323 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, Februart 22. 1S§9. 
previous volumes given tlie treatment of Daphne Indira , 
so as it would bloom in winter and spring, some other 
friends may give tlieir version in full. So far as I recol¬ 
lect, it was advised to give the extra heat only for a time, 
and then to harden off by degrees. It strikes me, that 
“ Cramers ” very likely kept his plants too far from 
the glass, and too long in the Peacli-house. If the heat 
in the house were so little, I could see no advantage in 
taking the plants there from the greenhouse. Suppose 
the plants were put there at the end of March, and from 
April the house average 55° at night and 70° at mid-day, 
I would have taken the plants to the greenhouse in June, 
and, very likely, put them out of doors in August. These 
would probably show in October. The plant, being com¬ 
paratively hardy, does not want this extra heat, except 
to encourage early blooming. Plants that have bloomed 
in greenhouses and in windows in April and May, and on 
to June, have been kept in the greenhouse until July 
and August, and then either placed in a sheltered 
sunny spot out of doors, or kept in a sunny, airy part of 
the greenhouse. When flowering, several young shoots 
would start just behind the flower-truss, which would 
grow on, requiring only thinning; and if these were well 
hardened and ripened in autumn, and rested in winter, 
auywhere where there was moderate light, the flower- 
buds would begin to come when the days lengthened in 
spring. As already noticed, the plant does not like much 
forcing to make it bloom. If great care be not taken, the 
flower-bud will elongate into a 3hoot. For winter bloom¬ 
ing, the growth must take place earlier, the plant be 
ripened by plenty of sun, and just enough of water to 
keep it from flagging in autumn ; and, then, when housed 
in October, the buds will commence opening in December, 
or earlier, in a temperature averaging from 43° to 48°. 
Pleroma elegans requires great care. I have seen a 
plant, one mass of bloom, decay without any apparent 
cause, except from the collar of the plant being kept in 
a wet state, from the water making a hole round it. When 
every shoot, or twig, almost blooms, and these are cut 
away, a little extra heat, to encourage the smaller ones, 
will be of benefit. It is much tenderer than the Daphne. 
It is a native of the Organ Mountains, near Kio Janeiro. 
The climate is naturally moist; but anything like sodden 
moisture near its roots is ruin to it. From its mountain 
habitat it will bear a colder atmosphere than its neigh¬ 
bours nearer the coast. When a dry, cold air comes full 
upon it, though several degrees above the freezing point, 
the leaves will get spotted and curl, and even the wood 
will be injured. I should like, however, to be very sure 
of the mildness and sweetness of any hotbed in which 
I placed it. If plunged at all, the bottom of the pot 
should stand on bricks, with a space between them, so 
that there should be no chance of the drainage being 
interrupted. When a higher temperature is spoken of 
at times for it, it was understood, that, for a part of the 
year, it would bloom, and find a place in a cool or com¬ 
mon greenhouse. In a conservatory, averaging from 45° 
to 50° in winter, it would want no moving ; it would be 
easy to give it what it wanted there. A corner might be 
made closer and moister at one time, and opener and 
more airy than the rest of the house at another. By the 
same means a cold pit in the summer may be made into 
a hothouse for growing, or an open, airy position for 
ripening wood. I should not like to force the Pleroma 
when bloom was wanted : the plant would feel any cheek 
very much after it. There are a few hints on this plant 
at page 202. The extra abundance of bloom, and a check 
then and afterwards might be the cause of the death. If 
the plant were long plunged, the roots would be apt to 
have more moisture about them than the leaves could 
easily evaporate. The large size of the leaves produced 
would intimate as much. There can be no question that 
a suitable place in the conservatory would be far preferable 
to being plunged in a hotbed under the shade of Vines. 
Gardenia Jiorida, a native of China, is a much hardier 
plant; and yet, when swelling its buds and making its 
growth, it will bear an amount of top and bottom heat, 
and thank you for it too, that w'ould soon ruin the moun¬ 
tain Pleroma. Provided the wood is pretty well ripened 
in autumn, it will be safe in winter in a temperature of 
from 40° to 45°, or even a little less at times : but no more 
water must be given at the roots than will meet the very 
limited amount of perspiration from the foliage in dark 
weather. In a cool greenhouse there would hardly be 
heat enough to open its bloom until July. To bloom 
next season, it must have no shade in the autumn months. 
Blooming at all will depend on this, and the successive 
system of shoots : that is, the strongest and best-ripened 
shoots of last autumn will bloom this season ; the Aveaker 
shoots, when those that have bloomed are cut out, will 
succeed them. In a conservatory from 5° to 10° warmer, 
it may be expected to bloom a month earlier. In either 
case it Avill be perceived, that the same heat that swells 
the flower-bud encourages the shoots to groAV for next 
year. If every shoot should bloom, it must be manifest 
that, on the cool system, you would not have much bloom 
the folloAving year. Most plants require a certain time 
to grow, to mature, to rest, and then to bloom, fruit, &c. 
If this, or any plant, is forced early for the sake of the 
flowers, and for this purpose, because they seem to like it, 
u e give them more favourable conditions in spring than 
they could obtain in a greenhouse or conservatory at mid¬ 
summer. It ought to be clearly understood, that when, 
for prolonging the pleasure that the floAvers give, we 
transfer them to an atmosphere some 15° or 20° loAver 
than the plants opened their blooms in, or which the 
plants would naturally have had in the months of July 
and August, in a conservatory, that just so far we give a 
check to the system of groAvtli; and if Ave Avant such a 
plant to flower equally Avell and early next season, and to 
come in, as it Avere, more naturally, Ave must try and 
give a fillip to the growing powers, so that there may be 
time enough for maturing and resting before again ex¬ 
citing into bloom and growth. Treat such a forced plant 
as we Avould do a Vine, or a Peach tree, that Ave force 
more for fruit than flowers, and the difficulty of 
“ Clericus ” would at once be removed. The same 
stimulus that swelled the flower-bud, would also swell 
the Avood-bud, or elongate the shoot. The swelling of 
the fruit Avould be accompanied with the growing of the 
wood. When the fruit ripened, and was cut, Ave should 
think more of the maturing of the wood, than of its 
mere elongation. The same natural principle must be 
carried out Avith plants that Ave grow merely for their 
bloom, though we may modify them to suit particular 
purposes. In this case, if the plants were put into the 
hotbed in the spring months, I should say the hotbed, if 
all right, Avas less guilty of tlie result, than the check the 
plants had previously received. If placed in that bed in 
the autumn, the plant required then a ripening, rather 
than a growing process, under Vines. 
I do not know hoAV it is now, but tAventy years ago vast 
quantities of this G. Jiorida and radicans were sold by 
nurserymen in the spring and early summer months, not 
only in the neighbourhood of London, but, some ten 
mars ago, also in country towns; being brought and 
tawked in covered A T ans and carts. I have come across 
scores in April and May, in windows and cool green¬ 
houses, not one half of Avhieh would ever bear another 
bloom. The continued check paralysed the plant to its 
core. Very likely these plants came from an atmo¬ 
spheric temperature of 70°, and a sweet, moist bottom 
heat of 85° to 90°. They stood exposed in a temperature 
at night aA'eraging from 45° to 50°. The system was so 
good for trade, that at one time nurserymen could not get 
too many of these sweet-scented plants. Many nice 
things sent out from nurseries are irreparably injured 
from the same cause. Their business is to grow and sell 
as quickly as possible. It is the purchaser’s business to 
look after the preserving part of the affair. It may be 
