May 22. 
COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION. 
123 
now-and-then over head, until the buds swell, and the 
young shoots appear. Then water, and increase the 
temperature gradually to GO 0 , G5°, and even 70°, with 
a rise from sun heat. By the time the shoots are an 
inch or two long, the pot should be examined ; what is 
possible of the old soil removed, and fresh added in its 
place, and a size larger pot given if deemed necessary, 
and the plant be kept in a moist, shady atmosphere 
until growth is freely proceeding ; temperature from 60° 
to 75°. The soil best suited is equal parts of peat 
earth, turfy loam, lime rubbish, with pieces of brick, 
and dried old cow-dung, or leaf-mould. By the end of 
June the plants will do in a cold pit, or a greenhouse, 
kept closish, and more air and full light be given by the 
end of August, after which period the dryish atmosphere 
must be continued, and as much water at the roots as 
will just keep the plants from flagging. When moved 
from such place into a house ranging from 55° to 65°, 
and moisture communicated to the roots, the flower- 
bracts will soon appear. When fairly expanded, or 
nearly so, they may either remain, or be taken to orna¬ 
ment the greenhouse. In an average temperature of from 
45° to 55° the foliage will stand lower than that; it will 
get yellow and droop; but still the flower-bracts will be 
very striking objects when appearing merely by their 
heads surmounting other plants well clothed with foliage. 
The cutting back and resting have previously been 
referred to. One reason for having the plant cool and 
dryish at that season is to prevent the plant, or the 
cuttings, exuding their white, thick juice too freely. 
Care must also be taken that that juice does not touch 
any cut or scratch on the hands or elsewhere. 
The propagation is a simple matter. Every bud on 
these young shoots will grow just as in the case of 
Vine shoots. It is customary to make a cutting with 
several buds, cutting through one at the base, and 
having two or three above for forming the plant. These 
inserted firmly in sandy soil, and helped to a temperature 
from G0 Q to 70°, will root and grow away rapidly, and 
produce nice heads of bloom and bracts the first season. 
Pruned back, and treated as above recommended, they 
will be better the second year, and after that, if fine 
heads are wanted, the plants had better be discarded. 
I have grown these with much less attention than is 
recommended above, but something like similar care is 
requisite, if bracts are required at all proportioned in 
size to those umbrella bonnets with which the ladies 
have learned to conceal their faces. 
GARDENIAS—POTTING, Arc. 
You could not have potted all these plauts in a worse 
period than in November, unless it might be in a cold 
December. One sound principle in potting plants can 
hardly ever be departed from with impunity, is to pot, 
so that the roots will occupy the fresh soil before the 
cold, short days come. The best time for potting, as a 
general rule, is just when after flowering and pruning 
the fresh growth is freely progressing. The next best, 
with many things, is after the flower-buds are formed— 
doing it so carefully as not to cause them to shrivel and 
! fall, and so early as to have the roots kissing the sides 
j of the pot through the new soil bofore the winter 
' comes. Supposing the plants to be in good order, the 
following may be considered the synopsis of treatment. 
| Plants kept airy and rather dry at the roots, and in a 
| temperature about 45° during winter. A few degrees 
less for short intervals will not hurt them. Increase the 
temperature in spring, by placing the plants in a hot¬ 
bed supplied with sweet fermenting matter. Here, at 
first, merely set the plauts on the surface, and give 
almost as much air as they previously had. In the 
course of a week or a fortnight, provided the bottom 
heat at the depth of the pot does not exceed 75°, or only 
exceeds by a few degrees, plunge the pots nearly to their 
rims, and let them have a top temperature of 55° to 
G5°. Give a due portion of water at the roots, and 
syringe over head with water about 70° in an afternoon; 
smoke to destroy fly. As the flower-buds swell, raise 
the plauts by degrees out of the plunging material; give 
more air by degrees, so that tho plant may maintain its 
blossoms in good condition, in a cool stove, or green¬ 
house, or a window. After blooming, keep the plants 
close and warm, with a moist atmosphere, in a pit, and 
expose them almost wholly to the open air in Septem¬ 
ber, or with merely the protection of glass, to throw off 
heavy rains. The more sun they get in the' autumn, 
the better will the flower-buds be set; the more cold will 
they sustain in winter uninjured; and the sooner will 
the flower-buds obey the excitement given them by the 
moist hotbed in spring. Not but the Gardenia may be 
managed very well without the hotbed, but it is a 
desirable help for them, and many plants besides. A 
bark-bed and 'bottom-heat will cause many plants to 
assume a vigour and beauty it requires great labour 
otherwise to produce. Young shoots slipped off when 
two or three inches in length, and inserted in sand over 
| sandy loam, covered with a bell-glass, and plunged in a 
j bottom-heat of a sweet bed of fermenting matter, strike 
j readily. The soil most suitable is peat and loam at first, 
increasing the proportion of the loam as the plants get 
older. 
HOYA BELLA. 
j This is really a beautiful thing; and what Efoya is 
\ not ? I rather like the old carnosa the best of all, but I 
j should be glad to make room for every one of them. If 
j the plant is young, a little bottom-heat will do it good, 
| and make the shoots grow quite fast, and very likely a 
, few flowers may be procured during the season. After 
the second and third year the plant will bloom freely. 
During the summer it will relish any temperature you 
j like to get it, provided there is moisture in proportion 
! to the heat. From 05° to 80° may be set down as a 
good range. By Midsummer it will be showing its 
pretty bunches of bloom. Towards autumn keep it more 
airy, cooler, and drier. Let it be dryish rather than not 
in winter, and if the temperature is not often under 50° 
it seems to like it all the better. Peat and loam, with a 
little charcoal and rough lime-rubbish, of which broken 
I bricks form a part, answer well. Small pieces of the 
shoots are easily propagated by inserting them, after 
being dried for a day or two, among roughish sand, and 
plunging in bottom-heat and shaded. I think I forgot 
say that the Poinsettia cuttings, though tho stems be 
rather dry, should remain a day after making before 
inserting them, that all the exuded fluid may have 
dried up. 
LANTANA CRUCIATA. 
I presume this is the orange copper-coloured Crocea. 
The whole group requires similar treatment, and are 
very showy, though, to my taste, the odour of any of 
them is anything but agreeable. They grow freely in 
peat and loam. If kept in a cool stove during winter 
| they preserve an evergreen character. When kept in a 
temperature of 45°, and lower, they lose their foliage. 
I prefer the cool treatment for them in winter, keeping 
the plants, like Fuchsias, &c., under stages, &c. When 
any forcing-houses are started in spring, the plants are 
pruned back to within a bud or more of the base of 
last year’s shoots. The peat is then frequently sprinkled 
with warmed water, about 75°. Water is also given at 
the roots, and the plauts may enjoy a temperature from 
55° to G5°. Beforo long, the buds will break all over, 
and then is the time to shift the plant, replacing it, if 
large, in the same sized pot, and with fresh compost. 
Thus encouraged, the shoots will lengthen freely, and, 
