490 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
March 27. 
the fire-heat, with little or nothing of the syringe in the 
dark rapnths, will encourage the red spider, that must 
he prevented by sulphur exhalations from a hot-water 
pipe, or being placed in a hot-water plate, raised to a 
temperature of about 175°. With the suitable con¬ 
veniences the plant may thus be cultivated successfully; 
but no possessor of a merely warm greenhouse had 
better attempt it. It requires a temperature quite as 
high as the great favourites of our stoves, the Combretum 
purpureum, and the Bignonia venusta. 
HEXACENTRIS LUTEA. 
This is a greater novelty, introduced by the same firm, 
and 1 am not aware if it is yet much in the market. 
The flowers are yellow'; but the characteristics of the 
plant, and, I presume, the mode of culture, is similar to 
that adopted for Mysoriensis. It was also sent by Mr. 
Lobb from India. 
THUNBERGIA. 
The culture of this genus, belonging to the same 
order of Acanthads, w r as given in an early volume. 
There is hardly any resemblance between the appearance 
of these pretty flowers and the blossom of the 
llexncentris, unless, perhaps, a little approach in such a 
species as T. grandiflora. 1 introduce it here to meet 
some enquiries, and to prevent disappointments. 
With the exception of T. Ilawtayneana, 1 have grown 
almost every species and variety of the genus. I once 
bloomed well the beautiful Chrysops, with its blue- 
violet corolla, and bright golden eye. A time or two, 
I have had a few flowers upon it, and for other seasons 
I have not had a flower at all. I attribute the flowering 
it fairly to a mere lucky hit on my part; for though J 
tried the same modes, and various other schemes, I 
never again could do anything successful with it, and, 
therefore, 1 was obliged to confess myself defeated. 
With respect to this Sierra Leone species, 1 must, there¬ 
fore, decline giving any practical information; and this 
may elicit some good intelligence from those who have 
been more uniformly successful. With the others, 1 
have never had any difficulty, except in keeping them 
free from the red spider, and that can only be success¬ 
fully done in a moistish atmosphere, with a free and 
uninterrupted use of the syringe. The whole of the 
varieties of Alula, such as buff-yellow and dark eye; 
white with dark eye (Alata alba, or leucantha); orange 
with dark eye (Aurantiaea); and yellow with whitish 
eye (called by many names); are more subject to this 
pest than almost any other plant. Tt is with respect to 
these Alata varieties that information is chiefly wanted ; 
and that will be afforded in answer to the following 
enquiries, merely premising that when treated as an 
annual, the seeds should be sown in March or April, 
and plunged in a brisk-bottom heat, such as a cucumber- 
lied at work. A heatof from 80° to 90° will notburt them, 
if there is moisture attending it. As soon as up, aud a 
few inches high, the plants should be potted off, and 
kept close, moist and warm, until they get some size, 
aud be hardened oft’ by degrees from the middle to the 
end of June. 
1. “ Can I succeed with Tliunbergias in the open air, 
in summer, in the climate of London?” We have had 
them very fair against a wall, or up a pillar, planted out 
towards the end of June, and good sized plants when so 
turned out. Many years ago, I recollect seeing beau¬ 
tiful wreaths of these running along a chain, or ropes, 
that connected a row of baskets, or vases, at ITenwood, 
but neither before nor since have 1 ever seen them do 
so well in such circumstances. The place was warm 
and sheltered. Much north of London, I have never 
seen the plant do much out-of-doors, except for a month 
or six weeks in the hottest weather. 
2. “How can I have fine-flowering plants of Thun- 
bergia in my greenhouse in summer? I have forcing- 
houses, but no plant stove.” Sow as advised, and pot 
and repot, and keep in dung-heat as long as you can 
give the plants room; nip the p>oints of the shoots to 
make the plants a little bushy; remove the plants to a 
shady place in any forcing-house commanding a night 
temperature of about 00°, with a rise of 15°, or more, 
from sunshine, and here place your plant on a trellis, or 
a branch, and train. When the space is covered, expose 
to more light, and ere long flowers will come freely from 
the joints, when, by the middle or end of June, you 
may remove the plants to the greenhouse. If you 
intend them for a pillar there, the plants should be 
trained to a rod or a string. July, August, September, 
and the first part of October, arc the periods that 
Tliunbergias will be finest in such a house. When there, 
the house should be kept closer and moister, where they 
stand, than for greenhouse plants; and from the day the 
plants are moved from the moist dung-heat they should 
never know what it is to bo without the syringe over 
them for a single day. If put on at all carefully the 
flowers will not be at all injured. In addition to this 
syringing, so long as the plants remain in a forcing- 
house the pipes should be brushed over with flowers of 
sulphur. After removing to the greenhouse, a little of 
the fluid formed by boiling sulphur and lime together, as 
previously detailed, put in the water used in syringing, 
will also be useful; and if the place where the plants 
stand are at all exposed to the sun, if the pots are set 
upon moss, kept moist, it will be an advantage. With 
these little attentions, I have frequently had nice plants, 
that you would have searched in vain for a spider, even 
with a microscope. 
3. “ M. D. has a fine show of these along wires and 
arches in his plant-stove, early in spring, and keeps the 
plants from year to year. T thought they were annuals.” 
They are treated as annuals, because the old plants are 
so liable to the attacks of insects. There is no difficulty 
in keeping them, but on this account. The flowers, 
oven in a plant-stove, do little good in winter. When I 
kept them over the winter, 1 used to prune them in very 
close in November, removing all the younger growth, 
and the greater portion of the leaves, and then wash the 
stems and shoots all over with sulphur-water in which 
a little soft-soap was dissolved. Little water was re¬ 
quired at the roots for from six weeks to two months 
after this process, and, if possible, more air was given. 
As the shoots began to break, part of the old soil was 
picked out and fresh added, and more water given, and 
as soon as the syringe could safely be brought into play 
it was not neglected, nor yet a brushing over the hot- 
water pipes with sulphur-water. By such means, nice, 
clean, flowering plants may be obtained in March, April, 
and onwards. 
4. “We grew these last season, but we had large, 
healthy leaves, almost like Cabbages, and the flowers 
were but scanty, which w T e attribute to using rotten 
dung, in addition to loam and peat, as recommended by 
The Cottage Gardeners' Dictionary .”—By turning to the 
Dictionary you will find that lime-rubbish was spoken 
of as a part of the compost, while the dung was spoken 
of as “ little.” 
I have not had these beauties wliat they ought to be 
for a year or two, and chiefly because two potters in 
succession had dipped rather deeply into the dung heap. 
Were the Dietionary to be re-written, I would keep out 
the words a “ a little rotten dung ” altogether, and 
recommend the applying of a little merely as a top¬ 
dressing when the plant showed signs of weakness. 
Any quantity at all in the compost, especially if the 
plants are treated as annuals, has a tendency to make 
the leaves too large, and, as a consequent, they shade 
and hide the flowers, whilst much fewer are produced. 
