THE FLOBAL WOELD AND GAEDEN GUIDE. 
3G1 
HEXACENTRIS MYSORENSIS. 
n HIS is certainly a very beautiful plant, and its value for 
decorative purposes is very much enhanced by its long 
drooping racemes of singularly formed bright yellow 
and crimson blossoms, being freely produced in the dead 
of winter, when the best furnished collections possess 
few if any twining plant, which for general effect can be compared 
with this. It is, moreover, a plant of extremely easy culture, form- 
ing a large specimen or covering a large space in a very short time, 
and is well worth a place wherever there is a warm house for it. 
Those who do not possess it should obtain it soon, in order that it 
may be got into growth early in spring, so as to secure large plants 
for blooming next winter. The young plants should be placed in a 
warm part of the stove by the beginning of February, and as soon 
as they show any indications of growth examine the roots, and if 
these appear to want more space shift into a pot a good size larger. 
If a mild bottom-heat can be commanded, this will assist in encou- 
raging the production of roots. Before starting the plant into 
growth any weakly shoot should be cut out, and the stronger ones 
may also be shortened back to prominent eyes. Keep the plant as 
near the glass as convenient, and the atmosphere moist, syringing 
overhead every fine afternoon, but do not give too much water at the 
root until it starts into free growth. If it is intended to train the 
plant to a trellis it should be shifted into the pot in which it is 
intended to bloom it as soon as possible, in order to be able to train 
the shoots as they grow ; and a plant that is well rooted in a seven- 
inch pot may be safely transferred to a fifteen-inch pot, which will 
be large enough for any reasonable sized specimen. But as the 
beautiful blossoms are borne on drooping racemes, these are apt to 
find their way inside the trellis, and get partly hid by the foliage 
if an ordinary shaped trellis is used, and except in the case of 
those who have some particular object for growing it on a trellis, it 
would be better to allow it to run along wires under the roof of a 
stove, or intermediate house. Treated in this way it will be de- 
cidedly more showy than when confined to the limits of even a large 
trellis, and will bloom longer and more profusely. I would not, 
however, advise that it should be planted out in a border, for it is of 
a very free habit of growth, and probably would flower but sparingly 
if its roots were allowed to have too much space. If a trellis is used, it 
should be spread out at the top, somewhat in the form of an umbrella, 
so that the flowers may hang clear of the foliage and shoots, of which 
there will be a large mass before it will bloom freely ; and for a plant 
in a fifteen-inch pot the trellis should not be less than four feet across ; 
for just in proportion as the shoots can be exposed to light in autumn 
will be the number and size of the racemes which they will produce. 
The plant need not be kept too warm after the trellis is well 
covered with wood, as a slight check will assist in inducing it to 
bloom freely ; and in the case of plants trained under the rafters in 
the stove, they should be kept rather dry at the root, and as freely 
December. 
