THE THUNBERGIA. 
387 
slender green states four and a half feet long; 
set them so that at the top they may be some- 
what wider apart than at the base ; in the 
centre place one five feet long : at the top 
place cross bars fastened to the tops of the 
other uprights : around the stakes run a slen- 
der wire spirally from bottom to top, at about 
six or eight inches apart, giving the wire a 
turn round each of the stakes at intervals, to 
keep them steady. To each of the uprights 
train a leading shoot, for which purpose the 
plants must have been stopped, and when 
these have reached half way up the trellis, 
stop them, to cause them to throw out lateral 
shoots, one of which is to be continued as a 
leader, and the rest trained round the trellis : 
when the upright shoots reach the top of the 
trellis, stop them again to produce laterals to 
fill the upper half. 
Seed should be procured for another year 
if possible ; but sometimes this is not very 
freely produced, so that, to secure it, some of 
the blooms should be impregnated, and one or 
two set out of doors when in full bloom in fine 
weather, and fully exposed to the sun, and 
then, after the seeds have made some progress, 
removed back again to the greenhouse to ripen. 
In case of a failure in obtaining seed, a few 
cuttings should be planted about August, and 
set in a cutting-frame ; they should be potted 
into small pots in rather sandy peat soil, and 
kept during winter in a cool stove, or on a 
very warm shelf in a greenhouse. 
For flowering in the open garden, the 
plants are best raised from seeds at the end of 
the previous summer, and kept over winter in 
a cool part of the stove ; then shifted in 
spring and hardened off, so as to be ready to 
plant out in May. Much of their beauty 
depends on securing deep green foliage, and 
this may be secured by using liquid manure, 
or manuring plentifully with decomposed cow 
dung. They require a warm sheltered place. 
For planting out in conservatories the plants 
may be prepared as for the open air ; and after 
planting out, the chief attention required con- 
sists in attending to the training of the branches. 
Thunbergia Haivtayneana and Thunbergia 
grandijiora are adapted for planting out in 
conservatories, or for growing in large pots, 
the branches being trained up to the pillars 
and rafters ; they both of them flourish best in 
a temperature intermediate between a stove 
and a greenhouse, such as is usually main- 
tained in conservatories. If they are at- 
tempted to be grown on pot-trellises, the 
latter must be of considerable size. In winter 
they should be kept cool and comparatively 
dry, and about the beginning of March should 
be repotted, and pruned, and set growing in 
a genial temperature. A rough soil of equal 
parts peat, loam, and leaf mould will suit them, 
and they ought to be shifted often for a time 
until they are placed in their blooming-pots, 
which should be rather early, so that by their 
filling these with roots, and thus sustaining a 
sort of check, they may be thrown into bloom 
early in the summer. In pruning, thin out 
the branches well, leaving the best ripened, 
and moderately shortening them. They must 
have plenty of light, and an airy place where 
there is no draught. They propagate readily 
by cuttings. 
Thunbergia coccinea may be managed simi- 
larly with the above, or it may be grown in 
pots and trained on a pot-trellis, in which case 
one of considerable size is required. It re- 
quires a stove ; and should be kept cool and 
rather dry in winter, and well cut back, re- 
potted, and set to grow afresh in spring. Like 
the others, it should be got early into its 
blooming-pots, and kept in a light though less 
airy situation. 
Thunbergia fragrans should be grown in a 
stove during the spring, and then, as its 
growth becomes matured, removed to a warm 
greenhouse , where it will flower freely if a 
warm moist atmosphere is maintained. To 
the soil recommended for the others add an 
eighth part of silver sand for this, and repot 
and prune the plants about the beginning of 
March, having kept them in rested condition 
during the winter. This does not require a 
very large trellis, nor so large pots as the 
stronger growers. 
Thunbergia capensis, Thunbergia cordata, 
and Thunbergia angidata may be treated 
similarly, except that the former does not 
need quite so much heat, and the latter can 
scarcely be kept too warm. They are all pro- 
pagated by cuttings. 
Thunbergia chrysops is a free growing plant, 
for which the mixture of peat, loam, and leaf 
mould will be suitable. It requires stove- 
heat in the spring, and may subsequently be 
removed to a warm greenhouse to flower dur- 
ing the summer. The plants must be kept in 
rather small pots to induce a free flowering 
habit, and for the same reason ought not to 
be fresh potted when the season is much ad- 
vanced. If the plants are shifted about the 
end of April, and the pots become filled with 
roots, the plants may then be expected to 
bloom with freedom during the months of 
summer. In young plants much of the climbing 
habit may be checked by continued stopping 
and cool regimen, so as to give them a semi- 
shrub-like character, which they will retain 
by a continuation of the same kind of treatment, 
if they are not in other respects grown too 
vigorously. It propagates readily from cuttings. 
Those plants that are grown in pots are 
benefited by having a slight degree of bottom 
heat during the earlier stages of their progress; 
c c 2 
