EUPHORBIA JACQUINIFLORA. 
233 
EUPHORBIA JACQUINIFLORA. 
The production of flowers in the winter is a matter of much 
consequence to the gardener, because they are then more valued, 
and consequently more often required. Every plant which natu¬ 
rally produces its blossoms at this period, with the least preten¬ 
sions to beauty, must, therefore, possess peculiar claims to atten¬ 
tion ; but when we meet with a species having this desirable pro¬ 
perty combined with true magnificence in its floral organs, what 
trouble can be deemed too much that will ensure its perfect de¬ 
velopment ; to hesitate on such a subject is not in accordance with 
the spirit which now leads horticulture, which may be said to 
have almost arrived at the desirable stage of determining first 
what is best, and immediately adopting measures for its possession. 
The subject of this paper is, notwithstanding, an exception ; every 
one acknowledges its beauty, but all complain of its ugly habit; 
its flowers are the delight of all who see them, but its long naked 
branches are an abomination in the eyes of a gardener j hundreds 
would adopt the plant did they believe this unsightly propensity 
could be remedied, and thousands of plants would be seen en¬ 
livening the stove with their richness, through the dreary months 
of winter, where not a single specimen now exists. Let me ex¬ 
plain how far, and in what way, I have succeeded: two years 
since I procured a cutting in the autumn, and struck it in loam 
and peat, with a slight admixture of sand, an operation easily 
effected with the aid of a moderate bottom heat. It was afterwards 
placed in a forty-eight pot, and in the course of the winter produced 
a few flowers, which were taken off soon after they expanded, and 
the plant allowed to rest the remainder of the winter; in the 
spring I repotted it into a twelve-sized pot, a considerable change 
certainly, but one which the result fully justified, ample provision 
being made for drainage, and the plant placed in a mixture of 
turfy loam, some peat, and a small proportion of silver sand, 
every attention was given it, and the progress was rapid and satis¬ 
factory. During the whole of the summer, as-the shoots extended, 
they were bent downwards and tied, to give it a dwarf appearance, 
and in the following November it had attained a spherical form 
of about two feet diameter, and was subsequently covered with its 
