MAlton 27. 
chance like this for a trifle, or for fear of spoiling a plant 
by cutting just at the time when all plants are naturally 
given to i'resh growth. 
DIELYTRA SPECTABILIS. 
A gentleman near me sent, last night, to inquire if he 
might make cuttings of a beautiful Dielytra spectabilis 
he has in bloom. I told him, every two joints of it 
would now root, and that he had better take the oppor¬ 
tunity, as I know he does not keep up a hotbed all the 
summer; but those who do had better spare their plants 
till they are out of bloom, and till there is more room 
for the cuttings, as this Dielytra will come from young 
cuttings all the summer through. D. Beaton. 
HEXACENTRIS MYSORIENSIS. 
“ Our plant of this has lost all its leaves, and yet it 
has seldom been below 50°.”—“ We painted the pipes of 
our houses in the cold weather with dark paint, containing 
a good portion of lampblack and sulphur; and this and 
several other climbers and plants have lost their foliage 
in consequence.”—“ Our young plant of this Hexacentris 
refuses to grow, and is always eat up with the Red 
Spider.”—Such are a sample of the complaints that have 
reached us within a few weeks, most of which will be 
met in the ensuing remarks. As not referring to this 
plant particularly, but to all plants, I may state, in pass¬ 
ing, that a worse time could not have been chosen for 
painting the pipes. Oil and lampblack answer very 
well for this purpose, and so does common paint, of 
whatever colour may be agreed upon. A dark colour is 
generally preferred, because it radiates heat most freely; 
but some people prefer having them of a dark stone 
colour. Whatever the colour, the operation should be 
performed in summer, when they will dry quickly. The 
injury done by performing the operation in cold weather 
in winter, when strong fires were necessary, was just 
what might have been anticipated from the poisonous 
fumes of the lead thrown in the atmosphere of the house. 
We have had tender plants often injured seriously from 
being left in a house while the wood-work was painted. 
Unless the pipes were excessively hot the sulphur in the 
composition would do no harm. In general, however, 
it will be advisable not to mix the sulphur with the 
paint, but to put it on the pipes afterwards, when neces¬ 
sary. I observe that a correspondent complains of 
suffering from having coated his pipes with tar, and I 
am sorry to say, that he will not be wholly safe until 
every bit of tar is wholly scraped off from them. 
1 . Training. —Few that saw this Hexacentris when 
first exhibited by the Messrs. Veitch will easily forget 
it. That eminent firm does not seem more distinguished 
for the introduction of novelties than for the knack of 
growing these, so as to show them off to the greatest 
advantage. Imagine this creeper to be trained to a 
flat trellis, like a Tropceolum tricolorum, or to a rounded 
ballooned-shaped one, as is often used for a Kennedya or 
a Zicliya, and though the plant might be interesting, 
its peculiar characteristics would be unnoticed. Like 
some species of JEsclrynanthus, the flowers something 
similar in size, and crimson, orauge, and yellow in 
colour, are collected in little bunches; but, unlike the 
JBschynanthus, resembling in that respect some other 
families in the Acantliad group, such as Dipteracantlius, 
the flower-bunches are suspended upon long, slender 
threads. The suspending of the flowers, therefore, must 
form a part of its management if the plant is to be 
shown off to the best advantage. In exhibiting their 
plants, therefore, the Messrs. Veitch showed it trained 
like a lady’s parasol, before the present Lillijouts came 
480 
into fashion; the plant being taken up the handle, 
trained along the top, and the flowers hanging grace¬ 
fully with their threads suspending them beneath. For 
pot-culture, no mode of training can excel this for show¬ 
ing the beauty of the flowers. When the plant is trained 
to a ratter, or over an arch, the flowers will hang down 
naturally. 
2. Propagation. — Firm side-shoots, a few inches in 
length, cut over at a joint, with a joint or two with 
buds in their axils, left above, strike with least care, 
but they require more time than young shoots slipped 
off with a heel, when two or three inches long, having 
grown that length after the plant was thinned and 
pruned in the spring, and placed in sand over sandy 
peat, under a bell-glass, and in a brisk bottom-heat. 
The chief care in this latter case is to tip up the side 
of the glass at night, to prevent the cuttings damping 
off. As soon as struck, they should be potted off in 
small pots, in sandy peat, with a little leaf-mould, and 
very little loam, and be kept in the same hotbed, and 
rather close, until growth is freely proceeding. A shift 
or two may be given as required by the state of the 
roots. A plant thus raised in the spring of 1855 might 
be expected to bloom in the winter of 1856, and the 
early months of 1857. 
8 . Potting and Planting. —When to be grown in a 
pot, a twelve-inch one would grow a nice specimen ; and 
it should obtain its flowering pot early in summer, that 
the pot may be full of roots, and the wood getting firmish 
and ripe before winter. If to be planted out in a plant- 
stove, to cover a rafter, it will bo advisable to give it a 
a large pot, or to brick off a partition or division, from 
fifteen to eighteen inches square, for it, or there may be 
more growth than flowering. In either case, drainage 
must be thoroughly attended to, or there will be sickly 
growth. The soil may be equal parts of turfy, sweet 
loam, fibry peat, and leaf-mould, and one portion more 
of nearly equal parts of silver sand and charcoal. During 
the summer, manure-watering may be given once a week, 
and as soon as the flowers begin to come, a top-dressing 
of old cow-dung will be found an advantage. 
4. General Management. — Pruning. —This should be 
rather freely resorted to when the flowering is over, 
cutting back the younger shoots. Care should also be 
taken that the young wood produced in summer is not 
too thick, as, upon the ripening and hardening of that 
wood, by exposure to sunshine, the blooming in winter 
and spring will greatly depend. 
Temperature. —Being a tropical plant, we can hardly 
overheat the plant in summer, but in winter it will be 
very easy to under cool it. It does not seem to remain 
healthy much under from 55° to 60° with fire heat. If 
it was desirable to bloom a plant late in spring, it might 
be kept in a little lower temperature in winter, provided 
no more water was given than just sufficient to keep the 
plant from flagging, and that little thrown over the 
foliage as much as possible, in preference to giving much 
at the roots. When a plant is in bloom, the flowers will 
not open freely under 60°, and a dryish atmosphere 
must be maintained, which of itself shows the import¬ 
ance of wielding the syringe zealously previously, to 
banish, if possible, every trace of its great enemy, the 
red spider. 
Watering. —This has been pretty well alluded to. In 
summer it should receive all that is required; and a 
damp atmosphere and a free use of the syringe will 
then be great helps to success. As the autumn comes 
on decrease water at the roots, but keep up a washing 
over the leaves in a sunny day until towards its close. 
The dryish state of the roots, though not dry, and the 
cooler temperature, and the drier atmosphere, will 
generally incite the flowers to show themselves, when 
more waterings of warmed water should be given at tho 
roots, with a rise in temperature; and as the dry air and 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
