268 
APHELANDRA CRISTATA. 
a bushy specimen; and having also observed in that time that 
the plant often became unsightly at the bottom, I entertained an 
idea that too much time was taken up in forming it, and there¬ 
fore set to work at the period mentioned with a full intention to 
grow the plant as rapidly as its nature would admit. Accord¬ 
ingly, it was repotted immediately received, the plant then being 
about eight inches high. The terminal bud was taken off, and 
the pot plunged into a brisk bottom-heat of about 85 or 90°. 
The soil employed throughout was an equal mixture of turfy 
peat, loam from the surface of a common, leaf-mould, and silver 
sand. The first two ingredients had lain a twelvemonth in a 
heap, and the grass and roots had thereby become thoroughly 
decomposed. Mixing this well by hand, it was used in as rough 
a state as convenient, and offered a very open medium for the 
roots to range in. At the first shifting, just mentioned, the plant 
was placed in an eight-inch pot, and for the first month had very 
little water given it, the time of the year and the humid state of 
the atmosphere in which it grew rendering the application un¬ 
necessary more than once in a week or ten days. By the end of 
March it had filled the pot with roots, and had formed three 
branches, each having four to six leaves, and above six inches in 
length. It was then again stopped by taking out the terminal 
bud of each shoot, and at the same time repotted, placing it on 
this occasion into a twelve-inch pot. This large size was adopted 
for two reasons—first, because of the very active condition of 
the plant, which promised in the next two months to do far more 
than it yet had effected; and further, because April and May 
are well known to be very busy months, in which I was desirous 
of restricting the labour as far as possible. One large shift was, 
therefore, equal to, and applied as a substitute for, two smaller 
ones, and the result proved of a satisfactory nature ; for, at the 
end of April, the plant required to be again stopped, and in June 
had formed ten strong, healthy shoots ; and, being carefully tied 
out, formed a specimen fit for immediate removal to an eighteen- 
inch pot, into which it was at once placed and set to work to 
complete its season’s action. Thus in five months I had obtained 
a plant, which, if it went no further, was at least equal to many 
I had seen which had cost two, and some three, years’ attention. 
There was now some danger to be apprehended, from the altered 
