LINUM TRIGYNUM. 
497 
be promoted by careful watering, and the 
occasional use of liquid manure. A rich 
loamy soil is proper for them ; and the pots, 
being large, should be well drained. When 
once started, they ought not to receive a 
check during their progress, if a good de- 
velopment of flowers is expected ; therefore 
it is of the utmost importance that the supply 
of water be ample and regular. There is no 
necessity for nursing up the plants during 
this period; indeed, this would be highly in- 
jurious to them; it is much better for them 
to be fully exposed both to sun and air, in 
order that their growth may be robust rather 
than rapid. For the sake of variety, the 
stems of some may be stopped when they 
have grown a foot or so in length, in order 
to increase the number of stems ; this will 
most probably produce a double effect, for 
they will most likely not then bloom quite so 
early ; the spikes of flowers will by this 
means not be so fine and large, but there will 
be a greater number, and for the purpose of 
making a difference in the plants, it is desir- 
able that some should be so treated. 
In the autumn the plants must be carefully 
protected from frosts. Where there is the 
convenience, it is better to remove such 
plants as these and Chrysanthemums to a 
spare house, where they may have all possible 
ventilation by day, and the protection of the 
sashes at night. From hence they may be 
removed in succession to the greenhouse as 
their flowers are developed. After the middle 
of October, it is best not to water them too 
liberally, as in the low temperature of the 
greenhouse too much moisture about the 
plants — either at the stems or roots — will be 
liable to produce their decay. This should 
be borne in mind in reference to other freely- 
grown plants which are prepared for very 
late blooming. 
This Salvia should be propagated by cut- 
tings taken off in April or May, and planted 
singly in small pots, and set in a mild heat ; 
when rooted they may be shifted on precisely 
like the other plants, and ought to form good 
blooming specimens by the autumn. They 
will be useful for securing a later set of bloom. 
In managing the old plants, they should always 
be started so as to come into flower in suc- 
cession. 
LINUM TRIGYNUM. 
{Roxburgh.) 
THE THREE-STYLED FLAX. 
There are many of our old and almost for- 
gotten floral acquaintances, whose faces, when 
they are presented to us, like those of long 
absent friends, ever carry with them the pass- 
port to a welcome reception. Sometimes, 
too, as in human experience, our floral inti- 
48. 
macies are, as it were, consigned for a period 
to oblivion, whilst we are eagerly forming new 
alliances and acquaintances ; but these in 
course of time cease to interest us, and we are 
then content to renew our former friendships. 
This is a characteristic of humanity in its every 
phase ; but is, perhaps, nowhere more strik- 
ingly exemplified than in the choice and 
culture of flowers. Real intrinsic worth 
seems to be held at a discount, as compared 
with novelty ; and the consideration of the 
number rather than the nature of their floral 
friends and acquaintances, seems to bear sway 
over the generality of flower lovers. 
The old Lihum trigynum well illustrates 
this sentiment in its application to plant-cul- 
ture. Years ago one might see it frequently 
in cultivation ; and though in those days 
gardening had not reached its present per- 
fection, yet sufficient skill existed to render 
manifest in its appearance the elements of a 
showy and handsome plant. Since then it 
has been neglected, and almost forgotten — 
retained, it may be, only by chance in some 
unfrequented locality of the gardening world, 
from whence, at the best, it has but few oppor- 
tunities of being again disseminated as its 
merits deserve. It is a small greenhouse shrub, 
capable of being grown into a compact and 
well formed bush, of three or four feet high ; 
the leaves are evergreen, glaucous, moderate 
sized, and elliptical ; and the flowers are 
large, orange-yellow, and freely produced at 
and near the extremity of the shoots, and on 
little side shoots. The blooming season is 
various, throughout the summer and autumn, 
and the plants continue for a considerable 
period in bloom. It is a native of mountainous 
tracts in the north of India, whence it was 
K K 
