CONTEMPORARY WRITINGS. 
blossom ; the colour varies from rose to rose- 
crimson, and the blossoms are internally 
thickly spotted with white, especially the inner 
three of the series of six organs, forming 
the perianth or blossom. Native of Chili. 
331 
Introduced in 1347. Flowers ? Culture. — 
Perhaps hardy enougii to live against an open 
wall, certainly hardy enough for a greenhouse; 
turfy peat and loam, well drained; propagated 
probably by cuttings, or by seeds. 
CONTEMPORARY WRITINGS, AND ORIGINAL NOTES. 
Hoya Picta. — Messrs. G. De Winter and 
J. G. Jongeling, horticulturists at Mail a, 
Utrecht, have published a special circular 
respecting this plant and another variegated 
leaved species named H. variegata, accom- 
panied with two coloured drawings of it. 
From that source we obtain the following par- 
ticulars of the species : — " It is to the zeal 
and efforts of Dr. Ph. Fr. Von Siebold, 
director of the Royal Society for the En- 
couragement of Horticulture, that we are 
indebted for these plants. That learned bo- 
tanist was fortunate enough to have them 
transmitted from Japan in 1845, being their 
first introduction to Europe. About the end 
of the same year we purchased them from the 
Society for 3,000 florins, so that we are the 
only parties who possess them. These beau- 
tiful plants are justly objects of admiration 
with every one, from the manner in which 
the leaves are shaded and coloured. In Hoya 
picta they are spotted with a golden yellow, 
and in Hoya variegata they are striped, 
blotched, and bordered with pure white. 
At the exhibition of Ghent, in the summer of 
1846, among more than a hundred other new 
species, these were awarded the large silver 
medal. At Utrecht and Dordrecht, also, they 
attracted the attention of all, and at both re- 
ceived extra awards. M. W. H. De Vriese, 
Professor of Botapy at the University of 
Leyden, having undertaken to give descrip- 
tions of these plants, has not hesitated to pro- 
nounce them quite distinct species of Hoya, 
and remarkably distinguished from all other 
known species. The Editor of the * Annals 
of the Royal Botanical Society of Ghent' is 
quite of Professor De Vriese's opinion. 
Although these plants have not yet flowered 
in Europe, there is every reason to believe 
that their flowers will at least equal those of 
Hoya carnosa." — Annales de Societe Moyale 
de JBotanique de Gand. 
The Underground Onion. — The follow- 
ing account of the Russian mode of cultivating 
this onion, is taken from the Report of the 
Transactions of the Imperial Society of St. 
Petersburgh : — " The Journal de 31ussehl 
has an article on growing onions, which con- 
sists in the following method : — The bulbs are 
hung up for some time to dry and smoke ; 
they are then cut in four equal parts from the 
crown, but left adhering at the base. They 
are immediately planted in moderately rich 
soil which ha3 been recently prepared and 
laid off in beds. The author of the article, 
although this method did hot appear to him to 
be very beneficial, considered thai the experi- 
ment was worth a trial. Accordingly, in the 
absence of dry onions, he selected large bulbs 
full of juice, and after having cut them in the 
manner described above, he submitted them 
to the ground, with a half conviction that 
they would soon rot. In this, however, he 
was mistaken ; for he had the pleasure of 
seeing not only that each of the four parts of 
the onions had grown, but that they even pro- 
duced flower-stalks, which made them the 
more valuable for seed. Thus each onion had 
produced four. It would seem that the Rus- 
sian mode of growing onions, not from seed 
but by division, is not known in other coun- 
tries. It would, therefore, not be surprising 
to find that the onion which is thus cultivated 
in Russia is something different from that 
which is commonly sown. It is, in fact, the 
species which is called 'potato-onion' by the 
Russians, and 'onion-potato' in France and 
Belgium, (under-ground onion.) Baron Foel- 
kersahm, a member of the Society at St. Peters- 
burgh, has grown them by the above method 
for upwards of thirty years, with the most 
perfect success. After these onions have 
been stored during winter in some place where 
they are safe from frost, and also well dried, 
as early in the spring as the weather and 
ground will permit, they are planted like the 
potato, in rows about a foot apart, in soil 
which has been dunged and prepared in the 
autumn. They are planted with a blunt 
dibble, not very deep, and lightly covered with 
soil. As a preservative against frost, and also 
to enrich and strengthen the soil, some horse- 
dung, well dried, and reduced to powder, 
should be prepared. With this the bulbs, or 
the place in which their holes have been 
made, should be covered to about the size of a 
tea- cup, and perhaps two inches thick. This 
operation being performed, a bed tlrree feet 
broad will have three rows of little heaps. 
By-and-by the onions will grow up and push 
the dung- aside ; but it should not be removed. 
The onions [large] are usually cut in four 
parts adhering at the base, and they are placed 
in hot dung during twenty-four hours, and 
planted immediately after. The small onions 
