114 
THE FLOKIST. 
first time I saw a well-done plant of it was at the Horticultural 
Society’s exhibition at Chiswick in May, 1847; this was exhibited by 
the late Mr. Hunt, then gardener to Miss Traill, and was trained 
upon a half-round wire trellis, 4 feet in diameter, which was clothed 
from top to bottom with delicate foliage and bright red pea-shaped 
flowers, together with multitudes of buds in all stages of forwardness; 
it was awarded (and justly) an extra first prize or gold medal. 
I, as well as other plant growers who saw it, admired it greatly, 
and considered it well deserving the high award it received; but 
I thought that if it could be trained upon slender stakes in the 
bush form, it would look more natural, have a more graceful appear¬ 
ance, and correspond better with the other plants when staged among 
them in a collection; for much as I admired the plant shown by 
Mr. Hunt, I could not help thinking that, trained as it was, it had 
an appearance of stiffness and formality which greatly detracted from 
its beauty. When I went to Ealing Park, as plant grower, I had an 
opportunity of trying what could be done in growing a specimen of this 
without the assistance of a wire trellis, and succeeded to my own satis¬ 
faction ; and as the plant which .1 exhibited, trained upon slender 
green stakes in the bush form, was the first which had been seen 
grown in that way, it was admired by plant growers generally, and 
noticed by the reporters of the various exhibitions at which it was 
shown that season. 
Persons intending to commence the culture of this Gompholobiiim 
should procure young plants as soon as possible, choosing those that 
are clean, strong, and healthy looking, and which appear to be weU 
rooted and firm about the collar. In choosing young plants to be grown 
into specimens, it will be found to repay the trouble to see that they 
have their stems or collar strong in proportion to the size and strength 
of the rest of the plant, which is often delicate ; and if plants wnich are 
not perfectly sound in the stem are selected, their progress will never 
be satisfactory, and the chances are they will not live to attain any 
useful size. Directly the young plants are received, they should be 
repotted and placed in an intermediate house where a nice moist 
temperature of about 55^ is maintained. In potting young stock for 
starting, I prefer giving a liberal shift, say from a 3-inch pot to an 
8-inch one, which allows more space for placing the stakes for training 
shoots upon. A few slender green stakes, according to the size of the 
plant, should be placed in the soil at once, and the shoots trained round 
them, taking care to cover the bottom with the likeliest shoots for 
breaking strongly. In potting now, and on all future occasions, care 
must be exercised to have the ball of the plant in a healthy state 
as to moisture and also the new soil; great care must also be used in 
watering, especially until the roots can strike into the fresh soil; and 
the atmosphere should be kept rather closer and moister at this time, 
so as to avoid as much as possible the necessity of frequent waterings, 
and encourage active growth. Keep the plants near the glass, and as 
soon as the sun becomes powerful, a thin shade must be used, for this 
variety is impatient of exposure to bright sunshine, and anything 
approaching free vigorous growth need not be expected, unless it is 
