SiLENE ScnAFTA, a Specimen plant. 
NOTES UPON A FEW PLANTS SUITABLE FOE VASES. 
■which time the Fuchsias, Pelargoniums, and usual occupants of the vases, should be hardened and 
ready to plant out. 
Nest them, in interest, the following will be found very suitable and gay : — 
Silene Schafta. — This simple, but very gay and pretty, herbaceous plant, inhabits rocks on Mount 
Keridach, in the Russian province of Talysch, and was introduced, through Dr. Fischer, from the 
Botanic Garden, Dorpat, in 1844. 
The following account is from the Journal of tho Horticultural Society : — " This proves to be a 
beautiful little herbaceous plant, producing a 
great number of spreading, slender, downy 
stems, which form compact tufts, and are ter- 
minated, near the extremity, by fom- or five 
bright purple flowers, more than an inch long. 
Of these flowers, that at the extremity of the 
shoot opens first, and those below it one after 
he other in succession, so that the branches 
are, by degrees, covered all over with blossom. 
Its stems do not rise above six inches liigh, and 
render it well suited for bedding out or for 
cultivating among collections of alpines, or for 
rockwork, over which it will bend gracefully." 
The accompanying engraving, representing a 
well-grown specimen, fully bears out Dr. Lind- 
ley's description, and shows the Silene to be a 
very elegant plant, and suitable for decorative 
purposes. It strikes veiy fi-eely by cuttings, 
under a hand glass, and is also increased by 
seed, which it produces in great abundance ; but being a perennial, the plants do not bloom until the 
second year. Presuming, however, that you can procure seed, and that it is your wish to grow 
some specimen plants, sow the seed immediately, and, when large enough, pot them into sixty sized 
pots, in light porous soil not too rich, putting three plants in each pot. When the plants ai-e estab- 
lished, stop them regularly, so as to make them 
produce abundance of shoots, and when they have 
formed a compact tuft, remove them into forty- 
eight or small thii-ty-two sized pots, using the 
same compost as before. Keep them through the 
winter in a cold fi-ame ; but about March pot 
them into pots of a suitable size, using loam and 
leaf-mould in about equal proportions, and mak- 
ing it tolerably firm in the pots. After this pot- 
ting, it will be well to give the plants the protec- 
tion of a fi'ame ; to keep a moist atmosphere, and 
to encoui'age the plants to grow as fast, but as 
robustly, as possible ; stop the shoots regularly, 
and support those in the centre with a few neat 
stakes, but allow the side branches to di'oop 
gracefully round the sides of the pot. Towards 
June they will begin to blossom, and at that time 
they may be removed to the vases, and be planted 
out, and afterwards be regularly supplied with weak manure water. Take care that the plants do 
not suffer for the want of water ; and, to prolong the season of blooming as much as possible, remove 
the seed pods, wliich are produced in great abundance, as fast as they appear. After blooming, the 
plants must be cut in pretty close, and started afresh, or be thrown away to make room for other 
plants. 
Silene laciniata.— Though, a much older plant, and very much more difficult to cultivate, this is 
perhaps the most beautiful of the Silenes. It is a native of Mexico, and was introduced to our gar- 
dens in 1823. Requii-ing the protection of a frame in the winter season, it is generally treated as a 
greenhouse plant ; and, though the flowers will not bear looking at with a florist's eye, being, as their 
specific name indicates, " ragged," yet, the peculiar bright red, and almost scarlet-colour of the flowers 
Silene Schafta, the natural size. 
I 
