302 
THE COTTAGE GAKDENER. 
December 4. 
j specimen, requiring more cave, more fibry peat than the 
j others, and to he potted more carefully on tlie succession 
system of giving small shifts, as anything like sodden 
soil in the neighbourhood of the roots is sure destruc¬ 
tion to it. This is less likely to hapjien when small 
I shifts are given to it at a time, because the pot is more 
I likely to be well filled with good, healthy roots, and 
I then, provided the drainage is all right, and the compost 
alike firm, hut open, there is little likelihood of a 
redundant, stagnant moisture about the roots, so dan¬ 
gerous at all times, and especially in winter. Many 
plants of this kind are best kept in double pots, that 
I is, the one in which they are grown placed inside of a 
j larger one, and a little moss stuffed between them. In 
summer, this keeps the roots comparatively cool, and in 
winter, unless the weather is very fine and bright, or the 
fro.st is so intense as to require much firing, much 
watering will not be wanted, provided the moss between 
the pots is kept dampish. 
I am well aware that some of our host gardeners 
grow this biloha, as well as the other species, very 
rapidly, at times, by giving large shifts, hut this should 
never he attempted, unless in cases where you can 
depend upon thouglit and intelligence wielding the 
water-pail when applied to all such plants; giving no 
more water than would just reach the fibres ; as unappro¬ 
priated, sodden soil v/ould not he good for any of them; 
and, as has already been stated, would ho certain ruin 
to this beautiful hiloba. 
This care in watering in large shifts, and the means 
of giving the plants a higher temperature and a closer 
atmosphere than a common greenhouse, to encourage 
growth, and then ])lenly of air and sun afterwards, to 
consolidate that growth, are the secrets of success with 
all such hard-wooded plants. Where all these minutia3 
cannot he attended to, the cultivator should ho satisfied 
with giving his plants smallish shifts, and growing them 
slowly, and one consolation then is, ho is likely to keep 
them longer. 1 have grown these plants, and also 
Heaths, to a large size, very quickly, hut they require 
more attention afterwards to keep them healthy than 
])lants gi’own more slowly. Were it not for the Heath- 
like foliage, the blossoms look very much like the small- 
flow'ered section of Lobelia, so much so, that I recollect 
a lady looking at formosa, and exclaiming—“ What a 
beautiful red Lobelia.” 
rrepagation .—If allowed to I’cmaiu, seed-pods are 
pretty freely produced, and young plants arc easily 
raised, by sow'ing these in well-drained pots, placed in a 
hotbed in March, and air given as soon as the seedlings 
are fairly up. Before that, it is as well to cover the pot 
with a bell-glass, and to tilt it on one side for some time 
before removing it altogether. Such plants, however, are 
hardly so prolific in bloom as those raised from cuttings, 
and require more nicety in their management wlien very 
young. Cuttings, therefore, are generally resorted to. 
Small pieces of the points of shoots, from half-an-inch to 
one inch in length, may be taken off any time from Eeh- 
ruary to June, and even later; hut the objection to late 
cuttings is, that the plants are so small, that they w'ould 
almost require to he kept in the cutting-pot all the winter, 
I whilst those struck early may he potted oil' and pretty 
j well established. As a medium, I should consider March 
and the beginning of April the best time. 
; In choosing the cutting, all that is necessary is to secure 
younggrowth, and the base, though young, yet so lirmish 
; as to stand a clean cut with a sliarp knife, as many of 
: the lower leaves should ho cleanly removed as will 
permit the cutting to he inserted to the depth of a 
quarter-of-an-inch, or a little more. Here I may remark, 
that amateurs often fail in striking such little things 
from having the cuttings too large, or inserting them too 
deep. As a general rule, in all cases, where a bell-glass 
is used to prevent the cutting exhausting itself by the 
perspiration of its juices and the solidifying of the 
little carbon it possesses, provided the cutting is securely | 
fixed, the less its base is buried the better it will like it. ; 
The cutting-pots should be ju-epared, as fi'oquently ' 
recommended, from one-half to three-lburths filled with I 
drainage, then a layer of rough fibry peat, in small 
nodules, then finer sandy peat, surmounted with from 
one-half to one inch of pure silver-sand, the pot then be 
set in a tub of water, until all is well saturated, and then 
allowed to drain for a day'. When the surface is pressed 
down with a round, smooth board, it will be ready for 
the cuttings, and when firmly dibbled in the holes may 
all be filled, by trundling dry sand into them, and as 
much water given from a fine rose as will make the 
surface moist and smooth. The cuttings are then to 
stand in a shady place until the tops are dry, and then 
the bell-glass be placed firmly over them, making the 
edge sink a little in the sand. V/ith tender cuttings, j 
success will be rendered more certain, if, whilst the 
cuttings are thus placed in one pot, that should be 
placed i!i another, the space between filled with sand, 
and the bell-glass be fixed between the two rims. By 
such a mode, most of the cuttings may he ]»laced close 
to the rim of the inner pot, the advantage of which, 
and the reason why, I have several times mentioned, 
while the cuttings would be less subject to changes, and 
be more free from dampings, especially if conical-shaped 
glasses are used. Such care as double pots is not 
essential with tins genus, however, unless, jieiliaps, in 
the case of hiloha, as the cuttings strike very freely. In 
the early spring months the rooting process will be 
greatly })romoted by placing the pot in a bottom-heat 
of about 70°, with an atmospheric temjieraturo of from 
50° to 00®. After a few days, it will be advisable to 
tilt U 21 the side of the bell-glass at night, and reidace 
it firmly in the morning, and just shading as much, and 
]io moie, as will prevent Hagging. As soon as roots are 
formed the bell-glass must be gradually dispensed with, 
taking it off, first at night, then night, morning, and 
evening, and, at last, at mid-day, and altogether, giving 
more air accordingly. I have seen a whole batch of 
these and young Heaths go to the wall, because the prac¬ 
titioner potted them directly from nnder the bell-glass, 
and placed them in a good-enough place for growing 
plants, but whicb, for them, in their previously coddled 
state, was wholly inappropriate. When first jiotted off, 
it will generally be best to place them round the sides of 
a 4-inch pot, and keep them close and shaded until 
growth is proceeding i'recly, when they must be gra¬ 
dually hardened by air and exposure, and, if struck 
early, may again bo shifted into single small p>ots, if 
there is time for them to fill their pots pretty well 
before the winter. In general, they will be as well in 
their first pots until the next spring. 
Choosing a Plant .—Did I want to make a fine speci¬ 
men, I would select a nice little ^Jant about April, and 
would prefer a healthy, bushy plant, in what is called a 
G0-])ot, to one in a 48 or 32. Even in choosing the small 
I plant, I should give the preference to one with the roots 
I just coming to the sides of the pot, instead of one so full 
of roots as to be matted ; and supposing the succession 
mode of shifting to he adopted, much of the success will 
depend on never Icttiiig the roots get matted much at all; 
but shifting in time to prevent it, until the jilant is in 
as large a j^ot as you wish it to bloom profusely in. 'J'he 
reason why the young ])laut is preferred, is, that the 
older plant is very apt to have been pot-bound several 
times before it has got into its present pot; and this,— 
if it does not make the jrlant stunted, as a whole, and, 
therefore, more inclined to bloom freely, than to grow 
vigorously,—is very apt to make some of the branches 
stunted, and these will, very likely, remain so, or go off 
altogether, and, in either case, mar the symmetry of the 
jdant. Of course, I make an exception in the case of 
