THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION. —August 10, 1850. 300 
preferring to sprinkle tlio heads of the plants at times, | 
instead of saturating the roots, as in sudden, bright sun¬ 
shines after dull, cold weather, the plants will seem to 
suffer at times when they are quite moist enough at the 
roots; more water and air as the days lengthen in 
spring, with a free use of the syringe, and care taken to 
protect the pots a little from the sun in summer, espe¬ 
cially if full of roots. 
Humea elegans. —Many grow this to a great size 
for house decoration; others are content with smaller 
plants for the centres of flower-clumps, and baskets, 
and vases out-of-doors; and for either purpose it is 
really elegant. For the latter purpose, let me remind 
our readers that the plants should not he trusted out 
until the middle of Juue if the place is at all exposed. 
I turned out fine large plants about the end of May, 
and the best, in a favoured spot, have been next to 
entirely destroyed, most of the leaves having been 
blackened and scorched. The worst plants are now the 
best. Sow any time from April to the middle of June: 
prick out in pans as soon as the plants can be handled, 
and pot singly as soon as they will bear it; and pot. again 
and again as soon as the roots get to the sides of the pot, 
until the second week in September; and if shifted so late 
the shift must bo small, so that the pot will be full of 
roots before winter sets in ; keeping them all this time, if 
possible, under glass, in a cold pit or frame, with plenty 
of air, and removing them to a house commanding fire- 
heat by the third week in October. They should seldom 
be below 40° in winter, and, with air, will take no harm 
if several degrees higher. Those who have an inter¬ 
mediate or a forcing-house may grow them to a large 
size by shifting about the new year; but those who have 
only greenhouse treatment to give will find the 1st of 
March early enough; and these latter will make fine, 
though not such monstrous plants. If to be kept in 
the house, shift again in May; if to go out-of-doors, if 
the place is at all cold, delay planting out until June. 
Rich, sandy loam grows it to perfection, though when it 
gets a good size it will take good, rich top-dressings and 
manure-waterings with avidity. It is desirable to keep 
a plant inside the greenhouse for securing perfect seed. 
I never met one who did not admire its elegant grass¬ 
like inflorescence. Mr. Fleming used to place it iu 
the centre of Ivy-baskets of Gerauiums with fine 
effect. 
Indigofera. —Many of these bloom in July, and they 
are all interesting, and easily enough grown in peat and 
loam ; but the great drawback is the constant vigilance 
that must be exercised to keep the red spider from them, 
as he dearly likes one and all of them. 
Ipomopsis elegans. —A beautiful biennial, requiring 
extra care. Any one with moisture, heat, and room, can 
easily grow such showy plants as Cissus discolor, Coleus 
Blurnei, and the hothouse varieties of Vinca; but 
wherever there is a beautiful show of this Ipomopsis, 
formerly going under the name of Cilia pulchella, it at 
once declares that extra skill and attention have been 
bestowed. It is very impatient of shifts, and of the 
least extra moisture, especially near the collar of the 
plant. The easiest modo is to sow, in August, thinly 
round the sides of a six-inch pot, iu fibry, sweet, sandy 
loam ; to thin out as the plants grow ; to have a hollow 
place in the centre of the pot, and a crock there on 
which to pour the necessary water in autumn, without 
touching the stem or collar of the plants; to place them 
in pans on a front shelf in the greenhouse, where they 
can have plenty of air and light; and, during the dull 
months, to givo them what moisturo they chiefly need 
by keeping moss moist in the saucer belowAhem, which 
thus saves the stem from all risk ; for if moisture remains 
there any time, they will rot off to a certainty. About 
March, thin out to three plants, and water more liberally, 
but still with great care, as any extra damp, in a 
stagnant state especially, will send the plant off even 
when near its blooming state. 
Lotus Jacoersus. —A pretty old favourite; requires 
similar treatment to an Indigofera. When the plants 
attain some size, they should be grown chiefly in fibrv 
loam; when small, in equal parts of loam and heath 
soil. Young plants thrive best, and cuttings should be 
inserted every other year. They strike quickly in sand 
under a bell-glass. 
Oi.EA fragrans is well worth growing for the delight¬ 
ful fragrance of its small, sweet flowers, and requires 
merely loam and peat, and the common treatment of \ 
greenhouse plants. 
Othonna arborescens. —An Aster-looking, yellow- 
flowered, Cape of Good Hope plant, requiring the 
protection of the greenhouse in winter, and a sheltered j 
spot out-of-doors in summer, and grows freely in sandy i 
loam. 
Passerina, with the exception of requiring more peat 
earth, is equally easily cultivated, and is more interesting. 
Persoonia. — Treat as Ilaltea and other Protends. 
Petunia. —I introduce this to express a fear that the 
double-flowered white will be chiefly useful as a pot 
plant where shade and shelter can be given to it. Out- 
of-doors the least wind ruffles it, and if it gets a good i 
shower, you get a forest of leaves that pretty well 
threaten to bury out of sight all its flower-buds. 1 
have a bed just now quite covered, with scarcely a 
flower. It may yet redeem itself, but an excellent white 
single variety is a mass of bloom, hardly showing a 
bit of green. As for the fine, sweet scent, I have never 
discovered it in this much-prized double ; others may be 
more fortunate in detecting it. To me it lias the strong, 
rather unpleasant odour of the common Nyctaginijlora. 
Plumbago Capensis. — One of the prettiest things 
either for a pot or a column. The chief points in its 
culture are fibry loam and heath-soil to grow in; as 
much exposure to the sun as possible in autumn, to 
ripen the back buds; comparative dryness and freedom 
from frost in winter; pruning close back to two or three 
buds in spring; watering, shifting, and encouraging to 
grow afterwards, when the young shoots will produce 
their masses of light blue shoots at their points in July 
and August. 
Polygala. — Most of the greenhouse kinds require 
fully three-parts fibry peat earth, and the other fibry 
loam, and arc all worthy of attention where there is 
room in a large greenhouse. 
RnoiiANTHE Manglestt. —This is far more patient of 
shifting and handling than the Ipomopsis ; but some of 
the finest masses I have ever seen were sown very 
thinly in six and eight inch pots, and had merely the 
surface soil pricked up several times, and fresh surfaced 
with pure loam and peat. When sown in September or 
March, and intended to be grown singly, the sooner 
they are pricked out into small 00-pots the better, and 
what shifting is given should be attended to beforo the ; 
roots mat round the sides of the pot. Rich, saDdy loam 
will grow it well. Sown in March in a slight hotbed, it 
will yield plants that will require much less trouble than 
those sown in autumn, though they will not bloom so 
soon. 
Roei.la cii.iata. —This is one of the prettiest of all 
the Bellworts, with white and purple flowers, produced 
on the points of the compact stubby shoots, and a good 
shrubby little specimen always speaks of superior cul- j 
tivation. Two things militate greatly against its beauty 
and health — too close and warm an atmosphere in 
spring, and a temperature too low, especially if associated 
with stagnant moisture in winter. It is easier to pro- j 
pagate than to grow it w r ell. Small side-shoots, or the 
points of others when getting a little firm, two inches 
back from their points, strike rather readily in spring 
when inserted in sand under a bell-glass, and placed in 
