THE FLORIST’S JOURNAL. 
1 A 
[ (A f 
much smaller than those of L. Russellianus, yet they are pro¬ 
duced in such abundance as to compensate for the want of size ; 
an ordinary raceme bearing from twenty-five to forty flowers, 
nearly the half of which will be open at one and the same time, 
presenting thus a large well-filled head of bloom. 
L. nigrescens is a native of Guatemala, where it was discovered 
by Mr. Skinner, and by him seeds were sent to the Royal 
Botanic Gardens at Kew in 1842-3, and the resulting plants 
flowered in the stove at that place in the autumn of last year. 
Seeds of it were also transmitted from the same rich country, 
and through the same gentleman, to J. Bateman, Esq. of 
Knypersly Hall, Cheshire, in a manner that should render the 
receivers of importations particularly careful of even the rubbish 
of their packages : this plant (like the Achimenes hirsuta of 
Messrs. Henderson) was introduced to the collection at 
Knypersly in a mass of Orchidaceous plants, the seed having 
fallen among them in their native land, and shot forth from the 
influence of the warm atmosphere in which they were placed 
on their arrival. We have heard that another species was 
received at Kew along with our present subject, said to pro¬ 
duce white flowers, and called, we believe, longiflora ; but as we 
have not seen the plant, or received positive authority for the 
intelligence, we refrain from,/saying more about it. 
L. Russellianus was introduced from Texas in 1835, and in 
cultivation must be taken as the type of the genus, for so far as 
we have yet gone with nigrescens , we have assimilated their 
treatment, and find them succeed equally, the difference, if any, 
being in favour of the new one, which certainly appears to be of 
more easy management. 
As we have based our own method of growing this plant on 
the practice of Mr. Cuthill, who is beyond question the most 
successful cultivator of Lisianthus near London, we cannot do 
better than give his mode of treating them in his own words:_ 
“ The best time to sow the seed is in March, and as the seed is 
extremely small, it requires particular care. If deposited in 
the usual way upon loose soil, the first watering carries the seed 
along with it, and hence the failure. Prepare the following 
compost — half loam, the other half leaf, peat, or bog-mould, and 
a little sand ; place plenty of drainings in the bottom of a 48 or 32 
pot ; fill it with the compost very tight, and on the top place half 
an inch of sand; damp the sand with water to harden the sur- 
