January 27 . 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
321 
strong, and soon had to be supported. In September 
the incarnata threw up a strong tiower scape very nearly 
two feet high, and carried five splendid flowers. Leii- 
cocoryne ixinides, another very obstinate bulb, flowered 
on this stage, with several others that are now better 
understood. It is very easy to imitate this in a division 
of a cold frame, or out under a south wall, by placing 
very soft bricks under a tliin bed of very rich loam, and 
attending to the constant moisture. The soft bricks 
would bo much better than the slate, and the roots 
would cling to them like ivy to a wall. The heat would 
be scorching in the height of summer, hut that is 
just what a vast number of bulbs from South America 
and Southern Africa seem to require in our climate, 
which is quite warm enough for their leaves and flowers. 
1 know at least fifty as fine bulbs as one need want to 
grow, that would answer on this plan better than on 
any other that I could devise. 
ConouRGHiA cocciNEA. —This beautiful bulb was first 
discovered by Matthews, who sent dried specimens of it 
to tliis country. IMr. Maclean was the next who found 
it, “ in one of his excursions on the Cordilleras.” He 
scut two bulbs of it to Dr. Herbert, and they soon 
llowercd with him in pots, and in strong loam and rotten 
dung; the pots stood out-of-doors all the summer of 
1830, which was cold and wet, were kept dry all the 
winter, and early in the s[)ring, before the leaf, both of 
them flowered. In 1810 they went through the same 
treatment, and one of them flowered the same autumn, 
after the fall of the leaf. The flowers are like those of 
incarnata, but shorter, and a better scarlet. All the 
species have dark green tips to the lobes. 
ConoDRGiiiA FDLVA (Tawuy).—Matthews sent dried 
specimens of this, also from Lima, and J. Wilmore, 
Esq., of Oldford, near Birmingham, was the first to 
flower it. The tube of the flower is full three inches 
long; the colour, a dull yellow mixed with grey and 
brown, with the usual green tips. 
CoRouRoniA iNCAHN.ATA. — This is the species on 
which the genus was founded by Mr. Sweet. It was 
figured, before him, by Kunth, and called Pancratium. 
It is a native of Quito, growing on the banks of the 
river Machangara. The leaves are milky-green, the tube 
of the flower five inches long, the colour deeper than the 
word carnea would imply, more crimson, and the lobes 
blotched with green; it is a fine thing. 
CoiiouRGiiiA TRioHROJtA (Tlirco-coloured).—This was 
a puzzler for many years; no one knew where it tvas a 
native of; but it was extensively cultivated in pots in 
the city of jMe.xico, as we do Hyacinths, time out of 
mind. Erom this it is called “the Mexican species,” 
in books; but it is a true Peruvian, and as bad to get to 
flower hero as any bulb we know. Mr. M‘Lean had it 
dug up on the Andes. The flowers are not so long as 
the above; the colour is light scarlet, the lobes edged 
with a paler colour, and a streak of green runs down the 
centre of each lobe, instead of the usual green blotch. 
CoROURoiriA sTYLosA.— Osus, or osa, in our language, 
means a greater degree, or excess. Style is the female 
organ, and stylosa means it to be longer than is 
usual in this genus. Without the flowers this looks 
very much like incarnata. It is iilso from near 
(luito, where M. Harting found it, who sent it to the 
Horticultural Society. The flowers are as long, and 
larger in the opening than those of incarnata : but the 
colour is very different—indeed, peculiar—a dark greyish- 
gi'een all up the tube, extending along the midrib of 
each division, which are otherwise rich orange-red; or, 
in other words, the colours in this species are reversed 
from the usual run in the genua. 
CojiouRGHiA VARIEGATA. —This is a handsome flower, 
and a great favourite with them in the gardens about 
Lima; but where it is growing wild I never heafd. It 
is the only one of them wliich was met with by the 
authors of the “ Flora Peruviana,” who called it Pan¬ 
cratium, of course. All those flowers with a cup inside, 
to which the stamens adhere, were supposed to be Pan- 
cratiums in those days. 
In addition to the brick-floor, I would advise the off¬ 
set bulbs to be destroyed by twisting a sharp-pointed 
stick through the middle of them, or by pulling them off 
as soon as they can be laid hold of. They certainly 
hinder the flowering of the bulbs. D. Beaton. 
{To be continued.) 
PROPAGATING -TENDER AND HALF-HARDY 
PLANTS. 
This chapter, without embracing all points of an 
interesting subject, and which, before long, will be 
engaging great attention, is written solely to meet the 
inquiries made, and the explanations that have lately 
been deemed necessary. The following questions will 
not only embrace the wants of correspondents, hut I 
hope may be interesting to new beginners in general:— 
Ist. " Is air to he admitted to fresh-made and neicly- 
2 )lanted cuttings placed in cold frames ? ” We frequently 
receive many questions, evidently from intelligent peo¬ 
ple, well versant with the principles of some of the 
exact sciences. They are accustomed to see some one 
primary principle regulating the whole routine of prac¬ 
tical detail, and becoming somewhat enthusiastic in 
gardening, they very judiciously wish so far to see 
their way, as to be able to refer to a definite prin¬ 
ciple as the basis on which their operations are to be 
founded. These arc the people that, if they persevere, 
will ultimately make the most successful gardeners. 
But, trusting too much to any one general principle, 
such people are too apt to “give uj)” from a disappoint¬ 
ment, just because, though a principle be sound, the 
modes of its application may he, and must be, as varied 
as the nature, the habits, and the circumstances of the 
plants to which they are applied. Hence, as a general 
principle, it may be stated, that for growing cuttings 
with their foliage on, or even partly reduced, a minimum 
of air, and either shaded or diffused light, are necessary, 
just because a current of air and exposure to light 
would rob the cutting of its juices; on the saving of 
which the future processes of rooting and growing de¬ 
pend. On one hand, therefore, the more successful you 
are in keeping your cuttings from flagging, by checking 
the air and light, the sooner will roots be formed; but, on 
the other hand, you may keep so close in a moist atmo¬ 
sphere, may shade so well from the sun, or j)lace the 
cuttings at such a distance from the glass, that the 
material of your cuttings will be exhausted in upward 
growth, and thus you may either get no roots at all, or, 
very likely, bo rewarded with a sickly, drawn, leggy 
young plant. While closeness and diffused light are thus 
generally indispensable at f rst, it is no less necessary to 
give the cuttings air and light as soon as they can bear it. 
No royal rule can here be given; every case must be 
regulated according to its peculiar circumstances. For 
instance, here arc succulents, such as Cereus, Mesem- 
bryanthemum, Crassula, &c.; who would think of keep¬ 
ing them shut out from air by placing a bell-glass over 
them ? Roots, in their case, will generally be formed 
long before air and sun combined have taken away, by 
evaporation, the stored-up juices. There are Geraniums 
and Pelargoniums, which will strike as well in the open 
air in July, as they would do with all the parapliernalia 
of lights and shading. But try a Heath, or auEpacris, 
or a Chorosema, by such means, and you may wait, and 
cry until you were hoarse for a plant to come. Then, the 
same plants, as respects the cuttings from them, require 
difl'erent treatment at diflerent times. The ripening i 
