THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 
203 
size it may be desirable to have them by the flowering season. 
They should be returned to their former situations, kept close and 
moist, and encouraged to make active growth, merely giving suffi- 
cient air to keep the young wood strong. When the pots get well 
filled with roots, and the plants become good-sized specimens, which 
will be the case by August, they should be gradually prepared for 
removal to a sheltered situation out of doors, where they will be 
shaded from the forenoon sun. Here they will make short stocky 
growth, and will flower more profusely than if kept under glass all 
the autumn ; but they must not be rashly exposed to the sun, to dry 
and discolour the foliage. As to stopping, this should not be 
practised on plants intended to flower in Novembt r later than about 
the middle of August, and all the strong shoots should be stopped, 
otherwise the specimens will flower irregularly. If it should be 
desired, however, to retard the blooming of a portion of the plants, 
they may be stopped as late as October ; but in this case it will be 
necessary to all'ord them a close place under glass until they make 
flowering wood. As soon as the weather becomes unsettled in 
autumn, the plants must be placed under glass, for they are very 
easily injured by Irost, and should be afforded a light airy situation. 
But if it should be desirable to have them in flower at once, they 
may be kept close and moist, and in this case they will soon be 
covered with their spikes of brilliant scarlet. If afforded a situation 
free from damp, and near the glass, with a temperature of about 
45°, they will remain long in full beauty ; but large potbound 
specimens should be liberally supplied with manure water. 
After flowering, the specimens may be thrown to the rubbish 
heap, reserving one or two to supply cuttings. These should be 
kept dry at the roots for a fortnight ; then cut back rather closely, 
and placed in any spare corner of the greenhouse until towards the 
end of February, when they should be placed in a warm house, 
and thoroughly watered, when they will soon furnish a supply of 
cuttings. 
AOTUS GKACILLIMA. 
slender-growing, graceful-looking plant is well 
Bed! 11 worthy of more attention than it generally receives, for 
iS^l when well grown it is very ornamental. It is readily 
IKfl Effi I propagated by means of cuttings of strong, shoit-jointed, 
lETr™™™*! y oung shoots, which root very freely, if selected when 
about half ripe. But the propagation of such plants as this had 
better be left to those w ho have proper convenience for doing it well, 
for amateurs generally (ail in producing good young plants ; and 
leggy, ill-propagated examples of any of the species of this genus 
are not worth house-room. Beginners procuring young plauts from 
the nursery should be very careful to select healthy, strong, bushy 
ones. If obtained at once, place them in a cold frame, where they 
can be kept cool aod moist, and shaded from the mid-day sun. If 
they appear to require more pot room, examine the state of the 
July. 
