THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
350 
August 14. 
Description. — Foliage medium size, dark green, 
oval shaped, thick and leathery, persistent, that is ever¬ 
green. 1 have known leaves in perfection for seven 
years. Flowers in corymbs averaging, in healthy 
plants, from eight to ten blooms in each, produced from 
the axils of the leaves, sometimes (though rarely) 
terminal. Calyx, or flower-cup, five-parted. Corolla 
very stout; a monopetalous tube au inch-and-a-half 
long, with five spreading, rather reflexed limbs; in the 
specimen now before me nearly two inches across. ! 
Colour a pure white. Perfume very powerful, but 
agreeable. Stamens and anthers fine; very short 
pistillum; and stigma solitary; and the latter placed 
above the anthers, and pointed. Germen oval, swelling, 
when ripe, to a considerable size. Fruit not wholesome, 
though tasteless. Seeds numerous. It belongs to the 
j Natural Order of Asclepiculs (closely allied to the genus 
; Hoya), and belongs to the Linnaean class and order, 
Pentandria monogynia. 
Soil —In order to induce this plant to grow well and 
J flower freely, a somewhat peculiar compost is necessary. | 
j It should be open, rich, and light. I find the following 
; answers well. Well-decayed hotbed dung one-part, j 
j very turfy peat two parts, turfy loam one-part, half- 
J decayed leaves one-part, with a free addition of silver 
1 sand, to be well mixed, but not broken; and at tbe time j 
of potting a considerable number of pieces of charcoal , 
should be mixed in amongst the compost. This open, 1 
rich compost allows the root’s to run freely amongst it. 
To put the compost into a plainer shape,—it should be 
composed of one peck of dung, two pecks of sandy, i 
very turfy peat, two pecks of turfy loam, and one peck 
i of leaves ; the whole to be mixed with small pieces of j 
| charcoal and plenty of sand. This compost will suit- 
j all plants of a similar character. If a soil is used of a 
J closer and finer texture, the plants may grow well for a 
! time, but the}' will not flower freely, and are very apt to 
{ damp off «t the uullar, if too much' watered at any time; 
and if kept too dry, the ball of earth becomes so hard 
! that the roots cannot penetrate, and then the plant will 
not thrive. 
Rotting. —As the soil I recommended is of an open 
texture, the young plants, if healthy, may have a large 
j shift; I do not fear potting such a plant from a six-inch 
pot into one double the size. As the mechanical character 
i of the above compost is open, it may be pressed down 
1 pretty firmly, and will bear a liberal allowance of water 
without any fear of injuring the roots. The pot should 
be thoroughly and well-drained, to carry off the super¬ 
fluous water, and the compost should be well-aired, and 
used when neither wet nor dry. 
Position. —If there is a bark-bed in the house, the 
I plant will thrive better if the pot is plunged up to the 
rim in the bed. I prefer pot-culture to planting-out in i 
the border, because the roots are then more under the 
control of the cultivator. If there is no bark-bed, the 
| pot may be placed in any convenient corner. My plant 
has the pot placed at one end of the house near the hot- 
water pipes, which keep the roots warm and dry. 
Temperature. —In winter the heat should never 
exceed 55°, unless the sun shines, when it may be 
allowed to rise to 00°. In severe frost my plant very 
often has to endure a heat as low as 45°. With this low 
temperature the plant is kept quite at rest, and as the 
j days increase in length the heat is allowed to rise to 65°, 
■ when the plant begins to put forth short, stubby shoots, 
j and fine, broad, healthy leaves; and a month afterwards 
i growth has commenced, the flower-buds begin to show 
themselves; the heat is then increased to 70° by day, 
with sun; and then the buds advance rapidly, and the 
plant sends forth long shoots, more buds are visible, and 
the first soon expand and bloom. When the flower¬ 
ing season is over, the heat is gradually lowered, and 
the plant ceases to grow, aud once more is allowed to go 
to rest. It is this change of temperature, combined 
with a less amount of water, that causes the plant to 
flower so freely. 
Propagating. —There is no stove plant more easily 
propagated. Choose cuttings that are short, trim off 
the lower leaves, and insert the cuttings in sand ; place 
them under a hand-light, on a heated surface; they 
will quickly root. I seldom lose a single cutting. Pot 
them off as soon as roots are formed; replace under 
the handlight for a week, shading from sun. In a fort¬ 
night they may be fully exposed, re-potted, and then 
manage as directed above. T. Appleby. 
Death of Dr. Johnston. —Science lias sustained a 
loss in the death of the naturalist, Dr. George Johnston, 
which took place at Berwick-on-Tweed, on July 30th, in 
the fifty-eighth year of his age. He is known by his 
works on various branches of natural history. He was 
educated for the medical profession. He took his 
degree of Doctor of Medicine in 1810, and settled as a 
general practitioner of medicine at Berwick-on-Tweed. 
Here his taste for natural history became developed, 
and by his researches and publications he has rendered 
the town—next to Selborne—one of the most classical 
localities in Great Britain. His principal papers on 
natural history have been published in the “ Magazine 
of Natural History,” the “ Annals of Natural History”— 
of which, latterly he was one of the editors, the 
“Transactions of the Natural History Society of New¬ 
castle,” and the “ Proceedings of the Berwickshire 
Naturalists’ Club.” These papers indicate the wide 
range of his sympathies with natural objects, his 
remarkable powers of observation, and sound and 
cautious judgment. The work for which he is perhaps 
best known is his “ History of British Zoophytes,” which 
is the most complete and accurate account of the 
British forms of these animals wo yet possess. The 
original work was published in Edinburgh in 1838, and 
a second edition appeared in London in 1847. The 
work is beautifully illustrated by Mrs. Johnston. Whilst 
working at the Zoophytes, the Sponges and Corallines 
did not escape his notice; and in 1812 ho published “ A 
History of British Sponges and Lithophytes.” This 
work, like the last, is still the best and most complete 
in our language on the subjects to which it relates. In 
the list of his papers many will be found devoted to the 
Mollusca, indicating his great attention to this depart¬ 
ment of natural history; and as the result of these 
labours, he brought out, in 1850, his “Introduction to 
Conchology; or, Elements of the Natural History of 
Molluscous Animals.” This is a repertory of interesting 
facts, pertaining to the structure and habits of the 
shell-fishes of Great Britain, and a necessary work in 
the library of every working naturalist. During the 
preparation of the foregoing volumes ho was working at 
a very neglected branch of British zoology — the 
Annelida, the true worms of the naturalist. His papers 
on “ British Anuelides ” and “ Irish Annelides,” in the 
“ Annals of Natural History,” are well known to 
naturalists; and it will add to the regret that all who 
knew him must feel at his loss to know that he was 
labouring at a complete work on British Annelids when 
his sudden seizure deprived him of life. His last work, 
“ Botany of the Eastern Borders,” shows that no natural 
occurrence escaped his scrutinizing observation. He 
was a botanist as well as a zoologist; and it was his 
critical eye that first detected in the waters of the 
Blackader the new water-weed (Anicharis Alsinestrius). 
Plis labours were the result of leisure moments. From 
1819 to 1853 he was actively engaged in a harassing 
country medical practice. That lie never shrank from 
its claims is well known ; but whilst doing all this work, 
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