April 9, 1885. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
295 
the pans being conveyed to the rubbish heap. As soon as the cuttin is 
are rooted and the plants have grown a little they are stopped, which 
induces the formation of from two to four shoots. When the small pots 
are full of roots the plants are placed into 5-inch pots, using a compost of 
fibry loam, leaf mould, and decayed manure one-third, and sand. After 
the plants are established in these pots they are again pinched, which 
results in the formation of bushy plants. These are grown during the 
summer in a heated pit shaded from strong sun, the atmosphere 
moderately moist, but they are never watered over the foliage. Moderately 
free ventilation is provided to induce a dwarf sturdy growth. During 
October the plants are given a drier position, generally being placed 
on a shelf close to the glass, where a night temperature of 60° can be 
maintained. 
• ™. er ^ rea, ^ tnen t the plants would not attain more than 10 inches 
m height by the end of the year, and many of them are not more than 
4 inches taller by the time they have done dowering. If well cared for 
and liberally treated the plants will reta'n their foliage down to the base. 
Large specimens if required can be readily obtained by inserting a number of 
cuttings together, but the plants recommended are the most serviceable 
for decoration.— Lancastrian. 
RAIN GAUGES. 
Allow me to thank Mr. Symons for so kindly pointing out the inac¬ 
curacy likely to result from the adoption of the mode of fixing rain 
gauges shown in the little sketch you kindly published. I freely admit 
that the arrangement is a fanciful mode of my own, fixed, and the register 
kept, more for horn s and local use and interest than for accurate com¬ 
parison with the outside world. Your readers are well aware that Mr. 
Symons is one of the first authorities on this subject, and I am very 
pleased that he has pointed out to them and myself how more reliable 
records may be made with as little trouble and at even less expense. If 
my little sketch, supplemented by the more authoritative information 
given by Mr. Symons, has been the means of interesting others on this 
subject, it was not written in vain.—R. Inglis. 
NOTES ON INDOOR PLANTS. 
Kennedya Marryatt.®. —There is not a more beautiful flowering 
greenhouse climber, nor yet a more useful one, among the many hand¬ 
some plants of the Pea family than this rare Kennedya. It is a free 
and healthy grower when planted in a peaty border and trained along 
a rafter in a cool house, and it flowers perpetually, at least it has done 
so. with us during the past winter and the summer previous, and is 
still in flower. When I first knew this plant it was nursed in a small 
pot, and by dint of much kindness and coddling it was forced to re¬ 
main a weakling and in every way an unsatisfactory plant. Liberal 
treatment proves it to be as robust and free as a Sweet Pea. Our 
plant runs up a rafter for about 10 feet and hangs down all the way 
along, its thin shoots bearing trifoliate hairy leaves and pendant 
axillary racemes of the richest scarlet Pea-shaped flowers. Botanists 
say the right name for this plant is K. prostrata var. major, and that it 
is a native of West Australia. Whatever the name the plant is a 
most desirable one, and notwithstanding the unpopularity of Australian 
plants generally this one is still to be procured from several London 
nurserymen. Western Australia suggests sand, much sunshine, and 
a ary atmosphere ; and under cultivation these conditions prove most 
suitable for this Kennedya. 
Starting Epacrises. —Much harm is done to these plants after 
they have been cut down and rested for a short time by treating them 
as if they were stove plants during the month or so required to get the 
new shoots well away. A high temperature, shade, much syringing— 
in short, just the treatment we know to be right for a Fuchsia or a 
Heliotrope, is supposed to be equally good for these hardwooded 
plants. The result of this is all the old leaves or most of them arc 
killed by. the stewing process, which is supposed to help the new 
growths into quick activity. And so it does, but at what cost ? 
Not only are the old leaves injured or destroyed, but these new 
growths run up like knitting needles, tall, thin, and weakly ; their 
leaves generally fall off before the summer is over, as most forced 
leaves do, and altogether the last or autumn state of plants thus 
treated is. worse than the first. Here is the right treatment for 
Epacrises in a nutshell :—Cut down immediately after flowering, and 
cut deeply ; put the plants in cool suuny quarters till the sun begins 
to have power, then use the syringe on all sunny mornings. When 
the new shoots are as big as peas repot the plants in sandy peat, and 
after keeping them close for a day or two after potting return again 
to. the exposure treatment — i.e , sun and air. Thi 3 treatment will 
■suit Epacrises well. 
Disbudding Nepenthes. —Tall plants of Nepenthes may be in¬ 
duced to develope shoots at the base of the stem without its being 
necessary to cut away any of the pitcher-bearing foliage ; in fact, 
without any sacrifice whatever except a little time. By pinching out 
the growing points of the shoots or stem, and cutting out the eyes at 
the base of each leaf with a sharp knife, the plant is reduced to con¬ 
fining its efforts to grow to the few eyes left about the base of the 
stem. Before this plan occurred to me I used to sacrifice many good 
pitchers along with the portions of the stem which were cut away in 
the autumn, so that fresh growths should be pushed from below. The 
best pitchers and the greatest number are produced by these lowest 
lateral shoots. No doubt some Nepenthes growers will be glad of 
this hint ; 1 was when first it occurred to me, and after seeing what 
it saved us in the way of pitchers. Another hint may be added. 
