74 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ July 24, 1890. 
Stopping may be resorted to when the growths are a few inches 
long, or if early flowers are wanted the plants may be allowed 
to flower at once ; if some are treated that w r ay, whilst others 
are pinched, a succession of bloom will be secured. The pinched 
plants, however, form the finest specimens, shifting them into 
large pots immediately after they push a little growth after 
the last stopping, and when the roots have possession of the fresh 
soil feeding with liquid manure. Other plants treated similarly in 
a cool or ordinary greenhouse will afford a fine display by August, 
and during the late summer and autumn months. Neat bamboo 
stakes to the stems will be necessary for the support of the heads. 
The plants intended for table decoration must be well stopped, 
and must be kept in comparatively small pots and firm soil, well 
enriched with some fertiliser to induce a sturdy well-furnished flori- 
ferous habit. Young plants of the previous spring or autumn 
struck stock are suitable for this purpose, and being duly stopped 
will form heads quite large enough by August. They should be 
grown in a low-roofed house or pit where they can be accorded 
plenty of light. When they become old and stunted they may be 
discarded for young plants, but the older plants are more flori- 
ferous than young, and in every way preferable for early flowering, 
as young plants cannot be had with a sufficiently furnished head 
before summer is well advanced. 
For general decorative purposes Abutilons may be grown in 
almost any shape. Pyramids may be formed by stopping the lead 
at about every foot of growth, and the side growths to 6 inches, 
keeping them from flowering each year until a good well furnished 
habit is attained, and then allow them to flower. It is of great 
importance that an equalisation of growth be attained, there- 
fore gross irregularities must be cut away unflinchingly, seeking to 
apportion the vigour as far as practicable throughout all parts, 
having the plants as well furnished at the base as at the summit. 
Well grown specimens rival, if they do not excel, Fuchsias in 
picturesque loveliness. 
Useful decorative plants are raised from cuttings of the grow¬ 
ing points, choosing vigorous examples early in spring. The 
cuttings strike readily in a close frame stood in a Cucumber pit, if 
a gentle bottom heat is afforded. They may either be inserted 
singly in thumb pots or be placed just clear of each other around 
the sides of a 6-inch pot, repotting them in the latter case so soon 
as they are rooted, and keep them rather close until established. I 
prefer the single pot, and so soon as the cuttings are rooted remove 
them to shelves where they will be just clear of the glass. When 
inured to the air of the house and the pots full of roots shift into 
4-inch pots, continuing in a gentle warmth and light position until 
established, when they may be moved to a cooler house, but keep¬ 
ing rather close so as not to give a severe check. A span-roofed 
house or pit is best, in which the plants can have a cool moist base 
to stand on, and where they can be near the glass without touching 
it. The plants must also have plenty of space sideways, and as 
these make very handsome decorative plants they must be given 
every encouragement in the shape of a little artificial manure mixed 
with the first and all potting compost, and a sprinkling on the 
surface of the pots about every ten days, just a pinch between the 
finger and thumb, evenly disposing it on the surface for the water¬ 
ings to carry down to the roots. Shift from 4 to 6-inch pots, and 
if all has gone well the plants will be ready for transferring to 8-inch 
pots early in June, always allowing them to fill the pots with roots, 
but before they become matted shift into larger pots. These— 
viz., 8-inch pots—are the size they are set to bloom in, and the 
plants being grown on in a cool house in plenty of light they will 
branch from the base, the plants being trained with a single stem, 
and so be furnished to the pot, affording a fine head of bloom from 
at least early August right away through the autumn and winter. 
These plants, perhaps, afford the finest flowers of any description 
of plant ; anywise they are fine for greenhouse or conservatory 
decoration in late summer and autumn, and in a light properly 
ventilated house, with a minimum temperature of 50°, flowers will 
be borne successionally through the winter into the spring months. 
For winter flowering I find cuttings struck early in April, 
grown on similar to those struck earlier, and transferred to the 
largest pots not later than mid-July, the most suitable, as they 
will be about 15 or 18 inches in height, and coming into flower by 
mid-September or its close, and then placed in a house with a 
temperature of about 50°, they will be at their best during the 
early autumn and winter months. In winter they must not be 
overwatered, and the air of the house must be buoyant, damp, 
especially when accompanied by cold, being fatal to the flowers. 
I have tried placing the plants intended for winter flowering 
outdoors in summer, with the result that though a fine full habit 
was secured, the plants did not flower so satisfactorily as those 
that were grown from first to last under glass. The moisture of 
late summer I apprehend made the growth too soft, and not un- 
frequently the soil was soaked, and the roots were killed. Some, 
however, manage the plants very well stood on and partially 
plunged in ashes during the summer months, housing at the close 
of September ; therefore my lack of success with plants so treated 
may be due to inadaptibility of location. 
