20 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ July 8, 18M5. 
be done in preventing a collapse of the foliage, yet when this 
routine fails it is better to afford artificial shade to anything 
than to allow leaves, flowers, or fruit to be injured. A sheet 
of tiffany, a single or double covering of netting, or a skiff of 
whitewash applied to glass through a syringe, may be of 
great benefit in hot weather. Water must be given to thirsty 
plants and trees very copiously, and especially towards 
eveuiug, for the fortification of their growths during the 
night, to be supplemented by further supplies very early in 
the morning as may be deemed advisable; and when a doubt 
exists as to whether it would be prudent to give or withhold 
water it will usually be safe to cast it in favour of giving 
during cloudless weather in July. But when water applied 
fails in the desired object it cannot be wrong to prevent the 
escape of moisture from Ilia leaves of such plants, no matter 
what they are, that would suffer by its loss, and this can be 
(ff'cted by a reasonable amount of shading when it is needed, 
and it should only be given then; it is needless shading 
that is injurious.— Fxperientia docet. 
THE IXORA. 
Ixoras do not receive too much attention in the press, neither 
are they so extensively cultivated as might be expected when we take 
into consideration the many good qualities they possess. They are 
free in growth, extremely floriferous even in a small state,and present 
in the many different varieties a charming diversity of colour— 
qualifications which, together with the fact that they may be had 
in bloom throughout the greater portion of the year, must always 
cause them to be ranked amongst our very best stove plants ; indeed 
it is questionable whether any other genus could be found in every 
way so useful and beautiful as Ixoras. 
Their cultivation is not difficult provided a sufficiently high 
temperature can be given them. This, however, is indispensable 
if the strong healthy growth and rich glossy leaves that render 
them so attractive, even when not in flower, are desired. During 
the summer months a temperature ranging from 70° to 78° at night 
and from 80 D to 85 = by diy, rising to 95° with sun, suits them 
admirably ; and in winter it should not be lower than 60° at night 
with a rise of from 5° to 10° in the daytime. The temperature I 
have mentioned for winter is meant for such plants as have attained 
a moderate size, and are flowered some time during the summer 
and rested in winter. For young plants that it is desired to keep 
growing freely, and for such as are wanted to bloom at that time, 
it must be from 5° to 10° higher. 
Propagation is best effected by means of cuttings, and almost 
any portion of young or half-ripened growth will root ; but the 
strongest shoots should always be selected, as they make better 
growth at the commencement, and consequently attain a good size 
much sooner than weak ones. Insert them singly in small pots 
filled with peat and silver sand in equal parts, cover with a bellglass 
or handlight, shade from bright sunshine, and keep them in a tem¬ 
perature of from 70° to 8CP until they are rooted. This will be in 
about three weeks, and they should then be removed from under 
the handlight and placed on a shelf as close to the glass as possible. 
When the pots are moderately filled with roots shift them into 
others an inch larger. The soil to be used at this and all subse¬ 
quent pottings should consist of fibrous peat and good turfy loam 
in equal parts, adding plenty of sand to keep the whole porous. In 
the absence of turfy loam they may be potted in peat, and it is 
"better to do so than to use loam which is not really good, other¬ 
wise with the moisture these plants require when growing the 
whole mass of soil becomes sour and unfit for the roots to feed 
upon. Do not allow them to become very much root-bound during 
the earliest stages of their growth, but as often as they require it 
shift them into pots 2 inches larger, and as it is best not to let them 
flower the first year or two if it is desired to grow them quickly 
into good specimens—the shoots should be regularly stopped when 
they have made three or four pairs of leaves. 
To keep the plants well furnished with leaves to the rim of the 
pot the strongest shoots must be tied out in a horizontal position 
as low as possible, for if allowed to grow at will they assume a too 
erect habit of growth and soon become bare at the bottom and 
entirely unfit for exhibition, for which piu-pose when well grown 
and flowered they are unsurpassed. For general decorative pur¬ 
poses also, dwarf bushy plants with a profusion of trusses are far 
preferable to tall lanky ones with only a few heads of bloom at 
top. In many cases small-sized plants are most useful for deco¬ 
rating. and where such are required stopping must be discontinued 
when they have attained the requisite size, and with a little atten¬ 
tion at first in observing the length of time the varieties take after 
stopping before they open their flowers they may be had in bloom 
at any particular time desired. 
