THE PLANT STOVE. 
161 
has settled and become quite clear, it may be 
just a little colouied, sometbing like ale. It is 
only to plants in a free, vigorous growing 
state, and especially those approaching a 
blooming state, that this manure-water should 
be given. Sickly and newly-potted plants 
would be injured rather than benefited by it. 
Any plants that have been blooming for -the 
past month or two, and are now gone out of 
bloom, should have less water given them than 
formerly, so as to bring them into a state 
of rest, ready to grow away again by and 
by, and come into flower at the same time 
next year. 
Potting. — Continue to reshift such plants 
as are required to attain considerable size : 
this may be done as often as the roots begin to 
thicken, until they are moved into pots which 
are judged large enough for them. Growing 
plants must be repotted with very great care, 
so as not to injure the young fibrous roots. 
Pruning, Sfc. — During the time the plants 
are growing rapidly, it is very necessary to look 
that they do not become straggling and un- 
sightly, for the want of a little timely pruning, 
or stopping back of the vigorous shoots. To 
do this properly some knowledge of the habits 
of each species is requisite ; otherwise the 
flowering shoots may be removed, which is not 
desirable. In general, all very strong-growing 
shoots may be shortened back with advantage, 
whether the plants be of woody habit, or only 
suffruticose ; and a very little observation and 
experience will prevent the operator from 
doing injury to his plants, by removing what 
would be required for ornament. When plants 
require somewhat severe pruning, it should be 
done just before they are set to grow ; but 
sickly plants ought never to be severely pruned 
while in that condition. 
Climbers. — Attention to tying in and regu- 
lating these must be unremitting. 
Clcrodendrons. — The blooming plants will 
now be commencing to grow away freely, and 
must be well attended to, in repotting them, 
and keeping them well watered, — applying 
manure-water in a clear state, two or three 
times a week. Keep them in a light place. 
Achimenes. — Some more roots of these 
plants should be put in, to keep a succession 
of flowers ; and these will, by the time that 
green-house plants are removed into the open 
air, be very desirable for the decoration of the 
green- house, where they produce flowers of 
much better colour, and remain longer in a 
blooming state. A few more cuttings may also 
be put in. Such plants as these can never be 
had in too perfect a succession. The latter 
are kept dormant, as long as may be required, 
by keeping them dry. 
Cutharanthus. — Select healthy young bushes 
of these plants — C. roseus, and its varieties, 
47 
albus, and ocellatus, and pot them in light 
rich soil. By the end of May they may be 
taken to the conservatory, and will then flower 
all the summer, till the end of September. 
Cuttings struck now, and kept stopped back 
till late in the season, will flower in the stove 
during the winter. Their flowers are exceed- 
ingly pretty, especially ocellatus, which is 
white, with a rosy ring around the eye. 
These plants were formerly called Vinca. 
Gloriosa. — If the roots were not potted last 
month, they should be got in early in the 
present one. If they are already potted, and 
growing, they will perhaps require shifting 
during the month. 
Luculia. — When the plants have made 
shoots of three or four inches long, they 
should be " stopped," by nipping out the ter- 
minal bud ; this will cause them to throw out 
two or more shoots, and thus increase the 
number of bloom heads. It is only the 
strongest shoots that may be thus treated. 
Lankesteria parvijfora. — This is quite a 
new and, at present, rare plant, (see p. 35,) 
but is a desirable one, as being one of those 
which bloom during the winter, bearing pretty 
yellow flowers in profusion. The following 
course of treatment is recommended : — shift 
the plants early in this month, using sandy 
peat earth, with a small portion of loam, and 
avoiding pots of too large a size. For ordinary 
sized plants, a five or six-inch pot is abun- 
dantly large, and should be well drained. 
Place the plants in a moist atmosphere, subject 
to a temperature averaging about 75 degs., 
and where they will have the benefit of about 
the same amount of warmth at the roots. As 
the summer draws on, the plants may be har- 
dened off in a green-house, and in autumn re- 
turned to a cool stove, where it will continue 
flowering for some months, at the beginning 
of winter. Another plant, which may be some- 
what similarly treated, and which will produce 
plenty of very showy rosy purple flowers, is 
the Beloperone oblongata. 
Cuttings. — It may be worth while here to 
devote a little space to the explanation of the 
principle of propagation by cuttings ; and this 
will be the more seasonable, as the spring 
months offer the greatest facilities for this 
species of propagation. The cuttings of most 
of the plants which are termed soft-wooded, 
such as Geraniums, Fuchsias, &c, among 
green-house plants ; and Ruellias, Eranthe- 
mums, &c, among stove plants, root with little 
trouble, if cut with about three pair of leaves, 
the lowest pair being removed, an'd the cutting 
cut clean through with a sharp knife, close 
below where they were attached ; they are 
then to be planted in sandy earth, and set in 
a close frame, with or without heat, according 
to their nature. In general, a slight heat may 
>t 
