CULTIVATION AND ANALYSIS OF PLANTS. 
\ 
BE*’ 
U 
cause slow evaporation, and the pot being covered with a glass while striking root. The 
layering process may also be used. The mode of procedure is to select strong, low-grow¬ 
ing shoots around the plant, cut off the lower leaves and diminish the length of the upper 
ones, and then with a sharp knife make a clean, slanting cut on the lower side of the stem, 
penetrating about half through it, terminating it near the next joint above the edge of 
the blade. The earth is then loosened an inch or so deep, and the layer pegged down, 
the end being slightly tilted to keep the wound open, and covered with fresh soil well 
pressed down. In tins way the old plant feeds her nurslings through the half-dissevered 
bark until the slips take root. The Remontants, or Monthly Carnations, are much culti¬ 
vated as house plants, their frequent flowering making them very popular, although the 
“monthly” blooms are confined to tropical and subtropical climes, and the summer 
months in other latitudes. The best kinds are imported from Germany and Italy, where 
their cultivation has been made a special industry for two or three hundred years. 
,-Jr 
t 
C O L JE ITS. 
fERY few plants had so effectually escaped the march of hybridiz¬ 
ing improvements and experiments as this simple flower, so long the 
delight of the humble cottagers of Great Britain under the familiar 
name of French Nettle. It, however, fell under the observation of 
that prince of experimenters, Verschaffelt, of Paris, who gave the 
first impetus to the production of varieties, which have since been 
multiplied indefinitely by many others. It has now become indis¬ 
pensable to large and small collections, being a universal favorite with rich and 
The slight blotch of bronze that ornamented the original nettle-like 
leaf of the simple Coleus has been made to assume, under the skillful manipu¬ 
lations of the scientific hybridizers, nearly all the shades of the three primitive 
colors, red, blue and yellow; and various combinations of these and their many 
So conspicuous is the tendency to change in the markings by this process that 
one variety has been styled the Chameleon. The number of varieties in actual cultivation 
is very considerable and continually growing larger. They will grow in almost any soil, 
but do best in a compost of leaf-mold and good loam, requiring, however, plenty of 
moisture in whatever soil during their season of growth. They are very sensitive to cold, 
being in fact as good as thermometers down to the freezing point, the leaves presenting 
different appearances at different degrees under fifty. In the upper ranges they will 
recover with proper attention and increased warmth within seventy-five degrees, but if 
touched by actual frost they are doomed to perish. For winter culture, cuttings should be 
taken in August and set in any shady situation in any soil or in sand, when they will 
strike root by simply watering them every evening in hot, dry weather. When suffi¬ 
ciently rooted, they should be potted and taken indoors before the approach of early frost. 
It is useless to attempt their cultivation where the temperature falls below fifty-five degrees. 
35 6 
shadings. 
