1872.] HERBACEOUS PLANTS FOR A WET SUMMER.-DIEFFENBACHIA BAUSEI. 257 
manure, form a good compost; some silver-sand should be added, to keep the 
whole open. They should be grown under glass until the first week in May, 
after which the pots should stand out of doors in a sheltered position, but in the 
full sun, until they are nearly in flower, when they may be moved into the green¬ 
house. The Gladiolus forms a striking feature in the greenhouse or conservatory, 
and when flowering plants are scarce, I have with advantage cut the out-door 
spikes and inserted the cut ends in bottles of water, and placed these in the 
greenhouse.—J. Douglas, Loxford Hall. 
HERBACEOUS PLANTS FOR A WET SUMMER. 
TRST among these I would place the Solidcigo or Golden Rod, the Pldox , 
and the Pentstemon. The first affords no resting-place for the water, 
consequently it passes away, and leaves its golden brightness untarnished. 
Looking at the flowers of a Phlox, it would seem one of the most delicate 
and easily injured by rain, but it is not so ; the more rain, not only the taller 
and stronger grows the Phlox, but the brighter and more pure and brilliant the 
flowers. Not but what the rain and sun, especially the latter, can mar their 
beauty ; but it takes a great deal of rain to do it. Is proof wanted ? Here it 
is: I have never seen such fine Phloxes as I have had this season. Then 
as to Pentstemons, they seem made for a wet season ; their little tubes are 
suspended mouth downwards, so that the rain passes over them, and it is 
gone. 
That grand flower, the Hollijlioch , likewise bears the rain well, provided the 
flowers are thinned, so as to allow the wet to run off, instead of lazily lying in 
or on the spike of blossoms. Dcddias , again, bear washing well, especially the 
dwarfer sorts ; and that grand white bedder jloribunda nanci, the more it is 
washed the whiter it grows. Gladioli also bear the rain nobly, and the hardier 
varieties have made a fine display this season. 
That grand old border, hedge, or grouping plant, Fuchsia Riccartoni , does 
superbly in such a wet summer as this. It deserves a place in every garden 
everywhere, and is invaluable for furnishing either outside or in. It is so hardy 
that I have seen it in Scotland, from 10 ft. to 15 ft. high ; and is such a grower, 
in favourable positions, that I see the Knight of Kerry is using it as a breakwater 
on the Irish coast, to keep the winds and the spray of the open Atlantic out of 
his garden. The season has taught me that, with plenty of water and rich food, 
this rare old Fuchsia may be had in great beauty in the usually arid climate of 
East Anglia.—D. T. Fish, HardvcicJce. 
DIEFFENBACHIA BAUSEI. 
EVERAL very beautiful forms of Dieffenbachia are cultivated in our hot¬ 
houses, but few of them approach in beauty to the D. Bausei , which v r e 
cCf now figure from a woodcut kindly placed at our disposal by the Messrs. 
Veitcli and Sons, of Chelsea. The plant is a hybrid raised at Chiswick 