There are, perhaps, no finer plants for bedding than Abutilons. 
They may be raised for this purpose by inserting cuttings early in 
spring, February or March, and growing them on so as to have 
sturdy well-established plants in 4 or 5-inch pots, well hardened 
by the close of May or early June. For bedding purposes, how¬ 
ever, it is best to strike the cuttings in gentle heat during the 
early part of September, repotting singly when rooted, keeping 
them in a house from which frost is excluded and rather dry during 
the winter. They may be left in the store pots over the winter, 
repotting in spring, but the single pot system of wintering is a 
long way ahead of the povei'ty huddling system. Transfer to 
5-inch pots in spring, and if the plants have become tall cut 
them back to about 4 inches from the soil. This should be done 
and the plants allowed to start again before they are potted. 
Encourage growth by liberal treatment, hardening them welb before 
planting out. 
Outdoors give them a sheltered situation, as their flowers are 
liable to be damaged by strong winds. They look best on a gentle 
elevation, yet are highly effective when viewed on a level or even 
from a height. They require a bed of good rich light soil, deeply 
stirred, to grow in, and made moderately firm so as to induce 
flowers as well as foliage, and plant them about a foot, and not 
more than 18 inches, apart. The edging can be of the dwarf 
A. vexillarium variegatum (igneum), kept in order by pinching. 
It is better to raise a fresh stock of plants annually than to lift 
and store the old ones. 
Hybridisation has rendered the species almost obsolete. 
Abutilon Darwini, the parent of a great many garden hybrids, has 
a fine cupped form, orange with darker veinings. A. Darwini 
superbum is a fine form of the species. It is useful as a pillar 
plant, being of good habit. A. insigne has large purplish crimson 
flowers with dark venation, borne in axillary drooping racemes, 
and reflexed. A. striatum, orange yellow with a thick veining 
of deep red, is a free grower and makes a good greenhouse 
plant, being a continuous bloomer, requiring to be freely pinched. 
A. megapotamicum, bell shaped flowers, peculiarly beautiful, 
sepals dark red, petals pale yellow, stamens dark brown. Both 
flowers and foliage are small, it has a graceful drooping habit. 
A. venosum, flowers orange with red veins, large, bell shaped, 
foliage large palmate ; this is a splendid species and suitable for 
pillars and roofs. A. Thompsoni, flowers yellow or orange striated, 
foliage small, Vine-like, mottled with yellow and dark green. It 
is a neat variegated plant of moderate height—namely, 8 or 4 feet, 
but is best in dwarf plants. 
Of varieties which excel the species for decorative purposes, 
the following are good. 
White-flowered. —Boule de Neige, pure white, the best, and fine 
for pillars and roofs. Seraph, dwarf habit, and very free flowering. 
Purity is also free and of good sturdy habit. 
Yellow-flowered. —Lemoinei, pale yellow ; and Canary Bird, 
primrose, are fine and suitable for pillar and roof work. Miss 
Laura Powell is dwarf and free, perhaps the best. Queen of the 
Yellows has also great substance of flower, lemon, flowers large. 
Chrysostephanum has bold foliage, bright yellow flowers, the 
stamens extending conspicuously beyond the corolla. Golden 
Fleece is a rich yellow, also Golden Gem, free and of dwarf habit : 
Cloth of Gold having the deepest yellow flowers and most 
substance. 
Orange-flowered. —Prince of Orange, being a strong grower, is 
the best for pillars and roof "work. Striatum splendidum, orange- 
striped crimson ; and Eclipse, orange with crimson and purple 
veins, is good in habit and floriferousness. 
PinTc or Rose. —Princess Marie, rosy lake ; and rosaeflorum, 
salmon rose veined with crimson, are suitable for pillars and 
roofs. King of the Roses, deep rose, dwarf and free. Admira¬ 
tion, light pink. Future Fame, deep rose, shaded crimson. Anna. 
Crozy, pink, shaped lilac, veined white, very showy and dwarf. 
Red or Crimson. —Lustrous, red crimson, very free and dwarf. 
Brilliant, red, free, and dwarf. Vivid Compactum, compact 
habit, flowers large, scarlet. Mr. Irving, deep scarlet, shaded 
crimson, very pleasing. Emperor, claret crimson, large flower, 
free and good. 
Purple. —Purpureum, deep purple, shaded lake. The Premier, 
rosy purple, large and free. All the varieties described, as dwarf 
are good for bedding, and of the variegated varieties A. Darwini 
tessellatum,leaves mottled with yellow ; A. vexillarium variegatum, 
leaves prettily blotched yellow, the growth being close yet good, 
leaves small ; and A. Thompsoni are useful for that purpose. 
A. Sellowianum marmoratum, with its large Maple-like leaves 
heavily blotched with bright yellow, is the most effective of all the 
