Novembku 18. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
125 
1 
when the bulbs are not growing; but as they are 
started and potted moisture will be requisite. Here now 
will appear the importance of what was just now said 
about soil. If dri/, with eomnion watering when would 
you get it cquciUy moist? If wet, it would dry and 
crack on the surface; and ten to one but the first wieldcr 
of a water-pail that passed that way would render bulbs 
and soil alike as comfurtalile as if they had been sunk a 
foot beneath the surface of a plashy morass. Rut use 
the soil indicated; take the ])recaution, in addition, to 
place your pots in a pit or frame whore thorough air is 
admitted, the atmosphere is somewhat close and moist, 
and if tlie pot is plunged in ashes, &c., all the better. 
Then the soil will just bo in the ])osition for roots to 
ramify in; and you may safely lock up the water-can 
until the leaves, getting to the size of a shilling, begin 
to show that they need a refresher, and by that time 
roots and everything will have gone also well, that it 
would require a peculiar clumsy knack indeed to be able 
to sour or sodden the soil. As the leaves increase in 
size, and tlio llower-stalks shew themselves, more air 
and water will be needed. Pouring it over the ilrcssing 
of cow-dung will give strength to the llower-stalks after 
they have fairly started; and after the first blooms 
ap[)ear, manure-watering may be given twice a week in 
addition. When the lioworing is over and the first 
withered leaves appear, water must be gradually lessened; 
but some should be given so long as the leaves are 
green, giving them during this period a good open 
position, and allowing the plants to remain in the pots 
several weeks, if not altogether after the foliage has 
decayed. 
5thly. Position and Temperature. —As now indicated, 
when in a dormant state, they cannot bo better than in 
the pots in which they grow, and turned on their broad¬ 
sides to keep the soil dry. Rut, if for economy, the pots 
should bo otherwise wanted, after the bulbs are tho¬ 
roughly ripened and partly rested, they may bo carefully 
removed, and packed in dryish earth, and kept anywhere 
whore neither wet nor frost can reach them. The earth, 
in either case, will prevent the juices of the bulbs being 
evaporated, which, though it might not oppose the pro¬ 
duction of flowers, would be apt to deprive them of 
strength, and the foliage of healthy luxuriance. 
The jilants gi’ow freely where the average night tempe¬ 
rature docs not fall much below .50°, with a good rise for 
sunshine ; but when lioworing, or advancing towards it, 
enjoys the clearest sunshine and the highest temperature 
of our summers. A cold ])it may, therefore, be said to 
be its chief delight from May to tlie middle of Septem¬ 
ber, where it may have full light and air when blooming, 
and a slight shade and a closer atmosphere when gi’ow- 
ing. In October the plant will do best in an open 
warmish greenhouse. 1 have never seen it better than 
in sunny days in November and the beginning of Decem¬ 
ber ; but then it stood in a rather dry house,—a combi¬ 
nation of a plant-stove and a greenhouse, where the tem¬ 
perature at night was seldom below 50^’. Even then, at 
that season of the year, though the bloom opened in 
clear days, they never became fully expanded, unless 
during sunshine. These facts will show our greenhouse 
and window friends the importance of blooming this 
plant in summer and autumn. 
(ithly. Traininy, —1 have allowed the llowcrs and 
leaves to droop; but, unless the plant was elevated 
above the eye, nothing was gained by the mode, if even 
tlicn. The simplest, and perhaps the best jdaii is to 
place a number of small slender sticks round the inside 
of the pot, and also several in the centre ; connect these 
together with line thread ; the leaves and flower-stalks 
will grow through and among them, and will thus be 
held fast, while the supporting medium will soon be 
entirely encircled. 
it would have been out of place to have said so much 
about O. lioweii, at this season, in this department, 
were it not that a similar mode of management is a]q)li- 
cablo to the whole bulbous groiq) of Oxalis, with, per¬ 
haps, the exception of using more i)cat for the tenderer 
kinds. They are mostly all such beautiful things, both 
for greenhouse and window, that 1 should be glad botli 
to see and have a collection of them; and most of thorn 
can bo well grown in six-inch pots, and take up but little 
room in comparison with lioweii. What, for instance, 
at this season, in a warmish greenhouse or window, can 
bo more beautiful than O. lobata, witli its lobed leaves, 
and large yellow flowers; or O. sericea, in spring, with 
its glittering silky foliage and pretty yellow flowers; or 
O. tricolor during the winter and spring, especially iir 
clear sunny weather? As 1 have already mentioned, many 
in time may bo made to bloom at any period, according to 
the time they are rested, but it is not advisable to have 
many in the dead of winter, as it requires a fair tem¬ 
perature and good light to cause the blooms of the best 
to expand freely. How interesting might many become 
in autumn and spring to those friends who have but 
little space at their command. 1 will, therefore, conclude 
with a short list of dwarf kinds that bloom freely in 
autumn and the first mouths of winter, in spring, and 
in summer. 
In Autumn.— Lobata, mentioned above ; Asinina, ass- 
car-leaved, yellow ; Garnosa, llesh-colourcd ; Fidyida, 
crimson ; Jlirta, yellow; Rosacea, rose-coloured; 
Variabilis, white and rod. 
In Spring.— Sericea, already mentioned ; Canescens, 
hoary-lcavecl, purple llowcrs; t'lava, yellow; Incarnata, 
flesh; Multijlora, lilac. 
In Summer.— Fuscata, brown; Miniata, vermilion ; 
Temila, lilac; Rubra Jlava, red and yellow ; Dar- 
tvalliana, crimson. 
Without adding more, I might recommend Frulicosa, 
a yellow semi-shrubby one, to those having the heat of 
a cool stove at command in winter, and a greenhouse 
herbaceous one named Floribunda, which is easily 
increased by suckers and division of the roots; the 
flowers are simple and pink in colour; but the singularity 
about it is twofold ; first, as the plant grows it produces 
its llowcrs and leaves in a bundle at the jtoint of the 
shoots; and secondly, as years roll on this habit gives 
to the stem of the plant more of the character of a 
miniature Palm than an herbaceous j)lant. 1 have had 
these stems from a foot to eighteen inches in length, 
and as smooth as a mop-handle; in fact, altogether the 
plant was too like the moj), handle and all; but still, in 
a common greenhouse, with rough treatment, it was 
scarcely ever destitute of flowers. 
Oxalis Grenata, once lauded for its edible tubei’s, and 
which seemed driven out of the field by O.calis Deppei, 
hut of which little has been seen or heard lately; so 
dillicult is it to get artistes of the kitchen, or gentlefolks 
either, to patronise new-fangled things, ir of iiomk 
liRirisii oKowTii; though certainly the flowers and 
j)oints of shoots were nice and pretty too in a salad; the 
stems made no bad tart; and the tubers, well dressed, 
being destitute of acid, were immeasurably better to 
simple tastes, than many of those unpronouncablo kiek- 
shaws which epicures make so much of, because they 
j)ay so nicely for them. These, no doubt, at tho right 
time will be introduced to tho notice of those desiring 
it, by our able fellow-labourer, Mr. Robsoji. R. i'rsn. 
CONIEERA^. 
( Conlin ued from paje 87). 
•luNii'Eus.— A largo genus of handsome, mostly 
hardy shrubs; tlie commoner kinds are grown in almost 
every garden, and are well suited for that purpose, both 
on account of their beauty, and being perfectly hardy; 
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