30S 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
HOTHOUSE DEPARTMENT. 
EXOTIC STOVE PLANTS. 
culture of passifloras (Continued from p. 272.) 
Summer Treatment. —We have so lately given our 
practice in training creepers, when writing upon Ipomeas 
and other stove climbers, that we need not repeat it 
here, as the same principles apply to training the 
Passion-flower. One particular regarding the fruit of 
the Granadilla it will be as well to mention, and that is, 
as the fruit is of a considerable size and weight, it is 
desirable, as a matter of precaution, to support each 
fruit either with a piece of broad bass mat or tape of a 
sufficient length. The way to apply it, is to take hold 
of one end and pass the other over the rod or chain to 
which the shoot bearing the fruit is attached; bring 
each end equally down below the fruit, and then cross 
them over each other, and bring them up on the opposite 
sides of the fruit, and over the rod, to which it should be 
securely fastened, leaving sufficient space within this 
kind of basket to allow the fruit to swell to its full size. 
Tied up in this way it cannot possibly drop on the 
ground, even when it falls from the branch after it is 
fully ripe. This precaution is necessary, because when 
the fruit is ripe the skin is thin and tender, and if it 
should fall would burst, and so be unfit for the table. 
Water. —During their growing and flowering season, 
these plants, on account of their rapid growth, require 
a liberal supply of water, and will be greatly bene- 
fitted by copious showers of soft water through the 
syringe, care being taken not to wet the flowers. As 
the Granadillas flower, let them be impregnated in the 
manner described at page 272. Other fruiting kinds do 
not need artificial setting, but will set and swell their 
fruit without help. Temperature during summer, 75° by 
day and 60° by night. 
Winter Treatment. —As soon as the blooming season 
is past, prune the Passion-flowers in very severely, leaving 
only a young shoot at intervals of a foot or more between 
each. At the same time reduce the quantity of water 
greatly, as in this state they do not require stimulating. 
The syringe may yet be occasionally used to wash the 
dust off the leaves, and to keep down insects. Neither do 
they require now so high a temperature—60° by day and 
50° by night will be sufficient. Occasionally a few 
yellow leaves will occur; let them be instantly removed, 
both for a neat healthy appearance, and to prevent the 
ill-effects arising from decaying vegetable effluvia, always 
offensive to the sense of smelling, and to the health of 
the living leaves. 
Propagation: by Cuttings .—The whole of the genus 
strike easily from cuttings; the young tops make the 
best cuttings. The material in which to strike them is 
a compost of peat and loam in equal parts, made very 
sandy, with a thin layer of pure white sand on the sur¬ 
face of the pots; put the cuttings in round the edge of 
5-inch pots, place them upon a heated surface of sand, 
or plunge them in a bed of tanuer’s bark, cover them 
with hand-glasses, and shade from bright sunshine, 
watering occasionally as they require it. They quickly 
root, and should then have a little air given them every 
day for a week or two jrreviously to potting off. As soon 
as they are a little hardened to bear the morning sun 
and air, pot them off into small pots, and replace them 
under the hand-glasses for a week or two, shading them 
as before till fresh roots are made, then give air and 
gradually inure them to the full exposure of light and 
air. They will soon require larger pots, and the season 
following they will be strong enough to plant out in the 
places where they are to grow and flower. The smaller 
growing kinds put into large pots to be trained round a 
trellis of any shape the cultivator may fancy. 
By Seed. —To raise hybrids, it will be necessary to 
[February lo. 
take the pollen or male dust from any kind with superior 
shape or higher coloured flowers, and place it upon the 
stigma or female part of the flower ot another species 
possessing some desirable quality. And to make more 
sure of a new and improved variety, remove the anthers 
from the mother plant long before they burst with pollen, 
and cover the flower with a kind of muslin called leno, 
to prevent any officious insect from spoiling the intended 
effect. 
As soon as the seed is perfected, let it be cleansed 
from the pulp by frequent washings, and place it u 2 )on a 
piece of paper in the sun till it is quite dry, then fold it up 
in brown paper and keep it in a dry room till spring. 
Sow it in February or March in a gentle hotbed, in 
shallow pots filled with the compost suitable lor cuttings, 
and when the seedlings have three or four leaves pot 
them singly into very small pots; continue them in the 
hotbed, and repot them when required; grow them on 
till they flower, and it is more than probable there will 
be some much improved varieties that will abundantly 
reward the cultivator for the extra trouble he may 
bestow upon them. It is not necessary to give to seed¬ 
lings on trial so much room each as we have described 
for established desirable species and varieties. Seedlings 
may be grown in pots comparatively small till they flower, 
and afterwards such as are decidedly better in quality 
than their parents may be kept, and every advantage of 
the best cultivation given to them, so as fully to prove 
their superiority; and all others that are deficient in 
such approved qualities should be thrown away. We do 
not conceive it necessary, except perhaps for nursery¬ 
men, to raise seedlings of this tribe of plants merely for 
the sake of increasing the individual species, because 
they are so easily increased by cuttings. 
Insects. —There is something in the taste and smell of 
these plants that the generality of insects do not approve 
of—hence they are comparatively little subject to their 
attacks. On some of the thinner-leaved varieties and 
species, the pest almost ever present on all plants, the 
red spider, makes its appearance. Whenever this is the 
case, immediate and persevering efforts must be resorted 
to, to destroy it. The best remedy is the old and sure 
one of washing every leaf, bud, and stem with a sponge 
dipped frequently in tepid water. This, though a 
tedious, is a sure remedy. Severe syringing is also a 
good destructive as well as preventive remedy. It 
washes off the eggs, and destroys the webs these insects 
spin to rear their progeny under. 
Climbing stove plants have occupied our attention for 
some time. There are several others we have not yet 
noticed, which shall appear in our pages very shortly. 
For the remainder of our space tins week we shall draw 
the attention of our readers to an old fine plant which 
we have now in flower at Fine Apple Place. 
Solandra gran m flora (Large-flowered S.); Jamaica. 
1781. 5s.—Named after Dr. Solander, a celebrated 
botanist, who accompanied Capt. Cook round the world. 
It belongs to the Natural Order Solanese, an order that 
contains some beautiful plants, such as Brugmansia, 
Petunia, Brunsfelsia, and Franciscea. In it are, also, 
some useful plants, such as the potato, the capsicum, 
the tomato, and tobacco. All these interesting and 
useful plants are classed by botanists with the noble 
Solandra grandiflora —and very properly too ; for if any 
of our readers will be at the trouble to compare the 
flowers of the most dissimilar in point of size, they will 
find a great similarity in shape and texture. 
The flowers of S. grandijiorei are large and trumpet 
shaped, of a creamy white colour, and are very deliciously 
fragrant, yet not overpowering like Brugmansia suaveo- 
lens. They are what botanists term monopetalous, that 
is, one-petalled : the tube is a little swelled in the centre, 
the border spreads out like the mouth of a trumpet; the 
foliage is large, almost oval-shaped, and of a beautiful 
