434 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER, 
[ November 13, 133t. 
only flower wflth greater cert fluty and profusion, but grow more 
vigorously and luxuriantly afterwards. Before their removal from 
the stove they should gradually be kept drier at their roots, and then 
maintained in that condition while they are at rest. If they are wet 
at their roots when removed from the heat and kept in that condition 
afterwards, instead of the roots remaining perfectly healthy, they 
on the other hand are very liable to decay. The length of time 
necessary to give these plants a good season of repose may vary 
without any detriment to them, according to the time they are wanted 
to throw u[) their brilliant spathes. It is wise to give them two or 
three months’ rest at the very least, and in order to accomplish this 
they should be removed from the stove sufficiently early. The whole 
of ihe plants should not be removed at the same time ; for instance, 
when reqtiired in full beauty in winter a batch should be removed 
towards the end of August, and so on, according to the time they are 
required to do duty. Those for late flowering should be kept in 
stove heat for some time longer, say until the close of the year. 
For this purpose those should be selected that have not yet completed 
their growth. To bloom these plants months before their real 
flowering time and months Idter is not really the work of one 
season, but of several seasons’ careful training, yet much can be 
done in one season towards attaining that dnd. Like many other 
plants used for forcing or late flowering they must be induced to 
make their growth at a certain time, then rest, so that they will be 
readj^ for producing their spathes when required. When introduced 
again into brisk heat after a good season of I’est they quickly do 
this. When required to flower in t e depth of winter they need not 
be unduly forced after ihej" have been at rest to accomplish this, if 
-onlj' attention is paid to starting them early in the jmar, when forcing 
is done much more readily than during the declining months of 
the jmar. 
These plants groxv luxuriantly in a close moist atmosphere w’here 
thej’-can be shaded from bright sunshine during the season of activity. 
The temperature most suitable is that ranging from 65° to 70° at 
night, with 5° higher as the season advances and the external air 
becomes warmer. The day temperature from sun heat may be 10° 
or 15° higher. While growing abundance of water is required at 
■their roots, as well as over their foliage. 
This Anthuriuru is not a large or deep-rooting plant, and the pots 
or pans in which they are growing—the latter for large or moderately 
large jdants are decidedly the best—should be fully three parts filled 
with drainage. Although the plants require abundance of water they 
■dislike the soil about their roots in a sour or saturated condition. 
Potting should be done directly the roots show signs of activity, 
whether in winter or spring, but this mm.t be entirely regulated by 
the time the plants are started into growth and required to flower. 
In potting the ])lants should be well elevated above the rim of the 
pots or pans in which they are placed, the whole of the old compost 
carefully removed from amongst their roots, and then thoroughly 
washed in tepid water. They will do in the same pots for several 
years without being disturbed, but grow with greater freedom when 
repotted annually. This insures the soil in which they are potted 
being in a sweet condition for them, and from the enormous amount 
of water they require it becomes thoroughly decomposed in the space 
of a year. The soil we have found most suitable is fibry^ peat and 
sphagnum moss in equal propordions, with a good dash of sand and 
lumps of charcoal freelj^ intermi.xed. The insect that troubles these 
plants most is brown scale, which is easily eradicated by the sponge 
with a weak solution of softsoap and water. —Scientia. 
DECORATIVE STYLES. 
The changeful moods of fashion are almost proverbial, and amid.st 
the many other callings it affects, gardening has its full share of its 
fickleness. At present the fancy is for the natural style of arrangement— 
plants and flowers, trees and shrubs, all must be arranged in a natural 
careless manner. It has been my privilege to see many of these arrange¬ 
ments, and though I am an ardent admirer of Nature in all its forms, I 
have many times thought the latter term the more appropriate. I can 
well imagine how the stiff formal style, which all must be pleased to see 
dying out, originated ; but I cannot think how the natural style should 
find favour, I mean the natural style in the extreme form in which it is 
often to be seen at present. Nature may be admired, it can never be 
imitated. No doubt the st'ffness tliat has been so long apparent has 
much to do with the modern taste, but we ought not to rush to extremes 
-either way, or we shall be tired of the new style far quicker than of the 
other. Even if Nature could be imitated it is not to be desired. Gardens 
are not wildernesses ; why try, then, to imitate Nature in their arragement ? 
Houses are not meadows, why decorate them with flowers as Nature does? 
No, let us exercise true taste ; and as gardens are places of refinement, 
let them be laid out with refined taste ; and as houses are homes, let them 
be in all things homely. It is not so much Nature that should be imitated, 
as that st’ffness should be avoided. 
