243 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, January 22, 1861. 
in bloom. In winter it will not keep healthy if lower than from 
50° to 55°. If often much above 60°, and watered in proportion, 
i t will not bloom so freely the following season. Such a plant 
when transferred to a large pot, or a wooden-box—say fifteen 
inches square, would do well in such a house run along a wire 
where it could have plenty of sun. We presume you mean to 
grow it in a pot; and for a small house, a pot ten or twelve 
inches in diameter will grow a nice little plant. Unless you buy 
a good-sized plant in a six-inch pot at once, you must wait for a 
year or two to have a good flowering specimen. Growing, there¬ 
fore, must be your object this ensuing season, and training either 
flat or round, according to your fancy, taking care that the shoots 
are so thin that the sun can beat freely on the leaves. Loam, 
heath soil, and leaf mould will grow it in perfection. Whilst 
all possible sun is given in autumn, water must be gradually 
lessened, and the temperature and water decreased all the winter. 
From every bud on the well-grown and well-ripened wood of the 
ensuing summer and autumn, you may expect a cluster of flower- 
buds to come the next spring and summer, when the higher 
temperature is applied and the sun also gains in power. 
Passijioras .—Buonapartea and princeps, the first one of the 
most splendid blue-lilac ones, and the second a fine scarlet, the 
flowers hanging in clusters like bunches of Grapes. These would 
do nicely on rafters; but, also, would do well in pots grown in 
rich loam and heath mould, enriched with top dressings of rotten 
cowdung. The first season should be devoted to supplying the 
trellis with one or two strong shoots, and hardening them well 
in the autumn. Shorten these in spring, and, if old enough, the 
shoots that break from the buds will bloom freely. Afterwards 
these shoots may be cut into a bud or two next their base every 
winter or spring, as all the flowers are produced on wood of the 
current year, coming from well-ripened buds on the wood of the 
preceding year. 
Calliphruria .—We are not sure if this is the genus you 
inquire about, but if it is, we may state it requires treatment 
similar to the Guernsey Lily or the common Amaryllis ; and this 
leads us to remark, that a dozen or two of the Amaryllis, or 
rather of Hippeastrums would be useful in such a house, as a 
plant would be coming into bloom every now and then. 
We will just add in conclusion, that we trust your flue is equal 
to the work required of it, and, if so, you may manage all these 
plants, though not so easily, without any other contrivance ; but 
in the growing periods especially you will need to neutralise the 
dry heat of the flue, by keeping the atmosphere of the house 
moist. We should, in doing this, avoid the old practice of wetting 
the flue ; but keep the top of it covered with evaporating-basins 
supplied with water, and in frosty weather in spring, and sunny 
days in summer, sprinkle the paths and floor in addition, and 
even the shelves and stages on which the plants are standing. 
In clear, warm weather this may be done several times in a day, 
and all the plants not in bloom may also be syringed freely once 
a-day, a little before the sun leaves the house. In all watering 
and syringing use soft water, and as warm at least as the heat of 
the house,— R. Fish. 
ROOT-PRUNING UNDER FLAGSTONES. 
I have been much interested in the remarks of several of your 
correspondents on the subject of root-pruning, and concur in 
their opinion of the importance of that operation ; but I have a 
case in which I cannot, without very great trouble and incon¬ 
venience, carry out the principle in practice. 
In my stable-yard is a large Pear tree growing against the 
stable-wall and measuring, perhaps, 35 feet from end to end of 
its branches. It grows luxuriantly, but has no fruit, except, 
perhaps, a solitary Pear at the extremity of two or three of the 
branches. I believe it to be just a case for root-pruning, but 
there is my difficulty. The tree is closely surrounded by the 
flags and pavement of the yard, and many of the roots, probably, 
go underneath the stable; some, perhaps, penetrate the drain 
(thus accounting for the exceeding luxuriance of the growth), so 
that it would be scarcely possible to get at them with any pros¬ 
pect of benefiting the tree, I have thought of “ scarifying ” a 
portion of the bark, but my gardener objects to that plan with¬ 
out being able to suggest anything better.—A Yorkshireman. 
