Ife.-^. 
THE CULTURE OF THE GENUS BOSSI^A. 
I 
THE CULTURE OF THE GENUS BOSSI^A. 
TOHE Bossiteas are a family of leguminous plants, chiefly fi-om AustraKa and )Swan Biver, 
IX some of them remarkable for a singularly elegant habit of growth, and the whole of them for the 
very profuse manner in which their flowers are produced. Unfortunately most of them produce 
flowers ai-e nearly the same colour, and hence they are not so much cultivated in collections as 
they otherwise would be ; but some of the species being remarkably distinct in foliage and habit, 
and forming, when properly grown, very elegant 
specimens, are worthy of considerably more atten- 
tion than they are receiving at the present time. Their 
cultivation is very simple ; the secret of producing 
fine specimens, being that of laying a good foundation, 
for without that it wiU be impossible to produce a fine 
plant. To this end, procure, when purchasing plants, 
the strongest you can meet with in the nm-series. When 
we say the strongest, we do not mean plants twelve 
or eighteen inches in height with a few branches, but 
short bushy fellows ; and if the collar, or part of the 
plant just above the soil is as thick as your finger, and 
the plant is healthy, and the roots vigorous, you may 
make sure you have a good plant. It may be remarked 
en passant that the preceding criterion of a good plant, 
may be taken as a safe guide in purchasing plants of 
all kinds, more especially hard-wooded plants, for if 
they are dwarf and healthy, and have, moreover, strong 
stems, you may make sure that whether they be large 
or small, they have been well propagated, and well 
cared for afterwards. 
Having procured such, take some good fibrous 
turfy peat ; such as those who understand plant grow- 
ing procm-e from Wimbledon Common, and after 
removing the inert soU, or sand, as it is sometimes 
called, from the bottom, and the coarse vegetable 
matter from the upper surface, break it into small 
pieces, and then pass every part through a half-inch 
sieve ; to four parts of this, add one of nice mellow, 
fibrous, turfy loam, two of gritty sand, and one of char- 
coal and potsherds, broken to the size of hazel nuts ; 
mix these intimately together, and then they are ready 
for "use. Next procure some clean porous 6- or 8-inch 
pots, and drain them thoroughly. If the plants are 
such as we have advised you to purchase, place the 
strongest in the largest pots, and the weak ones in the 
6-ineh size, taldng care to ^t the soil nicely about the roots, and to make it tolerably fii-m ; indeed, 
if the compost is di-y you may make it as firm as you can, without resorting to the ramming process 
of our forefathers. 
The plants should then be placed in a pit or fi-ame where they can be kept tolerably warm and 
moist, shading them in mid-day until they begin to grow, and taking care to syi-inge them and shut 
them up early every sunny afternoon. Thus treated, they will progress very rapidly, and some of 
them will probably require a second shift towards September. If a frame or pit cannot be spared to 
place them in, make the nearest approximation you can to the conditions requii-ed, to promote free 
growth in the greenhouse, by keeping a part of it close; or place the plants inavmery,or other forcing 
house, where the temperatiu-e is not too high, and where plenty of air can be admitted in favour- 
able weather. It will be necessary to cm-b redundant growth by timely stopping the strongest 
shoots, to make them branch, but in the cultivation of Bossijeas, unless a branch takes a decided 
lead, nothing will be gained by stopping it, as they generally, at least the majority of the kinds 
produce secondary or lateral shoots in tolerable abundance. 
BOSSUEA. TENnCATJLIS. 
