218 
flowers of bluish-purple-and-white, blooming freely on 
the young wood from New-year to Midsummer. I 
suspect, therefore, it will not be very suitable for our 
purpose, unless we can contrive to make it rest in 
winter instead of autumn. To bloom in January and 
February, and even in March, it would require a tem¬ 
perature of from 55° to 00° during the last half of the 
winter, at least. Our friend, Mr. Appleby, has bloomed 
it well, and he may, ere long, be able to tell us whether 
it will stand the starving system in winter. Plants that 
will do this, if not brought within reach of the millions, 
are placed within the means of thousands that could 
not aspire to a plant-stove. The maintaining a tempera¬ 
ture from 50° to 00° at night, during winter, cannot for 
a moment he entertained by numbers, who yet can 
manage to get that heat for different purposes by 
March; and when thus rather tender plants are brought 
into bloom, they find that with a little scheming, that 
bloom is as beautiful and longer kept in a greenhouse 
than in a warmer place. I have not a doubt but that 
the present species would thrive in a greenhouse after 
the middle of April. 
FRANCISCEA LATIFOLIA. 
This older species is certainly not so fine as the last, 
but it is still beautiful. It has generally bloomed with 
us very profusely in spring and summer, while it has 
received about as much ceremony and care in winter as 
an old Fuschia. A large plant would render a small 
house rather disagreeable from its sweetness; but then 
one or two smaller ones would obviate that disadvan¬ 
tage, and, besides, be much easier managed as respects 
head room. Small plants will bloom freely on the 
short spurs produced on the well-ripened wood of the 
previous season. With such a starving resting in winter, 
the plant becomes nearly, or completely, deciduous, 
looking like a leafless lilac. In such circumstances, 
little or no water is given, and the plant is kept from 
frost in a cold pit, or beneath the stage in a greenhouse, 
or vinery, where the temperature will range from 43° to 
46°. When convenient, or desirable, it is placed any¬ 
where in a top temperature, between 50° and 00°, and 
by sprinkling with tepid water the buds soon swell, 
burst, and yield their flowers, when a lower temperature 
will suit them. I have kept them in the greenhouse 
until the advanced heat of the summer was sufficient for 
this purpose; but, of course, the plant did not bloom 
until Midsummer. After blooming, a cold pit, which 
you can make a hot one by keeping it closish after 
June, is just the place for it. A moist atmosphere can 
be easily communicated by frequent syringings, and as 
you perceive that the wood is long enough by the be- , 
ginning or middle of autumn, more air may be given, j 
until the plants are used to stand the full force of the 
sun so as to consolidate the wood. By the end of 
autumn, the glasses must be kept pretty close, and soon 
after the plants are placed in their cold winter quarters, 
the resting, and yellowing, and shedding of the leaves, ' 
will proceed eotemporaneously. I cannot be sure of the 
individual now, but I have a vivid recollection of being 
told by a gentleman, when looking on a nice plant, that 
he had seen the identical thing in a sort of amphi¬ 
theatre of bushy, low ground, bounded by the sea on 
one side, and the hills and forests to the north of 
Rio Janeiro on the other. Fie also told me, that of 
course the plant there was a thorough evergreen. Now, 
though nothing certain can be predicted from such a 
fact as the hardiness of latifolia, still, reasoning from 
analogy, we should be apt to come to the conclusion, 
that possibly such kinds as coiifertiflora and exiinia, 
found in much the same parallel of latitude, but from 
more elevated localities, and at such a distance from 
the coast as the province or government of St. Paul, 
would be capable of enduriug a low temperature in 
December 22. 
winter. A desire for experiment—a love for certain 
plants, and the want of sufficient convenience for pruning 
them, were the causes that demonstrated to me that 
some tropical, and bordering on the tropic, plants, that 
could be bloomed, and have their wood consolidated in 
our greenhouses in summer, might be kept in almost a 
torpid state in winter; and, just as in the case of the 
plant under consideration, be rendered fresher and more 
beautiful than if it had stood in a regular plant-stove 
house all the season. 
FRANCISCEA ANGUSTA. 
This species has small, narrow leaves, and blooms 
chiefly at the points of the shoots, and when in a 
small, young state; but it is by no means equal to 
the last, nor yet to 
FRANCISCEA UNIFLORA, or HOPEANA. 
The colour of the flowers, like latifolia, are a bluish- 
purple, changing to white; but while in latifolia the 
flowers are as large as the Vinca major, those in Hopeana 
are no larger, generally, than Vinca minor. The great 
abundance with which they are produced, and the 
lengthened period through which they succeed each other, 
together with their sweet perfume, render this one of 
the most valuable of the genus. The bloom is chiefly 
produced on short spurs thrown out from the well- 
ripened shoots of last season. But as the plant gets 
older the young shoots get smaller and more crowded ; 
and from these plants a perfect sheet of bloom is pro¬ 
duced shortly after you place the plant in heat. Unless, 
therefore, for renewing the head of the plant, no severe 
pruning will be required after the plant is two or three 
years of age. Like latifolia, it enjoys a close, moist 
heat after "blooming, and the removing any small ex¬ 
hausted pieces of wood ; then air should be given more 
gradually, by degrees, until the plant is pretty freely 
exposed in the warmest part of autumn. Water then 
should be given just to keep the plant from flagging, 
and the plant kept rather dry all the winter. During 
the cold season, if thus treated, it will be perfectly safe 
at 45°. I have often had it lower without injury, but I 
should not like the soil to be wet then. In a sunny 
day, when it was not advisable to water at the roots, the 
stems had a syringe with tepid water. When placed in 
a heat from 50° to 65°, the buds would soon swell, and 
the flowers open. Plants from eighteen to twenty-four 
inches high might thus be easily managed in a forcing- 
frame or pit. I have had it in a greenhouse the whole 
season, but then it did not bloom until Midsummer. 
The assistance of a little extra heat in spring not only 
gives bloom earlier, but ensures the young wood being 
better ripened. 
GeneralManagement: Propagation. —Short, stubby 
shoots, just beginning to grow, and young shoots, two 
or three inches long, getting hard at the base, will both 
strike; the latter most quickly. They will require to be 
placed in sand, over sandy peat, in w'ell-drained pots; 
to be covered with a bell-glass, and plunged in a bottom- 
heat of 80°. April and May will be found the best 
times. Pot off when struck, and give the plants the 
assistance of a hotbed the first summer. 
Soil and time of Potting. —Equal portions of peat 
and loam for plants a year or two old; more peat for 
young cuttings; and more loam for well-established 
old plants. Young shoots should not stand for want of 
pot room. Old plants should be pruned when done 
flowering—cutting away old effete stumps, and short¬ 
ening strong young shoots; and when these begin to 
shoot is the best time to pot, taking care to keep the 
plants close and warmish afterwards. In most cases, 
when the plants are several years old, the earth may 
be partly shaken from them, a few of the roots pruned 
away, and then the plant be transferred to a similar 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
