THE LADIES’ FLORAL CABINET. 
205 
used in serious operations upon the eye with great suc¬ 
cess ; but its use in the treatment of General Grant has 
brought it into greater notice, and has popularized its 
name and reputation. It is exceedingly costly, having 
been sold for several dollars a grain, and its costliness 
prevents its use, excepting in rare cases. The plant is a 
small shrub about five to eight feet high, which bears 
thick evergreen leaves. The form of the leaf is an ovoid, 
prolonged and narrowed at the base. The shrub grows 
in the mountain districts, where it is cultivated in planta¬ 
tions for the leaves, which form an article of domestic 
commerce, and are sold in a dried state for a dollar or 
more per pound. The first crop of leaves is picked when 
the shrub is five years old, after which an annual gather¬ 
ing is made. The leaves are now imported into Europe 
and America, and the traffic promises to become impor¬ 
tant, and the value to increase largely for some time at 
least, as new plantations are of slow growth. It is quite 
probable that the plant would grow successfully in some 
portions of the United States or Mexico or Cuba, and the 
supply be largely increased. Its known value, and the 
probability of its successful culture gives it a general in¬ 
terest, especially to the farmers of Florida and Southern 
California .—Henry Stewart , in Weekly Times. 
METHONICAS OR GLORIOSAS. 
M ETHONICAS are occasionally.met with in specimen 
form at provincial exhibitions held during July and 
the two following months, and when of large size and 
well flowered they present a very attractive appearance, 
and afford the exhibitors substantial assistance in obtain¬ 
ing a good place On the prize-list. But they are perhaps 
less suitable for specimen culture than many other stove 
plants grown for their flowers, and they certainly appear 
to the best advantage when trained up pillars and allowed 
a moderate degree of latitude in making their growth. 
They are not particularly difficult to grow, and the flowers 
are so distinct as to at once arrest attention, as they are 
richly colored and highly attractive. They have, more¬ 
over, the great recommendation of flowering freely dur¬ 
ing the latter part of the summer and the early part of 
the autumn. The number of species at present in culti¬ 
vation is comparatively small, and as they are all thor¬ 
oughly distinct from each other, one example at least of 
each may have a place in a collection of moderate extent. 
Under a good system of culture the methonicas attain 
a height ranging from six to eight feet, according to the 
strength of the tubers, and the slender stems are so pli¬ 
able that they can readily be trained in any way the culti¬ 
vator may desire. The leaves, which are of a rich, glossy 
green, are provided with tendril-like appendages which 
will firmly clasp a trellis or other support, and hold the 
plant securely in position. It is necessary to regulate the 
growth with some degree of care, especially during the 
early stages, to prevent its becoming entangled, and the 
closest attention must, as a matter of course, be paid to 
the training when they are grown on balloon or similar 
trellises for exhibition purposes. An annual potting is 
required, and the proper course is to shake the tubers out 
of the soil and repot them in clean pots with fresh com¬ 
post. This should be done early in the spring, before 
new growth has commenced, as they cannot be disturbed 
afterward without some injury to the roots and tender 
stems. The size of the pots and the number of tubers 
in each must be regulated by the purpose for which the 
plants are required. When wanted simply for the deco¬ 
ration of the structure in which they are grown, it is a 
capital plan to employ eight-inch pots, and put three 
tubers in each. But when intended for exhibition speci¬ 
mens the best course is to grow them in ten-inch pots, 
six tubers in each. The tubers produce, as a rule, one 
shoot only, and they should be potted with the point from 
half an inch to an inch below the surface of the soil. 
They can, of course, be started in pots one size smaller 
than those here mentioned, and, after they have made 
sufficient progress to fill them with roots, be shifted into 
those in which they are to bloom. But there is no great 
advantage in commencing with small pots, and, generally 
speaking, the best practice is to jbut the tubers into the 
pots in which the plants are to bloom. When this is done 
it is necessary to be careful in not supplying the plants 
too liberally with water before they have made any ma¬ 
terial progress, or the soil will become sour, and the 
growth in consequence be unsatisfactory. 
The drainage must be thoroughly efficient, and pots of 
the several sizes mentioned above should have a layer of 
medium-sized crocks ranging from two to three inches in 
thickness. These must be covered with some light mate¬ 
rial, flaky leaf-mould being perhaps the most suitable. The 
compost should be moderately light and rather rich, to 
enable the roots to run freely and the plants to obtain the 
assistance necessary in making a vigorous growth. Prob¬ 
ably the best mixture that could be provided for the me¬ 
thonicas is one formed with turfy peat, fibrous loam, leaf- 
mould, well rotted manure, and sand, the proportions to 
be two parts each of the peat and loam to one part each 
of the leaf-mould, manure and sand. The compost should 
be used in rather a rough state, and the peat and loam 
must not therefore be broken up very fine. In potting 
the tubers, put the roughest part of the compost at the 
bottom of the pot, in accordance with the usual practice 
in potting bulbs and tubers, arrange them regularly over 
the pots, with the points upward, and at such depth that 
the upper portion will be rather more than half an inch 
below the surface, and press the soil rather firm. The 
tubers will start finely without bottom heat, but when 
they are wanted in bloom rather early in the summer the 
pots should be plunged to one-third or one-half their 
depth in a moderately brisk hot-bed. 
From the time the pots are nicely filled with roots un¬ 
til the flowers begin to lose their beauty, rather liberal 
supplies of water will be required, with, in the earlier 
stages, a light syringing once or twice a day. A long sea¬ 
son of rest is essential, and, generally speaking, a reduc- 
