THE CTjLTITATION OF CLERODENDEOXS. 
THE CULTIVATION OF CLERODENDRONS. 
K/OT less remai-kable for brilliant coloured flo'svers, than, Tvlien -n-eU cultivated, for rich tropical 
a.\ character and appearance, the genus Clerodendron certainly stands pre-eminent as " the Glory Tree" 
of oui' plant stoves and exhibition tables. 
Being natives of ti'opical India, delighting in 
the moist atmosphere of tropical forests, and 
being subject in their native habitats to a 
season of rest, and another of active growth, 
they require treatment peculiar and system- 
atic in this countiy, where possibly they ai-e 
yearly seen in finer perfection than in theii' 
native wilds. Agreeable" to their native 
habits, Clerodendrons must be allowed to go 
to rest when they cease floweiing in the 
autumn, and care must be taken to get the 
wood as thoroughly matured as possible, by 
exposing it to full sun and gradual heat, 
cautiously withholding 
water until the leaves 
are quite ripe and fall 
off. After this the 
plants may be placed 
in a by-corner of the 
stove, but do not trust 
them in the greenhouse, or 
they will probably perish. 
About this time, the 
iirst week in !March, the 
fii'st batch should be start- 
ed, say two of each kind, 
by shaking them clean out 
of the soil, reducing the 
roots, cutting them down 
to the lowest bud upon the 
young wood, and puttmg 
them into pots as small as they can be 
convenientiy got into. The best soil to use 
for them is, well-enriched turfy loam two 
parts, turfy peat one part, and leaf mould 
one part, liberally intermixed with potsherds, 
chai'coal, and gritty sand. After potting, 
plunge the pots in a dung-fi-ame, with a bottom heat of seventy-five or eighty degrees ; water cau- 
tiously until the plants begin to start, but sprinkle daily, so as to induce them to break as robustly 
as possible. Should a number of shoots be produced, and one or two of them seem to take the lead, to 
the debiment of the others, it will be advisable to remove the sti-ongest and weaker ones so as to give 
those of equal strength a good chance to grow. This tieatment is more especially necessary with C. 
Kffimpferi, upon which it is always desirable to get several shoots. As the plants progress in growth, 
maintain a temperature of fi-om 65 to 75 degrees, and ventilate fi-eely everj- day, and thi-ough the night 
also, if possible, so as to promote a robust and sturdy habit. It will be necessary to keep the plants 
grovring in the dung-ii-ame as long as possible, and indeed, if a deep fi'ame or dimg pit, or a pit heated 
conjointly by hot water and dimg heat, can be spared for their growth until the plants show bloom, 
no fear need be entertained but that they will be produced io a very superior manner. 
As the plants progress in growth, they wiU requii-e to be removed into larger pots, using the same 
compost, but substituting good rotten dung for the leaf moidd after the fii'st potting. Shift liberally, 
thoroughly good specimen cannot be grown in less than a 13 or 15-inch pot, and a plant so grown 
well repay the attention devoted to it. C. paniculatum is fi-equentiy seen with a panicle of a 
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CLEEOBENDaOX FALLAX. 
