2G2 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, January 25, 1859. 
eyes the small side-shoots that will be formed, and these ; 
will most likely bloom the following year. I think you j 
have a good chance. Let us know how you succeed. 
Pleeoma elegans. —“ In a six-inch pot. Potted last , 
June in bog, sand, and loam, and a bit of leaf mould. ; 
It is now standing in a Peach-house, at a temperature of 
from 40° to 55°. Shall I keep it cooler and drier when in 
bloom?” 
Supposing the plant is a young one, I should not be 
anxious afiout its flowering this season at all, though very 
likely a few of the shoots may do so. It would be as 
well for the plant if it did not bloom until the summer 
of 1860, as then it would be well established, and most 
likely bloom profusely every year. I should then con¬ 
tinue it in a temperature at from 45° to 55°. At that 
. heat, it may incline to be straggling in growth ; but this 
may easily be neutralised by stopping any forward shoot as 
it appears, until May or June, tying the plant well out and 
regularly, that every part may be well exposed, fn the 
heat of summer, an airy, cold pit, or a cool greenhouse, 
where the plant can be shaded from bright sunshine, 
and yet have a free circulation of air, will suit it. By 
May, it w r ill most likely need transferring to a nine-inch 
pot; and sandy heath soil and fibry peat, with pieces of 
charcoal, broken bricks, and silver sand, to keep it open, 
will suit it well. Keep it close and shaded for a few weeks 
after potting, but give air pretty freely at night. Stag¬ 
nant moisture will ruin it very quickly. Wherever grown 
in summer, it should be housed early, as it is very im¬ 
patient of cold, cutting winds. It always requires a 
warmer place in winter than would suit the plants in a 
cool greenhouse. The medium temperature should be 
from 45° to 50°, and a little more, with a rise of 10° 
from sunshine. The atmosphere in which it grows 
must not be stagnant, neither should a cold air strike 
directly on the plant. The position must, therefore, be 
chosen so that these desirables may be secured. The 
roots must never be dried, neither must they be often 
watered in winter. As the days lengthen, in March and 
onwards, the increase of the sun’s power will demand 
more waterings ; and by May and onwards the bloom- 
buds will continue to open. It may then be kept some¬ 
what cool, and shaded from the fiercest sun. When done 
flowering, the plant should be slightly pruned, kept 
close, and encouraged to grow, and shifted into another 
pot, if deemed necessary, inuring it to air and sun by 
degrees, that the growth may be well hardened before 
the end of autumn. Best as above in winter, and follow 
a similar system in the following summer. 
“ How should I treat the following, in order that they 
may bloom ? I have tried hard pruning, and liberal 
shifts; but for the last two years they have been in the 
same pots (12’s), and had no pruning at all.” 
Eriostemon buxifolius. —If this plant is kept long 
in the same pot, it may bloom pretty freely every May 
and June, with receiving very little pruning, as the short 
growths that are made every summer will be covered 
with bloom the succeeding one. A plant neither pruned 
nor shifted, however, is apt to wear out and get unsightly. 
The following may be considered main points of cul¬ 
ture :—Soil. Two parts of fibry peat to one of fibry loam, 
when the plants are young, and more loam as the plants j 
get older, lightened with silver sand and nodules of 
charcoal. When the plant is young, stop it, to make it : 
bushy at bottom. It generally looks best in the pyramidal \ 
form. A common greenhouse temperature, not below 
45°, will suit it in winter. It is easily assisted into bloom. 
When in bloom, from 45° to 55° will suit it. When done 
blooming, give what pruning the plant may require, in 
order that it may get furnished all over with nice young I 
wood of about equal strength. This is the time it needs 
extra assistance—from syringings, a moist atmosphere, i 
shading from bright sunshine, and a highish temperature, 
such as it might receive in a Peach-house, or vinery, 
instead of an airy greenhouse. When the young growth 
is coming away well, then is the time to reshift the plant, 
if it needs it, or to give it a fresh top dressing, and weak 
manure waterings. Towards autumn, as the growth is 
pretty well finished, expose it gradually at first, until the 
plant stands almost in the full sun, and in a free current 
of air, in order that the young wood may be well ripened. 
House early in the greenhouse, and in winter let it be 
free from cold draughts ; and as the days lengthen and 
get warmer in spring, the buds and flowers will swell and 
open all over the plant. 
Adenandra speciosa. —This will thrive under similar 
treatment, but will require much less care. It generally 
produces its pinkish, Rue-like flowers in May and June ; 
and after that period, when pruned back, its proper home 
would be a cold pit, kept rather close, and shaded a little 
for six weeks or so ; more light given then, and as much 
sun and air as the plant would stand afterwards. Heath 
soil and loam will grow it well. It will be as well, if the 
pot is not too much exposed to the rays of the sun in 
summer. 
Hexacentris Mysorensis. —If you bloom this with¬ 
out any pruning, it must be because you can allow it to 
ramble over a great deal of space. It may grow pretty 
well in a twelve-inch pot, for tw r o or three years, if you 
give rich surfacings and rich manure waterings. We have 
flowered it by two modes, analagous to the long rod and 
the spur mode of Vine growing. In the first case, two 
or three shoots were grown the one summer freely; water 
curtailed in autumn; temperature in winter from 55° to 
65°; a piece taken off the end of the shoots in spring; 
and as the temperature was raised in spring, short, stumpy 
shoots, with branches of flowers, came from the buds at 
the joints. These, pruned back to an eye or so, and the 
plant kept pretty open and free from small wood and 
shoots, produced flowers again the following year, but 
I thought hardly so well as from the well-ripened, longer 
shoots. Without any pruning at all, I should think the 
plants would become such a thicket of spray, that the 
sun could hardly exert any power in setting flower-buds. 
This is one of those great beauties that well deserves 
more encouragement in plant-stoves that are kept at a 
high temperature. The spider, thrip, and mealy bug 
must be guarded against. B. Fish. 
BRITISH POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 
(Continued from page 246.) 
Class H. —Premiums of £1 and 10s. for the best and 
second best Six fruits of Old Nonpareil Apple. 
Five dishes were exhibited in this class, but the com¬ 
petition was altogether very unfavourable, tending to 
prove that this excellent old variety scarcely exists in a 
healthy state, and producing good fruit. 
The first prize was awarded to Mr. Swinerd (gardener 
to John Swinford, Esq., Minster Abbey, Isle of Thanet), 
who sent two dishes—one from a dwarf, growing in hazel 
loam, over brick earth; tree subject to canker. Fruit 
small, very juicy and sharp, and possessing the true Non¬ 
pareil flavour. The second dish was from an espalier, in 
rich garden mould, and less subject to canker. Fruit 
large, very juicy and sweet, but not so ti-ue in flavour. 
The second prize, to Mr. Holder, of Beading, for a 
dish, from a standard (soil, see next class). Fruit juicy, 
acid, and with a slight, but not high Nonpareil flavour. 
Mr. Short (gardener to the Duke of Cleveland, Baby 
Castle, Durham), sent a dish from a very old tree, on a 
south wall; situation low and damp. Fruit large, very 
juicy, and sub-acid ; deficient in Nonpareil flavour ; their 
merit was, moreover, much injured by having been 
packed, or laid, in straw, or some material which had 
spoiled their flavour. Mr. Short reports that his pre¬ 
decessor, Mr. Roberts, was in the habit of painting the 
trees with a mixture of cowdung, soot, and a little soap, 
previous to which they had been in a cankered and 