It would be impossible to state the exact time necessary to 
allow them after stopping before they are wanted in bloom, because 
this necessarily varies considerably under different circumstances 
and in different houses, so that a knowledge of it can only be gained 
by careful observation under existing circumstances. Some take a, 
much longer time than others—for instance, a plant of I. Williamsi 
grown in the above-mentioned temperature I have seen exhibited 
in splendid condition twelve weeks after all its shoots were stopped ; 
Prince of Orange, Colei, Fraseri, and Reginse take fourteen or 
fifteen weeks ; Coccinea still longer, whilst Duffii requires to be 
started early in January to get it to flower in July, and from the 
time of starting the shoots must be allowed to grow unchecked. 
This species is a more vigorous grower than any other I am 
acquainted with, and does not produce its trusses so freely as most 
of the Ixoras, but a plant of it some 5 feet in height and so much 
through, bearing a score or more of its magnificent trusses of deep 
red flowers, many of them 10 to 14 inches across, and clothed to 
the bottom with its large deep green leaves, can scare ely be beaten 
by any other stove-flowering plant when placed up n the exhibi¬ 
tion table. I am not drawing upon my imagination in describing 
such a plant as this, for I have seen one in every respect equal to 
what I have stated (the number of trusses, I believe, was twenty- 
three), and it was the admiration of all who saw it exhibited. 
When growing freely Ixoras delight in a plentiful supply of 
water at the roots, and being gross feeders liquid manure should 
be freely given them as soon as they get slightly pot-bound. 
Every alternate watering is not too often to apply it, and in addi¬ 
tion to this, as soon as the trusses of blooms are visible a top-dress¬ 
ing with some artificial fertiliser may be given once a fortnight 
with very beneficial results. When the flowers begiii to open, then 
colour and texture will be greatly improved by removing the plants 
to an intermediate house where more air is admitted and a drier 
atmosphere maintained, and if when fully opened they are placed 
in a cool house and kept shaded the flowers will retain their fresh¬ 
ness and beauty for three or four weeks in the hottest part of the 
summer. 
Of insects mealy bug and scale are most to be feared, for 
although thrips and aphides are also partial to Ixoras, they may soon 
be disposed of by fumigating. Mealy bug is generally the most 
troublesome, and great care should be taken to get the plants clean 
before the flowers appear, otherwise this pest will soon lodge in the 
trusses, and once established there it is almost impossible to get 
rid of them. The winter months when the plants are resting is 
the best time to attend to the cleansing of them, as they will then 
bear repeated applications of petroleum at the rate of two wineglass¬ 
fuls to 3 gallons of water without injury. In the summer not 
more than half the quantity of petroleum—one wineglassful to 
3 gallons of water—should be used, for the young and tender 
foliage naturally will not bear so strong an application as that 
which is fully matured and hardened. Even when only this 
quantity is used it is best to wash the plants well with clean water 
shortly after, and keep them shaded from hot sun for a few days. 
There are many varieties of Ixoras in cultivation, but the fol¬ 
lowing are all good and thoroughly reliable sorts, and will be found 
sufficient for most collections : — Amboynensis, coccinea, Colei, 
Duffii, Fraseri, javanica, Pilgrimi, Prince of Orange, Regime, salici- 
folia, Westi, and Williamsi.—C. L. P. 
STRAWBERRY PLANTS AFTER FORCING. 
“ A GARDENER,” page 492 last v jl., has rightly called our attention to 
this matter, and there is not the least <1 >ubt that they harbour red spider 
more than anything else if left standing about in a dry and exhausted 
condition. Unfortunately where several thousands are grown they are 
not very easily cleared away when turned out of the houses, as this 
occurs when the press of work is greater than at any other time during 
the whole season. 
Where the time can be spared to plant them out properly they will 
repay any extra attention when another season comes, and if they have 
been forced early and fruited in March I have known a good crop 
gathered from them in the autumn of the same season, and another the 
following spring. In order to secure this result, however, do half 
measures will avail. They must not be put out from a temperature of 60° 
into a keen N.E. March wind, and then allowed to take their chance for a 
month or two, and get water as best they can. They will survive such 
treatment as this, but are then most certainly useless, or not by any means 
so good for planting as young plants are. To ensure success they should 
be hardened in a cold frame, and then planted out on ground that has 
been well worked and manured previously, and one great point is not to 
disturb the roots, but to ram the tod firmly around them. If dry weather 
follows they should be mulched and watered accordingly until they show 
by their gr;wth that they are able to take care of themselves. Thus treated 
they will bear quite double the quantity of fruit the following season that 
