74 
THE FLORIST’S JOURNAL. 
they are found in all their native vigour, clinging to the sur¬ 
rounding vegetation with a tenacity which almost defies the 
traveller’s attempts to force a passage, rendering the shrubs and 
small trees on all sides gay, with dependent festoons of scarlet, 
crimson, and orange-coloured blossoms. 
When we find a plant thus naturally an inhabitant of humid 
places, exposed to the wasting influences of constant currents 
of fresh air and uninterrupted light, it is not surprising that ex¬ 
haustion ensues: its natural powers of absorption are insufficient 
to equalize the supply with the demand, and become in conse¬ 
quence gradually weaker, instead of accumulating strength, 
which necessarily results in an abortive attempt of the plant to 
perpetuate its species, by producing seeds rather than an exten¬ 
sion of its own ligneous parts : this weakness naturally affects 
the entire energies of the plant, so that the few flowers produced 
are individually smaller, and seldom retain vigour enough to 
perfect their seeds ; thus the plant gradually gives way before 
the incessant drain inflicted on it, making however unceasing, 
but ineffectual efforts to preserve its vitality, until at last its 
entire dissolution terminates the struggle. 
How different is its progress when surrounded by a genial 
and slightly stimulative atmosphere : the rapid increase and ex¬ 
tension of its flexile branches is only equalled by the amazing 
difference exhibited both in number and size of its floral parts. 
To grow this genus well, small healthy plants should be selected, 
and removed about the middle of January from the small pots 
in which they have stood through the winter, into others at 
least three sizes larger, using an abundant drainage, both at the 
bottom and throughout the mass of soil, which should consist 
entirely of rich heath-mould, containing a large proportion of 
decayed vegetable matter, adding only a quantity of sand, suf¬ 
ficient to preserve its porosity: this soil should be used in as 
rough a state as possible, allowing all the roots and small lumps 
to remain in it, and for the internal drainage perhaps nothing 
affords a better or more permanent medium than charcoal broken 
up and mixed thoroughly with the soil: at this stage, a temper¬ 
ature varying from 45° to 50° should be applied to the plants 
with a supply of moisture regulated in accordance with the state 
of the external atmosphere, increasing the amount gradually 
until by the end of March its maximum may occasionally reach 
60° or even 65° on warm days; with this heat a much larger 
