tESCHYNANTHUS. 
75 
water, and the removal of moss or filth from the pots, need not 
be insisted on, as they will occur to every gardener. By con¬ 
tinuing this treatment as far into tlie autumn as the state of the 
season may warrant, the plants will be enabled to grow con- 
siderably, and by the arrival of dull weather will have formed 
handsome dwarf, branching specimens : they are then to be 
kept dry and dormant till the following spring, which is best 
effected by placing them on a light warm shelf of the stove as 
near to the glass as possible; and with scarcely any water they 
will pass through the winter in safety. 
The majority of the species, if left to their natural impulse, 
will bloom in autumn and winter; but as such fine objects are 
desirable at all times, and would be very effective for exhibition, 
it may be well to recommence their growth at different times: 
those it is desired to bloom in summer should be started in 
January, but March will be soon enough for those which are to 
flower at a later period. As they have stood in small pots 
hitherto, it will be necessary to shift them; but about a fortnight 
before this is done, plunge the pots in heat again, and water 
moderately, so as to cause the roots to push a little previously. 
In repotting, avoid a large shift; they are not benefited by it for 
the reason before assigned, in the plants deriving nourishment 
through the leaves; and in mixing the compost, regard must be 
had to their native habits,—fibrous peat used rather rough, with 
rotten wood, moss, and charcoal, form the best mixture, to which 
sand may be added if absent in the peat. Thoroughly drain the 
pots as before described, and elevate the base of the plants rather 
above the top of the pot. For three or four months succeeding 
this operation they must be grown as fast as a mean temperature 
of 70° and plenty of moisture will allow, through the first half of 
which time the branches may twice or thrice be stopped, which 
will increase their number and that also of the flowers. Arrived 
in May, the earlier plants having shoots from six inches to a foot 
in length, must be allowed gradually to cease their activity by 
withholding water, and exposing them freely to the air, and, 
when quite done growing, set them on a sunny shelf in the stove, 
give very little water, and no more shade than will suffice to 
preserve the foliage uninjured; persevere in the course till the 
flowers are well set over the plant, which may be expected in the 
