilac flowers, 
i each measuring an inch and a half across, when pro- 
I duced in profusion, have a really striking effect, and 
1 they last a long time in perfection. Its cultivation does 
not differ much from that of other varieties ; a temperature of from 
60° to 70° during active growth, suitable soil, water, and general 
cleanliness, are all that is required to ensure success. 