[The moving some flags three feet from the tree and cutting 
the roots would be the most effectual; but you can lessen growth 
greatly and thus get the sap more highly elaborated by the 
means you propose, or, better still, ringing the main stem, or 
every main branch near the junction of the main stem—that is 
remove a circle of bark right down to the alburnum, of from 
one-sixteenth to one-eighth of an inch in width. That will 
pretty well meet the first year, and will give the necessary check 
most likely; and, if necessary, you can reopen the circle. Do 
not make the opening too large.] 
DECORATION of ROOMS with EVERGREENS. 
The intelligent contributor to The Cottage Gardener, at 
page 163, has called attention to a subject I have for some time 
intended to write a short article upon, as it is one of those 
occasional duties which the requirements of the advancing times 
sometimes devolve upon the gardener. Not the decoration of 
churches in particular, which may properly be left in the hands 
of those who have the superintendence of such matters, but 
the decoration of public rooms for balls, fetes, or any other 
purpose that may be wanted, and now and then private rooms, 
or it may be a suite of rooms, in a private residence may be 
wanted for some special purpose, in which a tasteful decoration 
of evergreens adds considerably to the general effect. As 
such things are becoming daily more common, no apology is 
wanted for writing a few brief notes on the subject. 
It very often happens that the decoration of public rooms for 
balls or other purposes is entrusted to the party who supplies 
the refreshments, and the materials for the purpose are sparing 
and often not appropriate, evergreens of suitable kinds being 
less plentiful in a town than around the residence of a country 
gentleman : consequently flags and other devices have to be 
resorted to to fill up the space. Certainly, a judicious mixture 
of the latter with evergreens in a large room is not only ex¬ 
cusable but recommendable—at the same time let them always 
represent a flag, the drapery being perfectly free except where 
fastened to the staff. Nothing looks worse than a flag fastened 
at all its corners. The staff, however, may slope to any angle 
that may be wanted to show the flag, but ought never to be 
more depressed than to an angle of 45°, excepting where a num¬ 
ber of flags form a cluster or fan, which looks very well over a 
window or doorway, or to form a centre piece in a wall, in 
which case the lowest flags may be at a lower angle than above 
indicated. A wreath of evergreens may conceal the point 
from which the flagstaffs radiate, but a portion of the staff 
ought to be seen. 
Of evergreens suitable for decorating a large room, certainly 
the best as well as the most common is the Laurel, which, 
apart from the poetic feeling hanging over its name, is certainly 
the most graceful shrub we have. Whoever has walked through 
a shrubbery by moonlight must have been struck by the beau¬ 
tiful shadows a sprig of Laurel throws on the ground; and 
in like manner it does the same on the walls of a room, which 
are usually of a pale colour; and, the boughs of this shrub 
being flat, each leaf is distinctly visible with its proper side 
to the beholder. In large rooms, therefore, nothing is better 
than the Laurel. If the room be without architectural em¬ 
bellishments in its cornice a broad band of nicely selected 
Laurel boughs might be carried all round with good effect, the 
boughs overlying each other so as to hide tlje cut end, but one 
bough in thickness is sufficient; but if there be an ornamental 
moulding and other enrichments too good to be concealed, 
then some portions of the plain wall may receive these Laurels, 
which, however, ought to be in smaller portions, and nailed 
securely to a small piece of board about a foot or so each way, 
the cut ends all meeting in a fan form at this board ; and a 
few small twigs stuck in at last will conceal a sort of flat whorl 
of evergreen of a size proportioned to the panel it is to be 
placed against. If nails or other fastenings be forbidden, which 
very properly they ought, a string of the same colour as the 
wall, and suspended from some place in the cornice where 
a nail can be inserted, will answer the purpose of suspending 
it; and its front may be ornamented with rosettes if thought 
necessary, pink and white distinct and not mixed being the 
only colours wanted amongst evergreens. A partial screenwork 
of Laurel might also run down a corner or by the side of a 
projection (if the latter be large), or in any of those ways 
which only an inspection of the building can point out. But 
in all these cases let the tips point downwards; for though 
the footstalk of the Laurel leaf is stronger than many others, 
it may flag before the fete is over, and then looks ungraceful. It 
is also proper here to obserye, that during the growing season 
