18 /2. ] 
CULTURE OF OSALIS BOWIEI. 
91 
a hundred pots of selected seedlings. I kept them in small pots during 
the winter, and early in February I potted them into 32-sized pots, using 
good fresh loam, and some old rotteij cow-dung. The plants grew vigorously 
and bloomed very well. They were placed in a shady situation, and kept properly 
watered during the summer months. In the autumn a great many of the plants 
appeared to be dying, which I attributed to the very hot, dry summer, but on 
examination of the soil, I found to my surprise that the roots of the plants had 
been eaten off by a small white grub, which is as destructive to all this class of 
plants as the wire-worm is to the Dianthus class. I have frequently found this 
kind of grub since, but only where old cow-dung had been used. The same kind 
of grub is equally destructive to the Auricula, and would soon destroy a whole 
collection. No doubt the Polyanthus is fond of old cow-dung, which has 
been very generally used for it, but I cannot help thinking that hundreds of 
plants have been destroyed by this insect, and probably the cause of the loss has 
not been known. 
I offer these few practical hints as a guide to those who are not conversant 
with the Polyanthus. I would recommend that the plants should be grown in a 
rather stiff loam, with some old rotten stable manure and leaf-mould, well mixed 
together ; this will be found to suit them well, indeed, much better than a lighter 
soil. Plant them in a shady situation, and keep the surface of the soil stirred 
whenever it becomes adhesive. They should be kept watered during the dry, hot 
weather; this is very essential as a means of keeping them in a healthy state.— 
John Ball, Slough. 
CULTURE OF OXALIS BOWIEI. 
HIS old and well-known plant is seldom to be met with in plant collec¬ 
tions at the present day—a rather remarkable circumstance, seeing that 
it is of easy cultivation, and one of the handsomest of the whole 
genus. It is also so hardy that in a fine autumn, it will with good 
management flower when planted in warm sheltered places in the open border. 
It is, however, well worthy of pot-culture for the decoration of either the green¬ 
house or the conservatory. Here we plant the bulbs in well-drained 6 -in. pots 
about the middle of July, the bulbs being inserted deeply in the soil. The pots 
are then set out-of-doors, and little or no water is given except what falls from 
the clouds until the plants make their appearance on the surface, when they are 
placed under glass in a cold pit or frame. The low spreading xoliage rapidly extends 
over the surface and edges of the pots 5 and its bold dark-green fleshy shining leaflets 
produce an interesting effect. The flower-stems soon afterwards make theii 
appearance, and rise to the height of 6 in. or 8 in., each producing an umbellate 
cluster of brilliant rose-pink flowers, fully an inch in diameter, and which last foi 
a considerable time. The foliage keeps green through the winter in a temperature 
but little above freezing-point. In spring, it is kept dry ; and when ripened off 
the bulbs are taken out of the soil for six or eight weeks,- previously to replant- 
