THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
February 13. 
374 
the open air, in a warm border, towards autumn. Seeds 
sown in August and September, and protected over the 
winter under glass would bloom early in summer. It is 
very easily raised from cuttings, and will grow in almost 
any soil. 
SOLANUM AGREGATUM. 
The flowers of this, as may readily be imagined, are 
something like the Potato, and purple in colour. It is 
rather a compact evergreen shrub, a native of the Cape, 
and requiring for its well-doing in winter a rather warm 
greenhouse. The seeds generally vegetate very freely 
when they have the assistance of a hotbed in spring, 
and the sooner they are sown the more advanced the 
plants will be to meet the coming winter. The compost 
need not be particular; rough fibry loam, and a little 
leaf-mould, with good drainage, will grow the plant 
admirably. 
DIOSMA ALBA. 
This, like most of the genus, has small, white flowers, 
though a few have flowers red, and others blue. It is 
chiefly desirable for its compact, Heath-like appearance, 
and for the beautiful fragrance emitted by the foliage 
when the hand is drawn along a shoot. Seedings are 
generally easily raised when the seed is sown in a mild 
hotbed in spring. Cuttings also easily strike when made 
of small side-shoots getting firm at the base, inserted in 
sand under a bell-glass, and kept shaded from sunshine, 
and in a temperature from 45° to 55°. The plants, in 
winter, require an airy atmosphere, and a temperature 
ranging not below from 35° to 45°. When young, 
heath-soil should be exclusively used ; but, as years go 
on, and larger pots are given, a little fibry loam bad 
better be added. A shady place out-of-doors will suit it 
from the beginning of June to the middle of October. 
DOLICHOS LIGNOSUS. 
This beautiful climber, a native of the East Indies, 
though grown in this country for the best part of a 
century, is more seldom met with on the rafters of our 
greenhouses thau its importance demands. Some years 
ago, there was a splendid specimen in the large con¬ 
servatory of the Horticultural Society, at Chiswick, that 
was a perfect mass of bloom during the spring and 
early summer months. The flowers are rather small 
individually, but produced in wonderful profusion, and 
being of the Pea order, are rose-coloured, with a purple 
keel. The seeds being bard will vegetate sooner if, 
before sowing, they are soaked in water of about 80°, for 
a dozen of hours. If sown immediately in a gentle 
hotbed the plant will become of some size during the 
first summer. The plant is also easily raised from cut¬ 
tings of the young shoots, inserted under a bell-glass in 
April. This plant would just be in its element on a 
glass-covered conservative wall, with enough of artificial 
beat to prevent much frost entering. It is too strong¬ 
growing to do much good in a greenhouse in a pot, and 
a neglect of watering a time or two, in such circum¬ 
stances, would cover it with the red spider to a cer¬ 
tainty. Its appropriate place is along, and dangling 
from, a lofty rafter, or mounting a lofty column. Give 
it plenty of nourishing earth room and it will look 
boldly at the lofty arches of the Crystal Palace, and 
mount them too. In its young state it will relish a little 
peat in the compost, or fine, reduced leaf-mould. As it 
gets older, good fibry loam suits it best; and when in 
bloom, and making its young wood, it will enjoy good 
soakiugs of weak manure-water. The chief points in 
its culture, are to prune freely when done flowering, and 
then especially, but at all times, when not in bloom, 
not to spare the exercise of the syringe on the shoots 
and foliage. 
ERIOCEPHALUS CORYMBOSUS. 
I am not acquainted with Corymbosus, and know not 
whether it be a synonyme or a new one. The others 
are neat little shrubs from the Cape of Good Hope, and 
with the exception of Purpureus, produce Aster-like 
yellow flowers. Sow the seeds in a gentle hotbed as 
soon as convenient, or in a pot in a warm corner of the 
greenhouse, at the end of April, covering the pot with 
a square of glass. The soil wanted is equal parts of 
heath soil and fibry loam, well drained. Cuttings of 
small, half-ripened shoots, strike readily in sand, under 
a bell-glass, after April. 
TEPHROSIA GRANDIFLOEA. 
This is a Cape evergreen shrub, with reddish, pea- 
blossomed flowers, considerably resembling those of 
a Galega. When raising from seeds, it is advisable to 
steep them for some time in warm water, unless there 
are doubts of their being very old, when the process 
should be omitted. Sow them in peat and loam in a 
hotbed in March. For want of a hotbed, we have 
known such seeds successfully reared by plunging the 
small seed-pots in a box filled with charcoal, and 
keeping it near the kitchen fire until the seeds vegetate, 
covering the top with a non-conducting substance, such 
as moss kept moist above the glass that covered the 
pots to prevent the evaporation of moisture; and when 
the seedings were fairly up, taking the pots to the window, 
or the greenhouse, and sheltering them for a time with 
a bell-glass, a tumbler, &c., and a little shade, until they 
were inured to the chauge. 
When there is no hotbed, and such trouble would 
be too tedious, it will generally be found advisable 
to defer sowing the seeds of greenhouse plants until 
the middle of April, as the sun will then be gaining 
power. These plants are easily propagated by cuttings 
of small half-ripened shoots, inserted in sand, under 
a bell-glass, in April and May. In the first pottings, 
either from seed or cuttings, heath soil and sweet 
leaf-mould, and silver sand, should constitute the 
chief materials, but as the plant increases in size, 
more and more fibry loam should be added, until 
! it constitutes fully one-half of the compost. As soon 
as they reach the flowering state, the plants should be 
cleaned nnd pruned back after blooming, be kept close 
; and warmish, such as in a cold pit, to encourage fresh 
growth ; have that growth hardened, first by more air 
being given, and then by moving off the sashes alto¬ 
gether towards autumn, that the wood may have the 
full force of the sunbeam, and be housed either in a dry, 
cold pit, or in the greenhouse by tbe middle of October. 
I have thus run over this list, presented by “A Reader.” 
I have no objection whatever to such lists coining in, and 
being replied to; quite the reverse; but I know that 
the gardening public, just like any other public, is an 
animal with many and divers tastes requiring gratifica¬ 
tion, and therefore, to mitigate tbe chances of displeasing 
it, it might be as well not to have too many inquiries 
from one person at one time. 
One word more. I know something of the pleasure 
that amateurs feel in raising plants from seeds, and 
more especially, if these have been sent from a long 
distance by a loved friend; as every twig and flower thus 
becomes commemorative ; but unless for such purposes, 
the young beginner would generally more quickly arrive 
at bis object by allowing his packets of seeds to remain 
in the drawer, and apply to a nurseryman for a few nice, 
young plants, on which to try his cultural skill. Apart 
from the pleasure to which I have alluded, and it is no 
small one, the divison of labour principle holds true in 
gardening as well as other things, and they whose chief 
employment is propagating plants, can afford to sell 
young plants of Protea, Leuoaclendron, do., cheaper than 
even tbe comparatively initiated can raise them. While 
on this subject, I may also remark, in answer to the 
inquiry, how two men can be equally honest, who 
