370 THE GR^EN-HOUSE. [chap. xt. 
usually called the Hydrangea, is a native of 
China, and only half hardy, though it will 
live in the open air in sheltered situations, 
or with a very slight protection. This plant 
was named Hortensia by the botanist Com- 
merson in compliment to Madame Hor- 
“Jl 
tense Lapeaute, the wife of a French watch- 
maker. The Hydrangea, when the colour 
of its flower is to be pink, should be grown 
in a rich loamy soil; but when the colour of 
the flower is wished to be blue it should be 
grown in peat. In both cases the plant 
should be pruned every year, and the old 
wood cut out; so that the wood which is to 
produce the flowering shoots should never 
be more than two or at most three years old. 
Cuttings strike readily at any season when 
the plant is in a growing state ; if put into a 
rich soil and kept moist they will root in a 
fortnight, and flower in a month. 
Succulent plants .—There are very few things 
in gardening respecting which gardeners ap¬ 
pear more to disagree than in the treatment of 
succulent plants. Nearly all these plants 
are natives of the sandy plains in the neigh¬ 
bourhood of the Cape of Good Hope, where 
