GEISSOMERIA LONGIFLORA. 
53 
CULIYATION OF GEISSOMERIA LONGIFLORA. 
How seldom is this plant seen cultivated in a manner which 
renders it one of the most magnificent objects that can be wished 
for, to bloom through the dreary months of winter, both as re¬ 
gards long continuance in bloom and splendour. It is too well 
known to all who have had the management of this plant, that 
great disappointment is experienced by not being able to produce 
short, bushy, compact specimens. This is what is too frequently 
the great detriment felt by the cultivator of small collections of 
plants. Still we have not a plant that stands more prominently 
forward when judiciously treated. My mode of increasing it is 
by cuttings, taken about the present time, when the plant is in 
full vigour—selecting some of the most ripened wood, taking the 
two lower leaves olf, and making a clean cut close to the joint, 
using peat well incorporated with sand, and standing the pots of 
cuttings in a gentle bottom heat. As soon as they have struck 
I place them singly in small pots, say sixty-sized, using a light, 
rich compost, spreading the roots near to the surface, and place 
them in a warm pit, or into the stove, as near the glass as 
convenient, watering them with great care. I never allow them 
to receive any check for want of pot-room, and at the time of 
potting, the soil, which has become exhausted, is shaken from 
about them. They remain in this situation until they show 
flower, when they are brought forward and stood upon the front 
stage, forming subjects of great attraction. While in the above 
position, and as soon as the blooming season is over, I cut them 
close back to within four eyes of the original wood, then turning 
them out of the pots, shaking the soil clean away from them, and 
at the same time washing the roots thoroughly, they are stood in 
a pot filled with wet moss, and plunged into a brisk bottom heat, 
which, in a short time, induces them to break from every eye, 
forming a beautiful compact plant, and as soon as they have 
made about two leaves to each eye, they are again potted, using 
the compost above described; and by this truly simple treatment 
a fine specimen may be had in one season. 
A-C. 
