Jaauary 7, 1852. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
DOUBLE MIGNONETTE. 
I SEXD you a photograph of a plant which exhibits the curious form 
of median prolification, which has of late years become rather common 
in Mignonette. Some of the flower spikes were 15 inches long by 
6 inches at the base. The following is the history of the plant ;—Four 
years ago I purchased a packet of what was described as white 
Mignonette. One of the plants raised from this seed outgrew the 
others, being very strong and floriferous, and extending to about 4 feet 
in diameter. It exhibited some tendency to prolification, and did not 
ripen any seed. Two cuttings struck from it were cultivated in pots 
the following year, and produced abundance of seed. I raised a number 
of plants from this seed during the next two years, all of which 
developed the prolification to the fullest extent. The photograph 
represents one of them. This prolification interferes with the develop- 
an ordinary stove containing heat, moisture, and light in plenty 
Coleuses can be propagated and grown quickly to almost any size 
and shape desired with the needful attention. But for table 
decoration large, closely pinched plants are not wanted, but bushy 
and free little specimens. To attain this end cuttings may be 
inserted in 3-inch pots, kept close until rooted, and then the 
leading point pinched out, which will cause side shoots to break, 
and if small plants are wanted they will need neither pinching nor 
potting further ; but some may be shifted into pots a size or two 
larger, and these will furnish as large plants as will be required 
for tables. Coleuses enjoy any amount of sun, which favours 
intense colouring and promotes a short-jointed growth. Light 
and sandy soil produces good Coleuses, but they are not particular 
when all other conditions are present. Frequent propagation will 
always ensure a good stock of these plants, so if any are injured by 
use they may be thrown away. 
Fig. 2.—double MIGNONETTE. 
ment of seed, so that in the two years I secured scarcely a dozen seeds ; 
but the growth in all cases was very free, some of the plants attaining 
a diameter of between 4 and 5 feet. The proliferous extension does 
not entirely prevent the formation of seed, as the capsule out of which 
the proliferous growth proceeds sometimes contains one or two fully 
developed seeds.—E. Tonks. 
TABLE PLANTS. 
(^Continued from page 556.) 
Coleuses. 
Bushy, well-coloured plants of Coleuses fill an important place 
as useful table plants during the summer and autumn. They are 
not much used in winter, because at that period they are more 
readily affected by changes of temperature, their use in hot dry 
atmospheres soon causing the leaves to fall. In the winter, too, 
they are not so brightly coloured. In the spring and summer in 
Asparauus. 
In sharp and distinct contrast to Coleuses are the beautiful 
foliage plants Asparagus plumosus nanus and Asparagus tenuissimus. 
The first-named is the most graceful of the two, and merits the 
best attention for table decoration. It is valuable at all times of 
the year, and no stove plant combines such delicacy of foliage with 
such enduring qualities when used in rooms. It is far before the 
popular Maidenhair. Plants in 5-inch pots are perfect table gems 
when they fill the pots with roots and have assumed a dwarf and 
bushy habit of growth, which may be the better secured by a little 
topping of the strongest growths. This variety is increased by 
division only, but A. tenuissimus can be propagated by cuttings 
easily from any mature portion of the plant, as well as by division 
of the rootstock in spring. Neat and pretty little plants of this 
variety can be cultivated for table decoration in quite small pots, 
3-inch pots being suitable, and by a little topping they may be kept 
dwarf for a considerable time. The same process may also be 
adopted with larger plants in 5-inch pots, but still larger specimens 