I dislike to hear the term “ c.areless ” applied to a natural arrangement. 
No one with true ta-te can admire carelessness, and yet artistic effects. 
which are the outcome of much study and talent, are often designated as 
such. As we call a spade a spade, let us give beauty its true name, 
whether it is dressed in a picturesque garb or any other of its many 
costumes; but wh.tever is careless can never be beautiful. Most of us 
know how much easier it is to plant geometrically correct than to plant 
effectively, and the man who does the latter ought to hear his work praised 
for something higher than carelessness. 
Nature, as I learn from it, teaches boldness and freedom. At the 
very spot where we in our timorousness would place a tiny plant Nature 
rears a noble tree, and we all admire the effect. Nature also teaches us 
to choose situations for the well-being of the plants ; the hillside for the 
Heather, the shady dell for the Fern. Yes, there is much to be learned 
and enjoyed in Nature ; but do not let us term the crude arrangements 
we so often see as careless and natural, for the one can never be associated 
with the other.—J. MacDonald. 
NEW ZEALAND SPINACH. 
This I have found to be a good substitute for the more common 
Spinach, especially during the very hot dry summer we have just passed 
through ; but I find it is not so well known as it deserves to be. The 
seed should be sown about the middle of March in boxes or pans, placed 
in a Cucumber frame or pit or anywhere, provided it receive a little 
bottom heat. As soon as the young plants are large enough they should 
he potted into large GO’S, returned to the same position, or where the 
young plants can get the same amount of heat, until they are established 
in the pots, when they should be gradually hardened. In fact they 
should be treated precisely the same as Tomatoes. 
About a week before they are planted out—which will be about the 
end of May or the first week in June—a trench should be dug out in the 
sunniest part of the garden, 15 inches wide and the same in depth, and 
filled to the top with well-decayed manure. On account of their 
spreading habit they should be planted 3 feet apart in the trench, 
allowing them the same space each side. All the attention they require 
will be to keep them well watered in dry weather and free from weeds. 
When the round or prickly sort is running to seed you will be able to 
gather abundance from this. From a row .20 yards long we have been 
gathering bushels every week all through this summer; the last we 
gathered was on the 4th inst.—J. Peouse. 
STORING POTATOES. 
A CHEAP and efficient plan of storing Potatoes we have had in use 
about six years, and found it answer in every way ; in fact, much better 
than the old plan of clamping them in the open ground as we used to do. 
We can examine them without trouble and in any weather. A description 
of this may be of use to some readers who have no cellar or frost-proof 
place in which to stow them. 
We had a hole dug in the tool shed about G feet long, 4 feet wide, and 
the same in depth, placing some rough boards round to keep the soil 
from falling in, the end boards fitting tight to keep the sides in their 
places. The top was covered with two old doors, answering as a covering 
for the pit and a floor to the shed. We store about a ton of Potatoes 
every year, with a little straw on the top to keep the air from them. We 
have had them safe with the thermometer registering 20° of frost. We 
also find it an excellent place to keep our Dahlias in, also Beet or any 
roots that are injured by the frost. They keep as fresh and plump as 
when packed in sand.—H. E. M. 
BESTING BULBS IN WINTER. 
There are many bulbs, hardy, half-hardy, and quite tender, 
the top growths of which perish in the autumn, and then it 
becomes part of the cultivator’s work to preserve them in as 
sound a state as possible throughout the winter. Hardy bulbs, 
which can be left in the open ground always, are the easiest to 
deal with. Many of them may be rested and preserved without 
any cultural attention whatever; but there are others which 
may be benefited by a little protection. We have repeatedly left 
Gladioli corms, Lilium, and other bulbs of this kind out all winter 
with only the ordinary soil over the crowns, and not one of them 
perished ; but this was in mild wflnters, and it would not be safH 
or advisable to depend on this in severe weather. To use manure 
or anything adhesive and which would retain the wet as a covering 
over the crowns would cause many of them to decay before the 
winter was over; but ashes, sand, or sawdust may be placed over 
the crowns with advantage. 
The best time to do this is when the stems are newly cut 
about this time. ■ Where there may be bulbs scattered in an her¬ 
baceous border, it might be difficult to tell where to put the 
covering on were it left until after the stem had disappeared. 
To draw the soil over the crown affords a little protection ; but 
frost soon penetrates soil, and of all materials 1 am most in 
favour of sand for bulb-covering in the open air. It will require 
an unusually severe frost to injure bulbs through 5 inches or 
6 inches of sand, and it has always a strong tendency to prevent 
decay. 
