83 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, November 9, 1858. 
it would hardly be worth your while to sow the others, I 
unless known, or it so happens that you live in the 
southern counties of England. If so, after growing them 
for a year or two in your greenhouse, the plauts could be 
turned against a conservatory wall, or in the sheltered j 
places fully exposed. The foliage of lophantha, julibrissin, 
and decurrens, is very beautiful, and forms a line feature , 
in lofty, cool conservatories, and in warm places out of 
doors in Devonshire and Cornwall; but they arc quite 
unfitted for small houses, except when in a young state, 
in the first or second year of their growth; as, whenever 
they are cramped for room, they are apt to be attacked 
by white scale and red spider. When young, loam with 
a little peat suits them well. As all the seeds are very 
hard when thoroughly dried, they vegetate much quicker 
if they are soaked in water at about 130°, for twelve 
hours, before sowing, and the pots placed in a moist 
bottom heat before the seedlings appear. The surface- 
soil should then bo stirred, air given freely, and the 
plants hardened off by degrees, until they are potted 
separately. There is much pleasure in raising such 
things from seed,—they grow so fast and healthily ; but 
such plants do not bloom so soon as those raised from 
cuttings. 
Hardexbergia (of sorts).—These, with the exception 
of macrophylla, which is scarlet, are all small, purple- 
flowered, leguminous climbers, from Australia. They will 
grow well up the rafters of a greenhouse, or in a pot, 
trained round a trellis about a foot in diameter, and from 
four to five feet in heiglit,—growing them a couple or 
three years from the seed before transferring them to the 
training pot. The pea-like seeds are small, and very 
hard, and, like the Acacia seed, vegetate more quickly 
after being soaked in warm water. In sowing,—any time 
after Christmas,—give the pots a nice bottom heat: use 
chiefly sandy peat, with a very little sandy loam, well 
drained. As soon as the plants are about three inches in 
height, pot off separately into very small pots. Then 
success will chiefly depend on abundant drainage ; an 
open heath soil, with very little loam; a rather free 
allowance of sand ; and some nodules of charcoal, to keep 
all open. In a young state especially, but in every state, 
whether young or old, stagnant water at the roots, a 
sour, unused soil, about the roots, and great dryness, 
will soon effect their ruin. Medium temperature in 
winter,—from 45’ to 50°,—and water according to weather 
and wants. If in pots, the pots should be shaded from 
the sun in summer. 
PniELEA uniflora, and others.—Have the pots three- 
parts full with drainage; a little turfy peat over the 
drainage; fine sandy peat, with the least loam, over that; 
leaving an inch deep from the rim. Sow the seeds, 
moisten gently, cover with very sandy peat their own 
deptli of thickness, plunge in a sweet, mild bottom heat, I 
press slightly down, and place a square of glass across the 
pot. Give necessary moistures, by keeping the outside 
of the pot damp, instead of much watering overhead, and 
pot off three round a small pot, as soon as fairly handle- 
able. It will be time enough to sow in February. In 
growing, chiefly use light sandy peat and loam, kept open, ! 
and thoroughly drained. These will make nice plants for 
your greenhouse, and will generally bloom in the third 
season from the sowing of the seed. 
Hovea illic folia, linearis, and others.—This is a fine 
tribe of plants for a greenhouse, most of them having 
blueish-lilac, pea-blossomed flowers, and forming nice little 
bushes of from one foot and a half to three feet in height. 
The seeds, like those of Acacias are very hard, and be¬ 
fore sowing would be all the better for being soaked in 
warm water—about 100°—for three hours or so. There 
is great care required in their cultivation, for if ever the 
soil gets sour, from defective drainage, or very dry, so 
that the points of the roots arc injured, decay and death 
are sure to bo the result. It is generally best not to 
overpot them, as that docs away with the chance of stag¬ 
nation about the roots. Sow in sandy peat, after 
February. A little heat will be useful until the young 
plants arc up, when they must be hardened off by degrees, 
before potting off. Then the young plants—three round 
the sides of a 60-pot—should be kept rather close and 
warm, until growth is again freely going on. When well 
established, place each of these plants into a single small 
pot. That is as much as you can expect the first season. 
If the three plants are not well rooted in the small pot, 
it would be best to keep them in that pot the first winter. 
The third season you may expect them to bloom. The 
strongest will occupy a 48-pot, unless a few that may have 
received extra care should want more pot room. 
Kennedya (of sorts).—Treat as mentioned for Ilarden- 
bergias. 
Passeeinas (of kinds).—These will require similar, but 
not quite so much attention, as Hoveas and Pimeleas. 
Passifloba (of kinds).—Without trying, it is impos¬ 
sible to say whether they will suit your house or not, as 
the kinds are not given. If the seed is a little mouldy, 
to give it a chance of growing, clean it by shaking and 
drying. Then sow in dryish, sandy peat. Place in 
heat, but give no water, until the seed has imbibed suffi¬ 
cient moisture, to swell it properly, from the bed in 
which it is placed, or the stage on which the pot stands. 
This will give you a chance of growing them, while 
watering the soil would only insure the rapid rotting of 
such seed. 
Podalyeia scricea and argentea. —These will suit your 
greenhouse. The seeds should be soaked in warm water 
for a few hours, if they feel very hard, and be sown in a 
gentle heat in February, and the plants pricked and potted 
off as they require it. The foliage is graceful and pretty. 
Sandy loam and sandy heath soil, lightened with nodules 
of charcoal, will grow them well, if good drainage is 
secured. 
PelteNjEA (sorts).—Much the same treatment as the 
last. In summer, use the syringe very freely in the even¬ 
ing, to keep the red spider at a distance ; aud wherever 
the pots stand in summer, see that they are protected 
from the sun’s rays, and that the roots are not dried. 
Hakea acicularis. - —A singular Hew Holland plant, 
with long needle-like leaves, and the flowers close to the 
young shoots. Sow in February, and in the seed-pan, and 
afterwards avoid stagnant moisture. Heath soil and loam. 
11 a NK si a (of sorts).—These are pretty ornaments for 
greenhouses, but are chiefly admired on account of their 
singular and beautiful foliage. Sow in sandy peat, mixed 
with bruised charcoal, in February or March. If the 
place is comfortable as to growth, do not plunge the pot 
in a hot-bed ; or, if that is done at all, get it out as soon as 
the seeds are swelling to bursting, as the seedlings are 
very impatient of damp. For this purpose, they should 
be removed from the seed-pan as soon as possible, even if 
they should be pricked out in two’s or three’s together at 
first. As they get larger there will be less danger ; but 
at all times they want extra drainage, and to be grown 
chiefly in open, sandy heath mould, with the addition of 
fibry loam, as the plants get older. 
Peotea (of kinds).—Treat as for Banksia, with even 
more care as to open soil, and good drainage. The foliage 
of many is very interesting; but only a few should be 
grown, unless in the very largest establishment. 
Grevillea rosaminifolia, and others.—This, like the 
two last, belongs to the same group. The small flowers 
hang gracefully at the points of the twigs. Treat it as 
above. It makes a pretty neat bush in the greenhouse. 
Meliantiius major. —The foliage smells like peameal 
when fresh ground. Sow in March. Good loam, a little 
sandy, will suit it. It will hardly suit a small greenhouse ; 
but, if you live south of London, a plant will be very 
interesting from its fine foliage against a wall. I presume, 
that in general winters it would live uninjured in Devon¬ 
shire and Cornwall. 
Spaejiannia Afeicana.— Another rough-looking Cape 
