62 
THE FLORIST AND POMOLOGIST. 
[ March, 
seemed to indicate, it will prove a good acquisition to our golden-tinted evergreen 
plants. A magnificent example of Hippeastrum pardinum, shown by Messrs. 
Veitch and Sons, was w T orth going a long way to see; it had seventeen fully- 
expanded handsomely-marked flowers, and received, as it deserved, much admira¬ 
tion. A grand example of Lcelia anceps , which had over sixty flowers, and formed 
a fine feature, was shown by Mr. Denning, gardener to Lord Londesborough. 
A group of hybrid Solanums , shown by Mr. B. S. Williams, could not fail to 
challenge attention, and one wonders they are not much more extensively 
grown for house decoration at the dead season of the year. There is a marked 
contrast between their coral-red berries and the deep-green foliage. Two highly- 
coloured Cinerarias , named respectively Lord Kilmorey and Lady Kilmorey , were 
shown by Messrs. Standish and Co., of Ascot, who have a very fine strain of this 
popular spring-flowering plant. Not the least attractive feature was a basket of 
spring-flowering plants, grown under glass, exhibited by Mr. T. S. Ware, Hale 
Farm Nurseries, Tottenham. Such things as double Primroses , Hepaticas , Lily 
of the Valley , Scillas , (J’C., some deeply coloured, others of delicate tints, were very 
charmingly grouped together, and drew about them admiring groups.—R. D. 
RONDELETIA SPECIOSA. 
HIS very pretty and useful stove plant may, by a little attention to stop¬ 
ping, be had in bloom at any time in the year. To grow it well it should 
have good fibrypeat broken up, with just a dash of good yellow loam well 
pulverized between the hands, and a liberal quantity of sharp silver sand ; 
let these be well mixed together, and supposing a plant has been partially 
rested previously, let it be started into growth in the early part of February, in a 
temperature ranging from 60° to 70°, syringing on bright mornings and evenings. 
By the first or second week in March it will be sufficiently forward to receive a 
shift, which should be just large enough to allow of the operation of potting 
being properly performed. Large shifts must, as a rule, be avoided in the culti¬ 
vation of hard-wooded plants. One-fourth of the depth of the pot should be 
filled with crocks for drainage, and this should be covered with fibry peat to keep 
the sand from choking the drainage. The plant should be potted firmly, and 
its watering well attended to, never allowing the roots to suffer from want of 
water, as from their fine, hair-like character, they are soon destroyed if allowed to 
become dry. When the plant gets into free growth, stop the young shoots at 
every second pair of leaves, until within twelve or thirteen weeks of the time 
when the plants are required to be in bloom, when stopping must be discontinued. 
If blooming is over by the end of July, remove the dead flower-stems and 
encourage the plant to grow; and a second crop of pretty orange-red flowers 
will, in the following winter, reward the cultivator for his trouble ; these flowers 
are very useful for cutting for bouquets. When the second bloom is over, give 
the plant a short rest, and proceed as above directed for the following season.— 
Henry Chilman, Somerley Gardens. 
