ii&^s- 
GARDEX HINTS FOR AMATEURS. 
anastomozing venules, and Diplazium by having them free. Fig. 52 represents a small portion near the apes of 
a frond of C. malabarica (full size). 
1. C. malabarica, J. Smith (Diplazium malabaricum, Sprengel ; D. seramporense, Sprongel; D. pubescens, 
Link; Asplenium ambiguum, Swartz; Anisogonium seramporense, Presl; Digrammaria ambigua, Presl). — An 
evergreen stove species, a native of various parts of the East Indies. Fronds pubescent, from four to six feet 
long, bipinnate, dull green ; pinna? lanceolate ; pinnules rather membranous, oblong-lanceolate, inferior ones 
petiolulate, subcordate-auriculate, superior adnate-truncate, serrate at the margin. Rachis and stipes deeply 
furrowed, with a few scales toward the base. Fronds attaining the height of a foot or more ; terminal, adherent 
to an erect rhizome. 
I \ 
2. C. csculentum, J. Smith. — An ornamental evergreen robust-growing stove species, from Ceylon. Fronds 
glabrous, bipinnate, three to four feet long, deep green; pinna; lanceolate; pinnules oblong-linear-acuminatei 
inferior ones petiolulate, slightly cordate, sub-auriculate, superior adnate, crenate serrate at the margin. Eachis 
and stipes aculeate, with scales at the base ; terminal, adherent to a thick creeping rhizome. This species was 
introduced in 1845. 
§m\m IMnts for Slranttnrs. 
SEPTEMBER. 
Kl MONG the faults -which amateur gardeners fall into in the management of their plants, especially 
i£v through the wiutcr, is that of crowding them too much together by housing more plants than 
they have room for, and thus very frequently spoiling nearly the whole. We know it requires a strong 
resolution to throw a quantity of nice looking and healthy plants away in the autumn, but it is better 
to do so at that time than to keep them to spoil the whole by the spring — for plants that are drawn 
and sticky are nearly worthless, and, even for flower garden purposes, they are not so useful as neat 
dwarf and bushy plants. We are quite persuaded this is one of the greatest errors that can be 
committed, as, either for house decoration or for planting out in the garden, one good plant is worth 
three drawn and indifferent ones. It is, therefore, indispensable, in housing the plants, to select such 
only as are really worth the space they will occupy, and to reject all others, throwing them to the 
rubbish heap at once. Thus, if your house is only sufficiently spacious to bloom say fifty small 
specimen Pelargoniums or Heaths, select those at once and give them their allotted space upon the 
stage, and fill in between them plants of less value, but remove those plants directly they arc in the 
way of the larger and permanent specimens. This is the secret of producing the nice bushy plants 
so much admired by all at the London Exhibitions. They, even when full grown, rarely stand 
sufficiently near together to touch, and, as for allowing any other plant to touch them, it is quite out 
of the question. A friend of ours who grows a few Pelargoniums for exhibition thus manages them : — 
He puts no more into the house in the autumn than he intends to bloom there, and consequently, us 
they arc small at that time, there is considerable space between the plants. In this space at the first 
outset, some neat dwarf plants (procured by layering,) of the finer kinds of Chrysanthemums, are 
placed, with, for contrast, a few plants of Salvias, Heaths, or other autumn blooming things. These, 
as they get shabby, arc removed and replaced by Primulas, Cinerarias, and forced flowers, as Tulips, 
Syacinths, Narcissus, Sec, with small Azaleas, Tree Violets, Mignonette, Rhododendrons, Poses, and 
similar plants. In this way a constant succession of bloom is kept up ; the house is always gay, and 
yet not one of the plants is ever permitted to interfere with the Pelargoniums. The same arrangement 
might be observed in every house, whether large or small, and the interest to be derived from it "Would 
be of a much more elevating and pleasurable description than can emanate from a crowd of ill-grown 
things. We make these remarks at this time to encourage our amateur friends to act wisely, to culti- 
vate no more plants than they have proper accommodation for, and to grow a few nice specimens 
rather than a quantity of ill-grown and unsightly things. Though house plants are mainly grow n for 
their flowers, they, even without flowers, if properly managed, may be made to present a very sightly 
VOL. III. '} 
