300 
ON ACCLIMATIZING PLANTS. 
" Several small species of plants may be pre- 
served in the open border by placing an empty 
flower-pot over them during winter. In this 
way Stachys coccinea, a native of Chile, has 
been preserved here in very severe winters ; 
it grows well, and ripens seed. I last year 
planted out Teucrium Marum, which is indi- 
genous in Spain, in the open border in its pot, 
in a place with a dry bottom, and full expo- 
sure, some sandy gravel being put over the 
surface ; it endured the winter without any 
other protection, and thrives well. Calla 
asthiopica, in the open border, produces much 
ripe seed here ; I have two ounces so ripened. 
Some years ago I sowed the seed of this plant 
at the end of March, in open ground, in vege- 
table mould on a clay bottom, placing a portion 
of an old broken frame over it ; it was kept 
duly moist ; in about five or six weeks fifteen 
plants appeared ; they continued to grow all 
the summer ; at the end of the autumn I took 
them up, potted them, three plants in a pot, 
and protected them in winter. Afterwards I 
turned one of the seedling plants into the open 
ground under a high wall with a west aspect, 
where the sun cannot shine on it till past 
twelve o'clock ; here it has endured the last 
three winters with only some decayed tanner's 
bark put over its roots on the approach of 
severe weather. 
" Hypericum segyptiacum I put out in the 
open border in its pot several years ago ; it 
still endures the winters, and flowers a long 
time. I have also discovered that Commelyna 
tuberosa, from Mexico, a reputed stove plant, 
is hardy, a plant having stood the two last 
winters in the open border ; last summer it 
flowered and ripened seeds, some of which fell 
on the border, and produced seedling plants 
about the end of May. I covered the old plant 
with some sand only ; it endured last winter, 
and is now very strong. 
" Mimulus glutinosus, a Peruvian plant, I 
put out in its pot under a south wall in a poor 
dry place, and laid some sandy gravel on the 
surface round it ; it endured the last four 
winters well without covering ; it flowers 
freely in June, and continues several weeks ; 
it ripens seed, of which I have above an ounce. 
The plant is now six feet high ; seedling plants 
of it flower when two years old. 
" Marrubium pseudo-Dietamnus, a native of 
Crete, I put out under a low south wall in its 
pot, in poor dry earth ; ifr endures the winters 
and flowers freely. Disandra prostrata, which 
comes from Madeira, I planted out in the open 
border, at some distance from a wall with an 
east aspect, close to the root of a small Labur- 
num, on which is grafted Cytisus elongatus ; 
it is so sheltered and shaded by the plant over 
it, and the wall, that it only gets the morning 
sun in a chequered way. On the approach of 
winter, I put some rather sandy earth about 
it, and then laid over it some small ornamental 
stones, shells, &c. with the round side upper- 
most. By this management it has endured 
the winters, and flowered in the summer. I 
put a single Oleander in the open air, in its 
pot, under a south wall ; it endured the winter 
with no other protection ; four flowers opened 
on it at the same time, in the end of June. 
Pittosporum Tobira, from China, has lived 
several winters in an open border at about 
eight or nine feet distance from a high wall 
with a west aspect, where the sun does not 
shine on it till after 10 o'clock in the morning. 
It first opens its flowers in May, and these 
continue several weeks. 
" I planted out several plants of Broad- 
leaved Myrtle under a south wall, which is 
trellised, and six feet high ; at the north side, 
or back, is a terrace, so that the wall is filled 
up behind with earth to its top, or nearly so. 
This wall is thirty-six feet long ; it is wholly 
covered with Myrtles, and the before-men- 
tioned Lycium afrum. The earth in which 
they all grow so well, is fine sandy loam, only 
ten or twelve inches in depth, on a clay bottom. 
At the approach of hard weather, I cover their 
roots with moss, and the whole wall of plants 
two good mats thick, which protection is quite 
sufficient for them through the most severe 
winter. 
" Several kinds of plants which will not 
stand our winters abroad, and which readily 
strike root from the cuttings, may be put in a 
pot, eight or ten together, and protected in 
winter. In the following spring they may be 
separated and planted out in the borders to 
flower ; they are thus more likely to produce 
seeds than if kept in pots in the common way. 
" Of Canna indica I have put out several 
plants annually, during a period of eight or 
nine years past, in the open borders in rich 
earth ; they grow, blossom, and ripen seeds, 
growing near five feet high. Some years this 
plant sows itself. I have collected two ounces 
of seed Which ripened in the open borders in 
one season. The seed I sow every year in the 
open ground, in coarse vegetable mould, on a 
clay bottom on a cold exposed situation, in the 
following manner. About the middle of the 
month of May, I dig the earth, and make a 
drill, as for Peas, about two inches deep ; I 
then put in the seeds, lay on the earth and 
press it, so as to leave the drill rather concave, 
or hollow, to enable it to retain moisture ; no 
covering is requisite, but water is given in dry 
weather. The plants appear in five or six 
weeks, even when the seeds are some years 
old ; I let them remain until November, when 
they are become strong, and then take up the 
plants, with balls of earth, and put three or 
four in rather a small pot, and keep them in a 
