December 5. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
179 
little charcoal-dust, and then let it lay a fow minutes. 
Previously, according to the size of the cutting, a three 
or four-inch pot should have been prepared, filled to 
within an-inch-and-a-half of tho ;top with drainago, and 
then with bruised charcoal, sand and peat, an inch, 
covered with sand a quarter-of-an-inch thick. This 
should then have been watered and allowed to settle, 
and get dryish on the surface. Have a few little pegs, 
or booked sticks, ready; take tho cutting, and do not 
dibble it in the sand in the usual way, but place its end 
horizontally close to the side of the pot, and just hardly 
covered with the sand. Lay the shoot round in volute 
fashion, on the sand, by tho side of the pot, keeping it 
there by pegs, and leaving only the point free and at 
liberty; then place the pot inside of a larger one, with 
moss stuffed between them ; and then get a bell glass on 
tho moss between the pots; water, and allow to dry 
before the glass is put on; plunge, then, in a good 
bottom-heat, shade from sunshine, and prevent damping 
by a little elevation on one side of tho bell-glass at night; 
and theso unlikely shoots of these and other climbing 
plants will furnish good, strong plants. 
Soil. —When young, this should chiefly consist of fibry- 
peat, leaf-mould, and sand, with a little charcoal. As the 
plant increases in size, fibry-loam should be added, until 
it amounts to a third, and a little dried old cow-dung 
may bo added to the leaf-mould, and this will cause the 
plant to be stubbier in habit than if grown in peat- 
earth almost alone. 
Position. —This has already beon indicated. It is next 
to impossible to give it too much of a moist heat. If 
forced by dung-heat, great care must bo taken that no 
steam reaches it. A shady place suits it best, when 
making fresh growth at first, and more light to give tho 
colouring to the leaves afterwards. A fair portion of 
water, heated to the temperature of tho atmosphere of 
the house, or, rather, a few degrees higher, will bo 
wanted when growing freely, and an atmosphere near 
tho saturation point; but unless in extreme cases, such 
as to promote cleanliness, the syringe should seldom 
touch the foliago. 
COLEUS BLUMEI. 
This is, likewise, a plant, with beautiful foliage, from 
Java, introduced, 1 believe, by Mr. Low, of Clapton, and 
sent by him to the Royal Gardens, or, rather, the 
Reople’s Gardens, at Kew; for right well do the people 
enjoy and appreciate the improvements, and the access 
to witness them, which have been effected there. This 
genus Coleus is something of an offshoot of, or uoar 
neighbour to, the genus Pleetmnthus ; and, were my love 
for notoriety and conservative distinction much greater 
than is ever likely to come in my way, I would be apt to 
envy the gentleman whose name it bears. In our 
younger days, the coarse-growing Plectranthus raceniosus 
used to be groatly grown in windows, its green foliage, 
and something-like-bahn fragrance, making up for its 
roughness, and the long spikes of diminutive, greyish 
flowors. The flowers of this Coleus Blumei are rather 
better coloured, a bluish purple and white, and, in young 
plants, the spikes are of great length, though the in¬ 
dividual flowers be small. But the foliage is tho groat 
attraction,—-jagged, and of a yellowish-green at the 
sides, while the most of the leaf is rayed and splashed 
with a rich crimson-purple. Though from the same 
island ns the Cissus, it seems to stand much rougher 
treatment during summer. As to propagating it, it is 
mere child’s play. A few nice young shoots, a little firm 
at the bottom, placed round the sides of a pot, in sandy 
soil, and plunged in a briskish heat, in a shady placo; 
and in a week they will he getting quite anxious to be 
potted off. 
Such a sensation did the little gem create, that I 
could not resist the temptation to have it tried exten¬ 
sively in windows and greenhouses, and reports were 
favourable from all places until the cold weather came, 
and now I get teazed out of tnonsure, as to how, in such 
places, tho plants are to bo kept healthy. I had a largo 
plant, that stood in a cool glass veranda, in perfect 
health, from the middle of June to tho end of October, 
though towards the last the leaves formed were very 
small. I have been vexed since, that this old plant was 
thrown to the rubbish-heap, as I could have better 
measured the cold it would have indured, than by 
younger plants. The appearance of the latter seem to 
say, that they will require a temperature from 50° to ('>0°, 
to keep them endurable, and 00°, and onwards, to keep 
the beauty of the foliago in perfection. As in the case 
of the Cissus, I am not yet sure that can be dono in our 
dark winters; and allowing tho plants to shed their 
largest and host loaves, under comparatively a lower 
temperature than it was used to at home, may both 
be the cheapest and best way of keeping it here. 
A plant-stovo, moderately heated, seems, however, to 
be indispensable in winter, though those who can place 
a small plant or two in a warm greenhouse, in a good 
position, and with the extra protection of a handlight, 
may succeed, if it does not get below 45° at night. 
Without this, I foar its admirers for a window or a 
greenhouse, in summer, must get cuttings in May or 
April, and strike them in their Cucumber-bed. It is not 
at all particular as to soil. It seemed to thrive in all 
kinds, provided it was moderately rich and open. It 
took in manure-waterings with great gusto, if not too 
fresh, nor too strong. A little shade is useful at first. 
Liko the Cissus, when you wish it to grow fast, it can 
scarcely have too much boat and atmospheric moisture. 
R. Fish. 
BO LION 1A SERRULATA. 
(THE SAW-EDGED-LEAVED BORONIA.) 
There are few plants, whether in flower or out of 
flower, that are greater ornaments to the greenhouse 
that this plant, and yet it is not easy to cultivate without 
great and very judicious care. It will not bear rough 
and every day treatment. It will not thrive if the 
surface of the soil is allowed to become mossy, neither 
will it keep long in health if indiscriminately watered. 
It is one of my pet plants, which 1 very frequently see 
puny and pining, with yellow leaves, in the last stage of 
consumption; and this state, undoubtedly, is brought 
on by subjecting it to a wholesale method of manage¬ 
ment, such as answers only for such hardy fellows as 
the Hydrangea, the Coronilla, or the Myrtle; plants, 
that the worst management will hardly kill. 
The Boronias are all Australian plants, and many of 
them are beautiful objects, especially B.pinnata; but 
the gem of the genus is the one 1 have selected to write 
about, chiefly for the reason that it requires a rather 
more careful treatment. Now, whoever loves plants 
will not begrudgo a little extra trouble, with a few that 
require it, rather than allow them to live a year or two 
in ill health and finally die. Indeed, I think it is, or 
ought to be, a conscientious duty with every gardener, 
when his employer incurs the expense of purchasing 
good species of plants, to exert his utmost powers to 
grow them well, and bloom them satisfactorily, in order 
that the owners may enjoy them. Besides, his own 
gratification and credit ought to lead him to nurso his 
plants kindly. To begin (as tho common saying is) at 
the beginning, the first thing is to procure the plant. 
If you have the opportunity of choosing the plant, and 
the time of adding it to your stores, choose a low, bushy 
plant, with dark green leaves, and let it come from the 
nursery about the end of April, or beginning of May 
would do. I would advise you to have a plant in a four- 
