225 
The Description of the Plate will he given in the September Number. 
ON THE CULTURE OF BOUYARDIA TRIPHYLLA. 
The first time I ever saw a Bouvardia triphylla , or Houstonia coccinea , 
as it used then to be called, was at an old-fashioned house in the country, 
where it had been nursed in the greenhouse for years untold, and had 
probably at last grown so tall and straggling, that the new gardener, a 
clever young Scotchman, had pruned it into the shape of a standard rose- 
tree, so that when I saw it, it formed the prettiest object imaginable in 
the middle of a group of greenhouse plants turned out on the lawn, with 
its head of brilliant scarlet trumpet-shaped flowers on a stem about four feet 
high. To see, admire, and inquire the name, were the work of a moment; 
and, as the object made a decided impression on me, the name was one 
which I did not forget, as one is so apt to do when a less interesting 
object is in question. This plant was somewhat out of fashion at the 
time—at least I never happened to see it in the nurseries; but on men¬ 
tioning it to a kind friend he immediately presented me with a young 
plant, and I determined to train it into a miniature tree like the one I 
had seen. There were, when I received it, a number of young shoots 
rising from the surface of the pot; and as I was totally ignorant of its 
culture, I concluded that these shoots were exactly suited for making 
cuttings, and therefore I had the less reluctance to cutting them off all 
but one, which was to be the main stem of my tree. I put these cuttings 
in sand and covered them with a tumbler, but with all my care, though 
they continued fresh for a provoking length of time, they never rooted; 
and it was only on mentioning the circumstance, that I found this was 
one of those plants extremely difficult, or rather long held to be impossible, 
to strike, and that it is generally increased from the roots. In the mean 
time my stem grew about a foot high; I carefully picked off the side 
shoots, leaving only one or two at the top, which flowered and formed a 
small head. Nothing is easier to keep than this plant during the winter, 
and therefore it is highly to be recommended to lady gardeners and 
amateurs. The foliage withers in the autumn, and when that takes 
place, it has only to be removed to the hack of the greenhouse, if there is 
one, and not watered unless a chance drop or two falls on it from the 
general watering; or, as in my own case, it may be put in a cellar or out¬ 
house late in the autumn, merely to protect the stem from frost. At the 
VOL. I.-NO. VIII. 
G G 