Nepenthes like liquid cow manure ; plenty of it ; no objection to a 
plunge overhead in it ; on the contrary, they enjoy it. Of course it 
must be clear or it will soil the leaves. Perhaps the physiolo¬ 
gists will think the fact worlh noting. There is no doubt about its 
being a fact so far as regards Nepenthes. 
Allamanda grandiflora. —When grown on its own roots this 
plant, is a failuie, but if grafted on stocks of some of the stronger¬ 
growing kinds such as A. Hendersoni, it grows freely and flowers 
well. No particular skill is required to graft this plant so that it 
will take, and anyone who has worked a Rose or an Epiphyllumman 
also succeed with Allamandas. Some good results are often obtained 
by grafting weakly plants on to stocks of their stronger brethren, as 
note the effects of grafting on Croweas, Boronias, Aralias, and such, 
or, to take more notorious instances, the effects of it on our Apples, 
Pears, &c. When a plant will not strike root, or, if it does root, 
afterwards proves unhappy, look about for a near relation, another 
species of the same genus if possible, and try grafting. Reverting to 
the Allamanda, it may be said of this species that for small stoves 
it is superior in all points to its stronger and larger-growing relatives. 
We have seen it grown so as to form a graceful shrub about 3 feet 
high with numerous twiggy branches, every one of which bore a bunch 
of beautiful yellow blooms. As a trellis plant, and especially for 
balloon trellises, it is much superior to the other Allamandas, some of 
which look as happy thus grown as a Hibiscus or an Ixora would if 
treated as trellis plants.—W. N. 
INSECTIVOROUS PLANTS. 
THE DR03ERACEJE OR SUNDEW FAMILY. 
There ar i over a hundred species of Dro3era, three or four of Byblis, two 
of Roridula, and one each of Drosophyllum, Dionma, and Aldrovanda. They 
are widely distributed over the temperate zones. Many of these are 
extremely handsome, and all are very interesting. Dionasa Muscipula or 
Venus’ Fly-trap, a native of the eastern part of North Carolina, and is found 
nowhere else, it has been known in this country since 1765 ; for in that year 
Ellis, a well-known English naturalist, sent a drawing of it to Linnaeus, who 
bestowed on it the poetical name of Dionaea. The account which Ellis gave 
of it moved the great Swedish naturalist to declare that, though he had 
seen and examined no small number of plants, he had never met with so 
wonderful a phenomenon. Ellis shortly afterwards obtained living plants 
from America, which he grew and flowered in his own rooms. He also 
noted, or rather suspected, the insectivorous propensities of this plant. A 
leaf of Dionsea is somewhat like that well-known instrument a rat-trap; it 
is, however, a much more refined piece of mechanism. It consists of a blade 
or leafstalk and a two-lobed leaf; in the interior there are three sensitive 
filaments on each lobe. When any of these are touched, however lightly, 
the two lobe3 immediately close together, and the marginal spine3 interlock 
through. At first they do not close tight, but leave a small opening. This 
puzzled Mr. Darwin very much. He afterwards found that the object the 
plant has in view is simply to allow of the escape of small insects that could 
be of little use, retaining only those that would be of some service. When 
a moderate-sized fly is enclosed, in its struggles to escape it irritates still 
more the sensitive hairs, which ultimately causes the lobes of the leaf to 
press tighter. Then, and not till then, a true digestive fluid is poured out 
from numerous glands with which the leaf is studded, and the product is 
absorbed through the lobes of the leaf. Dionaea is able to digest very much 
the same substances in exactly the same way that the human stomach 
does. The time taken to digest a fly varies according to the vigour of the 
plant; about eight days is the usual time taken by a healthy plant to con¬ 
sume a respectable fly. The marginal spine3 then become erect, and the 
leaf ultimately expands, ready for another meal. If we try to deceive it by 
putting in some substance from which it cannot derive any nourishment, 
such as small bits of wood or glass, the leaf closes, as it does by the 
mechanical irritation of touching, but in less than twenty-four hours will 
be found open and the indigestible substances thrown out. 
THE LE N TIBU L ARI ACE IE OR BUTTERWORT FAMILY. 
This contains Pinguicula or Butterwort and Utricularia or Bladderwort. 
Pinguicul a captures insects by the upper surface of its leaves. These are set 
with glandular hairs, which secrete a viscid fluid. Like Drosera, this plant 
digests and absorbs nitrogenous matter. Utricularia captures insects by 
small bladders attached to the root-like processes. These bladders possess 
a most ingenious trap-door mechanism, which only open inwards, so that 
when a Cyclops or other animalcule is once in it must remain there. It is 
supposed that the remains of these creatures are absorbed by the plant, 
but not digested. 
CULTIVATION. 
The cultivation of these plants is by no means difficult. They require 
pretty much the same description of soil, moisture, and general treatment. 
Nepenthes alone require much heat; an average temperature of 70° suits 
them very well. The soil should consist of fibrous peat with the earthy 
matter shaken out. To this should be added from a third to a half of 
chopped sphagnum, and a sprinkling of charcoal, potsherds, and silver sand 
